August Blog Report
It is 1st September! Time to write a report on the past month. The past few months, I have been procrastinating writing the report off till I got something to write. This month, I have so so much to tell you!
Welcome back after the weekend. Did you notice that I was gone on Sunday?
I guess not. I am now, officially, taking Sunday off as my well earned weekend. I will be posting 6 posts a week (or atleast try to!) and taking one day off. Those who know me and the life I live will no doubt ask where I am getting all that time?’ I am. Read on. 🙂
This past month, we moved our home to a new, bigger apartment. We had to pack up and move in three days and with a two year old and a little 8 month old baby in tow! Ofcoures, I was worried as to how we would manage. My elder son has experience with moving homes because with him, we have moved 4 times now. He knows what goes into it and we always talk to him and involve him in all our big decisons. We set up our girls for a playdate with their cousin for two days and my parents and siblings managed the rest of the time.
The move was quick but our telephone lines and internet was down for over two weeks! I couldn’t blog at all. In a way, it was a good thing because it helped me take care of the ‘aftermath’ of moving a home. The best lesson that I learnt during this time was:
When life gives you lemons, squeeze ’em and make a lemonade!
Tweet: When life gives you lemons, squeeze ’em and make a lemonade! via@AyshSiddiqua
I used this time to sit down, plan my blogging week ahead and also think about my goals as a WAHM. It got me thinking that when D was growing up, we did so many things. Sensory as well as motor activities. I am not doing as much with R, my two year old toddler now, and may be that was why she is always so anxious. I felt, I treat her too much as a baby still. I started on a few sensory activities with her a few weeks ago and it helped cure her fear of water. We have been making and introducing different types of playdough and slime too. She is slowly getting involved and interested in trying out newer things now.
With the move came opportunities for me. I have my own office to work now! It isn’t anything big… just a humble little corner in our living room. It is right next to a window so I get natural light too. If you are a photographer or blogger, you must know how much a blessing it is! 😉 I never realised how important it was to have that little space for myself till I actually sat down and wrote posts for the whole week in a few hours! My children have been so encouraging too. I heard my son tell his visiting cousin that ‘that little corner there’ was his mum’s office. He then went ahead and showed his little buddy his own little room and that that is where they should play. Isn’t that precious?! The kids all play by themselves now and nobody bothers to trouble their mum with playing with them. Moral of the story: Having a separate play room is much better compared to a play area!
On the blogging front, this month, I got a chance to work with MaryAnne of Mama Smiles- Joyful Living. MaryAnne writes about Joy Filled living. Her posts are so much from the heart! She writes about parenting, crafts, living positively and multi-cultural education. Through her posts, you can see how easy it is to have a calm contented approach to parenting and the fulfilment and joy that comes from being a stay-at-home-mom.
Working with MaryAnne, time and again, all through the month, she made me remember all the choices I had made, all these years, since I had my children and why I made them. I remembered the reason why I chose to be a stay at home mom too. I remembered the reasons why I chose my children over my career and why I blog. Working with her, I felt like she was God sent to remind me why I was blogging. That, is also how I remembered that I needed some sensory and hands on stuff for R.
I have started journaling our fun again. Taking more pictures of the kids just being them too. I have always been strict with myself about blogging only while the kids slept. But now, we think of even more ways to go wild ! We are now more ‘children’ and it helped that it was summer! Thank you for working with me and helping me realize this MaryAnne!
August Blog Report
This month, We had another posts go viral. I wrote ten posts in all this month and they have all done better than what I have been doing the past months but when Shopping with Toddler got online, within hours, we broke all our previous records! The top post this month are:
1. Shopping With Toddlers where I talk about the various ways to make shopping enjoyable for yourself and your child.
2. Play Dough Testing with Flavoured Jello Play dough. We have been testing out various play dough recipes and at the same time making it a science experiment of our child. Another dough we made is Monster Slime.
3. Build Your Own Glider. My son made a plane one afternoon. He has been really excited about sharing his stuff with me with hopes that I will share it on my blog. I made him very happy by sharing his Happy Happy Breakfast idea too!
4. Moving Your Home With A Toddler In Tow This post has been doing very well. I have written my 9 years of experience with moving with kids and what works.
5. Teaching Multiple Languages is my first attempt at writing multi-cultural posts. My son speaks (not too fluently but…) four languages. Where I live, it is considered normal for a child to be bilingual but I was told that elsewhere it is a challenge. I share with you my adventure and how we managed to actually teach him all these languages in six years!
Another good news is that for the first time, the hard work has really paid off. This blog has been earning a decent amount to support itself. I managed to make some blog related purchases too and still save some for the future. I guess, the traffic is helping.
The September Plan
I am starting my Newsletter soon. Don’t forget to sign up. I will start sending it out from October 1st. If you are interested in a little personal letter from me then, join my mailing list by filling out my form on top of the screen. I am very excited about my plan and there will be some really cool stuff not shared anywhere else on this site, that will be included in those letters.
The posts are going to be more varied now. I am trying to make WnN as helpful and resourceful and fun as it can be. The craftsy adventures with my children are making a come back. I will also be sharing my love of books with you. Books, for kids and for you. I have had a few readers ask me the past few months that they want more crochet posts and also help learning to crochet. Stay tuned for simpler patterns, tips and tricks. I have also had readers asking me for more articles to help with meals for baby and toddler. I love it when you ladies give me ideas to write!! Thank you.
That is all folks! Join us on our Facebook Page and do tell me what your favourite post was this month. 🙂
Want more blogging inspiration? Here are a few of my friends who write blog reports. Do visit them if you have time.
‘);
photo credit: Creature Comforts via photopin cc
I really enjoyed partnering with you last month, and I look forward to seeing your blog grow! I know that having a room that is dedicated to being a playroom makes life much more pleasant in my home, as well!