200th Post!

This, my friends, is my 200th blog post!  I didn't even realize I was close to two-hundred until I saw "199 posts" on my blogger dashboard.  I think this calls for a little reminiscing...

I started this blog on September 1st, 2009.  I'm not sure what led me to think of starting a blog...none of my close friends blog.  In fact, I (still) know very few people "in real life" who blog.  I think I basically started it out of boredom and insomnia.  This was my first post.  Pretty epic.  I only made 10 posts in the following months of 2009... most of which were recipes.

The year 2010 held 44 posts.  Not many, but many of those posts are the most meaningful posts I've written.  I was writing from my heart.  It was this year that we became pregnant and experienced the loss of our first baby.  This blog became an outlet for my grief and pain.  I shared my posts with my friends on Facebook and began to realize that my posts were inspiring others and helping others...which is not something I had expected when I started this blog.  I received great encouragement from so many people due to my blog posts... and that encouragement really helped get me through my grief.  One of my favorite posts that I have ever written, "what i have learned," came about during this time.  I read back through it now and I am in awe of how much God was teaching me and about how desperately I was clinging to Him.  Here is a post that shows my heart toward the end of the year.  Little did I know what would soon follow... :)

2011- the year of redemption.  After six months of trying to conceive, a heartbreaking loss, and nine months of trying to conceive again... we were pregnant!  God is faithful, folks.  I was not the best blogger while pregnant, working nights, sick, and exhausted.  This blog became a place for me to document pregnancy milestones, my fears, and my growing belly.  Then, the star of my blog shifted from me to our sweet Holden Ezra.  My birth story post is my most viewed post!  I made 70 posts in 2011.

It is now 2012 and I'm blogging more than ever.  I have posted 73 posts in 2012 thus far.  I would venture to say that the vast majority of them are about Holden and mommying. That's the season of life I'm in and I wouldn't want it any other way.  I love that I have this blog to document how Holden grows and changes each month and to document his "firsts."  This blog is turning into somewhat of a journal of our lives and I love that.  I hope to have this blog made into a blog book sometime in the not-so-distant future...and to continue printing it from time-to-time.  I hope that one day Holden (and our future children) will enjoy reading it.  In addition to being a journal/baby book of sorts, blogging has become somewhat of a hobby and serves as a creative and social outlet...which is essential now that I am a stay-at-home-momma!

Not only is this my 200th post, but I recently acquired 100 followers via GFC!  I've never been very concerned about how many followers I have...but I am very flattered that 100 people want to read my little blog!  Thanks for following!  I love "meeting" new blog-friends and finding new reads.  Also, thank you to those of you who read/follow via Facebook.  You guys are the ones I know "in real life" and so many of you have reached out to me telling me that you love my blog or that it helped you or touched your life in some way.  I cannot even adequately express how that makes me feel.  I am humbled and flattered and it blesses my heart so much to think that what I write can make a difference.

To God be the glory...

Thanks for reading,
xoxo Beth Ann