After two happy years of marriage, my husband and I were expecting our first born child; a baby boy! Being first-time parents, we were hoping to capture every precious moment of my pregnancy. We planned on taking lots of photographs of our baby son during the first few years of his life, and recording his special milestones for prosperity. My husband and I brainstormed ways that we could document my pregnancy and our baby’s childhood memories.

We discussed the possibility of us keeping a journal together. I have been journaling since I was six years old, so I liked the idea of us keeping a pregnancy journal and babyhood journal. But what would we do with the myriad of photographs that we planned to take? Should we keep them in photo albums? We both enjoy our photo albums from our childhood and our years together, but we were hoping for something a little more interactive.

We thought about a baby scrapbook. I have several dear friends who keep beautiful scrapbooks of their children and vacations with their family. Yet the idea of spending time cutting out papers and trimming photos with fancy-edged scissors and decorating pages with stickers and mementos didn’t fully appeal to me and my hubby.

We both invested some time in doing some research. We talked to trusted family, friends, co-workers and neighbors. A fellow teacher mentioned how much she and her husband enjoys learning and being entertained by what she called “mommy blogs.” She recommended that my husband and I seriously consider beginning our own “mommy blog.” My friend made a good point when she shared with me that creating my own blog would combine to of my favorite interests; writing and taking photographs.

The following weekend, my husband and I took time to Google “mommy blogs” and were pleasantly surprised by our results. We discovered some very humorous, very candid, and very educational mommy blogs. My teacher friend was correct; most quality blogs featuring both written entries accompanied by photographs of family members, friends, family pets and so on.

After doing research together, my supportive husband and I realized that the term “mommy blogger” describes any woman who writes and maintains a blog (short form of “web log”), who is a mother; either a pregnant mom-to-me like I was, or a mother of babies, young children, elementary school children or even teenagers. A mommy blogger writes on a regular basis about family-related topics, such as marriage, parenting, favorite family activities, favorite children’s books and toys, humorous antidotes about her children and marriage. I was eager to get started with my very own mommy blog and found the mommy blogger community to be extremely supportive when I needed help! Now I make a a part-time income online from learning so much from other bloggers and Internet Marketers.

So, do you want to be a mommy blogger?

Once my husband and I discovered that we were expecting our first child, we had a series of serious discussions that led to our decision that after our baby was born, I would leave my current professional position and become a work-at-home mom. We have a beautiful home that my husband and I both work hard to keep clean and organized, and I love spending time at home, so creating a home office for the new chapter in my career was a positive and exciting experience.

After talking to several of my friends from work and university who also made the difficult decision to leave their careers to begin a new career at home, I realized that my husband and I had to research child-care options. My friends cautioned me that working at home can become overwhelming without the support of one’s husband and family. They mentioned that I have to make time for myself to work and consider utilizing good quality child-care to give me some time alone to concentrate on my home business.

Here are a list of ideas that my friends and I created from our discussions:

1) Get your Husband On Board:
The first step that us work-at-home moms should take while searching for quality child-care is to ask for our husband’s help and time. Mothers can ask their hubbies to assist them with caring for their children once the husbands are home from work in the evenings and on weekends. Brainstorm ideas with your husband as to how both of you can manage your work time better and have more time to devote to your children. A healthy marriage involves both husband and wife contributing to the childcare and household chores. Build your husband’s self-esteem and allow him to feel that you genuinely trust and have confidence in his fathering abilities.

2) Develop a Supportive Childcare Network:
Talk to your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, and fellow church-members who have children and set up a schedule where you will help take care of their children when you are free and they will watch your children for you when you are busy. Grandmothers love to spend time with their grandchildren, so don’t hesitate in talking to your mother and mother-in-law about coming to your home once or several times a week to help take care of your children. Neighbors with children are good people to connect with, as your may take turns take care of one another’s children without having to spend time driving across town to drop them off and pick them up.

3) Hire A Childcare Giver:
When your husband, family, friends and neighbours are not readily available to care for your children while you focus on your home business, then a trustworthy and knowledgeable baby-sitter may be a real life-saver. Consider asking your close family and friends for recommendations for child-care givers. Maybe put a notice at your husband’s place of employment or your church to help find a qualified baby-sitter. Interview each potential child-care giver before hiring them to watch your children.

Being a mom provides me with blessing and joy every day. I am so thankful for my loving and helpful husband, who takes his role as a father seriously and provides me with lots of emotional support and help in raising our son and daughter. I never realized how much responsibility and effort motherhood entailed until I became a mother myself.

After eight years establishing my career in the business world, my husband and I decided when I was pregnant with our baby boy that I would make the shift to being a work-at-home mom. I love being at home with my husband, son and daughter, so it works out with my personality type to be a stay-at-home home. I am able to be home with my children and earn a good, steady income at the same time. That perfect melding of home and work – it sounds so ideal and is when it works. The key ingredient to becoming a successful work at home mom, however, is to develop effective organizational skills.

Tip One: Organize your Time

If you’re going to essentially do two jobs at a time, you have to be twice as efficient with your time and energy. A good idea is to have a daily planner where you proportion out your time so you get a sense of what time frame you have to work with. The most urgent tasks take priority but it is crucial to schedule in ‘important’ activities as well such as reading to your children, cooking dinner or exercising.

Be careful about those time wasters that ‘eat up’ your day. Set time limits on household jobs such as tidying the kitchen or putting away laundry. Even use a timer and make a game of it. Moms are great multi-taskers. When you are watching TV or talking on the phone, do something else as well such as folding laundry or putting away the children’s toys. Put an actual limit on your internet, phone, and television time.

Setting a fixed time for your ‘at home work’ is essential. Your family must learn to respect that time and try not to put demands on your attention during that time. Before you fall asleep at night, go over in your mind all the things that you’ve accomplished that day and reflect on how you’ve maximized your time.

Tip Two: Organize Your Belongings

One of the biggest time wasters is spending time trying to find something. Setting up a effective organizational system of what goes where so you can access items and information quickly is the best way to avoid getting flustered and frustrated. Use containers and baskets to put similar items. File information regularly in color-coded or label file folders. Maintain a well-organized filing cabinet. Recycle, donate, or throw away what you don’t need. Pack away items that you or your family members have not used in the last year. Consider donating these items to charity or hosting a garage sale.

Attend to mail immediately. Recycle any advertisements, junk mail and envelopes. Better still – go paperless wherever possible. Any billing information can be accessed easily via the internet so why keep unnecessary statements and receipts. De-clutter and organize your things.

Being pregnant, having a baby, and raising children are precious periods in a woman’s life. Consider documenting parenting highs and lows, parenting milestones, stories about your family and fun antidotes about your children in your own mommy blog.

Step One

Decide on the blogging platform that you intend to use for your blog. Research the various options available to you. WordPress and Blogger are two of the most popular free options for blog hosting. In order to make the most informed decision, I suggest that you read several mommy blogs that use WordPress and several mommy blogs that use Blogger and decide which one has the most features that appeal to you.

Step Two

Decide on a creative name for your mommy blog. Brainstorm names with your husband, trusted friends and family members. Maybe turn it into a game and have everyone suggest two possible names for your blog. If you have any family members or friends who write their own blog, turn to them as your “experts,” share your blog’s possible names with her/him, and ask for honest feedback.

Step Three

Create an account on the blogging platform of your choice. Customize your blog. There are an amazing variety of blog templates available to choose from. Take time to discover the one that appeals to you the most. Look for a template that has easy-to-use features, colors that you like, and a format that suits your needs. Once you have narrowed your options down to your favourite three or four templates, ask your husband or friends to share their favorite with you to help you in making your final decision.

Step Four

Consider the issue of privacy. Remember that your blog could possibly be read by anyone who has access to the internet. I recommend that you do not share your last name on your blog. Some blogging experts recommend that you make up imaginary names for yourself, your husband, and children to further protect your privacy. Exercise caution as well when it comes to sharing photographs of you, your husband and children.

Step Five

Congratulations on selecting a name for your blog and setting up your blog account! Now for your first special milestone û writing your first blog entry! Brainstorm a variety of topics to write about and perhaps keep your ideas saved in a word processing document. Share fun and unique information about yourself, your husband and your child or children.

Step Six

A wonderful and effective way to allow your readers to get to know you is to create a special “About Me” page on your blog. Here is where you can share several favourite photos of yourself, you and your husband, your children and any family pets. You can share a little about your educational and work background, keeping privacy issues in mind. You may wish to share your favorite authors, favorite bands, favorite television shows, favorite parenting books, and favorite hobbies. Maybe include some words about your personal parenting philosophy.

Life as a wife and mother is filled with many joys and blessings, but also comes with many hardships and challenges. It’s important for a woman’s emotional and mental health that she can develop a support network of trusted friends, family, co-workers and neighbours whom she can depend on when days are long and energy levels are low. Devoted husbands attempt to support their wives emotionally and relationally, taking their partnership with their wives as co-parents seriously, and nurturing their friendship with their wives as well. However, even the most loving and nurturing husband cannot meet all of his wife’s emotional and social needs.

Women were born to be connected to others, and require friendship and encouragement beyond their marriages. Some women are blessed with caring and loving mothers, cousins, aunts and grandmothers who circle around them and help them with raising their sons and daughters. Some women are thankful to have a network of thoughtful and inspiring friends, from work, church, and the neighborhood.

No matter how much support a mother receives from her husband, children, family and friends, most women long to connect with other mothers who can understand the pluses and minuses of motherhood, women who can laugh and cry along with them. Mommy blogs provide an ingenious solution to the innate need women have for connection and fellowship. Mothers from the world over can connect with other moms and learn from their stories by reading their mommy blogs.

Mommy bloggers are witty, creative, humorous and intelligent women with a special gift of putting their unique parenting and marriage experiences and lessons into words. Mommy bloggers share with their readership, often consisting of other mothers, tips for parenting, tips for family finances, tips for new moms, and other nuggets of advice on a daily or weekly basis. Mothers from various countries can connect with one another through their blogs. Many mommy bloggers welcome comments and feedback from other moms. Moms can become good friends through their blogs, sharing the highs and lows of parenting and marriage with one another.

Mommy blogs are popular with readers because they provide a constant source of entertainment and enlightenment. There is an old African proverb that it takes a village to raise a child. Mommy blogs enable fellow mothers from around the world to gather around one another emotionally, dispense timely words of wisdom, share words of comfort, and help one another with the life-long responsibility of raising children.

Motherhood can be a lonely and discouraging place at times. Many women experience bouts of anxiety and depression throughout their pregnancies and during motherhood. Courageous mommy bloggers are not afraid to write about real issues that affect mothers, including postpartum depression, financial worries, and struggles with their husbands. A major cause of depression among women is social isolation, so connecting with other mothers through mommy blogs may help women feel more encouraged and less anxious.