Balancing Blogging and Motherhood. The Mom Connection

 My friend Cassie over at Two in Diapers and myself have teamed up to bring you...

 The Mom Connection
Join us every Saturday for this NEW series!

 I am always wondering how other moms handle certain issues or dilemmas,
so each week we are going to tackle the questions of motherhood.

Next week we will discuss kids and Halloween candy.  
Do you ration how much candy your kids eat
 or do you give them more freedom around the holidays? 


If you have some thoughts or advice on next week's topic please email
Cassie at twoindiapers@gmail.com

 We would love for you to be part of The Mom Connection!

Now on to this week's topic! 

We took a poll on Facebook, and readers wanted to know more about balancing blogging and motherhood.

Here is what a few of us had to say:

 

 

Welcome! I'm Julie over at Naptime Review. I am a mom of  2 wild, crazy and beautiful girls. My oldest is almost 4 and my baby just turned 1.  This is how I balance blogging and motherhood:

Awhile back, I posted some tips on how to get 1,000 followers in 4 months.  In my post, I mentioned that I spend 2-5 hours a day on my blog.  I received an anonymous comment suggesting that I neglect my children and blogging isn't worth the sacrifice.  

Too bad that I couldn't respond kindly to this reader because I would tell her the title of my blog is called Naptime Review. If they don't sleep, I don't blog!  So I work sporadically throughout the day. I usually wake up early before my children rise and that's when I set up for the day. I return emails, link up to parties, make a to-do list, etc.  I then go on with my normal motherhood duties such as being a peacemaker, nurse, short order cook, changing poopy diapers, and trying to spend some quality time with my girls before nap time!  Nap time is when I get to take a deep breath and focus on myself for a moment.  Once the first child wakes, I am done working for a bit.  I later resume after nightly bathes, and then after everyone is tucked into bed for the night.

So they key to blogging and motherhood for me is organization and also having a supportive husband.  It is nice on the weekends, when I can lock myself into the office and get my weekly hops up or have him proofread a post. If you love doing something there is always a way to make it happen!

 

 

 Hi! I'm Cassie from Two In Diapers, and I'm a mommy to three sweet babies, ages 4, 3, and 18 months.

How do I balance blogging and motherhood? Hold on while I plant my littles in front of the television with some Cheetos, and I'll tell you. Nah, just kidding.

This topic definitely hits home for me, since my blog life went from writing a story about kids every couple of days to out-of-control busy, co-hosting, guest-posting, giving away, photo taking, reviewing, and writing about my kids, all over a time period of what felt like overnight. I actually told my husband one night, while frantically typing away and trying desperately to keep up, that I had gotten sucked in and couldn't stop.

One night, my husband came downstairs without a word and started a load of his own laundry. And I'm only slightly joking when I tell you that this was when I knew just how badly I'd been slacking. The next day, I sat down with a calendar in front of me and literally picked apart each hour of my day. I divided my day up between morning, evening, naptime, late afternoon, and evening. I wrote in even the silliest things, such as "cook dinner" and "pay bills". I also blocked off sections of time for my hair clients and fun outings with the kids. I sectioned off each hour of each day until I had a section of time for everything.

This may sound a bit over-the-top, but let me tell you - although it's become habit enough that I don't have to look at my calendar to see what I'm supposed to be doing each hour anymore, I'm SO much more focused at the playground with my kids or working on my four-year-old's preschool book with her when I know that all the things I need to do have another time slot in my day. It's still a work in progress, but I definitely feel more like the mommy I need to be... and that is most important.

 
 

 

My Name is Janine from True Aim Education. I am a Mom of 3 Kids all under the age of 5. I also have a Home Preschool and teach 3 other children. This is how I balance blogging and motherhood: I Don't! I am not very good at it. I blog all about educating children. That is what I do most of the day. So for me, the blog is just a spare-time thing. However, the temptation to stay up all night blogging instead of doing the laundry is one that I have succumb to. I had to implement some things to help manage my time so that my house didn't get out of control:

1. Laid Down the Law: I committed to doing 1 post a week plus Mom's Library Link-Up. I will break my rule and do an extra post only for an important news story or I won't do a post at all if one of us is sick. I also get on twitter, facebook, and pinterest for only 1hr on the days I am not working on a post. I even set a timer. That is a Hard rule to keep, but it really helps!

2. Got a Planner: I got a monthly planner and wrote out what posts I wanted to do each week and also what tasks I needed to do to finish them.

3. Cut Myself Some Slack: Although I am doing my blog in my spare-time, I want my blog to be totally awesome and make a little extra income from it. So I put a lot of pressure on myself in the beginning. I was trying to do every link-up and get on every social site imaginable, everyday. I have learned the hard way that I can't do it all and so I am not going to blow up and make money right away. Content, community, and consistency is key. If I keep on doing those things well, with the time I have, success will eventually come. It just might take a little longer than I want it to :) I have learned that I need to chill out, pat myself on the back for doing what I can, and remember that there will always be dirty laundry to do.

My name is Debs from Learn with Play at home  and I'm the mother of 2 gorgeous kids. Our daughter is almost 4 years old and our baby boy just recently turned 1 year old. I balance blogging and motherhood by continuing to keep my children as my number 1 focus and the blog as something I do if I can fit it in. Generally, this just means that once the kids are in bed, it's writing time for Mummy! I also try to set aside a couple of hours on the weekend dedicated specifically to blogging and my husband uses that time to have special one on one time with the kids and to let me have a bit of uninterrupted writing time.

 

My name is Trisha from 3 Four and Under. I am a mom of 3 kids. I have a daughter who is now in first grade, and my twin boys are 3 ½.  

This is how I balance blogging and motherhood: I don’t know if I’ve ever totally balanced blogging and motherhood. But, what I do is spend as much time and attention with my children during the day. And then after the kids go to bed is my time to blog, catch up on emails, clean up the house and do anything else that is on my to do list. And if my day is too busy one day, then I skip blogging that day and write a post the next day. 


 
Now, how do YOU balance blogging and motherhood?
Do you have any tips or advice  for us "Bloms" out there?
Love to hear it!