Oh hey, remember me? I’m Leah…blogger here on Mom by Design. I used to post twice a week and bring you lots of fun content, tips and inspiration. And…then I had a baby.

Did you know there’s like this whole universe of people known as “mommy bloggers?” Bloggers who write and keep up with their audience AND have children. Sometimes I wonder…how? Like…how??

Don’t get me wrong, I have great kids. I really can’t complain. And right after Logan was born, I was even able to blog about once a week. After Christmas though, finances were pretty tight for me and Dave, and something had to give. That’s when God hand-delivered me a part-time teaching job that only requires me to be at the school for two hours a day! For those of you that don’t know, I used to be a teacher once upon a time. I left the profession a few years ago but this gig was pretty hard to pass up. I don’t even have to miss a feeding with the baby. I started a few weeks ago and I feel like Dave and I can finally breathe again knowing we will actually be able to pay our mortgage each month.

Getting back into teaching again has been like riding a bike.  It’s so nice to be able to pop in-and-out of the school without really getting sucked into any school politics or drama- if there is any, I wouldn’t know. But teaching a grade I’ve never taught before requires a bit of prep-time and of course, time spent grading papers. Time I normally would have spent writing posts and gathering content ideas.

If I’m not at school or prepping for school, I’m playing with Riley, nursing Logan, or desperately trying to clean my mess of a house. I seriously can’t believe there was ever a time when laundry was done by hand. That was reason enough not to have kids. Am I right? I’m sure so many of you parents out there can relate to me. That feeling of collapsing at the end of the day and realizing you haven’t really worked on any of your own stuff even though you literally did not stop “working” all day.

Now that we have a small second income, and my husband was awesome enough to complete our taxes already (thank you second child tax break!), we are finally in a place where we can start dreaming a bit again. It’s amazing how stress stunts your creativity. I felt as though as soon I knew we were going to be okay, a weight was lifted and my brain actually started functioning again. I started getting ideas about the future of my business (will share more on this later), and blog post ideas started flooding in. And suddenly, making the time to write seems more feasible. Even though, as I sit here, my four-year-old is bouncing a bouncy ball from the kitchen to the living room and quoting Veggie Tales to me like I have the slightest idea what she’s talking about.  The chaos never stops. Your ability to tune it out just improves.

All that to say, I’m hoping to be turning a corner in my blogging standstill. Six months is usually a make-or-break time for bloggers, and February marks six months for Mom by Design. I certainly haven’t “made it,” whatever “it” is, but I’m still kicking, and I’m still enjoying it. Which is the most important part.  I also have to say seeing God carry us through this time of our lives has been pretty mind-blowing.  He still allows this creative process to continue and gives me a renewed vision and inspiration when I need it the most. Stay tuned for more posts coming your way soon, including my favorite Winter must-haves that are getting me through this frigid season! Stay warm today, and Go EAGLES!