mom blogs Archives - Page 4 of 5

Jan 22, 2008

Where’s Your Umbrella? It’s Shower Time!

One of the best things about the mommyblogger community is being able to virtually celebrate when we all can’t be together in person. I remember the baby shower thrown and attended by some wonderful bloggers out there for me, Liz, and Tammie.

And so now it’s time for another baby shower. Julie (mothergoosemouse) is due to have her third (!) baby very soon, and unlike the first two, she’s having a boy this time. Her shower hostesses are asking everyone to come celebrate and give Julie some advice on raising boys.

Sadly, I have little advice. I am the mom of two girls. I was an only child to a single mom. My close family growing up consisted of a grandmother, two aunts, and one great aunt. So as you can see, I don’t have a lot of experience with boys. The only male I’ve ever lived with is my husband.

(Geez, it sounds like I was raised in a convent. Not true! I knew of boys! I just kept my distance. You know…cooties and all.)

But from what I know of Julie, her girls aren’t exactly being raised as the next Disney Princesses with pinky fingers up while drinking their tea. They are rough and tumble as much as they are girly. Maybe more rough and tumble, even.

So I think the best advice I can give Julie is this: keep doing what you’re doing. You already have two great kids, and I’m sure a boy won’t be a challenge for you at all. You’ll let him play with dolls as much as he does with dump trucks. And sure, his plumbing might be more related to a fire hose, but any mom of a girl knows that girls are just as capable of peeing all over you during a diaper change.

No worries, hon – you’re going to do just fine. And seeing how I have no knowledge of boys at all, I’ll add: better you than me.

Anyone have any better advice for Julie?

Filed Under: mom blogs · Tagged: blog love

Jan 15, 2008

Still Running On Fumes

By Christina ·

Our weekend trip to Chicago was fun, but I’m glad to be home. While my agenda was very free and open, Mira made sure that I got as little sleep as possible. After this weekend, I now understand why sleep deprivation is banned by the Geneva Convention. During the drive home I was so tired I began to hear voices in my head. They were carrying on a conversation, but I was too focused on driving to listen in. They were probably saying something like, “Stop driving and get some sleep!”

I’m still too tired for a full narrative, so here are the highlights:

– Traveling with a baby is great! Mira slept for most of the drive up to Chicago, and the entire way back. This was in stark contrast to traveling with a toddler two years ago who decided to stay awake most of the trip.

– But traveling with a baby sucks, too. Although she was the perfect driving partner, Mira wasn’t so happy about sleeping in a hotel room. Or sitting in a hotel room. Or doing anything in a hotel room that doesn’t involve being held and comforted the entire time. As a result, I spent little time in the room, and suffered through only three hours of sleep each night.

– There are things you don’t anticipate when traveling alone with a baby. Aaron left for Chicago a day before me, so I drove with only Mira in the car. About three hours into the drive it dawned on me that maybe drinking lots of water and tea wasn’t a good idea. I had to pee, but Mira was sleeping peacefully, and I couldn’t leave her in the car. Tough situation. I can tell you that holding an unhappily awake baby while trying to pull your pants down in a narrow public bathroom stall is a feat that should be included in the Mommy Olympics.

– Meeting other bloggers is fun! Last year I met up with Mrs. Fortune (who has since moved away from Chicago), and this year I had the pleasure of meeting Tracey from Just Another Mommy Blog and her three kids for lunch, shopping, and ice cream. They were very patient with me as I dragged them into store after store. Tracey made wrangling three kids look easy – I have no idea how she does it! Of course, I forgot my camera was in my purse until the end, and then I couldn’t get it powered on until after they left. Mira loved seeing the older kids, although all of the excitement (and ice cream!) finally took its toll:

– Babies love to see other babies. Sunday was spent at Ikea (of course!) and also visiting my old college roommate and her husband. She had her first baby in September – I saw her very pregnant when I was in town for BlogHer in July, but had yet to meet little Julia. She’s a beautiful four month old with an amazing head of hair. She also weighs the same as Mira, despite Mira being three and a half months older. Mira and Julia sized each other up, probably using baby telepathy to plan out the havoc they will cause next year when we get together again and take them to the children’s museum.

Still not quite sitting up on your own yet?

It’s OK, you’ll get it soon. Once we walk, we’ll own this town.

– Leaving Chicago at 8:30pm is stoooopid. I wanted to be on the road by 6:00 or so, but outside forces (as in, the workshop Aaron was attending) prevented that. We were both tired, it was already late, and we were too poor to pay for another night at the hotel. Bad combination. But we struggled through it and somehow arrived safely at home by 5:00am, just as Cordy was waking up for the day. I faded in and out of consciousness when I wasn’t driving, vowing quietly to never do this late night drive ever again. (and this time, I mean it)

Now I must attempt to catch up on the 500 or so posts waiting on me from the weekend. Oh, and thank you all for delurking last week! Did you see I had 100 comments? I’ve never hit triple digits before. And it was good to see so many other moms would hide and eat the cookie, too. I love my kids, but I won’t share my fudge stripes.

Filed Under: me me me, Mira, mom blogs ·

Sep 19, 2007

Me Shiny New Blog Booty

By Christina ·

Arrrr! Since it be Talk Like A Pirate Day, it be only fitting to show off me new pirate treasure that I’ve acquired as of late.

(OK, I can’t keep up the pirate talk. I’m far too tired.)

First up is an award I was given a few months ago by MamaMichelesBabies, when I was knee deep in new baby exhaustion. I didn’t forget, though!

Thank you for the award, and for being so kind as to call this worn out mom rockin’! It makes me want to pull out my black eyeliner and skull & crossbones t-shirt and watch MTV. If it still had videos, that is.

I’d like to pass this award on to Suebob, Vodkarella and Queen of Spain, three of the most rockin’ girl bloggers I know.

Next up, Julie awarded me the Nice Matters award. It honors, “those that are just nice people , good blog friends and those that inspire good feelings and inspiration! Those that care about others that are there to lend support or those that are just a positive influence in our blogging world!” OK, I’m blushing now. I don’t care if people think “nice” is a blah term, I’ll accept the award and strive to continue being nice to others. Thanks, Julie!

There are so many people I could pass this on to, but in the interest of not taking hours to link to half of my Bloglines, I’ll pass this award on to Karianna, Mayberry Mom, and Bub & Pie.

And finally, there’s this beautiful little award, courtesy of Awesome Mom:

Can’t get more to-the-point that that now, can we? Thank you for the award, Awesome Mom! In return, I’d like to pass this award on to Jennifer, L.A. Daddy, and Sarah.

I get that warm and fuzzy feeling anytime someone tells me they love my blog. I started this thing as a way to chronicle Cordy’s childhood and have a place to rant and rave about whatever I wanted, and it’s grown into a lovely community of people. I often can’t respond to every comment personally, but I do appreciate your thoughts and I’m thankful you take the time to share them.

Group hug now, everyone!

Filed Under: mom blogs · Tagged: awards

Jul 31, 2007

Make Money From Blogging – But How Much?

By Christina ·

No one likes to talk money. It’s impolite to imply you need or want money, right? Fortunately, I’ve never been a faithful follower of Emily Post, so let’s discuss it.

Clearly many of us want more money. (And if you don’t, that’s OK, too!) One of the hot topics of this year’s BlogHer was the monetization of blogs. Many wanted to learn how to make a little cash off of this massively time consuming hobby we have.

But the issue of money and blogging brought up several sub-topics of conversation:

Are ads OK on mommyblogs, and if not, why are they then considered more OK on blogs about politics, technology, or cats with bad spelling?
What about product reviews? Are we selling our souls in return for a free Swiffer? And how do we get PR reps to realize we do more than clean and bake when it comes to free stuff? (For the record, a few of the PR reps I know clearly understand us better. Just see the iPod review I did, and check out David’s blog. He’s one of the good guys.)
What about paid writing advertisements, like PayPerPost?
Are we selling ourselves and our blogs at too cheap a rate?

While each of these sub-topics could take up an entire post on their own (and I may get to them, someday – go ahead and write your own feelings on them if you don’t want to wait for me), the last question really got me thinking.

I’ll start by saying up front that I am all for blog ads. Newspapers, magazines, and other writing outlets have ads. It’s how the writers get paid, and how the price of subscriptions remains relatively low. Bloggers, who have no subscription fees, are an amazingly talented group of writers – why shouldn’t their words carry the same value? If the writing is good enough, and the traffic is there, and someone wants to pay a blogger for ad space or pay them for their writing, then good for them. Capitalism is alive and well.

However, there is also the temptation in the blog world to take any bone thrown in your general direction. (Sometimes it doesn’t even have your name on it.) Liz covered this beautifully in the Professional Blogging panel. She told the room that it is ridiculous to give up large areas of your blog’s real estate to advertisers and get pennies or nothing in return. “You’re worth more than that.”

Many of us have Adsense on our blogs. How much have you earned from your Adsense? Did you know you need at least $100 earned before they will give you a check? I can tell you that after two years of large Adsense ads on my blog, I’ve earned less than $100. Unless your blog gets really good traffic (1,000+ unique hits per day, and several good visitors who are kind enough to click on your ads), you’re not going to make enough to get a check anytime in the next year. Is it worth it to let them have their ads on your site while you make nothing? (For the record, I’m close enough that as soon as I hit that first check, I’m taking down Adsense ads.)

Aside from Adsense, many bloggers don’t know where to go next for ads. It’s tough to find which ad companies are legit, and it’s even tougher to figure out how much you can expect to make. I was excited to sign up with BlogHerAds last year because they gave us the pricing structure right up front. No hidden pricing that you have to already be signed up to find out, no sliding scale magical algorithm that makes it impossible to get a straight answer on what you’ll be paid. It’s simple, it’s laid out in the application materials, and it only relies on page views, not clicks.

Which is another thing: advertising that pays only if people click on the ad is not worth it! Companies pay thousands of dollars for newspaper ads and billboards on the highway. Do you think the newspaper is told, “We’ll pay you for the ad you print, but only after 100 of your readers sign up with us because they saw the ad.”? No way, the company would be laughed out the door! You should be paid for having the ad on your site and not based on click-thrus.

During the Professional Blogging panel, I thought about the fact that I don’t know what to charge for ads. What is the going rate? One reason so many bloggers sell themselves short is probably because they don’t know what a good rate is for their blog, worried that if they say something too high, no one will ever approach them again, and if they say something too low, they’ll never be able to make more than that low rate. It’s a topic that leaves many newbies in a panic attack.

It would be helpful if more bloggers shared what their advertising prices are. Of course the rate for a blogger with a high readership will be more than that of someone with a lower readership, but it would be a good place to start. Some now share how much they make from blogging, and I hope this trend will continue.

I learned a lot this weekend about monetizing my blog, and I’m glad I did. It’s looking pretty certain that I’ll be quitting my part time job at the end of maternity leave because the cost of a good daycare equals my monthly salary, and I can’t find any way around that. It may be impolite to say, but we need the money – we’re not poor at all, but continuing to pay all the bills is a Good Thing in the eyes of the credit bureaus. In place of my job, I’ll be focusing my work time on my writing here, on my reviews blog, at Family.com, and maybe a few new places as well. Hey, it’s better than selling everything we own on eBay.

I don’t plan to clutter up my blog with more advertising. Instead, I want to switch to smarter advertising. I want to support smaller companies, run ads that are relevant to my readers and tasteful in design (thank you, BlogHerAds!), and make sure I’m not whoring out my blog for $.05 per thousand views. Because I am worth more than that.

Filed Under: BlogHer, mom blogs, money ·

Jul 28, 2007

BlogHer 07 So Far

By Christina ·

OK, so I know I’m not updating as much as I did at last year’s BlogHer conference. But when you have an eight week old baby with you in a sling all day long, you don’t have a lot of time for blogging. Not to mention that her supplies took up so much space in my laptop bag that there wasn’t room for my laptop.

Yesterday was an adventure, as we made the six hour drive to Chicago. Thanks to the magic of our newly purchased portable DVD player, the drive was a relatively peaceful one, although I never want to hear the theme song to Little Einsteins ever again. We’re going on a trip, in our favorite rocketship…

Cordy also found other ways to amuse herself on the drive up:

Once here, we checked into the hotel and settled into our room. Due to making my reservations one day too late, the W hotel was sold out, so we’re staying at the Chicago City Centre hotel. Having now seen both hotels, I wish we could pay the extra $20 or whatever a night to get the better hotel. The W Lakeshore is swanky; the Chicago City Centre is your standard cheap bedding, 80’s decor, what is that stain in the bathtub?, don’t-sit-on-the-comforter-naked hotel.

Last night there was a welcome party in the bar of the W. The party quickly overwhelmed the small bar. I must be getting old, because all I could think of was, “Great party, but it’s too dark in here and the music is too loud.” One of the highlights of the evening was watching skeevy businessmen trying to hit on mommybloggers. Sorry guys – they do look hot, but they’re nearly all married with kids.

This morning Cordy woke us up bright and early at 4:50am. This was her first night sleeping in a room with another person, so I think she did pretty well. I tried to sleep a little more while Aaron got up with Cordy, pulling out our new favorite friend – the DVD player – for another episode of Little Einsteins.

While in line at registration, I began seeing so many familiar faces. Lauren, my editor from Family.com, also found me and I joined her for breakfast after saying goodbye to Aaron and Cordy. (Aaron took Cordy to childcare.) After breakfast, there was an attempt at a “speed dating” session to get to know some new bloggers. However, we’re just too chatty a bunch, and there were several snags when people didn’t want to quit talking when time was up.

Once again, the schwag did not disappoint. A very nice Blogher satchel, a laptop bag provided by AOL, a jump drive, nice bath & body products, t-shirts, etc. In the exhibitor’s hallway, there was even more free stuff to be had, as well as great conversations with some interesting sponsors.

How were today’s sessions? I have to admit, I only went to one and a half. Mira was fussy during the first session, so I had to step out to feed her. The second and third sessions were spent running back to the hotel to relive myself of the weight of all the free stuff, then talking to others I ran into in the hallway. It’s so exciting to meet the bloggers you “know” in person, finally putting a face to a name, or laughing your ass off because they’re just as smart and funny in person. Honestly, I care more about getting to talk to the other bloggers here than I do about the sessions. The sessions are still important, but it’s the one on one and small group conversations that make this conference special.

I did manage to sit through the entire panel on mommyblogging. It’s funny – last year’s panel on this subject focused more on getting past the mommyblogger label and the dealing with hate from some non-mommy bloggers. This year, while the issue of the mommyblogger label is still prominent, some of the negativity towards mommy blogs has switched from the “clique-ish nature” of who we are to the debate on the monitization of mommy blogs.

There were many opinions expressed on the topic of making money from a mommy blog, all with very valid reasons for and against running ads, doing product reviews, and participating in other forms of paid advertising. Several marketing and PR professionals attended the panel, and they were given the advice to please take the time to read a mom’s blog before e-mailing her to offer her the chance to try out a product. The issue of PayPerPost was also brought up, with some expressing their dislike for the company.

After the mommyblogging panel, it was time for the first cocktail party on the roof of the Navy Pier. The view of the lake was beautiful, and the alcohol was plentiful. Aaron, having spent the day shopping and sight-seeing, picked Cordy up from childcare and joined Mira and I. Cordy was in a grumpy mood, partially because the childcare service lost her sippy cup (and she’ll only drink from one kind of sippy cup), and partially because we left her with strangers for the day and she did not approve at all. Due to her grumpy mood, which couldn’t even be improved by the adorable Juniper handing Cordy her puppy every time she threw it in frustration, Aaron took her back to the hotel early. I followed about an hour later, after eating my fill of sushi, beef tenderloin, and other delicious morsels passing by me on trays.

Pics of the day:

Mira and Catherine in coordinating pink skulls:

Mira and Sage meet up at lunch: