State of the Blog 2013

I was so busy relaying all the details of our spectacular cruise vacation last week that my blogiversary completely passed by unnoticed.  As hard as it is for me to fathom, as of last week (I think August 21st to be exact...if it matters), I have been blogging for 3 whole years!  Man, time flies when you're having fun, huh?!?
When I first started blogging, I did so because I felt like I had stuff to share with the world: projects, recipes, parenting tips, parties, etc.  While I never truly thought my blog would take off to mega-blog status, I was hopeful that I would have enough to offer to attract a few people!
Well, 3 years later, my blog has been visited approximately 92, 000 times.  Obviously, this is hardly mega-blog levels, but I'm proud of it!  I'm also proud of the amount of my things that I end up seeing pinned, especially because I'm not the one to add them.  Levi's nursery, my gender reveal party, and our playroom have many,  many repins and I really take that as a huge pat on the back.
3 years in I am also constantly surprised at just how much I enjoy blogging.  As much as I started the blog to share ideas with the world, I also started it to have a personal record for myself of all the things that go on in our life.  I love having the blog to go back and read, especially the parenting/children posts...it is so funny to see how some things like Levi's lack of sleep were such a huge ordeal for us at the time, but now they seem like such a blip!
And in the 3 years, I'm beyond amazed that I have found this much to share!  I try to have a post ready for Monday-Friday, but last year I made the commitment to not publish just to publish...if I didn't have anything to write about, I just wouldn't write and not force it.  I think that happened once over the whole year!  I keep a running note in my phone of blog ideas and jot down anything that comes to mind: projects completed, recipes we loved, parenting issues, etc and for the most part, I always seem to have a surplus of ideas.  I like to think of my blog as a monthly magazine.  So, if I complied all my posts for the month, there would be a few, but not all, that were cover-worthy headline material.  And then there are inevitably a few that would be small sidebars or whatever.  And in between would be the rest.  I try not to publish anything that is pure blah, but some are definitely more appealing than others.  And because I know I have a wide range of readers who are interested in various aspects I tend to focus on, I try to keep up a good mix of recipes, projects, parties, and parenting commentary/ideas...as well updates of my family and kiddos.  I probably put way more thought into than is necessary, but the system has worked well for me, especially as it has motivated me to keep trying new projects and recipes sometimes in order to have something to blog about (something I enjoy, but Josh maybe doesn't!).
While I feel like my blog has largely been a success by my standards, one aspect I continue to fail miserably on is promoting my blog.   Honestly, I have mixed emotions about this.  I would love for my blog to start earning me a steady income of some sort (I have gotten opportunities here and there already), but that almost seems like a pipedream.  And if it's going to happen, I want it to happen because people are genuinely drawn to my content.  A lot of my real life friends don't even know I have a blog.  And nothing against the people that do them, but I don't really like to participate in the themed link-up posts.  But I used to actively look for outside places to share my projects, thus attracting more people to my site, and I do think I should go back to doing that.  
I also fail miserably at attracting comments.  And I know a lot of this is because I don't do a very good job at responding to them and/or commenting on other people's blogs.  I would like to say I'll get better, but I think I've said that each year and it really hasn't happened!  So, instead, I'll just say that for now, I'm content in not having a highly commented on blog!  I can tell by the numbers that people are reading, and for now, that's good enough for me!  ***Of course, if you want to comment, I greatly appreciate it, and I promise I will do my best to reply!!!***
So moving forward into my fourth year of blogging, things will remain status quo around here.  I appreciate you anyone and everyone that stops by and takes a read. And as we move into year 4, I'd really love to hear from you!  Which posts do you enjoy most?  What would you like to see  more of?  Recipes? Projects?  Parties/entertaining ideas?  Parenting stuff?  Dish of the fam/kiddos?  Please let me know:)