Creativity after Baby

Okay, so, hi. It has been quite some time now since I have written a blog post and I mean, can we just take a moment to notice how much this blog has evolved and ultimately basically died over the last year and a half? I originally started my blog with the intent of making lifestyle and bullet journaling-related content mainly (bullet journal, who? I've not done that in ages). Upon getting pregnant, I then decided I wanted to make it into a more parenting-style blog. I think I did two pregnancy updates. After I had my son, I decided I wanted to do monthly updates and baby favorites for the month. Again... I did two of those and then went radio silent yet again on this outlet that I genuinely found lots of joy in when I started.

So, here's the thing. As a new mom, I'm finding it <em>very </em>difficult to have any real creative outlet. The struggle is insanely real as I'm just now getting into a routine that works for my family. My son is 11 months old now and sleeping really well throughout the night and taking a consistent nap every day after months of just completely disturbed sleep. But now that we are in this better part of a routine and I'm getting consistent sleep and able to shower and exercise and have some time to myself again (hallelujah!) I have got another burst of motivation to revamp my blog and hopefully start being more consistent on creating content again. I have just so lacked motivation to do a whole lot of anything the last few months, let alone sit down and write posts for a blog. Also, I think this goes without saying but this global pandemic has not helped with the lack of motivation I've had either. I will admit, at the beginning of lockdown I got this burst of "Oh this it! I'm inspired! I'm going to make BIG changes and better myself!" then to find out a few days later, "Oh wait, this is literally exactly the same as my life was before lockdown except we had family visit sometimes, went to the library and shopped sometimes and now my husband works full time at home."

So, needless to say for awhile there was no big changes but things have changed as my son has gotten older and now that we have built some better habits and routines (which I want to talk about in an upcoming blog post soon), I feel as though I can be creative again but maybe not (definitely not) in the sit down and bullet journal for hours sort of way but in a different way. Lately, the biggest parts of my life have been my family and my faith. I cannot express to you how my relationship with God has flourished over the last months and I am beyond grateful. And I think that's why I'm here. I'm back here because I want to share the joy, the hope and the change with you that I've experienced in my life over these past few months.

This is my game plan. I want to be more involved and consistent with making creative content. That being said, I do not want to pin myself to only being creative through my blog. So in an attempt to explore another hobby that I really enjoy (photography), I've started a new Instagram just for my blog. You can find me @pearlsandpens on Instagram. The handle was open so I thought "Okay, maybe this is a sign for me to start doing this". I love taking pictures and I used to love writing well thought out captions but have since, I don't know, lost my "fire" per-say, for doing so on my personal Instagram (which now most of my captions are "Sunday" with an emoji as that seems to be the day I post on there LOL). I thought I could use this new Instagram for my blog to share more blurbs along with some hopefully adequate photos. To be fair, 90% will most likely be of my son and my dog and I mean, dogs and babies, can you actually go wrong there? I also really love Instagram stories and would love to start doing more of those. I've also thought it would be fun to do some hauls over on Instagram stories of all the things I get in the mail from shopping online during this pandemic. I've also even pondered the thought of doing some day in the life stories there (some maybe like "baby edition"). Obviously I've thought this out quite well. But at any rate, that is my plan for the new Pearls and Pens Instagram account! Again, you can find me here, if you are interested in following along.

Now, for the blog, I definitely want to keep expectations low (as if they are too high I will crash and burn in less than a week probably). But, my goal is one post a week, maybe on a Wednesday or Thursday. I'm not really sure. my posts are going to be more motherhood driven for the most part I am expecting with some faith based posts and I'm sure other random little bits tossed in there every now and again. Just whatever I fancy at the moment. Again, obviously it's been well thought out. I'd also maybe want to give ole Pearls and Pens a face lift but I'm having trouble committing at the moment so it will come soon enough, I'm sure. Also, now I'm thinking about it, I suppose Pearls and Pens sounds quite funny for a motherhood/faith-based blog. But, hey, I still love pearls and I still love pens so I'm sticking with it!

If you've made this far through my rambling update about my new plans then thank you so much for spending this time with me. I'm very well aware this is not overly exciting content but it's my thoughts and intentions and I do believe it is nice to get them out every now and again.

Thank you again so much for reading and I do hope you will follow along with me on this journey both here and over on my all new Instagram.

Until next time.