A New Beginning

If you have been a reader of our blog

since the beginning,

you may be wondering what all the change around here is about.

Just An Ordinary Family is a new adventure I have embarked on.

I am so excited to tell you about it!

When I first began blogging back in 2008

the purpose was to share our photos and stories

from our vacation to Europe that we had just returned from.

Over time the blog became a platform

for both updates on what we had been up to

as well as my own random musings about different things.

A selfie before 'selfies' were an actual thing. 

Enjoying tea and beer at a pub in Oxford, England.

Man oh man! Have our families ever changed!

This is the Smid side 5 years ago almost exactly.

Each of the boys have added a girl to their lives, for Spencer two little girls.

On my side of the family Matt was engaged and about to marry Lauren.

They now have a son who will be one next month!

Growth is so good. I can't wait to take family photos in another 7 years.

Naturally, once we had kids 

the focus become more about our family 

and motherhood.

It also largely was about our time living in Portland

and Spencer' schooling.

This was right after leaving the USA customs building 

and had been issued our Visas.

It was the day that began our incredible journey of chiropractic school 

and living in Portland for the next three years.

Before we moved to Portland

I had dreams of turning our blog into a lifestyle blog.

A Cup of Jo and Unruly Things are two of my favourites.

I made a pathetic attempt or two,

nothing ever serious. 

I was scared to spread my wings because

I desperately didn't want to fail.

My fear was that people would say.

"Whatever happened to that blog you were writing?" 

My blog has always been a little piece of cyber space

for shamelessly bragging about my beautiful family.

I got to share as many photos as I wanted 

and tell as many adorable stories as I wanted

without clogging up anyone's Facebook news feed.

After having Jane I struggled quite a bit

with post-postpartum anxiety.

It got quite serious and I have taken steps to get better.

One of the things that the counselor I see

encouraged me to do was to close my eyes and vision what I want.

What I saw was our family on our bed laughing and giggling.

It is one of my favourite things.

My bed is one of my favourite places to be

(besides the fact that I love sleeping!).

It has held some of the most treasured times for me.

When it was just Claire and I we would cuddle under the warm covers and watch movies.

Now, in the morning, Claire will climb up into our bed 

where the three of us are

and we cuddle.

I started scooping both girls into my arms and breathing them in

saying, "Mmm, my girls." Now Claire does it too. 

At lunch time we often all pile onto our bed and cuddle wrestle.

(A new concept to Spencer who grew up with only boys and only knew about regular wrestling!)

I love it, so naturally that was my vision.

Then the counselor had me think about what steps I needed to get there.

I have a mental list,

and one of them was to carve out time for the things I love to do.

Bubble baths, going for walks, doing my devotions, taking pictures and writing.

I love to write. 

That was it, I decided to finally just jump in with both feet and transform

our blog into what I wanted it to be.

Although visually I feel like it has a long way to go,

I have loved meeting people and writing reviews and pieces about 

some awesome companies and products. 

It has been so great to hear and see the response I have had so far.

Some of the goals I have are to continue learning about my camera

and getting better at taking photos.

Continue sharing pictures of my family and the things we get to do.

Spotlight some Women In Business,

women who have branched out and have become entrepreneurs.

Review and write pieces on products I love from kids clothes, toys, tea, apps 

and whatever else is thrown at me. 

I also love to cook and create.

Rarely I follow a recipe exactly 

or write down something I have made up,

so another area I would love to grow is recipes.

I sincerely hope you are enjoying the transformation.

It excites me to see where this will take me,

but for now I am having so much fun growing along with this.

There are some pretty exciting things in the works,

including another giveaway for an awesome prize

from Batch Food.

Thanks for sticking with me through all our crazy adventures!

If you're knew to the blog,

I hope you come back regularly!

xo

Michelle