C-C-C-Changes!

There are going to be some changes coming on my blog soon.  I have been considering moving to wordpress for a while now because so many of you have emailed me with frustration that the comments don't work unless you have a blog.  The final straw happened yesterday when I tried to reply on a comment and it wouldn't let me!  On my own blog!  Annoying.

Anyway, I started setting it up yesterday, and it is slow going because I am not familiar with the platform, and it is not quite as user friendly as blogger is.  Regardless, I am going to plug ahead!

On a random positive note, Abby and I are both sporting pretty wicked colds that leave our faces looking like glazed donuts if we don't have kleenex handy.  I actually fell asleep with a kleenex in my hand last night.  She stood up and started squawking woke up peacefully this morning at 5:55 (what???) and then was back up before Ty left for work, so he brought her into bed with me...where we promptly fell asleep and woke up after 9:00.  Score.

Anyway, back to the grind of getting the new blog format up!

Blogger maintenance

This is not really a post, but more of an answer!

So, as you are probably sick of hearing, I was perplexed (but happy to hear from!) people who were emailing me or facebooking me with comments but not using the comment form.  A friend of mine pointed out that you needed a blog to do so. 

Turns out you just need a Gmail account.  I am not suggesting anyone run out and get one, but that is the solution!

Questions and Answers

Hello,

I want to start off by saying thank you.  When I started this blog back in April, I really didn't think that anyone was going to read it, and if they did happen to read it, probably wouldn't be back.  As of today, I have had over 2000 visitors and my blog has been viewed in 10 countries!  I can't thank everyone enough for the words of praise and congratulations. Now, I am well aware that this blog isn't very big and I am not exactly going to quit my day job! I am just really appreciative of the support that I have gotten as I persue a hobby that I shelfed a long time ago. 

Anyway

Again, I want to apologize for not answering the emails that were sent to my gmail account.  As I said earlier, I had no idea my address was even visible!  It turns out that you folks are a shy bunch, because the majority of the comments I get are through email and private facebook message.  Please feel free to comment directly on the blog at any time!  Don't be shy, you know you want to!

On to some questions

Why do you only blog about the happy things in your life?

You're right, not everything in my life is all sunshine and roses.  I do tend to focus on the more joyful things in my days and leave anything more unhappy out.  I am not trying to set the tone in my blog that I have a perfect life, but to be honest, it is pretty great.  I have no real complaints, so I choose to leave those out.  Also, sometimes things happening in my life involve other people, and I don't feel it is my place to share their story.

Are you going to have more kids?

The short answer is yes, we hope so.  Right now it is something that we have to start discussing, but we are not planning on expanding right away!  Abrielle is 8 months old and we are trying to soak up every minute with her as it is.  Although, my niece did inform me the other day that  Abby would like a brother AND sister.  Yikes.

How did you pick Abrielle's name?

Tyler and I threw around baby names before we were even pregnant, and we knew that we wanted Abby for our first girl.  I heard the name Abrielle years ago and had always kind of filed it away.  I'm not going to lie, it took a little convincing to get Ty on board with that one, but eventually he came around (obviously).  Her middle name, Sophia, was just one that we liked and we thought it flowed well.

I'll be honest, I LOVE her name.  I call her Abrielle Sophia a lot when it is just the two of us.  People tell me a lot that they love her name, and it makes me so happy.  Of course, I do have to spell it, and correct people that it is not Arielle, Gabrielle, AYbrielle or anything of the like.  That is expected though when you name your baby something different!

Yes, we have plans for the next little one/ones' name(s), but that is not something I am sharing on here just yet!

What do you buy for groceries as a vegan?  What's in your fridge?

I've got to tell you, this is my favourite question!  I took a picture.

As you can see, normal stuff!  Soy milk, fruit, hummus, (there is an apple crisp and pasta salad in the two foil covered dishes) and a lot of veggies!  There are obviously things in there for Tyler too, like sour cream, cheese and a bit of meat.  Some of the containers are fruit purees for Abrielle.  Nothing sprouting or molding!

Who did the picture of Abby on the header?

Jillian Hounsome of JillianClaire photography has done all of our pictures, from maternity to the new family pictures we will be getting done tomorrow (weather permitting!)  Here is a link to her facebook group. http://www.facebook.com/?ref=hp#!/pages/JillianClaire-Photography/152447643538


So, that is enough for now.  For some of you, I just answered your questions directly by email, so check that!
Thanks again for reading!
-Katie

Oops...sorry

Hi There,

So...I didn't realize that you guys were sending me emails and comments to my gmail address.  I didn't even know you could see it.  And to be honest, I only opened it so that I could start the blog.  Therefore, I was quite surprised when I randomly decided to check it and saw that I had questions...and comments...and many other things in there.

So, I am going to tackle some questions tomorrow and post them.  If there is anything that is burning in your mind, shoot me an email (katie.E.maier@gmail.com) or comment on this post and I will respond to it as best as I can!

-Katie

In the beginning

My first post!

So, to begin with,a confession.  I have a deep, dark secret that very few people (other than my sister) know about.  I am a blog stalker. 

Hmm...kind of feels good to get that out in the open.  Let me know if Dr. Drew calls and wants to make some money off of me.

Seriously though, I love blogs.  I started out with Dooce (so good, see here dooce.com) and then progressed to a few friends' blogs.  From there I would read the blogs of people they would follow and thus, an addiction was born.

I've decided to start a blog myself for a few reasons.  The primary reason being, I am a complete open book.  I have no problem letting people know what is going on in my head or my life, and this is a good format to jot down thoughts.  Another reason is that I recently became a mother, and as such have found myself becoming one of those people who has to share every cute thing that her baby does.  I am assuming that the entire Facebook community isn't interested in Abrielle's bowel movements or milestones, so BE WARNED, these things will be documented here!

Case in point:  My husband just asked what I was doing and when I told him, he said "but you are already the crazy picture lady".

So, here we go!