Am I really doing this?

Here I sit.  On our comfy sofa, The Talk on the tv, and ocean waves coming through the baby monitor  as sweet Charlie naps.  It's a rare extremely rare quiet moment.  I honestly can't believe I'm sitting here, typing away on a blog that hasn't been touched in a year.  A YEAR?!?!

So what has me back?  There have honestly been several times that I've wanted to write, share pictures and stories, and file our family memories here in this blogosphere.  I simply was too tired or didn't have enough time.  Then the other day a conversation with one of my best girlfriends got me thinking.  A simple conversation about hobbies led me back here to this space ... my journal, my scrapbook, a most treasured keepsake for my children.

Hobbies.  I hadn't really thought about my hobbies in awhile.  Since adding a third child to our already busy lives, my hobbies seemed to fade into the past.  My time now consists of changing diapers, chasing after high energy kids, grocery shopping, laundry, playdates, and several trips to and from schools for drop off and pick up.  My hobbies had become my kids hobbies ... and that just doesn't seem quite fair.  So my girlfriend and I got to talking about our hobbies.  And when I couldn't come up with any, I felt silly.  I felt angry.  Slightly pathetic.  How couldn't I have any hobbies of my own?!  After all, the hubs has hobbies.  Golfing, hunting, racing, fishing .....  How was it that I couldn't think of one, single hobby?!?! It wasn't only me - neither could my girlfriend.  It's almost like after becoming moms, our free time became limited and so our hobbies were easy to dismiss.

After some laughs (thankfully we could laugh about this together), my girlfriend and I thought about some potential hobbies.  Painting.  Gardening.  Reading.  Hmmm, I do enjoy reading.... A LOT.  Cooking.  Traveling.  Exercising.  Another possibility, but not truly considered a hobby.  Shopping. Baking.  Too much of either of those and it's bad news.  ;)  Paddleboarding.  In Florida with SHARKS?!!  At the end of all this, what did I come up with?  NOTHING!

Nothing.  Nothing UNTIL ... I continued this conversation with another one of my best girlfriends.  Right away she reminded me of something I loved.  Something I was and still am very passionate about.  Writing.  Keeping my thoughts written down.  My blog.  Why hadn't I thought about this?  I love using the blogosphere as a place to vent, pray, share incredible stories about my family.  And I've missed a lot of time, a year ... ONE YEAR.

What does this mean?  I'm not going to take the time to catch up on a whole year of memories, but I can promise that I'm going to write.  I'm going to make time to enjoy my hobby.  First up ... an exciting blog makeover that is LONG overdue AND a huge thanks to my girls!