The Journey of Parenthood…

1,000 Posts!

It is pretty crazy that I’ve written 1,000 blog entries isn’t it? It’s neat to me to think back to starting the blog in August of 2008 and to see how it’s changed over the years. Literally back then I had like 1-2 hits a day and they were pretty much my mom and Rachael 😉 Now I’m getting over 1,000 hits a day (and only a few followers away from 200…I plan to do a giveaway once I hit that marker so if you’re a stalker admit it and follow the blog so we can get this thing going!) and have made SO SO many wonderful, amazing friends. Friends who I can count on for anything even if we only know each other through the cyber space world. It’s pretty amazing and I don’t know what I’d do without all of you wonderful women in my life! Kelly, who I literally met from blogging, is now one of my real life best friends. People thought I was nuts when I went and stayed with her without even having met her in real life! Same thing with Robyn…she contacted me through my blog and we started having play dates before Kye and Lorelai could even sit up! I love that so many of us have taken our online friendships into the real world and I hope that I can only continue to connect to more people through this blog in the future. I hope more of us can become online friends and real friends too!

I started to write this and had planned on doing my top 10 blog entries that I’ve ever written. When I wrote my 500th blog entry, I did my top 5 posts (you can read that post HERE and see ALL the posts I linked back too…there are some great ones!). I had a REALLY tough time picking a top ten. I picked so many good ones for my top five that it was hard to come up with new ones that I didn’t already mention in that post. I was telling Zach about it and he suggested letting him pick out his favorites. He didn’t want to write an actual blog entry for me (heck, it took long enough for him to write his birth story – I would have been on my 2,000th post by the time he was able to finish it!) but he did go back through ALL of my blog posts and picked out his all-time favorites.

I think it was a good idea to let him pick because it’s hard to decide my favorites since I wrote them ya know??? I like an outsiders perspective…although there’s a pretty decent trend in his choices (several involve my breasts or something about him haha). Here they are in random order!!!

Zach’s Favorite Blog Entries:

  1. I’m thankful that Zach chose this as one of his favorites as it gave me a chance to re-read it at a time that I really needed to. What I felt when Kye was first born is very similar to how I felt with Brittlynn. My love for her has only grown more and more with time just as it has with Kye. Zach and I both talked about how we love Kye SO much more now than we did when he was first born and I truly do love both of my children more and more each day. For you new moms, this is a great blog entry for you to read to let you know you’re not alone: A Love That Grows.
  2. As mentioned earlier, I think Zach was drawn to blog entries that focused on my boobs. Out of the 15 he said were his favs, several mentioned my ladies! It’s hard for me to believe that it was at about this time after Kye was born that Zach and I went to Paris. I can’t imagine leaving Brittlynn right now and I especially can’t imagine pumping like I did! When I hear of breastfeeding moms who give up nursing because they don’t like pumping I always think back to our Paris trip. I PROMISE you mamas…if I could do it under those circumstances, anyone can. I love re-reading this and am still astounded at the amount of milk I brought home: Traveling Tales of a Nursing Mother. 
  3. One thing I always joke about Zach is how much he loves…Zach. So it didn’t surprise me that he picked a blog entry as his favorite that mentioned him in the title. 😉 Zach’s job requires him to travel a decent bit. Typically he is on day trips but sometimes he will be gone for an overnight trip or even a few day long trip. I thought it’d be fun to do a post about what Kye and I would do during those longer times that Zach was away. While Daddy is Away.
  4. Our Christianity is the most important thing to us both and spreading the Word about God’s love is so important, especially to the ones we are closest to. Jordan making the decision to get baptized was SO awesome and Zach was very proud of the blog entry I wrote about that day and about why baptism is essential to salvation: Jordan’s Baptism.
  5. I’m thankful Zach is so close to many members of my family and it was really sweet to me that he said “you have to include one of the posts about Uncle Spear on my list.” He really admired my Uncle Spear and was honored to get to know him before he was diagnosed with ALS. When we moved into our house we quickly put a bird feeder out back so we could start watching the birds like Uncle Spear always loved to do. Here’s the blog post about the last time we got to visit with Uncle Spear: Tough but Necessary.
  6. Both of us agree that our yearly trip to St. Augustine for the 4th is one of our favorites every year. This past year was THE BEST one yet and Zach really enjoyed that Kye got to see the fireworks. I think he’ll enjoy them even more this year: Celebrating the 4th
  7. Zach and I take our roles as parents very seriously. It’s been interesting have two children at home because instead of us being able to give 100% to one child we are having to get 50% to each of them. I don’t think either of us get a chance to sit down very often right now!!! I recently wrote a blog entry about dealing with some of Kye’s tougher spots in this adjustment phase. I was SO nervous to post it because I thought Zach might get upset, but instead he said it’s probably his favorite blog entry of all time: Choices.
  8. I’ve mentioned my luck in the past…I’m one of those people who has lots of things go wrong but where everything always ends up working out in the end. It’s resulted in some pretty great stories over the years. I remember when Danielle and I first became close friends she told me she had thought I was a constant liar at first because all my stories couldn’t have been true 😉 Several of Zach’s favorite posts include some funny moments. This one is something both of us had completely forgotten about (that’s what so great about blogging!): Leveling the Playing Field.
  9. Here’s another one that talks about my breasts. Literally. I’m thankful to be on the bigger boob side right now (and I think Zach likes it too!), such a wonderful advantage to nursing! If only the rest of my body could be as sexy as my boobs haha: From DDs to Barely Cs.
  10. It’s interesting to me that Zach picked a DISNEY post as one of his favorites. For a guy that claims not to be a Disney fan…I mean we go on TONS of trips and I gave him 1,000 entries to choose from…I think this choice is pretty telling don’t you? While we had a BLAST on our family trip this past year, we both think the last time we did Mickey’s Christmas Party was one of our top Disney trips: Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Part 1 and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Part 2.
  11. I think funny titles drew in Zach’s attention too…although this post is pretty humorous. We go on a Labor Day vacation with the Parker’s every year and this was probably the most memorable trip yet: Drifting to sea, ER visit, and busted face: the untold labor day stories
  12. I LOVE weddings and getting to be part of weddings is even better. However, I think the coolest thing is to get to be part of the engagement. Zach agrees and we both felt SO honored to be part of Casey and Jordan’s engagement last summer. Jordan did a GREAT job giving her a special day that she’ll never forget: My Story of Jordan and Casey’s Engagement
  13. Since we live down south, most of the parents we know spank their children however it’s a hot topic anywhere you live. I’ll admit, when we were dating I was SO freaked out by the idea of us spanking our kids someday. After becoming a Christian, and studying God’s Word, I changed my mind and now fully agree with spanking as a form of discipline. There is a right time and wrong time to spank as well as a right way and a wrong way to go about doing it. Zach was so proud of me for studying up on the topic and putting my findings out there for everyone to read: Why We Spank.
  14. Yes, another blog entry that mentions breasts in the title. I think that’s three total! This was one of those HILARIOUS memories that we have made together and I laugh just thinking back on that crazy trip. For sure one of the great stories to tell the grand-kids someday: Exposed Breasts, The Feds, and Unmarked Vans: Our Travel to Mexico
  15. Of course, any top list of blog entries will include the births of our children 😉 Zach said the ones he wrote are his favorites, duh. But I’ll link up to mine too! You can’t really have any other blog entry top these: Mommy’s Story of Childbirth, Daddy’s Point of View, Brittlynn’s Birth Story {By Mommy}, and Brittlynn’s Birth Story {By Daddy}.

A BIG thanks to Zach for picking his favorite posts from the last 3 1/2 years. I hope that this blog thing never fades away and that I’ll be sitting here writing it when I’m sending my kids off to college! I really do enjoy it so much and am so blessed by all of the wonderful people I’ve met through this avenue. It’s amazing to me! Thank you to each of you for your continued support!!!

Do you have any favorite posts that Zach didn’t mention? I’d love to hear about them!

Emily Parker
Latest posts by Emily Parker (see all)

2 Comments

  1. Katherine Brown
    January 26, 2012 / 3:13 am

    Congrats on 1,000 posts! I just started blogging a few weeks ago. I'm loving it!!

    Reply
  2. Katherine Brown
    January 26, 2012 / 3:15 am

    Congrats on 1,000 posts! I just started blogging a few weeks ago. I'm loving it!!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *