Reasons to be Cheerful 1, 2, 3

Hi

Reasons to be Cheerful 1, 2, 3 is a simple link-up blog hop hosted by Mummy from The Heart, which is open to everyone and particularly easy for  a new blogger to join in...  Go on, jump right in, we are all friendly here!

I am going to struggle this week as I am not feeling particularly cheerful, but that is the benefit of this meme, it reminds you to be grateful for what you DO have.  So let's scratch the head and have a think.....

1. I have just changed GP... and I am cheerful that I nipped that in the bud, with Sandra's help.  So I am grateful that the new one is nearer, that Sandra helped me move, and that we got in just before they closed the books to new patients.  I look forward to having a better relationship with this surgery, as the last one was scary!  Also it has a baby clinic which I will feel happier taking Aaron to.  I know this reason 1 is not particularly cheery and is rather practical, but I did say I was going to struggle this week didn't I.
2. I am really cheerful about my new friendship with Gingerbread House... we met up for coffee recently and have stayed in touch by email.  We both have baby boys and have quite a lot in common.  I am really enjoying our email exchanges and I should have blogged about our coffee afternoon.  I am looking forward to seeing Jenny & Edward again soon.  I am not your typical blogger (but then WHAT is typical).  What I should say is that rewind a few years, and ask me if I would ever blog and the answer would have been a firm no.  I was anti-Facebook, anti anything that involved being online and personal (that sounds like armed and dangerous doesn't it).  Definitely wouldn't have met a fellow blogger...  things have changed so much and here I am...
3. I am cheerful that I am starting to try new products.  It began with the mummy and baby PR event for Sterimar, (which I found out about through BMB) which lead to me being asked to trial Boots Baby Sensitive Bath products, and now I am being sent reusable nappies (Bum Genius).  I know "some" blogging Mums think that other blog mums blog just to get these products.  I'll speak on behalf of myself (which Typecast said you can only do)... I blogged on a weight loss blog for 2 years and it was very quiet and normal and I had my wee 14 followers.... I then blogged on here as a trying to conceive blog, for months, completely in obscurity, completely unaware of any other mummy bloggers.  I found a few via weight loss but they were trying to conceive too.  At one point I tried to find mummy bloggers via Google and only found Baby Edward (see point 2).  Then I didn't blog for months, (from June till November) as I had a very busy newborn (but I was on Mum forums everyday asking questions and chatting to the girls).  I wish I'd blogged during that time (as I was on computer anyway and I had Mum here to help me for 9 weeks), as I feel all the valuable diary info on the chat threads is now hard (and too time consuming) to access :-(  Then came a day where I started blogging again and it took a few weeks before I started to notice BMB and Tots 100 badges on people's sidebars.  I only found out that there were 100s and 1,000s of blogs once I joined BMB.  It was only THEN that I started to see people doing reviews and giveaways, (I don't follow people who do too many) so there is no way that this was my motivation for blogging.  Now that I DO know about it my opinion is as follows:

There is nothing Mums love more than shouting about a product that works.  I bought the Fisherprice Jumperoo because people were shouting about it on the mum chat forum, and same with my Lindam Door Bouncer.  I think Mums love a recommendation and Mums love to give one.  All it is now, is that companies are getting in on the act, to scale that simple word of mouth process up a notch.  But paying someone to write a post does not work, as us Mums are ethical and we only like to shout about a product we LOVE.  We can't afford to buy and try everything, hence companies send them on over.  It's a waiting audience, captive and willing to try products and it's a win-win situation.  Us Mums soon learn who blogs authentically and only recommends a product that really works.  Where it is all done correctly, I don't see the harm in it.  It is still not my reason for blogging and will never be.  For those who start with that intention, they'll be shocked as the return on investment is a minus.  The time you invest for the products you get in return isn't a basis for a business plan.  You DO have to love blogging and more importantly, love the people you meet as a result.  The blogs I enjoy the most, are the ones where their love of their children shines through, and you know in your heart that their blog is first and foremost a digital record of their child/children's lives.  If you don't blog, you may not understand, but it gives us that sense of community that sadly, in today's society, we are lacking.

Anyway I am now going to get off my soapbox... a few things have rattled me to do long posts recently.  Sorry about that :-)

Liska xxx

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