Newbie Blog Hop-Week 42 - My Charmed Mom

Welcome to the Week 42 of The Newbie Blog Hop!

{Sharon and I are taking turns in hosting this hop every week, this week's my turn, I do apologize for the delay as there had been some unforeseen circumstances that I have to deal with}

Now moving on, your hosts A Little Bit of Everything and My Charmed Mom welcomes you to another week of linking and hopping.

Newbie Blog Hop was conceptualized especially for Newbies who have just started with blogging-who needs help in all sorts of things related to blogging (and even outside) from design, layout, pitching and review opportunities and more. This group is open for everybody, Newbies or not who want to link up and connect with other bloggers. Let's take this opportunity to help each other in making our blogs a success. Spread the word and invite friends to our Facebook Group and you can also grab the button above to promote.

You can also link up every week and hop to each participating blog and leave sweet and inspiring comments to your fellow bloggers.

Every week, we choose a blogger from the previous week's participating blogs to be featured in the next week's hop.

This week's Featured Blogger is Kathy of Kangaroo Mama

Kathy is one of the bloggers whom I consider very warm and approachable, we haven't met in person yet but I can feel that we will get along well. I thank her most especially for her kind and inspiring words most especially when I needed them most. Please read on for my heartwarming interview with Kathy :

Tell me a little bit about yourself and your family.

My name is Kathy and I am the blogger behind Journey of a Kangaroo Mama. I am a wife to an amazing husband of 7 years and a mom to a beautiful daughter, who is now 21 months. On my blog, my hubby is known as Honey, and my daughter is known as Kiggster. We love being outdoors together, whether it's trips to the beach, park, farmer's markets, zoo, or just about anywhere we can build memories together. Honey is the cook in the family…I pretend I know how to and sometimes those experiments will work out and sometimes they don't!

I try my hand at a lot of things, what can I say, I'm a woman of many hobbies and I love variety! I'm an amateur crafter, wanna-be photographer, go-to wedding coordinator/party planner for my friends, shopaholic, strive-to-live-green, be unique, and much more! Kiggster is my little firecracker and there's nothing she doesn't like to get into and she is the pure definition of fearless! I am more scared of animals than she is, she's taught me to be more bold around animals, not be afraid of getting dirty in the sand, mud, water, or grass, and she's just been teaching me what love and forgiveness really looks like in action!

Why did you start blogging?

I always wanted to start a blog to share with others about the places that I love, things I've tried, and services that are a must. But I never had enough motivation to do it. So after I had Kiggster and it was time to head back to work after my 3 month maternity leave, I was sinking deep into depression and needed something to help me get through the fact that I was going to be away from Kiggster most of my day after spending 24/7 with her for 3 months straight! I took the opportunity while I was pumping at work to think about my family, I had pictures with me that I would look at and then that progressed to making photobooks while I pumped, then turned into writing a blog so I can share about all things related to Kiggster!

If you're wondering how I could pump while doing all those things, you can check out my posting here. She was the reason and motivation I needed to start my blog and she also inspired the name Kangaroo Mama. Honey and I carried her all the time, many nights were spent sitting up sleeping while holding her, holding her in a rocking chair, holding her while bouncing on an exercise ball, carrying her in a ring sling, Ergo, Baby Bjorn, or similar contraption, nursing her, or just holding her because we couldn't stand letting our little miracle out of our sight!

What do you love most about blogging?

I love meeting other bloggers and discovering that the blogging community, though large, is very tight knit! Once I surrounded myself with other bloggers, I was showered to the point of being overwhelmed with advice, support, and opportunities. One thing I've learned from blogging is that you never mess with a blogger because you are asking to be hunted by the pack! I love that I had support even when I was just a tiny one reader blog (Honey) and other bloggers, big and small, were more than willing to share their tips on how to be better.

I also love being able to share with people the things that I am learning, discovering, and things that I am trying that may/may not be working so that people can have a resource that they find helpful!

What is the biggest challenge you have faced so far with your blog?

My biggest challenge…I think this goes for my life in general and not just my blog, but I can never find enough hours in my day for all that I want to accomplish. I am a horrible scheduler of my own life, though I could be an expert at scheduling someone else's! I have so many plans and ideas and can't seem to get to them all but my hope is at some point to be caught up with everything and then start fresh from there! You think that's possible?!

What direction do you see your blog going in the future?

Something I've been really wanting to do, but can't seem to get to yet, is starting an "Ask The Experts" series. Lately, I have been doing a lot of reviews/giveaways, which are great, but it has actually slowed me down in all other areas of my blog, which I really want to grow. So I'm hoping by Fall of this year, I can get this series started. I am just one woman in a sea full of moms, crafters, cloth diaper-ers, etc. and though I hope that my journey can help someone know they are not alone in this crazy world of imperfection, I also want to provide others with advice and tips they can trust and count on from experts in those fields. So whether it's an interview with lactation consultants, pediatricians, sleep experts or the like, I want to put that information out there for people to make their own informed decisions, even if it's something different than what I'm trying! I hope you all will join me for this and I really look forward to journeying with you all!

Thanks so much Kathy for sharing a part of yourself to all of us.

Get to know more about Kangaroo Mama and her updates by following her on:

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