3 Kids and Us 1 Year Blogiversary

Happy Anniversary to me!

365 days ago on June 22, 2008 I created a nifty little blog on blogger. It actually still exists and you can view the old 3 Kids n Us (original name) but it’s pretty bare. The name, colors, and location may have changed, but the family behind it hasn’t. If this is your first visit, you can catch up on how the little blog got started by reading The Conception of 3 Kids and Us.

Now, I’d like to say I have a big party planned for today but truth be told, today just kind of snuck up on me and I wasn’t prepared. This past year has just zipped right on by.

Instead of a long drawn out post about our family, I’m going to do things a little differently.

{GIVEAWAY}

Today is Q & A day with my husband, my kids, and of course myself. The floor is open, if there’s anything you’ve ever wanted to know about us or maybe a post I forgot to update and you were curious about the outcome, you’re free to ask. I’ll answer just about anything, as long as it’s a tasteful question. Replies will go directly in this post. If you don’t have  a question, that’s okay too, I’d just love to see a comment from anyone that reads on occasion.

Note: there’s also one nice lady  that stops by to read and comment on most posts but when I try to reply to you, your email address is invalid. If everyone could pretty please, leave a valid email. They aren’t made public or used in any way except to reply to you directly.

{WHAT YOU CAN WIN}

I’ll draw one of the comments at random at the end of the week to win a $25 gift card to one of my favorite shopping centers, Walmart.

{READER Q & A}

Q. from MilkandHoneyMommy – Walmart? Where’s the Target gift card!
A. You know, I do shop at Target quite a bit, so I’ll offer a choice of Target or Walmart.

Q. from Krystyn – Maybe you’ve already answered this, but how did you come up with your kids’ names and spellings?
A. Let’s see our first, Mattison was actually drawn out of a hat. It was a choice between Jonathan Jr., Marcus, and Mattison. It’s actually based off of the name Madison (before it became a popular name for girls) but we changed the “d” to double “t’s” so that he could go by Matt if he chose.

For Kaydence we were in the car listening to music name off a bunch of names back and forth, my husband said Candace and I countered with Cadence, thus she became Kaydence. I’m not a fan of “C” names, as my own is Catherine so we switched it up to a K, tossed in a y and voila.

Emmaleigh was a bit more tricky. I was in love with the name Amelia but we didn’t like any short versions of it. I loved the little girl’s name Emma so we just kind of combined the two. She also got the middle names Sue and Helen after my mother and maternal grandmother whose birthday she was born on.

Q. from Tiffany – What is one of your favorite reviews you’ve worked on?
A. That’s tough because I have absolutely loved almost every product I’ve reviewed. But if I had to pick just one it would be the Flor Review. I have a creative side and loved playing with all the ways to mix and match the tiles to create my own rug.

Q from Tiffany – What is your favorite part about blogging?
A. Hands down all of the moms and women I get to meet. IRL it’s so much more difficult to have an instant relationship with someone and quickly find the things you have in common. Through blogging I’ve met such an amazing group of women from all over the world that I wouldn’t have access to without my blog.

Q. from The Shopping Mama – How is your relationship with your husband? I was so impressed with your willingness to share your Fireproof experience and have often wondered how things are going.
A. My husband and I are a tricky pair. We’ve been polar opposites in just about every aspect of who we are. We have the attraction of magnets and the spark of electrical jump start. ha! And how we’ve stayed married for 8 long years I’ll never able to answer, but I don’t forsee a divorce anytime soon.

We fell off the wagon of The Love Dare around Day 6 but continued the idea behind Day 1, which basically boiled down to treating each other with respect. So far it’s been an amazing improvement in our relationship which luckily hasn’t turned us into “4 Kids and Us” yet.

Q. from Yasmine – If you were not a mom/blogger what would you be doing instead with your life?
A. I’m a major type A personality, so I have to have something going on, especially with the computer. If I wasn’t blogging I’d probably put a great deal of time into building the diaper cake business I’ve been planning on.

Q. from Yasmine – Are you planning on 4 (or 5 Kids) And Us in the future?
A. Planning? No, not a chance. If it were to happen by chance I definitely wouldn’t be disappointed. I love being pregnant, I love spending every moment watching our kids grow and interact, what I would love is to have to buy another domain name.

Q. from Yasmine – How do you manage everything?? From your family, your house and your blog??!
A. Vodka……ha, no just kidding, I actually don’t drink at all. The truth is I have no clue. We aren’t very scheduled, my house only sparkles one day a week, and that’s every Sunday when I get busy cleaning it, things just sort of fall into place. And when things get a little crazy, I grab my Ipod and listen to Bob Marley in a bubble bath and pretend I’m in Jamaica for 20 minutes.

Q. from Cindi – My question is where did you learn all your graphic and html experience and how do you find the time to be so helpful to everyone!
A. Everything I learned has been from free online tutorials since I first got my hands on the internet about 7 years ago. That is probably the main reason I’m always out there trying to help everyone learn their way, a pay it forward concept if you will. I’ve learned so much more on the internet from helpful people (for free) than I ever could have in a college setting.

Q. from Firefly – your favorite thing to do when you are alone?
A. This probably not an unexpected answer but I love to read other blogs and hang out in the MomDot forums.

Q. from Firefly - how did mommy-hood change you from before if any?
A. Well, since I became a mother at 18 my life kinda did an immediate flip from self-absorbed teenager to responsible mommy very quickly. I think the biggest change I’ve seen in myself is that I’ve become a more patient and selfless person.

Q. from Stefanie - what has been your favorite post?
A. I would say my Outwit – Outlast – OutPlay the Toddler has been my favorite. I was just so gosh darn proud of myself for outsmarting a 2 year old. LOL

Q. from Stefanie - And which was your least favorite or one that you wished had more comments?
A. The post about an accident with my toddler was probably the hardest for me to share, admitting mommy guilt is never easy.