I'm Back!

As you can see, I've been absent from my blog for almost four months now. I hate that I just left without saying anything, but I was really trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I love having this space where I can share photos and stories to look back at, and I love the friends I've made blogging. But with any form of sharing comes risks. I was starting to wonder if I wanted to continue having my daughter's face on such an easily-accessible website. And after receiving some strange Instagram comments, I decided to make my blog private and delete almost 1000 Instagram followers, keeping only those I knew. I really love blogging, but my child's wellbeing always comes first.

It's kind of one of those things that I'm sure comes up a lot in parenting; you want to keep your child safe, but know you also can't protect them from everything. Social media is just part of life now. It's not at all uncommon for people to post photos and stories of their children. And 99% of the time, it's a great thing! I love seeing photos of my friends and family and their little ones. I love sharing photos of Violet and my family. But sometimes that 1% of the ugly side of social media creeps in. People feel like it's okay to state any opinion they want, and it's almost opened up a whole new door to bullies.

But that made me think more, I would never want Violet to stop doing something she loves because of rude people or fear. Why let complete strangers decide for me? So instead of completely walking away, I've decided I'm going to keep my Instagram more of a private platform to share photos with people I know personally, and my blog can be more of an open space. It makes more sense to me to go about it with a bit more caution than to stop completely.

So I'm back! I can't promise I'll be posting every day or even every week (mom life is a busy one!) but I'm going to do my best to dedicate some time to Desert Darling. It's something I've put a lot of time and effort into and want to keep that going. So as long as it's a positive place for me to be creative and have some "me time," then I say why not!

So what have I missed in the blogging world? What's new with you all?