Breaking The Unwritten Laws Of Blogging Etiquette

Most nights, I can't sleep. I have too many thoughts running through my head. I'm making mental to do lists, I'm playing out scenarios of how to's and what if's, and sometimes, if I remember to, I pray to God and thank him or her over and over again for the beautiful life that I've been blessed with.

I usually fall asleep mid prayer, and then wake up apologizing for being so rude.

In the midst of all of my chaos, I recently made a slipped-out-of-my-mouth decision to stop blogging. Imagine how much free time I'd have, if I just quit the whole shebang. The very next morning, I regretted my decision, even though I hadn't told anyone other than my husband, who probably hadn't been listening anyways, and twisted my excess creativity for the day, into finding an alternate route.

My "Plan B"?
Break the unspoken laws of blogging etiquette.

Can I do that?
Well, I have to.
And heres my reason why...

These two beautiful girls.



And this very handsome boy.

For them, I'm shifting more of my available balancing weight, onto their end of the teeter totter. They deserve it. Thats how it should be.

So basically, that means-
I'm disabling comments on my blog.

If you're a friend, a family member, a quiet lurker- that probably doesn't mean anything to you. If you're a blogger though- then, you might understand why its kind of a big deal.

In common blogging etiquette, you spend hours commenting on other blogs, and hours reading the comments that have been left on yours. If someone comments on your blog, then the polite thing to do, is to go back to their blog and leave a comment in return. We don't do it all of the time, but we know we should, and we make it a point to go out of our way to do it when we can. If somebody leaves a comment, we feel the need to respond in one way or another. Email, return comment, an @ on Twitter- we communicate.

I just don't have the time anymore. I never did have the time, really.
I don't even want to think about how many trips to the park I've maybe missed out on, because I was too busy filling out captcha boxes.

Its not that I don't appreciate your taking the time to read my blog (because I love my readers), or taking the time to say "awww, she looks cute", but- I'm just done with it. I'm done with the properness of it all. I'm done feeling guilty for not being able to respond to comments, I'm done feeling guilty for not being able to leave comments, and I'm done feeling guilty for wasting time scanning through blogs that frankly, I just don't give a damn about. Did you catch the Gone With The Wind reference back there? Heee.

I have better things to do with my time.
My time, and the time that I spend with my kids, is precious.

And your time is, too.
Friends don't let friends waste time with courtesy comments.

Now, I know that I may lose readers over this, and I'm ok with that. Well I'm not, but- I know its coming.

I'm not competing in any super hip Mommy blogger contest. I'm not trying to win any awards for my photos. I want my blog to have real content. I want people to read my blog (our blog, even though Christopher rarely makes a typing appearance) because they want to.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that you're a burden to me.

"Its not you, its me".

Only, really, its me. As much as I'd like to allow comments to just go un moderated (not sent to my mailbox for approval before publishing), and check them only at my leisure- I don't have leisure time, or self control. I find myself subconsciously judging my writing based on how many, or few, comments that I collect. And I don't want to do that anymore.

I want to document our lives the best way possible. I want to write about the things that matter to me. Thats what this blog was originally intended for. And thats what its going to be. I don't want to get distracted by guilt, or jealousy, or- anything.

This doesn't mean I don't still read blogs. I do, I do! I just don't comment very often. If I follow your blog, I follow it because I want to. Because I care about you or your family. Because I like reading what you write. Because I like looking at your pictures. Just because I don't comment, doesn't mean I don't lurk. I toooootally lurk, believe me.

Ok, and now with all of that being said- I hope that you won't all be strangers? If you have something to say, and find yourself hovering with your mouse above where the comment button used to be, you can always email me. I'd still love to hear from you. Christopherandtia@yahoo.com <--- its right there. I'm probably going to get a little lonely, without the comfort and feeling of approval that I would have gotten with my daily comments, so- don't hesitate. So thats that, I guess. This blog is now, officially, comment-free.
I hope that you'll continue to follow our adventures.