bustin' out some oldies {seven links}

Recently (ish.  again, I'm behind), both Erin and Meredith tagged me to participate in the seven links meme.  I think the idea is pretty fun, but man, going back through all my two+ years of archives is kind of daunting.  Well, sorta.  I didn't really dive full on into blogging until I was pregnant with Ryann.  And some of these prompts don't really warrant themselves to some of my earlier posts.  To give you a better idea of what I'm talking about...

What this is about:
To unite bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again.

Rules:
1) Blogger is nominated to take part
2) Blogger publishes his/her 7 links on his/her blog – 1 link for each category.
- Your most beautiful post
– Your most popular post
– Your most controversial post
– Your most helpful post
– A post whose success surprised you
– A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved
– The post that you are most proud of
3) Blogger nominates up to 5 more bloggers to take part.
4) These bloggers publish their 7 links and nominate another 5 more bloggers
5) And so it goes on!
6) The site Trip Base be sharing the best posts from participating bloggers on their blog and everyday on Facebook and Twitter at #My7Links

Honestly, I really struggled to pinpoint posts that best filled all of these categories.  But I decided to give it a go anyway.  And um, change the two categories that I really couldn't come up with anything.  I decided I could do that.  So there.

Most Beautiful Post

Surprisingly this category was a tough one for me.  I think I'm pretty honest around here most of the time.  I tell it like it is, I don't paint pictures of puppy dogs and rainbows, I give the facts and the info.  Yes, I gush over Ryann in lots of monthly posts.  I've written some sappy mother's day and father's day posts.  I almost selected this post, that I wrote shortly before Ryann was born.  But the post that almost brings me to tears every time I read it, is the letter I wrote to Ryann on her birthday.  The words aren't extraordinary, but they were from the heart.  And that letter combined with the reminder of the first year spent with my baby floods me with emotion.

Most Popular Post

Well, I think most popular post is an interesting one to figure out.  Based on page view statistics, the most popular posts are the 'a day in the life' posts from Dusty, Emily, Amy, Jami and Shawna.  But those girlies have tons of followers, so of course when they posted a link to their day it was clicked on several times.  The most popular post that I 'wrote' (I used that term loosely, because I barely wrote anything), gets it's hits from google.  I posted a picture of a jewelry organizer that I wanted to make (for the record I did make something similar, but I used it for Ryann's hair bows that she never wears, can't believe I haven't shared that yet!).  I decided all those posts didn't count because they weren't really my own content, so the most popular post is actually a tie between Ryann's party post and my weight loss progress photos.

 

Most Controversial Post

This is one of the categories that I struggled with just a bit.  Personally, I don't think anything I write is all that controversial, and there hasn't been any crazy outbreak of harsh or concerned comments on any posts.  Something that could be sort of controversial to some people, I guess, is sleep training.  I detailed what we went through training Ryann to put herself to sleep and stay asleep in a few different posts, here, here and here.

  
Most Helpful Post
Obviously all of the posts I write are incredibly helpful, right?  :)  But in all honesty, most of the posts that I write that aren't about family happenings, are meant to be helpful in one way or another, informational or motivational.  I'd say the baby gear list that I just put together could be helpful to new or soon-to-be mamas, as are all of the 'day in the life' posts.


 

Surprise Success... Or Just Random Posts I Want To Link To
Ok this is the category that really, I've got nothing.  The posts that I thought would be popular, were.  The posts where I am more or less documenting things or dumping photos for our family?  They don't get a ton of comments.  But that's ok.  I'm still happy those posts are on the blog.  Because this blog is for my family.  So I decided to like to a few really old posts just for fun.  Such as what our house looked like right before we moved in.  For a few laughs, read you know you're pregnant when.  If you want to know how we stenciled Ryann's wall, go here.

 
Post that Deserved More Attention
Again, same as above.  I'm not surprised by which posts don't get a lot of comments.  I do remember being a little sad that more people didn't comment on how cute Ryann was in this post, but um, it wasn't important.  I just thought she was so dang cute!  So ummm, how about I'll just link up to the posts where I answered random reader questions (some relatively personal, some more informational).  Obviously I deserve more attention.  :)  You can check them out here and here. 

Post I'm Most Proud Of 
There are several posts that I am proud of recently, and they all deal with my weight loss/fitness transformation.  I'm incredibly proud of my first 5k.  Extremely proud of my 10k.  Proud of the weight loss progress I've made.  But honestly, right now, I am most proud of the very first post I did about my weight loss journey.  If I hadn't put myself out there, I absolutely would not be where I am today.  It took a lot of guts for me to post that, and I appreciate all of your support so much.

Wow.  Do you like that when I'm supposed to be linking to seven posts, I managed to throw in 28 links?  I'd love for the following ladies to jump on this seven posts bandwagon.  I suppose if you don't I won't kill you, I won't be surprised if you choose not to.

a good life.

Jack and the Kumquat  

from the Nato's

Me and Mine (or miller fam, whatever you want to go with :o)

Collected Blog

Styleberry Blog

Oops.  That was six wasn't it?  Oh well.  I'm not particularly good at following rules lately.