A Refresher Post

Now that I'm back in the swing of things and (trying) to post on the regular, I thought it was a good moment to re-introduce you to what Next Stop Baby is all about.  Sure, you can go to the page "This Blogger" to get the general gist, but today I'm going to give you a bit more detail.  Just a bit.  Expectation setting tends to make for more successful reception.  So, whether you're just stopping by or have been following all along, this is Next Stop Baby.  Welcome.

I am the only writer for Next Stop Baby (with very few exceptions) and I write about baby related stuff.  Mind blown?  Not so much.  I'll keep going. 

I try to write about things that I know nothing about.  This may make absolutely no sense upon first consideration, but I actually think that I'm onto something.  By writing about the unknown I can (hopefully) lead a more neutral and balanced discussion - it's harder to be judgmental about something that I have no experience with.  It can be tricky to find things within the baby world that are completely unfamiliar because I have a baby.  Two babies, however, is unchartered territory.  Hence, the focus of my posts is the journey to baby number two.  

Once in a while I write about reality TV.  It's not that I get lazy, it's more that I genuinely love trashy television and can't help but share my love with innocent bystanders.  Even less often, I host a giveaway, which is usually the result of someone contacting me and offering me free stuff for my readers.  It's tough to turn those opportunities down, so I typically don't.

The slightly unique aspect of my blogging style is that I try to keep it relatively impersonal.  I don't give much detail about me, my family or my life in general.  Things slip in here and there for context, but I've stayed anonymous in many ways.  I'll admit that this is selfishly driven.  First, I'm a surprisingly private person, despite having a fully public blog.  Second, and even more importantly, I often write about a topic because I'm genuinely seeking advice and perspective.  By largely excluding my personal life, I'm forced to really research and consider the topic itself.  This also drives more feedback on the topic itself and not feedback on me personally, which I don't need (or want).  I get plenty of personal feedback from my mom, my husband, my friends, strangers in Trader Joes...

So, if you're here hoping for a diary of how I got my daughter to sleep through the night or the sentence-by-sentence recap of conversations with my husband about whether we're ready for round two or even just details about who I am and what I look like, you're going to be quite unsatisfied.  If you want to discuss how to choose a name for your second child or what double stroller is the best on the market, awesome.  Please join the conversation.  

And now, let's set more expectations: What do you expect to read about on NSB?  What are your other favorite blogs and why do you read them?  What about having a second child scares/excites/confuses you?  What reality TV are you watching these days?  What would be your dream giveaway?  

Thanks for reading.