How Do You Blog and Not Neglect Your Kids?

I pulled out my laptop today for the first time in... Oh I don't know... Three or four days. Not that it's a big deal or anything for a normal person to not blog or tweet for several days... But for me it's a bigger deal than I thought.

Sunday night I made a list of things I'd blog about that night, and the following week. I have a list of things on my mind and giveaways I need to post. In order to not get "behind" I'd need to post daily.

I felt a little anxious after the first night when I didn't meet my goal. I didn't even reach for my laptop that night to write a post. Instead I watched Big Love with my husband and started a new book (The Boleyn Inheritance).

But the more I pondered why my lack of internet time was bugging me so much, the more I realized how sorta insane it was.

Gone are the days where I'd post a paragraph or two, or a simple photo... I'd do that when I felt like that was all that was on my mind, but it was still enough for my daily journal update. ...That's what this was. My journal update. But somehow, somewhere, I got sucked into some sort of blogging, competitive phenomenon where I feel bad if I'm not posting get this... "content" often enough.

No no no... We must nip this in the bud (or nip it in the butt as I use to mistake the saying for)! I don't want my blog to turn into a stress for me. This is a fun hobby, a journal for me to relieve my inner thoughts on being a mom. This isn't a job. I already have a job, I don't need two. Plus, with a baby on the way, I'm asking myself HOW IN THE WORLD do women do it? I don't want to miss out on LIVING my life because I'm blogging about it, and sometimes I think there's a fine line, and I wonder with a new baby, if that can happen.

I don't want to start a huge debate but I hear a lot of women say how hard being a mom is... Especially hear about it from stay at home moms. I read about it a lot. And from the sounds of all of the "Mommy Needs a (insert alcoholic drink here)" blogs it can be wearing to be at home with kids all day. I can see how having a blog as a place to vent can be nice, but what I'm wondering is if it's so time consuming... How DO you have time to blog?

I ask honestly because I'm becoming a mom myself in 6 months and for the first three official months of motherhood I'll be at home. I picture my blog going dark... Offline... Out of commission, whatever you want to call it because in my head I have envisioned that my baby will be crying/screaming/pooping/eating 24/7 (partly thanks to some of the blogs I read) and having me reaching for some (insert alcoholic drink here), which would be quite interesting actually since I haven't drank a day in my life.

I know the toll blogging can take on a couple. Since getting my iPhone I have constant access to reading blogs in my reader, tweeting, replying to emails... All the while my "auto me" is responding to my husband. During our evenings together I'm required to surrender my phone to him... Or keep it in another room. I don't mind though, we need that real alone time together.

I've asked bloggers and tweeters before how they do it with children and they jokingly say "neglect" but I wonder if there's some truth to that. I mean really... These are women with big HUGE blogs and little children. I'm assuming they mean they use this technique when their child is a little older and can maybe sit in front of the TV awhile while you blog away in the other room and pray it's not the case with a screaming toddler in the background.

But really, how do moms find time to be online so much? Especially moms who do reviews and giveaways all of the time and make it their business? That's time consuming! I'm sure I'll figure out a balance in this enjoyment and motherhood eventually and that it'll take practice and experience, but it's sometimes really hard for me to squeeze the time in after work and spending time with my husband. Adding a baby into the equation makes me wonder if I'll have to set his hobby aside indefinitely.