Where I like to hang out online

I haven't really figured out my relationship to this blog, even though I've been writing it for FIVE years now. I can't believe that can possibly be right. Some days I feel very share-y about our journey with food and allergies and health in general and other days I feel quite private about all of it. And sometimes those private days stretch into weeks and months.

I also think about privacy as Ellie gets older and I realize that this is her story as much as it is mine. I'm not sure how I'd feel if my parents had broadcasted my health history to the world during my childhood. Seems quite weird.


I wrote this blog in the early days because I needed to. I needed the writing to process what was happening and to get validation from other parents who were having similar struggles. I think I still have that need, but it isn't nearly as big now that I have more years and more knowledge under my belt.

Sorting out what to share and what to keep private has generally been a tricky thing for me in this new age of social media, an age I did not grow up in. My family got a computer when I was in high school and it was used very rarely, mostly for typing up really important assignments or gathering as a family and writing a group email to my brother once he left for college.

As a stay-at-home mom I find that I crave the connection social media offers me, but I want to share things in my way, on my own terms. I may give a peek into our life, but no one except my husband and children truly know what our family life is like, and I think that's as it should be.

But I do love social media because it opens doors to connect with like-minded people. I've made a wonderful friend who read this blog religiously, reached out to me and shared her painfully similar circumstances and now we are Facebook friends. Even though we've never met (I live in Portland, Oregon and she lives in New Zealand) I treasure that friendship because she gets it.

Recently I've been embracing Instagram as a fun way to explore my love of photography and have coincidentally connected with quite a few other homeschooling moms, which has been so nice on those lonely "Am I the only person homeschooling in the world" days.

When I started this blog I got quite a few comments on each post. I think part of it was because I was starting the GAPS intro diet at the same time as quite a few other people, and we built community by following each other's blogs. But over time that connection seemed to fade. A surprising number of people still read this blog, but there are few comments, so I don't know who they are! The sense of connection went away. (I am sure my extremely sporadic posts didn't help in this regard.)

At any rate, I thought I'd share where I hang out online these days in case there are others looking to connect. On Pinterest you can find me at https://www.pinterest.com/annierecipes/ and on Instagram you can search for annieandfam.

I will continue to write here as the inspiration strikes. If you're reading this, I'd sure love it if you'd leave a comment and let me know why you're here - do you have a kid with allergies? Are you on a special diet? Do you have Hashimoto's? Did you Google GAPS? None of the above? Are you a family member? Haha :) Hearing from you might help me figure out how to best use this space.