Four years ago today, I published my first Mombian post. It’s been a longer and more fun journey than I ever could have imagined, thanks to all of you who have stopped by to read, comment, and in many cases, become friends.
My vision for the site then was to offer news, analysis, and resources for lesbian moms and other LGBT parents. I wanted to look at parenting from a lesbian perspective, and lesbian culture from a parent’s perspective. I think that vision has held up pretty well.
Things have changed over four years, however. My toddler has just graduated from kindergarten and is now reading bedtime stories to me. Connections I’ve made through the blog have led me to additional freelance writing, content development, and marketing work, allowing me both to bring in some money to the household and continue my most important job of being home for my son when he needs me.
The site itself has also evolved. You may have noticed some design changes around here lately, which I “soft launched” to coincide with Blogging for LGBT Families Day, but haven’t really explained. After the jump, here’s a list of what’s new and what you can now do around here to keep up with Mombian news and (more importantly) other readers.
- Subscribe to Mombian by e-mail. Receive a Daily Digest e-mail with Mombian headlines and summaries any day I post something.
- Join the Mombian Facebook group. I’ve set up a new page for Mombian friends to make it easy to find each other. I’ll also alert the group about Mombian news, so if Facebook is where you hang, you can keep in touch.
- Facebook integration right here on this site. Over there in the right sidebar, you’ll see a place to log in with your Facebook ID. It’s a way to see which of your Facebook friends is hanging here, send comments you make here over to your Facebook profile feed, and more. I hope it enables us to expand our conversations. (It seems that sometimes you have to refresh the page after logging in/out in order to see that you’ve done so; I think that may be related to the cache software I’m running. I’m looking into it, but I don’t think it affects the core functionality.)
- (Facebook note: If you “friend” me personally on Facebook, please include a note to let me know you’re a blog reader, so I don’t think you’re a random person friending me my mistake. I tend not to friend back unless I know how we’re connected.)
- Twitter links. My latest tweets are over in the right sidebar. Sometimes I use them to point out new posts here, but other times I’ll tweet something of interest that doesn’t warrant a full post here or an action alert that needs to get out fast. You can also follow me on Twitter directly.
- Video links. At the bottom of the sidebars, I’ve added a mosaic of our latest “She Got Me Pregnant” vlogs, as well as a featured video on LGBT parenting from someone else. (I’m also maintaining a YouTube channel of videos that show positive images of LGBT families.)
I’ll be rolling out a few other features soon, as time permits. Stay tuned.
Mostly, though, what makes Mombian run are the people, not the technology. Thank you for keeping me company on this ride!
Congratulations, Dana, on year #4. May there be many more.
Your #1 fan (and your son’s other mother :) ),
Helen.
Mazel Tov…and congratulations, too! So happy you do what you do. Site looks great. Happy Blogaversary!!
Dana, congrats and thanks for providing such a useful and enjoyable resource!
wow! congratulations!!
Girl, you don’t look a day over two and a half!
And please forgive the gap between blogiversary and blogiversary well-wishing. It’s been an exceptional time in my household.
I want to thank you so profusely, though, for publishing week-in, week-out, for all these years, Dana. When I ran across your site lo those years ago (? I can’t remember when, but I do believe it was before I started my shop), I was GRATEFUL BEYOND BELIEF. I still am. I can’t imagine parenting (or lesbianing) without Mombian as a resource.
So: thank you, thank you, thank you, and thank you. You’re a national/international treasure.