Top Five Blog Posts for 2016
December has been a whirlwind of fun for our family. Rich spent hours in the garage making three maple saddle stands as a Christmas present for Andrew; Nathaniel and I spent those same hours in the kitchen making yummy food for everyone. We were able to see all our children over the Christmas holiday and made some great memories. I love this photo of Nathaniel's first experience ice skating! Unfortunately Nathaniel is currently in the hospital with a virus. Rich is with him this morning to give me time to rest. I have enjoyed the quiet moments to reflect on my writing and reread some of this year's blog posts. Here are the top five most frequently read 2016 blog posts:
#5 Drink Formula, Eat Banana - After airway surgery in February, we were given permission to start some oral tastings with Nathaniel. This first post on feeding made many people smile.
#4 Laryngotracheal Separation Surgery - Day 5 - Information about Nathaniel's airway surgery dominated my writing in late 2015 and early 2016. This third post from Cincinnati after surgery drew the highest number of readers. Facebook followers had received some daily updates and I think everyone was relieved to read about our little boy running and playing again. Since this post drops a reader in the middle of the story, here are links to additional posts about airway surgery: Day 1, Day 3, Days 6-13
#3 Being Brave - Some blog posts are purely informational about what the things we do; topics range from parenting a special needs child, homeschooling, to Boy Scouts. Some posts reveal our hearts and faith. Being Brave, a post that touched on my thoughts on turning fifty, my faith, and post airway surgery emotions fell in the heart revealing category. It was widely read and republished by Break the Parenting Mold. It's continued popularity reminds me to keep writing honestly.
#2 Welcome to Love - Our first grandchild was born in 2016. It makes me smile to know that my first post about her and about being a grandma ranks second in the year's top five list. I began blogging in 2010 to share our family news. My audience was small. My mom and step mom were my only readers sort of small. As my audience has grown it is nice to know some still visit for our family news.
#1 Augmented Communication Core Vocabulary and Board Books - Welcome to Love made the list due to family loyalty, but the number one top post earned its spot due to new readers - those interested in the day to day living with Augmented Communication. This post is still shared widely on social media and continues to bring readers to my blog weekly.
Early in 2016 I created a blog post indexing all the other blog posts that I have written about Nathaniel. In reality, this was the most frequently hit page in 2016. It desperately needs updating with all of 2016 posts, but if you are new reader and would like some chronilogical context, find it here: An Index to Posts on Nathaniel.
One last share that reflects reaching a writing goal. I had a feature published in the December Complex Child Magazine: How My Child Lost His Childhood and What I Did About It.
Thanks for joining us in 2016. Many warm wishes for a wonderful 2017.
