Blogger Behind the Blog {Emily and Indiana}

Here’s this week’s instalment of Blogger Behind the Blog where I interview a blogger all about their reasons for blogging and what it means to them. This week I’m joined by Emily from Emily and Indiana.

Here’s Emily sharing more about her blog:

Where did your blog name come from?

My blog name is simple. I’m Emily and my daughter is Indiana! I do wish I put a bit more thought into it now though.

When did you start your blog and why?

I started my blog at the end of February 2014. We’d been vlogging for almost a year, and I decided I wanted to have more written memories of Indiana growing up. I was already reading a few blogs, so just took the plunge and started my own!

What was your first post?

I still cringe at my first post – the standard ‘Hello!’ introducing me and my blog.

What inspires you to blog?

My children and our family lives. I usually write about what we’ve been up to, and my life as a parent.

What post has had the best response, which post are you most proud of and which post did you enjoy writing the most?

Best response: My giveaways and reviews have the most views. But comment wise my pregnancy / birth posts with Parker are probably most popular – like Parker’s Birth Story.

Most proud of: I was terrified of sharing my story with anxiety. But I was so pleased to get some amazing feedback from it.

Enjoyed writing the most: I still love reading back my post about our familymoon!

Have any of your posts not had the response that you expected?

I’m still quite a small blogger, so I never really expect to get much response from my posts. So when my Cosatto pushchair review kept getting lots I was so surprised!

Where do you see your blog in a year’s time?

I hope I can continue to grow my blog, working with brands and hopefully making more money through it.

What is your favourite thing about blogging?

I love that I’ve got both of my children’s baby years captured and written down. They grow so fast and you honestly forget – just recently we were saying how different Parker is compared to Indiana, yet going back and reading about her at the same age, they’re identical! I don’t think I’d have half as many pictures of them if I didn’t blog either.

…and your least favourite?

The feeling of competition within the community. At times it can feel like everyone is just trying to be better than the next person. I wish people would realise we’re all great in our own way, and stop the comparing!

What’s the best blog post you have ever read?

Over the past few years I’ve so many amazing blogs and posts. One blogger who I absolutely love is Charlotte – Write Like No One’s Watching. Her recent post about her ‘mum bod’ was so relatable to me.

What blog do you love to read and why?

I’ve been reading Alice’s blog, New Young Mum, since day 1, and I still absolutely love it. She’s such a wonderful mum to Amelia, and her craft ideas and seaside posts are fantastic.

Do you do anything differently now to when you started blogging?

I definitely think more about what I’m going to write, instead of writing a post in five minutes and posting straight away. I make the effort to take better photos, and always share my posts on social media, which I never did before.

Is blogging what you expected it to be?

Definitely not! I never knew there was such a fantastic community. I also never knew that it could create such fantastic opportunities, or that I could ever work with big companies such as Butlins!

What’s been your favourite blog collaboration to date?

I would probably have to say being a Butlin’s Ambassador. It was such an amazing opportunity, and one that we could all enjoy as a family. My Butlin’s blogs are now our most viewed Youtube videos too, so it’s also helped to grow our channel too.

Are there any brands you would love to work with, why?

I’d love to work with a holiday company such as Thomson. I studied Travel and Tourism at college, so have always had a passion for travel. I absolutely loved blogging about our familymoon and would love to write more like this.

Have you had any blogging fails so far?

Thankfully not yet! Although I’ve have plenty of blogging photo fails. Trying to get two young children to pose for photos is not always easy.

What is your biggest blogging hope, dream or ambition?

My dream is for the blog (along with my youtube channel) to become my proper source of income. My husband works hard to provide for us, but I’d love to be able to bring a good source of income for our family too.

What do you do when you’re not blogging?

When I’m not running after my two toddlers, you’ll find me stuck under my iPad watching Youtube videos, or browsing through kids clothes; I have a little bit of an obsession.

and lastly, tell us all a random fact about yourself

I absolutely hate tea, coffee, wine, etc. I don’t know how I survive the sleepless nights and stresses of being a parent!

Now that you know all about Emily from Emily and Indiana, make sure you go and read her blog. You can follow her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram – thanks so much Emily for being involved!