First of all, I want to thank everyone for the massive amount of support for my big announcement on Monday about quitting my job to focus on Mommy Shorts full-time. I loved reading all your encouraging comments, especially the people that volunteered to work for me for free.

Don't say it if you don't mean it— I might come knocking.

Secondly, I want to thank you all for tolerating my begging to vote for me in the Parents Social Media Awards (remember to vote today!). Currently, I am in first place for "Best Instagram" and second place for "Best Blog". If I win anything, I will be BEYOND THRILLED. If someone ends up besting me at the last second, I'm still incredibly thankful for all your support.

You guys are awesome.

Which brings me to New Year's Resolution #2….

I want to be more present in my comment section. 

Just so you know— I read everything. Always have. All comments are delivered to my email inbox and reading them are a highlight of my day. BUT. I recently realized that reading them on my phone, as they come in, while I'm on the go is not conducive to responding. 

So often, I read a question that I want to answer, think to myself "remember to go back and answer it later when you are at your computer" and then I forget. I can barely remember the dates of my daughters' doctor appointments, let alone the fact that JenJen308 wants to know where I bought Harlow's cotton headbands. (Little Hip Squeaks, FYI).

As of today, I am trying an experiment. I am going to turn off the option to have my comments sent to my inbox. Then I am going to make a time in the day when I check all the comments at once on my blog, where I can easily respond. 

This doesn't mean I am going to respond to every comment. Personally, I don't like reading through a blogger's comment section where every other comment is from the blogger. I like to read what other people have to say. I just want to respond where it seems necessary and natural.

Of course, this could be like the New Year's I vowed to eat less ice cream and then broke down and inhaled a pint of Haagen Dazs later that same day. But we'll see. I'm keeping my dating resolution. Mike and I went to see The Wolf of Wall Street Friday night. That's two dates in two weeks!

Moving on.

Remember when My Little Buffalo agreed to illustrate the family who won the Worst Family Holiday Photo Contest? She also drew one of my family. What do you think?

I should probably be wearing pants, but she really nailed Mike's massive shoulders. I'm saving it in case my family photos don't work out next year. Sadly, my friend Jenny Sherouse, who photographed Harlow and the family all last year, moved to Greensboro, North Carolina. (You should totally hire her if you live near there!)

Speaking of bad family photos, on Friday, I posted a late entry on the Mommy Shorts fanpage and made it into a caption contest. I said the caption with the most "likes" on Sunday would win the complete Awkward Family Photos Book Set. 

Well, here we are.

The winning caption is…

Congratulations to Amy! Please contact ali@mommyshorts.com to claim your prize.

And just because I liked it equally as much, here's the runner-up….

Sorry, Holli, you don't get anything for second place. Just my undenying love and gratitude.

Hope everyone is having a great start to the new year!

— Mommy Shorts

PS: I'm starting a big Cake Smash photo contest next week. If you've got any good photos of your baby's first encounter with a cake, start posting them to the Mommy Shorts facebook page.

PPS: Remember to vote for me for Best Blog and Best Instagram. There are two days left. Let's do this thing!