10554010_1454625788124870_1287040656_nRemember about a year ago when I announced a blog redesign in the works? And then I never talked about it again and so much time passed you all thought I forgot about it?

Surprise! I’ve been working on it the whole time!

It was a tough job because I care so much about this space and wanted to do it right. I wanted something new and updated, but I also wanted my loyal readers to feel like they were some place recognizable. An evolution of my old design, not a throw the baby out with the bathwater situation.

Speaking of babies, I started Mommy Shorts when Mazzy was nine months-old. This year, Mazzy started kindergarten. She’s got a younger sister who has spent the entire 22 months of her life without any representation in my header.

Congratulations, Harlow! You finally get equal billing!

10375752_1436741319911276_232584770_nIn addition to looking pretty, the new design addresses a lot of the issues with my old site, with much better navigation, optimized mobile and a brand new fancy pants newsletter. (I’ve got daily and weekly options and now would be the perfect time to subscribe! There’s a subscribe button on the top right under the social icons or you can just click here.)

If you are someone who hates change, particularly when it comes to websites you’ve read for years, let me take a moment to explain how everything works before you get upset.

1) The Drop Down Menu

The top menu is meant to give you a variety of ways to find things with sub-categories under each main menu item. I could explain them all but it’s probably better to just look for yourself.  FYI- Scrapbook and Shop are empty and coming soon.

2) The Homepage Slider

Take a moment to click over to the homepage, where you’ll find my fancy new slider. This features that day’s post, as well as any other relevant content.

3) Chronological color coded posts

Underneath the slider, you’ll find all my posts in chronological order from newest to oldest, just like they’ve always been on my old site. If you visit every day, looking for the newest post, that’s where you should go— the first post underneath the slider will always be the most recent.

The whole site is color coded so that if you like videos (aqua) or you like home decor (pink), you can get to know your color and find them easily.

4) Search and sorting options

On top of the homepage, underneath the slider, you will find sorting and search options. There’s a regular search box, a place to toggle from “newest” to “most popular” appearing at the top (editor’s note: newest/most popular has been temporarily disabled since it wasn’t working correctly), as well as an option to search by “age”. We’re still working on ways that you can use these functions together to further refine your search, like let’s say you’re only interested in reading “travel” posts with a “toddler”. Or something like that. 

5) Header Photo FEED

Speaking of cool, my top banner is actually my Instagram feed. It will update every time I post a new picture. Wheeeeee!!!!

10665493_548974681874358_1850153633_n-16) Mobile

If you are on your mobile device, doesn’t it look all slick and streamlined??? Take a moment to tap the three lines in the upper lefthand corner— that will take you to the site navigation which should be pretty self-explanatory.

7) Daily updates and the weekly newsletter

If you have been getting my daily updates for a long time, thank you for reading the ugliest email imaginable! The new email should be much prettier, with post excerpts instead of the whole thing. I’ve also got a weekly option, so if you haven’t subscribed because you don’t want me clogging your inbox, now you have the option to only get bothered by me once a week. Sign up for my daily or weekly newsletters by clicking “newsletter’ in the footer or by clicking here.

10311039_1410292682586097_874669033_nWhat else can I tell you…….?

8) left Sidebar circles

The sidebar circles are random posts I’d like to highlight, including some blasts from the past. For now, I’m keeping a link to “The Best of Mommy Shorts” at the top and a link to “Start from the Beginning” at the bottom because I know those were two of my most popular links on the old site.

9) The widgets on the right

The top widget will always feature an episode of the Mommy Show. The widget underneath will usually feature a product and if you click on it, it will take you to a shop to purchase. Right now, I’m linking to my amazon shop with all of Mazzy and Harlow’s favorite books. “Daily Wit” is a post quote pulled randomly which will change automatically every day. And you should expect to see a “Baby Mug of the Day” widget coming soon!

There is still some work to be done on the site— categorizing, fixing featured images, design tweaks, tech tweaks, etc. so don’t be surprised if you land on something wonky. I’ve got about 1500 posts and it’s going to take a bit to fix all of them from the older format.

I want to thank Hum Creative for sticking with me throughout the design process and building something I love 1000X more than my old blog. I never thought that would happen.

I really hope everyone is happy with where I landed.

Now go poke around!

When you are done poking, any feedback (issues or accolades) is appreciated!

XO, Mommy Shorts