Hey! What happened to The Happiest Mom?

Does this place look a little different to you? Nope, you’re not losing your mind. We have a new home, and I’m excited to explain a little bit more about it: why we made the move from The Happiest Mom to The Happiest Home, what you’ll find here, and what the move will mean for this community going forward.

It’s funny how, when you create a blog, the moniker attaches itself to you like glue no matter how hard you try to make it, well, not all about you. 

“The Happiest Mom” was never meant to be MY title. Never did I expect to walk into a room and be addressed like so: “This is Meagan. She’s The Happiest Mom!” It was always meant to be more general; more about all of us being the happiest moms we could be, on any given day.

Suffice it to say that’s not how it worked out and I’ve spent a lot of time over the last several years sheepishly explaining that, no, I do not actually consider myself to be the happiest mother on the planet.

But there’s more to this change than that.

When you’re a new mom, you can’t help but have a narrow focus: it’s pretty much all about you and the baby, getting through the day together. But as those babies get bigger and we find our groove, we slowly start to pay more attention to our surroundings, our relationships, our work lives, our dreams.

And we begin to see ourselves not just as mothers, but as women, members of a family, and heads of a household.

That’s why “The Happiest Home” was born.

I’ve always had a domestic streak, which will definitely be represented here in the House & Home and Kitchen categories, which are both all about finding the “good enough” in housekeeping.

But The Happiest Home is about so much more than just our physical surroundings.

Just like at The Happiest Mom, we’ll be talking about our lives as mothers: self-care, relationships, and finding the positive side in stressful times. We’ll be focusing more intensely on raising kids, marriage and family life. And we’ll be delving deeply into discussions about doing work that matters, whether that’s paid work or exploring hobbies and interests.

Basically, think of The Happiest Home as a space to think, dream, and discuss anything that happens within the four walls of your home – and occasionally, outside of them. 

I’m really excited about this change, as well as our absolutely gorgeous new design and layout from our friends at Sumy Designs. I also have to give big props to Managing Editor Sarah Powers for her work on the relaunch, including that cute little “About the Creator” badge in the sidebar.

A few notes about the structure of the new site and what you can expect at The Happiest Home:

• Each category now has its own RSS feed. So, if you want to subscribe ONLY to a certain category, like “Mom’s Life”, click on that category using the colored links above the content, then go to the “Subscribe to ____” button in the sidebar. Of course, you can also subscribe to all the posts if you don’t want to miss anything! If you already subscribe, your subscription should “follow” to the new URL, so you won’t have to do anything.
• All the old content is here! If you’ve got an old favorite post you want to re-read or recommend to a new mom, don’t worry – it’s still here somewhere and you can find it using the search feature in the sidebar.
• Most of The Kitchen Hour has been folded into the Kitchen category above. This includes posts on topics like lowering grocery budgets, meal planning tips, and even a recent series that asked the question: is free-range chicken really better? Definitely check out the Kitchen category, because there are quite a few posts there that you might not have seen before. Note: All of The Kitchen Hour videos, recipes and podcasts/show notes will also continue to live at thekitchenhour.com, so that you can easily scroll through and find what you’re looking for – but they will also be excerpted here to make it easier for you to view/listen.
• Expect more content. Because we’re expanding our topic reach and rolling The Kitchen Hour content in, you can expect new posts 4-5 days a week. I’ll also continue to excerpt/link to my posts at my personal blog, Babble, and HGTVGardens.
• More guest posting opportunities. If you’ve got a talent, skill or story you’d like to share, there will be more and more opportunities for you to showcase them here at The Happiest Home! We’ll put up a post letting you know how to get in touch with post ideas soon.

I am so grateful to all of you who have made The Happiest Mom a wonderful, supportive community for the past four years…and I’m looking forward to growing this new space together. Like always, please feel free to reach out with questions, comments, or feedback, here or via email: meagan at thehappiesthome.com.

Can’t wait to hear what you think and share The Happiest Home with all of you!