Birth of my Baby, Birth of my Blog
I’m sat here with my wife in Pontefract Hospital, England, awaiting the birth of my second child. What better time to whip out my MacBook and write this post—the first post, of my new blog.
My wife is being induced, very slowly I may add, so I’ll be in hospital with her a couple of days. I have decided to use some of this ‘spare’ time to write about my new venture/blog—AndrewKelsall.com. In between aiding with my wives’ contractions, I’ll be blogging about the reasons I chose to set up this site—and the path that led to it.
I have been writing another blog now for the past 18 months, but I thought it was about time for a change of ‘digital-scenery’, if there is such a concept. I usually blog about CD cover designs and related subjects, but this blog was generally a marketing tool to draw traffic to the main site of my other online design project, Sqwink.com.
I never really drew much attention to the actual Sqwink Blog, mostly through lack of marketing—and partially through lack of general reader interest—I summise. About a year ago, I was inspired by Graphic Design Blogs such as nDesignStudio, David Airey.com and Veerls Blog. As I had spent 18 months setting up the Sqwink Blog and writing blog posts, I felt that I was in a great position to start this new venture.
Having already grasped the fundamentals of WordPress (and its’ plugins) blog customization and web-site optimization, I know that I can put my knowledge to use, creating a blog that I can be proud of.
The aim of AndrewKelsall.com is to not only reach clients in my local area of Hemsworth & South Elmsall (in West Yorkshire, England), but globally as well. I intend to blog about my previous and current graphic design jobs, along with my knowledge of graphic design-related subjects. It would be also great to teach readers’ of what I have to offer.
I suppose the main difference you’re likely to see in my blog posts, compared to other graphic design-based sites, is my attention to the smaller details of graphic design. I class myself as a perfectionist, so you’ll be likely to read some posts critiquing the mistakes of other designs as well as posts commending great design.
To wrap up this rather long-winded post—the post that gives birth to my blog, I’d just like to say that I’m now a dad again. After many, many hours in labour, my wife has given birth to a beautiful baby daughter. I hope that she grows and flourishes in life—just like this new blog.
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9 Comments
Hi Andrew,
Best of luck with your new blog. It’s great to know you’ve found some inspiration from my little website, and I look forward to reading your articles.
Hope the weekend’s a good one!
15 Jun 2008 11:06 am David Airey
Thanks David, what better start could I have had in the blog, than the first comment from you – I feel quite honoured.
And yeah, this weekend has been great, except for the nights!
15 Jun 2008 11:06 am Andrew Kelsall
I don’t envy the nights, but no doubt it’ll all be worth it.
Take it easy buddy, and congrats.
15 Jun 2008 12:06 pm David Airey
Thanks, I hope you’ll return and tell my your thoughts on my [upcoming] blog modifications in the coming weeks….
15 Jun 2008 11:06 pm Andrew Kelsall
[...] Birth of my Baby, Birth of my BlogFirst Blog Post [...]
First of all congrats.
But whaaat? You don’t look old enough to have a wife and two kids! Must be a good photo
The blog is coming along lovely isn’t it. Lots of nice topics to read.
Amanda Vlahakiss last blog post..Where Is Tara & The Weather Pops
14 May 2009 11:05 am Amanda Vlahakis
Well, must admit, I think that photo is 2 years old now, from when I was 28. I was married at 23, and had my son at 26, then a my daughter last year. All planned-out and worked out perfectly I dare say.
I thinking of changing that photo soon, and my Gravatar. Maybe you can see if I look youngish then, lol.
Thanks for your comment Amanda…
14 May 2009 06:05 pm Andrew Kelsall
Aha, so you are ‘fairly’ young then. I got married at 23 also (well I wasn’t quite 23, so was actually 22).
Everyone told me ‘You’re too young to get married, live your life first’ as if your life is over once you get married or something, lol. I bet you heard all that as well and my husband got asked if he married me because I was pregnant!! Very funny.
I’ve been married 13 years this July …. before the kids came we lived life to the fullest, partied hard, travelled and what not…….after the kids came (first child when I was 27, so very similar to yourself) we still traveled, still partied hard! I have a boy and a girl also … girl first then boy three years later.
The kids have flown with us to different countries 9 times in the last four years …we started traveling with them when the youngest was 7mths old. First tester trip when our boy was 7mths old was was a drive to Paris.
They have been to France, Turkey, Spain (several times, I like Spain), Gozo/Malta, Cyrpus… looking toward to taking them on a long haul soon now they are old enough to take it without too much whining
Maybe Barbados as a first long haul tester as it’s one flight only and only 8hrs.
I want to visit my brother in St Maarten (small island in the Carribean), but that’s an almighty trip, not a good first try with a 4yr old and a 7yr old.
No ‘your life is over’ nonsense at all when you get married young.
Life has been a blast, I’ve been living it up
Hope you have a long happy marriage/family life ahead of you 
Amanda Vlahakiss last blog post..Where Is Tara & The Weather Pops
15 May 2009 09:05 am Amanda Vlahakis
Hello everyone!
I just wanted to come in and say hi and hope you are all having a very blessed day. I will be reading a few of your comments and hope to learn from you all and in time will give back to this community.
02 Jul 2011 09:07 pm Mutata Adebowale
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