Pinch, punch – first of the month. Which means it’s time for the next installment of #OurYesterYear, a linky that invites everyone to take a look back at this time last year and have a good old reminisce. I’m taking a look back at July 2016, when Pickle was only a tiny little squidge and I was still rapidly trying to get my head around this parenting malarkey.
Last Month First!
Before I delve into the past a whole twelve months, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on last month’s #OurYesterYear. Thank you to all the lovely bloggers who linked up, including this VERY fitting post from Carol, who shared the reasons why she loves joining in with a linky! A great little start to this monthly feature.
One Year Ago – Getting to Grips with Parenthood
Blimey, it was a bit of an emotional roller coaster reading my posts from July 2016. It’s easy to take for granted how you grow in confidence as a parent, and that first month or so was so up and down. To start with, I opened up about how I suffered with antenatal depression. I remember just how exposed it felt to ‘reveal’ that to the world and how strangely proud I was to find the words to share my story. I’m lucky. My perinatal mental health story was a relatively short one, but it’s still not something I find easy to talk about. I can’t help but feel in awe of those who speak so openly about their mental health – it takes real strength and courage, and I hope helps those who are perhaps suffering in silence feel less alone.
This paragraph from my Pickle is One Month Old post is such an accurate portrayal of life in those first weeks…
My situation right now pretty well sums up what life has been like for the past month: it’s 12.30pm and after a night of little sleep, Pickle is dozing now quite happily, head resting on my boob leaving me terrified to move in case I wake him. I’m sat on the sofa, next to a plate of crumbs (so addicted to toast!) which has been there since breakfast and a cold cup of tea. I have one exposed boob (the smaller one, this breastfeeding malarkey is currently highlighting my preference to feed from the right-hand side with a noticeable lopsided size difference!) and my bum is going numb from having sat in the same position for so long. The copious amounts of cushions I keep surrounding myself with aren’t helping. My phone is on the sofa arm, ready and primed to take another baby photo, although they never quite capture his scrumptiousness entirely. I’m keeping an eye on the clock as even though we don’t have to be at baby sensory until 2.45pm, getting there on time requires hours of preparation and I’m already starting to think I should get a move on… Oh, and the nipple tingling has just started indicating that Pickle will probably be after a feed again soon. Again.
It’s been a real treat to check my TimeHop over the last month, and see lots of little tiny baby photos of Pickle. You really do forget how small and squidgy your baby was, don’t you? He’s so robust and sturdy now that it’s difficult to think back to a time when he was so delicate and helpless. Bless him.
Oh my goodness. I loved this The Essential One sleepsuit – it was the start of my love of Pickle wearing yellow. It’s still my favourite colour to dress him in. I had no idea back then that I’d end up writing for their website, although I could have guessed I’d still be dressing him in their clothes for his first birthday!
Near the end of July, I had a pretty rough time when I couldn’t go to my best friend’s hen do. My Well, this weekend SUCKS post title sums it up! I think that’s been the trickiest thing I’ve found since becoming a parent – juggling priorities, especially when it comes to friendship. Because, obviously, your child is always going to come first. That’s just the way it is, but it’s making sure you still have time and love and fun to share with your friends so that they don’t feel like they’ve just been pushed to one side. I don’t know if I’m succeeding on that front even now… you’d have to ask my friends! I’m sure there have been times when they’ve been disappointed in me, or felt frustrated at a lack of contact or my distracted attention when we’re together because I’m trying to juggle Pickle, and whilst I know that I’m lucky to have the most understanding and empathetic of friends, I still hope that one day… in the future… with little babies of their own… they’ll ‘get it’ on a whole other level.
#OurYesterYear Linky
And now it’s your turn. I’d love for you to take a look back at the blog posts or photos you took in July last year (or in 2015 and beyond if you fancy!). Enjoy the little trip down memory lane and feel free to join in the fun here by adding links to your old blog posts or to a new reflective post. If you’re not a blogger, use the #OurYesterYear hashtag on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook to share an old photo.
How it works
On the 1st of every month, a new #OurYesterYear linky will open, and remain open until the end of the month. There are several ways you can take part:
- Link up with the URL of a past blog post written in this month but in a previous year (it could be one year ago, two years ago or even ten years ago!)
- Link up with a new blog post that reflects upon a post or posts written previously (this is what I’ll be doing!)
- Use the hashtag #OurYesterYear on social media
You can add up to two links over the course of the month if you’d like, and although there aren’t any rules or requirements as such, it’s nice to share the love and take a look at at least another couple of bloggers’ posts too. If you’d like to add this badge to your post, please feel free to copy and paste the code below.
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