I'm not sure about you, but when I was pregnant I was constantly told by friends, family - even strangers in the street! - just how quickly time will pass once you've had a child. Naive little me, I obviously didn't believe it for a second. Surely that's just another one of those old wives tales that are constantly tossed around? On one occasion, an elderly lady stopped me in Booths to tell me how I was clearly having a baby boy (wrong) and how I would definitely go at least a week over my due date because my bump was small (also wrong, Edie was born nearly 6 weeks earlier than expected!). I just figured it would be another one of those things, you say 'Yeah, ok.' Smile politely and then completely forget the conversation. Maybe the time went quickly for them but it will be different for me, right? Now I'm faced with the realisation of just how wrong I was. I'm sat typing this blog post with a 20 week old tugging on my hair and pulling on my shirt, entwining her perfect, tiny fingers around whatever she can while she babbles and dribbles away.

It's come to the time when I need to seriously consider my options for returning to work. I was left with no other choice but to take my maternity leave early as I was so unwell during pregnancy, and this means I will have to resume working much sooner than I would have hoped to. 

Adjusting to life with a newborn is daunting. There's this tiny little human, solely dependent upon you. I was so lucky that my partner, Liam, was able to get four weeks off. That way we could spend a whole month together in a little family bubble. It definitely made it less of a challenge, it's only now that he's gone back to work that I realise what a help an extra pair of hand are. Case in point: I'm currently typing with a sleepy (but not sleepy enough to fall asleep - sigh) 8 week old on my lap! 

Planning days out, meeting up with friends and family and enjoying all of the time we could spend together with Edie was the perfect way to spend her first few weeks in the world.