It’s been a while…
I only published three blogs throughout 2022 which makes me equal parts sad and happy. Sad that I didn’t have the time or desire to sit down and write anything, but happy I had such a magical year that I was able to soak it all up and enjoy it.
So, shall we reflect on the year that was?
In January I started what I thought would be my dream job at Business Chicks as their editor and spent the year working with an amazing team, learning from a talented bunch of women, and unfortunately, what it meant to be made redundant. Several weeks out from when I was due to take maternity leave, I received the call that I (along with a majority of the team) was no longer needed and let’s just say that came as a HUGE shock. At 33 weeks pregnant, one doesn’t usually anticipate having to look for another job, but thankfully I have an incredible professional network around me and was able to lock in a contractor role with POPSUGAR (along with The Latch), a brand I have admired for as long as I can remember. While I had a short pity party for myself, I knew this would be a blessing in disguise and I’d have to hustle to make up the money I’d be losing from my maternity leave and I did just that. I finished up freelancing on the 2nd of December and gave birth on the 7th- I timed that pretty perfectly, right!
This leads onto the absolute highlight of not only my year but my life; the birth of my daughter, Astrid! I write this as I look over my laptop at her snoozing on the couch, and I am still in absolute awe that I made something so perfect. She has a funny little personality and is rather the social butterfly who can sleep just about anywhere.
Florian and I also became homeowners and purchased a fix-me-up apartment in Gladesville and have loved being able to make a space totally our own by ripping up stale carpet, painting and drilling into the walls- it’s the little things, right?!
My beautiful sister also got married and I was not only a proud big sister but her matron of honour too. I was six weeks pregnant at the time and was trying to disguise my lack of champagne drinking as best I could, but some relatives were onto me. Speaking of pregnancy and my sister… she was also pregnant in 2022 and gave birth to her equally beautiful daughter, Amalia in January- exactly six weeks after Astrid was born. These two girls will be the best of friends and I am loving being able to share this special time in my life with my sister.
I’m not sure how long I’ll take on maternity leave but what I do know is I want to soak up every moment with this little precious baby as much as I can. I’m sure there will come a day where the bank account begins to nag me to get back to the grind, but perhaps I can get back on the freelancer train and keep the flexibility of working whenever and wherever, but until then, my new job is being Astrid’s mum. The pay and hours aren’t great, but the cuddles are out of this world.
I have set the goal of writing (at least!) more than three blogs this year as I document the magic that comes with motherhood.
Until next time, I’ll just be here staring at Astrid.
-tgfs x