On my bedside table...

My bedside table this week and last week and probably next week. Give or take a few half empty cups of tea because I am incapable of finishing a cup. 

• A bucket full of things to do as a family during baby's first year. The ladies in my life all wrote some things down on a piece of paper and I'll be damned if we don't do them. Probably not the trip to Greece Soph but we'll keep the dream alive. 
• A mason jar full of plant off cuts that are growing happily in the sun. Given my love affair with indoor plants I thought I should probably try my hand at cultivating them. 
• A milk jar full of blooms - what a luxury to have fresh blooms in the house! these have already died but it was lovely for a week!
• a pretty box full of junky girl stuff like bobby pins and lost earrings and headbands I can't wear.
• A journal full of little love letters, notes and thoughts from me to baby dewey. I pick up a pen and jot things down at night when the thought strikes me... I hope they appreciate it one day. 
• The glasses I can no longer live without. I used to have 20/20 vision! Then I spent my days at a computer. Then I got pregnant. Now I feel like my eyes cannot focus without them. 
• My new favourite perfume. Ma bought me a pack of sample sized Jo Malone perfumes so I could test each of them and then pick one out for my birthday. I think I've settled on French Pear and Freesia. I wear it and feel so many things and I think it'll be the perfect signature scent for me as a Mother. 
• And the point of the post - Hey Natalie Jean.

Em bought me this book for my baby shower. We've read the Hey Natalie Jean blog for a really long time now and absolutely could not wait for the book. She pre - ordered it, wrote me a note inside it and wrapped it in chic paper. I died. 

When we read the blog, we escape to this wonderful fantasy land in New York where it is absolutely OK to just be really happy about some diet coke and false lashes. Natalie's attitude about being honest, being happy, being unapologetically yourself and about life in general spurs me on. Gives me motivation to own my thoughts and quirks. Makes me feel safe to say that yes, this life I am living with my Husband and our baby bump and two chihuahuas is all I ever dreamed of. And also, am I even ready to be a Mother?

As I shift into this new chapter of my life I know that I'm still finding myself. I'm still growing and battling anxiety and the guilts and doing things I thought I would absolutely not be doing when I was about to become a Mother but people like Natalie and the ladies in my life are making it so much easier. Here's to villages raising babies, being nice to yourself and having another diet coke.