Half Pint Pixie

Yay, here I am back in the land of broadband! That break hurt my brain, and my wallet, mobile phone web surfing is certainly not cheap! I missed my little online village so I’m going to be stalking all of your blogs over the next few days to catch up with you all Now, allow me to wish my blog a happy birthday and reminisce over the past year!

Happy Bloggiversary to HPP, it’s 1 year and 3 days since I started this little blog. In one year I’ve graced your screens with 345 posts. At first my posts were all infodumps, I wanted to put all the info I had searched so hard for while pregnant into one place in the hopes that it would be of help to someone else. Especially Ireland-specific information.

So my first few posts were about donating breastmilk to our one and only Human Milk Bank, my experience of preparing for and having an Active Birth in an Irish hospital, writing a Birth Preference Plan tailored to an Irish hospital, the laws that protect our right to nurse in public in Ireland, successful breastfeeding with flat nipples, and helpful books and websites I found while researching vegan pregnancy, all that type of stuff.

And then you lot started to comment and get involved in chats and discussions, and HPP really took off! I’ve met some fantastic people through my blog and even met one of you in real life (thank you Isil, hopefully we’ll get a chance to meet again next time we’re in London!). I started taking part in Wordless Wednesday and NaBloPoMo(that was exhausting) and found so many other great blogs through them. I’ve hosted a few giveaways (another coming very soon!) and I’ve gotten involved with API Speaks and The Veggie Blog. Very busy indeed

And of course I’ve been mammy to a wonderful littlepixie whose adventures keep me on my toes. I’ve found on days when the whole mammy thing gets hard, it’s been a real help to log on and post something positive instead of moaning (I often veer towards moaniness in real life so I make an extra effort to see the good in things for my blog to help me see things from a different angle!) And it’s always amazed me how if I post about a particular problem I’m having, within a few hours someone will leave a comment which really helps me sort it out, so thanks for that all of you!

HPP has also been a great way for my brain to stay active, I’m used to working hard and applying myself to a schedule, but that goes whoosh out the window when looking after a toddler. Only yesterday I spent 15 minutes chasing a ball in circles around the garden while LP sat on a blanket laughing and clapping as I made a clown of myself. Great fun, but you know, not exactly brain stimulating.

I decided that while I was in mammy mode, it was the perfect time to get involved in topics close to my mammy-heart.

So, I’ve become quite the lactivist, joining Baby Milk Action and taking the time to follow through with complaints when I see dubious advertising by formula companies. I joined my local LLL and a couple of online support forums too. Even though I have less than 2 years experience of breastfeeding so far, I try and share as much of my personal experiences as I can, both positive and initially-hard-but-eventually-positive! I think that hearing other women’s personal experiences is so important for new mothers.

As I come across interesting topics in the news or while browsing, I set aside a little time to look into them and write a little post, you never know who might stumble across it when they need the information. I’ve educated myself the wonderful world of advertising to children, on E numbers in children’s foods and medicines, on children’s need for play, on cosleeping, full-term breastfeeding, babysigning and babywearing, and I learned about the concept of Attachment Parenting (I’d never heard of it by name before!). I found nice nursing bras and yummy vegan milk chocolate! And I even learned when to stop explaining!

I learned to take photos which are non-identifying for illustrating my posts. It’s funny how many photos I now have of the back of our heads or of our shadows or our feet! I’ve shared my simple little crafty household projects, green tips and reviewed many yummy vegan recipes. I’ve taken part in the Go-Green challenge and tried to become more conscious of our food waste (very relevant now as we’ve moved away from the city composterie service!).

And I’ve enjoyed posting here, which is the most important thing really! It’s a nice break to sit down with a cuppa while LP snoozes or nurses and take some well deserved me-time.

In the past year, WordPress informs me that I’ve had almost 50,000 hits. Not bad at all And look at where you’re all from, amazing!

It’s fascinating to look at the stats and find out where people have come from and what odd searches lead them here. In case you’re curious, the three most popular posts so far have been The joys of blocked milk ducts, When do Great Apes wean their young? and Non-alcoholic beer of wonderfulness.

So my brain is happy, I’m happy, I have my little online village for support, and a lot of that is thanks to all of you and to this little blog which seems to have taken on a little life of its own. Thanks HPP, happy bloggiversary! Here’s to another year!

Tune in next week for my splendid giveaway

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