Here it is. The 1000th published post on Olive Dragonfly. I never could have imagined back when I started writing in 2011 that I would still be doing it 5 years on, almost to the day! My first post here was on the 27th February 2011 and so much has happened in that time. I'm amazed I even noticed this was the 1000th post to be honest, I blog so sporadically these days but I'm still here and usually constantly writing posts in my head, most of them just don't make it on to the computer! I'm writing this in my lunch hour at work (the only guaranteed time I won't be interrupted in a day! There are in fact a further 244 draft posts on my blogger home page, either unfinished posts such as the twins' birthday party, their first snowman, our entire trip to Saudi, our holiday to Turkey, various Christmas posts from a busy December... or ideas I had but never got round to actually writing. I've actually got a loooong post all written about the new year and how low I was feeling (which I ended up briefly mentioning on Facebook and have since felt completely differently so I never posted it. It just seemed a bit too woe-is-me and self indulgent!)
This year I am hoping to write more with more of a focus on the other things in my life apart from the twins, now that I have other things in life again! Their first year was mostly a blur of twin shenanigans and breastfeeding. Amazing but exhausting and all consuming. Now they are sleeping well (fingers crossed that lasts!) and I am no longer breast feeding, I have started doing more of the other things I love. I started up my own baking club down here and have been enjoying baking more as well as meeting more new people. We've had dinner parties and been invited to friends' homes for fun afternoons and evenings out. I managed a few crafts for the twins' birthday and at Christmas and Nik and I have managed a couple of nights out alone. As for the twins, their personalities are certainly developing and they are so much fun and doing more and more so we are able to have more adventures together when I'm on my own with them.
On the blog side of things, I'm hoping to write more reviews of places in and around my new town as there are so many that I love! I've also recently decided to remove a few older posts to smarten up the blog a bit and give it a more professional appearance in general. Let's face it, quite a lot of my older posts were a bit rambling and the photos left a lot to be desired. So after this post is live, I'll be tidying Olive Dragonfly up a bit and hopefully posting more quality posts about a range of things again and not just the twins ;) Although they'll obviously still be a main focus as they are the main focus of my life now and no matter what, Olive Dragonfly will always be about my life and the things/people I love.
You may have noticed that Roz hasn't been around on the blog for a while. She's also found life to be very busy since having Aaron and her last post was a year ago now. She's still very much around on Instagram and in fact, pregnant with baby number two!! Such exciting news and not long to go now until I'll be having to make another little trip up to Glasgow to meet the new baby star! As life is going to get even busier for Roz, I don't think she will be back writing again on the blog for a while yet but I hope she will be back with some more updates on her gorgeous house (and gorgeous babes!) when time allows. One of my new friends down here has expressed an interest in writing for us so she and Roz will be guest writers from time to time.
Now that I live in a smaller area, I am a bit more conscious about some of the more personal posts I've written before and I feel weird about people in my community possibly reading them whereas I didn't feel that way when publishing them to the world before. I've been nervous to show anyone here my blog as I wasn't sure what they might make of it. I still don't make a secret of our IVF and am happy to talk about it if asked (which, as we have twins, does sometimes happen!) Some of these IVF posts will also disappear though. I will be keeping the main story of our IVF live as it was such a huge thing for me to be able to write about that openly and receive the most amazing support from my readers and friends. I will never forget the way people helped me during that dark time of life and will be forever grateful. Any posts I do remove will still be there, just not live on the blog any more. I have kept ALL of the comments I received in an email folder as well so I will always have them.
I never used to care what people thought of what I wrote and I don't know why that's changed. Maybe it's because I'm a parent now or perhaps just as I've moved such a distance, I feel I'm sort of a new person here and I want people here to get to know me as I am now and not necessarily everything that has gone before, at least until they do know me properly. Meeting a whole new community over the past year and a half has been daunting and hard at times. Making friends as an adult can be tough and although it's made MUCH easier by having children and baby groups to go to, I also don't want that to define me. As it is, now I feel I have found some real local friends as well as surrogate mothers and grandmothers even! Being back at work has also helped broaden the people I know of course and it's been lovely having another side of me back.
Last night I went along to a meeting about setting up a new, modern WI here and I am so excited to be a part of it. I'll be writing more about that soon but I'm just thrilled that my non-twin-related social life is picking up! I started my own baking club recently and have been asked to make that a part of the new WI. I've also joined a local book club but haven't been to a meeting yet. This first book I read as part of it was A Thousand Splendid Suns which I might not have read otherwise but was an amazing, if harrowing, read. I found it particularly interesting having visited a restricted Arabic country albeit not to the extent in the book thankfully!
Anyway, as I appear to be rambling on again, I'll end this 100th post there. Although I guess I should add in at least one photo of the twinnies! ;)
These a few older pictures I never got round to posting, a couple from our trip to Saudi when they were 8 months old:
And a couple from December:
This year I am hoping to write more with more of a focus on the other things in my life apart from the twins, now that I have other things in life again! Their first year was mostly a blur of twin shenanigans and breastfeeding. Amazing but exhausting and all consuming. Now they are sleeping well (fingers crossed that lasts!) and I am no longer breast feeding, I have started doing more of the other things I love. I started up my own baking club down here and have been enjoying baking more as well as meeting more new people. We've had dinner parties and been invited to friends' homes for fun afternoons and evenings out. I managed a few crafts for the twins' birthday and at Christmas and Nik and I have managed a couple of nights out alone. As for the twins, their personalities are certainly developing and they are so much fun and doing more and more so we are able to have more adventures together when I'm on my own with them.
On the blog side of things, I'm hoping to write more reviews of places in and around my new town as there are so many that I love! I've also recently decided to remove a few older posts to smarten up the blog a bit and give it a more professional appearance in general. Let's face it, quite a lot of my older posts were a bit rambling and the photos left a lot to be desired. So after this post is live, I'll be tidying Olive Dragonfly up a bit and hopefully posting more quality posts about a range of things again and not just the twins ;) Although they'll obviously still be a main focus as they are the main focus of my life now and no matter what, Olive Dragonfly will always be about my life and the things/people I love.
You may have noticed that Roz hasn't been around on the blog for a while. She's also found life to be very busy since having Aaron and her last post was a year ago now. She's still very much around on Instagram and in fact, pregnant with baby number two!! Such exciting news and not long to go now until I'll be having to make another little trip up to Glasgow to meet the new baby star! As life is going to get even busier for Roz, I don't think she will be back writing again on the blog for a while yet but I hope she will be back with some more updates on her gorgeous house (and gorgeous babes!) when time allows. One of my new friends down here has expressed an interest in writing for us so she and Roz will be guest writers from time to time.
Now that I live in a smaller area, I am a bit more conscious about some of the more personal posts I've written before and I feel weird about people in my community possibly reading them whereas I didn't feel that way when publishing them to the world before. I've been nervous to show anyone here my blog as I wasn't sure what they might make of it. I still don't make a secret of our IVF and am happy to talk about it if asked (which, as we have twins, does sometimes happen!) Some of these IVF posts will also disappear though. I will be keeping the main story of our IVF live as it was such a huge thing for me to be able to write about that openly and receive the most amazing support from my readers and friends. I will never forget the way people helped me during that dark time of life and will be forever grateful. Any posts I do remove will still be there, just not live on the blog any more. I have kept ALL of the comments I received in an email folder as well so I will always have them.
I never used to care what people thought of what I wrote and I don't know why that's changed. Maybe it's because I'm a parent now or perhaps just as I've moved such a distance, I feel I'm sort of a new person here and I want people here to get to know me as I am now and not necessarily everything that has gone before, at least until they do know me properly. Meeting a whole new community over the past year and a half has been daunting and hard at times. Making friends as an adult can be tough and although it's made MUCH easier by having children and baby groups to go to, I also don't want that to define me. As it is, now I feel I have found some real local friends as well as surrogate mothers and grandmothers even! Being back at work has also helped broaden the people I know of course and it's been lovely having another side of me back.
Last night I went along to a meeting about setting up a new, modern WI here and I am so excited to be a part of it. I'll be writing more about that soon but I'm just thrilled that my non-twin-related social life is picking up! I started my own baking club recently and have been asked to make that a part of the new WI. I've also joined a local book club but haven't been to a meeting yet. This first book I read as part of it was A Thousand Splendid Suns which I might not have read otherwise but was an amazing, if harrowing, read. I found it particularly interesting having visited a restricted Arabic country albeit not to the extent in the book thankfully!
Anyway, as I appear to be rambling on again, I'll end this 100th post there. Although I guess I should add in at least one photo of the twinnies! ;)
These a few older pictures I never got round to posting, a couple from our trip to Saudi when they were 8 months old:
And a couple from December:
3 comments:
This is a lovely post. So many exciting things! I am sorry to hear the New Year started off a bit low for you (New Year is such a strange time of year for both ends of your mental health spectrum!) But I am glad you are happier again now. Looking forward to reading more. M. :-)
By your I meant everyone! This year I just wanted to hide away.
I really admire how you throw yourself into meeting new people and doing new things, I need to follow your example I think! Now Jude is here and I'm no longer stuck at home I'm looking forward to more fun with the four (!) children we have between us! Xxx
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