The Blogiversary – A Year Of Blogging

I got a lovely reminder from WordPress that the blog started a year ago (last Thursday technically!). We were away for the weekend so this is the first chance I’ve had to reflect on it (in writing).

So which way to look at it? There’s the numbers approach (which I will summarise later), the photo approach (again, keep scrolling…) and a selection of my favourite posts so far.I reckon that’ll do…

What of the blogging experience so far then? I’ve really enjoyed putting our time with Bea into words so far. I’m not always as up to date as I’d like, I’m also not often confident to voice my opinion too much on here like a lot of other bloggers are (credit to them by the way!) and I still have no idea what shape this blog will take in the longer run. It’s hard finding the time outside of work, and in the last few months in particular, there has just been too much to comment on so I’ve been sat back and just enjoying the experiences in real life, sorry!

The blogging world has been an interesting world to enter too – there’s a wealth of information, opinion and bloggers out there, and there’s a lot to learn should I wish. I can say fairly confidently that I won’t be quitting the day job any time soon though!

So, the blog by numbers (sorry, can’t help it, I know Lucy will be tutting as she reads this…):

62 posts

3544 views (which is bonkers!)

1,779 visitors (not sure how this one works!)

29 WordPress followers

5 Email followers

There’s also a smattering of Instagram and Facebook likes/follows too, which I’m very gratfeul for! I’m glad people like to come and read, it’s a real sense of achievement when people actually do!

That’s the numbers out of the way.

Favourite posts? Not entirely sure, but I’ve picked some of these out to reminisce.

Here’s where it all began…

This one brings back some strong memories of starting out as parents: LINK

This one was the first post that resonated with a friend: LINK

We’re still hooked on this particular series: LINK

The start of a manic December: LINK

We all make mistakes: LINK

And finally, time for some of my favourite photos. We’ve taken soooo many, and I made the decision early on not to share any photos of Bea’s full face – this has been a challenge, but one I’m glad I did. She might want to be involved in the future, but I want that to be her decision! Anyway, I’ve selected (and added) my favourites from the blog so far!

Just looking through all these makes me excited for the year ahead!

Names we should’ve chosen…

Baby names. One of the most difficult things to decide. Names are powerful things and what’s worse is that you, as parents, are totally responsible for choosing them. Do you go down the ‘Top 100 Baby Names for 2016/2017′ route? Top baby boys’ names beginning with Q?  Traditional names, modern names, family names – they all feature, and we certainly went through a fairly extensive list (including at least 3 baby naming books). Like most people, we had our shortlists. In fact, we had a boy’s name ready. We also had a fairly long list of girls’ names.

Even at the time, at least 24 hours after she was born we still weren’t 100%.

Now, she totally is Beatrice. Or Bea-bea. Or Bea. Or little Bea to her cousin. We love her name, and she loves to hear all the different variations!

However, back to the title. Despite our happiness with her actual name, it’s almost certainly only in the top five, maybe top ten names we regularly call her. No-one tells you that you not only get to choose someone’s name, but you are also the sole creator of their pet names, nicknames and other loving terms of endearment.

I’ve also noticed a bit of a pattern forming in terms of the names I call her, so I wanted to share this little ‘Baby Name Generator’ with you. It’s fairly simple, take a word from the first list, and follow it with a word from the second one. It’s not exhaustive, but certainly covers a lot of her names!

List 1: 

Wriggle / Cheeky / Little / Happy / Gorgeous / Bouncy / Cutie

List 2:                                

Bottom / Pie / Girlie / Baby /Monkey / Monster / Pops       

Okay, so maybe ‘Gorgeous Bottom’ doesn’t work. I’d love to see your pet names in the comments, they can really stem from almost nothing and have no meaning to anyone but your little family unit- which is exactly as it should be!Big thanks to all of you who read the last post. It was my most successful to date! If you’ve seen the last couple of posts, you may have noticed a Tots 100 logo appear at the bottom. This is a site that lists the top UK parenting blogs. I’m a long way off of that at the moment, but the more views, likes and reach the posts get, the further I could go up the list- curse my inner competitive streak! I’ll let you know in February how I’m getting on (your position gets updated monthly). Enjoy your weekend!