Well It's that time again when your social media timelines flood with endless requests and pleas from us bloggers...begging and canvassing for your votes...yes, it's blog awards season once again!
Now I know that everybody says this...but I promise you it's true...I HATE asking for your votes for these things.
Infact last year I decided not to ask at all, because the whole act of asking for a vote fills me with endless amounts of that horrid *cringe* feeling and I decided I'd just hope that fate would see me along...it didn't of course and that's fine, but I've finally actually read the guidelines for the awards this year and realised that actually they are based on the number of votes you receive....so votes DO matter! Silly me!
And so, whilst I fully appreciate how annoying it probably is to have every blog you read ask you to vote for them and how you have a zillion better things to do with your time, I'm going to just throw my request into the mix along with everybody elses...if you would be kind enough to cast a vote and you think I'm deserving of yours, I would very much appreciate it.
Why I'd Love To Win A Blog Award
Writing has been my absolute passion since I was 5 years old and I discovered that I could make my own little story books. I used to write stories for my little sister on my electric typewriter, and anxiously await her feedback after every bedtime story session! It's always been something that's just in me.
My biggest ambition in life was to become a professional writer - and while I may not have my books lining the shelves of Waterstones or have my name in print on magazine columns just yet, I have managed to create this little blog and turn it from the online scrapbook of my first pregnancy that it began as into a means of supporting my little family...well that feels like such an amazing achievement to me. Far beyond anything I ever imagined possible when I started it.
I work so hard on it, from the moment the kids go to sleep at night I sit writing, coming up with ideas for posts, plugging away...it's a real labor of love.
The icing on the cake would be, when my children are older and they ask me what I do for work, to be able to show them an award I earned for my writing. To be able to show them that although I didn't have a book published or shake the world with my writing, it meant enough to some people for them to nominate me for an award.
I would just absolutely love to have that to show them, to hopefully make them proud.
How To Vote If You'd Like To
I am eligible in four categories for the MAD awards - Best Pregnancy Blog, Best Baby Blog, Best Writer and Blog of the year.
Votes can be cast HERE
Here are some of the posts I've written that fall into those categories - if you like them and think they are worthy of a nomination, then I would be so appreciative of your vote.
Pregnancy
I announced my surprise pregnancy with Sailor in this post at 21 weeks along.
The pregnancy was an unplanned one which brought up a range of emotions - because it was so very close to my second childs birth I also encountered a lot of comments about it which was something I addressed in the post "I'm Not Brave".
I didn't have the smoothest pregnancy journey as I struggled with Pre-natal depression for the first time which I discussed in my post An Open Letter From The Bathroom Floor, and I also shared some posts on my birth plans and fears as well as how to deal with pregnancy-related health problems.
Baby
I try to be as honest as I can be when blogging about all things baby and new-mum related, as I feel that this is one of the important parts of mummy-blogging - sharing experiences and emotions with other mums which not only helps me to deal with things but can also be beneficial to other mums out there going through the same things.
I felt it was so important to discuss how awful I was feeling about my post partum body image after my csection birth, and the terrible post-natal anxiety I experienced second time around too.
I also shared some tips on how to help your older child get ready for a new sibling and my advice on adjusting to life with a second baby in my post 5 Steps To managing life with a toddler & a tiny.
Of course as well discussing the deeper issues of life as a new mom and sharing advice, I also shared the birth stories of my son Noah born in March 2015 and Sailor born in February 2016 - as well as baby and post birth updates, and a post all about the process of naming a baby and my worries when choosing such an unusual name.
Writer
These are some of my most popular posts from the past year...
A letter to the new big brother is a letter I wrote to my oldest son Tyne after our new baby arrived all about the feelings of guilt I struggle with and how I hope he never feels any less loved or important than before, after a lot of mums told me it resonated with them I decided to write a follow up post from the mouth of our children ... imagining what they might say back to us if they could in the post A Letter To My Mummy From Your First Born.
I pondered the question How Many Children Is Too Many after facing some negative comments when announcing we were to have a third baby, and I weighed in on the Facebook Motherhood Challenge Debate.
I shared some of my poetry for the first time this year in a post about my experience with post natal depression, and I shared my story of living with domestic abuse.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I promise not to bother you about it again! I know there are SO many worthy, inspiring bloggers out there to vote for and if you do decide that I deserve a vote then I am so very grateful. If not, please do go and nominate some of your favorite bloggers...I can guarantee you that it will mean the world to them!
To cast your vote, please go to the Nominations page here.
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