I freely admit that this blog was very sadly neglected in 2012. It wasn't that I didn't want to blog, it was also that I had no energy to do so. However, in a time honoured tradition, I thought I'd resurrect With a Fork by doing a year in review post, which will hopefully spur me towards blogging more regularly as well.
So what did I achieve in 2012? Well, I will look back at that year with much fondness, because 2012 was a year of change for Mr Fork and I. In December 2011, I was newly married, and settling into life as a wife. In December 2012, I am settling into life as a mother. We found out that I was pregnant in early February (a honeymoon baby pretty much, take that William and Kate!) and the year went remarkably quickly. I was truly lucky in my pregnancy; I didn't experience severe morning sickness, I didn't gain too much weight, I didn't get stretch marks, and by all accounts I had a relatively easy labour and birth. The only hiccups occurred in the last trimester when my pelvis started to separate, I started to swell and I developed cholestasis, however all is back to normal now. I'm back to pre-baby weight and I'm even planning to re-join that touch football team as a player again.
Ellie was born on September 28, at 10:49am. We didn't know we were in actual labour and had happily gone out to dinner the night before! Mr Fork and I hadn't even finished up work yet, as Ellie came so much earlier than expected. I will never forgive the fact that I missed out, not just on maternity leave and swanning around the house, but on my own maternity cake from work - while they sent flowers, I'd gone into labour on my last day at the client and they neglected to send a piece of the cake to hospital with those flowers. Rude!
2012 saw me transition from a full time worker to a full time mother. A transition from a couple to a family. I admit that it's been hard, and if I'm honest with myself, much harder than I expected it to be. I was truly shocked by the fact that as hard as I thought pregnancy was (at the time), motherhood is much harder. Motherhood is not instinctual, breastfeeding does not come naturally and that all those people who say enjoy sleep while you can were right. Having said that, I do not begrudge one (well, maybe one) missed minute of sleep, as I also learnt what it is to truly care for a baby, and the depths of love that come along with that.
With all the new things I did/learnt/saw in 2012, I can't wait to see what 2013 will bring!