I cannot believe that my little one will turn one tomorrow!! This last year went by way too fast… but I have to be honest and say that some days were dragging and felt too long.

My parents were at our house when my labour started and that meant they were there when we came back from the Birth Centre. I didn’t know how I would feel about this because so many other mothers were telling me that after their birth they just wanted to be alone with their babies and partners taking the time to bond together. But for me, having them there was a beautiful gift. I gave birth at 5:57pm and I was sitting on my couch at home at 9:10pm. Right away, when we came in the door, our home smelled incredibly delicious, there was a barley soup waiting for us - my mémère’s recipe. It was the best soup I have ever eaten in my whole life. Having my parents present and helping for that whole week gave us the opportunity to rest and get to know our baby without stress.

I like having order in my life and one of the main challenge I encountered was to adjust myself to my daughter’s needs. Right when we would find our rhythm, her needs would change. You might have seen this quote on the Internet : “When a woman gives birth, a mother is born”, I couldn’t agree more with this. I learned so much during this past year, about myself and about the people in my life. I also had to adjust my ways of thinking and my ways of reacting to different situations. I think that all of that helped me become an improved version of myself… but always a little bit more tired than before.

During the first 4 months, I spent a lot of time looking at my baby sleep in my arms (and watching Netflix). It was cold out and I rarely felt like leaving my house… except when my friend encouraged me to go for walks on the river or at the Forks for 2-3 hours at a time!! Despite the fact that this period (the fourth trimester) is very demanding and exhausting, I loved the snuggles and the peaceful moments I shared with my daughter. I have to say that I have been lucky - from the very beginning, my baby always had good nights of sleep and that gave me the chance to gather strength, my husband is really involved and for the first 5 months he did all of the cooking (am I the only one who had zero desire to cook after giving birth?), one of my friend gave birth to her baby less than 2 months before me and she was always available to answer my most bizarre questions, and my in-laws and my friends were always there to help.

My first year as a mother was definitely not always perfect. There were days when I felt alone, isolated and depressed. There were days when I had the hardest time just finding the energy getting dressed or finding something to eat. There were days when I would have loved being at my parents’ place surrounded by my family. There were days when I wanted my baby to sleep more and cry less. There were days that I wanted my husband to stay home with us instead of going to work. There were days when I just wanted my daughter to talk to me so I could have known what she needed. There were days and days and days...

But of course, there were the magic moments too! Moments that helped me find the strength to continue and to fall in love more and more every minute with my daughter and with parenthood. I will always remember one day when she was tiny and asleep on my lap, she started laughing out loud. It wasn’t a milestone in her development but that intense emotional burst will always stay etched in my memory. I was filled with happiness and love and I knew I was exactly at the right place!

It has already been 5 weeks since I launched my blog. I absolutely love interviewing guests and learning from them and their realities and I hope you like it as much as me!! I realise now that my passion doesn’t suffice and that for me to have a good family-work balance it would be better if I published once every 2 weeks from now on. Let’s stay connected and please continue reading and sharing the wonderful information that I receive from my experts’ interviews.