I am a finalist!

YIPPPPEEEEEEE

I have to admit over the last few years of blogging, there have been many ups and downs.

Sometimes, the blog has taken a back seat whilst I revaluate if I really did want to keep sharing the finer details of our lives.

I have blogged whilst having a part time job, being pregnant, a mum of two and now I can say that I get paid to blog for other people which is a dream come true.

Writing is my passion, especially when I am writing about something that I am so driven about.

There have been many crashes of confidence, nights in tears whilst I compare myself to the others making the big bucks of social media, the ones getting the book deals handed to them, or featured in all of the publications that I crave so desperately to be part of.

But, despite that I kept going, and have found my niche, and through this have met some amazing people, have featured and written for some great bloggers and websites and get to do something I love whilst hopefully helping others and making a difference.

I will never be able to verbalize how much it means when I wake up to a message, or a comment from a fellow NICU parent telling me that they are so grateful I have put my honest experiences out there. That they finally had something to relate to, to be comforted by.

That is why I started my blog and it fuels me to carry on.

Or the support I received when I have candidly spoken about my mental health struggles and birth traumas and then I too, then found comfort in others.

It can be a hard game to crack this blogging marlarky, and I still don't feel like I quite know what I am doing nearly four years down the line.

I suffer from imposter syndrome quite frequently.

I been nominated for a few awards here and there over the years and I never got very far.

Then when the Parent and Baby Show awards came about, it felt as this was local to meant it meant more.

I was up against some amazing bloggers, some whom I read near on everyday, some who I regard as great friends.

I guess it meant so much for me to get through, to possibly have a chance of winning as it would mean that these last four years of draining my emotions out onto the keyboard would be worth it.

That the time where I would come home from work and stay up until midnight writing a blog for it to have 6 views was not in vain.

That in the over saturated sea of parent blogs, one little blog like mine made a difference and made a splash.

On last Sunday night, after a whole day of pretending not to think about it because I didn't want to be too disappointed I found out that I have been shortlisted and through to the judging stages of the upcoming Parent and Baby Show Awards.

This has now taken on a whole new level for me, to be regarded as a finalist, to be up for an award and to hopefully use this as a platform to be the voice for NICU parents means so much.

I can't put into words how grateful I am to those who voted for me and to be up with some amazing other bloggers and businesses from my local area, I just hope I can do all of my readers (hopefully not just Greg reading this!) proud.

Just daring to imagine a blog that deals with all of the darker sides of parenting, NICU, PND, and Elijah's CHD diagnosis could win is overwhelming and could really make a difference to me and many others.

Roll on December! EEEEKKKKK!