What a difference a year makes:

August 25th 2005 Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing August 10th 2006 Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing April 21st 2005 Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing April 21st 2006 Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing Alot of you are probably thinking "it is kind of late for a 1st birthday post" and you are right but with all the new pregnancies around me, I have been reflecting alot lately on what the past 17 months (2+ years if you count the pregnant part) have meant to me and how they have changed my life. One obvious difference is my hair colour! (LOL!) Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing As you can see, my hair used to be quite blonde (thanks to a bottle/ talented hairdresser) but when I found out I was pregnant I stopped dying it and thankfully was saved terrible re-growth by the fact my hair grows quickly and I cut it short because it was too much hassle with my neverending morning sickness. As you can see from this picture of my Mum and I, it is now much darker. I had forgotten what my natural colour was and I don`t really like it so will definitely be going blonder over the next year!! Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing

The other big difference is a lack of time for myself. When I was younger I had terrible issues with spending time alone. I HATED doing things by myself and would always like to be with friends/ boyfriends/ random people who were willing to talk to me. These days I will do anything/ pay people to get an hour or so of time when I am 100% on my own! I thought I wouldn`t mind constantly having a little person by my side because of my hatred of being on my own but as it happens, it wasn`t quite like that!!! LOL!

Of course, the main difference is the huge amount of love and laughter I have gained in my every day life. I now have a much better relationship with my own mother because all the things that she used to do that drove me crazy, are now in more perspective because I see them through a fellow mother`s eyes. (that isn`t to say that some of the stuff wasn`t bordering on psychotic but that is another story...) My life has been enriched by having my son around and although I often wonder if I am a good mother,(in fact I know I am not the world`s best mother) seeing him laugh and grow has helped me laugh more and grow as well.

Yesterday I was cuddling a baby at Joey`s daycare who is 5 months old, just like Joey was this time last year and it made me a teeny tiny bit clucky! I guess being surrounded by all these pregnant women doesn`t help either! I don`t think I could handle another baby any time soon (especially as Joey seems to be starting his terrible 2s several months early!) but I have realised this week how lucky and blessed I am to have to happy healthy child that I do and I am very thankful for that.

It is hard to believe that Joey was ever this small but this remains one of my favourite photos of him, he was 5 weeks old:

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video SharingSo my question for all you lovely people out there in blogland is what has changed for you in the past 2 years?? (Non-parenting related stuff welcome as well!!!)