[Life] Where Have I Been?

Nice view of my nursing bra strap there. #mamalife I guess? 

Oh look, it's another "where have I gone/ things have been a bit quiet post". Sorry guys, I hate to be that blogger but I'm going to do it anyway. So where have I been? Things have been super busy. The best kind of busy.

I was due to go back to work on the 26th May. After doing a keep in touch day to see how I felt, I decided that I couldn't leave Edith. Before having her I told everyone that I would be back to work, not for as many hours but I would go back. Oh how wrong I was, close friends even told me that I'd feel different when it came down to it. So I've taken the whole year of my maternity leave. On the 26th May I received my last three weeks of maternity payments. Which means my husband is supporting the whole family. Well. That was until I decided to start on an adventure.

I've had a photography page on Facebook for over 5 years and I've done the odd job here and there but I've never had the time to commit to it properly. When I was living with my Mum I didn't have time with uni and working. Moving out then added to the pressure of needing an income. My husband (or fiance then) was still at uni, training to be a teacher and his teaching assistant wage was not enough to support us. So I had to work as many hours as I could. Getting pregnant and then having a newborn also meant that there was no time. But now Edith has reached 8 months old, she's a lot less dependent on me (read a lot less dependent on my boobs!). I can leave her for an hour or so at a time to go and do a job or even take her with me and I can edit and deal with admin in the evenings when she's gone to sleep. It's the perfect time and I know that if I don't give it a go now I probably never will. It's such a scary feeling not knowing where or when my next lot of income will come in but it's so thrilling being my own boss.

So I'm throwing myself in to my business, which is great fun but a hell of a lot of work. I'm lucky that I've got an amazing husband and family who support me every step of the way. He understands that pretty much every evening I'll sit on my laptop rather than spending time together (oh it sounds awful doesn't it!). But ultimately I'm working to contribute to our income, so that we can continue saving for a house of our own as well as paying bills and other horrendous adult things we have to do every month.

I'm also taking on more work through my blog, working with brands, advertising and more recently a lot of food writing which I adore. Things are really picking up and if it sets to continue I may find myself not going back to "work". Maybe I'll just carry on working for myself. I am lucky that I've got until the 22nd August, when I'm due back, to decide if I've made the right decision but at the moment it's looking like I have.

So that's what I'm doing but it doesn't explain for my absence, It's just because I have had lots of photoshoots in a row and I've spent the last week editing photographs every spare second of my day whilst juggling being a Mama. It's hard work doing both, but it's the best of both worlds for me and I love what I'm doing..

If you fancy liking my photography page you can find the link here.

While you are there you can like my blog page too! Find that link here.