Today, Little Bean attended the 3rd birthday party of one of her best friends. It was a really lovely, intimate birthday party which we all really enjoyed, but it did make me think back to previous years. When Little Bean was born, we attended a variety of classes at our local Surestart Children’s Centre and soon made friends with a group of Mums and their daughters, all of whom had been born within a two-week period of each other.
For the first year of the girls’ lives, we saw each other on a regular basis, with and without the girls. Each month, we would try to have a ‘Mummy’s night off’ where the Daddies were in charge, whilst we went out for a meal and actually managed to have a whole conversation without having to stop to wipe a nose or stop a fight! But slowly, over the next year or so, our group disbanded slightly as some Mum returned to work, one moved to the opposite end of the country, and others just didn’t ‘click’ anymore. It’s such a shame because I loved seeing all the little girls playing together; I loved watching them grow alongside Little Bean. I felt like I had more than one child because they were all so special – obviously, they still are, but as life has got in the way, we don’t see so much of everyone anymore.
Thankfully, Little Bean and I still seem to be friends with everyone else, but never as a whole group anymore. I guess it just goes to show that just because life has pulled you together at a similar stage in your life, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will always be close friends. I’m sure each of the Mummys will read this post at some point, and to each of you, I would like to say, “Thank you!”. Thank you for being there at a time when I needed friends and support and someone else who understood what I was going through. I’m sorry that our little group is no more, but I will always remember the times spent together with fondness and I will always treasure your beautiful girls.
As Little Bean’s 3rd Birthday approaches very fast, I wonder where the time has gone and why so quickly. Before I knew it, she would be at a ‘big’ school, and life would be busy with homework and sleepovers!! I look at pictures of my girly last year, and I’m amazed by how far she has come in the past year; she has grown so much and makes me proud every day. Even on her bad days, I’m actually proud of just how tenacious she can be; if she has her mind set on something, then nothing and no one will make her budge, and whilst it annoys the hell out of me now, I know that when she is a grown-up, it will ensure she succeeds in whatever she chooses to do. In the past year, she has become a big sister, and that in itself has made her grow up even more. I have seen a totally different side to her, and it makes me love her all the more. Do you know something? I absolutely LOVE being a Mummy!!