A few things from the weekend + friendships

I had a really lovely mother's day yesterday spent with the very special people in my life. The picture above was taken when Lilia was about a week old and my gran (her great-gran) came to visit. I am truly blessed to have so many wonderful women in my life who have given me such great examples of what it means to be a mother.

The other thing I've been thinking about lately is friendships and how they change once you are a mom. It's very difficult to tell somebody who isn't in the same situation just how completely your identity changes, well it did for me at least. Friends who are about to have babies and insist that their children will 'fit in with their lives' and that they are determined not to change too much are quite frankly just laughable.

I was one of the first in my circle to have a baby, and as a result felt very lonely during the first few months, my old friends just didn't 'get it' and I was trying very hard to form new friendships, which of course take time. I'm in a great place now where I have a mix of mom and non-mom friends, as it's also important to have balance and not just talk about babies non-stop.

Over the past week, I've been able to spend a lovely afternoon having lunch with one of my good non-mom friends, being giggly and talking rubbish non-stop for about four hours straight. I was also able to reconnect with a not-so-close friend who has just had a baby - and voila, we just clicked because now we have so much more in common.

Friendships are often a very difficult area in women's lives, and maintaining close friendships with all the other duties and roles we have is just not easy.

What we often don't realise is just how lonely others often are - maybe they appear as if they are always busy and have everything together and don't have room or time in their lives for more friends.
Just drop and preconceived notions and make the effort, it's worth it.