Friendship after the baby

Natasha Bailie - 8 May 15

Friends come and they go and they come back and they go again, but some friendships are like diamonds. Genuine, lasting and hard to find. Since turning 30 and having a mini human to worry about, my time has become precious and I choose to spend it with people who I know, care and love and who, quite frankly have the super power ability of making me feel like a goddess on even my darkest days. I could get all Pinterest on you and spout some “real friends do this” rubbish, but I have a feeling you have already pinned it.

In the past year I have made new friends, which is something I haven’t had to do since school. When Max arrived I soon found out the importance of “mum friends”, but finding them was tricky. Mothers are everywhere, but finding the right one is no easy task. I was extremely pro-active in my quest for friends when I moved into our new area, because I knew that without a support network I would fail.

I got lucky too – I was introduced to friends of friends, I found a gem of a mother in the library and my blog has given me the opportunity to meet so many amazing mothers who have become key people in my life.

Since becoming a content creator on YouTube I have also discovered a fantastic community of like minded women and mothers. To quote Ron Weasley “its bloody brilliant”, because half the mums who answer my SOS texts or actively comment on various social media pages have become my friends and it is incredibly empowering to have a large network of women who are genuinely ‘rooting’ for you and I for them.

If this wasn’t cheesy enough – yes that’s right grab a bread stick because this is about to go fondue – seeing your mini human play with a friend’s mini human is mind blowing. All the feelings and all the cheese I know, but Max is now at an age where he is taking an interest in other kids.

Up to this point it has all been about parallel play and the only interaction was fighting over a rice cake or a Thomas train, but something has shifted and Max is interested in making you laugh and running like a loon with a buddy and it is so nice to see, because I like to do that too with my buddies, but you know…I swap running for coffee.

Most of the mothers I now know I have only ever known as ‘mothers’ because we found each other after the baby, and what I have learnt is that behind every great mother is an incredible woman. Women with drive, ambition, talent and the ability to turn my day around with a filthy joke or a cup of tea & crumpet and that my friend, is true friendship.

Natasha Bailie

A mother, blogger, vlogger and potty mouth living in Brighton and trying to keep it together with a two year old son. @natashabailie

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