Crikey – It’s Happening!

I’ve been putting off starting this blog for about a year now. One. Whole. Year. There are so many reasons why I’ve been the ultimate procrastinator over this little project. But, mostly, it comes down to fear.

Fear that nobody will read it? Nah. I couldn’t give a monkeys if this goes out into the ether and gets lost among the rest of the noise out there.

Fear that I won’t commit to posting regularly? Yep – well, sort of. I’ve got lots and lots to write about, so having the material isn’t a problem. Finding time to fish it all out of my head and shove it onto the blog in a coherent manner is a bit of an obstacle for me.

Fear that people will read it? BINGO! That’s the one. I’m a bit of an over-sharer. Honestly things fall out of my mouth. I hear them. Usually a couple of seconds after I remember I should have thought about them more carefully. Hopefully I’ll be able to moderate what I write much more successfully than what I say. It’s not that I’m offensive – well I don’t think I am – it’s just that I get so caught up recounting the ridiculously funny things that happen to us that I get a bit carried away. Seriously, you couldn’t make up some of the things that our little family experiences. Follow the blog, read some of the future posts, you’ll see!

Okay so I’m bound to overshare. There. I’m sort of comfortable with that. Which is why I’ve found enough brave to write my first post. (I’m aware I wrote brave and not courage – it’s one of my baby girl’s little sayings: “mummy, I’ve found my brave and gone down the big slide!”)

At this point – if you’re still reading! – you might be wondering why this blog is called GinGin & Roo. Simple. It’s named for my two daughters. GinGin, my big girl is very nearly six. And Roo is our second little bundle of loveliness. She’ll be one next week.

Eeeek!! Her first birthday!

Now this is where you’ll discover how crap I can be at planning. We’ve only got her one present so far. No cake. No wacky party plans. No balloons. No pointy-party-hat (seriously don’t understand what that’s about!) No cake-smash session planned. Yep, that’s right, Roo’s birthday is only eight days away and I’ve sorted nothing. Zilch. Rien. Nada. Obviously I knew her birthday was approaching. I was there when she was born. I distinctly remember the date. But I’ve been so busy feeling sad that my baby is nearly a year old – and hating the idea of my maternity leave coming to an end – I’ve put off organizing anything birthday-ish.

It’s perfectly acceptable to buy baby birthday presents with said baby in tow isn’t it? Well, even it isn’t, that’s pretty much what I’ll be doing anyway. Bad mummy! What’s worse is that the only one good idea I had for a present for her, I gave to my mum. What do you buy a one year old? Seriously. What the actual heck do you get for them? We’ve gone through this milestone once before, so you’d think we’d have some clue. And yet here we are. One week to go. No idea. If anyone is reading this (I doubt if they are!) please please please send me ideas for presents for a girl’s first birthday.

Right I’m off to search Pinterest for ideas. I’ll let you know how I get on.

Feel free to share your first birthday stories with me in the comments. I’d love to hear them xx

PS – you can get to know us a little bit by following my Insta-blog here

Jennie (GinGin & Roo)

Hi, I’m Jennie and I’m the blogger and content creator behind the award-winning blog GinGin & Roo, a UK parenting and lifestyle blog.

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