Well, it’s about bloody time

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Hello there! Do you like what we’ve done here? As I like to say a little spruce up and now the old girl is now “fresh as THE DAY”. The change took a lot longer than we initially thought and I have to apologise for the blog silence here all week.

I started blogging almost 7 years ago now with a blog that Rob set up for me, and the first blog post actually written by Rob himself. It was a free blogger template with a silly url name (little reginald) which was what we called the bump now known to all as Daisy. I set the blog up as a way for my two sisters who were living in London and Melbourne at the time, to stay in contact with my growing belly and my journey into Motherhood. The bump was born, and the blog was a way for me to write down the various milestones as they came along. I went back to work after 6 months off, and the blog became a creative outlet for me to share the joys and more often than not, the frustrations of being a working Mother. I worked, I lost my job, we travelled, I got a new job, I got knocked up again and I blogged every step of the way. Much to the dismay of my Mother and Mother in law and extended family who couldn’t understand WHY I would need to share my life so intimately with complete strangers. I mean, it’s nobodies business right? But the connections made, the sharing of my story and opening up to others has been revolutionary and absolutely essential in my role as mother. I am, by nature, an oversharer. I NEED to talk about things, it’s as neccessary to me as the air I breathe. The blog has been an extension of that oversharing and has just become part of who I am. I share. I overshare. I write. I blog. It’s who I am, and it’s what I do.

When Harper was born and I went back to work the frustrations as a working Mother became harder for me. I was torn about who I once was, who I was now, and where we were going as a family. The blog posts I wrote at that time are an amazing raw and honest insight of a person, no different to many others out there, questioning stuff as a woman, a wife and Mother. The writing was part of processing it all for myself, working out what I wanted, where we were going. We made the huge life change almost 3 years ago to pack up life as we knew it and start anew here in a small country village. I would NEVER have made that decision without this blog. No doubts. Without knowing that wherever I opened my laptop, a community was there with me, for me, for all of us. That’s something else isn’t it? All from just writing some stuff down? I think so.

The blog has changed since we moved here. It’s an insight to a tree change life. It’s about life in the country, in a beautiful house, with beautiful things around me. It’s a look into a life that is SO lucky, so much so that I have to share it to even know that this IS indeed our lives. A way to pinch myself, if you will. The audience has grown over time, and changed too I suspect. There’s only so many clean floors and flowers in vases that people can stomach. But it’s our life, our wonderful life and it’s a privilege and honour to share it with so many wonderful people every day. There’s still the honesty and oversharing there always was, the constant search for myself and creative fulfillment. When I joined The Remarkables Group and was able to start to make a living from my blog, it changed things for me and our family. I can actually make a living, from the oversharing, and contribute to our family in a productive way…all from my writing! It’s been HUGE for me. I still can’t quite believe it, and it’s something that I take very seriously. You guys reading here are the reason I can do that, and I cannot thank you enough for coming here and doing so, day in, day out.

The launch of BEVERLEY and other creative endeavours on the blog and beyond are very exciting for me. I’m working hard. Harder than I’ve worked in a long time, and I’ve never been happier to do so. I’m working with Rob, alongside him, and who knows where we will end up. It’s exciting. And challenging. And extraordinary to me. Working at home, raising my kids, being there for pick up and drop off, being able to sit down as a family and eat dinner together most nights…this is our reality now. How did we get here?

I decided to have a little back end work on the blog, mostly because I HAD to. I was using a free template any bastard could download. Blogger has restrictions. WordPress I’m told will be a better option for me. You guys shouldn’t notice too much of a difference. I’ll still be here, taking photos, writing stories. Over sharing. BabyMac is getting grown up – the blog is older than my own children – and she needed some attention. I also had to completely change all the things you knew about BabyMac. That little logo, well I didn’t own it. That design? Well it was a free template that anyone could use if they wanted to. It was time to get grown up and real about things.

None of this would happen without YOU guys. Yes you! Thank you for coming and reading my/our story. For your support to me whether it’s only been recently, or since the beginning. For slapping me into line when I need it, buoying me up when I need it, making me laugh. Making me thankful, grateful, appreciative for all I have. Thanks to Sarah for her help in getting me here and especially to Rob for his constant encouragement, love and support. Without him and his help, I would never be able to live my dream, which is what I feel like I am doing. Every day.

Who knows where BabyMac will go? I can’t wait to find out though.  Now, I’ll plump up a cushion and make some room for you…I hope you’ll stay along for the ride.

A VERY special thank you to Sarah from Castle Design who has worked her guts out this week. I think I was potentially the worst client she has EVER had – realising half way through the job that it was indeed a complete whole re-design with new logo etc. I am so sorry Sarah…thank you!

Comments

  1. hugoandelsa says

    Congratulations Beth! Your blog looks very grown up now! I love it.

  2. Alli @ ducks on the dam says

    Enjoy your new playground! It feels like I am visiting a whole new blog……. new pictures, colours, logo……

  3. Kylie Gardner says

    Love it, so glad to have you back! A lovely recap of all that is you, too 🙂

  4. Oh Beverely, I love your Fresh As The Day new look … especially the cushions x

  5. Well look at you!! BabyMac ain’t a baby anymore – she’s all grown up! Love the new look hun. So exciting!! xx

  6. HappyHipsterMum says

    So fun! I am starting my own blog to keep me sane. Starting with what to do with the kids these holidays! Any suggestions would be really welcome. http://happyhipstermum.com/easter-holidays/sydney/

  7. Emily @ The Beetle Shack says

    BABAY MACCCCCCCC! Check you out in your sext new digs!

    You know, you were one of the first ‘bloggers’ to ever respond to a comment, visit my blog in return for my visit your yours or offer solidarity and support in the shit days. You’re a good woman.

    I for one am going to love visiting you fruity new space! It’s reminding me of the 1980’s and ALL knitwear and that one WINNING combination 🙂

    BIG LOVE BABY MAC.

    xo em

    • Oh EM. Thank you sweet ladycakes! Your sweet words mean a lot to me…glad you like the new Jenny Kee blog. Good luck in the next few weeks darling girl…have been thinking about you A LOT. Lots of love to YOU Beetle Shack x

  8. Yay Beth! Great new look. Looking forward to seeing more from the ‘new look’ Babymac. 🙂

  9. Looking good. Love the spruce up. Great job team Beverley!

  10. Lisa Laird says

    Looks gorgeous – well worth the wait! You’ve come so far, long may it continue!

  11. Heather Ross says

    Love! Good on you Beth. We all need a little spruce up from time to time! x

  12. MotherDownUnder says

    Love the cushions!
    Love that Bev has her own space on the blog!
    Love that I know your words will be the same no matter what the blog looks like!

  13. Welcome back. I do love your new place. It’s flash, and it’s made me think (again) about moving from Blogger to WordPress. I love that you can see more on the page. Blogger needs to get busy, or I’m outta here. As for your journey, I too, have blogged for 7 years, and just love it. My blog isn’t quite as ‘successful’ as yours, but I love it as much as you love yours, I’m sure.

    Love your work. Love the way you write. Love the way you overshare. xx

  14. Lisa Oliver says

    Beth! Make over is fab!!! I have been reading your blog for ages and felt it was time to comment (!) Sarah has done an awesome job! She has done work for me in the past and is sooooo lovely:-) looking forward to more fab babymac posts x lisa

  15. Well done Sarah and Beth! It looks amazing 🙂

  16. Michele Hill says

    could this big change be why I cant follow you on bloglovin?

    • I’m having the same problem with Blogger, despite re-adding to the follow list. It’ll bring up posts up to “Random 9” or whatever it was called, but even then when I click them I get an odd 404 error. Manual checking of the blog it is!

  17. Oh Hai – there you are! I wondered why you had disappeared from my reader. And look you went and got all grown up on us. love the new look and feel like I need to crack a champers to celebrate! xx

  18. Love, Love, LOVE your new look (home) Beth … cushions = genius….*POP* goes the champagne…cyber housewarming! Thanks for all that you share with us. xxxx

  19. Julie Johnson says

    Hi lady, it’s all looking VERY grown up around here, loving the colours. I am quite seriously challenged with the whole wordpress layout, but there have been a few of my fave blogs move over to it… so I’m learning slowly. Still can’t get the notification thing down pat with it, so I’ll rely on BabyMac on Facebook to get the heads up on new posts. Well done on the rise of BabyMac Incorporated, I’ve been following along for many years and as I’ve said before, you’ve been an incredible inspiration to me, in a number of ways xo

    • Thank you sweet JJ. Because google reader is going in July I have started to use Blog Lovin’ to follow all my blogs. It’s dead easy and I now know how to follow all those wordpress blogs out there! Hopefully FB will do the trick too x

  20. Reannon Hope says

    Love this post! How wonderful it all is- the sharing, the growing, the good the bad, everything ! I love reading Beth, thanks so much for the overshare & letting me comment & share too xx

  21. Milina Opsenica says

    Well done Beth, on the growing up, on your journey, on your honesty, and on living your dream. Your an inspiration. I was one who said that reading your blog was like “catching up with a friend”, and although I don’t get to make it by every day, I know that I’m always welcome 🙂 Keep doing what you’re doing x

  22. I think the RSS feed I had for your blog must have stopped working at this time. I didn’t realise until now, and thought you must have been taking a break or something.

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