The MADS

We have had the busiest weekend ever! My parents, Grandparents and my Aunty and cousin arrived on Friday evening ready for Charlie and I's party on Saturday. The house was busy, chaotic and loud to say the least! Although I loved having everyone round. I frantically had to run around making party food with my mum on Saturday and then actually host our party and then on Sunday we all went out for dinner and everyone then came back to ours. It's been three nights of wine induced late nights, a little boy who didn't sleep properly (probably because of the change of routine) and not much time to sit and chill.

Everyone went home this morning before I went to work and I arrived at work feeling a little sad. It's not actually my birthday until tomorrow, so I won't actually see any of my family on my birthday (apart from the hubby) and I was also thinking it is another six weeks before I see them again.

So my day was massively cheered up by a tweet I got that said I had been nominated for a MADs! I clicked the notification on my phone and actually couldn't believe it, I was sure it must have been a mistake. So I went to the MADS website and checked the categories, and there, to my utter surprise, sat in the Best baby blog category is little old me! Someone has actually nominated my blog for a MADs!

If you have literally no clue what I am talking about, then the MADS stands for the Mum and Dad blog awards, sponsored by Parentdish. They are in their fifth year of awards now and they have 15 categories that blogs can be nominated in. You can see the categories here. Basically, people nominate their chosen blogs for one (or more) of the selected categories and then once they have been nominated, voting can start happening. The four blogs out of each category with the most votes then go on to the award finals with one more blog being chosen by the judging panel. The five finalists for each category will then be announced and once again, everyone can vote for the overall winner in that category. The results are announced at a big Gala awards ceremony in London in September.

Now, I am under no illusion, there is no chance I am going to win overall, especially when I look at the blogs that are in my category! However, the fact that someone has taken the time to go to the website and actually nominate my little blog makes me very happy. Proud even. I know that my blog isn't as fancy as others; it's not as exciting to read as others and I am yet to work with PR etc. But I blog because I want to; I love to write and as you may remember I am an English teacher. Writing is my life basically! And also I blog because I want to share with people the experiences I have as a mum. It's comforting to read other baby/parenting blogs and see that what I am going through with Charlie (especially sleep related!) is happening or has happened to other parents. I feel less alone and am reassured and comforted. So if someone enjoys what I write and has also felt reassured or even thought 'god I'm glad MY child isn't like that!' then that pleases me too.

So to whomever nominated me, I say a very big thank you! You made my day when I was feeling a little blue and even though I won't win, just to be nominated, when my blog is still in its infancy, is wonderful!

Of course, if you would like to vote for my blog in the Best Baby Blog category, then please follow the link here to start your voting process.

Good luck to all the blogs, there are some fabulous ones popping up, along with some lesser known ones that I look forward to sitting down with a cuppa and a cream egg later to read!