I can’t believe just how quickly the last 15 months of life with my daughter have rushed past. Everyone said it would and I’ve caught myself saying it to new mums too.

It has been a year of not sleeping, a year of being emotional, a year of a mixture between laughing, learning a huge amount every day and sometimes feeling completely worn out. But every so often I realise just how much and how quickly Maya has grown already and I take a moment to remind myself that this is it. No matter how tired I feel or how badly we both slept the night before, she is learning and experiencing every single moment of every day and that is forming the person she is turning into.

I’m not wishing the time away because THIS IS IT. This is the time that she is a one-year-old. This is the time that she’s learning to talk. This is the time that she’s a toddler. I might not have another child and I don’t want to miss anything; these moments are completely precious. She is so funny and the speed that she learns at simply amazes me.

I’m writing this at 5.30am because Maya is up for the day already. I’ll read this post to myself later, when I am drinking my 10th coffee and propping my eyelids open with two dummies.

*Note to myself – she slept for the longest time in her own bed last night, from 9.30pm to 4am (after going to bed at 8pm and waking up a few times coughing). Still, the 5am wake up feels a bit too early…