The ‘work’ question is one I’ve been pondering over lately, now that Ben has tipped over the 1 year mark. To work or not to work? That is the big question.

I remember thinking after I had Max that the decision over whether or not to return to work after maternity leave was such a difficult one to make. Except it wasn’t really - it was a decision that was made for me. I couldn’t return to my pre-baby job in London - we’d moved out of London and when I looked into nursery hours and costs, I realised that a) I couldn’t have managed the commute alongside nursery opening hours, and b) I couldn’t actually afford to work in that job and pay for both my travel and childcare. I ended up finding a brilliant part time role, based from home, that worked really well for me and for the company.

But second time around it’s been much harder. Until September came around and Max started school, we would have had 2 lots of childcare fees to pay, which made that decision an easy one. I definitely wouldn’t look to work other than my very part-time self-employment until September. But with Max starting school, the question has come up again of whether I’ll be returning to work.

And I’ve made the decision that I won’t be going back. At least, not to the kind of job I had before. Over the last few months, I’ve been lucky to have more and more opportunities come my way with blogging, and I’m going to make the big step to making it my only source of income. I’ve worked so hard on building it all up over the last few years, but it’s still amazing to me that I’m now in a position where it might be able to bring in a small but reasonable income and I’m so grateful that it’s given me this option. The reality is that as it fits in around the children, I don’t need to pay for childcare costs, so I actually have to earn very little to be in the same position financially as when I was working (don’t get me started on the cost of childcare in this country!). But it feels very different to be relying on blogging to bring in money each month, and leaving the predictability of a ‘normal’ job behind is a scary prospect. It’s one that I’m excited about though - it will force me to take things a bit more seriously, to push myself harder, and to take on more challenges. Blogging has always been something that has pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I love that about it.

I’d like to say a huge thank you to every single person who reads Hot Pink Wellingtons, all the people who like my social media posts, and who take the time to leave comments. It really is a huge support and it means the world to hear that what I’ve written has resonated with people or helped them in some small way. I’m still going to remain choosy about the collaborations I accept, and I hope that the sponsored posts I work on are interesting and relevant to you as readers.

So I guess I need to get over the embarrassment at calling myself a blogger now and be proud of what I’ve created here. It’s a new stage for Hot Pink Wellingtons, and for me, and I’m looking forward to it.