Happy New Year, Hello 2018!
31st December 2017
So here we all are on New Year’s Eve, thinking back over the year behind us, and thinking forward to the year ahead.
2017 has been a year of amazing new relationships for The Baby Journey, and we are feeling very lucky to have so many wonderful people around us.
We’ve taught 14 antenatal courses this year, to over 500 parents-to-be, and in addition to our four-week antenatal course have launched our refresher course for those who have already got little ones.
The feedback from you all is humbling (confession: there’s often a little tear from us when we read it). Words don’t quite do it justice how moved and utterly delighted to the core we are when you take the time to tell us that The Baby Journey has helped you feel more confident as you start your adventure in Parentland. We have very special archives of the beautiful messages, birth stories, photos, reunions, birthday parties, first days at school and arrivals of new baby brothers and sisters which are very precious to us.
THANK YOU to all of you, our clients, for believing in us, taking a chance on an independent local business, and sharing your feedback with us and those you love. We are eternally grateful to you all. We will never stop trying to give you what you need, listen to what you ask for, and putting you at the heart of everything we are.
As well as our wonderful clients we are lucky to have a brilliant little team, and the start of the year saw a new midwife instructor join our happy little band of 3, and soon The Baby Journey family had gone from Hannah, Jules and Becca to include our fourth team mate Rosie. A bit like when you have your second child we were worried how our little family would manage with a fourth person in, would we all get on, would Rosie like us, would we like her, would our clients like her?
Well, we need never have given it a second thought as, just like when you have your second baby, straight away it was as if she’d always been part of the gang; we think she’s fabulous, and so do our clients. We could not be more proud of our amazing team of Becca and Rosie – these two amazing midwives and all round strong, smart, funny, lovely, positive women bring joy and light to TBJ Towers. Thank you girls for all your hard work, enthusiasm, loyalty, passion and kindness, we love you.
The last 12 months have seen us work with loads of amazing local businesses, and we have exhibited at the Cotswold Baby & Toddler Show; been finalists in the Gloucestershire Families Awards; supported local charities such as Gloucestershire Breastfeeding Support Network and run competitions, giveaways and collaborated with brilliant new and established businesses in Gloucestershire. Thank you for inspiring us, challenging us, supporting us and spurring us on, we are excited to be part of this entrepreneurial community.
We’ve also learnt the hard and powerful lesson that we cannot do it all, and to ask for help from someone who knows better than you is always a good idea. With that in mind we are very pleased to be working with the fabulous Frankie from BossMedia, as well as the very talented Andy from Lost & Found, and the endlessly patient Jon from Oomph, not to mention our most esteemed Martin whose wise words reach far beyond accounting. Thank you to our trusted crack team of go-to experts who have guided, taught, supported and liberated us.
And so, this brings us to our beautiful families, the two men and the five children who stand strong with us, behind us, cheering us on (That’s a husband and kids each, not a strange cult!). Thank you to Luke, Jimmy, Lottie, Charlie, Oscar, Eve & Bertie. These are our tribes who inspired us 6 years ago to create The Baby Journey, and who give us the love of family and parenthood that is the very core of TBJ. We love you beyond the moon and back, thank you for believing in us, and loving us, we love you.
We sign off with a massive HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all – whether you are enjoying your first NYE since your little one arrived (get that pint of water and berocca ready on your bedside table now) or snuggling up under fresh sheets with a glass of milk and a fidgeting bump, imagining who this little person will be and what next year will hold. We wish you a beautiful 2018 full of joy and adventures, we can’t wait to see you all in the new year.
Cheers!
Love Hannah & Jules