I’ve been blogging for over two years now, and whilst I don’t write about every single aspect of my life, you generally know where I am in my life. But what about the 28 years before that?

Well, I was born in 1985. I was the first child, and the first grandchild on my dad’s side of the family. Just before my first birthday, my mum and dad moved to the house where I would live in until I moved out, aged 25.

When I was three, I became a big sister to Simon, and Tom came along when I was seven. I’ve always been really close to my brothers, and still am. Their long term girlfriends have become some of my best friends, and we all get on well.

My teenage years were pretty standard. I was good at school, and don’t think I gave my parents too much to worry about. That’s not to say I didn’t like the occasional sneaky Smirnoff Ice or Bacardi Breezer! I was obsessed with all the boy bands, especially 5ive and Blue.

I went to sixth form after leaving school, and did A-Levels in English, History and Sociology. When  was 17, I met Graham. He was my parent’s friend’s son’s friend (yeah, try and work that one!) and he came to my dad’s 40th birthday party. At the time I had a not-very-serious boyfriend (who was a bit of a prat to say the least!), but two weeks later I dumped him and got together with Graham. We became close really quickly, with him coming on holidays with my family and staying over most nights – my mum and dad were cool like that.

At university, I did a B.Ed in teacher training, specialising in English. I had one really dodgy experience in a school where I was doing a placement, where I was bullied by the teacher who was supposed to be my mentor. It really made me question what I was doing, and I ended up walking out. Luckily, the university was supportive and let me defer it until later that year. It meant I finished my degree eight weeks later than everyone else, but it also made me realise that teaching was what I wanted to do. I came out with a very respectable 2:1 degree!

I went to a local university, and my best childhood friend did the same course as me, which was lovely. Whilst I was there, I made a brilliant group of friends, who I still speak to (and don’t see enough these days!). Somehow, somewhere down the line we got ourselves a group nickname – the Futhermuckas. No idea how that came about, but even now our little whatapp group is called it! We had some bloody good times – spending most Saturday evenings at Jo’s house (the rest of us lived with our parents) getting extremely drunk, and going for lots of childish but brilliant days out. We even went on holiday together twice, to Devon and Cornwall, where we drank far too much, made some horrendous cocktails and watched the sunrise on the beach. Memories I will never forget.

Throughout uni, and indeed even now, I changed my hairstyle pretty much on a monthly basis. Looking back through the profile pictures on my Facebook, I don’t even remember half of them. It went from short to long (and some really dodgy hair extensions!) regularly, and seems to have been a different colour each week.

At some point whilst I was at uni, Graham proposed to me. I can’t actually remember when (bad girlfriend!) – but it was the most unromantic proposal you can think of. I came home from my Saturday job at Screwfix, was on the computer looking at my MySpace (yep. I was all over that as well), when he sat next to me with a ring, and said ‘You gonna say yes then?’. He wanted to do the whole cliched proposal at the Eiffel Tower whilst we were at Paris on a mini break the week before, which was my idea of hell. His proposal was perfect for me.

To get me through sixth form and my degree, I had a couple of different Saturday jobs. I worked at Staples to begin with and then Starbucks, where I made some brilliant friends and developed my coffee addiction. I loved Starbucks, but the branch I worked at, in Birmingham aiport, closed down after a few years, and I then worked at Screwfix.

When I left uni, I didn’t get a permanent job immediately. I spent a couple of terms doing supply work, before landing a maternity cover position at a lovely school. I made some brilliant friends there, and when the end of that term came, I was offered a permanent position.

In October 2010, I found out I was pregnant with Harrison. I found out the day before I was going out on a big night out to celebrate my 25th birthday – trying to come up with excuses for why I wasn’t drinking was difficult, and I think pretty much everyone guessed! At this point, both Graham and I still lived with our parents, but in March 2011 we moved into our first home together. It was a first floor maisonette and was a lovely little flat. in June 2011, Harrison was born.

I went back to work when Harrison was eight months old. I went back on the Monday, and on the Thursday evening found out I was pregnant with Alex. That was fun telling everyone! Alex was born in October 2012, three days after my 27th birthday. 

When Alex was about six months old, we made the decision for me to hand in my resignation at work and be a stay at home mum.

Six months later, I started my blog, and, well, you know pretty much what has happened since!

I’ve linked this up to Kip’s The (Abridged) Story of Me linky, where he is encouraging bloggers to share a little bit of their lives from before the blog. If you’re a blogger, why not share your story? If you’re not a blogger, go and have a nosey at some of the others!