I can’t quite remember when I began following Abby Gilmore on Instagram and Snapchat.
But a year-or-so down the track, I can honestly say the 23-year-old single mum (and good friend of Sophie Cachia) is one of my absolute favourite women to follow.
Abby is a hilarious, captivating, brilliant woman who provides insight into the world of motherhood – the good, the bad, and the not-so-pretty on a daily basis, and her 41,000 social media followers bloody adore her for it.
But what makes her even more impressive? Abby went through a relationship breakdown with longterm partner and father of her children, AFL Bulldogs player Jake Stringer, within weeks of welcoming their second daughter, Arlo, into the world.
Despite the hardship of mothering two girls under three (Arlo is seven-months, Milla is two-and-a-half) in her early twenties, Abby is a freakin’ warrior.
Her Instagram posts are a blend of empowering quotes, adorable kid snaps, and brutal honesty. There’s no bullshit, or plastic surgery, or contrived bikini shots – just a young woman who’s giving parenting her all.
“Self confidence is a super power,” reads one of her recent posts. “Once you start to believe in yourself, magic starts happening.”
“I used to have the biggest cans on the block, now I’m left with these deflated things (thanks kids),” she captions a photo of herself in a bra.
“Just got to the security check at the airport and realised I forgot to check my suitcase in,” she writes next to a photo, with two tired kids in tow. “Awesome. Back I go, then we’re heading straight to McDonalds.”
But perhaps her most unfiltered post was the one where she announced her split from Stringer.
“It is with an absolutely broken and heavy heart that I share with you the news that for the last six months Jake and I have been separated,” she wrote.
“I know this may come as a shock to some of you as we’ve been parenting our girls as normal as possible in the hope things would improve…
“Honesty is something I preach and I’m not being true to myself if I’m living a lie to everyone. My family and friends included.
“As I lay in bed writing this, my Milla girl is by my side giving me more strength from her little head on my chest than she will ever know. This is a journey I never thought I’d be on but I have two girls who look up to me everyday and a journey I’m going to eventually come out the other end of proud.”
Abby has toyed with the idea of starting a blog to house more of her parenting experiences (something we seriously hope happens).
Until then, you can follow her on Instagram here, or add her on Snapchat using the handle @abbygilmore777.
What inspirational mums do you follow on social media?
Top Comments
Love Abby -bloody hilarious- and now I know how to get fake tan off my hands!!!
I really like following Abby on social media. I had PND when my son was born and unfollowed a lot of mummy bloggers - they either pretended things were TOO perfect which made me feel crappy or they were too honest and made me feel anxious that life would just be tantrums and poo explosions. But Abby is just nice, funny, loves her kids but has a life outside them too. When I watch her I feel I can parent and still be ME, because that's what she does.
I realise how dumb that might sound to some ppl who think there are more "worthy" women to talk about but these past few months I've learned how important the little things that make me smile are.