2016 – Year in Review

I know I say it every year, but I can hardly believe that we are saying goodbye to 2016 already! I think as I get older, the years seem to fly past even faster, so that sometimes months seem to whizz past in the blink of an eye! This year has certainly been eventful one in terms of politics and celebrity deaths, but for me and my family, it has been largely positive. Here’s my 2016 Year in Review:-

January

The year started on a real high for us – we found out we were pregnant again on New Year’s Eve (a classy pregnancy test done in Sainsbury’s public toilets as I was too impatient to wait till I got home!!), so celebrated the start of 2016 with a bang! After a miscarriage in 2015, we were over the moon to be expecting again and were keeping our fingers crossed that this pregnancy would  go smoothly!

In January we continued with Erin’s potty training journey, and she did so well. I am still so proud of how quickly she got the knack of her new routine! I have to admit, I didn’t miss the nappy changes!

February

In February we took the train to London to visit Mike’s family. Erin loved the journey and couldn’t wait to go and spend time with her cousin! 🙂

I got the opportunity to meet Levi Roots with work at a National Undergraduate Awards conference – I still remember the day he was on Dragon’s Den like it was yesterday – yet another sign that I am getting old!

A massive highlight in February, was Mikes brother’s wedding, at which Erin was a flower girl. I was literally brimming with pride at how beautiful she looked and how well behaved she was on the day (apart from attempting to pick her nose a bit on the way down the aisle!). In early pregnancy, I was pretty exhausted and feeling rather nauseous, so had to literally drag my three year old away from the dancefloor at 9.45pm! She probably would have lasted a few hours longer if I’d have let her! 🙂

March

In March, we had our first routine pregnancy scan, and confirmed all was going well with our pregnancy. This was a massive relief and we were over the moon to tell friends and family. Erin did a Big Sister announcement which went down a treat!

We made the most of the Spring Weather by having an epic Easter egg hunt in our garden! Nathan and Erin had a fab time, and Erin walked around with her basket of eggs for a fair few months after the event! 🙂

April

In April, we took Erin to her first ever Disney on Ice – she absolutely LOVED it and really enjoyed seeing some of her favourite Disney princesses dancing right in front of her.

Just after my birthday, we went for our 20 week scan. We had a big debate about whether to find out the gender of our second child, but decided that in order to help Erin adapt to being a big sister, finding out was the way to go. We decided to make it exciting by still making it a semi surprise – asking the sonographer to write the gender down and seal it away in our Top Secret envelope.

We then had a fab cake reveal party with close friends and family, including Mike’s brother in London on Face time – so that we all found out her gender at the same time. In hindsight my poor Dad had the most stressful weekend of his life but we LOVED cutting into our cake and finding out that we were having another girl! 🙂 Here is the moment the big result was revealed!

May

In May we went on our family holiday to Centre Parcs (Elvedon), home to the best swing in the world (all swings should be like this!). This was our last holiday as a family of three and therefore was really special. Erin LOVED the pool and spent the majority of our week there going up and down the water slides on repeat.

It wasn’t all plain sailing though, sometimes things got a little tough though. Soon, the reality of being heavily pregnant with a toddler started to sink in – with our lowest point being the day Erin made me cry!

June

In June, my baby girl turned 3! I was really emotional the night before, partly because I hated the thought of Erin growing up so fast, but also because my Mum wasn’t going to be around to see it. We had a fab birthday for Erin at Gymboree in Notcutts which she still talks about to this day. She loved having all of her friends come and celebrate with her. We had a Hungry Caterpillar theme (one of Erin’s favourite books) and I spent literally hours decorating her cake!

With the arrival of a three year old however came the Rise of the Threenager – and who said the Terrible Two’s were challenging?

July

In July we had a brief but very warm summer, and I invested in the world’s largest paddling pool in order to cool down! 🙂 Had I not been heavily pregnant, this paddling pool would’ve been the perfect hot tub alternative with a few glasses of strawberry daiquiri whilst the sun went down.

Instead, it became my ONLY respite against the heat – with my own internal water bottle, I found July a tad sticky to say the least. Let’s face it though, its not only pregnant people who moan during a heatwave!!!

I was really pleased to see the return of Costa Del Solihull at Touchwood this summer, and spent many an afternoon there chilling on a deckchair whilst Erin played in the sand. Getting back out of the deckchair with a big bump wasn’t quite so straight forward, but it was worth it for a bit of stress free parenting! 🙂

August

In August we had a bit of a pregnancy bump in the road when we learnt my baby was breech 🙁 – I was absolutely gutted as REALLY didn’t want a section, and we had a stressful few weeks when the consultant learnt that the sonographer hadn’t referred me, and as such, there were no available section slots until I was 41 weeks pregnant. Lots of tears ensued, but I tried to keep telling myself that our baby had to come out one way or another!

Two weeks before my due date, I finished work for 12 months maternity leave, and tried to get my head around the fact that I would soon be a stay at home Mum once again!

September

In September, Baby Neve made her big arrival a week early in an unplanned and somewhat comedic fashion! Only I could be stupid enough to drive myself to hospital mid labour, and only Mike could sleep through the most important phone call of his life…

Unfortunately after just 3 days at home with my family, I was readmitted with a wound infection that lead to sepsis and spent three weeks in hospital, fearing that I would never walk again! Neve was admitted with me as a ‘lodger’ and the staff at Heartlands Aspen Ward literally because my heroes! It wasn’t until my 6 week check that I realised just how lucky I had been to have the diagnosis of Sepsis so early – I urge other expectant mums to ensure they recognise the signs!

Whilst in hospital, my best friend in the world made a surpise visit from Perth to cheer me up, which was the pick me up I needed when I was feeling rather emotional and low! I cried so loudly when I saw her (happy tears!) that three midwives came rushing in as they thought something horrific had happened lol 🙂

In late Septmeber, I left hospital having missed the last few weeks of sunshine (Doh!) and moved with the in laws for two weeks. Still on crutches, and as such unable to master my own stairs, I was very grateful to my in laws for living in a bungalow, and helping me and Neve have at least some kind of normality outside of the four hospital walls! 🙂

October

In early October, I finally returned home, and we spent our first few weeks together as a family! Neve has been simply perfect, such a content and calm baby, and Erin has adapted really well to being a big sister. I expected tears and jealousy, but we got none. If anything, Erin has just been a little bit over zealous on the love! 🙂

Erin enjoyed dressing up as usual for Halloween, and despite Nathan’s “spooky party” being cancelled due to him being unwell, we still had a fun time with pumpkin carving. Erin still thinks the party is happening however, and keeps asking when it is… she may have rather a long wait! 🙂

We started viewing schools in October, asking LOTS of questions to help us make our decision. We are in lucky position where all of our local schools are either good or outstanding, so I am not too worried about the school that is selected. That said, it would be lovely for her to go to the same school as her Dad, so that will be our number one choice.

November

In November, after a good month of physio, I finally said goodbye to the crutches and found that my strength had pretty much returned to normal. I could now walk unaided, albeit a tad slower than usual, and those days of wheelchairs and zimmer frames seemed like a life time away!

Due to having two children this Bonfire night, we had a fairly low key celebration this year (sprinklers in the garden!), deciding that proper fireworks may be a little on the loud side for a 2 month old!!

December

Erin was VERY excited about Christmas this year, and we decided to still take the risk and take Erin to see Father Christmas at Notcutts – thankfully she is still none the wiser that it’s her granddad! 🙂

Erin did her first ever Preschool Nativity, where she took on the role of a King. I was a very proud hormonal mummy! 🙂

We sadly said goodbye to my Uncle Mike this year after a period off illness, but had a fabulous send off for him in late December. One thing I will say, that man’s eulogy makes everyone else’s lives sound positively boring. What a legend he was 🙂

We had lots of fun with Erin on the run up to Christmas, making lots of Christmas crafts to keep her busy. Our Christmas traditions have continued as a family of  four, and we had a magical day, despite Erin being terrified of her hatchimal 🙂

Overall, a pretty special year all round and I am truly grateful for being so well looked after in what was a pretty intense time for our family! 🙂 Neve is just the icing on the cake and has really completed our family. I am really excited about 2017 and what the year will bring (DEFINITELY NO MORE KIDS!!!)

What are your new years resolutions? How was 2016 for you??