Happy New Year!

I read a meme this week that said: My new year starts on Feb 1^st because my January still had some 2021 in it. And I kind of felt that. Not that my January was bad, but it was a very reflective month for me. I decided that resolutions aren’t for me, and if you want to read why, feel free to here, but I had a lot of life admin to sort and some things I needed to reflect on to know how to proceed. Happy New Year!

Mum Life

A lot has happened since I last wrote. We now have an almost 17month old, who is her own little person. She’s walking, running, swimming and almost talking. She may not have the English language down but we always know exactly what she wants, when she wants it and how she wants it. She’s also such an extrovert: in new spaces she’s not shy at all to be walking around, with new people she’s not shy to give cuddles, say hello and give all the chats. She’s always singing and dancing, obsessed with kicking and throwing balls and loves her dolls. I think I can safely say she’s her mother’s daughter: a tom boy which, I have to say I love so hard. She may look like her father but she’s got a little of me up in there too.

Baby Girl happily eats pretty much everything in sight; I haven’t got the strength to let her feed herself every mealtime just yet but she’s pretty good at scooping her food with a spoon and loves a straw cup (we’re still trying to get the hang of open cups). She’s not sleeping through the night yet but she only wakes once for a bottle (yes shes still on the bottle – cut me some slack as she only started taking it from 9 months so she’ll have a bottle at night til we’re good and ready!) but she usually goes down pretty easily after that so I’m actually not too fussed. She slept through the night the whole time we were at my parents, slept better there than she does at home, but we’re in a groove so I really can’t complain.

In short, my little Baby Girl is thriving and we even have her signed up for nursery in September. I can’t believe where time is flying.

Career Journey

In terms of me, I’m still working with a great team at the local church and we have so many opportunities to explore and look forward to that I’m still so grateful to have a place where my opinion matters, I can help reach our estate and help those who need it and feel properly valued in my role. I’m still only 2 days a week, but they’re so flexible. I work 1 full day a week, when my dad watched Baby Girl for us, and I spread my other day across the rest of the week in and around Baby Girl’s naps and bedtime. It honestly works perfectly for me. But I realised last month that there is so much I can do with my role that I need to be more regimented with my time so I can maximise it better. But I have a planner, training sessions and webinars that I’m doing and convictions about what I need to do while I’m in this role. This is the first time I’ve not had to beg for a raise or work tirelessly to prove my worth.

General Life

I’ve also gotten into some really cool community projects which I’m really grateful to be a part of. My dad has always worked with and for community organisations and charities and I think a part of me has always wanted to be a part of that field, even if it didn’t specifically pay all my bills. I’m on the editorial board of the new local paper, part of the Residents Association and am now a trustee for a local charity. It’s safe to say I’ve become a sort of soccer mum and to be honest I’m here for it.

We’ve also finally got some holidays planned for this year and I’m so excited! We haven’t actually booked the tickets so don’t want to jinx it. But if I can just get on one plane this year, it doesn’t even matter where it’s going, I’ll literally be ecstatic, even though the idea of travelling with a toddler scares me senseless. The need for a holiday outweighs the fear a million fold.

All in all it’s been a great 7 months and therefore 2021 wasn’t actually all that bad. But the plans for 2022 are banging so watch this space. We as a family have a lot to do but I as a working mum have a lot to learn. But the bottom line is I’m feeling more like myself, we’ve fallen into a nice little groove and I’m looking forward to the rest of 2022.

Mrs. A

xxXxx