My year 2014 in review: Part 1 (Jan to Jun)
I thought it would be nice to do a little review of my year 2014 and look back at what happened during the year. It always feels like time passes so fast, and you forget the little details, what you did and and when, and where you went. I did have quite a whirlwind of a year, so here goes...
January 2014
My little monkey turned seven months at the beginning of January. She had learned to stand upright at six months, and this month she learned how to cruise. What an advanced baby we thought! We enjoyed the beautiful weather and took loads of walks out. Before Christmas I got two job offers, so at the beginning of January I was pondering which to go for after I would finish my maternity leave.
At the end of the month I went to see my family in Finland, and I stayed there for two weeks, so part of February was spent there too. It was cold, and there was lots of snow, and we enjoyed going out for winter walks and seeing family over there.
February 2014
In February we were busy attending baby swimming classes - that was our baby hobby thing. We did Born to Swim classes, and our baby went all the way through to advanced baby course, e.g. the Goldfish course later in the year. In February I think we were still doing the Angelfish course, which is intermediary. It was great fun, and I have recommended their classes to all mummy friends.
In addition to baby swimming, on Valentine's Day I cooked us a three course meal. I am not exactly a Nigella in the kitchen, but managed to cook us a lovely meal of bruschetta, moules mariniere, and pannacotta. I spent a lot of time meeting other mummy friends, and we went to a christening of one of our NCT group babies. I had decided on the job I'd take in January, and in February I went to meet my new colleagues and have a chat with my line manager.
March 2014
March was quite a busy month, and I spent quite a lot of time with friends - meeting our NCT buddies, having other friends over, and popping over to the Ideal Home Show to see another friend who had a stall there (she was selling Nordeck garden chairs). Our little one tasted ice cream for the very first time and hated it with a passion. In terms of baby development, in the space of a few weeks during March, our baby got four new teeth. Lots of difficult nights...
The most important day of the month was of course our my first ever Mother's Day. Apparently our little one chose this orchid for me, by looking at the flowers after my husband asked her what should we get for mummy. We also had a massive growth of mold in our bedroom, so while the room had to be renovated, I stayed at the in-laws on the countryside and had lots of country walks, checking out the swans and ducks.
April 2014
April time was really busy. We went to see rugby (my first ever rugby match) at Twickenham. Aili and my husband did a cute little birthday card for Nanny, and some family friends from Spain visited London. 14.4 our baby took her very first steps... And I missed it! (Not to worry, she soon repeated them in front of me).
Around Easter time my family from Finland came over to London, and we did the touristy thing, and visited pretty much all the sights in London. We spent a fair bit of time at Greenwich (absolutely beautiful), cruised along Thames and ate at Borough Market. And lots of other things too. After Easter my I finished my maternity leave and began a new job.
May 2014
After lots of busy months May was quite chilled. I was mainly at work, and incredibly tired with trying to get accustomed to working again (and in a new place in a new job) and dealing with frequent night-time disturbances (that's what having a baby does to you). On the weekends we tried to do fun stuff. Some of the nice things were a picnic with our NCT buddies, and making sushi. For years I had been promising to make hubby some sushi and use my sushi-rolling skills (I used to work in a Japanese restaurant before we met), and I finally made some.
June 2014
June was a BIG month for us, as our little one turned one year. On the birthday we took some pictures of her in her red birthday dress, and gave her her own cake. She was a bit suspicious at first and it took us trying it before she tasted it. And oh boy, did she like it! On the weekend we had a proper big birthday bash at Nanny's.
We popped by a garden exhibition to see those same garden chair exhibiting friends again, enjoyed the outdoors at Hamstead Heath, and visited one of our NCT friends in Cambridge - it was such a lovely month, and it felt like most of the month it was a beautiful and warm weather. June was another pretty busy month, and work was getting quite busy too...
And here is my July to December 2014 review. I thought it would be a bit too much to have it in just one post...
Oh what a lovely year in review with some totally gorgeous photos! Have a fantastic NY! And here's to an amazing 2015 xxxxx
ReplyDeleteLooking back at the year, I do feel a bit surprised how much things have been happening and changing. It has been a great year. Here's to many more! :) Have a brilliant 2015 you too :)
DeleteI love that you've done so much that you need to split it into two posts, my year seems pretty tame an boring in comparison to yours! Finland looks and sounds amazing, it's been on my 'to visit' list for a few years now! This post also makes me sad I didn't join up to any NCT courses as I don't have many friends with babies the same age as Athena! (who was also one in June the same as your lovely little one!)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for linking up too!
Hah ha, it is probably just because I write too much :D It was getting a bit too picture and text heavy to have all in the same post :) Your year looked lovely, and packed with fun things too :)
DeleteFinland is a brilliant place to visit - I prefer it in the summer, but winter has it's magical moments too. Definitely worth visiting.
I do have to say, going on that NCT course was worth it. Yeah, it was expensive, yeah, it wasn't actually that helpful (as I already knew all the stuff beforehand) but making those friendships has been invaluable. We are still in touch, albeit less now as most of us are back at work and some have moved away. Try going to NCT events - I did that too during my maternity year and met lots of nice people with kids around the same age as mine through that as well :)
You have some really fantastic photos here lovely. Happy New Year #ShareYourYear
ReplyDeleteThank you! Been lovely to look back at the year past through photos :) Brings back lots of lovely memories :)
Delete