planes and playdates

It’s always good to reflect on the year that has just gone. Isn’t it? It helps me process, take stock and move forward with the year ahead. I’m going to do a short review here under categories for those of you that are interested. I usually go much deeper and link to goals when doing this for my personal records but for online I’ll keep it simple. I’ll also touch on what is in store for 2019.

The Blog & Social Media
The blog was started in May, with 9 posts published in 2018. My most liked post on the blog was “Book Week 2018 – Our Favourite Books”. I’m a big believer in reading to children from a young age so this makes me happy. The instagram profile has slowly been growing since May and my “Best 9 for 2018” showed that my post “Free Things to do in Brisbane, Australia” was my number one photo! All five of the Melbourne posts also featured in my top 9 so I’m guessing you guys like the family travel (or just travel) content? I’ll be publishing some Melbourne posts on the blog in 2019. Click here for instagram! After some encouragement I created a Facebook page for the blog in December and you can find it here.

Work
I continued working at OSHC and picked up 2 days a week at an Early Learning Centre. It was great to be working with a younger age group again although it did take a little adjustment, not so much with work but with the changes required in my personal life to make it all happen. I did face a little bit of judgment and anxiety in relation to working more and one day I may be willing to tell that story. It wasn’t an easy choice and some days I missed my boy so much I almost quit however looking back it has turned out alright.

My Little Man
We celebrated his 2^nd birthday and then he moved up to the toddler room at his childcare centre. He now attends two days a week instead of the one afternoon and after a little adjustment he is very happy there. In fact some days he tells me to go back to work as he wants to keep playing on the swing! He has grown so much over the year, talking in sentences (but still with the cuteness in saying words), remembering things, being a little helper, climbing way more than I expected and just becoming a real independent toddler who I can’t believe will be three soon.

Sickness and Anxiety
While professionally I was gaining more experience and meeting goals it came at a cost. Firstly my anxiety kicked in as I stressed over more time away from my child and how he was coping with it all. In actual fact I think he coped better than me. Control can be a trigger for my anxiety and I found myself in several situations which I handled well at the time but later had an impact. In addition to this between May and August I kept falling sick, again and again and again. Some of the things I endured were colds, flu, gastro, conjunctivitis, ear infections and not much time to recover before catching the next thing. November and December was back to a couple of mild colds, a mystery case of a numb, tingling arm that hung around for a few days and the return of my eczema (that I haven’t really had for a couple of years). Needless to say my energy was low and I felt like I was crawling to the end of 2018.

Husband
The husband was a bit up and down with his health too and was also on the road a bit for work. Nothing like what a FIFO family would experience but I certainly had times where it was all up to me to make sure everything kept going. Anyone who visited during those times would know the housework was the first thing to be neglected and frozen pizza was eaten a bit more than it should have been!

Holiday
We were able to take a family holiday to Melbourne to have some time away and to catch up with friends we hadn’t seen in ages. Thank God, we were all healthy for the trip! My Little Man loved the trams, planes and trains and we saw some of the city sights, went to the zoo, the gardens and the Shrine of Remembrance to name a few things. I’m already narrowing down options for the next holiday location!

Life in General
Our days were generally spent at work, home or childcare plus activities for the Little Man such as Kindergym, swimming and Music & Movement. Plenty of walks, visits with family and friends, time in the cubby, time in the toy kitchen, collecting eggs from the chickens, playgrounds and other adventures, singing songs, reading books, saying hello to every dog he saw and playing, playing, playing. I spent my free time blogging and reading and soaking up every moment of him that I could, even when the times weren’t easy. We certainly had some challenges and certain behaviours to deal with however it is all a part of growing up and I can be thankful for that.

Special Mentions
The Little Man now knows what birthday parties are after we attended several during the year including my niece turning one. He wants a Wiggles cake for his next birthday.
I managed to have two social nights out this year without my Little Man (past his bedtime, a really big deal for me!) one of which was going to see P!NK perform.
New babies were welcomed into the world by several friends and I love them all.
Other friendships expanded and new ones were made.
We had work done on our yard, slowly making it into the vision we have in mind.
My boy went on his first show ride, saw fireworks for the first time, went to the Wiggles concert and learnt a million things.
My husband and I celebrated our 6^th wedding anniversary.
Christmas was actually understood more by our Little Man this year and he helped hand out presents and was mesmerised by Christmas lights.

2019
My contract got renewed so I’ll be continuing the same work hours but it’ll hopefully be an easier year with less stress and sickness.
The Little Man will turn three and he will have a new cousin very soon.
The blog will continue with posts about Melbourne, childcare and things I’m facing as a Mum, already in the works.
I’m looking into a few other projects and will see if any make it past the exploring stage.
I will continue to do the best I can for my little one and see what else lays ahead for us….

Happy New Year to you all 🙂

Let me know your highs and lows of 2018 and your plans for 2019 in the comments!