My 2014 & Share your year Linky

I love writing an end of year round up, and as I’ve recorded the year on my blog it’s much easier to do than if I had to rely on my memory alone! Last year I set up a linky for anyone else doing a round up to add to, basically so I (and everyone else!) could have a nosey at other peoples years. The link up is at the end of the post, please do share this post on twitter etc if you see anyone else has done a round up of their year!

You can read my recaps of 2011 (being a bridesmaid, being proposed to) 2012 (marriage, holidays to Germany and Egypt) and 2013 (Moving, having a baby…) should you feel so inclined So, onto 2014!

January

I turned 30! I had a pretty quiet celebration, dinner with friends and then a day out in London with my Mum and Athena, where we toured the Thames on a boat.

February

Sam turned 26, and we spent a week up in Norfolk with his family. This post makes my sort of miss my long hair! We also got rid of our coffee table to make more room for Athena who started crawling around this time, and the problem of where to put hot drinks has forever remained!

March

I gave up baths for lent, giving myself about 5 hours back each week! (Don’t worry, I showered!) I also started spending some of our spare time snooping round local charity shops for wooden toys for Athena, coming up trumps!

April

We went on holiday to the Peak District with friends, visiting Pooles Cavern and spending a day cycling the Monsal Trail, which I would recommend to anyone! I also wrote a post about me ten years ago… blimey!

May

Seemed to have been a pretty quiet month, I made a picture wall in Athena’s Nursery and did a baby sensory jars DIY too. I also officially finished maternity leave at the end of the month, though I was on annual leave for another month!

June

Athena turned one! We went to a friends wedding, and I also did a one day photography course, not that it has improved the quality of my photos much! I wrote about my opinions on ‘show off mums’ and why they annoy me, which got some good responses! I also switched from Blogger to WordPress too!

July

I returned to work from Maternity leave after 13 months, and got pregnant again! Sorry work. The transition to working mama wasn’t as bad as expected and even now I quite enjoy my train commute to and from work as it’s the only ‘me time’ I am guaranteed! Athena settled in at Nursery like magic and we’ve never had an issue with her being upset or even ill there. I did a book caddy DIY for kids books, and amazingly posted almost daily considering I was back at work! I talked about my blogging history too

August

Posting frequency dwindling somewhat this month, as I got back into the swing of things at work, and also because I was suffering from major pregnancy fatigue and a bit of morning sickness (or all day nausea really!) We had a lovely long weekend away in Norfolk for a family wedding at the end of the month, and I wrote about Athena being a ‘good’ sleeper and we got there.

September

September was also a bit naff in terms of doing stuff, still feeling tired and sick and trying to hide an ever growing baby bump, we finally had a twelve week scan (at almost 14 weeks!) at the end of the month and could let the cat out of the bag! Oddly the only person who had guessed was my area manager (male!) at work who said I carried myself differently! Blog wise I talked about my favourite podcasts and started my ‘stuff on a Sunday’ series.

October

October saw me go on a chocolate workshop (delish!) end breastfeeding with Athena at 15 months and talk about my first trimester. I finally felt more normal and less tired and sick, so as a family we tried to get out and enjoy the warmish autumn as much as possible!

November

I had a lovely break in Morocco with friends, leaving Sam and Athena at home! They coped fine without me, and it will probably be the last child free holiday I get in a long time! Exploring the city and haggling was all good fun but i’m glad all our shops in the UK have fixed prices! At the end of the month I had a major hair chop and donated 15 inches to be made into a wig for a child suffering from hair loss. Still no regrets on having so much taken off, and my hair washing time is under 5 minutes now, though I do have a chillier neck!

December

December has been naff generally, at the start of the month I had a really nasty probably-pregnancy-related tooth abscess somewhere under a gum which took a few days for the antibiotics to get rid of, and then a week after that Athena was really ill, and then both Sam and I caught it. The doctor reckons it’s a nasty strain of Norovirus and at the time of writing this it’s been 8 days since my symptoms arrived and i’m still not feeling great! Luckily there is no risk to the baby-bump but it’s meant a lot of staying indoors trying to entertain a toddler with no energy as I can’t keep any food down! I wrote a few festive gift guides and Athena and I walked to the park buggy/carrier free for the first time!

I am working up until the 23rd December, then we will be staying home for Christmas itself (my mum will join us on Christmas day) although we are eschewing the traditional turkey and having Philly chicken wrapped in parma ham but with all the trimmings of course! Sam is working solidly until the 27th, then we are heading off to Norfolk for a 2nd Christmas with his family, with a stop off in Milton Keynes on the way for him to go snowboarding and for me to see a friend. We’ll be back on the south coast after New Year, and I plan to have a little blogging break whilst I’m away too.

 

So, over to you! Please link up any posts you’ve written about your year, as detailed or as brief as you fancy, and I will love reading them and share the love on twitter. It would be great if you could visit a couple of other posts linked up too!

<div align="center"><a href="http://wp.me/p4J9uB-1ix" title="Belle du Brighton" target="_blank"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/gDbXiNo.png?1" alt="Belle du Brighton" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

There is a badge for you to display if you wanted to, or a link back to this page would be nice but neither is compulsory!

‘);