Me and the kids
Parenting

The top 7 tag

I’m a little late to the party with my top 7 tag blog post as life has been pretty busy since coming back to London after Christmas. We have started our kitchen extension meaning the house is in a right state and I’m trying to live through it with two kids. I’ve had tonsilitis which thankfully was picked up pretty quickly and the antibiotics started to work straight away. Last but not least we’ve completed a 10-day course of sleep training, which I can say has worked.

So that’s why I’m late in writing this blog post, and also why my blog has been put on the backburner recently.

One of my ambitions this year is to write more, to bring this blog of mine back to the level it was prior to having Bertie. It’s going to be tricky. However now that Bertie is in a much better sleep routine and has set daytime naps I know when I have pockets of time to write.

Which leads me on to writing my top 7 tag and this is brilliant way to bring back my blogging mojo. I was tagged by the lovely Maria at Suburban Mum and the aim of this tag is to share the following:

  • Your Favourite 7 Posts from 2018. They can be any posts at all that you are proud of.
  • 7 Things You Loved The Most About 2018. Whether you visited somewhere, or just had one of those moments you will never forget, if you loved it, list it!
  • 7 Things You Are Looking Forward to in 2019. Whether those plans are set in stone or you something you would like to do this year, share with us.
  • Tag 7 Bloggers to Take Part. Share the love and tag 7 others who would like to take part.
  • Say Thanks. Link back to the person who tagged you and/or myself, so people know where to find the tag to join in too.

So here are my top 7…..

7 favourite blog posts from 2018

  • A Little Bit of News – Back in January I announced my second pregnancy and this blog post received a lot of love from everyone along with my social media posts.
  • Mother’s Day Gift Guide 2018 – This is my most popular post of the year, and one that generated the most traffic. I loved writing this and working with all the brands. It was a labour of love, as are all gift guides, but it was totally worth it.
  • Our second birth story: Welcome Bertie – A blog post that is close to my heart, here I recount my birth story of our second child.
  • Why I won’t be exclusively breastfeeding my second baby – I wrote this post as I felt that all mums need to have choice when they are deciding on how to feed their baby. It is 100% possible to combination feed, and I knew this time round I wanted to go down this route.
  • How to get a good night’s sleep with Leesa – I’ve worked with some great brands this year and this has been one of the best. The Leesa mattress is excellent (so comfy) and they are a lovely brand to work with too.
  • My experience of doing the Digital Mums course – At the start of 2018 I completed and passed the Digital Mums course. Woo hoo! To help other mums who may be thinking of starting the course I’ve written all about it here and how I hope to take my social media manager training to the next level.
  • Making the decision between VBAC and c-section – I wrote this post to help mull over the options and decision in my mind. Plus also to support anyone else who also had this choice. In the end I had a c-section with Bertie, it was fine, and now seems like a distant memory.

7 things I loved most about 2018

  • Finally moving out of our flat into our house. After what felt like the longest ever sale and conveyancing period we finally moved in on the coldest and snowiest day of the year in March.

Packing up the flat

  • The birth of our second child; Bertie, in June. He was born by c-section and changed our lives again forever. It was lovely bringing him home and introducing him to Freya who took to being a big sister with caution, jealousy and eventually with love.

Baby Bertie

  • Going on our first family holiday to Tenby in July. Bertie was only 6 weeks old and I think that we were pretty brave travelling that far with two kids. But you have to do it and we had a gorgeous week away.

Family holiday in Tenby

  • Starting to make our house a home. We stripped off the render, replaced the windows, painted the bedrooms and finally agreed the go-ahead on our kitchen extension (that is happening right now).

Our house with render removed and new windows

  • Visiting Center Parcs Sherwood Forest. I love our annual Center Parcs trip. It’s a chance to escape the hubbub of London life and live in the Center Parcs bubble for a long weekend where Freya really enjoys to play with her cousins, and I get to drink wine with the family.

Me and Bertie at Center Parcs

  • Christmas this year was lovely. Freya really understood it and knew exactly what was happening. She loved opening all her presents and enjoying the family time. It was also Bertie’s first Christmas too. Plus it gave me the opportunity to put my feet up for a bit.

Family Christmas

  • My sisters wedding. It was lovely to enjoy a family wedding this year. My sister looked gorgeous, I loved being a bridesmaid and Freya loved being a flower girl. One thing I did learn was that it is hard to feed a baby wearing a bridesmaid dress.

Enjoying my sisters wedding

  • Lastly our family holiday to Spain in September. Freya loved the pool, the beach and the sea. Bertie coped well with the heat and his first flight. And I loved the food, the wine and soaking up some sunshine.

Family holiday in Spain

(Oops I’ve just realised that this was 8 things).

7 things I am most looking forward to about 2019

  • Getting our house finished, or as finished as it can be. We have plans or the beginning of plans in motion to get the living room and then the bathroom sorted after the kitchen is done.
  • Family time. Freya seems to have finally welcomed Bertie into the fold and I am really looking forward to seeing how their bond grows over the year ahead.
  • Working. This may sound crazy, but I am really looking forward to properly getting back into work again and having longer blocks of time to focus on my business.
  • Sleeping. We started the year with virtually no sleep and being woken every couple of hours or so. Now Bertie is sleeping for much longer and no longer has any night time feeds.
  • Holidays. We will be taking our usual holidays to Wales and Spain this year to keep costs down. I’m already looking forward to them, to the sunshine (hopefully) and to escaping London and day-to-day life for a bit.
  • Sunshine. This is a boring one, but I think that after we’ve completed our build during the middle of winter I will desperate for some sunshine. I’m almost looking forward to another 10 week heatwave again at the moment.
  • Time for me. One of things that I’m really trying to do this year is dedicate time for me. So I’m looking forward to reading more, taking time out and actually doing some exercise. I had better get training for that half marathon I’m running in May.

7 bloggers to take part

I nominate to take part:

I hope you enjoyed reading this and a big thank you to Maria at Suburban Mum for tagging me.

Claire x

 

 

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