2015 - that's a wrap!

blink and we're at the end of 2015. while this little space didn't get as much attention as i would like to give it, i decided to do a recap of the year.

the past year hasn't been too eventful but we did hit a few milestones together as a family. in march, we took a road trip to Canberra to get Charlotte her passport. it was our first road trip and "holiday" as a family of four. she cried most of the way there and most of the way back. so we decided there will be no road trip for this family for awhile.

Charlotte started daycare in May. i felt bad for sending her just as she turned 9 months but it was a right decision to start her young. the carers and the older kids in her room love her. she was doted upon by everyone so she settled in within weeks. mum also came to visit us in May. she spent 10 days with us and surprisingly, we got along fine and didn't get into a single argument the whole time she was here.

i celebrated my 33th birthday in June. Jim took a day off work the day after my birthday
(because Charlotte didn't go to daycare on the day of my birthday) so we enjoyed a child free day in the city. lunch at pendolino was pretty good. while the prosecco costed us an arm and a leg the food was pretty good. we were able to enjoy each other's company and every mouthful of our food which is quite the luxury these days.

Charlotte turned one in August and she has grown in leaps and bounds in the past year. last Christmas, she could barely sit up by herself.  this Christmas, she's toddling around and getting into all sorts of trouble. babbling and getting very good at telling us what she wants and don't want and most importantly, bossing us around and having us all wrapped around her little fingers.

one of the biggest milestones for us would probably be the sale of our little townhouse. when the tenants moved out in July, the house was still vacant after a few open houses so we thought it would be a great opportunity to sell it. i'm still on the fence on whether we made the right decision but the property fetched a pretty good price just before the market cooled down and as a result of the sale, we managed to realised a dream of buying a new car. so, maybe we did make the right decision?

as for Gabriel, he turned four few weeks ago and we had a big party for him. we hired a community hall, got iron man to come, all his friends came dressed in their favourite superheroes and super princesses and i made him a pretty cool cake. it's probably my best creation to date. he couldn't decide on whether he wanted a hulk or an angry bird cake so i made a mash up of both for him. i would like to take the credits for the cake but Jim helped with the figurines. i can't believe Gabriel will be turning five next year and he'll be starting school too.

we didn't do a lot of travelling this year. not that we don't want to but we've learnt our lesson since that little road trip we did in March. Charlotte is still not great in the car and we basically try stay within 5km radius from our house. some people say we should ignore her crying in the car and eventually she'll get it. well, we have ventured outside of the 5km radius boundary and it always end up with her screaming on top of her lungs until she's all worked up, red face with snots and all. so, i don't know when she'll get better at being in the car or being restrained.

it didn't feel like we got up to much in 2015 but life with two kids is so busy. i think we actually got up to quite a bit without knowing it ourselves. i wonder what 2016 has in store for us. well, i know for a start it'll be quite hectic. after working 3 days a week and being a stay at home mum for 2 days since September, my maternity leave will formally come to an end in a couple of days. i return to full time work on the first working day of January 2016 and there will be no more maternity leave for me in the future.

2016 has a lot to live up to but i believe things can only get better. i'm looking forward to our first overseas holiday as a family of four. after much umming and ahring, we finally booked our tickets to Malaysia so Charlotte can meet her aunties and cousins. the flight would probably be the longest as i walk up and down the aisle with Charlotte since she hates being restrained. it probably won't be much of a holiday for Jim and I but the kids will get to play with their cousins and we'll try our best to enjoy it as much as we can.

farewell 2015, it's been a great year!