My Year In Reflection 2016

I decided to write my year in reflection after a tweet from Martyn on my ’10 Things I’m looking forward to in 2016′ post and decided to do what he suggested and see how 2016 went.

Looking back on 2016..

1. I did have my steroid injection’s back in march and after a week of hell I had 2 good weeks, so it was decided this wasn’t enough. Instead I started on Gabapentin. Whilst I’m still having bad days they do help massively!

2. The Easter holidays went well but unfortunately with my back not improving and my anxiety & depression becoming harder to cope with, I wasn’t able to take the girls out to do much. There were few trips until out until the Summer but we did replant Eva’s mini rainforest from her weekend box!

3. We went out for a lovely meal to celebrate Eva’s birthday this year with friends as we couldn’t quite manage to cover a full day out but she enjoyed herself and had decided where to go etc. I was quite stressed with my ESA assessment being booked for Eva’s birthday so I had a pretty exhausting week.

4.The summer holidays were brilliant and we did manage a few days out to place like Wat Tyler Country Park and Southend On Sea as well as attending some local events like the Big lunch that is held at Grays Town Park once a year.. which I took a ton of pictures of then forgot to blog about it!

5. Izzy had a brilliant birthday at home with a few close friends visiting and we celebrated my brothers 21st too. I eventually managed to escape for a few drinks a few days after my birthday too!


6. I have spent a lot more time with my brother this year. He has gone through some huge changes and I am so damn proud of him! There were times I wondered if we’d reach the point we are at now but he has completely turned his life around. We now see each other 6 times a month minimum having Family Dinner’s with him once a fortnight. We are slowly turning his flat into a home and he is slowly getting into a routine with everything and some days adults better than me!

7. Although I’ve pretty much given up on the knitting I have had a lot of fun learning to crochet this year. Starting with headbands and bags, dolls clothes & now blankets and a new project in the works. I have to say I feel really pleased with myself for this, it’s something I’ve learnt that is calming & gives me a bit of me time. I also feel a sense of achievement each time I finish a project, especially with the girls reactions!

8.  I think it’s safe to say I have slowly grown the blog this year. I’ve moved from .wordpress.com to .com. I’ve also just found out my DA score has gone from 1 to 16, 2 months after moving over. I’m not entirely sure how DA works but I’m told it’s a good first jump so I’m happy!

9. I have definitely managed to work with a lot more brands and had a chance to review some awesome product’s. Also testing out apps like Mobicip to help keep the girls safe on their tablets. The Mr even got an awesome box of beer from Beer52 to review just before Christmas! The girls got some lovely books and the super cute Itty Bitty’s too!

10. Although I have learnt to manage my pain much better than this time last year I do still struggle at times & over do it.. I guess that’s something that won’t change. There’s always something going on and it doesn’t take much these days for me to over do it unfortunately!

Did you get to do any of the things you were looking forward to in 2016?