A Look Back At 2016 – The Year of Change

Happy 2017 Beautiful People. Whilst we we are in the middle of a new year, 2016 will always bare significant importance for many decades to come. A few life changing events happened that I thought I’d take the time to document it and share with you all why 2016 has been the year of change for me…

I became a Mother

On the 28th February 2016 saw the arrival of my Beautiful Son, Baby Eco and having the pleasure of watching him grow and develop into a smart, inquisitive, happy and content little baby that he is over the past 10.5 months has been nothing but pure joy and delight for my significant other and I.

Parenthood has been all I imagined it to be plus more!!! Admittedly there are challenging and taxing days which leave me physically exhausted BUT a flash of his loving smile, the sound of his adorable belly laugh, the wet slobbery kisses he has recently started to reward my O/H and I and those tight, neck nuzzling cuddles he gives when laying next to/ontop of me during the night makes one forget in an instant about the ups and downs Motherhood brings.

Speaking of Motherhood, for me there is no quite feeling like it. I recently penned an open letter to my then 8 month old Son in an attempt to put into words the intense feelings and love felt for my little bundle and I honestly adore spending every waking moment with him, which, leads nicely onto the next part…

I resigned from my Day job to be a SAHM

OMG OMGGGG i actually did it! I just handed in my resignation following maternity leave to be a sahm while working freelance :)))

— Dani ThisWoman'sWord (@ThisWomansWord) October 17, 2016

Whilst on a years long maternity leave I had alot of time to think about the possibilities of returning to work. The more I contemplated about going back to my 8-4pm role as a Compliance Manager, getting home for 5:30pm ish to only spend an hour with him before he turned in for the night did not sit well with me at all!

I also didn’t want to be the one to miss out on witnessing milestones reached such as first steps taken or words spoken other than Mama or Dada.

Our precious little ones are only young once and when that time is gone we cannot get it back hence my decision to take a career break and look after, teach and nuture my Son until he is at least 3 years old and ready to start nursery please god whilst attempting to secure blog/social media related freelance work working from home to fit around my Son.

I secured my 1St paid Blogger Ambassador Role

This may not be a big deal to some but for me this was HUGE especially given my published content had been admittedly sporadic last year.

Securing the role as a HUGGIES ® Wipes Ambassador alongside some big names within the UK Parent Blogger community such as The Oliver’s Madhouse, Tiger Lilly Quinn and Hi Baby Blog gave me a real confidence boost and confirmed that having the ability to engage and influence ones readership was just as credible as having high monthly unique visits.

I hope to find the balance between looking after my Son whilst maintaining my blog and social media accounts in 2017 and my aim is to post more frequently on all the topics I currently cover as the content has been a bit baby heavy since I went public on the blog with my pregnancy. I do however look forward to any future opportunities that may come my way whilst growing my audience organically.

I lost my Baby weight and Then Some!

Whilst most women would be ecstatic to have shed all of the babyweight gained during pregnancy plus more I on the other hand am not entirely comfortable with this.

Before you begin to question my train of thought allow me to explain…

At present, I weigh 9st6 and can comfortably fit into a UK size 10. What’s the problem you may ask?

This is the lightest I’ve ever been as an adult!

Even when I was training intensely for my 1St Degree Black Belt in Kickboxing back in 2013/14 I was never this light and I had alot more muscle.

My body has completely changed to the point I no longer recognise myself. You see I’m sooo used to being a size 12, with curves and thighs.

Whilst many have kindly said I look ‘great’ post partum every inch of my body feels like jelly and the muscle tone that I once housed has all but gone.

I know pregnancy changes ones body composition and am extremely thankful to have given birth to a healthy baby boy so for me it’s about imbracing this change, even if this new body of mine is completely alien to me.

So that’s 2016 year of change summed up in a nutshell and cannot wait to see what the year 2017 has in store for my little family and I.

A few of my own personal goals and aspirations have been noted down and have begun turning those thoughts into ideas so those ideas eventually become reality.

Here’s to wishing that 2017 brings you all continued health, prosperity and happiness.

Until next time x