Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016

2015, you've been wonderful, hard, tiring, exciting, life changing, challenging, financially tough, progressive, rewarding and to be honest, one of the best.

2015 started off with finding out we were expecting baby number two. It had taken us seven months of trying, so when I got that positive test in January I was over the moon that our little family was growing by one more. As pregnancy symptoms sunk in life plodding along as normal. Darcie turned three in June and then we soon found out we were having a little boy. Darcie was going to have a brother!

Jamie got an amazing promotion at work, the job he had always wanted and worked so hard to get. This little blog grew, I managed to get more work and I won Next's blogger of the month for October and got "Top Blog"in Essentials magazine in the December issue. All in all, our career's seem to be blossoming. 

September came and our beautiful boy was born. All 8lb 11oz of him was completely and utterly perfect and the added bonus was that I got to experience birth exactly the way I wanted. These last three months have been some of the best in my life. Knowing our family is complete and looking ahead to our future as a family of four. 

What do I hope and wish for 2016? Health, happiness and adventure. I will be going back to work in a few months, Darcie will start school in September, Henry will celebrate his first birthday and me and Jamie will celebrate 10 years of being an item. 2016 has the potential to be another wonderful year.

So as me and Jamie have tucked up the children in bed, we settle down with a box of  chocolates and pretend wine (as I'm breastfeeding!). Some may find that an incredibly boring to see in the new year, but I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Happy New Year all, I hope 2016 brings you all you hoped for.

Mummy B xoxox

52 Week Photography Challenge - Introduction

For 2015 I really want to try and hone in my photography skills and so I have decided to make my own 52 week photography challenge.  This has been inspired by other popular photography challenges but I have altered the weekly subjects to reflect (and inspire) my own interests. 

If you would like to take part, I would love for you to link up with me. I will be posting my photo every Sunday along with a link up (if I can get my head round it that is!!), and think it will be a fantastic way of sharing each others creativity and special moments. 

The challenge will start next Sunday and the first subject is 'Beginnings'.

Have you ever took part in a photography challenge?

Mummy B xoxox

DIY Plans for the New Year

When it gets to this time of year, I spend an awful lot of time thinking about next years goals. We of course, got married this year and a lot of our time, energy and money went towards the day and the honeymoon, so all other plans kind of went out the window. Next year we want to focus on our home a little more. We have contemplated moving house, whilst we love our home, it is a touch on the small side. But the cost of moving, stamp duty and solicitor fee's have put us off for now. So we are looking to do some home improvements. There are so many benefits to deciding to improve your home, especially at this time of year where you can get so many good deals.

One of our big plans is to build a shed, hopefully to offer a little bit of storage space and a place for Jamie to potter and work on his bike. Our garden is relatively small, but we are determined to make it work. We would also like to hardscape some areas in the garden, due to our darling doggy lady, ruining the grass... . 

Next on the list is to change the flooring in our living room and hallway. When we bought our house we thought cream carpets where clearly the way to go. One dog and one baby later we were sadly (obviously) proved wrong. There are stains all over and no matter how I try and rearrange furniture or scrub the carpets, it just makes the room feel horrid. What I really would like is wooden vinyl,  we currently have that in the kitchen and I love it. Not only that, but painting the living room and hallway is high on the agenda too as it hasn't been done since we moved in - I can't stand magnolia anymore! There are also a couple of divine furniture pieces that I have my eye on in Next, but that may have to wait.

Lastly is to get out bathroom completed, we made a tiny dent purchasing a nice new bath panel. However, we still need to paint and I would love to change our radiator to a towel warmer. I have found some beautiful towel rails at  My Bathrooms. 

Do you have any DIY plans for the new year? I would love to hear all about them.

Mummy B xoxox