My 2016 | A Year in Review | Me Becoming Mum

This year, like many others, has been made up of many moments both low and high. Despite the lows I have had a wonderful year. Now that we are moving into 2017, I decided I had to share with you a few of the amazing reasons why I have loved 2016!

It's funny really, I decided to do this post ages ago... and being relatively new to blogging, I didn't know that I was going to be one of many bloggers doing so!

It would appear that it's the season when it's a given that we bloggers will review the year that we have had, just as it comes to a close.

With all the media coverage of celebrity deaths, Brexit, Trump being elected as the next US president and other major events of 2016, it was actually quite refreshing to sit and write this post.

Despite some personal low points, including losing my husband's grandmother (to whom we were both close) this year has been pretty awesome for my family and me. 

January

We celebrated my husband turning 35, and then - a few weeks later - we celebrated me turning 25.

Nowadays for us, birthdays aren't an especially big deal... they are made so much more amazing these days because we share them with each other, and now our children too!

I decided that I had to include them as they are a sign that we are lucky enough to have lived another year together.

Being another year older hasn't really changed much for either of us, apart from the fact that my car insurance is now cheaper!

February

Our first born turned two, and we had a fabulous week of celebrating with family and friends.

March

My handmade crochet business, Mama Naii's Crochet (which you can read more about here), became profitable   just over a year from me opening my order books to the public.

April

We found out we were having our second baby.

I'd imagine that some people will think that it is odd for me to have a picture of the positive test I took.

After trying and praying for this baby for so long - and after losing a baby at the end of 2015 - I took the picture of the stick I peed on just to make it feel more real!​

May

We saw our baby for the first time on an early scan. Unlike with R, this time we had to pay for it.

I definitely think that it was worth it though, especially as we were able to share the experience with our toddler too.

In May I also celebrated five years being married to the love of my life. If you'd have asked me ten years ago where I'd be in ten years time, I could not have dreamed up a better future.

June

At the beginning of the month, we saw our baby at our dating scan. That was the day we found out that our due date was December 18th... exactly one week before Christmas Day!

A few weeks later, after enjoying the news ourselves for a while, we announced we were having our second baby.

It was so different being able to have R involved in the fun of announcing my pregnancy this time around. 

We loved it though, especially R who was so proud to say that mummy had a baby in her tummy! If you fancy reading it, I wrote about our announcement in my "Baby on Board" post.

August

August was another month during which we got to see our baby again. This time we saw her at our anomaly scan, which was also where we found out we were expecting another little girl.

With R we decided not to announce the gender of our baby until she was born, even though we knew what we were having. However in August 2016, we decided to announce we were having our second girl. My post, "To Reveal, or Not Reveal, That is the Question" tells the full story of our gender reveal.

This was also the month during which we went on our last holiday as a family of three. From now on, we will be travelling as a foursome!

October

In October we had our 4D scan of Little L. I wrote a post about "Seeing Baby" so you can have a peek at some more of the photos we received on the day!

November

We had our maternity photoshoot, with Aleeka's Dreams Photography. This amazing local photographer captured some amazing photos - some of which can be found in the post I wrote about it, "Making Memories at our Maternity Photoshoots".

December

Of course, the biggest event of December was when we welcomed Little L into the world. It still feels quite surreal that she's finally here, even though she's been around for over two weeks now!

A few days after Little L was born, we had our baby photoshoot, with Aleeka's Dreams Photography. The photos are absolutely stunning - keep an eye out for my round-up post on them!

So, there you go. That closes my year in review... but before I wish you all a happy new year, I thought I would share a few of my blogging highlights too!​

​In August (after talking to a friend who said I should blog...) I started to write posts for a blog which I decided to call, "Me Becoming Mum".

I started without any real idea of where it was going, and without a real plan for the future... I was simply writing my thoughts into posts and learning as I went along.

​On the 6th of October, I set up my website & went self-hosted with my blog here at Me Becoming Mum.

Even then I could not have foreseen how much it would grow and become something amazing in the months that followed.

​Another highlight for me was when my amazing artist friend and fellow mama designed and drew me a beautiful new logo for my blog.

I love it, and how it symbolises my journey into motherhood.​

As of the end of the year (just over three months from setting up my account) I have over 900 new followers on Twitter, and have met some amazing blogging friends there.

As of the end of the year (just over three months from setting up my account) I have over 600 new followers on Instagram, and have had some wonderful feedback on my account.

Finally, I think the best way to end this post is to share with you my #2016bestnine - the photos that received the greatest number of likes on my Instagram account this year. I think it perfectly sums up my 2016... from bump to baby.