2017 Recap

Hi there! 

It’s a brand new year and a brand new post! I know I haven’t been able to post any update last December. Everything and everyone was just so busy with all the holiday prep, so I decided to just do some catching up this new year. Oh, and I got sick: severe headache which was due to higher than normal eye pressure, so I’m trying to steer clear from too much screen time. 

Anyway, I just wanted to do a recap of my 2017. Here it is: 

January was when we settled down to rural life. We finally got it in our heads that we’re out of the busy metro and living the rural life surrounded by nature at its abundance (wow!). This was also the time my little tot was learning to walk on her own and learned to poop in the toilet (yey!). She also started learning how to walk up and down the stairs (and now she can without any help). I also returned to my mat to practice yoga after a hiatus from when I gave birth up to about a year afterwards. It felt really good to be once again one with my body and mind. 

February, I lost my lola (father’s side). She was a strong, resilient woman. Amidst poverty and difficulty, she always had a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye. She always bid us farewell with a sadness and a hope of a time when we’ll see each other again. I just regretted never having made the time to visit her while she was still alive. She was our guardian, our lola, our love. 

March to April was pretty stable. I enjoyed the calm life and routine of a housewife and babysitter. My hubby’s nieces and nephew spent their summer vacation at my in-laws, and my little tot got to have some really good bonding time with them. It was both fun and tiring looking after them. Nevertheless, I enjoyed their company. We played some classic Pinoy games like Tigso, Patintero and Tubig Tubig. Being around with kids gave me that youthful energy and perspective. 

May gave me a great opportunity to reach one of my dreams as a breastfeeding peer counselor. I attended a 16-hour training by the Breastfeeding Pinays. I am now in the last leg of achieving that certification. 

June was a time for change. We moved out of my in-laws’ house and moved to a separate cottage within the property. We missed the independence we enjoyed when we were in Manila, and we welcomed that little change to have a taste of what we missed . I also focused on potty training my daughter at night (pee) so she can finally be 100% potty trained, and by the end of that month, we were successful! 

July had something exciting. My friend, Leslie, and I partnered for a small start-up business to engage kids in playful learning through storytelling and yoga. We did our very first workshop with a good turnout, and this propelled us to do more workshops in the second half of the year. After the first session, our minds were already bursting with so many ideas for the kids and the kids at heart (their parents) that we could hardly wait for the next one. A gift was also handed to us when we found out we were pregnant with our second baby. 

August gave us another sad moment. My a-ma (grandma, mother side) passed away. Two great women, in a year, taken. Both so loving and soft-spoken, both kind-hearted and generous. She, too, was a strong, resilient woman. Always sentimental, always a tear in her eye. But, she always had something silly up her sleeve and an epic story of her childhood. She was our guardian, our a-ma, our love. Even though they’re gone, I know they are well, better even. 

September. Both a high and a low month. My daughter’s birthday gave us that high, but with that also came a heartache when we found out the day after her birthday that I miscarried (more on that with this blog post). 

October to November were spent in the city. It was a calm and stable time, except for when that time I had the operation to remove the deceased embryo. I took on a home-based job and enjoyed the new experience, and we got to have our family annual trip. 

December was a time to be merry. The Christmas spirit can be felt everywhere, and everyone was excited for the holidays. The city got busier and the traffic got worse, but this didn’t dampen the Christmas cheer. We absolutley enjoyed the food. Who wouldn’t? This was a time when everyone was excused from their usual diet regimen and just eat. The opposite was true for me, though. Because of my not feeling well, I didn’t binge eat, but still enjoyed the food and the company, plus my weight (haha). 

We spent Christmas Eve at my in-laws enjoying the games and the food with lots of laughs, and then a continuation the next day at my side of the family. New year’s eve was different. I slept early and didn’t get to welcome the new year. I hope this means 2018 will be restful but still exciting? Haha

So that’s about it. Quite a steady year with a few ups and downs near the end. I’d rate 2017 a 7, which is not so bad, I guess. I am looking forward for a better year this 2018, though. I’ll start it off with a busy month and hopefully, this busy-ness extends till the end of the year with a clearer path, great opportunities, a sustainable business, doing more of the things I love, and of course, mothering and loving the home life. 

Happy 2018! Cheers to us all! 

We’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your 2017 and how you spent your holidays in the comments section below.