Every month I come to write these posts and I can never remember what we’ve done – I should keep notes or something! I usually say how quickly the month has gone, but actually November seems to have been a long one for some reason. Read more
October has been a busy month for us. Barry and I have had various different nights away, and we’ve managed plenty of family time together too. And now at the end of the month we have finally made it through to half term and we are at the beginning of a few days away in a lovely cottage in the Lake District. Read more
September seems to have disappeared in a flash! At the beginning of the month saw Toby starting school – he seems to have settled in well, even though he tells me every day that he doesn’t want to go! Read more
Here we are again, another month done. August saw Gabe turn two years old, we had a small BBQ for family and friends to celebrate both boys’ birthdays, Toby has started swimming lessons and we’ve moved closer and closer to the day when my only just four year old will start school! Read more
July has been another fairly quiet month for us. At the start of the month we had a trip up to the Lakes to see Barry’s mum and dad, and we went on the Lakeside & Haverthwaite railway (I’ve still got a vlog to edit about it that I’ll get round to doing one of these days).
We had Toby’s birthday this month too of course, but the celebrations were quiet ones at home. It’s Gabe’s birthday in a few weeks too and we’re planning a little family party for bot of them then.
Other than that we’ve had a few trips to the park and not much else really. Toby is slowly getting used to the idea of starting school soon, we’ve even started a countdown wall chart so it doesn’t come as too much of a surprise when it happens, and I managed to get him to try on his uniform the other day, after a bit of a protest! Read more
The end of June? Seriously, how did that happen?? The month has flown so fast that I can’t even think what we’ve been doing. We had two weekends when Toby was at several birthday parties for his friends from nursery, and we’ve had a few weekends at home to try and give Barry a chance to do some work in the garden. Oh and I had an interview for a teaching job that I didn’t get.
Other than that it’s been a fairly quiet month, with not much to report. Toby turns four in a couple of weeks and as I write this he’s having his second transition session at school. He seemed to really enjoy it last week (until he fell over and grazed his knee on the way home) so hopefully he’ll have had a good time again. The trouble then is going to be explaining that he doesn’t actually go to school properly for another 8 weeks! Read more
I know I say it every month but… where does the time go? May seems to have just disappeared in the blink of an eye!
We did manage to fit in quite a few fun family days out though…
At the start of the month we went to SEA LIFE Blackpool as Toby’s treat for reaching the top of his reward chart. A couple of weeks later we took the boys to Brock Bottom for a picnic and a play in the river – it was a fab day out and one we’ll definitely be doing again.
We tried a few weeks without the reward chart but it seems Toby still needs it to keep him on the straight and narrow for now so he’s just completed another one and our next treat/reward trip is going to be to the zoo so keep an eye out for that one!
Towards the end of the month I went to Manchester to see Take That and then was back again a couple of days later for the Blog On blogging conference. And then this weekend it was my 39th birthday and we celebrated with a BBQ at my mum and dad’s house.
My dad took these Me & Mine pictures for us at the weekend. The weather was a bit grey in the morning but had brightened up by the afternoon and the boys had great fun running round the garden.
Toby wasn’t quite in the mood for having his picture taken though Read more
So this is it…December 31st and 2016 is done. If I’m being entirely honest I’ll be quite glad to see the back of this year. There have been some good times – we moved house in July and being near to our parents for the second half of the year has been great, even if the move itself was pretty stressful. We’ve now got an amazing new kitchen too (which I will share soon I promise, but it’s still not quite finished). We had a lovely holiday at Center Parcs in May, even if Toby did have chicken pox for the first part of it.
On the whole though I will remember 2016 as the year of illness and sleepless nights. Gabe has spent most of the year either poorly or teething or both, we’ve seen coughs and colds, conjunctivitis, chicken pox, stomach bugs, hand, foot and mouth…there really haven’t been many bugs that we’ve avoided!
We did manage to get through Christmas without anyone being ill, apart from a few sniffles, and for that I’m grateful. My brother and sister-in-law came to visit just before Christmas and we had a fab evening playing a new game (Codenames if you’re interested – I’d thoroughly recommend it) and Toby loved having his auntie and uncle to stay. It also meant we had someone to take our Me & Mine picture this month, even if it is only taken outside our house.
We set up the camera at the end of the table on Christmas day too and so I thought I’d include an extended Me & Mine picture this month too…
2016 has been a year of survival for me, of getting through the days and hoping we all make it to bedtime without too many tears. I’ll be the first to admit that I have struggled to remain positive a lot of the time and I have to thank my wonderful husband for bearing the brunt of my emotional outbursts over the year. Sleep deprivation has a lot to answer for I think!
When I look at the year’s Me & Mine pictures all together though I see how far we have come. Gabe was just a baby at the start of the year and now he’s a fully fledged toddler. And Toby has gone from a cheeky toddler to an even cheekier pre-schooler who is too clever for his own good sometimes!
2017 is going to a big year for us. The first full year in our new house, Toby starting school, Gabe learning to talk (and hopefully sleep!), I might even go back to teaching at some point. Whatever 2017 brings I’m sure we’ll cope with it just like we always do, and here’s hoping it’s a bit easier than 2016 was.
Whatever you are doing tonight to celebrate the new year I hope you enjoy yourselves – I’ll probably have a glass of wine in front of the TV and be in bed by 11 pm! Thank you all so much for reading Toby Goes Bananas this year and I’ll see you again ready to start afresh in 2017.