January '18

January, the longest month ever! Luckily for us it’s broken in half because of G’s birthday on the 15th. But after that, let me tell you it dragged.

We started the month feeling so positive and motivated for a brand new start. We cleaned the house and took down all of the Christmas decorations on the 2nd Jan. Daffodils started sprouting from the ground in the garden and Oscar enjoyed playing with his new tractor in the blistering winds.

G and I decided to restart Slimming World and buy a cross trainer for the conservatory to keep us fit and motivated. The days were short but so so long. It was hard to remain positive and motivated when the rain poured day in day out. So we went to soft play, took a trip to IKEA, and played with Oscar’s new jigsaws over and over.

Oscar started his new football classes with G on a Saturday and I started to get some much needed alone time to do the things I used to love. We went for walks around the reservoir but rushed home for hot chocolates and to warm our hands on the radiators. The winter sunsets shone through the back windows bright orange.

Before we knew it G’s birthday weekend rolled around and we spent the Friday binge watching Power on Netflix whilst cuddled up on the sofa. We cleaned the house ready for our friends coming round on Saturday night and we played games, drank a few too many cocktails and shovelled down a lot of pizza. We woke feeling delicate on Sunday but powered on for a cold trip to Blackpool. Oscar fell and hit the back of his head on the concrete floor so our trip was cut short and we headed home. On Monday we spoilt G with cuddles and breakfast and love for his birthday. He opened his presents and we all got ready for a day of shopping (G’s request!). When we got home we sang happy birthday and he blew out the candles on his cake. Once Oscar was in bed we sat down for a lovely steak meal together and reminisced on how good the weekend was.

Tuesday was a rubbish day because we had nothing left to look forward to and it really felt like our ‘first day back at work in January’. It snowed and snowed and snowed. We went for walks and built snowmen and then longed for spring. I bought some tulips to brighten up the rooms and when the sun shone I felt slightly too excited. I dreamt about the summer days in the garden letting Oscar roam about naked jumping in and out of the pool whilst the BBQ sizzled.

Wedding plans started and I really got back into being creative with painting and trying to learn calligraphy. I lost a total of 8lbs in January and by the time the 31st finally rolled around I really felt ready to conquer the rest of the year.