January Achievements

2018, the year of achievements..

Hi readers and happy February! I hope everyone is doing well. This is a post I am going to do monthly to track my achievements in 2018. 2017 was a great year and my biggest achievement was obviously giving birth and becoming a mother early in the year and the rest of that year was focused on getting the hang of the whole parenting thing. Now we are in 2018 and I feel a bit more in control and have a routine established when it comes to Ella-Grace I thought this year would be the year to start make some new goals and try and help people- which is always a goal of mine. Of course being the best mother I can be to Ella-Grace is my top priority but it is nice to set some goals for yourself and help others which I think in turn makes you a good role model to your children and as Ella-Grace gets older she will be able to take part hopefully. 

Off to a good start...

As soon as we returned from my parents after the festive season I wanted to make a start on my new years resolutions and I am happy to say I made a start/achieved quite a few of them within the first week. Which is great considering Ella-Grace and I have been ill for the past week now and so have not done much but eat and sleep meaning what you are about to read was all done at the start of January. Hoping we will be all better next week and back to our routine and goals. 

Achievements...

Went Full Vegan 
This one I am extremely proud of as I have wanted to do it for a while. As most of you know I have been meat-free and dairy free since Ella-Grace was just a few weeks old, Ella-Grace also has this diet. I did however eat eggs and over the Christmas period succumbed to the temptations and had some dairy (still no meat though). When the new year hit I was determined to go back to my dairy free ways and now cut out eggs too. I wanted a full plant-based diet that is free from animal cruelty and full of goodness- not to mention the amazing impact it will have on our environment. I caved once or twice and had egg while I was out but now I am so happy to say I am at the point where animal products simply repulse me and I feel sick if I eat them. Plant-based diet forever, I am feeling happier and healthier than ever. I will be doing a full blog post on this soon so that is all I will say for now but yeah big achievement!

Made an appointment to give blood
I have thought about doing this for so long but due to my fear of needles and the thought of getting blood taken making me feel faint, I haven't done it (not to mention getting tattooed and being pregnant -obviously at separate times- making me postpone it even more). But this January I bit the bullet and made an appointment. The appointment isn't until the end of February but at least I have made the appointment, no backing out now I am not one to let people down. I am not rolling around in riches so cannot donate lots of money to a charity but blood I can do and knowing that if myself, Ella-Grace or anyone else in my family could one day need a blood transfusion and also that my blood type (O negative) is so rare and is the only type that can be used for EVERYONE - yes everyone I feel like I have a super power- I had to do it. I could save someones life and that is amazing.

Donated food to a food bank
Something else I have wanted to do for a while but always forgot to do, donate food to a food bank. My local supermarket has done this for a long time where you can drop off tins of food and I have had tins sitting in my cupboard or ages (still in date though obviously). I was getting no use out of these tins but someone else could so finally after forgetting AGAIN when I went to do my food first food shop of 2018 I marched back home got the tins and went back to the shop to donate them. Since then whenever I am in the shop I pick up a tin of beans or something similar and put it in the box. I cannot tell you how good that feels. Also knowing Ella-Grace is seeing myself donate food and do good deeds often I hope she will learn from this, we all need to help each other and be a little bit kinder.

Created a cleaning schedule and kept on top of it
Okay this one has kind of gone downhill since we got this flu bug but I think that is a valid excuse to step back on the cleaning routine for a while. At the start of the month however unfortunately Reece got ill (don't worry he is okay now) and I had to do literally EVERYTHING because he needed his rest. Usually Reece helps with the chores and obviously Ella-Grace as much as he can but he just had to come home from work and go to bed in order for him to heal. Because of this my superhero powers must of kicked in and I was on top of every little thing from cleaning to parenting, I felt like Wonder Woman for those two weeks and I have no idea how I didn't pass out. So that was an achievement for me because I love a routine and I was on top of everything. Time will tell whether this routine returns after this illness has gone. I will let you know.

Stared planning Ella-Grace's birthday party
I wrote started but to be honest it is almost all finished apart from the minor details and I am so happy with how the whole party is coming together- going to write a separate post on 1st birthday party planning I think, let me know if that would interest anyone. Since Ella-Grace was born she has come to the Disney movie 'Moana' and everything related to it (toys, music, books) so that is the theme of her party, my sister has even booked someone to come dressed as Moana and sing the songs, she is going to love it. Our special girl deserves a super special birthday and I hope she will have lots of fun.

February Goals...

So that is how January went and now we are into February. Still a battling this illness but hoping to be over it soon and fulfill a few more goals...

• Finish planning Ella-Grace's party
• Give blood
• Plan more of the wedding
• Donate food again
• Create a writing schedule
• Go to trampoline park for the first time
• Book Swimming Lessons For Ella-Grace 

Till Next Time...

Thank you for reading this blog post, this one is more for myself to be able to encourage me to do something new/help people every month but I do hope it will also push you to do the same. What have you done this month? What have you achieved? What are your goals for the upcoming month? Comment below I would love to know. Till next time..

Stay Happy Everyone :)!