It’s been a trying year to say the least but also one filled with lots of love, laughter and memories to cherish. I spent 6 weeks this summer with my extended family and quite literally cried my eyes out when it was time to say goodbye. My son has grown so much in the last year too, he’s gone from a babbling baby to a terrific toddler and if you follow my Project 52 pictures you can also see just how much bigger he’s growing physically as well. He’s a ball of energy, keeping me on my toes 24/7.
This year has been a great learning curve as well. It’s forced me to re-evaluate my life and sift through the crap to figure out who I want to be and what I want for me and my darling boy. Enlightening to say the least.
So here is my list (because who doesn’t love lists)…31 things I’ve learned / realized / remembered in this 31st year of my life:
1. Toddlers are the only beings who can make your blood boil and your heart melt in the space of 30 seconds.
2. The number of your REAL friends is not even a close approximation to the number of your Facebook “friends”.
3. It takes adversity to figure out who your true friends are.
4. Sindhi curry with lots of okra is like liquid gold!!
5. I’m a heck of a lot stronger than I thought I was.
6. Estee Lauder night eye cream is good stuff.
7. I do in fact like bright lipstick.
8. Poo is not as gross as it once was.
9. I’ve decided what my 3rd tattoo is going to be.
10. People will disappoint and let your kid down and there’s nothing you can do about it.
11. Having a Peppa Pig cake for my 31st birthday because it makes my son happy is worth it.
12. The camera on my Samsung (Galaxy S5) phone is awesome.
13. I really do love London.
14. They don’t make Indian movies like they used to.
15. 24 Season 9 was not as good as the first 8.
16. I think I’d actually make a pretty good lawyer.
17. You can never take too many pictures of your child(ren).
18. Blood is far thicker than water!
19. When one door closes, sometimes you gotta crank other ones open yourself.
20. “Love you mama” are my 3 favorite words.
21. “Mama, kiss it better” are the four cutest words I’ve ever heard.
22. Giving up sugar is not as hard as I imagined.
23. Having a supportive network of people is like having a backbone. It holds you up.
24. Anything that’s mine is also my toddler’s and anything that’s his is only his.
25. There are no mistakes, only experiences to learn.
26. It’s never too late to start over.
27. It’s better to have tried and failed than to never have tried at all.
28. You can’t force friendships or any other relationships for that matter.
29. Never underestimate a toddler, they are much smarter than most of us give them credit for.
30. Wine won’t solve all my problems but it certainly helps.
31. The world will not stop for you so when you’re down, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, slap on a bit of lipstick and get moving.
So looking forward to the next year 🙂