2016 // a recap

Happy New Year's Eve friends! To be honest, I really like to do yearly recap posts. It helps me remember what activities I had experienced and what I learned throughout the year. Honestly, I had been thinking about how do my recap post for 2016 for awhile. I didn't know if I wanted to go through month by month and do a yearly recap that way, or if I wanted to do something similar to my "Letter from the Editor" series. In the end, I realized that the best way, was to just share my top 9 moments/learning experiences from the year. 

1. Ellie came home in January.

Since Duce passed in 2015, I had been having a really hard time with the whole not having an dog in the house. Ellie had been born on my birthday, so I begged the hubby to get another puppy. He said ok, and we brought her home at 7 weeks. 

2. Lil Man was diagnosed with ADHD in April. 

I had been having thoughts about an ADHD diagnosis for some time, and after talking with the hubby, we decided to get Lil Man tested. The doctor confirmed our suspicions, and we started a medication. Since April, Lil Man has done so much better with his listening, and he is doing really well in school concentration wise. 

3. I attended my FIRST blogging PR function in May. 

2016 was definitely my year for blogging. I became a part of the Windy City Blogger Collective, and was able to attend a party and PR function at 360 Chicago in exchange for blog coverage.

4. I was published on Huffington Post in May. 

Every blogger has a blog bucket list, and one of my top five things was to be published on Huffington Post. Sure, being published there doesn't guarantee anything, but it means that you are published on something else than your blog. And of course, I wrote about my experience. 

5. I put in my two weeks at my job, so I could stay home with Lil Man in June. 

After we attended Kindergarten Round up in April, reality sunk in that Lil Man wasn't exactly ready for school. Instead of keeping him home for another year, I decided to quit my job, and stay home to teach him the basics of Kindergarten. Since I was staying home, I also decided to start blogging full time and it lead to my my first paid sponsor post. 

6. I hit 1k followers on Instagram in July. 

When I laid out my monthly goals for July, I talked about building up my social media stats. I want to go places with this blog, and honestly, social media growth is a really large part of that. Due to a giveaway, an Instagram comment pod, and hashtagging, I hit a HUGE milestone in my Instagram presence. In celebration, I did a photo shoot and gave 15 tips for growing Instagram.

7. Lil Man started Kindergarten in August. 

Out of the entire year, I really think the day that Lil Man started Kindergarten was the hardest for me. As a parent, you are constantly suprised as to what your child can do, but you also realize that that child will grow up and that makes it bittersweet. I love how much time I have to myself, but I also miss him during the day.

8. Lil Man's 6th birthday was in September. 

It still hard for me to imagine that I am a mom to a six year old little boy, especially when I am always catching myself wondering when he got so big. His 6th birthday was a big milestone. We invited his whole kindergarten class (only 10 showed up), and he had so much fun playing with all of his friends.

9. I celebrated my 31st and Ellie celebrated her 1st birthday in December. 
To be honest, I really wasn't a fan of turning 31. I welcomed 30 with open arms, but 31... yeah no. Anyways, we took our Christmas card photos and went out to dinner to celebrate. When we got home, Ellie got a whipped cream bowl/cake for her special day :) 

How was your 2016?