2012 - The Year That Was

If you're reading this then the world hasn't ended...yet. But if it does, then I would be honoured if this was the last thing you read!

So, moving right along. The other week the amazing Grace put out the call for people to post their best of 2012 for Flog Yo Blog Friday. So who am I to say not to a challenge!

 2012. What a year. It's been huge. HUGE I tell ya!

January -
In January we packed up the car and a 7-week-old Punky and headed to Wagga for my sister Kate's engagement party. 4.5 hours later we arrived and it was a fabulous weekend with lots of laughs and pub meals!

February -
My baby got baptised and wore a vinatge dress for the occasion. The same one my sibligs I wore for our baptisms, and that was first worn by my Dad back in 1950-something! I also waited rather impatiently for Kelly HTandT's baby girl to arrive She made us wait till March. Which I'm sure was more annoying for Kelly than it was for me but I was still pretty annoyed! I also completed my first full month of Fat Mum Slim's Photo A Day challenge, although I didn't have instagram at the time so it was all posted on the blog and my personal facebook page.

March -
I started and didn't finish Fat Mum Slim's Photo A Day Challenge. My good friends little girl turned 1 which meant that Punky attended a birthday party for the first time at the ripe old age of 4 months! And of course the divine Miss A made her arrival! Finally!

April -
I got the news that one of my other good friends was going to be having a baby. Super exciting! Easter was celebrated this month and it was also Punky's first one. She also attended her first wedding this month, my cousin R's. My sister-in-law N returned from a year-long trip to Canada and we picked her up from the airport so she could meet Punky for the very first time!

May -
Punky had her half-birthday and got her first cold. That sucked. I also got to enjoy my very first Mother's Day and we celebrated Dave's Mum's milestone birthday.

June -
I got an iPad and turned 30. One was much more exciting than the other! Dave's Dad also celebrated a milestone birthday. We went on our first family holiday to Port Stephens and had such a lovely time. We also discovered her love of swings, something which hasn't changed!

July -
I went back to work and found my blogging mojo. After encouraging Kelly HTandT to start a blog and loving her posts, my passion was re-ignited and at the end of the month I got back in to it with gusto!

August -
Dave and I celebrated our 10th anniversary together and 4th wedding anniversary. Dave was also awarded 1st place in his apprenticeship and I got to play the proud wife at his presentation where he got a lovely certificate and an even lovelier cheque!

September -
I got drunk for the first time since I fell pregnant at Kelly HTandT's 30th birthday party and my oh my, was it an awesome night! I love daquriris!

October -
This was the month of hens nights. We had both my sister Kate's and my cousin S's hens nights on this month and they were both heaps of fun. I love any excuse to hang out with a bunch of awesome women and a hens night is definitely one of the best excuses! We also had our first family photos together and I am so glad to finally have a nice photo of the three of us together. I will post it next year though as I am using it for some Christmas pressies so don't want to ruin the surprise if the people getting them happen to read this!

The bottom right photo of Punky was taken by the amazing Holly Priddis of Holly Priddis Photography. If you are looking for an awesome photographer for your maternity, birth, newborn or family photos, then look no further than Holly.

November -
Probably the biggest month of our year, we had Miss A's baptism, as well as Kate and S's kitchen teas. Then on the 17th November cousin S got married at Clovelly and it was an absolutely amazing day. On the 23rd my baby turned 1 and I just couldn't believe how fast those 12 months had gone. It's like I blinked and suddenly had a toddler. We also received some amazing news this month that means 2013 is set to be yet another big year in the Purtell household, both personally and professionally.

December -
And here we are in the Christmas month. Which also happens to be a bit of a birthday month, with my Dad, Dave, brother-in-law and good friend H all celebrating birthday in the space of 10 days. But the biggest thing of all? Kate got married! Her wedding was such a beautiful day and I am so y happy for her and S. They are both just the most wonderful people and deserve all the love and happiness that is destined to come their way. We also took Punky to her first concert, the Wiggles, and once Christmas is done and dusted Punky and I will pack the car and once again head down to Wagga for a couple of days of relaxing and checking out Kate and S's new house. The perfect way to bookend the year by returning to where it all pretty much started.

So that's 2012. It's impossible to tell the story of our year without featuring Punky heavily. She changed our lives when she arrived in November 2011 and made sure that our 2012 has been filled with so much love and joy. More than I ever could have possibly imagines.

I hope you have all had a fantastic 2012 and that 2013 turns out to be just as good. This will probably be my last post for the year unless I get a chance to do a quick one before the end of the year but I'm going to really just try and relax and take it easy and soak up as much time with my family as I can.

So if we don't talk again before the New Year I wish you a safe and happy one and I look forward to continuing to share my life with you here and reading about yours on your blogs.