Well. 2020. Not exactly what anyone was expecting, huh?

This was my 2019, and what I was hoping out of 2020.

I did survive the year, so that’s one thing I can tick off my list.

I’m glad I was smart enough not to make a very long list/resolutions going into the unknown of motherhood! But nothing prepared me for living through it within a global pandemic. Like, who knew!

I managed a few things before/whilst on maternity leave.

I finished a couple of quilts.

farm fresh baby quilt
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Baby quilt for bub number two. This time with farm animals

The ribbon bear was probably my favorite make of 2020.

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Because the printing on each ribbon was way too long to include the whole thing in one piece, I focused on using the name of the place the ribbon was from. The rest of the ribbon always read “pony club” so I stitched all the leftover pony club pieces together, gathered one side and made a beautiful flower bow for the bear to wear!

My Christmas star was pretty special. Looked even better on the tree!

finished star
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My beautiful finished star!

But ultimately, BB was my 2020.

BB two weeks
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BB two weeks old

Our chalk board read like this for most of the year…

chalk board of 2020
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I want to say the pandemic mostly didn’t affect us, but it did, just a bit differently than it did to most.

BB was born 9 days before Australia went into hard lockdown. Most of the immediate family got to meet BB just before the lockdown was implemented, but not all.

One of my sisters was in New Zealand when he was born and everything started going pear shape. She had a couple of stressful days of cancelled flights before they finally made it home just to have to quarantine for 14 days. Eventually she made a grocery run for us just so she could come and meet the little guy.

My other sister didn’t meet him until he was 8 months old. She is a nurse and has been on the testing sites for most of it.

We also had to wait until he was able to have his flu vax before introducing him to his great Nanna. Nanna has probably been the worst effected with covid. She’s in a nursing home and has faced some really tough lockdowns and restrictions.

meeting nanna and cousin
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With months where no one was allowed to visit, we got a whole lot of family bonding time, which was lovely. Guy had four weeks of leave, but worked from home for 8 months! We got to have family lunches and walks in his breaks.

We are very lucky here in Canberra to have been sheltered from the worst of it.

As for 2021, me and Guy slept our way into it.

I’m finding it hard to make any goals at all. Partly because I can barely get a load of washing hung out without BB falling down the back step or eating something gross, and partly because I am completely daunted by the prospect of returning to work and sending BB to childcare.

But here goes…

2021

  • Keep writing. So far I’ve prepped enough blog entries to have written more than I did last year! Here’s to keeping the momentum. The hardest part will be finding something to write about! My making time has massively reduced!
  • Find a new job. I just gave my notice to my old one. oops.
  • Finish a few projects. I’m working on a couple of things that are a bit secret squirrel for a little bit longer, but I’m actually making progress, so I look forward to sharing those with you soon. But in the spirit of de-cluttering, I think it might be time to work through my “to finish baskets” too…
  • Set up a play space for BB in the studio. At the moment he is having a ball pushing things through the cube storage under the table, and then crawling through, or finding jars of buttons to rattle. He even managed to crawl completely under the guinea pigs. My main concern with letting him be too free range in here is him finding a stray button or pin and trying to eat it.

It’s always interesting looking back on these post 12 months down the track. I sense a lot is going to change that I can’t even identify at this moment.

Have you made any plans/resolutions for 2021? Did you accomplish your to-do list for 2020?

Here’s to a creative 2021! And here’s to it being better than 2020!

<3 Cate