Hello all my lovelies!

Today has been the first day of "normal" life after a glorious holiday period of sleeping, eating, and rediscovering Pokémon on my sister's old 2DS. We finished off 2016 with a delicious Christmas at Jon's parents', a chilled out New Year's Eve with my family, and plenty of food in between. I'm so grateful that my appetite finally made a reappearance in time for Christmas dinner, although I'm still struggling with portion sizes!





We kicked off New Year's Day with a wonderful walk in the frozen woods near my Luxembourg home. My dog Molly had an absolute blast, despite increasing arthritis now she's hit retirement age, and it was so worth all my pregnant huffing and puffing to see her bounding gleefully through the forest and exploring the Roman ruins. I took about a hundred photos as I'm not sure when we will next see snow here!

Next we were very lucky to see our darling obstetrician on Monday, who came in on his day off to see us and reassure us that our baby is doing well. I'm currently approaching 18 weeks of pregnancy and beginning to feel little swooshes and flutters - no surprise as our little one is measuring slightly above average, so I'm very pleased to see my lack of food intake hasn't had an effect! I'm feeling so optimistic about late spring this year, as we're awaiting my niece's arrival in May, followed by our little squidge in June and I can't wait to meet them both!



So. 2016 was a bit of a topsy-turvy year, wasn't it? I've never felt so pleased to wave goodbye to an old year before. Sure, there were scattered highlights - my bestie's gorgeous wedding, some lovely weeks off work, trips with friends, and of course, our delightful baby surprise - but on the whole it's been tough both on a general and personal level. I'm really hopeful that 2017 will be an improvement and that we will learn from 2016's mistakes, and I'm trying hard to put all sorts of things into place to make it the best year ever. With that in mind, here are some little goals I've set myself, although I won't beat myself up if we don't achieve everything here. 2016 has taught me to take life as it comes and as long as I have my wonderful husband and my excellent family and friends, I'm sure we can manage somehow!

2017 goals

~ a happy, healthy pregnancy, with a happy, healthy baby! It's no surprise that this should be my main objective for 2017. I just want to do the best job I possibly can - it's more than a little scary, but I also can't wait to be a mum. I hope I make our child proud!

~ develop my photography! This is frequently on my list of goals, but 2017 starts with two paid photography jobs - something that always seemed out of my reach! I'll be shooting my first newborn and a couple of family/baby shoots too, which I'm so excited about. I love being able to provide people with images that will make them happy. It's a bit stressful because I desperately want to do a good job, but I'm also feeling so lucky to have these opportunities and hope I'll be able to develop further when on maternity leave, especially as I'll have my own little model to practise on ;)

~ start learning to drive! This is long, long overdue, but as Jon should (touch wood) pass his test in the early months of 2017, it's about time I started my own journey towards driving too. I've always found excuses not to do it but I really think it's important for me to achieve this as soon as possible now. Eek!

~ change our living situation! We're very fortunate to own our little flat, but little is the operative word here - it's crammed full with our possessions (six bookcases!!) and I just don't see how it will work for a little one when they're on the move. We always said it would be a temporary residence so maybe 2017 will be the year to move into our own house. Imagine!

~ keep up my reading - I almost managed to read 50 books in 2016 (although I'm very behind on my reading round-ups!) and I'd like to try and beat that in 2017... it's unlikely with a little one, but I love losing myself in a book so much, I have to make time to do it more often. I'm currently reading The Light Between Oceans and I've got The Essex Serpent lined up afterwards. Let me know if you have any recommendations!

Here's to 2017 and I hope it's a wonderful year for all of you!
Much love,
Dani xoxo