I'M BACK! + A WELL-DESERVED LIFE UPDATE

It's hard to believe that over a year has passed since I last showed my face around here (or anywhere on the Internet for that matter). I have never been away for this long. My computer is now under a mantle of dust and my brain and fingers don't seem to get along. I feel rusty. Will I still be able to write? Is there still someone out there? Hey, are you there? I can feel the echo - haha - but enough of melodrama. It feels so good to be back!

So much has happened this past year that I felt like a well-deserved, yet condensed, life update was in order before getting a proper go at this blogging thing again.

Where did we leave off? I had just had my second child. Got it, right.

So shortly after Alma was born I decided to take a few weeks of maternity leave. We all know that the first months with a newborn can be a challenge, and on top of that, I hurt my back (yet again) which even though took a huge toll on my mental health, also made me realize how important slowing down was. Hence why I set my computer down and tried my best to not only enjoy but give a good warm welcome to the new family member. 

Around four months later, as soon as I was able to move a bit more freely again, I started taking driving lessons. Once this adventure finally reaches a (hopefully) happy ending, I'll get more into it with you. But for now, let's just say that it wasn't easy juggling everything with such a small baby waiting for me at home.

In the middle of it all, I found out that we were expecting our third child. How exciting! Well, Mia - said child, is already five months old and happy as she can be, and we are too of course, but I think you can now get a hold of what I mean by "so much has happened this past year". 

A few months after this big news, this stupid virus that shall stay unnamed happened and with it, all of our plans went down the drain. No more holidays before the baby arrived, no more free time to work on projects, to study or to write posts. Suddenly the world was upside down and we had to find a way to deal with it the best we could. For the first three months, with the school closed, I was in charge of giving lessons to my oldest daughter, finding nice activities for us to do, and spend quality time together whilst taking care of a small baby and growing another one in my belly. I was simply forced to postpone everything else and take it day by day, as most of us.

After the initial annoyance at what was happening and the consequences of it, we finally came to terms with the fact that we wouldn't be able to go anywhere, at least for the near future, and so we decided to make a few renovations to our backyard and make it a little more enjoyable in order to spend the summer days as a family of five. That was nice! It is slowly, but surely, coming closer to what we had in mind. I enjoyed finding our new furniture for the garden, some new plants, flowers, and ceramic pots. Clearing up space and making it more pleasurable. We spent some pretty nice days chilling outside with good weather, watching the flowers blossom and hearing the birds and the children splashing away in the swimming pool. By this time, Mia had already arrived so she also got to enjoy some pretty cool outdoor naps and feedings. Looking back, those are the moments we cherish.

Eventually, the time also came where I got to spend a good amount of hours playing on Nintendo Switch, and yes, of course, Animal Crossing was on my top list of most played games. It still is, if we're being honest, I just don't have as much time now with three kids to take care of.

Fast forward a few months and here we are right at the end of 2020, parents to three beautiful girls. Eva just turned five [insert mind exploding emoji here], Alma is already one, and Mia who's still our tiny (but getting far too quickly huge) little baby. And yes, Einstein our three-legged bunny is still alive and healthy as he can be, also completing 8 years old soon.

With all this, my original just a few months of maternity leave turned into indefinite maternity leave. And that's alright if there's something you can never have back is time, so I made my peace with being away for so long. Priorities are priorities. This time away was as much needed as it was important. 

Without wanting to set any expectations as to how frequently I'll post here, because let's face it, in between everything we are also now entering the busy holiday period, now that we have this life update out of the way, I feel like I can finally go back to my infinite list of drafts and start sorting out what's still worth sharing with you and what's completely outdated. Please, do let me know if there's something you'd like me to talk about in specific.

And because I'm actually curious, tell me, what’s something major that happened to you this past year?

I hope you're all doing great! Thanks for being here and I'll see you in the next post. 




 

3 comments

  1. Que bom que é ler um update vosso.. Espero que estejam bem! Um beijinho grande cheio de saudades <3

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    Replies
    1. Gonçalo e que bom que é ler a tua mensagem! Esperamos que vocês estejam todos bem também. Um beijinho enorme para todos e fingers crossed que seja para o ano que nos possamos juntar novamente <3

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  2. Que bom ler noticias vossas.. Espero que estejam bem! Beijinho grande com muitas saudades <3

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