For any of our family and friends in far (and not so far) flung places, if you’d like a little glimpse into what our lives looked like in 2022… then here you go!
Overall:
We managed a year without moving - woohoo! We genuinely love our house, our cul de sac, and our village - it’s gorgeous! Fingers crossed we’re here for many more years (we’re serial movers though, so who the hell knows! I’m hopeful though! 2 years so far…)
We’ve been lucky to go on some fab holidays this year:
April saw us fly to Canada to visit Adam’s sisters (Emma & Jenni + family) and then from there fly to New York/New Jersey to see my sister (Esther + family). We absolutely LOVED that trip - spent some wonderful time with family and also saw some amazing things.
In May half term we visited the Greek island, Rhodes for a fantastic all inclusive week away. It was filled with swimming, sunbathing, relaxing, food, a boat trip, snorkelling, beach trips… and more food!
At the end of August, we got our 2020 postponed holiday to the caravan site in Berny Riviere (North East France). We’ve been there a few times before and it’s a definite favourite! We were particularly chuffed because, due to it being postponed twice, we got a fancy upgraded thing - even had a dishwasher!! Amazing!!
And finally, Adam and I went to Krakow, Poland in October for 2 nights away together whilst my wonderful mum had the boys. It was very special - such a gorgeous old city, and we also had a trip to the Salt Mines that are TRULY spectacular!! Well worth a visit.
Adam:
Other than work, he’s still very much into his health and fitness, and completed a number of regimes this year like P90X, Insanity, and others that I’m not sure of the name, but involves lots of pulls up and press ups - he can even do one of those fancy ones where you jump and clap in between reps… very impressive!
He’s an amazing dad, as ever, and the boys have very much bonded over their shared love of Xbox gaming. Any time I mention I might be going out in the evening, there’s an immediate chant of, “Boys night! Boys night! Boys night!” which usually involves loaded nachos and gaming!
Josh:
In September, he had a pretty bad break in his ankle during football, and had an operation to shift a growth plate back in place and pull out some cartilage (or something) that had managed to slot inside the gap created. He was on crutches and ‘no weight’ for 6 weeks, a moon boot for 4 or 5 weeks, and now has a bit of a limp when he runs, but the physio is pleased with his progress. He’s been gutted to miss out on sports though as he absolutely loves footie, rugby, cricket and anything else that requires some sort of sports ability (definitely didn’t get that one from me!!)
Other than that, he’s still very much into all the geeky things his parents have bred into him - Star Wars, Harry Potter, lego etc. but also (as said above) is very much into gaming whenever he’s allowed (we do try to limit it, of course!)
Joey:
Bless our little baby kangaroo! He’s an absolute ball of energy and excitement 99% of the time! We’d already discussed his ADHD with him earlier in the year, but hadn’t quite known how to approach telling him he was also autistic.
A month or so ago in the car, he randomly pipes up, “mum, dad, I think I’m autistic.” I’m not sure whether someone at school had mentioned it, or if he’d realised after watching a video in a class, but either way, what was lovely after we explained that he was right, was that he followed it up with “it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong, just that my brain sees things differently to some people” - what a sweetheart.
He’s a good’un. Challenging as hell at times, but always there with a ready smile and a hug that never ends (especially at bed time when he’s trying to distract you from the fact that he should be going to sleep!)
He loves anything active, as well as Pokemon, Beast Quest, jigsaw puzzles, lego, and listening to audible whilst asking Alexa every 3 minutes how much time he’s got left on the sleep timer.
Me:
2022 brought a new job for me! I left HSL in August (just shy of 5 years to the day that I started in 2017!) and started at ITV as a Senior Communications Exec in their Content Supply & Distribution department. It’s a bit complex to go into what they do (I still don’t fully understand all of it!!) but basically they’re the guys who get the programmes and content that’s been created onto the TV or streaming service - sort of like the engine room!
It’s a big department of 350 people, and I’m in charge of all of the internal communications for everyone as well as raising their profile outside of the department (sometimes the ‘engine room’ gets forgotten when it works, so it’s important to get it out there what we actually do!) I also help out with the communications for the ITV Able Network (the disability network) and the Leeds Social committee.
I’ll be honest, for the first 4-6 weeks I felt really lost and overwhelmed, there were even times where I was worried I’d made a mistake because I felt like I suddenly didn’t know anything at all! Buuuut, once that initial bedding in process had passed, my confidence came back and now (3 ½ months on), I’m a lot more settled and can honestly say I love working there. The people are genuinely wonderful, and I’m really into a rhythm and feel like I’ve got a vague idea what I’m doing now - always a plus! What’s lovely is that in a recent 1-2-1 with my manager, she said that she was really happy with how things had been going and that since I’d been there they’d seen a huge difference (a good one… thankfully haha).
Other than work (sorry, I get a bit carried away), this year I’ve rediscovered a love of reading. I’d begun 2022 determined to start reading again, and had been making my way through books fairly quickly, so Adam kindly got me a Kindle for my birthday in June and we signed up for Kindle Unlimited. Ooooh my gosh! It’s amazing!! I have read so many books!! I’ll be honest, none of them are particularly challenging, and 95% of them have had a very definite love story nonsense theme running through them, but it’s been wonderful to enter a world of books again! Honestly, I will regularly be up until midnight (and later) reading… I need to set a resolution to turn off at 10.30!!...... Maybe 11 hahahaa!
I’ve babbled on about myself for far too long, but ah well! If you’ve managed to make it this far - well done, I’m going to close off by saying that I love you all (probably… I presume if you’ve clicked the link that we had a good connection at some point in our lives hahaha). Thank you for whatever relationship we have or have had. I know the people around me have hugely impacted my life for good (mostly), and I’m grateful for that.
Wishing you all happiness, health and prosperity in this coming year… lots of love to you all xxx
