So every year some time around my birthday I complete a list of all the things I have learnt in the last 12 months. It’s far from a comprehensive list (one would hope I learn more than 30-something things a year) but I really enjoy reminding myself how far I have come and what I have come to realise about those around me, my life and more importantly myself.

So here we go the 2017 edit:

1. You will get a chocolate Labrador puppy who you love madly and will make your every day brighter, but she will eat your shoes.
2. You will recover from postnatal depression but you will never be the same. Something has intrinsically changed in you forever.
3. You will be paid actual money for writing. Some might even call you a freelance writer.
4. Your husband is a solid 10 and continues to make you a better version of yourself.
5. She who forgets to add baking powder ends up not rising to the occasion.
6. Your little sister will get married and it will go swimmingly – dolphins and all!
7. The world will seem quite dark some days but your children will remind you of the sunshine.
8. Despite the fact you have two children who sleep really well your third will not.
9. No matter how many times you try, you still hate eggplant.
10. You will finally convince the hubs that a Kitchenaid and a Thermomix are two very different appliances and you need both.
11. You learn that you can’t keep expecting different reactions from the same people. Some people are just sucky.
12. Dumplings are always a good option.
13. Pelvic floor exercises are no longer an optional way to spend time, they are an essential element to everyday.
14. You will go on your first cruise, get weird seasickness but love every moment and realise how important girl weekends away are.
15. Hangovers and children are the worst combination.
16. You cannot please everyone.
17. Your toddler will use sleep withdrawal as a torture method. You. Will. Survive.
18. You will basically break your toe while walking up the aisle at your sister’s wedding. I warn you not to look to your other sisters for emotional support, they only offer laughter and sarcasm. 
19. Even though you thought you had reached premium procrastination levels before, this year you will achieve a whole new skillset. Enter Youtube cute goat videos.
20. You join the gym and actually like it. Then you get pregnant and nearly pee all the time so stop going. Just promise yourself that you will join the gym after the new baby.
21. The kids will eat basically anything in a wrap. Keep wraps in high supply.
22. Pregnancy is tiring. You already knew that, but this time especially.
23. You will continue to have friends who are closer than blood ever was.
24. Macaroni & cheese is an entire meal for three children under six.
25. Letting go isn’t a thing you do once, it is often an action that has to happen over and over again. 
26. Listen to podcasts. They teach you stuff about things.
27. Despite all the nay-sayers you do wear all seven pairs of your sunglasses on a fairly acceptable rotation system.
28. As frustrating as studying law is, you are so much closer than this time last year.
29. Not everything has to be perfect all of the time.
30. You will still hide in the laundry from your children some days.
31. Don’t say maybe when you actually want to say no. You’re only hurting yourself.
32. The heartbreak from missing loved ones never goes away, but it does eventually change to a dull ache.
33. Some people just let you down but you can’t fix them.
34. Good coffee matters.
35. People in power are not always good but the good people don’t always seek the power.
36. For the second year in a row you will not need any moles removed. Just remember though, you are basically one big mole so don’t get too comfortable.
37. You are enough.