This post is now well overdue. The skeleton has been sitting in my Drafts folder since December last year, but honestly, I just haven’t felt like writing it up. I’ve had a few stabs at it, but never actually ended up with a finished product – which is kind of silly considering the fact that, taking all things into consideration, 2014 was actually a pretty good year for the Gordon’s Bay Lötter clan.
However, seeing as this “Goodbye Hello” post is pretty much an annual thing for this blog nowadays, I guess I have no choice other than to adopt a “better late than never” stance and pretend that 2015 is just kicking off… despite the reality that we’re into our third month of the new year already!
Of course the biggest talking point for 2014 was without a doubt the birth of our adorable little girl, Emily Jane Lotter. She was delivered on 13 January at Vergelegen hospital, and with no major drama like what we had with Jessica, she was back home and in our care from the get go.
Turns out, raising a child is actually a hell of a lot easier the second time around, mainly because by now you know the ins and outs of looking after a baby and can pretty much operate on autopilot – not that it isn’t a LOT of hard work of course, but still, it certainly is a lot easier this time around! :)
Of course, things were also made a little easier by the fact that Jessica was already three by the stage that Emily arrived, meaning losing Mommy’s full attention wasn’t the complete end of the world to her – though there were of course moments when jealousy would get the better of our little blonde princess!
Pleasingly, other than an annoying reflux problem that Emily struggled with as a little baby (leaving her permanently… well soggy), it’s been a doddle navigating her through her first year, and our good-natured, cute as a button baby girl has certainly proved a fantastic edition to our little clan!
Talking about Jessica, 2014 really was the year she blossomed into a confident little girl, who, although not particularly adventurous, is an open and seriously friendly child with an almost constant smile on her face and a playful twinkle in her eye.
During the course of the year she learned to ride a bike, made lots of friends, developed her first fangirl crush (hint, it’s the My Little Pony franchise!), and of course, thanks to the brilliant teachers at Vergeet-My-Nie playschool, is coming on in leaps and bounds when it comes to all sorts of social and artistic abilities!
And then there is the ballet, Playball and running around the complex, all of which really is rounding off my precious little girl!
As for Chantelle, well she’ll have to say for herself whether 2014 was a good or a bad year from her point of view, though I suspect that despite all the hard work and lack of sleep that came with the territory of her juggling both her Chantelle’s Cupcakery baking business and raising a newborn little girl, the joys of her expanded little family pushed the positives right up there to the top of the pile.
And myself?
Well I had an a pretty enjoyable year thank you very much.
Lots of Daddy time was spent with my two daughters, there were some major shake-ups at work, I now work more from home than in the office (because, well, there isn’t very many people left in the new smaller, leaner Touchwork), and of course, then there was all the getting out and about adventures that filled up most of the year (Jacobsbaai, Piekenierskloof, Montagu, Mossel Bay, and Langebaan to name but a few), not to mention the big two weeks in Japan with Ryan for Terrance’s wedding getaway! (A trip on which I still have a lot to post – all in good time, I promise).
From a financial point of view, 2014 was a little tighter than what it needed to be, primarily because in the end, Chantelle’s little baking business simply wasn’t bringing in enough money to allow things to be comfortable for everyone. Still, we covered all our costs, even tried to sell the house for a bit, and like I just said, sneaked in more than just a few weekends away!
From a personal growth point of view… well not much going on there I’m afraid (just as it hasn’t been for the last couple of years mind you), but as I’ve stated before, and I’ll do so again, currently my number one priority in life is to be the absolute best dad for my two little girls that I can possibly be – and that suits me just absolutely fine for the moment!
As for 2015, well I expect it not to be all that different from 2014 to be honest. Sure, I don’t have the birth of a new child or the big Japan holiday to look forward to this year, but already there a quite a few developments on the cards which can only spell good things going forward.
For starters, Chantelle has pretty much hung up her baking boots (she’ll still take the juicy big orders though) in favour of a position back at Gordon’s Beach Lodge – which in turn means our finances get a bit of a boost and which therefore ultimately means that we have a little more in the piggy bank at the end of each month – all of which needless to say makes me a VERY happy chappy!
On the work front, the lack of distractions thanks to the smaller (almost non-existent) team means I can now at last really get cracking and finish up with my epic Kinetica project that has tied me up for the last couple of years, a prospect that certainly excites me more than just a little.
Oh, and this is also the year I take back control of my weight and actually start living like a thin person again – and I’m off to a great start thank you very much… though more on that in another post I think.
Finally, to wrap everything all neatly up, I expect 2015 will be much like 2014 in that I’ll spend just about every free minute with my girls – which as we all know by now, is the very best thing I could be doing with my time anyway!
So here’s to a prosperous 2015 – we’re already off to a good start! ;)