My 2021 Year-Ender Post - Many things to be Grateful

A friend on Facebook suggested writing a New Year essay post that usually consists of many things to be thankful for in the year 2021. For me, instead of posting it there, I prefer to write it here. I can’t earn money on FB, aye?

Well, this will be like a summary of what just happened in 2021. Let’s see if I can remember many things.

January 2021

I started working full-time as a web designer. It only lasted for 3 months but my earnings helped us with our daily needs since there was a lockdown in January. No job for the husband, our car needed to be fixed. This time, I was pregnant with Elise, and Alexandre was still breastfeeding.

February 2021

Alexandre’s first birthday. Unfortunately, he was sick. He even threw up at Papi’s clothes. My poor soon. Later, he was healed. We experienced our first snow together as it was snowing for about a week.

March 2021

Although my web designing job ended, I found another part-time job. I never told anyone I was pregnant. Slowly, they lifted the lockdown and the husband was back on the job. He started to save money for our family trip.

April to May 2021

I worked with 2 clients so all the time I was just in front of my laptop while looking after Alexandre. I slowly told everyone on the team that I was pregnant and was due for the first few weeks of July. Around this time, I was sick and depressed that I got shingles. Alexandre and Fred got chickenpox because of me.

June 2021

Although I was suffering from shingles, I still pursued work because there were so many tasks. I asked them for 6 weeks of maternity leave even without pay. Fortunately, by the end of June, on the 30th day, Elise was born via CS.

July 2021

After 4 weeks, I sent the client an email that I was ready for work. Just to see their reactions if I could get the job back. The person who was temporarily to do my assigned job got the job eventually. So yeah, I lost my job at the time of my maternity leave.

August 2021

I wasn’t earning and I was taking care of the kids. Adjustment period. My husband told me not to worry about losing my job as I need to concentrate on my kids and on our family trip to Spain.

We had many birthday celebrations at this time from Papi, sis in law, my husband, and the next day after Fred’s birthday, we got married.

September 2021

I started writing on Read Cash. I am happy that there is a blogging platform where I can write my struggles and frustrations as a new mom. Bonus, earning at the same time. I earned my first $40 for one month. Almost at the end of the month, we started our trip to Spain.

Related Article: My First $100 on Read Cash

October 2021 

We spent 6 weeks in Spain so it’s like the whole month of October we were there. We rented places thru Airbnb and lived in different houses and in different towns or cities. We go to the beach every day. We eat ice cream every day. We eat out in different restaurants. We rented a boat to do an excursion.

November 2021

It’s my birthday month. I’m getting more emotional now that I have two kids. It was one of the good feeling moments that I was hugging my two kids while blowing a candle on my cake. And I also celebrated my 2 years here in France.

December 2021

Merry Christmas! We spent our Christmas in Paris with the PIL and relatives. It was fun and got to see the pyramids of the Louvre Museum, the Eiffel Tower, and the Christmas -themed window shopping display at Galeries Lafayette.

Elise just turned 6 months on the 30th of December and Alexandre will turn 23 months old in the New Year 2022. We are happy to see our kids growing healthy and happy.

Well, my struggles in 2021 are more on physical health due to pregnancy despite the pandemic all over the world. My husband and I were able to talk about our life here in the countryside. Somehow, we feel safe from where we are. We are actually isolated from people although we only have a few neighbors.

Related Article: Things I'm Thankful Here in France