Embracing the exciting changes in 2020 | Cheryl Gibbs

We met at the turn of the millennium in 2000, we got engaged in 2010, married in 2015, and are having our first baby in 2020.

It feels so surreal and amazing to think that we’ll get to meet our bubba in just a couple of months and that 2020 will be the year when our dreams of becoming a family come true.

Lots of people have asked me what my New Year resolutions are and there isn’t any really other than becoming a parent and embracing that to the fullest – that’s the plan, anyway.

I’ve always been so career-minded and, don’t get me wrong, I have plans there too.

I don’t think you can go from one extreme to the other overnight without still holding on to who you are and your past.

But what I’m determined not to do this year is make it about anything other than our new baby and adjusting to life as a three.

The word ‘adjustment’ is something I’m sure Matt and I will become familiar with – you can’t spend 20 years just the two of you and then become a three without any hiccups or stumbling blocks along the way.

We just need 2020 to be about embracing the exciting changes and I’m terrified, nervous and beyond grateful that we’re in this position.

This time last year it was a whole different ball game.

Over the Christmas period a lot of people told me I’d suddenly had a growth spurt because my belly has popped out.

While I’d love to think it’s all baby, I have to admit it’s more to do with the sheer amount of calories I’ve consumed.

Though it’s nice having a slightly bigger pregnant belly, I know it’s more to do with me than bubba.

I really hope you have all had a wonderful time over the holidays and that 2020 is going to be your best year yet.

And I wish the same for us too. Here’s to smashing another year!

I promise you all I wasn’t trying to poison my husband

I think Matt had a typical case of ‘teacher’s syndrome’ over the Christmas period.They keep going all year and when they stop for half-term, they get ill.

Poor Matt has spent most of Christmas with a really bad cold.

I thought I was doing the right thing by going to get him Day and Night Nurse, but it turns out I may have been responsible for him feeling lethargic and not with it for most of the holidays.

My sister, Michelle, asked what dosage I was giving him – and it turns out it was double what it should have been.

Honestly, he was like a zombie. Needless to say, I will triple check the instructions from now on!

I’ll never get away with cheating at baking again…

Every year we go to my sister Jo’s for Christmas Day and the past couple of years my family have tried to make things a bit easier for her by taking desserts and starters.

Last year my brother-in-law, Shaun, requested I make dessert myself, but it was such a busy time that I cunningly transferred an M&S shop-bought crumble into a Pyrex dish and they were none the wiser until I let it slip months later.

Shaun said it would not be acceptable this year and sent me the recipe for Christmas crumble. I have to say, I smashed it.

It went down so well I made another one for New Year’s Day. Perhaps baking is what I’ll do in all the spare time I’m going to have soon!