The last few  days before the New Year are usually a time for recollecting and pondering over all that has happened in the last 12 months. There are some highs, some lows, some awesome moments that you hope keep happening again in the new year and some moments you would rather forget about. 

So I have taken the last few days of December 2013 to think about what all I wrote as a Mommy blogger this year, how my writing was influenced with what was happening in my life and how much I have learned through the year. A mother can’t choose between her children and therefore it’s not easy for me to choose between my posts and pick the favorites. But there are definitely some posts that are closer to my heart than others and therefore I want to share them with you.

May be you might have already read these but would like to take another look or may be you somehow forgot to check some of them and now is as good a time as any to read them and join this Mom blog in India.

Being slightly OCD, I have to have them as a list and yes, you are right, it has to be a monthly one, one for each month. Here we go take a look back with me at my favorite posts of TheMomViews, a Parenting Blog in India, through the year that was 2013.

BEST OF 2013 – MY FAVORITE POSTS

January

I started my new year with one of the most important goals I wanted to set for myself as a mom, and that was to be more present for my child. And I daresay I was a whole lot more present for her than ever before. We created little rituals that helped us bond more, I laid down deadlines for myself that didn’t allow me to work or even open the laptop on Saturdays or in the evenings on weekdays. On my vision board I had a word written “A Zen Mommy”, which meant that I wanted to be the picture of calmness and serenity as a mom. Yeah that didn’t happen! But I have become calmer, more patient (if that was possible) and now hardly have a yelling episode. So this post is very very important to me.

February

Another of my goals was to take more family trips and in February I wrote about the homestay experience we had in Bhimtal. It was a magical trip and although the journey to and fro to the place wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, it was an amazing experience. We had another homestay experience in June but it wasn’t that much fun. Unfortunately that was the end of our trips in 2013, I know sad! But I so want to recreate the happiness and peace and joy I felt in Bhimtal and hopefully we are going on another trip soon.

March

In March I started planning for my angel’s birthday in April and I wrote a monster of a post about 40 birthday party activities for kids of all ages. It took me hours to write it, make images for it, find appropriate links and then finally make it all into a readable post. It doesn’t have a lot of comments to it but ironically it is the most read post on my blog. It got pinned and get this, repinned about 5000+ times and pinterest became an awesome source of traffic for me!!! So this post is so special because it opened my eyes to the power of Pinterest.

April

I wrote so many posts about birthday party planning in March and they are still among some of the most read ones on the blog. It all came down to the final post in my birthday party planning series with my post on my daughter’s 4th birthday with a pool party theme. Trust me, it was more fun to write the post than to organize it. Everything was done at home, from invitations to food and many of the decorations. And the cleanliness freak in me was not happy to have wet and dripping kids running around my house but my smiling daughter ( who by the way, now wants a pool party every year) was my reward.

May

Summer came on full swing and with vacations looming on my head, I started thinking of activities to do with my daughter. I found them, 40 of them and obviously made them into a post and even made a FREE printable of 40 simple and fun summer activities out of them. We did so many of those activities and it was an awesome summer for us!

June

It was a slow month for us and I wasn’t feeling too good, health wise. But one of the most productive things I did that month was to make a homework box for my daughter. She had been avoiding homework before that and this magic homework box did the trick. She looks forward to doing the homework and using the box and all the amazing things that are in there. Since I keep it locked at all other times, the magic continues.

July

A nightmare turned into real life drama for us and made me question my role as a mother. It was a post that resonated with SO MANY OF YOU and I couldn’t help but be amazed by your support and endearing openness. Does Motherhood Get Easier is probably the most soul baring post I have written and will always remain special to me.

August

Woo hoo! I won the Indian Blogger Awards for the best parenting blog and was over the moon. It coincided with two years of my blog’s existence so I ended writing about my blogging journey and again was humbled by the amazing things that my readers and fellow bloggers said about me on the blog and at the IBA page. It felt good!

September

I started the “Positive Parenting” category in September and I loved it. The first post in the series was about Forgiveness and it was so nice to see that others also struggled with forgiveness as much as I did. But it also became pretty evident that forgiveness was also the key to abundance and letting go of hurt was paramount to emotional freedom.

October

Be a blogger for long and you can’t help but pick up a few lessons along the way. I couldn’t help but share them with my fellow bloggers in the “10 blogger commandments to follow” post. Thanks to  (love you girl!) it became very popular and I keep referring back to it to see whether I am following all of them or not.

November

Thanksgiving is for America but giving thanks is for everyone. It’s not just a habit but like I said Gratitude is an attitude and you need to inculcate it in kids as early as possible. I talked about three simple ways to teach kids about gratitude and thankfully, so many of you agreed.

December

I started reading a book on introverts and it sparked a post in my mind about shy kids and how parents can help them blossom. I don’t have a typical shy kid at hand but she can be shy at times so it was an eye-opener for me as well as to how I can steer clear for stereotypes  about shy kids and help my child explore her full potential.

This was my look back at the year that has gone by. These posts are so close to my heart yet there are many that I may have left out but are equally special. A word of special thanks to our regular contributor Fabida who wrote some awesome posts and enriched this blog so much more! I hope in 2014, I am able to take on a few more regular contributors and have even more variety and content for you all!

That’s all folks! See you in 2014. Be good, enjoy your new year’s eve and welcome an awesome 2014! 

Happy New year