Getting back to it

I really have been struggling with many things the last month.   So many things have suffered during that time, blogging being just one of them, but I'm happy to say that I feel like I'm starting to pull things together again and my life is starting to look a bit more normal again.

For those of you who don't know me personally you won't know my full story of the past few years.  You see, after Master M was born I suffered from Post Natal Depression (PND) which is an extremely frightning condition for many different reasons. 

I always thought of myself as a fairly strong person who could cope with pretty well anything but finding myself with a new baby, a very vibrant and energetic two year old and a mostly absent husband, I slid into the realms of depression.  (There were other circumstances that didn't help either but I won't go into them).

I felt a complete failure as a wife and mother, not to mention the shock of finding myself with this condition because I then felt that I had failed myself.

 

I won't go into the full story of that year after my boy was born but there was a lot of crying and questioning myself but with help and support, things do get better.

Occasionally I find myself slipping and that's when I need to take some time out.  As the kidlettes grow older it's the fighting and whinging that can get me down.  Sometimes I deal with it well, other times I don't.  I deal with it much better when hubby's home of course but that's probably true of most people.  Having someone there to help for even just the smallest things is such a blessing.

So what have I been doing to get myself back on track this month?

When hubby's home I've been taking time for myself to head down to the beach and spend some time sitting by the water with my book and just enjoying the soothing sounds of the water.

After school some days I let the kidlettes play in the playground next to the school oval.  There's a small playground to play on, the school oval on the other side of the fence to race on and best of all, a drain to explore.

I sit in the shade under a tree and either read a book or just enjoy watching the kids play and explore.  Just half an hour of play in the park and everyone seems to cope a bit better with the evenings.

In the last couple of days I've picked up a crochet hook for the first time in weeks.  I've missed it and didn't realise how much it soothes me.

I may now finish the cardy I've been working on but I doubt I'll wear it this year as the days are starting to warm up.

I've even been doing some sewing in the last few days too.  In fact the skirt I'm wearing in the above picture I whipped up in a couple of hours yesterday afternoon.  I love it!

 

Of course there's plenty of things around the house which need doing.  There's always washing to be done and I even have an empty washing basket.  We won't mention the full one just out of the picture or the other full one on my bed that needs folding and putting away.

I've still got boxes of camping stuff in the laundry ready to be packed back into the camper trailer after our last weekend away.  I'm putting off doing that a bit though because  we're going away for a longer trip in about 5 weeks and I want to start getting things organised for that.  I've decided to get all the bedding packed as well as sort through my kitchen utensils and picnic stuff that usually stay in the camper.

I took some of them out on our last trip to Aunty Rob's as we didn't need the cooking stuff at her place but we'll definately need them when we go away soon.  Lots to do but at least I've got time to sort through it all and write a list or two.

We're slowly building up our camping gear so most of it will stay in the camper trailer all the time so if we decide at the last minute to go away for a weekend, all we have to do is pack some clothes and food then hook the camper up to the ute and go.

I'm really looking forward to getting away though.  I think a bigger trip like this is just what my family needs, not to mention me.  Happy mummy, happy family.  It's so true!

xx Susan