Sunday 19 April 2015

Hello !!!

Good evening everyone.

Hard to believe that we are already so far into 2015.
Time is passing by way too quickly.
I have just returned from a relaxing weekend in the city (forced upon me by Scott!) and woke up yesterday morning with such a start when I remembered something.
When I should have been enjoying a sleep in, I was rattled by the thought that it is Scott's birthday in a few days.
It NEVER crossed my mind that it was fast approaching !!!
I probably would have sent him off to work and wished him a nice day !!

We have a new addition to our family.
He is very naughty, active, boisterous and incredibly happy.
His name is Buddy.
 8 weeks old in December.
In February.
 
Tom named him.
It was his turn to name a pet.
He wanted Gregory (from Minecraft), but I had eliminate it from the list.
I could not see myself standing at the back door calling out to "Greg".
Scott did not support me on this and only agreed with Tom it was a great name, because he thought it was "hilarious".
 
Amelia was given the honour recently of being a bridesmaid for my cousin.
I had to drop her off to make up, hair etc at 10am and not see her again till the ceremony at 4:30pm.
She had the most magical day and we were all honoured to be part of such a beautiful ceremony.
 Amelia looked stunning.
Our whole family.
 
Tom recently attended his first Diabetes Camp, organised through Diabetes Australia, on his own.
He knew no one.
We were all incredibly nervous taking him and it was obvious he had concerns when we said goodbye.
BUT it is probably the best thing he has ever participated in.
He came home covered in mud, mobile phone numbers written up his arm and had the biggest smile.
As I was getting Amelia's wheelchair out of the back of the car he yelled "MUM" and jumped into my arms!
After a while I explained that we were getting McDonalds on the way home for lunch.
"Oh great" he said. "After all my excellent eating, you are going to buy me something bad".
Oops.
 
Tom has returned from camp giving himself all of his own needles!
You have no idea how much this helps me.
All the arguing, anxiety and reminding has gone.
He just does his needle!
 
Amelia is full of pre-teen hormones.
Sometimes we all duck for cover and sometimes we are laughing hysterically at her sense of humour!
She has definitely become more confident this year and is much happier overall (even when we all need to duck for cover!).
 
I have been sharing this gorgeous girl's blog on my page a lot.
We met in 2009 when both of our daughters started their first year of Primary School.
There was actually a small group of us that gravitated towards each other that year.
Julia was the only one in the group who knew other mum's but she still chose to hang around with the cool "misfits".
You could not possibly find another group of people that were all so totally different from each other.
But we all fitted nicely together.
 
When we were in Disneyland, one of the "group" lost her life suddenly.
Kel went from having a cough to all of her organs shutting down.
It was and still is beyond devastating.
 
Julia is into her second year of stage 4 cancer.
Many of you, like me, are living through her battles and realisation of her future through reading what she writes online.
 
I am hoping with all I have that she still has a "long time" because I am not ready to lose another person from this group of misfits.
 
Recently she wrote a blog that many feel guilty about....
It was about how individuals focus on the need to be "busy".
 
Please have a read of it......
 
 
If you get a chance, if you are not too busy (pun intended!), then please read her other entries too.
 
Something that I feel strongly about is the pressure on individuals to be a certain way.
I am talking about personalities and everyday life.
 
Most of it is contradictory and only lowers peoples self esteem.
It does not allow people to just be themselves and follow what is their journey in life.
 
Let me give you an example......
Facebook shares articles about how people's profiles are fake. They only show happy faces and stories to boost peoples ego's. It is unrealistic and not truthful.
THEN
You have a memo circulated that says "Shut the fuck up. I don't want to hear your whinging".
 
There are mothers constantly attacking other mothers and everyone knows the argument of bottle or breast.
 
I am not talking about just online.
I am talking general media and even face to face interactions.
 
People criticise and talk about the "ideal" scenario for everything and everyone.
 
Why can't we all just BE?
 
Judgement from others is a big negative in our society.
 
It is also a big negative for the guilt we put on ourselves.
 
When I was pregnant with Amelia, I was given a book about how to "create" the perfect baby in regards to sleep, eat, bath etc.
I SO believed that the routines listed in this book would be what I needed.
That they would work.
I spent hours typing up the routines, laminating them and sticking them to the wall in the baby nursery.
 
They didn't work.
They made me stressed out and feel like a total failure.
 
Then I read a letter to a children's magazine from a mum.
She spoke of just "going with the flow".
 
Such a simple statement, but one that taught me to relax and enjoy being a mum.
 
I think we all need to "go with the flow" and stop the personal attacks and guilt on ourselves and others.
 
Just BE.
 
xxx