Life is made up of moments

"The real joy of life is in its play. Play is anything we do for the joy and love of doing it, apart from any profit, compulsion, or sense of duty. It is the real joy of living."
- Walter Rauschbusch, 






0891010 - Oscar at Boogie Band this morning. As soon as I saw this pic, I knew it had to be my PAD. I welled up the first time I saw it as he just looks SO happy. There's something incredibly special about the way children just let themselves get lost in a moment. I'm sure we'd all be much happier people if as adults we allowed ourselves the same. A moment of pure joy. No worries, no cares, just sheer happiness.

A-Z of me C is for Conkers

Ok Ok I'm very late back. It's a month since we moved but it's been very hectic. So, conkers? I love them. They are one of my favourite things. I love their colour, the warm brown with the reddish tint, I love the silky texture. I love hunting for them and that moment of fabulousness when you find one.

I've always been a huge fan of conkers, I love the game, but my conkers were never very good. It's much easier to be a conkerer when you have children. You don't look nearly as bonkers rummaging around the undergrowth when you have small children in tow.

I'd love to bring them home and put them in a bowl on display but they don't last long and I'm fickle and only love them when they are shiny!

I took the littlies out conkering and it was the blue one's introduction to the marvels that are conkers. He seemed very interested but promptly shoved them in his mouth! I think I've passed my obsession onto my middly as she wants to go conkering every day now.

Moving day!

I just thought I'd write a post to say that I'll not be updating for a couple of weeks as we are moving house! We get the keys tomorrow and I can't wait. Unfortunately we'll be without internet for about two weeks so I haven't given up on the blog and I'll be back when I can. I'll do my next A-Z entry tonight then that will be it for a while.

See you in a few weeks!

A-Z of me "B" is for Birth Trauma

Not the happiest of topics I'm afraid but one that has coloured the last six years of my life. When we decided to try for our first baby, things were rosy. We were lucky to conceive straight away. The pregnancy was, in hindsight, the easiest of all of mine and we looked forward to becoming a family. I read all the books, I watched all the programmes and I spent a lot of time on a great parenting forum. I knew all the things that could go wrong and that thought that yes, I was fully prepared.

Wrong. I'm not going to go into the ins and outs of what happened as, frankly, it still makes me cry just thinking about it. If however, you are interested, there's a link here to my rather unarticulate, babyfogged birth story My First Birth Story

Barely conscious for her first feed

What I want to talk about is the way I felt afterwards and the way I still feel now. At  the time, I closed everything off. I was upset about the way things happened but was determined to move on. I forced away all of the bad feelings and refused to think about them. They'd resurface when friends had babies and showed me their pictures. Mum and dad smiling together with their baby (my husband wasn't there), baby's first feed (I was unconscious for this), bringing baby home (my baby was snatched out of my arms the second I arrived home). All this sort of thing.

It wasn't until I was about 10 weeks pregnant with my second baby that it hit me. And it hit me like a truck.  I sobbed, I couldn't concentrate on anything, I couldn't do anything, go anywhere, the housework went to pot and I was terrified. I just couldn't face the same thing happening again. I went for my scan at the hospital and burst into tears walking past the postnatal ward. I was an emotional wreck.

The problem with birth trauma is that people don't really understand unless they've been there. I felt guilty because my baby was alive and well but these memories still haunted me. I felt like I had no right to feel the way I felt because I got to take my baby home. I can't really tell you what I was scared of exactly but there was a cloud of dread all around me. I struggled to get it all out because I found no one would just listen. People always saw it as some sort of competition that they had to win "I had the worst birth" Why would anyone want that trophy?? I just wanted to talk it all through. It wasn't the c-section. It was EVERYTHING.

My midwife, Diane was fantastic, she talked me through everything and I started to feel better. The forum girls were fantastic too. There were people there who had been through similar and were experiencing the same sort of thing.

It's not just confined to traumatic births. Women can feel this way even if everything went right. Childbirth is such a shock to your system that sometimes, even if all is well, it takes a lot of getting used to. If you know someone who is struggling with their experience, please be patient. They may want to talk, they may want to cry but they may just want a cuddle.

It can happen to men too. Imagine how powerless you'd feel, only being able to watch. Spare a thought for the birth partners who may need to talk but don't want to burden their partner/friend.

Most hospitals offer a post-birth listening service where a qualified midwife will sit down with you and your notes and talk it all over, offering counsel and support.

As for me, my second daughter arrived without incident and I felt like an amazon. I was so utterly relieved. It was such a positive experience that I was certain my troubles were behind me. However, 36 weeks into my third pregnancy, I was admitted for monitoring. Whilst I was there, the emergency alarm went off. Now, I don't even remember hearing the alarm when I had Olivia, but I know it sounded because my dad told me. It knocked me sick. I physically heaved. When I went in (15 days overdue!) to have my little boy, I was wheeled to theatre as a precaution while they broke my waters. I started to shake uncontrollably and I cried - there was no thought first, the tears and shakes just came. Funny how your subconscious just takes over.

Hardly the image of a proud new mum

I thought I was fine, I thought I was over it. Clearly I'm not and I'm not sure if I ever will be. I don't think about it every day like I used to but I still can't read the story. It's always there, lurking, trying to catch me out. It's a part of me now and has a lot to answer for. That first experience means I'll never get the homebirth I long for. There are no happy smiley first hours photos and worst of all is that I never really bonded properly with my baby. I love her so much it hurts but I fear there will always be a gulf between us that I can never fill because of how I felt when she was born. She deserves better and I hope to God she NEVER feels that chasm. I'm disgusted that when she looks at the photos from when she was born, there's no smiles of joy or happy cuddles. Just an exhausted, traumatised mother. I look like I couldn't give a shit, but that's just not true. I honestly just could not process everything that had happened and fathom how to take care of a newborn.

It has got easier as time goes on, but I don't think I'll ever be free of my demons. Thank you for reading if you got this far x

I actually posed for this. I remember trying to look like the reverent new mum should look.  I obviously didn't have it in me.

The first photo of me smiling with my daughter. 8 weeks old

The A-Z of me "A" All by myself

This is how I spend a lot of my time. Alone, on my todd, all by myself. the boy is in the RAF. Every other week, he works nights and he goes away too. I'm used to it now. At one point we spent a whole year apart. I make the most of it by reading, studying, watching trashy films that he would hate and that sort of thing but it does get lonely sometimes.

It's difficult having three children and being on your own. Hats off to to single parents! I feel sometimes like I'm spread so thinly I'll wear away. It's hard not having a sounding board, when he's away, contact is limited and life can get quite insular. Housebound after 7pm because that's bedtime for the kids and then your friends are in the same situation so they can't visit either. Sometimes you just want a moan, but phonecalls are too precious for moaning. Sometimes you want a cuddle but there's no one there. I'm quite philosophical about it all generally and I can't stand reading facebook statuses that bleat on and on about being on your own and counting down days or whining about it all. It is what it is. I try not to inflict the boy's detachments on other people. Bleating about them would only make them seem longer.

It is rubbish and it is hard, but we all have to do it. So I try to make the most of it.

Disclaimer - this blog is not whining. I'm just explaining a fact of my life. It will be nice one day to know that there is no more going away and plans can be made and stuff like that. It will be great for the kids not to have to miss their dad for months on end. But until then, I will read books in the bath all night long, watch shite on telly and sleep like a starfish!

Whoops!

Again, it's been far too long since my last post. I'm really not very good at this blogging malarkey! Anyhoo, I've been away so long because we are moving! Yay! Not into our own place unfortunately, but we are getting a bigger house Hurrah!

I've been busy packing, cleaning and painting my lovely walls back to their original magnolia. We get the keys in a week. I'm very excited although it's been quite stressful.

As a way of keeping me posting, I have nicked an idea from one of my Flickr groups. The fabulous Winkle is doing the A-Z of me. So, because it's such a fab idea, I'm going to do the same here.

Baggage

Today was a good day. The littlies were all on their best behaviour, we spent most of today visiting my best friend, we made pizzas for lunch, drank copious amounts of tea and had a lovely catch up. We used to live 5 doors apart but now it's 26 miles. Today was like the old days only I had to leave at 3pm to make sure the car was back for the boy to go to work. Pffffft.

Tea was healthy and eaten without complaint and I had an enquiry about a vacancy I have. All in all, things have gone really well today. Now though, I have to pack. I hate packing. I never know what to take and I always take too much and end up forgetting something vital. It's all in a good cause though. This weekend, the boy and I are heading to Scotland for the wedding of our friends. It's going to be a great weekend. We're leaving the littlies with my parents and heading off on our own eeeeeeeek!

We haven't had a weekend away on our own since March 2004. In the 5.5 years since our eldest was born, I've spent 3 nights away. Monday 18th September 2006, Thursday 18th June 2009 and Thursday 18th February 2010. The first two don't really count as I was in hospital having more babies, not like I was off gallavanting!

The latter was a gift from my parents as the boy had just come back from 3 months in the dusty place. I didn't sleep a wink. I didn't sleep a wink. Not because I thought they'd come to any harm but more because it just felt so strange being away from them. Not checking them last thing at night and tucking them in. Knowing that if they needed me, I wouldn't be there.

I hope this weekend will be different. It's old hat for the boy, he's always going away so it's much easier for him. I'm looking forward to spending some decent time together without either of us having to work, with no OU assignments in the way and to be able to sleep in. But I'll miss my three smallies terribly.

They'll have a great weekend with Nana and Grandad there's already a queue of people bagsying playtime, they'll be spoilt rotten. I used to stay at my grandparents all the time but because we live so far from home, it's not really possible for our children to have the same. It'll be good for everyone.

Better go dig out my heels! That's if they haven't left home in disgust at being neglected for so long!

Home is where the heart is?

Not off to a great start really am I? It's been so long since I posted. It's been very busy though what with the run up to the end of term and family dos, work and all the rest, I felt like a headless chicken! Things are calmer now, the kids are off school and we've got plenty of time to get things done.

There are big changes ahead, hopefully we'll be moving to a bigger house soon, we've finally admitted that the one we are in is too small. We live in a Forces Married Quarter and space is at a premium. Having spent the last 8 years in forces accommodation, I'm really feeling the pull towards a place of our own. Somewhere I can tear down the woodchip, lay my own flooring, have a bath that wasn't designed for an elf -knock down walls etc. Is it ever really home if it's not yours?

I suppose it doesn't help that we are also in a part of the world that is not on our list of places we'd like to live. What I'm getting at is that now, at 28, married, three children, I'd like a sense of permanence (is that even a word?). I long to have somewhere that is mine. Where I know I can stay, that I'm not at the mercy of other people's decisions.

Don't get me wrong, we've been very happy here, but it's not home and never really will be. I'm getting a bit tired of this life. Hopefully having that little bit of extra space will relieve some of the feelings of being stifled.

We've made a start on looking for our own house, somewhere with lots of space and that needs doing up. After years of living inside somebody else's walls, we want to put our own stamp on everything. Have a house that is truly a home, that we've poured our hearts into. I can't wait.

I need more space!

I'm a bit new to this blogging malarkey. I've been doing Photo a Day and I often find myself posting far too much information in the description box. I thought I'd give this a whirl. So, me.

I'm creeping ever closer to thirty and starting to dread it. I don't really know why, I'm already wrinkled and grey. I'm married to my best friend - sick buckets to your left, but he was my best friend first so I don't think that qualifies as mush. I have three children, two pink, one blue and I earn my pennies by looking after other people's. I have a nutty border collie and a nuttier mum.

I like to bake, I like to read but my favourite pastime is photography.

I don't think it's wise to reveal everything now or what would I say next time?

Till then x