Reflections

It is about this time of the year that we start to look back on the year that was and start to do that thing where we think "in the New Year I will a) lose some weight, b) stop eating custard and chocolate chip cookies for lunch and c) be a better mother."  Right now my 5 month old is lying under her activity centre yelling at Winnie the Pooh and I'm pretending she isn't, so...perhaps I need to get a little work in on the "be a better mother" idea before the New Year rolls around.

For me it has been a pretty big year.  We moved (again) from NSW, where we were living near the small small town of Wakool for about six months, back to Victoria (staying briefly with my parents until the tenants moved out of our house), and then in July I gave birth to my daughter.  I find newborns really difficult and long for them to turn the corner and reach three months, and then get that bit easier again once they hit six months.  Thankfully she has been sleeping through for a couple of months now, and while I still look average and look like I'm carrying my luggage around in my face, at least I feel a little more human.  Accept for the crazy hormones that bounce around everywhere after you have a baby.  Still waiting for those to settle down.

I started studying again (again), and was doing my first term during which my baby was born in the second week.  I don't know how I got through the term doing two subjects, but this term I had to defer.  After spending an entire day screaming at my kids I realised I wasn't able to study properly or be a mother properly.  With a child with developmental delays to add to the fray I found I wasn't able to do both together and do them well at the same time.  It had to be one or the other. 

Christmas is something I have hardly had time to think about.  Maybe because we still don't have a tree and my two middle children don't have a clue yet.  Hubby promised he would get a real tree this weekend, although I'm afraid if he doesn't find the time, which is likely, I'm going to have to pull out the old fake one.  I really need some new decorations.  The ones I had belonged to my parents and hung on our tree when we were kids.  Needless to say they are all broken and look a little bit more than pathetic.  At least I have almost finished my Christmas shopping, only one gift left to buy.

Next year is going to be even busier with my four year old starting kinder.  Due to his developmental delays, which includes speech delay, he will be starting 3 year old kinder, plus attending a special kinder where he will receive speech pathology and occupational therapy.  Looking forward to it all but I'm going to understand the true meaning of being a taxi service.

Hopefully somewhere within it all there will be time for lots of beautiful photographs.