Silent Sunday - Childhood Toys

What Has Made Me Cheerful This Week?

Although this week started on the back foot for me with a nasty three day stomach bug (swiftly followed by it taking out my husband) we have managed to get back on track and I have managed to think about the things that have made me smile during the course of this week.

1. The biggest thing is our house move date has been confirmed and although it is imminent, and we have a mammoth task to try and get our current house packed up in record time, on the whole, the quick date is excellent in the long run for our family because we will be back by the sea for the summer.  Much family fun to be had.

2. This week has been the second of the Easter Holidays for J1, so lots of extra time together.

3. I have nearly finished my third book of the year, so although I was off to a slow start on my mission of 12 in 12 months, I am almost back on track.

4. I had a record number of page views on my blog for a day this week, and it was by some considerable amount, not quite sure how it happened but it was pleasing.

5. We received news that another set of friends are expecting baby number 2 in October, it is like a baby boom at the moment!

6. Even though most of the family got struck down by the 'Tummy Bug', J1 avoided it, and if anyone needs to avoid it, J1 is it. 

7. I applied for another small writing opportunity, am currently waiting to hear if I have been successful.

8. Hubby got asked back for a second interview for a job opportunity, again we are waiting to hear news.

9. I have had lots of inspiration for writing this week and my mind has been thinking about book ideas in copious amounts - this is good as it has been a bit lacking of late.

10. I have somehow, by some miracle, caught up with my ironing!  I am assuming this will only last for this week as I now have such large quantities of house packing to do.

Other inspiring and 'Cheery' souls can be found over at www.mdplife.blogspot.com

Groovy Mums (an inspiration by Kate on Thin Ice)

Many of my posts mention that I am participating in the Groovy Mum's initiative over at Kate on Thin Ice.  This is a positive and inspirational link up for mums that want to take steps to change, improve, move their lives forward for themselves and / or their family and have support from other mum bloggers whilst doing so. 

Participation is as much or as little as you like, you can link up posts outlining the steps you have started to make, would like to take or are looking for inspiration to take and reading other peoples progress and success is a massive spirit lifter.  On the other side of the coin, on occasions progress you had hoped to achieve has not been made it can be a source of positive reinforcement not to give up or if you ask nicely, even a kick up the bum if you feel one is required.

It is great to have a place to, kind of, report to especially if you have a nature like mine, and have to have lists to get by and like to keep a running report in your own mind of what you have managed to achieve.  I worked like this when I was in full time employment and years of this tried and tested approach still works for me as a stay at home mum, and yes, it is also a way for me to remind myself that my role at home is as busy as the one I ever held in the World of Work, which is easy to forget when you trade money-making for home-making.

At the beginning of the year I decided to list my Aims and Hopes (of achieving things) for 2012 and broke them down to a few per month.  These are my posts that I have been linking up with Groovy Mums, I found that I made much more effort to actually succeed and fulfil what I set out to do at the beginning of each month so that I could report back and get a good old pat on the back (or when lack of effort prevailed, kick up the buttocks!).  By doing this I have made some great new blogger acquaintances, who always take the time and effort to catch up with my blog and more importantly comment their support and opinions.

In addition to providing a place for the fantastic link up, thus support network, Kate also goes to the tremendous effort of providing 'Challenges' for anyone that maybe struggling to come up with their own inspiration to move forward.  These Challenges look at various areas of life (for example Mind, Body and Soul) and ask you to think about how making a change in this area in your life could be positive for you.  Again, participation is completely optional, but some of the Challenges have certainly got me thinking, and recently saw me getting involved with helping Charity close to my heart.

If you have been 'thinking' about checking out what this is, whether you are a blogger or not, it is so worth going to visit Kate and some of her wonderful Groovy Mums, I promise you will come away smiling and inspired.  I have.

Disability Diaries (The Life of J1) : Trying to Live Life

After our diagnosis, life with 'Cerebral Palsy' began, but our 'Life with a Baby' didn't just stop.  In fact it was easy to pretend to those outside of our inner circle that our world hadn't changed.  I knew paperwork was plentiful, we were becoming familiar with alot of professionals who's titles ended in 'Ist' and play dates were fitted in around physiotherapy sessions, but although this condition had come into our lives, J1 was still only a one year old baby boy with the same everyday baby needs as any other.

I found myself in a strange state of limbo.  On the one hand I was trying my best to accept and understand J1's condition and come to the point where I could say 'My baby has Cerebral Palsy' to those that needed to know without collapsing in floods of tears (that took a few years just for the record, before then it would be hit and miss), and on the other I was trying to live life as regularly as possible so that we could enjoy J1 just being a baby boy, and not a baby boy with severe disabilities. 

As our diagnosis came at quite an early age for J1, for the most part while we were out and about no one would know anything was different for us.  He could go in a buggy (with some extra wadding down his sides) and a bit of adjusting every now and then, just fine.  When we went out to eat, rather than using a highchair, always so kindly offered, we would either hold him on our lap or feed him in his buggy and to be honest, I think people thought we were being over protective and no-one seemed to question that we were feeding him his bottle rather than him holding it himself, or solely feeding him rather than letting him try and do it himself.  I guess people thought that was our choice rather than our baby couldn't do it. 

The ignorance of strangers was bliss at that time, because if at any point the enormity of it all got to much, I could generally go out for a walk, or to the shops or for something to eat and for those short few hours, Cerebral Palsy didn't have to exist.  I was the same as all those other mums wandering around with their strollers, day bag filled with drinks, snacks, nappies and entertainment solutions.

This gave me a sort of 'grace' period I suppose.  I could deal with our diagnosis news at a slightly slower pace, and with those that were trying to understand it with me.  I knew I had to come to terms with the diagnosis, and I knew that I had to continue living life and not let it take over.  I had no idea how difficult those two things would be and how I shouldn't be afraid to accept help.  However, initially with my baby still a baby I tried to just get on, without letting it affect me at all.  I was a single mother who was working so an abundance of spare time wasn't something I particularly had.  

For those first few months I managed to close my eyes and continue on our hectic schedule whilst fooling everyone that I had just taken it in my stride.  However, babies grow and a shock like I had received doesn't just hit you and not leave an imprint.  This of course, all being on top of the fact, that I had been dealing with my baby arriving 8 weeks prematurely and spending a month in Special Care.  Stressful factors that also didn't get dealt with at the time.

In my haste to try and continue to live life and cope, I was ignoring the issue that I was not coping and my body was about to tell me to stop and deal with things.

The First Quarter & The April Plan

I always remember my mum saying to me that as you get older, time goes faster.  Those six weeks holidays that stretched for miles as child, full of promise and playing anticipation now pass by in a flash, as my own children enjoy them.

Now we find ourselves in April.  A whole quarter of 2012 is now a bible of memories in our minds.  I have to say that on the whole the year has started off well for us and for that I am very thankful.  We have only had one event of sadness, when my Dear Uncle, decided he had had enough of being held hostage by Alzehimers and kissed us goodbye to go and be with our other loved ones in Heaven.

I started off the year with a list of 'Hopes and Aims' that I outlined in a post The 2012 Plan.  It was quite an extensive list and I did wonder if I had perhaps 'hoped' for a bit too much for one short year, however, I decided to break those things down into monthly aims and to date I haven't done too badly (various posts entitled The Plan - Month outlines individual progress).  Participating in the Groovy Mum initiative over at Kate on Thin Ice has helped massively with this as it has been great to have goal point to look to for getting those things done.

Now, having looked at what has been achieved already this year I am confident that, with good health continuing with everyone I will succeed in fulfilling my Hopes and Aims for 2012.  With this positively in mind I now don't feel so bad that March and April have been surrended to just one aim - to find a new house and move!  As we are hoping (everything crossed) that this will be completed by the beginning of May I am already thinking about which 'Goals' I will be looking to achieve in May and June.

So just for continuitities sake my Hopes and Aims for April are :

* For the house exchange to go ahead without any issues

* To pack up entire house without losing my marbles

* To move!

As always I am also continuing a good majority of all the 'Goals' achieved in the last quarter (I think the only *fail* has been getting to the Spa!  So technically I think I should do 2 sessions in the next quarter *wink*.

If you are making positive steps to make changes to your life, join in with the Groovy Mum's initiaitive over at Kate on Thin Ice, the support you will find is amazing and a great driving force on occasions you might not be feeling so positive.