Here is to Blogging my life away!

So here I am finally taking my Husbands advice and starting my very own blog! its something I have put of for such a long time as I tend to be self critical and think who would be interested..but I have wanted to do this for while now so I will keep my first one basic and give you guys and idea of who I am. My name is Diane and I am a 36 year old mum with five children from 17 to 3 years old! as you can imagine its a busy household and life I have...talk about pressure haha

Like many bloggers I am so keen  to share  my ideas on parenting advice and experiences, interiors more so on children bedroom, fashion including kids fashion and make up with you all (which I rarely ever where now) much to my annoyance as I am a product junkie... I also as a woman with Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome want to offer support and advice on living with this condition.  

My five children are my world and I have loved being mum even though I was only 19 when my eldest was born who is Melanie (17) then I went on to have Nicole (14) ,James (12) ,Ava (7) and Anna (3) and they are all so different in nature and ways it amazes me. They all love different things and have different opinions and views in life.  James has Autism and was only a few years ago diagnosed with dual a of ADHD then Ava too she has dual ADHD diagnosis and Autism but so much milder than my son.  As you could imagine it can be challenging in many ways but I raise them to believe in themselves and to have goals in life.  Autism and ADHD does not need to mean a life without opportunities.  I know they are capable of one day going to university and making a living of their own.  They can still achieve in life and be happy within themselves.  

So as you can imagine life is often challenging and no two days are the same.

I love having a big family! its so rewarding and my children give me my purpose in life, I was born to be a mother.  Please dot get me wrong its hard work and at the end of everyday me and my Husband who works from home are exhausted! 

One thing I really struggle with though is having a clean organised and tidy home, I am obsessed with it being this way.  As you can imagine with 7 of us living in the house and my condition can make that seem impossible but thankfully my children do what I believe is so important is chores and tidying their toys away (whenever possible) I am often so harsh on myself looking on it actually, like many parents I think that I am failing if things are not done right or if we are not keeping up on say the washing or the bathroom is not spotless.   I really should work in this! but its just how I am.
 

Prior to living with fibromyalgia life was very different, I longed to have a career within social care, I wanted to be a social worker.  I decided to put that hold when I had Ava I genuinely thought right this is my last baby so I will stay at home and when she starts nursery I can get back on track with my course.  Unfortunately I began to suffer with depression and was very ill for a long time.  Anxiety gripped me and life became so hard to live.  

My husband gave up his job to help me when Ava was a baby and my Son was diagnosed with autism.  Not understanding James behaviour played a huge part in me beginning to become so self critical and feeling like I was doing it all wrong as I had no idea that he was actually Autistic.  I barely knew what it was or mabye I was trying to avoid the reality of it being that.... As time went by I slowly started to recover and find myself again I had accepted that James was Autistic and that I could learn this new way of parenting.  James was getting such amazing support in primary school and Ava had one year left in nursery when we decided to have another baby. Our youngest daughter Anna. As much as I love having children, I was very apprehensive and scared that I would become ill with depression again. Focussing on the fact we were going to have another baby at the end of the pregnancy, I decided to be postivite and get through the sickness.
It was just such a very difficult pregnancy and I was ill the entire time with sickness and hospital visits.  When we reached 29 weeks, we were rushed into hospital to have an emergency caesarean section. Baby number five, Anna was born.  We were both dangerously ill with sepsis after an infection got out of hand to the point my womb had life threatening infection called choreonamnionitis (its a hard one to pronounce I know),  It was absolutely horrendous to go through the pain in my stomach was to this day something I will never forget and on top of that I took cellulitis on the C section scar.  There was so many ups and downs on that journey  but eventually on her due date 11 weeks later we got to take our baby home. 

It was wonderful and I had a completely different outlook on life, going through what we did affected us all as a family but changed me as a person.  Life can change in the blink of an eye and suddenly the things you deemed important are not so anymore and what is truly important is family and being together.  As much as life was good I just seemed unwell, as if I had not recovered physically from what my body went through.  I won't lie it was traumatic and so frightening and my body went through so much! but at the time I was only focused on Anna and my kids as it did not just affect me and my husband.  As the months went by I seemed to be in constant chronic pain and the tiredness was beyond exhausting.  So by the time Anna was a year old I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

It really is horrible to live with but whats important to me is my mindset, and my Faith in God.  I refuse to let this steal my joy! yes there are days where I get so low in mood because I have been up through the night with pain and I need to nap during the day to regain some energy but me and my husband have an amazing bond.  He is beyond supportive, he is always there and does all the things I struggle to do.

I would love to do a separate blog on the one day soon.  My goals are different now I am considering going to do do a course in child practice, I love kids and like I said before I won't be defined by my condition or let it rule my life.

I have tried to keep my first blog as simple and straight forward with the basic information about me and my life.  So here is to a new venture and I hope my blogs with be helpful to people now and in the future.

Diane
  X

on 11th November 2016 we were married and my family of seven
was finally complete - Forever Seven