Grateful for A Day to Breathe

The last two weeks have kept me on my toes, kept me busy and worn me down, but today I got to breathe. To stop and spend a day at home, a full day at home with just my Muddy Baby Boy. We pottered around the garden, cooked, cleaned the fish tank, read books, explored the house paddock, spent time with the chooks and dogs. It was just lovely.

It gave me an insight into the next few years as my Muddy Pixie and Puzzler start school, where I might get some more 1:1 time with my two youngest Muddy Kids. It let me take the day slow, rather than at the full pace of the last two weeks.

I am so very grateful to my Muddy Hubby for taking my Muddy Pixie and Muddy Puzzler to the shearing shed, keeping them entertained and busy for the day. I am grateful for the special time with my Baby Boy and I am grateful for having a day at home to just be. Delightful.

Linking up with some lovely bloggers over at Village Voices for 52 Weeks of Grateful. Make some time to check out some wonderful blogs.

20/52

A Portrait a Week of Each of My Kids, Every Week in 2013

Sadly I only have 3 to share this week, my Muddy Organiser misses out :(
Muddy Pixie - Always concentrating on what's happening with other people, a real sticky beak
Muddy Puzzler - A collector, feathers, eggs, pens, buttons, handbags, whatever takes her fancy
Muddy Baby Boy - Filthy, yet worried about a small piece of leaf on his finger

Linking up over at Che and Fidel for 52 - A Portrait a Week

Pottering around

I'd love to say I'm a gardener and have a green thumb, but unfortunately I don't. That doesn't stop me trying though. The kids and I have spent lots of time outside lately when I'm not working, just pottering around the garden. Weeding the garlic garden bed (the only thing I have tried planting in my veggie patches this year), pruning my roses, planting spring bulbs and just hanging out in the garden, having tea parties and just enjoying the fresh air, soaking up the beautiful light and the smell of autumn setting in. As it has started getting colder in the mornings we simply put on more layers and change what we're doing so we're not sitting on the wet dewy grass.

 

I have chosen to focus on just one veggie for a few months and shower them with tender love and care, rather than try and plant lots and lose track of them all. I chose garlic - and I'm a little bit excited as they're all thriving and seem to be loving the weather, I know they're a long developing little plant, but I think it will be worth it!

 

19/52

 

 

Joining in with Jodi at Che and Fidel for 52 - A Portrait a Week, Every Week in 2013.

Muddy Organiser - Constructing a bird's nest in the sandpit with great concentration
Muddy Pixie - So much fun on the trampoline lately
Muddy Puzzler - In motion - again on the trampoline
Muddy Baby Boy - Just a 'boy' with a smile

Grateful for farming stuff.....

I feel like this week has passed in a daze, struggling to focus on what I'm doing from minute to minute, losing track in conversations, starting one task, getting side-tracked by another and forgetting what I started. It's been driving me crazy.

This afternoon though I got to do farm stuff, nothing ground breaking, just feeding sheep, but I loved it. Simple straightforward in the outdoors, despite the number of gates I had to open and close and the return trips to pick up hats and drink bottles Muddy Baby Boy threw out the window, it was invigorating.

It was also slightly depressing driving through paddocks with no feed, watching the sheep race toward you when they see the big yellow feeder bin on the back but I was out and about so I put that stuff aside.

Somehow just being in the garden isn't enough, to drive over the farm and see the sheep and what's happening from block to block just gets straight to my heart and lifts me, that's what this afternoon did, despite the tiredness and crazy brain my whole mood was lifted and for that I'm grateful.

 

 

Linking up with the fabulous Bron over at Village Voices for 52 Weeks of Grateful.

 

18/52

A Portrait of my kids once a week, every week in 2013

Muddy Organiser - The trampoline full of static
Muddy Pixie - Off in her own world
Muddy Puzzler - Picture Perfect
Muddy Baby Boy - On the run

Linking up over at Che and Fidel for 52 - A Portrait a Week

My Muddy Pixie

This is the year before my Muddy Pixie starts school, the year before her world opens up even more and she is no longer a 'preschooler' but a school kid instead. I am worried about my Muddy Pixie starting school,  the special qualities that make her her are not all suited to a school classroom, so of course - I worry.

 

My Muddy Pixie is the total opposite of me, I am all about order, routine, structure, and without those I do not function so well. My Muddy Pixie however is all about what's happening in the moment, what adventure is happening next, what joke is the funniest or what imaginative story can she tell to crack herself up into fits of giggles.

 

She is anxious, but sometimes it's just for show, she is intuitive, she is a dancer, a story teller, a cycling pro, a little waif, a distractable, yet focused little soul.

 

We are facing some challenges this year to help get her ready for school, we are working on things as a family, and I have been amazed at how Muddy Hubby has stepped in to do some things with her that I do not have the patience for, despite trying to remain calm and composed and do the best I could sometimes there are just things that Dad does better.

 

My Muddy Pixie is certainly keeping me on my toes.

 

Grateful for Inspiration

I have been lucky enough to spend this whole week in Sydney - well almost the whole week anyway. Wonderful, vibrant harbour city that it is I got to catch the ferry to work each morning, soaking it all up. As well as soaking up Sydney I spent 4 days at the most amazing conference learning so much that I think my brain is protesting, making it hard to hold conversations as I can only seem to manage yes/no answers, with a nod or shake of the head.

I will go home tomorrow and return to my Muddy Family who I have missed so much, but I go home with lots of amazing ideas to try and implement in my working life, and some in my home life. I was inspired by people who have fought against the odds their whole life, being born with Complex Communication Needs, but who have triumphed despite the obstacles they face on a daily basis.

I attended presentations by some of my work idols, people who are doing fantastic things in the world of communication for people with a disability, I even got 'retweeted' by some of them, for which I was absurdly excited!

This week I am grateful for Inspiration, for the inspiring people doing wonderful things against the odds, for my professional idols who inspire me to keep going and try new things to make for better outcomes for my clients. I am also grateful for the inspiration I get from Sydney every time I visit.

Linking up with Bron over at Village Voices who hosts the wonderful 52 Weeks of Grateful. Make sure you check it out.