This week is Mental Health Awareness Week. It’s a week that is hugely important, as we still have such a long way to go before we’ve broken the stigma that surrounds mental ill health. Last year, I wrote a post for Mental Health Awareness Week claiming that I was going to start sharing my story of living with depression, beginning with my nervous breakdown and diagnosis. Yet, these posts never materialised. Writing your own tale of living with depression is…
memories
“The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.” William Morris The past few months have been tough. Yet I’ve entered 2018 with a new and positive outlook. I’ve set myself some goals and I’m looking forward to the year ahead. Like most people, I’m constantly in the pursuit of happiness. I want my life to be filled with experiences and moments that make me happy. But recently I’ve realised that happiness…
Ahhhh Christmas. It’s such a magical time. It’s even more magical now we have children. You see Christmas through their eyes. The excitement of seeing a tiny Christmas elf door appear outside your bedroom or of getting to unwrap a book every day during Advent. We always put our Christmas tree up in the first weekend in December. We want Christmas to last as long as possible. But we don’t like to start it in November and our tree tends to…
Trigger warning: If you have personal experience of suicide or suicidal depression then you may find this post upsetting. If you’re currently struggling with suicidal thoughts and you’re in danger then please call 999 and request an ambulance immediately. My dear girl As I write this letter to you, I have tears pricking the back of my eyes. My heart hurts thinking of you lying in that hospital bed. Because last night you took an overdose. It was your fourth.…
Christmas is such a magical time for children, but until this year Little Miss H has always been too young to fully appreciate the magic. But she is now four and a half years old and can’t wait for Christmas. In fact, most days we hear “Mummy… Daddy… How many more sleeps until Christmas?” Over the years we’ve created a number of family Christmas traditions. Advent is filled with daily Christmassy activities and the kids also receive a book every…
It is the first week of the Summer holidays and the weather has been hit and miss. But we’ve still managed to have fun. We’ve built dens, baked cookies, seen an open air performance of Alice through the looking glass, visited a farm, played games and watched Peppa Pig. And of course, we went out in the rain for a walk in the woods behind our house. This led to the obligatory jumping in muddy puddles. That pig has a…
“Baby mine, don’t you cry. Baby mine, dry your eyes. Rest your head close to my heart Never to part, Baby of mine.” Happy birthday, baby of mine. Today you turned one. Our second rainbow baby is growing up. This time last year I had just given birth. And you had already begun to fill our lives with huge bundles of love and joy. Earlier on in the day, Andy Murray had won Wimbledon. Little Miss H and I had…
How can we possibly be at the end of the third day of June already? This year is zooming by. And I’m certain that since having Little Mister H I have entered into a parallel universe where time moves twice as fast. May was a wonderful month. It was the month Little Miss H turned four. And we seemed very busy. I’ve got a feeling that June is going to be a fabulous month too. And it’s already off to a brilliant start. As…