When I was younger I used to write in a diary, from when I was 11 right up until I was 28 and about to give birth to my first baby. I’ve always been a bit of a talker and like to get things off my chest, but after I became a mum I never had time to write a diary anymore. I haven’t written for nearly 9 years now but those 9 years have been life changing and I don’t want to forget about some of the key moments.
Who knows if anyone will read this or if it will end up as a record just for me – either way is fine. There are millions of 30 something mums out there and I’m nothing special. But I don’t want to lose the key memories of my kids as they grow up and I don’t want to forget those frantic early years of having babies and toddlers. Some of the ways I’ve experienced parenthood are probably exactly the same as all those other millions of mums. Some of them I’ve experienced differently to other mums I know and it would be interesting to know if I’m alone in that or if there are others out there too. So some of the things I’ll write here will be historical – my pregnancies, birth stories, experience of PND, what the kids were like as babies etc. The same experiences so many others have had, but also unique to me.
Life at the moment feels full on so I want to record some more current stuff as well, experiences we’re having now. My oldest daughter has recently been diagnosed as autistic, is struggling at school, and needing support so that’s our focus at the moment but there will be other things too.
Because I have no idea who if anyone will read this and I haven’t sought permission from my small people to talk about them publicly, I’m going to keep them anonymous and the names I use here aren’t their real names. Our family is me (Sam), my husband (John) and our three small people Katie who is 8, Alice who is 6 and Matthew who is 4, plus our psychotic but very loving cat Fred and Katie’s two guinea pigs.
Mum life 