Last week I took a long drive to visit my parents who live out on a farm. They are retired now and spend a lot of time caring for a fruit orchid and vege garden. I love my trips down to see them, I often take one of the children with me and they have a special time with their grandparents.
I never go home with an empty car boot. So I thought I would share with you what they gave me this time.
Watch the fun video below to see what we got from the farm this time! Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven’t already so you can see these videos when they very first come out.
In this vlog I show you the butter cake that I love to make for the children.
I make the ‘Brown Gravy Stew’ from the new Trim Healthy Table cookbook.
I show you my ‘chore alarm.’
I unbox an order from Koorong bookstore and explain why I decided to get the children more meaningful gifts for Easter this year instead of just chocolate.
Lastly I take you on a mum and son date with almost 7 year old Arrow and share with you why I believe a good relationship with your children is so important.
It sounded simple. I was invited out by some friends for tea in the park. Come and join us they said, it’ll be fun. But I just couldn’t and I knew they wouldn’t understand. I had a baby, actually two babies really, under the age of two. It had been a long day. It was summer and taking the babies out in the searing heat wasn’t sounding appealing. Also, it was my little boys bedtime. Sure I could have taken him out past his bedtime. But not this day. He missed his nap and boy was he cranky! He needed to go to bed and taking an overtired toddler and a baby out at bedtime to me spelled chaotic disaster. I knew he would screech and pull me this way and that and I wouldn’t get to sit and eat, let alone get a word in with my friends. Then there was the baby. I would need to find somewhere at the park to breast feed him. Plus I would have to pack the pram, sippy cups, nappies, dummies, blankeys. And my baby was starting solids soon which would mean I would have to find a place to feed him at the park, probably sitting in the pram, and it would go everywhere. Plus how would I heat the food up while I was out?
With all of this swirling through my new mummy mind. I told my friend,
“sorry I can’t make it.”
No one in my friends group had started having babies yet and I felt very alone. I got married at 18 and had my first baby at age 20. They tried to include me. But after a few night time invites out by our friends to cafes, movies and eating out I knew that my life as a mum would be very different now.
I could let it get to me and vent about my lack of freedom since becoming a mum and live a miserable lonely life. Or, I could embrace my new role as a mum and move on to bigger and better things. Find new friends who also have children and change the way I go out, perhaps to play grounds instead of cafes.
I’m happy to report that I chose the latter.
Eventually.
It did take me a few years before I moved on and embraced my new life as a mum and left my past child-free life behind me. It took an attitude change and the Lord gently guiding and directing my heart. I began to see my life at home as a mum in a whole new light.
I was listening to Vision Christian Radio this morning and they were chatting with a past radio host who had left on maternity leave to care for her baby. She admitted on air to feelings of postpartum depression and said she had been feeling lonely.
She spoke about the importance of reaching out to other new mums around us and to check in on new mums at our church and in our community.
It got me thinking about how hard it is sometimes to deal with the loneliness of being at home all day every day with babies and young children. It really can be challenging and lonely. I know too well what it’s like to want to reach out to others in the community around me. And to pray that others would reach out to me.
I have some mum friends who I love very dearly and we share the same values and hopes and desires for our families. When we catch up with a long chat and cup of tea it is like my soul and entire being has been deeply refreshed. But our times like this are few. Between homeschooling, appointments and day to day schedules, months will go by before we can have this kind of conversation again.
I decided last year, after we sent our older children to school that I would take the my little girls to the local playgroup. I wanted to get to know some local mothers from my town, not just for my own sake, but I felt like I wanted to minister to the hearts of young mums who may need some encouragement.
But it hasn’t been easy! I’ve had to fight somewhat, just to get there! Between my five children catching sicknesses and having to stay home, to appointments, other life things that pop up and sometimes, just plain “I’m exhausted and need to stay home, ” I haven’t actually made it to many play groups! This term alone, I have gone to 1 in the past 6 weeks!
What I am trying to get at is, sometimes even when a mum really tries her hardest, it is still sometimes almost impossible for her to get out to things.
This is one of the reasons I began blogging over five years ago. I found encouragement in the words of others mothers blogs. I read them for hours and felt like someone out there understood what I was going through.
The online community back then for me was a God send. I believe He put these virtual mothers online for me at that exact moment, for me to read words of hope, friendship and understanding.
So, what makes me continue opening up my laptop and blogging away, is the thought that other mothers out there who may be feeling lonely, like I was, will find some encouragement here. If I can hardly make it out of my house to offer my friendship and a listening ear to other mothers then at least I can do it right here on this blog. Lately I have really being enjoying Youtube too. I have found some really great stay at home mother’s on Youtube and have been learning a lot of wisdom from them. Lately I have really been enjoying watching Sarah from ‘Our Tribe Of Ten.’ I put one of her videos below.
So don’t feel bad if you have been feeling lonely while at home with your children. Even if you have just had a baby that you have been longing for a long time for. It is perfectly normal to feel some loneliness as you adjust to life at home with a baby. The more you fight against it though and wish for your old life back the worse you will feel. So look ahead. Having a baby is a massive blessing and can be a real joy! Look for joy in little things throughout your day and take one day at a time.
Thank you for reading!
Please leave a comment and connect! I am here if anyone needs a listening ear.
Please also check out my new Youtube channel: Here
If you’ve ever wanted to see a glimpse of what it’s like for us to get our family of seven ready for church then watch this vlog! Lots of hair to brush but what a blessing it is to now have three precious daughters!
We were surprised with 4 free tickets to a play cafe and had a great time there after church.
I hope you are enjoying our new YouTube channel! After blogging for five years now, it’s been fun creating something a little different. (Originally I blogged at The Heart Of Our Home. )
You can click back on my old website if you would like to read some old posts, though, unfortunately I removed many articles when I was creating this website because I was going to put them all on here but it never happened.
Anyhow,
Click on the video below to watch a day in the life of us!
Hi all my lovely readers. Wow it’s been a busy couple of months for me. End of school year craziness, Christmas, and 6 weeks of summer school holidays. I don’t actually like business. I know many who thrive off it. My personality type screams for peace, quiet and slow. Otherwise my head gets cluttered and I have a tendency to get overwhelmed, brain fog and shut down a little. However I am slowly learning how to cope when life gets busy – I just keep rolling and don’t give into the stress and hope that a quieter time is around the corner when I can think…and write. Daily rituals that I have embedded into my life in recent years have helped me to cope better with stress too such as cups of tea, walking in nature, talking regularly and deeply with my husband, lists, daily prayer and journaling.
We got back from a lovely holiday 6 days ago. We were very blessed to have the opportunity to stay in my uncle and auntie’s holiday house which happens to be right at the most popular sea side location in the city! Luke and I vlogged one day of our holiday where we caught the tram which goes from the coast all the way into the city. We had a great family day out while we walked to the museum, mall and a guitar shop. Luke edits and does all the graphic design for our Youtube channel, he is very talented in this area!
This year has been loaded with good things and also set backs. At the beginning of this year, instead of writing new years resolutions, I wrote a page of prayers that were on my heart. I cried out my heart to the Lord about these things daily all year long. I am deeply joy-filled to be sharing with you that many of those prayers have been answered.
I asked for someone to help me out with cleaning the house and baby-sitting as I could never seem to catch up on my workload at home and it was getting me down. – The Lord sent a lovely young Christian, home-schooled lady to come weekly and she has helped me clean the house from top to bottom. I feel so encouraged by this and she as become a great friend to me.
I asked for a large kitchen table particularly one painted white with a wooden stained top. And a dishwasher. – The Lord sent to us a local couple who custom built the exact table I was wanting that I saw at Harvey Norman for $3500. We paid only $450 for ours.
Our lease was not renewed at our rental house because the landlord wanted to renovate, which meant we had to move. Suddenly we were homeless. The Lord led us swiftly to a house only a few streets away. We were privileged to be shown through the house by the agent before it was even advertised. The new house has a dining area for our new kitchen table AND we were able to have a dishwasher installed in the laundry (only a few steps away from the kitchen).
I asked for wisdom and insight in dealing with my eldest sons constant aggressive behavior and mood swings. He was upsetting everyone in the house. We tried everything we could think of and were at our whits end (disciplines, spanking, time out, loss of privileges, earlier bed time, long talks, reward systems for good behaviour, more one on one time with him). I cried many tears over this. I was lead to discover he may have ODD (Oppositional Deficiency Disorder) And was reminded of an allergy test he had as a toddler which revealed he is allergic to wheat. I put him on a gluten and sugar free diet and within days he was back to his calm, happy self. The transformation in him has been amazing! I wish I had done this years ago. I might write a whole detailed blog post about this in the future.
I asked the Lord for a holiday. We had to spend our money shifting house and a holiday this year was looking like it wasn’t going to happen. I couldn’t stop thinking about my Auntie and Uncles holiday house by the beach. I didn’t even know if they still had it or if someone was now renting it. I asked anyway – and they said yes! We can stay there! We are now getting ready next month to have a relaxing time away by the beach.
I asked for my mums healing for a condition she was suffering with. She told me last week that she feels the best she’s felt in years right now.
I always pray for the Lord to guide and lead me every day of my life in every area. I am completely surrendered to him and his will for my life. I have seen him provide for our family in amazing ways this year. He knows what I need and I have never been lacking anything. My life may not be fancy in any way – but it is certainly not lacking.
Thanks to everyone who supported my blog this year. Whether you liked a post on facebook or left a comment or just read a few articles. I really appreciate your feedback and every little bit counts and is noticed. I hope you are enjoying my new YouTube channel as well. Click here to check it out.
I’m excited for 2018 as I will be releasing my very first e-book. It is called ‘Yes You Can Lose Your Pregnancy Weight.’ And I pray it is a huge encouragement to many people. My goal for this blog from the very beginning when I started blogging back in 2012 is to encourage people, especially mothers, as they press on with the challenging and deeply rewarding task of parenting. I don’t make any money at all from blogging. I do it because I love it and I feel like I can help others with words of encouragement. However it does cost us over $100 a year to keep this sight online and by purchasing my e-book next year (hopefully in January) you will be supporting our family and the continuation of this blog.
Have a blessed 2018!
Blessings, Peta xo
I will leave you with some photos from our 2018 family photo shoot.
Hi lovely readers! Here is a short video of what I bought last time I went out shopping including what I spent at the fruit and veg shop and at Woolworths. If you are enjoying these videos please let me know and I’ll love to hear feedback and to interact with my readers. I might alternate videos with written blog posts, so there will always be something coming out weekly.
Hi all! I’m excited to be sharing another Youtube video with you!
In this video:
How I afford all the clothing and shoes we need for our family each season.
Which shops I buy our clothes from – including my favourite place to buy clothes for myself!
What clothes shops I don’t like anymore.
Why I don’t buy ebay clothes anymore.
A walk through of my summer clothing rotation with two of my little girls.
How the Lord has always provided for us everything we need as our family has grown in numbers.
Let me know what you thought of my video in the comments here on the blog or on Youtube comments. I’m new to this vlogging thing and hopefully will get better at it with each new video. This one went for a long time! Extra points for you if you actually watch it all the way to the end!
Goddard Family 