And that's the truth! My little 'un has just turned one and my hopes of getting on here every month never quite happened! It is true what they say it really is the hardest but the most rewarding job I have ever had. That isn't to say though that as many of us head back to work proper now our children are 1 (me included fingers crossed) we should feel a wave of guilt. As I say it's really hard work! On two levels, as I have blogged before it can at times be quite monotonous and every stay at home parent I've spoken to has said that. It is also hard when you've been a well groomed person and then because you now have your baby to put first your lucky if you even get to brush your hair in the morning. Secondly it's hard because you can't always take five minutes out when your looking after a baby/young toddler whilst you can at work no matter how mad the day. I often find 3 hours have passed and I've literally not stopped but as my child happily plays beside me in their playpen (crawling in earnest at the moment) I know that they are growing and are developing into this wonderful person which is so worth the hectic days it but that doesn't mean I don't have my own goals and actively want to achieve them. I am a great believer in happy parent happy child, if you want to stay at home until your child heads to Uni and you are happy and stimulated doing that then that's great but if you want to have 'something else' in your life and you've weighed up the pros and cons then go for it. One of the biggest things I have learned in this last year is to trust your instincts and don't get stressed about what another parent/child is or isn't doing. I can't honestly say that prior to having a child I didn't make assumptions because I did. What's the saying 'walk a mile in someone else's shoes?' I still don't agree with everything I see/hear parents doing but following my own advice it's unlikely to be any of my business I suppose!
That's pretty much it then, my plan was to blog for the first year, I hope this blog has been interesting or of use or both. Finally good luck - it's not easy, that much is true but most of the time its brill.
