Mariet

Hey! What a crazy time it's been... My brain is fried. I've spent so much time researching and looking into different things to help my mental health for when baby comes, like omega 3, B vitamins, probiotics etc. which all play some role in keeping your head in a good space. Omega 3 for healthy brain function (important for thinking straight!), B vitamins for helping with particularly stressful times, probiotics because gut health and mental health issues seem to have a link.... There are many more things but I won't go into all that - not today, anyway! I've also looked into other tips for preventing post natal depression. Must share them with you one day - or maybe once I know if they've worked. For me, at least. I'm nearly 20 weeks - halfway there... Part of me feels like it's gone slowly and the other part feels like it's all approaching a little fast. Sometimes, I think I have to feel fully prepared for when this baby comes. Like I almost ha...

Hey guys! I know I've been very quiet... I have found it hard to locate some spare energy the last 3 months. My brain has been rather foggy. I've barely had enough 'oomph' to get food on the table.  But I've gotten through it! So, we have been keeping secrets..... and it's time to let one out of the bag! Child no. 3 is in my tummy (17 weeks), and I am wildly excited! I can't wait to meet this precious little one. Well, I can wait a little... still need to get child no.2 out of the cot and into a big bed, ideally out of nappies and off bottles, and to please, PLEASE, sleep through the night. But I am wildly excited about this little person growing in my belly, especially now that I can feel the kicks and tumbles. I am also wildly nervous about it, when I consider that I went through post natal depression with both my kids. That's all I've ever known. Struggle is all I've ever known when it comes to welcoming my baby into the world. Ove...

"Regular exercise can lift your mood, boost your mental health, help you sleep better, helps you achieve and maintain a healthy body weight, and reduce your risk of chronic disease." Hmmm.  Sounds good - let's go! Wait, doesn't it take effort? I don't like effort. It makes me tired. And that sums up my inner dialogue about exercise. I've been trying to take better care of my physical health lately... one of the main reasons being for my mental health. For a whole year after having my second daughter (who is now 1.5 years old) I consistently exercised. I ran 5km 3 or 4 times a week most weeks. I'd do my run, then straight away do 200 bicycle crunches, followed by a 3kg (6kg total) weight exercise. I think I missed one or 2 weeks due to sickness, but I got on with it the rest of the time. Even got up to 9.5km at one point! Then this last winter hit. It hit me like a brick. The bugs went round and round. I generally got lazier and lazier for what...

Hello again! My posts seem to be getting further and further apart. I haven’t made the time to ponder and stew over things. Not in a useful way at least. I do plenty of stewing – believe me! Life just gets insane sometimes. I know you know what I mean. My husband and I have been trying and trying to find a free weekend on our calendar to get away to the family beach house (owned by my parents) and it’s just not happening! Things just keep popping up and they seem sort of impossible to side-step or even delay. Not all bad things. Mostly good things, actually! But, I’m finding myself getting tired. It’s not that the WHOLE weekend is getting filled up, just a thing or two – but a thing or two too many for getting outta here! Speaking of craziness - I’m still on my anxiety adventure, as I like to call it.   What a thrill!  And while things have improved bucket-loads, I still have my moments……or days…... And always, in hindsight, I realize why those times I let ...

Hi, my name is Mariet. It's been 3 days since my last decent sleep. I have a pounding headache and while we're on the subject, I feel a bit nauseous, actually. Sometimes you try everything, but the kids still wake up during the night. I've gone through phases of frustration, acceptance...... mostly frustration..... Last night it was a bottle for Little D at about 2am, then she woke up screaming blue murder an hour later for who knows what reason. Then big sister started whining about her sheets. Then later on she needed the toilet, slammed the door and woke up little D. Then the blasted birds started chirping like it was Christmas morning and I knew that was it. No more sleep. Sometimes I just want to scream.  Mums and Dads - please say I'm not the only one? Have you ever felt like you are grasping for control over situations even though you know it's out of your hands? You know you have to just go with it and handle it with grace (snort!) because reall...

Noise. Supermarket ques. Blaring TV. Road rage. The racket and clatter of motherhood. Stress. When did life get so noisy? I’ve started a study by Priscilla Shirer called ‘Breathe’, which is about making room for God to speak and for us to hear what He is saying to us. It doesn’t take long to realize that busyness is actually such a problem. Like, huge . Read that last word again. Busyness seems to be a measure of success. A person with a crammed schedule is successful. Nobody wants to be less than successful, so we keep going and going, saying “yes” to everything until we end up in a miserable, burnt-out heap on the floor. I’m not a working mum, but I have become a slave to busyness. It’s come to the point where if I’m not completely pooped by the end of the day, I feel like a failure. If I get a morning or afternoon free (have to work around little D’s midday nap) I’m immediately thinking, “How can I fill the day? Where can we go? We can’t just sit here at home!” The discont...

WOW it's been ages!  Where have I been?  I don't know! Life just happens sometimes and engulfs you rather unexpectedly. I suspect that's what happened here... a lot has happened. But, I've still been pondering life, as I tend to do. So much time has passed since my last post and there's so many things I want to say (as always), and I think I'm probably going to just start and let it lead to wherever it's going to go... What floats into my head first is this quote a while back and it has stayed with me since. “The older I get, the more I understand that it’s okay to live a life others don’t understand.” Truer every day of my life. Some people don't understand why I choose God. They don't understand the choices I make – the ones I make that will bring me closer to Him, rather than take me further away. Sometimes people don't understand why I consistently sacrifice certain things. They tell me I’m missing out. The truth...