Kelly Preston due to give birth at aged 48

http://flowerpowermom.com/america-waits-kelly-preston-give-birth-48/

Hope on over to the above link to read about Kelly Preston who is due to give birth shortly at the age of forty eight.

I am following the story with great interest as I am still hoping to have another baby even though I am forty four.

What do you think?

Working At Home

The other day, in the park I was talking to another mum.. We got to talking about our old life of working outside of the home. She explained that she had given up her job to look after her children. The cost of childcare was so high, it made no sense for her to keep at it.  I felt sorry for her because she actually wanted to work outside the home.

It's great to be able to stay at home with your children if it's something that you can do and something that you actually want to do.  I am lucky enough to be in that position and, for me, it's the right thing.  However, for that mum, it was the wrong thing and she was desperately unhappy in her stay at home mum role. She said that she was actually bored being at home even though she felt it was also a lot of work.  She didn't drive, had no hobbies for herself and her child didn't go to preschool or kindergarten.

In my case, I am on a career break from my job outside the home.  As I didn't have my son until I was nearly forty two I wanted to be able to spend as much time with him as possible.  I also wanted to be available to take my mother to her hospital and doctors appointments as she has COPD, chronic Asthma and arthritis.  When I worked for an organisation outside the home I had to use up holiday days and flexi days to do this.

Unlike that other mum, I find that I don't have time to be bored by being at home. I agree that housework etc can be mundane but that is why it is important to be doing something else too, paid or not.  A lot of the time I am not actually at home at all.  I am usually busy transporting my mother to shops, doctors, hospitals and entertaining my son and his friends. I also look after people's cats and dogs when they are away from home or out at work.  You could say I am a stay at home mum who looks after stay at home pets.  I also have hobbies such as reading and blogging that keep me occupied in my rare moments of leisure.

I really enjoyed working outside of the home and will probably return to that in the future.  However, for now I find that I am almost busier than I was when I did that.

I can't imagine how some people juggle both these things although I know that many people do. I think that mum that I met would have been happy to do both if, monetarily, it was possible.

What would I do today if I were Brave?

I am so so inspired by the wonderful song and video by Jana Stanfield.  I found it through Awesome Women Hub and Abby's Energy Healing Page.  Please check it out and  it think you  will get what I mean.

 'What step would I take today if I were brave?'  'What would I do today if I were brave?'  the song starts off with these words and then it ends with 'What WILL I do today, I AM brave?'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF5V2PEujqs

Thank you Jana Stanfield http://www.janastanfield.com/, Robin Rice http://www.awesomewomenhub.com/ and Abby Wynne http://www.facebook.com/AbbyEnergyHealing?v=info

I don't know about you all but I am braver these days than I have ever been.  Even more so since I became a fortysomething first time mum.

In the past few years I have learned how to drive, swim, overcome dental phobia, fear of motherhood and depression. I have also gone part time in my day job to care for my mother and run a small petsitting/dogwalking business.

In the past few months I have worked on personal development and spirituality, started to blog, restarted yoga,  and generally made more effort to do things for myself..

As I become braver, I am working on loving myself enough to shed excess weight and follow my dreams despite what others may think. I am developing relationships with like-minded people and extending understanding to the rest.  I realise not everyone has to agree or understand each other in order to maintain a relationship.  We are all brave and beautiful in our own way!

A recap of my interview with Flower Power Mom

http://flowerpowermom.com/over-40-mom-blogs-from-ireland/
Check out my interview at the wonderful Flower Power Mom Site.

Also why not pop over to the brilliant http://www.facebook.com/Parenthood.ie   I discovered it recently and I am loving it!

Mom Blogger of The Week

I am delighted and honoured to be named Mom Blogger of the week over at Apryl Duncan's About.com page.  You can take a look here http://stayathomemoms.about.com/b/2010/11/05/mom-blogger-of-the-week-forty-something-first-time-mum.htm

I will have a post all about what we can learn from our children over at http://www.thewmparentingconnection.com/ on Sunday.  If you have time, it would be great if you would read it and comment.

Just For Myself - yoga, me and the Law of Attraction

I may sound mad to some of you out there but I find that practicing the principles of the Law of Attraction (google it if you don't know what I mean) really works for me. At least, when I remember to practice it and not fall into old habits and ways. It's one of the things that I am determined to practice just for myself.  It seems to make everything better for me and in turn, that is better for my family too.

This very morning, I went to my weekly yoga class. It's something that I refuse to miss unless the circumstances are exceptional. It makes me feel positive, energetic and alive. It makes me feel like taking care of myself. This is something I need to do especially as I am a forty something first time mum.

My car is in the garage having repairs done before it's retest, which it failed a few weeks ago.  I got up, got my son ready, knowing we would have to walk to school in wind and rain and then I would have to take a bus to the yoga class. I wasn't looking forward to it but was viewing it in the most positive light. Exposure to nature and the elements and a little exercise too!  In the past, I would have complained and got lazy about it but not in my new frame of mind!

The positive vibes must have worked because as I was preparing to leave the house, my neighbour was going to the shopping centre. It is on the way to school and yoga and she was good enough to give us a lift to both places.  We not only got there but we got there early.  This gave me lots of time to have a lovely conversation with the yoga teacher and some of my classmates.

I had a stimulating class and was tingling all over with positive energy afterwards.  It really does have this kind of zinging effect on me. As I walked up the road in the wind and rain, I visualised a taxi cab coming towards me.  Believe it or not, a taxi cab stopped right in front of me to let a passenger out and I was able to get home in record time. He was a very pleasant driver and even let me off with two euro when I didn't have enough change.

I got home, in a relaxed state, had a nice cup of tea and then my wonderful neighbour called over.  She insisted on driving me to the school to pick my son up because the weather was so bad.  Then she invited us to her house so my son could play with her toddler grandson and we could chat over a coffee. I really couldn't ask for a better neighbour or friend.

I have the housework done and my son is now upstairs having a lovely nap. Everyone is safe and looked after now. This allows me to get on with blogging and writing which is something else that I do just for myself!  Bliss!

Someone Else's Dream

On a recent trip to Greece, I realised the life that I am living and often not appreciating as much as I could, is actually some else's dream!


I wrote about it over at The WM Parenting Connection http://www.thewmparentingconnection.com/2010/10/someone-elses-dream.html

It's worth remembering that each of us is living a life that someone else in the world can only dream of!