Well where has this week gone?! Blown away in the rain and wind I think. Goodness its been chilly here on the south coast and as unlike an August summer holiday as I have ever known. I've actually gone to bed in my pyjamas and kept them on all night which I rarely do, even in winter!

Its been a week of ups and downs really as the post natal depression makes itself known in its various guises. I do wonder, at what point does PND become "normal" depression (if that's not a contradiction in terms..) I dont suppose it much matters, the treatment is pretty much the same, although perhaps more difficult to manage with small children around! Rest and taking things easy? Yeah right! I know exercise is really important but I find that so hard to fit in too. We were just getting to the stage of getting into a pattern with the right classes at the right time and with DD being settled in the creche there but the along came the summer holidays. Some of the classes have changed and of course getting a place in the creche is hard, especially with 2 children to think about instead of 1. I really wanted to start the C25k programme (Couch to 5km) and I thought I might try and get up early one morning to start but of course on the day I wanted to begin, DD had a bad night and I was exhausted and desperate for that extra half an hour. Which of course, made me feel awful.

We've had a few play dates, soome spontaneous and driven from desperation but all welcome. It never fails to amaze me how different we can be as parents, even among very good friends, and yet the children all do much the same things! I know5-6 people with boys of a very similar age to DS and we all vary along the strictness line and all have different circumstances regarding siblings, child care etc and yet they all want to roll about fighting, find weapons in the unlikeliest of objects, and laugh uproariously at the word "poo".

So is it a boy thing or will DD do the same? I'm also constantly amazed by how I can look back at DS's toddler years and realise how easy he was. DD does all the things that at the time I smugly said DS never did. When friends told me about flour strewn around the kitchen and toilets blocked with loo roll, I thought I was doing something right in my parenting because he never did that. Then along came my perfect and easy going baby girl, who morphed into a devious, stroppy little diva who races about the house causing trouble as if she's got a firework in her knickers. As an example, I was cleaning the sink so she decided to empty some porridge oats on the floor. I went off to get the mini-hoover and she made good her entrance into the sink cupboard which was un-latched while I cleaned. I removed the cleaning fluid from her hands and hoovered the porridge. I then went to put the hoover back and by the time I returned from the end of the kitchen, she had spread porridge over the floor again.

I had no choice but to throw a trantrum right there and then, so I did! LOL!

Bye for now. x