2013!

Hello dear blog! How I have missed you these last... 10 (10!!!) months. I have had so many ideas for posts since my last entry in August, but it transpires that life with four children leaves very little time for writing anything constructive.

We've had an eventful time so far this year; we moved house again after an utter disaster involving blocked drains, a lounge full of sewage and surprise asbestos. Not as much fun as it sounds, and it doesn't sound much fun at all. 

Alongside that, we've started down the long road of assessing my middle son for Autistic Spectrum Disorder. All being well, we should have a diagnosis within 4 - 5 months. That's been quite an emotional rollercoaster already and is something I would like to write about. There is so much information out there and some of the parents I've met through online communities already are incredibly clued up. It's rather intimidating! More than anything, it's a huge relief to finally be a step closer to getting the support my son needs and maybe learning how to see the world through his eyes. 

Finally came my own diagnosis of fibromyalgia. In a previous post, I briefly alluded to ongoing joint pain I was experiencing. To begin with I really expected it to ease off as my body recovered from pregnancy, but at 6 months post partum it was no better. After 8 months, the pain had worsened to the degree that it kept me awake at night. Once I took a step back and put that into context with a bunch of other niggles and minor complaints I'd been treating in isolation, I realised that for the last 3 years I have felt rubbish just about every single day. Some days I just feel a bit crap. Others I literally cannot get out of bed. After blood tests, x-rays, consultations with a rheumatologist and much prodding and poking, the doctors told me that I have both fibromyalgia and early signs of osteoarthritis. I haven't really got my head around either of those yet, but once I do, I'd like to write about that too. 

So there's a great big group of topics right there for me to focus on this year! I've really missed blogging  and have a notebook with dozens of ideas for posts and half-written entries. I'm determined to make time now to finish some of them and get back to what I love doing.