Parenting the Shand Princesses

I am writing this blog post to give an insight from a male partners point of view of seeing their partner suffer with Postnatal Depression. I am hoping partners and those suffering with Postnantal Depression feel they can talk about this more openly. It is not a taboo subject and there is so much support out there. Since the birth of our second child Zenayah I began to notice a change in Mics mood when it became hard for her to have that spark that she used to have. At first, she put it down to our living situation and I thought as soon as we move into our new home it will get better. But in the back of my mind I had a feeling it wasn't just the blues. Having two girls that want your attention 24 hours a day can take a lot out of the best of us, but what made me realise this more was how Mics hardly wanted to go out. Mics has always been outgoing like me and for her to act like this got me thinking this may be Postnatal Depression. I always try to give Mics an opportunity to have...

This post is about me realising I wasn't just stressed, I have Postnatal Depression. It's also a post that I am hoping will show others going through this, that they are not alone and it's okay to talk 💗 "Postnatal depression is when you have feelings of sadness, hopelessness, guilt or self-blame all the time for weeks or months after you’ve had a baby."  (Taken from Tommy's Website) I guess you could say this started from my antenatal depression. I was 7 months pregnant and our landlord had decided he wanted to sell his house, serving us eviction papers. Imagine that. 7 months pregnant, a nearly 2 year old, Christmas was a month away and I was now being told we would be evicted. Obviously I was stressed! I wasn't having a smooth pregnancy as it is, I did not need this on top of everything. OJ tried his best to keep me calm, but I could see the effect it had on him too. We spoke to our local council who said there were steps the landlord had to take befo...

It's no secret that Covid-19 has, and still is, having a massive effect on all of us. For someone who suffers with anxiety and worries a lot, this "lockdown" has been quite difficult. Don't get me wrong, we have absolutely great days! Mayarna's speech has developed so much. She is now starting to form sentences, her fine motor skills are getting stronger as she learns to stack things neatly and she enjoys helping with housework, such as putting the clothes in the washing machine and putting things in the bin. Zenayah has also come on in leaps and bounds. At 4 and a half months she is now reaching out for things and has mastered how to pull off her scratch mitts (cheeky!). Mayarna loves playing with Zenayah, and Zenayah loves watching her play and laughs at her, which is too cute! But it also comes with difficult days. Mayarna is in the terrible 2 phase (yes it's real, I didn't believe it existed) where she kicks off for the smallest of things! I opene...