We had a guest over the last week. My cousin Nicole came over from Australia for a visit, it was nice seeing her and lovely to see how much Gracie bonded with her and very funny when Grace told her off for getting her chocolate fish as a surprise as Grace HATES marshmallow.
My favourite memory was the dinner we had. Grace cut out little squares of bubble wrap and give it to each of us to pop when Nicole came in with the curry she had made. Nicole had also given Grace a bag of jelly lollies (to replace the offending chocolate fish) and Grace laid them all out very neatly on a plate, in colour order and then handed them out to everyone for dessert. What we didn't realise was that if you picked the green lolly, you got all the green lollies, and so on.
This week we got confirmation of our first international student. I am a bit nervous about becoming parent to an instant teenager but hopefully it will all work out. The money is good and will certainly help us afford our new house and keep doing the fun things that we like to do as a family.
I have been suffering a wee bit from my anxiety lately but have been reading a great book about the technical side of how anxiety manifests (eg the cortex and amygdala interaction). The amygdala's role is to attach emotional significance to situations and for emotional memories. Whereas the cortex is the thinking part of the brain. The cortex can initiate or contribute to anxiety but it is the amygdala that is required to trigger the anxiety response. So step one is always to calm the amygdala from its fight or flight reaction and work through what were the anxiety igniting thoughts that the cortex has created and deal with those.
For me, knowing the science behind how my brain works helps me to keep perspective and challenge my thoughts patterns. It is hard that depression and anxiety are things I will always carry with me, but I am really proud that I don't let these things stop me from action. I hope that I can be a role model to Grace should she suffer in the future and help her see that you can tackle anything if you face into it and surround yourself with supportive people.
Next week work is due to start on our garden! Really excited to see how it will end up looking!!
My favourite memory was the dinner we had. Grace cut out little squares of bubble wrap and give it to each of us to pop when Nicole came in with the curry she had made. Nicole had also given Grace a bag of jelly lollies (to replace the offending chocolate fish) and Grace laid them all out very neatly on a plate, in colour order and then handed them out to everyone for dessert. What we didn't realise was that if you picked the green lolly, you got all the green lollies, and so on.
This week we got confirmation of our first international student. I am a bit nervous about becoming parent to an instant teenager but hopefully it will all work out. The money is good and will certainly help us afford our new house and keep doing the fun things that we like to do as a family.
I have been suffering a wee bit from my anxiety lately but have been reading a great book about the technical side of how anxiety manifests (eg the cortex and amygdala interaction). The amygdala's role is to attach emotional significance to situations and for emotional memories. Whereas the cortex is the thinking part of the brain. The cortex can initiate or contribute to anxiety but it is the amygdala that is required to trigger the anxiety response. So step one is always to calm the amygdala from its fight or flight reaction and work through what were the anxiety igniting thoughts that the cortex has created and deal with those.
For me, knowing the science behind how my brain works helps me to keep perspective and challenge my thoughts patterns. It is hard that depression and anxiety are things I will always carry with me, but I am really proud that I don't let these things stop me from action. I hope that I can be a role model to Grace should she suffer in the future and help her see that you can tackle anything if you face into it and surround yourself with supportive people.
Next week work is due to start on our garden! Really excited to see how it will end up looking!!
