Mother heart: Life on Planet Baby

One of the reasons I love having a blog is that I get to connect with other wonderful women who feel as passionate about motherhood as I do. I created Mother heart to highlight some of these women and to get a glimpse into how they feel about motherhood.

This week for Mother heart we have a very talented mother who after years of heartache was blessed to have 3 children arrive in just over 3 years. Since that time she has become very good at juggling all that comes with motherhood and raising a family. She loves all things French and German and from what I have seen on her blog - just about anything to do with crafting. I hope you enjoy a little look and feature of a good blog friend of mine, Jane.
About Me: I’m Jane, the wife of Mr Planet Baby (Mr PB) and the mum to our 3 pixies under 6. After 11 years in Sydney, Mr PB and I recently returned to live in our hometown – pretty Hobart, Australia. 

I love my gorgeous husband and children; all things French and German; learning  languages; keeping in touch with overseas friends; stationery; cross-stitch; watching arthouse films (especially French); researching my family trees; painting (mainly with acrylics but I’m dabbling in watercolours); papercraft (I’m just starting out); reading; cooking; travel; photography; politics; handwritten letters; and interior design. Sometime soon, I hope to parlay my love of, and aptitude for, languages into building a new career which both provides me with pleasure and fits in around our family life. Another dream is for us to spend a year overseas with our young family to give them exposure to another culture. 

Your family: I’ve been married to Mr PB for 12 years. We moved up to Sydney for work the week after we married. A solicitor by profession, I’m currently the stay-at-home mum of our young children, Joshua (5), India (3) and Sam (1 ½). I haven’t been in ‘paid’ work (any SAHM would appreciate that distinction, I’m sure ☺) since India was born, given Sam was born only 19 months later. I’m 40 years old and our journey to parenthood was a long and difficult one. Finally, after many years of heartache, we ended up with 3 gorgeous children under 4 (which I posted about here). 


Mr PB manfully shoulders his onerous responsibility as the sole breadwinner for 5 people while I run the home front on Planet Baby. I had intended to return to work before now but sometimes your plans change. For the moment, we’re making do on a single income which is *challenging*, to say the least! We are, however, delighted to see the pixies spending lots of time with their 4 grandparents and extended family. They’re also discovering the joys of growing up in a smaller city where everything is so convenient and close and beaches, mountains, water and bushland are only minutes away. 

Mother heart: Days before I gave birth to Sam, Mr PB was offered a job in Hobart he’d spent years hoping for. We returned to Hobart when Sam was only 6 days old, India 1 ½ and Joshua 3 ½. We were to stay with my parents until we found a rental house. However, the next day, Sam was diagnosed as ‘failing to thrive’ and he and I were then admitted to Hobart’s Mother Baby Unit. Sam’s problems were soon rectified but I was then diagnosed with severe post-natal depression (PND). We stayed there for 3 months and were only discharged when he developed gastro. That was December 2009. Fourteen months later, I am still recovering from my PND under the guidance of caring professionals and taking medication. I posted about it here and was overwhelmed by both the empathy and support of so many kind bloggers who commented but also the number of people who emailed me privately to share their PND stories. I took a huge leap of faith in publishing that post but I’m glad I did. So many people have told me how it comforted them and made them feel less alone. That gladdens my heart as I know how isolated I felt when first diagnosed.

Goals: I hope to raise the pixies to be resilient, thoughtful, empathetic and resourceful people who enjoy helping people and properly use all the opportunities offered to them. I want them to experience the joys of travel and will probably encourage them to spend a year overseas once they leave school. I spent 1989 as an exchange student in Germany, a year which profoundly changed, expanded and shaped my view on life. Mr PB studied for a year in the UK for his Masters degree and was similarly affected. We want the pixies to appreciate they live in a global community, not just perched on a small island which is the last stop before Antarctica! Living on this island is a privilege but I firmly believe it is both imperative and wise to spend time abroad in order to appreciate its true beauty.

Picture:

The lovely Jane

Mr PB and the Pixies

Blog: My blog is Life on Planet Baby. It’s about our life together and what inspires and keeps me sane while I'm living on Planet Baby. It’s also a little haven for me in amidst life’s noise and clamour. It's the place where I find some headspace and time to reflect - such a rarity nowadays. And most delightfully, it’s the spot where I interact with my gorgeous Planetarians, an extraordinarily kind and empathetic group of like-minded souls. They make my heart sing.

Thanks so much for sharing your heart with us Jane and I hope you can drop by Life on Planet Baby to have a look at how wonderful Jane's blog is. If you have a blog and use blogger you might want to check out her tutorial on how to add a signature to your blog posts or some tips on handling comments.