Coming home from holiday was like coming back to Earth with a bump. With a mountain of laundry to do, reorganising our house after the decorators had been and generally getting back to the routines of day to day life it all had me feeling a bit gloomy. Let’s face it, not matter what job you do, coming back after a break is often not the most exciting prospect, and I guess being a stay at home mum isn’t that different. I’m not even sure how to put it into words other than that I was feeling glum.

But one thing I have learnt as a stay at home mum is that life must go on, even if you are feeling low. The jobs around the house still need doing (though at least they can be delayed) but most importantly your little one still needs entertaining and to be cared for. What’s the phrase, no rest for the wicked? No rest for the mummy more like 🙂 So I plodded my way through the week, doing what I could do plaster a smile on my face. I resumed the morning walks with my lovely neighbour, and that definitely helped. I really find that when I am feeling down, getting out of the house is more important than ever. We all know the feeling of wanting to just curl up at home, but with a little one that isn’t really an option and in my opinion, isn’t very fair on the monkey, and actually never makes me feel any better.

So when a couple of my other mummy friends suggested taking the kiddies to a local farm and play centre on Friday I ignored my initial reservations and jumped at the chance. Friday came and it was the gloomiest morning of all but I sucked it up and went anyway because I knew I would enjoy it when I was there. And you know what, I really did. I was so glad I went and was able to catch up with my friends. Monkey is still afraid of sheep unfortunately and so we had a very clingy start to the visit, but once we moved into play areas (and after he had some food) he loved it too.

We came home after a few hours and Monkey had a lovely long nap, and after a gloomy few days I felt much happier and much more like myself again. Just being able to chat with my friends really helped and honestly I think it does us all good. Talking to other mummy friends just reminds you that you are not alone and that we all have good days and less good days. We empathise, commiserate and laugh with each other and feel much more refreshed afterwards. I think it helps that we also tire the kiddies out to the point where they have a lovely long sleep when we get home :).

So yes, thank goodness for my other mummy friends 🙂