Tuesday 15 March 2011

Never Enough...Probably!



Golly it has been a while since I have visited my little blog and I have missed it. As ever, it has been busy with a poorly Isabella yet again coming under the onslaught of a nasty bug. Yesterday I read Nina's post and recognised my own voice in her writing, my relief at the reprieve from illness in the house being short lived as yet more arrived to take the last lot's place.




It has made me think a lot about how frustrating life is sometimes. I am busy - very - with work and that is good; we try where we can to make the family side of life good too and I think we do pretty well with lots of games being played, meals shared and so on, all the normal things that go with being part of a family, but things which actually require much time spent to achieve nonetheless.




Add into the mix the fact that our children are people (though at times I wonder!) and therefore require nurturing and caring for, the need to give to each of them that most precious of commodities - time - so that they can talk about their feelings, worries, hopes.




And then there is being one half of a couple and all that goes with it: the sharing of laughs and cuddles and company; the listening when the other needs to talk; the being able to talk knowing the other will listen, truly listen. The loveliest of situations and again one that needs time to keep it working, to nurture it so that it remains the special relationship it has always been.




These things are surely what it is all about, this manic ride we call life? How easy it all is when the planets align in the right way, when health is good and work is managed within the natural time constraints of a large family (or indeed a small one if that is your lot). How hard it is when one element falls out of kilter and your nights are full of a child who had just recovered from a week-long illness and now is battling a painful ear infection that turns her into a screaming wreck, poor soul.




Still the orders are there, still the others need you, though thankfully they are all so brilliant with their little sister and just want to help her get better. Still I am aching and exhausted from the remnants of the flu-like bug of recent weeks which made me feel more ill than I can remember - I even took to my bed at some point for heaven's sake!



Now we are on the other side of it with Isabella ready to return to school tomorrow I am, as I said, left feeling how frustrating life can be. Despite all you do it seems it is never enough and there is always some area which you cannot do properly, someone who feels you are letting them down, though thankfully never the kids and that's what is really important. They come first don't they?  I am notoriously hard on myself and forever feel I could do more, but just now I feel I have done enough and that in itself feels good.




I see the pile of orders finished and ready to post and I can smile; I see the messy, falling-down-around-our-ears house with its tiny rooms and know it will be done one day when time and money allow, and I love it for all its faults because it is ours and full of love; I can think of our children and be proud knowing they all feel how much we love them and appreciate that we try, no matter what life throws up, to be there for them.




And as for the rest? Well, I am only human after all! A little uninterupted sleep has brought me back to myself and I am once more excited by life: spring is coming, the garden awaits and I am desperate to get out there, there are new games to play and a pretty boat to sail with fishing trips and camping ahead (groans quietly at that one). Commissions have popped up and I am so enjoying the designing of them.




And on that lengthy ramble which I am not sure actually had any point I shall leave you. Perhaps the point is this: don't be hard on yourself because you are probably doing the best you can and it is more than good enough!  (Plus there is always someone out there who will be hard on you whatever you do!).





P.S. Just so that you know how hard we make the children work:

Lucy making caramel cupcakes.
Tom cutting down six foot of holly.
Elias sanding down the boat.


P.P.S. Please note the pretty cupcake holder made by the lovely Diana for Lucy's birthday - more on this next post!

17 comments:

  1. After reading this post, I think your children are very lucky indeed!
    Vivienne x

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  2. A lovely reflective post Pipany. If I could achieve half of what you do I would feel very happy indeed! The children have a happy home and you and Mr Davey are wonderful role models for them. x

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  3. It always sounds as though you have a most loving happy family. It can be hard to keep sight of that when nothing seems to go right. Don't be too hard on yourself Pip... you do an amazing job!

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  4. You express so well the reality of family life with all its highs and lows. Being a parent is such a demanding role right from the start, and coping with illness and broken nights is so exhausting. You are such a lovely, thoughtful person, Pipany and have been through a very tiring few weeks. I hope now things will get a lot easier as the spring arrives, the weather warms up and the lurgies leave. Helen x

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  5. Time is so precious isn't it and the one thing we can never have enough of. Poor you, what with the flu and everything it sounds as though you have a lot on your plate at the moment Pip.

    So glad to hear your business is doing well and the orders are coming in, but getting that work/life balance is difficult, I agree. And I think you manage it most admirably so don't be too hard on yourself!!

    I really hope no more lurgies cross your thresshold and that you are able to get out and about as a family and enjoy a beautiful Cornish spring!

    Jeanne
    xox

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  6. What a lovely post. Very true.

    Sue xx

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  7. Fantastic post Pip. Sometimes it just helps to 'get it all out there' doesn't it. Hope that writing that post was cathartic for you and you feel better soon. It's so frustrating that despite our best efforts the kids get ill - and even more so when it seems like the illnesses are never ending. You have a beautiful family xx

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  8. Lovely photos and a heart felt blog Pipany. I too have a little one at home and am feeling choked up with a flu like bug....on the positive side it makes you stop and draw breath. I do hope your little one is feeling better soon, and you seem to have all the right ingredients of a very happy nurtured family, enjoy and it is sooo true what you say about not beating yourself up. Posie xx

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  9. Oh Pip, such a beautiful post and I think you said it far better then I ever could.

    Yes, yes, yes to it all.

    I do hope Isabella (and you) recover fully soon.

    Big hugs to you all,

    Nina xxx

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  10. I've enjoyed a lovely catch-up, Pipany, as it's been a while since I last dropped by. This post speaks for so many of us. I no longer have little ones at home, but life has a way of putting other obligations into any available space, and today is one of those days that will require me to simply put one foot in front of the other and not think to much, in order to get through it.
    I love the little hats that Mr Davey has made. Is there a pattern that you could post or a leaflet that you could point me to?

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  11. What a fantastic post and how I agree with you. Life can get so very busy and I often feel that I am constantly struggling with all the areas of life. BUT you are right - children first, they are the centre of everything.

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  12. I remember you sympathising with me when my littlest was going through a phase of terrible earache. I'm glad to hear Isabella's better again. Poor thing.

    I love the cupcake holder and look forward to hearing more about it.

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  13. Isn't it just awful when illness strikes especially with the kiddies .. it does sound as though there is a lot of love in your house and fingers crossed no more sickness

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  14. Oh Pip, what a lovely lovely life-affirming post. I'm sorry you've been sick - we've all had that revolting bug too, and it takes forever to get over it...
    But oh, the colours, the gorgeousness of your images! Whenever I visit your blog I come away feeling a little warm glow...so heaven only knows what it's like actually to live in your lovely little house. Janexx

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  15. Pipany stop beating your self up! - you have been poorly so you are also out of kilter - more spring and sunlight will restore that for us all - it is aleways part of a woman's psyche to think she is not doing enough!!!!! but you are

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  16. Pipany, how well you express yourself, and in doing so, express what many of us might also be thinking.

    Glad that little Isabella is better. Your photos of those other incredible children show us the beauty/handsomeness of all your family.

    I love the embroidery of the ladder going up into the tree!

    xo

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  17. Your post speaks the truest words I have read in a long time.... just lovely! Thank you for sharing x

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