http://drivenaroundthebend.com/

Hi all

I have moved my blog to:

http://drivenaroundthebend.com/

Thanks

Mental Health Week

In Australia this week it is Mental Health Week. Mothers of multiples are more prone to suffer from post-natal depression.

The following is a great article from the Australian Multiple Birth Association (AMBA):

http://www.amba.org.au/parents-of-twins-or-more-are-at-high-risk-of-anxiety-and-depression-the-nations-leading-multiple-birth-group-has-warned.html

AMBA has a wealth of resources for parents of multiples:

http://www.amba.org.au/

Fortunately I didn't suffer from post natal depression. I remember my dad showing me an article he had cut out from the newspaper about how fish oil can help with post natal depression. For a man of his times he was trying to do his best to help me when I was in need. I remember telling him “Dad I don’t have post natal depression I'm just depressed.” Which was true as I was still pregnant and my marriage had ended. I had become literally, overnight, a single mum with a 4 year old and twin babies on the way.

My sons were what got me through a very difficult time in my life.  But hey I survived! 

Driven to Distraction: Day 1

Driven to Distraction: Day 1: It begins. I've dreaded this moment for so long now and it has finally arrived. I don’t quite know how far back I starting feeli...

First official driving lesson with Chatty Man: 9/10/15

Tomorrow is the first official driving lesson with an instructor. One hour with an instructor is worth three hours. Well worth the money. We have used Chatty Man with our other two sons in the past so we have come back for more. He charges $65 for 1 ½ hours, which I think is great value. I don’t know how he actually stays sane.

He says he will get them out onto the highway. Once we break this barrier we will be able to start doing real driving. We will now be chauffeur driven to do the grocery shopping.

We drove to Guyra earlier in the year as it was snowing. Guyra is two hours away. We planned to just go to Ebor as it was snowing there but by the time we got there it had melted. So along with many others we headed to Guyra. We actually saw some snow on the side of the road and experienced some flurries. But it hit 1 degree and had all melted by the time we got to Guyra. If we had have headed a further 20 minutes out of town there was heaps of snow. The next day Guyra had snow at midday, but it was a Monday and school beckoned.

We will soon be doing long Sunday drives and exploring the area. Lunch in Armidale anyone? Well that is a 2 hour drive each way, a win/win with twins. How about lunch at The Pub with No Beer? Sunday drives with the family.

Back to School:

We have all returned to school and work after the holidays. Also our daughter, partner and granddaughter are visiting and occupying our time with a gorgeous 18 month old who captivates all of us.

Due to this we have had no time for lessons.

Blood pressure is down this week.

Day 8, 9 and 10:

I have a few blissful driving lesson free day off. B1 and B2 are spending a few days with their father. I am spending a few days restoring my sanity.

Day 6 and 7: Kids and dogs running around on the road.

We take to the streets again. We drive around the block a few times. I do this in two different sessions with each twin. We then drive around two blocks. And then we decide to do the loop road which is very quiet. This is a narrow, basically, one lane road, so I hope we don’t meet anyone coming the other way. There are some road works on one section which make the road narrower. It has some hills to climb and descend from which is new, so far I've kept to flat roads. We do the loop road a few times.

Then we really stretch out and into a slightly busier street, which really means we may actually pass a car. T1 and I do this a few times and our confidence is building.

Until. Until we need to turn left, which is not a problem, except there are three dogs running up and down the street off leash, followed by a few kids and a women chasing said dogs. Usually dogs off leash don’t bother me as I also have dogs. But with a learner driver this i,s to say the leas,t a great learning experience. T1 almost stalls and then keeps driving until the dogs and kids change direction and thankfully he stalls and stops. We are in the middle of the road, kids, dogs and woman all running away. T1 and I swap places and I drive out of this situation. I don’t drive far as I believe in ‘getting back on the horse’ so to speak. I can’t actually ride a horse. We decide not to drive around that road again today and go back to our usual route.

It is amazing how fast 30 minutes go. I can see my life passing before my eyes in 30 minute allotments.

T2 has also had a near miss it is not just T1. He just forgot to brake when I said ‘Brake!!!’ and kept driving out into the road with an oncoming car. I see these all as teachable moments. I try to see the cup as half full…And we have insurance. Did you know that learner drivers are covered by your insurance at no extra cost? When they actually get their P's is when your insurance goes up.

We live to drive another day.

Driven to Distraction: Day 2, 3 and 4 of being driven to distraction

Driven to Distraction: Day 2, 3 and 4 of being driven to distraction: We live on a quiet street in a beautiful small country town on the Mid North Coast of NSW. So I decide T1 and I will start off in the st...

Day 2, 3 and 4 of being driven to distraction

We live on a quiet street in a beautiful small country town on the Mid North Coast of NSW. So I decide T1 and I will start off in the street to do the basics.

Did I mention that I have a manual car? I love manual cars except when I’m in a city and then they drive me insane. I love the control a manual gives you. I have just forgotten how much I hated, at 27 years old, learning how to drive one after having driven an automatic all of my life. My sons have no choice as we only have manual cars.

I realise as we sit in the car that I have also forgotten how to actually drive one. Which side is the clutch on? Is the brake the middle pedal? I also kept forgetting the word clutch. Driving becomes so natural once you know how to do it that you actually forget how to do it. Does that make senses?

My memory comes back and I tell T1 what he needs to do. Of course we stall a few times and then a person starts walking down the road and he is looking worried. At this point I decide I need to drive to the high school car park to start the lesson. It is school holidays so we have it to ourselves.

I wonder what the neighbouring houses think about this car coming twice a day? So we start again and learn how to actually get moving without stalling. Luckily I am not too precious about my car. I see my car as a tool to get from A to B. Although I do love the Jeep ads, especially since I bought my Jeep before the ads came out. There are not too many things we can run into except for the huge gas tank. I definitely want to avoid that one. So we move from the back car park to the front car park a few times in first gear. We stop and start, we stall and bunny hop, and eventually we do this smoothly. Then we make the huge leap into second gear and 20 kms an hour, I feel like we are driving on the wild side.

The half hour lessons ends.

Then it begins all over again. Please reread the above. As the lesson was identical