Who is the invisible woman

Who is the invisible woman - me of course.

I am a stay at home mum with three beautiful kids (aged 10, 8 and 5) and a DH (Darling Husband). My family are my life of course. I also have a bunch of girlfriends that I like to hangout with and I get cranky when I don't get time with them - I enjoy the girl talk, bitching about stuff and bouncing ideas off each other. I refuse to be defined as a housewife - I married a man, not a house. I also refuse to accept that being a mother means that I am a cleaner. In my mind (though not in the mind of my DH) they are two separate jobs. While I do take responsibility for the majority of the housekeeping tasks, I do believe that all who live in the home are responsible for picking up after themselves, helping to maintain and clean the place.

While typcially classifed as mother who stays at home raising her kids, there is so much more to me than being "mum".

I do voluntary work for a not-for-profit organisation, Parents Centre, and have done for almost ten years while at the same time working for them in a paid capacity as a childbirth educator (that's a prenatal instructor) which is my niche in life - a job I love and am passionate about.

I am training to be a postpartum doula and studying to upgrade my certificate in childbirth education to a diploma. It is all a great challenge and a daily struggle of balancing. In some ways I probably would be better off if I actually just had one 40 hour per week job instead of lots of little bits which probably add up to 120 hours.

Another aspect of me is that I have a chronic health condition called Addison's Disease (think JFK) which from time to time puts me out of action, usually in a hosptial bed, for a time. I have Addison's disease, but it is not who I am. Sometimes people mollycoddle me and it bugs the hell out of me.

I am hoping that this blog will give me a forum for my thoughts and ideas - a soapbox if you will.

Whew...so that is the invisible woman. I'm opinionated, honest to a fault, active in the community, and (I like to think) fun, when I have time. A typical new millenium woman.