I have really enjoyed this first task on Kate’s Life Circle Challenge.

It has given me opportunity to reflect on how my life has changed in recent times. I am a Mummy now and a very new wife. I have responsibilities to others who mean the world to me and I need to be sure that I am always trying to do my best for them. It is not just about me anymore.

The Wheel of Life gives you eight areas of your life to reflect upon and discuss as you wish with others. If this was an oral task I would be rubbish at it but as I have to write my thoughts and feelings down I found it easy and enjoyable. I think I am going to like taking part in this challenge.

So here are my ramblings about my life and how I think I’m doing right now. I am looking forward to sharing with you each week and I hope that we will all find it helpful in some way.

My Wheel of Life!

Romance / Significant Other
I am a very happy, extremely lucky newly wed. My husband is just everything I would ever want in a partner and a friend. He is so good to me, so loving and caring, he works so hard and is a fabulous Dad. We get on really well but even though we are just newly weds I do feel that there could be more romance in our lives. We are after all the parents of twin toddlers and so are exhausted a lot of the time. Just recently we have started making a bit more time for us and I hope that will continue now that Esther and William are sleeping through the night. I would score 8 out of 10 in this section.

Fun and Recreation
I have a lot of fun with Esther and William. We go out every day to baby classes and on the way home we might pop to the shops or go out for a coffee or even lunch some days. My spare time is spent blogging which I love and find therapeutic but I am not sure that I would call it fun. I do not really have time for hobbies. In theory I have a Saturday morning to myself but that often doesn’t happen. I also use my spare time for driving lessons which I hate. I need more fun in my life I think. I would score 5 out of 10 in this section.

Career
Well, at the moment I am a full time Mummy of twins and I think I am doing quite well. My profession is that of primary school teacher. I am a good teacher and I miss teaching and school life very much, but not enough to let someone else teach or care for my children. Right now I believe that my place is at home. I grumble and complain more than I should because I realise that I am incredibly lucky to be able to afford to stay home with our babies. They are my career and so I score 8 out of 10 in this area and hope that I will go back to teaching one day, if a school will have me!

Health
I am in okay health. I am finally back to my pre pregnancy / pre IVF weight which I am so pleased about. I am generally quite fit and active and I eat an incredibly healthy diet punctuated by the odd can of coke and chocolate bar on a stressful day. My teeth are a trouble, well, my gums to be precise. But I have a new dentist and together we are working on that. I give myself a score of 8 in this area.

Personal Development
I feel like I am learning all the time. Having children is definitely my biggest challenge to date. Harder than my degree, harder than my first class, harder than anything managerial I did in schools. It is by far the hardest and yet most rewarding thing I have ever done. When I was a teacher I would always go on extra training courses and spend time researching online, things have not changed now that I am a Mummy but the focus is different. I am still learning and researching and training all the time to make sure that I am the best Mummy to Esther and William that I can possibly be. I am always learning about myself too and so feel that personal development is an area of particular strength for me, because of this I score 9.

Friends and Family
Here is the area where I feel I am most lacking. I have three friends that I adore Michele, Laura and Petra. Petra is my oldest, best friend from school. We met in the last year of primary and have grown up together ever since. At 17 we were separated when Petra moved to UK from Germany and though we have always been close we do not see each other nearly as much as I would like. Her daughter, Maia, is my beautiful Goddaughter. Laura, is my best friend from University and she is Esther’s Godmother. We were very close at Uni but again now live so far apart that we do not see each other nearly enough. My best friend, Michele, Godmother to Esther and to William, lives closer and we do see each other as often as we can but it is hard when everyone is so busy with family life and work. I am not very good at making friends and even worse at keeping them. I think I am quite shy and I am no good at making small talk. I wish I was as it would make going to classes and events with Esther and William so much easier.

My close family live overseas, my parents in Spain and my sister in Australia. We have never really lived near each other in adulthood but now that Julie and I are having children of our own I do wish that we all lived closer. I want Esther and William to be close to their extended family and see them regularly. I adored my Grandparents and had brilliant relationships with my cousins, particularly those closest in age. I have so much love and respect for my Aunties and Uncles and I want Esther and William to have the same.

In this area I would score 5 out of 10. I want to be a better friend to the friends I already have, make more of an effort with new people that I meet and ensure Esther and William see their family, on both sides, as often as they can. There is work to be done I feel in this area.

Environment
We are in the process of looking for a house to buy. We are after something quite specific and we would like to stay in Kent but we are not sure where. We want an old house with open fires and out buildings that David can convert into his office and workshops. We would like a large grassy garden and need at least 3 though possibly 4 bedrooms. We have seen some that fit our criteria and that we can afford but we need to do more research into schools and communities first. It is so exciting! Our current house is lovely and could be stunning but because it is rented we have not done too much to it.

One thing that it really lacks is storage. David and I are very untidy people and now we have twin toddlers thrown into the mix our house looks lived in at best and like a bomb site at worst. We have a cleaner who comes twice a week to keep everything clean (obviously) but we still seem to create so much mess. I would like for everything to have a space. I would like a home that is neat and tidy but then I would have to employ somebody to keep it that way because it is not in my nature and quite honestly we do not have the time. This area is a transitional area for me but in the main I would say that I am happy with my environment and so score 7 out of 10.

Finance
For reasons I will not go into my personal finances are a tragedy. Our family finances are thankfully in much better shape and I hope that I will be able to play my part in keeping them that way. I do struggle sometimes being a SAHM who does not earn any money. Ideally I would like my blog to earn money but wouldn’t we all? David is very sensible with money and I know that he will make sure we are all right and tell me when we are not because that will be when I will be heading back to the classroom. But for now we are okay, if I forget the aforementioned unmentionable! I give this area 7 out of 10 with an adjustment to maybe 4 out of10 with the other.

So this is me and my Wheel of Life. I think it is clear that I have areas of concern and for development in my life but I think it is a credit to me that I am aware of them and I’m keen to see them improve. I would love to know what you think.