Hi There,

well a bit of information about myself! Here goes.... I am a 31 year old mother to 6 kids rangeing in age from 12 down to 3.  I went out on my own after a rocky marriage about 4 years ago when i was pregnant with my 6th child. Mostly my children are healthy, opinionated, curious little humans, one of my children was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder when he was 3yo and now hes 6yo and we are learning more and more everyday about this condition and its limits and expectations, I am in no way an expert on this disorder but I can say that living with it has taught me alot more than I first thought it would and its no where near as scary as I thought it would be, every achievment my Ben makes is a milestone and gives me hope that he will eventually become just as happy and successful as my other children, funny how when you think theres problems you cant see the positives until you let go of the stigma associated with disability.. these kids are such a blessing, and being a part of it has opened my eyes alot to how truely lucky I am. I live a hectic life, I live for my kids and my goals in life are for the happiness of my kids and for myself and its taken me over 4 years to be able to say that without feeling selfish lol!

My oldest daughter is going through a phase of discovering what she wants in life at the ripe old age of 12, and I am going through an early empty nest syndrome, at the same time i am learning that this is a necessary time for her to discover what she needs in life, unfortunately we dont always get this stage happening when they are much older!

Currently I am trying to develop a group called Strength In Numbers..affectionately known as S.I.N (hope that doesnt offend anyone) Its a group I have been working on for a while now and I have currently a small handful of people that meet for coffee once a week as a talking group. I developed it as an idea that i had when i first went out on my own as a sole parent. There's lots of support for people with extreme circumstances, alcoholism, drugs, abusive relationships, mental illness etc but very  little that is put out there just for the parents who are "stressed" and not falling into these catagories, because of factors such as work, kids going through the stages, relationships under stress. So I have started designing the group that helps people find resources for parent help, meet other parents that are stressed but not extreme circumstances surrounding that..the motto being that happy parents make for happy kids and to make people feel more proud of their parenting role and less restricted by it... Its still in the making, any ideas would be welcomed.

I consider myself lucky in love and have since found a considerate and respectful male to spend my time with. We hope to get married next year! this prooves that anyone can find happiness!! he also has 3 children and together we have a rather large family of 2 adults and 9 kids! crazy but awsome at the same time.. I'll leave this space free for some more updates and look forward to getting to know some other parents online.  Mel xx