Coffee & Cupcakes

I sit here with slightly tired legs and very wet hair... running in Hurricane Gert proved to be very fun but a very wet experience! Though I must say if you have to run...run in the rain (to any who passed me today, I apologise for my untuneful and panting singing)! Some of you may know I have given myself to preparing to run a half-marathon in 16 weeks - 15 left to go! It is a completely random task - as I have yet to find an official race at the end of my training, Readers I am beginning to think I may just make up my own! Why... that is an extremely good question, as you will also know that running is not my favourite weekly task! Well, the honest truth is I have discovered a rather horrible truth about myself recently and it's one I feel I need to put right! I am a cheat! Readers, bear with me on this one... If I can, I will cut a corner - we all do: example: most of us only hoover the parts of the lounge people will see, who really needs to move the sofa right? That...

My dearest Kezzia, The other day we sat together in a coffee shop enjoying, as normal for us, the biggest piece of cake we could find. I'd loved hearing about all that had gone on in your day and soon we began to talk about the yumminess of our cake and how too much would make us sick, under your breathe you made the comment "and it would make me fat"...  I must say sweetheart, that Mummy was slightly flabbergasted by your comment. I asked you to say it again , but you shyly refused! Sweetie, I was a little unprepared for that moment and  I did not want to make it into a bigger deal if it was simply a throw away comment - but you are only 6, so young and your tone made me think there was some true in your worry about getting fat.  At six years old the thought of body appearance and getting fat should not even be on your radar. Yet there we were enjoying our cake whilst you commented, knowing that if ...

I was asked a question quite a number of weeks ago that has since been playing on my mind, a simple and straight forward question for many but the for me... Readers, the reality was I wasn't really sure there was an answer... Prepare yourselves for this deep and life altering question.... "So Kat, what are your hobbies?" I told you deep!! A simple question but it left me lost for words... I know that is a rare occasion and it had not occurred to me it could be brought on by something that should be so simple?... However as I tried to form some answer to my friend who had asked, my initial response was something along the lines of "well I have 3 kids so there's not really much time for hobbies"... a sad reality that has become my normal. I fear to say that for many of us busy mum's it has become our normal! Our life, and rightly so is filled up with precious moments with young children (and a few we would regard as a little less precious), but have we...

Well readers, we have recently been "enduring" the Halloween season - my least favourite time of year. A holiday which has gone from nothing to something which takes over the seasonal aisle of our supermarkets, the content of our cinemas and tv and now even the clothes decorating our shop front displays. I fail to see why so many parents seek to endorse the holiday and encourage their children to participate in it. Obviously as a Christian I disagree with celebrating all that is dark and evil and do not think it is just a silly thing for us to engage with - rather it is an incredibly dangerous season and something worth taking seriously! Whilst I don't believe in the presence of zombies or vampires, I think all that's is represented by Halloween, evil spirits, magic, spells is unfortunately a very real subject and powerful and not even worth joking about. I know and have witnessed in the lives of people the very destruction that can be caused by dabbling in such ...

I did say, many a blog post ago that I would write about the various love languages which can be used to reveal to our children that they are loved. It might seem odd to those of you who have not heard of this before, surely love it love right? Well, yes but the ways we as individuals interpret love are drastically different. Loose yourself for the moment in this scene: You arrive home from work, after leaving your partner in charge for the day, to a messy house, dishes aren't washed the kids toys are everywhere, the clothes did attempt to get into the washing machine but seem to have burped and rippled out. However, on the table in the corner you see a bunch of flowers, nothing fancy but still they stand out - does your heart melt at the flowers and all other mess fades to insignificance or do you miss the flowers in the anger that he didn't even attempt to clean up? If you see the flowers above all else, chance are you're a gifts person - if you miss the flowers and ...

Hi ho hi ho, it's off to work I went. As promised I thought I would fill you in on my few weeks - and the main change in my life routine was the trip back into the office! My lovely team had decorated my office with presents, posters, flowers and I was even allowed to drive my boss's mx-5 to my favourite totally "girlified" coffee shop for a huge slice of carrot slice! It was a lovely day and I left the children with a lovely friend and young person from our church who I knew the children loved and were excited to spend time with. It was fun, arriving back to work a month before our annual Holiday Club meant there was no time to ease back into things. I was back and my to -do list was already the length of my arm.... and I have weirdly long arms;-) I love my job, if I haven't said I am a Children & Families worker for my church. I get to spend my days doing children clubs, assemblies, popping in on new mums, visiting families, running toddler groups, pla...

Welcome to another part of my mind... Some would say I am quite a competitive person, I don't like to lose - in fairness who does! I have constant competition with my husband, who can run the most each month, including the fastest mile and fastest 5k. My running buddy is also quite competitive and this means I now can't stop running, as that would be losing to her...not happening! I play scrabble with all of my family members and there is a definite pressure to win, thankfully my dad always "lets" me win...(sorry Dad)! Board games in our house are a genuine nightmare, not only am I competitive, I am a pants loser!! Whoever loses in my house is pretty much expected to be grumpy for the rest of the evening! Now here is where it gets worse... Today my daughter was allowed to bring home the nursery school teddy, Morris. I was instructed by my daughter that we had to do lots of fun things with Morris and then write about it in his diary - that was it - I was off!! This...

I thought I would send a little update on life with my little girl, as the last time I posted about this it was a heartbreaking read! Firstly, can I say Thank you! I was overwhelmed by the response from many of you, e-mailing, commenting, texting, sharing your stories with me and offering your words of wisdom - it was amazing. I hope for those of you still facing this battle this post offers hope and assurance of a better time... Josh and I had tried it all, we sat down and spoke with Kezzia about how much it was hurting me to see her respond this way - we put her in time out every time she wiped off hugs or kisses, to shown her it was naughty to treat Mummy in this way... But my nothing seemed to be working! So after much thought, counsel and prayer we decided to completely ignore it - we praised her for her positive behaviour and when she give me a cuddle or kiss, we OVER emphasised how lovely it made Mummy feel. The result was that initially she was highly confused as she was use...

This evening I write feeling very deflated dear readers! I am struggling, struggling with my daughter, not in a naughty way but rather in a heart wrenching way! It has always been a clear sign that my daughter is a "Daddy's Girl", 100% through and through daddy's! This I love. I love that Daddy is her hero, the one she runs to for safety, for laughter - he truly is her superhero - and I love that he is giving her an incredibly picture of what and how a man should be, it gives me great hope for her future choice of boyfriend/husband. However, here comes my struggle, in order to be a complete sell out Daddy's Girl, one has to be completely not a Mummy's Girl! This would be fine but life has become a struggle, my daughter won't let me kiss her, hug her, hold her and if she does it is only knowing that after she can wipe it off and put it back on me! It is ... Heart-breaking! As I have shared this with some they have told me to enjoy it,  enjoy that it is Da...

I cannot quite believe that my little girl is 3! It only seems moments ago that I was beginning my labour with her and anticipating life as a mum... Now 3 years later I am wondering how time has gone so fast and I have a proper little lady in my house. I thought I would share with you our birthday  weekend - another snippet into our little world. It begins every year with the cake, this year Kezzia had asked for a Princess castle cake and for some unknown reason! I agreed! I baked a totally of 4 Victoria Sponge cakes and purchased 2 Tesco Swiss Rolls, along with the various icing colours and frostings needed. After a gruelling couple of hours, I had what vaguely resembled a castle. I am perfectionist so never am I happy with what I produce, and this year was no exception, thankfully from far away it looked ok, so you get a glimpse. I then laid out the table for our special birthday breakfast, orange juice, pain au chocolate and my mother-in-laws scrummy homemade cinnamon ro...

I have been meaning to write this post for some time but other things have been getting in the way, but tonight at this unearthly hour, when I should be asleep, my brain is wide awake so here I am. I dedicate this blog to 6 amazing women, who have over the past 3 years become an intricate part of my world. Let's travel back in time, I arrived with my eldest child, just 6 weeks old, to my local Children & Family centre. I was still slightly in shock at the new role I had just taken on, completely sleep deprived and ridiculous nervous, with no idea was I was actually attending... What exactly is an "early parenting course"... I walked into a room where a number of other mums were sitting, chatting laughing and quietly made my way over to the corner, very grateful that 2 other mums had made this their first week. After getting over the "Kezzia, what an unusual name" phrase, I allowed myself to relax a little. What I wasn't prepared for was that some of...

Seeing as once again the subject, perhaps better termed, debate of breast feeding and bottle feeding is back in the news, I thought I would share my story. Growing up many of us ladies are painted this beautiful picture of breastfeeding, the most natural of all things. Babies are born and handed to the "glowing" mum and effortlessly begin feeding. Unfortunately for many of us this is not the reality of the situation. I had always imgined I would breast feed, I think most of us do. However during my preganacy on a routine visit to the doctor, she explained I had quite a severe pro-lactine deficiency. For those of you who don't know, pro-lactine is the hormone which instructions your body to produce breast milk. I was lacking, quite dramatically lacking in this. The doctor told me I needed to preapre myself for the possibility of not being able to breastfeed my child. You would think I would of preapred myself by getting some bottles, formula or at least researching what ...

My daughter's 3rd birthday is fast approaching and although it is a day of such excitement and fun, the days before have in the past 2 years become quite hard. For those of you faithful readers , you know that Josh and I have miscarried 3 of our precious children. However, what I have not mentioned in my previous blogs was that the baby of our third miscarriage had a due date of April 5th, Kezzia's birthday! The other two we lost would have been born in February. It is therefore hard to begin each year and start the birthday process without remembering that there are many birthday's in our house that will not be celebrated as we once wished. I treasure the two children I have the privilege of raising here on earth, but I do often wonder about those I did not get to meet. A dear friend of mine, recently sent me the link to another blog, where a woman shares about her wonderings about her own miscarried child. The blog was amazing and she has written it better than I ever c...

It's getting near that time when I am beginning to think about what presents my daughter would most enjoy for her birthday. Like most little girls, she is obsessed with Disney princesses and anything that goes with them, so the likely choice is to get something along these lines. However, I'm not completely at peace with that decision. Now I will state, that I am well aware a lot of you reading this will in a moment or two, begin to think I am a completely over the top mother and I need to chill out! But I do not apologise for what I am about to say, nor am I seeking to inflict my view upon anyone else, this is just me! So, I have obviously been reading the Disney princess stories to my daughter, a lot, recently, and I have come to feel very uneasy about them. Is this really the right thing to be encouraging my a daughter to invest her time in? Let me give you a brief outline: Ariel: involves a crystal ball, a wicked witch and a desire to be someone different than who you w...

Well my dear readers, this past week has probably been the most testing I have yet undergone as a parent of two! I should start by saying that I am madly in love with my 2 children and cnsider them a giantic blessing from God and am privledged to witness them grow up.  Also I am not writting this for compliments and re-assurances that I am a good mum! I am simply sharing my life, because thankfully, I know I'm not alone! And for those of you who feel alone, I hope and pray you find comfort through my story! So my week..... My dear son has been refusing to eat and nap over the past few days. His teeth are coming through, poor chap and he is therefore struggling to eat and sleep. Instead of being the normal smiling, cuddly boy that he has been over the past 4 months, he is a dribbling, screaming little man - who is stuck in a circle of getting over tired and over-hungry but not being able to eat or sleep due to sore gums. It is so difficult to watch but also incredibly frustrating ...