March 2015 Archives – Mummascribbles

Firstly, wow! Apparently when I write an extremely sad and emotional post (here), you all come a flooding in visits and tears! I have had so many page views and so many amazing comments on here, Facebook and Twitter that it’s made what was a very difficult day, a little bit easier. So, thank you

Secondly, despite the sadness, something exciting happened yesterday – we welcomed these two beauties into our home.

It’s all been planned for a couple of weeks. A friend of mine is moving house and she could no longer have them. She put a post on Facebook asking if there was anyone that would like to rehome them. I have wanted rabbis for ages but we couldn’t afford to buy any and so I’ve used our trips to Pets at Home to ogle at their cuteness. So when I saw this post, I was immediately interested and contacted her to find out more details. I mentioned it that night to the other half but he didn’t think I was serious! When the next morning I’d found out even more information, I dropped the other half an email with their photos and informed him all about them! He realised at that point that I was indeed serious and a telephone conversation took place where I told him that they weren’t massively expensive to look after, were lovely animals and that yes, of course I would be the one to take care of them and clean them out! At that point, he gave me permission to go ahead.

And so yesterday afternoon, I had a man with a van booked to pick up their mahoosive cage and bring it back to our house, and I was due to go over and pick them up, Of course, this was until I got a flat tyre and Millie needed the emergency trip to the vets. I therefore had to draft in my poor sister (who really isn’t keen on small animals), to go and pick them up for me.

When I got home from the sad trip to the vets, they were waiting for me We took them out so they could have a cuddle with their new owners and so that Zach could meet them properly (up until they arrived, he didn’t know we were getting them!), and then settled them into their cage for the night!

Today, my sister and my nephew came over as me and the sis were to do our first training walk for our 20 miler (more about that here!). We managed 6 miles and then had lunch back at ours. After lunch, it was rabbit time – proper rabbit time as the previous night had been brief. It was time for them to explore their home, have a play indoors and to find out that we are nice humans! I think it’s safe to say that they have well and truly settled in very nicely!

So now we have two new furries to look after. We all still miss Millie immensely and it’s been hard when Zach has been searching the house for her, but these two beauties have been a welcome distraction for him and us. I love them, Zach loves them and after all  that huffing and puffing, the other half loves them too. I just wish Millie moo could have been here to love/hate them. I was looking forward to having three furries but life decided to take a different turn.

I’m writing this with big puffy eyes. I’m emotionally drained and incredibly sad, for today I had to say goodbye my darling cat. 

I wrote about how poorly she was here and over the last couple of weeks she has deteriorated lots with a massive fluid build up along with a struggle to breathe. Today I took her to the vets where they immediately told me to take her to the animal hospital where she was being treated. Of course, nothing ever goes easily and seconds after leaving, a nice person driving in the car next to me signalled that I’d got a flat tyre. Great! Luckily we have a kwik fit at the end of our road which we were passing and so I swung by and the other half took Zach home while I waited with Millie for the tyre to be fixed (it had a screw in it!). 

Once it was sorted we headed off to the hospital, just me and moo cat because it was far too late to be dragging Zach there. 

Upon arriving, they whisked moo off to be checked over and came back out to tell me that she was in an oxygen cage. They then checked her over some more and it was time for the talk with the vet. He told me that she was very poorly and that the fluid had reached her chest, hence the breathing difficulties. They had drained her to make her more comfortable but that now was the time to decide what to do. He said that of course they could try her on different medication but that she was in a very bad way and there was no saying anything would work. That, as it stood, if I did decide to put her to sleep it would be the time that I’d chosen rather than leaving it too late and her ending up really sick. I knew that I had to be kind to her and felt that he was thinking along the same lines which made it easier. And so, I decided to do the right thing and put her to sleep. Yes, I wanted the nighttime cuddles to continue but that wasn’t fair on her. This was absolutely the right decision to make. 

And so, the lovely vet took me to a quiet private room where I had my last moments with my little lady. When he brought her in, I knew I’d made the right decision. She was still having so much trouble breathing and the look on her face said help me. 

For the next half an hour I cuddled her.

I kissed her.

I tickled her under her chin (her favourite place!)

I told her what a wonderful cat she had been and that we would all miss her so very much. 

And then the vet came back and it was time. He asked me if I wanted to stay with her but I couldn’t do it. Had I not have been alone I may have but I just couldn’t. He told me he couldn’t if it was his which made me feel better. He took me back to the waiting area as he’d need to bring her box back to me.

Which he did a short time later.

She was gone. 

She was peaceful and happy and I was happy that she was no longer suffering. 

And now?

She’s in a world where she can hunt for mice…

Where she can sleep in random positions again…

Where she can jump on top of wardrobes…

And generally get herself into a pickle!

She really was a wonderful cat. My buddy for six years. She used to sleep in my bed, wake me up by nuzzling my face and chase bits of pasta around the floor. She’ll always be my Millie moo, my moo cat, my mousecat!

I’ll love her forever.

Sleep tight darling kitty.

A couple of weeks ago, I was having one of those moments where I wanted to do something. I get these itchy moments where I need to sign up for something. Previously this has been 5k run, a couple of 10k’s and a 20 mile walk (not all in one go!). I was signed up to do the Moonwalk three years ago but I fell pregnant and got a bad back so knew I wouldn’t be able to complete it and pulled out. 

Since then, it’s been on my mind that I’d really like to do something again. The Moonwalk is out of the question for now because it is so expensive so I was wondering what challenge I could do. I then received an email from Breast Cancer Care with a special offer on signing back up to the 20 mile walk. Oooo I thought, that’s an idea. When I looked further into it, I discovered that they’ve added a new one, a London night time walk. I was so tempted to sign up there and then but I knew I’d need a walking buddy and I wasn’t sure how keen my sister (who did the previous 20 miler with me), would be as keen as me. So I text her and her response was that she too had been thinking along the same lines as me and was very tempted. We exchanged a few texts, trying to decide whether to do the 10 or 20 miles and in the end the decision was down to me as she is a lot more flexible than I am in terms of training time and also doesn’t have a 2 year old! Of course, me not thinking that a 10 mile was a big enough challenge, I signed us up for the 20 mile! 

And so now, on July 4th we shall be walking for 20 miles through the dark streets of London. The walk starts at 10pm. Last time, it took us just shy of eight hours although it was incredibly hot (I stupidly got severely burnt on my legs last time), and incredibly hilly which didn’t help matters. This time, the overnight factor will be the biggest challenge. It’s hard enough walking that far for that long but to do it when we’d normally be asleep is a different story! Also, we won’t have the support we had last time. We were followed around by my mum, dad and nephew – they met us at the break stops, they phoned to tell us what was ahead of us (I’ll never forget at about 17 miles my mum phoned to tell us we had a huge hill ahead of us!), and they even walked the last mile with us, egging us on when we were desperate to stop. 

We won’t have that this time because it’s overnight…everyone will be asleep!

It’s going to be tough.

It’s going to be a big challenge.

But hopefully, it’s going to be fun! 

Of course, for this I need sponsorship and whilst I won’t be begging my butt off, if you can spare me a few pence or a few pounds, I would be eternally grateful. The minimum target is £100 but me being me, I set myself a target of £200. I would love for you to help me get there. 

It’s quite fitting that this is taking place on 4th July. That date is my mum’s next door neighbours birthday. We have known her for decades. She is just recovering from an urgent double mastectomy after finding out she has breast cancer. She’s awaiting results. And so, I’ll be doing this walk for her and all other breast cancer warriors, whether they have lost out to it, are fighting it or have beaten its ass!! 

If you would like to sponsor me, you can do so by going to https://www.justgiving.com/LisaCornwell

Thank you

It’s the time of year that this time last year I had no idea existed. The BiB award nominations are here. For those of you who don’t know, that’s the Brilliance in Blogging awards, hosted by BritMums

BritMums is like the queen bee of the blogging world. The BiB awards are like the blogging Oscars. The ceremony takes place at BritMums Live (ooo, did I mention that I’m looking for a sponsor for this?! Oh you missed that did you? Ok then, you can check it out here!).

A year ago I was not a blogger. I only started nine months ago and I have been thrust into a world that I am madly in love with! To even be nominated would be amazing. To be shortlisted would be incredible. To win? Well that would be off the scale! 

I know I probably don’t stand a chance but then I may, so it’s a case of if I don’t ask, I don’t get.

And I therefore ask.

I ask you lovely people to consider voting for my little blog. To give me a chance to be featured among the best. Among my peers and among those I admire. Just to have your nomination would be absolutely fantastic. 

And so, if you would like to vote for Mummascribbles, you can do so here.

I wouldn’t like to tell you what category to nominate me in although obviously I fit best into the family one (second from last option!). 

I shan’t beg anymore*

I thank you!

Lisa 

*This may not be true!

Wow, what a weekend I’ve had – it’s got to be up there with the best.

On Saturday we did Mother’s Day for my mum. She knew we were going out but didn’t know where. I picked her up and drove to my sisters and from there we walked the short distance to town. On the way, she said to us, I think I know where we are going. When we asked her she said she thought it was to the cinema to see that hotel film! We didn’t say anything much and carried on walking and she was surprised when she found herself entering Pizza Express for a three course Mother’s Day lunch (it wasn’t actually valid until Sunday but when we phoned to book, they said it was so honoured it – thanks Pizza Express!).

We had a wonderful lunch but time was ticking on and we had plans. I could see that mum was wondering why we were leaving in a rush! It was then that we took her across the road to the cinema to indeed see that hotel film, which of course was The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. It was a brilliant film, just as good as the first one and with another stellar cast. We loved it and had a wonderful day of which sadly I took no photos!

I then got home in time for Zach’s bed time so I could hear about his day out with his daddy, nanny, grandad and cousin. He had a brilliant time of course and the other half was so proud of him for being so well behaved all day

And then came today. We weren’t really sure what to do. Instead of getting me a present, the other half said he’d treat us to a day out. Initially we were going to go to the local wildlife park which we love for its tigers, lions and other awesome animals but it wasn’t really the weather to be outside for the majority of the day. I had a little Google and found a place not far away called Ashlyns Farm Park. It’s a farm, soft play, farm shop and is really reasonably priced – so we went there!

We had such a fantastic time in the soft play for ages along with a little bite to eat. I treated Zach to a chocolate spread sandwich but shouldn’t have bothered – he’s just not into chocolate (***fist pump***). The other half and I shared our scones with clotted cream and jam with him and I had a yummy hot chocolate! Then it was time for more play

And some fun with mummy!

This slide had so much static, I had sparks coming off my feet! Actual sparks!

Once we’d had a couple of hours fun we decided to brave the weather and go outside to the farm. We wandered round and saw goats, llamas, a meerkat, water buffalo, deer, cows and some scary hissing geese!

They even had a reptile house so we saw lizards and snakes and very cleverly, it being the warmest place on the farm, they had a changing unit in there so we could give Zach a new nappy in the warm

We also found the baby barn which was pretty fitting for Mother’s Day – especially the photo of the baby goat feeding!

Some other of my favourite photos from the farm are:

Once we’d spent enough time there having fun, it was time for dinner. There was a harvester a mere 30 seconds from the farm so we headed there and what a yummy time we had!

At the end of all that, someone was worn out!

I had the most wonderful day with the two men in my life and feel like such a lucky mummy. Of course, within all of these photos, I couldn’t leave out the obligatory mummy love ones! Thought I’d save the best til last as they sum up just how I feel!

Today is my 3^rd mothers day. The third year that I have been celebrated for having my beautiful boy in my life. So I thought I’d use this day to celebrate everything that being a mother has brought me and also celebrating two very special mums.

Things that motherhood has brought me

Grossness
If you all thought this was going to be a lovey dovey post of all the wonderful parts of being a mum, you were wrong. Right now, my little man loves nothing more than picking his nose and declaring, mummy, got a bogey, before demanding me to get rid of it. This could be when I’m busy driving, it could be when I’m trying to get him off to sleep. It is extremely regular along with his farts. He farts a lot and for the past month or so has been fascinated with farting. He even laughs at his farts and despite me hearing them, often says, I farted mummy. Yep, I know you farted darling boy, I heard it and I can smell it wafting out of the duvet!

Laughter
There are a lot of times that he makes me laugh. When he says something funny like don’t laugh mummy, it’s not funny, or sings me a song in the car in his own special way like old macdonald had a mummy, e-i-e-i-o, with a mummy mummy here and a mummy mummy there (you get the drift), or twinkle twinkle little poo – I can’t help but laugh. He is so funny, he has such a character on him that convinces me he is going to be a stand up or something. He goes out of his way to make us laugh on a daily basis.

Proudness
I honestly couldn’t be more proud of him. He has his moments like every child but he really is just the best. He is charming, caring, polite. He’s only two and a half but he always uses please and thank you, or even oh thanks! And if he accidentally knocks or bangs you, he immediately says sorry mummy. I am so proud of how polite he is.

Amazement
He amazes me on a daily basis. I know that we all think our children are super smart but sometimes I do think that he is extremely clever. His memory is incredible and he will remember something two or more days after it initially happened. Things stay in his memory and he’ll pluck it out from nowhere and I’m like, oh that’s from days ago. Just today, he told me on the phone that I’m not on an aeroplane in the sky, that I’m not in America – I went there last October and he still remembers!

If I promise him something, he will absolutely keep me to that promise! He will not forget even if I do. He’s also fascinated with the way things work. Sometimes this can be tricky, like when he wants to ‘play’ with the dishwasher because he wants to watch the wheels on the drawer go round as you push it in. He was always one that found the on/off switch of his toys very early on and just works out how things work. I’m convinced that if he isn’t going to be a comedian, he’ll be an engineer!

Tiredness
Like I’ve never known it. I don’t know if I’m more tired now than I was when he was a newborn. I don’t know how, but it seems the more you get used to sleep, the more tired you become! Zach has been through periods of not sleeping, periods of sleeping and periods of mixing it up a bit. Right now (and I’m probably cursing it), he loves sleep. I wrote a post here on how we struggle to wake him up after 11 hours sleep! So, right now, I’m getting pretty solid sleep but I still feel exhausted! The working, running round after him, driving him here and there, being everything he needs me to be and more. Well, it’s exhausting!

Emotions
I cry at the drop of a hat now. I can’t deal with sad things. I can’t deal with thinking about sick children, losing parents, Ebola killing millions. Whatever it is, it brings tears to my eyes. Even Supervet had me almost in tears!

Worry
I worry about everything! What if I die. What if Zach decides to dart into the road outside my mum’s house. What if the crane across the road from work drops something on me. What if, what if, what if. I don’t stop worrying.

Happiness 
My last point overall is this. I have never been happier than I am with Zach in my life. He is absolutely the best thing that has ever happened to me. I didn’t know real love until he came along and I know my other half would say exactly the same so he won’t be offended. He is by far, the most wonderful, beautiful, amazing little person in the world. He is my life, my world. Knowing that we made him and knowing that I grew him, this perfect little thing, just makes me so happy and proud.

And so Zach, if you ever read this, I love you. I love you with all of my heart and soul and you make me the proudest mummy in the whole world. You are growing up in quite a scary world but I will always be here to protect you, to comfort you and to love you. I will always, always be there for you. A mothers love cannot be contended with. I love you baby boy.

And to my own mum. Thank you. Thank you for giving me 32 years of that same love that I feel for Zach. Thank you for always being there, for picking me up when I fell, for comforting me through heartbreak, for every single thing you have ever done for me. If I am half the mum to Zach that you have been to me then I will be a happy lady. Thank you for everything you do for us as a family and thank you for being an amazing Nannie to our little boy. Thank you for allowing us to not have to put Zach in nursery five days a week, for enabling us to buy a house, for loving our little boy enough to compensate for my not being there with him. You are a wonderful mum and nannie and we love you with all our hearts.

And to Zach’s other nanny. I know he doesn’t see you as much as he sees his Nannie-ie but know that he loves you just as much. Know that he talks about you lots and always, always gets so excited about seeing you. A thank you from me for bringing up the most wonderful man. How you brought him up, shaped him into how he is now; the most wonderful partner and the most amazing dad to our boy. Your son will always be a mummy’s boy and I hope that Zach grows up that way too. I will do my best to teach him the same morals and lessons that you taught your son and hopefully I’ll be writing these same words in thirty years time about Zach.

Happy Mothers Day to you two very special mummy’s and nanny/ies. We love you so much.

And happy mothers day to all you other lovely mum’s out there. I hope you have a wonderful day celebrating what a wonderfully hard job you do…you deserve it

Today I have a guest post from the fabulous Ruth Briddon, author of Being Sarah Chilton: (A guide for all mums when the sh*t hits the fan). 

Along with her fantastic writing, Ruth is a qualified Cognitive Behavioural Therapist & conducts Counselling sessions. She is a first hand survivor of Postnatal Depression and has been a guest speaker at local Children’s Centres promoting the importance of preparing mentally for your new career of parenting. Ruth now has a Your Plan B EBook which she firmly believes would have helped to avoid her depression if she’d had it available to her. She’s a mum to an 11 year old boy and is currently working on part two of the Sarah Chilton journey. I now hand you over to Ruth who is today writing as Sarah Chilton.

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I have recently applied to renew my passport. If you’ve read my first diary, you’ll be wondering; where I’m going and how have I managed to afford it? The sequel will reveal all!

I duly completed the forms and sent both mine and Johnathan’s off with more than a hint of excitement as it’s been a long time since I’ve been abroad, as you know, and 16 years since I last renewed my passport.

About one week later I received a text from HM Passport Office advising me that Johnathan’s passport has been processed and is on its way. However, and this is a big however, mine has been rejected because ‘your appearance has changed significantly since your last photo was taken’. You don’t say.

I was rather perturbed at the lack of compassion and tact from HM Passport Office; I am a woman after all, I offend easily, so assumed the letter was written by a man. A woman would have written something like ‘your hair is gorgeous, it suits you long, and you’ve not aged much at all, what’s your secret? Your skin is flawless, do you exfoliate? You just need to get another form signed so that we can process your renewal’.  I wrote them a letter (but didn’t send it in case they denied me completely – I’m not stupid).

Dear Sirs

Thank you for your letter advising me that my new photo is nothing like the one I had taken 16 years ago. Without being rude, you are kind of stating the bloomin obvious.  I was carefree then, had a lie in every weekend, had time, and energy, to exercise and hadn’t been to the depths of childbirth hell and back, or endured a 3 day labour and got divorced after realising I had married Lord Voldermort who had an affair with Hagrid.

Thank you for sending me another form to complete; however, the person who verified my photo (where I admit to looking way past my sell by date and could pass for a crack addict) will say the same – IT’S ME! WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT FROM ME?

I would very much like to know how you managed to renew my son’s passport without question. He wasn’t even 12 months old on his first photo, and yet this photo shows him a month off his 12^th birthday.  He now has hair, there’s no sign of sick and he was posing all on his own, no sign of my hands holding him up on this one.

Yours, most insincerely and very insulted.

Sarah (honestly, it’s me) Chilton

This made me ponder about how much my life has changed over the last 16 years. Thankfully, I had no idea my husband would have an affair throughout conception, pregnancy, birth and beyond, leave me for Fat Bird (aka Hagrid – honestly, you couldn’t make this stuff up) and a 5 month old, whilst suffering with undiagnosed depression.

I had a good life with Chris; we had some great holidays abroad, parties, had a lovely house, a lie in at the weekend which meant getting up at 10.00am and eating a leisurely breakfast – all of it, not part of it whilst mixing formula or sterilising. You get the picture. I admit to being quite insular and a bit judgemental of others. Not a nice trait to have.

September 2003 was when life delivered me a very cruel blow and transformed me in to the person I am today.

I will not lie, it took several years for me to recover from Postnatal Depression, anxiety and to accept that I wasn’t born to be the perfect mum. To love, like and respect myself was the key to a happy life.

I write this blog and feel so grateful – yes, grateful – for the journey I have been on. Thank you, Chris, for leaving me and allowing me to grow and blossom. I am a rose; beautiful, unique and proud to show my true colours to those who surround me and value me and you were the ivy, choking me and holding me back.

You have enabled me to find the real Sarah Chilton. I may have a passport photo that makes me look like a photofit from Crimewatch, and have aged perhaps not as gracefully as I would have liked, but I can stand up and be counted.

Hello everyone, my name is Sarah Chilton and I hate exercise, love wine, have a very dry sense of humour, and I’m not afraid to use it; I have amazing friends and, better still, I’m an amazing friend.  To quote the wonderful Bridget Jones, ‘I will always be a little bit fat’ and never stick to a diet for longer than 3 days.  Anxiety will forever be a part of my life but I now control it and not the other way around. I found depression depressing and will never let that dark cloud darken my door again as I’m fully armed to defend myself.  For those of you who have read my diary you will know that patience and tolerance are not traits I possess, but that’s part of who I am.

Who knows what else will be delivered through the letterbox of life; in a way, it’s quite exciting, the trick is to embrace it, take up the challenge presented to you, learn from it and move on (and have a medicinal, and celebratory, glass of wine to congratulate yourself).

Yours,

Sarah (fab mum) Chilton xx

www.being-sarah-chilton.com

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You can buy the book Being Sarah Chilton: (A guide for all mums when the sh*t hits the fan) from Amazon by clicking right here.

If you think you may be suffering from Postnatal Depression, please don’t suffer in silence. There is help out there and Ruth is living proof of that. Go and see your doctor.

Ruth is going to be running morning workshops – M.A.D (Managing Anxiety and Depression). The feedback Ruth received from mums and dads to be was extremely positive and she was thanked for her candid approach and honesty at the thoughts and feelings she experienced during her depression.

If you attend Ruth’s workshops, you will feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders and be relieved that there is a way to help you help yourself recover and be in control. You are also guaranteed a laugh as Ruth’s approach is very down to earth and as humour helped her to recover, she believes it’s her duty to pass on the laughter!

There is a wealth of support for anyone suffering with PND. Here are just a few:

www.fathersreachingout.com 
www.pandasfoundation.org.uk
www.mind.org.uk
www.apni.org 
www.netmums.com

Walking along the Southbank during my half an hour lunchbreak earlier started off normal (as normal as the Southbank gets!). There were people on the sand building sand sofas (yes really!) ,and displaying messages with their thoughts on the recent HSBC scandal. There was a man playing a keyboard. There was a bunch of schoolkids, one punched another (I did ask the punched guy if he was ok but he spoke to me in French so I have no idea what he said!).  You know, your bog standard lunchbreak.

What there was also lots of was families. Mummies out with their babies, daddies out with theirs, families out together, the odd nan with her grandchild. Walking along I was thinking what a beautiful sunny spring day, how lovely to be outside enjoying the sunshine. And then looking around I felt sad. I felt sad that I was stuck in work all day. I felt sad that Zach is stuck in a room at nursery (obviously with access to the garden when given). I felt sad that we should be together.

It’s spring, it should be the start of days of us going to the park, playing on the swings and slide, running around the grass and having picnics.

We should be playing in the garden. Playing ball or on his ride ons, looking at the different coloured flowers or even doing a spot of gardening, exploring the soil and the bugs within.

We should be wandering over to the country park, going for walks in the sunshine, walking along the canal and exploring the woodland.

We should be doing so much fun stuff but instead, we rush out of the house and go our separate ways.

I had a twitter conversation with another working mummy the other that went like this:

I’m so glad I’m not the only one that feels this way. I’m so glad there are other mummies out there, dreaming about a life of play dates and trips in the sunshine. Of snuggly morning cuddles and fun in the garden. I often feel so lonely. I often feel like I’m the only working mummy out there who has such a small amount of time with her son to have fun.  When I walk along that Southbank seeing all those lucky mummies with their children, I can’t help but feel an incredible amount of jealousy. That, by the time I get home with my little boy tonight, the sun will have gone and it will be dark. We will have an hour (if that) until bedtime and then it’s time to get him off to sleep. And even then I feel guilty. I sit there asking him to go to sleep, stroking his head or singing him a lullaby while he is desperately staying awake. It always feels like he is trying to stay awake to get a few extra moments with us because he just does not see us as much as he should.

And after thinking about all of this on that short half an hour break, do you know what I did? I cried a little bit. If I hadn’t have been in public, heading back to the office, there would have probably been full on snotty sobs but I had to keep myself composed!

And so for me today, unlike most others, the sun has not brought happiness. It has made me sad about the upcoming spring/summer; about how much of the fun stuff I will miss out on. The stuff that we have to squeeze into weekends because we have no other time to do it.

And so to all you lucky mummies out there who do get to do this stuff. Enjoy every moment because you do not know how lucky you are.

And to my other half who I know is reading this. I know you miss out on it all too, I really do know but I hope that you don’t feel as sad as me because I don’t want us both feeling this sad.

And now I need to stop writing…because I’m secretly crying at my desk.

Sod you sunshine! Look what you did!

While tweeting recently about my mummascribbles meets series, I was contacted by a new author of children’s books, Edwin Lampert, asking if I would like to feature an interview with him on my blog. At first, I hesitated. I’d written a pretty good parenting interview but interviewing an author would be completely different. I told him to leave it with me to see what I could come up with and once I’d drafted my questions, sent it over to him expecting to be told my questions were a bit rubbish and that he’d rather not take part! Instead, I got some wonderful answers back from him and I am therefore pleased to introduce you to Edwin.

Edwin is the author of The Adventures of Brunhilfer and Brunfin, a new series of children’s books based on a celebration of two very special bears. The first book in the series is called The Adventures of Brunhilfer and Brunfin: The Flood, where we join the two bears, their friends and wider family on their first adventure.

Tell me a little about the basis of the story?
The story is inspired by my Dad and the two bears are a product of his imagination. Sadly my Dad had cancer which spread to his brain necessitating radiotherapy. While it was partially successful there was some ‘collateral damage’. A by-product of this was that he imagined that we as a family had custody of two bears who lived with us. The bears were very real to him and are the heartbeat of our story.

Where did the idea of Brunhilfer and Brunfin come from?
When my Dad died in April 2014 I wanted to find an appropriate vehicle to perpetuate his memory and also the values he upheld and felt important. A children’s book struck me as the perfect medium for both.

You have a career as a marine journalist. What made you decide to start writing children’s books?
This book was motivated by my Dad’s passing and my feeling was that a children’s book was the most appropriate way to pay tribute. I do have a day job as a marine journalist. This is of course a different style of writing but I see the two pursuits as complimentary – and in fact have and continue to receive a lot of support from my colleagues and the industry at large.

The book promotes community participation, loving kindness and the importance of being true to yourself, values that we should all be teaching our children. What other values do you think are important, and will any of these be featured in future Brunhilfer and Brunfin stories?
On the reverse of the book it says: “This book is a celebration of two very special bears. Join them, their friends and wider family on their first adventure. Everybody’s invited!” The idea that everybody is invited, that we are inclusive, is another value we are keen to promote. And yes, these values will underpin future stories.

How many Brunhilfer and Brunfin stories do you have planned and what can we expect from the next books?
Other stories are planned. I have not set a number. You can expect that we will stay true to our values and that we will learn more about the bears, their friends and wider family. Please stay tuned!

This book is independently published, has that been an easy process or have there been any specific factors that made it difficult?
The process has been relatively straight forward. I did look at other models including different print-on-demand. The final route has required more investment from me, but ultimately gives me more control, including over the quality of the product. It is very important that the book is of a standard that would make my Dad proud and that more than outweighs the higher costs.

The book is illustrated by Clare Shields who is incredibly talented. Was she someone you knew of previously and if not, how did you stumble upon her to create what is beautiful imagery?
Clare is a very good friend of many years standing. Clare is supremely talented and I knew I wanted her together with me on this project.

What were your favourite books to read as a child?
So many! As a very young child there was Miffy and at school the Mr Men series. There were always loads of Ladybird books at home and school which covered any number of subjects. Basically I enjoyed reading! But I also enjoyed writing stories too…

How have they influenced the way you write?
I think I benefit from every book I read. Not only in terms of what I write but more widely too.

As an adult, do you have any favourite authors? I enjoy reading widely. It’s hard to isolate one… if I look at my bookshelf there are a few from Bill Bryson. His work is always well written, humorous, engaging and meticulously researched. Are you going to stick to children’s writing or broaden out into another genre?

I would like to stick with children’s writing and broaden out into other genres!

What advice would you give to an aspiring author?
Go for it!

What do you do to have downtime? You must be pretty busy being a journalist and an author promoting a new book!
I love what I do whether as a journalist or as an author promoting a new book so am not looking for downtime as such. The joy of both is that there is a lot of autonomy which means I definitely can find time for friends, family, travelling, socialising, other interests…

You are donating a proportion from each book sale to charity. Can you tell me a little bit about the cause this is going to and why you decided to do this?
The objective is to support causes that my father held dear. I have broadly broken these down across four categories: children’s welfare; animal welfare; community; health/other.

This also gives me the flexibility to support larger and smaller charities and new ones as they come up.

So far I have announced I will support The OSCAR campaign. This is an innovative fundraising partnership uniting the international shipping community to raise significant funds towards areas of urgent need at Great Ormond Street Hospital and its research partner, the UCL Institute of Child Health. This charity meets all my criteria and also unites my life as a marine journalist and that of a children’s author.

Edwin is available for bookreadings and book signings. He can be contacted via the Facebook page and/or twitter @brunhilfer

A few weeks back, I wrote this post about us finally ordering our first online shop. It had taken me ages to convince the other half that it’s really what we needed to get our weekends back and he finally agreed. And wow, our weekends have changed for the better! No longer do we spend our precious Saturday in Tesco’s, getting back home for a late lunch and running out of day before we could possibly do something fun before dinner. Nope, that is no longer us.

Now, we go out on adventures to the local country park which yesterday, on the most beautiful springlike day was just wonderful.

We fed the ducks (and Zach who always munches some of the bread)…

We got so warm, we all took our coats off and basked in the sunshine and the stunning views…

We explored in the wooded parts…

And then we watched a man bring his boat through the lock and under the bridge at the canal…

There was even time for a bit of daddy squishing and a family photo (Zach’s face is showing that he wasn’t too happy about the barking dogs that nice lady who took the photo had!

And then it was time to take Zach to the hairdressers for another traumatic cut! He absolutely hates having his haircut but it had got too out of control so had no choice! Despite the tears throughout, he was thoroughly pleased with his fresh new look!

Once home, we spent the rest of the afternoon in the garden, of which I have no photos as I was too busy tidying the beds, clearing the small amount of weeds and clearing the massive load of leaves that had fallen from the trees! The other half was busy sweeping even more leaves and mowing the lawn while Zach played with his sand & water tray and running round trying to ‘help’ us and stealing my fork every time I needed it!

Following this we had a very yummy home cooked (by me!) shepherds pie of which Zach ate only the potato and veg because he sometimes decides he doesn’t like the feeling of mince in his mouth!

And today?

Today we had my sister and her family round for lunch. We ate pasta, salad, cheese, pork pies, French stick – a real ploughmans, followed by yummy chocolate cake! Lots of tea, a few beers, and the cousins having fun playing together and winding each other up was a perfect time spent!

This afternoon has seen us absolutely exhausted. The other half almost dozed off on the sofa a while ago and we’ve struggled to get dinner down a very exhausted boy who obviously scrapped a nap today! He’s sitting on the sofa next to me, eating a yogurt and watching in the night garden before we take him up to bed and force ourselves to eat some dinner – good old oven food tonight which is lucky as it requires no effort at all.

And that is how our weekend is so different nowadays. We have two full days of fun together rather than one day for boring stuff and one for country walks, family and friends!

What fun stuff have you done on this glorious weekend?!