Mince Pies and Mommy Moments

So the countdown to Christmas is officially on!

Every day my 5 year old asks if Santa has been, which is getting more than a little tedious despite us being only 4 days in to his advent calendar.... I turned my hand at making a fabric calendar this year which was fun as I haven't sewn anything on my beloved machine for literally a year!! Definitely got the bug back and am looking forward to getting a bit more crafty as we wind down to Christmas.

The Christmas presents are sorted (please don't hate me) and the house is decorated so I feel very organised this year! Work is as busy as ever, but I am trying to get a better work/life balance as the past few months have seen a lots of late nights and laptop bound afternoons while the little one sleeps. The only nights that remain untouched are connect on Mondays which is our weekly meeting with fellow Christians who live locally, and Friday night which is our date night! We are very protective of date night, and although we rarely actually go anywhere, we always have a nice meal, some treats, sometimes a bottle of wine and we curl up on the sofa for a movie. *heart melts*

But what about 'me time' I here you ask? My immediate reply would be 'what is that?' Seriously, my days are so jam packed with attending and helping out at toddler groups, going to midweek church services, completing the school run twice a day (usually on foot), running a household, buying groceries and trying to keep up with our pastoral area that we look after at church. Oh and holding down a writing business!

I wouldn't change a thing about our life as I love being busy (although a cleaner or ironing lady would be sooo appreciated to keep up with two boys and two cats!) but I am aware that to be a good wife and mom I need to do things for me too. My perfect day would be a trip to the hair salon or beautician for some pampering followed by a couple of hours of uninterrupted writing in Starbucks or Cafe Nero, then maybe squeezing in reading Hello, House Beautiful or Country Living magazine or one of the many novels on my bookshelf.

Writing my blog and reading all the other amazing blogs on the circuit gives me so much joy, so in absence of my 'perfect day' being possible right now I am making the most of a mince pie and a mommy moment while my boys entertain each other. Life is too short to spend all our time working, once in a while close down the emails, let the dishes pile up or stick on cbeebies (shock horror) and indulge yourself in some you time.

R x

Too excited to sleep! Mummy's, Daddy's and MAD Blog Awards...

So tomorrow I will be attending my first ever MAD Blog Awards and to say I am a tad excited would be an understatement! Having won the tickets to attend only a week or so ago it has been all systems go to organise travel to London and back in a day,  childcare and not to mention the small matter or finding an outfit to wear!

I am thrilled to be able to finally meet some of the fabulous bloggers that I have been following for the last 3 or 4 years, and know that I am going to return home brimming with ideas and inspiration to take my parenting and  lifestyle blog to the next level. Tickets are booked, dress, bag (yes, an actual handbag not a changing bag!) and heels are all carefully laid out to wear and my brand new Samsung Galaxy is charged ready for some serious note taking and networking. I will be hopefully capturing my adventures on instagram too so look out for some pics tomorrow evening!

Right then... off to bed as it's going to be a late finish tomorrow 😉

R

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2013 What A Year It Has Been! New Baby, New House, New Business

So here I am, sat in a completely packed Starbucks in the Birmingham Bullring on 30^th December, with soy latte in hand and I am ready to write my last blog of 2013.

OK, so to be honest, my blog writing has been pretty much non existent this year on account of me learning to juggle being a mother of two combined with a busy church life, a writing career, a lively 3 year old and moving house. Our second son Isaac was born on 1^st March 2013, and he has been a complete blessing, such a contented happy baby who loves to be snuggled much to my delight. However I wasn't expecting my new arrival to come with additional extras in the form of post natal depression, and although I realised very quickly after the birth that something was wrong, I did not get formally diagnosed until Isaac was four months old.

During this time, I celebrated my thirtieth birthday with my family and we moved house to a new area in order to be closer to our preferred schools for Aaron, who will start reception next September. Our new home is lovely and our neighbours are wonderful, but while I busied myself with setting up each room my heart ached with loneliness and a darkness that I could not shake off. The PND diagnosis was a welcome relief, and I instantly felt better just knowing that I wasn't actually going mad and that I did genuinely have an illness that could be treated. Acknowledging the problem felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, and the medication quickly helped to balance me out. Isaac is now 10 months old and I feel back to my old self again, and am thoroughly enjoying every minute of raising my two beautiful boys.

September saw me fully launch my freelance writing career and I am absolutely overjoyed to be able to use my creative skills in this way. Writing has long been a passion of mine, and whether it is a journalistic piece, a product review or a short fictional story, I find such pleasure in the written word and making sense of sentences. This was also the month that I rejoined the worship team at Renewal Christian Centre, where my husband and I are members. We love Jesus and it is an honour to be part of and serve such a lively vibrant church, and I count it as the highest privilege to lead people in worship here. There are so many new developments in the pipeline for 2014 we can't wait to see people's hearts touched and lives changed at Renewal in the coming months.

So what's next for me? I am continuing with my writing and plan to build on the foundations I have already laid down, I am blessed to be able to work around my children and spend as much time as I can with them while they are so young. I also enjoy taking and distributing Herbalife nutritional products to keep me fit and healthy and helping my clients do the same.

I want to focus on deepening my relationship with God and enriching my marriage to my best friend this year, time flies by so very fast and I don't want to waste a moment by being distracted with unnecessary things. My God and my family are the most important things in the world to me, and with them by my side I know I can't go far wrong. I plan to write more for 'me' too this year, in the form of this blog, as I find writing down my thoughts so therapeutic, plus reading other peoples blogs gives me such inspiration and I hope mine can do the same. Jesus was the ultimate storyteller, using words and parables to reach thousands of people where they were at, and I would love to think that maybe one day my writing can reach out to others who can relate to my experiences. I pray that each and every reader will have a blessed, prosperous and peaceful 2014!