Category: Views & Ramblings

1. #Lastingchange : Postcard from Kenya

   Posted on 5:13am Monday 26th Jan 2015

   I had a blog post scheduled up for today, something about a minor family crisis that happened over the weekend on the Lilypad that I was going to share on the blog, but then an email dropped into my inbox from Team Honk. An email that talks about their visit to the Mothers 2 Mothers project in Kisumu, Kenya. An email that makes you want to do something.

   Kenya has the fourth-largest HIV epidemic in the world. An estimated 1.6 million people are living with HIV and 1.1 million children have been orphaned after losing one or both parents to the disease.

   Thanks to Comic Relief funding, Mothers2Mothers is helping pregnant women living with HIV to access the life-saving health services they need to prevent mother-to-child transmission. The project is targeting Nyanza province where prevalence of the disease is almost three times higher than the national average.

   Women often discover they are HIV positive during ante-natal care and mentoring helps them to come to terms with this, to deal with the side effects on antiretroviral drugs, to eat well and to deliver babies with the best chance of being HIV negative. Women also learn to breastfeed safely, and to avoid stigma.

    

   

   Team Honk are finding out more about these projects and through blogging, are sharing them with a wider audience. They met with Elizabeth who says: “HIV is just a condition, you can go further, you can make wonders, you can help others” #lastingchange . The project exudes positivity but continues to need help with funding.

   Breastfeeding is something close to my heart and the World Health Organisation recommends exclusive breastfeeding while taking HIV antiretroviral drugs. Mentoring enables women to breastfeed safely #lastingchange

   So you can see that I changed my blog post for today, it was a small change in my world but the work being done by Comic Relief is making big changes across the world, let's see what else we can change?

   #lastingchange

   @RedNoseDay launches today for 2015. Let’s celebrate the difference donations to @ComicRelief make to lives across the world.

    

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2. New Year : New Projects : New Furniture

   Posted on 2:14pm Wednesday 21st Jan 2015

   We have been talking a lot lately about the new year and how that brings a fresh approach to things whether that is your lifestyle choices, your eating habits or just the push to have a spring clean but what about when you know something needs changing but you don't really want to change it?

   My husband has been talking about getting a new sofa and I even went as far as making a mood board on the styles I like ...

    

   

   
   

   New sofa moodboard by littlelilypadco featuring a 3 seater sofa

   Now I appreciate that this may be of no consequence whatsoever to the readers of our blog, but the reasoning behind this may make you smile. I talked about my birth story some little time ago and it remains without doubt one of the most empowering things I have ever experienced. The short version is that I sat on my birthing ball and breathed through the surprisingly strong initial surges while my husband was busy downstairs (we had opted for a home hypnobirth) preparing the mood with candles and inflating the birthing pool and had tried to call my mom and the midwife but no one answered! Unfortunately for me when baby decided she was going to make an early appearance, the rather large pool was no where near filled and I was forced to make my self comfortable on the sofa (you can now see where I am going with this post can't you?) and continue to practice my hypnobirthing techniques despite the deviation to the ‘plan’!   

   The little one arrived safely, in the comfort of our own home ..... on our own sofa (thank goodness it is leather) but there are still friends of ours that look a little uncomfortable sitting there when they visit. In fact we have one male friend who pointedly refuses to sit on it. (It is clean I promise .... the photo below confirms it).

    

   So you can see my dilemma, the truth is we probably do need a new sofa and let's be honest, I don't usually need much persuasion to go shopping but this sofa is where our daughter was born. How many people can tell their children that they were born right there <points to sofa>.

   So what would you do? Select a gorgeous new hardwearing sofa (although it is highly unlikely I shall be giving birth on this one) and throw away the old one (and the memories) or do we keep the birthing sofa forever?

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3. New Year : New Projects : How to update a room in 5 easy steps

   Posted on 9:40pm Monday 19th Jan 2015

   The new year always brings the need to clean, declutter and refresh. I don't necessarily subscribe to the New Year : New You philosophy but I do like the idea of starting the new year afresh.

   I would really like a new kitchen but sometimes I have to reel myself in and realise that my cooking skills don't necessarily need a mitchelin star grade work space, although some new pots and pans  wouldn't go amiss after having mine for (ahem) some years. Buying new saucepans and a few accessories can't necessarily help my cooking skills but changing a few little things in the kitchen, or indeed any room in the house can make a massive difference. So here are my 5 top tips for achieving a new look in 5 easy steps.

   1. Choose a colour palette that the whole family can agree on. (unless you take the toddlers advice who wants everything pink). It is good to get the buy in from everyone (there is a method in this madness, trust me). Go and buy paint, talking about it is great but once you have bought the paint, it will sit there and look at you until you give in and put it on the walls.

   

   2. Don't wear clothes that you may want to wear again, ever. This is just a small word of advice when you have small children "helping" with the decorating.

   3. Buy enough paint brushes so everyone can get involved. However, expect small children to take a different view of painting to you. <insert smiley face>

   

   4. Make sure you have covered everything you don't want covered in paint with a suitable dust sheet (before you start number 3). Again this is especially prevalent when you have a toddler assisting you.

   5. Look despairingly at husband when toddler has created smiley faces all over the wall and ask if he can take over with the tween, while you take the toddler for a bath!

   

   Job done!

   Would you add any handy hints?

   

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4. Don't judge me on my parenting ....

   Posted on 6:13am Friday 16th Jan 2015

   Please don't judge me on my parenting. Not today. 

   We were having dinner with some friends and friends of theirs joined us, as the meals were served, I got out my phone and put it in front of the toddler to distract her while she ate. I held my breath slightly waiting for the disproving looks from everyone round the table to tell me silently that I should be teaching my child to eat properly without the need for distraction only to feel relived when another Mum looked over and simply said "I am so glad we are not the only ones that do that".

   It made me realise that people do make judgements every single day and we expect our parenting to be critised by anyone who has ever considered having a child, those that don't, let alone those who have been there and got the t-shirt. Somedays I feel like saying .....

   Please don't judge me today for letting my child have chocolate, you don't know that she has been unwell and hasn't eaten much. I am just glad that she is eating something.

   Please don't judge me today for using a Disney Princess umbrella on the school run today, honestly .... I have no clue where my umbrella is (it wasn't on today's priority list) and anyway the little one was delighted to be huddled up together under the pink brolly.

   Please don't judge me today for wearing a glittery clip in my hair ..... look at the fishtail plait in my oldest daughters hair or the miracle of two small pigtails in the toddlers hair .... they look super cute. Just don't look at me.

   Please don't judge me today for telling my daughter to play with her friends at soft play. I want to help her develop her social skills (and I would really like to drink a cup of hot chocolate while it is still hot). (oh and did I mention that I was at soft play, I deserve a wine!).

   Please don't judge me today for staying with my toddler until she falls asleep, she has asthma and controlled crying is not an option. (I also worked hard today and I sometimes just want to grab those extra minutes with her).

    

   So please don't judge me today. I am doing the best job I can.

   Do you feel judged today?

    

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