Category Archives: motherhood

Thank you to the dads who make us who we are

Posted in motherhood by
Father's Day, Gary Pearson, Sonny Jim

#DaddyandSonnyJim

I can’t imagine anyone will have missed the fact that tomorrow is Father’s Day.

Hardware stores must do their best business in the first weeks of June and sales of bacon probably go up as fry ups are prepared.

But too often the role of daddy is seen as secondary to mummy, surplus to requirements in many ways when it comes to parenting. And admittedly, some dads ARE rubbish. Those mamas, single-handedly doing both the job of mum and dad, are nothing short of heroes in my book.

Yet there are a lot of good uns. And the most important thing they ever do, is just be there. Whether it’s a snatched kiss before bedtime,  a cuddle on the couch, or push on the swing, those moments are like tiny beads on the necklace of a child’s life. A tiny, tangible bit of love that helps build them a brighter world. Continue reading →

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Fertility isn’t fair… the clock only ticks for women

Posted in baby, motherhood, Mummy life by
Katy Pearson, Sonny Jim, #whatkatydidUK

My heart: Sonny Jim and me

It’s a man’s world… so the saying goes.

And nowhere is that patriarchy more apparent than when it comes to fertility.

For all the strides that have been made over the last century. For all the hard-fought rights (to vote, to own our own homes, to smash those glass ceilings) when it comes to having children, nature has us pegged at a real disadvantage.

Women get maybe a 20-year window in which to have their babies. And that’s it.
However we dress it up. Whatever advances that have been made by science, no one has really found a viable, risk-free way for women to put off children well into their forties.

At 35 women’s fertility goes off a cliff – conceiving gets harder and the risks to baby and mama go up too.

Fellas though? Well there’s absolutely nothing stopping them having little ones into their dotage. Continue reading →

#getthemgrowing (even in torrential rain!)

Posted in motherhood, Shopping, Sponsored by
Sonny Jim, #gethemgrowing, Katy Pearson

Little gardener: Sonny Jim in the rain

I think it’s safe to say your toddler has been bitten by the gardening bug, when he demands to check on his “peeeeeasssss pot” in the garden – in the middle of a downpour.

Sonny Jim was sent a box of gardening goodies by Dobbies as part of its #getthemgrowing campaign during National Children’s Gardening Week (May 26-June 3.)

The aim of NCGW is to encourage parents across the UK to get their kids outside and growing.

It comes as new research conducted by Dobbies shows that 61 per cent of parents believe gardening is a good way for their children to learn more about the natural world around them while still having fun. But common gardening knowledge seems to be lacking.

One in seven children do not know that onions are vegetables, and similarly 14 per cent don’t recognise potatoes as vegetables either. Continue reading →

Street party felt like a wonderful trip back in time

Posted in motherhood, Mummy life, The adventures of Sonny Jim by
Katy Pearson, Sonny Jim, #whatkatydidUK, Essex, Street party

Running wild: My Sonny Jim making the most of the road being closed

FOR a few hours on Saturday afternoon I felt like I’d stepped back in time.

Our road was closed for a royal wedding street party. There was bunting. Chalk drawings on the floor. Kids running wild up and down the avenue. Neighbours sitting on curbs in the sunshine, sipping beers and prosecco.

It was blooming lovely.

I was never allowed to play out as a child. But even if I had been, it wouldn’t have been as charming in the Nineties as it was for my Sonny Jim on Saturday. He literally had the time of his life. He ate his tea in the street, chased his aunties (and his football) up and down the road for hours and by the time bedtime came around, he had two grazed knees, dirt all over his face and was a sweaty, sticky mess of sunshine in toddler form. Continue reading →

New IVF clinic officially opens this week in Essex

Posted in Features, motherhood, Sponsored by
Katy Pearson, Angela Leach

Bourn Hall Wickford: Me with fertility nurse specialist Angela Leach

A NEW multi-million pound IVF clinic officially opens in south Essex this week.

More than a thousand procedures, to help people struggling to conceive, will be carried our per year at the £5.2m Bourn Hall centre.

I was given a tour around the London Road clinic in Wickford ahead of the opening.

The purpose-built centre replaces a smaller, satellite clinic, which was in the same road, and is one of six Bourn Hall clinics in East Anglia.

Sarah Pallett, Bourn Hall’s business development director, said: “Our concern is people often go into denial about their fertility problems and put off getting advice through embarrassment. Continue reading →

Life skills my toddler has taught me

Posted in motherhood, Mummy life by
Sonny Jim, Katy Pearson, #whatkatydidUK

Multi-tasking: Typing while saving Sonny Jim from stunts like this…

BEING a mummy is a job like no other.

I mean, in what other role would you be prepared to be on call 24/7, get literally pooped on, get screamed at for hours at a time and your only reward be an occasional wobbly smile and a tiny hand wrapped around your finger?

But two years down the line of mummying and I have to concede that I’ve definitely picked up a few new skills.

Here are some of the most utilised:

  • Mum-versations: The ability to chat to another parent, break off to shout/pick-up/wipe down your child, and then pick up the conversation again without missing a stride. Continue reading →

I’m #thereforher this maternal mental health awareness week… are you?

Posted in motherhood by
#thereforher, Katy Pearson

Mums supporting mums: #thereforher

Do you know three mums? I’m pretty sure most of us do.

The thing is, statistically, one of them is struggling with a mental health issue – right now.

And all of them – especially new mums – are, probably, battling loneliness at some point each and every week.

This week though, it’s maternal mental health week. It shouldn’t take a campaign to remind us that mums matter, but us mamas are pretty good at putting everybody else’s needs before our own.

And it’s doing us no good. One of the most scary statistics I’ve read is that suicide is the leading direct cause of death for mums within the first year after their child is born. Continue reading →