It’s been a while since I blogged. It’s been even longer since I Project 365′d (yes, I made it a verb). One of my goals this last year or so was to blog mindfully and use my blog as a memory book for myself, my family and my children. So, back I go into mindful mode and am blogging for us. Here are the last 7 days chez Cafe Bebe…

Sunday 9 June: Ella enjoyed her oldest friend’s 5th Birthday party in style and then we spent the late afternoon at Nanny & Grandad’s blowing bubbles and playing with Buster the Dog.

Monday 10 June: Monday was mostly about new adventures in shopping (at Aldi), saving money, eating more healthily and pulling myself out of my blue days. Can you find Sammy in my picture?!

Tuesday 11 June: My first official day on Porridge on Tuesday and while hard to change my ingrained bad habits, I felt really good about making an effort to eat better which will hopefully result in me feeling and looking better.

Wednesday 12 June: We had sunshine again! Sammy and I played in the garden, relocated Ella’s sunflowers to a permanent home and had many a giggle. These are the days that make me smile.

Thursday 13 June: We were back to our usual Thursday routine of Sammy going to Nanny & Grandad’s for the afternoon and me going to Ella’s school. Instead of spending time in Ella’s class, however, I spent 2 hours in Year 2 helping children thread needles and generally going cross-eyed. Ella moved up in her swim class and enjoyed her first night in her new class.

Friday 14 June: We love a sunny Friday. After school Ella and her classmates (and our neighbours) pull out their bikes and scooters, the Mummies sit and watch and the siblings enjoy toy cars, biscuits and giggles. We love Friday Funday (as we call it). I managed to go out for a bit of social with the Mummies from school which was great fun for me!

Saturday 15 June: Dance, dance, dance! Ella is taking her first ballet exam tomorrow morning. We have had several weeks of extra practise sessions and practise at home which was rather fraught. We are all looking forward to 11am tomorrow when the exam will be over.

A good week, all in all, I believe. We’re definitely counting down to the Summer holiday though. How was your week?

Pampers are celebrating ‘great mornings’ and asking mums to share pictures & their sleep tips for a chance to win a professional photoshoot and appear in Mother & Baby magazine!

You can tell just by looking at your baby’s beautiful morning face whether they’ve had a good night’s sleep or not, and Pampers wants mums to show the world what works for their baby to have a great start to the day.

Pampers, whose Baby-Dry nappies are recommended for up to 12 hours of Golden Sleep by 92% of UK mums*, are celebrating these great morning moments by inviting you to share images of the great morning moments you share with your little one along with your tip for a good night’s sleep. Simply email a recent photo of you and your baby, and your tip in no more than 50 words to pamperscompetition@hkstrategies.com. Remember to include your address and a contact number.

A selection of the entries will be shared each week on the Pampers Facebook page, and three winners will be selected to have a professional photoshoot and appear in a Pampers advertorial in Mother & Baby magazine!

Now, in our house, very often a good morning starts in our bed. That’s because Sammy is frequently a guest in our bed. I never have an issue with Sam’s nappies but he has an issue with being on his own. We take all of the precautions for safe co-sleeping but for us, at this point in his life, we don’t force sleep training. It is rather delightful to see Sam’s cheeky smile in the mornings when he does manage to sleep through however. And we know that one day, that will happen on a more regular basis. For now, we’re doing what Sam needs.

How do you cope with sleep issues in babies and toddlers? We all have them, unless you are lucky enough to have a Night Nurse! I’ve never been a fan of “controlled crying” or sleep training. It took a while for Ella to sleep through the night but for the last 2 years, she’s been a sleeping star. We know Sam will get there too. Thank goodness we don’t have to worry about him waking up with a wet nappy though, thanks to his Pampers Baby-Dry nappies!

So what’s stopping you from sharing your top sleep tips and gorgeous “Great Morning” pictures with Pampers? You might just appear in a Mother & Baby advertorial for your creativity! And you can feel free to thank me with cake when you do win! Closing date for entries is 9^th July 2013 so hop to it!

*Based on a survey by 704 mums.

**Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for Pampers. **

Elaine Taylor created Porridge on Tuesday because she’d seen it all and bought the t-shirt. Elaine shares her story:

You may recognise my story…

I have tried every diet, excluded almost every food group and eaten some very odd things for breakfast all in a bid to lose weight. I never stuck to any of them for very long, finding them too difficult to fit into my everyday life; and I always put the weight back on. Also, for me exercise has always been something I mean to get around to.

When I turned 30 everything threatened to start travelling south and suddenly eating well became something that needed to be part of everyday life, not a pre-event/post-holiday panic. Then a few years later I got married and fell pregnant. During my pregnancy I gained 40 pounds! (I think of this fondly as the time I accidentally ate an elephant)

I was HUGE…

Like most of us, after giving birth I was determined to shed the baby weight as soon as I could (not scary celebrity 6 weeks later stuff, but “oh god let me back into normal clothes”). I was fed up with ‘off-the-shelf’ diets and went online to look for a personalised plan that would fit around my lifestyle. The trouble was I couldn’t find one.

Suddenly I had no time and even less money…

• I needed to lose the weight and get back into my clothes.
• I did not have time to cook different meals for just me.
• I wanted an exercise plan to go with a diet that suited me.
• … and I really wanted to keep eating the foods I enjoy and still be healthy (not eating the chipolata sausages one plan recommended for breakfast…)

We all know what works…

EAT WELL & DO MORE!

That is when www.porridgeontuesday.com was conceived.

I decided that if I couldn’t find what I was looking for I would build it.

I had no idea what I was taking on and all the people I would meet along the way.

One year later and www.porridgeontuesday.com includes …

• Two personal trainers: Pete & Sam
• A dietician
• One very nice web design agency

And lots of other people I did not know we would need when I started out:

• A man who helped me write my site
• Someone to film the exercise videos and edit them
• A PR company to make sure you hear about us

….. here is the end result…..

A site that asks you lots of questions and uses your answers to tailor an eating and exercise plan to fit into your life.

Well, by jingo, where do I sign up?! As my regular readers, friends and family know, I am terribly unhappy with myself. My physical self, my mental self and my emotional self. I have finally secured an appointment with the consultant plastic surgeon to hopefully move forward with the abdominoplasty to repair the divarication and umbilical hernia that have plagued me since giving birth to Ella and Sam. It will be a MAJOR operation. A longer recovery than from both c-sections and I will need to be very careful about what I do for several weeks following the surgery. I need to get healthy before that, however. I need to have something to focus on; a goal; a programme. I do so much better when I have a routine to follow. As much as I like to blaze my own trail, I do like to follow directions as well. I’m weird like that.

Today I began my journey with Porridge on Tuesday. I signed up on the site, entered my embarrassing personal details (weight and waist measurement oh my!) and chose my diet structure. Faster than I could share a Facebook status update, I had a week’s worth of meals and snacks in front of me based on my likes and dislikes (and gluten-free lifestyle). I was able to substitute meals and snacks if I didn’t fancy the ingredients and then generate a shopping list based on what I would need for the week. The 2 1/2 pages staring back at me were a bit intimidating but I am excited about trying some new recipes and feeling better about myself. I will be most interested to see if the grocery bill makes me pass out!

So, my Porridge on Tuesday programme will begin, for me, on TUESDAY 11 June. I’ll be updating you weekly and sharing photos and video along the way. I need to feel better and look better and I am pretty confident that Porridge on Tuesday will be just the push in the right direction that I need. Why don’t you check it out and see what I’m so excited about? Here is my first BEFORE picture that I’m leaving you with. I’m really hoping that in 15 weeks (or so), a new, smaller, healthier, happier me will be staring back at you.

The books are a high quality, heavy-weight (sturdy) board book but the genius behind them is that each page helps to create the final image in the end of the story. I loved that surprise. The illustrations are fabulous and full of colour. Have a look for yourself!

Time for Bed is the perfect bed time read…or early morning, or mid-morning, or mid-afternoon or whenever it is that your son or daughter plonks the book on your lap. It’s a pleasure to read such beautiful books!

Honk Honk! Baa Baa! has been a wonderful source of entertainment as Sam continues to practise his animal sounds. We haven’t quite cracked the “Hee Haw” of the Donkey though. Sam thinks he’s a horse which is alright I guess!

We also managed to have a recording session reading both books. Sam provides some great audio enhancement, I think! I loved reading Petr Horacek’s board books. My yet-unrealised dream of writing my own children’s books was reignited after seeing the lovely work of Petr Horacek. Perhaps he’ll illustrate my books one day?

This is the hard part about living 4000 miles away from my family. They miss out on the every day. They miss out on building relationships that will last years. I miss out on them having that time with my children. But that is the price you pay. You can’t always have the best of both worlds. I am grateful that we have Mark’s parents only 10 minutes from us. At least that relationship is strong.

I’m struggling right now. Not just because my Mom went home. I can cope with that. You learn to when it becomes the norm. I’m back to struggling with me. I’ve lost my identity, lost myself and I feel like I’m walking around in a bubble. Sometimes it feels like I am drowning in my everyday. I’m back to where I was when I first was diagnosed with PND. I’m off the meds and floundering. I have nothing to distract me. No work, nothing that is just mine. I adore my children and husband but something is not right. I am shouting inside my head but I can’t seem to get it out. I don’t want to be like this. I put up a good front but something has got to give. Sometimes I just want to shout and let it all out. And then I remember that I don’t like shouting.

But why does the solution have to be medication? Those pills don’t make you happy. They just keep you in that bubble; bouncing along semi-detached…like a house. What is the answer? I wish I knew. The picture below is of Mark and me. Before kids, in 2005 or 2006. I’m really wondering where this woman has gone because the one looking back at me now looks nothing like this. I’d really like to find her.

Upon hearing that there was an upcoming insect handling session shortly after our arrival, Ella turned her moody frown upside down and was raring to go. My brave girl held an African Giant Snail, a Stick Insect and a Cockroach which was about the size of her palm. Ack! I couldn’t believe how brave Ella was! She surely does not get this from me.

The best part of Butterfly World for me, however, was not the bugs but the outdoor spaces. There was a lovely play space with climbing frames, sand boxes, slides and wobbly bridges. There was a lovely walk which led to some extremely creative gardens with a variety of themes. I could have spent a lot more time exploring these gardens but a tired 18month old and a nearly-5 yeara old had other plans. Our Sunday at Butterfly World was outstanding, however. We enjoyed nature and had great fun as a family…what more could you want on a Sunday?

I have been stressing and sweating over Ella’s cake the last few days. I wanted it to be perfect. I knew I couldn’t manage a traditional English birthday cake. One wrapped in sugar paste/fondant and decorated perfectly. I just don’t have it in me. I went with what I was comfortable with. Cake. Icing. Chocolate. Marshmallows. It took a while. One fail. One success. Much baking. Much gluten. The result? Well, I’m actually really proud of it!

And just in case you can’t fully appreciate Ella’s cake in all it’s marshmallowey glory…

**bows deeply**I thank you! And just so you know, the cake is red velvet inside so, fingers crossed, when I carefully cut the cake, it should make for a pretty picture. Also, we are EATING this cake AT the party. This cake is not getting wrapped up and put in party bags! We’re going to enjoy it like cake should be enjoyed! **never understood this English Birthday tradition**

The party runs from 2-4 pm. We’ll be done cleaning up by 5pm. I will need a crisp, refreshing adult beverage at 5:15pm. Wish us luck!

The sun was glorious, the wind was just blustery enough and the trees were beckoning. There are two trees at Burghley House that are the perfect climbing trees. One is still living, the other has been felled and carved to allow children of all ages to climb on it. Ella loves both trees and has become a much more confident tree climber as a result. Sammy got his first proper climb of both trees today as well. We have a climber in Sam, that’s for sure! This was the perfect way to spend our first full day with Grandma.

Join in on #CountryKids at Coombe Mill!

I’ve been in England for 8 years now. I inherited the house Mark had created and gradually have made it ours. A lot of furniture and bits and bobs have gone by the wayside in 8 years. One piece that has always bothered me, however, is the main storage/display unit in our lounge. It is from IKEA but is most definitely NOT one of the pieces I worship from IKEA (*cough EXPEDIT*). Over the years I have been the one to dust it, add and subtract photos, not dust it and generally hate it. Since welcoming Sam into our family I have felt the overwhelming desire to declutter. Maybe it’s ante-natal nesting or anti-nesting but it’s been making me feel ruthless.

The photo above is the storage unit as it was in our lounge. In the 2 glass-door cabinets on top, glasses (both from Mark’s first wedding and our own) as well as a few photos from our wedding. These two cabinets remained largely untouched (and mostly undusted) as they were out of my reach and had doors. And I’m a bit lazy when it comes to dusting. The shelves in the middle and on the sides held books, photo frames, bits, bobs and general dust attractors. The cabinets on the bottom, with the solid doors, held more rubbish and paraphernalia than I care to admit to. But the doors were solid. No one needed to see in. Or dust!

The death warrant for the storage unit came when a skip arrived on our drive last Saturday. We are having our flat roof re-done soon and our currently sieve-like garage was in need of a serious blitz. Mark tackled that over the weekend leaving me with half of a skip to fill. Thus began my plotting. On Wednesday I began the binning of years of stuff. Some of it was spared, most of it was added to the bin. As I kept throwing things out, I was gaining steam. I knew that I wanted to get rid of the whole storage unit. I also knew that I wanted to do it myself.

Yesterday and today was all it took. Shelves where slotted out of place, doors were removed from hinges, screws were unscrewed and much bashing and crashing occurred as each section took its place in the skip. I was temporarily scuppered by the top cabinets but on advice from my neighbour across the road, I got a hammer!

I shimmied the unit around, lowered it onto the floor and then gave it a few good whacks with a hammer. Ooh, that was mildly therapeutic, I tell you! Sam was my dutiful assistant after that, even attempting to unscrew a few screws! Out went the side pieces, out went loads of screws and pegs, out went the cabinets…all except the bottom two with the solid doors. Until we can afford an Expedit television cabinet we do need a bit of storage for Sammy’s toys. Now our room is bigger, lighter, far less dusty and far less cluttered. And I am She-Rah!