May in pictures! Love Instagram

It's the first proper day of Winter today (in the southern hemisphere anyway) and the sky is enormous! And perfectly blue for as far as the eye can see.  It's also 23 degrees outside!!  Yes, 23 degrees!!!  I promise never ever to complain about winter again!  Oh and it's also whale season in Sydney where the beautiful hump backs make their way to warmer waters swimming literally right past our house!  I haven't seen one yet, but I am so excited!!

Like the rest of this year, May has gone by in a flash and I don't think I've posted one instagram photo!!  So here is a round up.  I had to choose my favourites as I have just taken far too many to post in one place - and I would hate to bore you all silly!!  You could always follow me on instagram at mrsdbplus3 if you want to see them all.

chocolate Friday

Master J is allowed to have chocolate spread on his sandwiches for school on a Friday only and of course Miss H is now old enough to tell me that "it's not fair!!!"  So now the tradition has spread to the girls too.  Little Miss L was VERY happy with hers.

I absolutely CANNOT resist proteas.  They are just the most beautiful flowers ever!  My Granddad has a farm in South Africa where he grows them and there is nothing more amazing than walking through rows and rows of these spectacular plants.  They were my wedding flowers too (from grandpa's farm of course) so there is a bit sentimentality there for me!  I saw these in a coffee shop in the city and was tempted to smuggle them home.

My little lady is growing up too fast!  She has gone from refusing to look at the camera, to asking me to take pictures of her every five minutes.  I don't know which one is worse!!

Just too cute! 

My favourite spot

Watching Dad Go-karting!!

My drive to and from Master J's school never gets old!!  The ocean looks different every day - and you never know, I might see my first whale of the season from up here!

My darling little niece started eating solids this month.  I wish I could see her for reals!!

How beautiful is this autumn light?

Multi tasking at it's best!

The double rainbow ends right in Master J's bedroom - or so he thought!!

I made this pink rainbow cake for Miss L's birthday at our local playgroup.  I got the recipe from Retro Mummy.  It wasn't as tricky as I thought it would be and I actually quite enjoyed making it.  I'll have to do it again one day to perfect it.  Her tip to put the cake in the fridge for an hour between each layer of icing was brilliant!! 

What kid doesn't love a dad swing?

Watching the waves!  Miss L and I walk to the beach every day to get some fresh air.  I think she loves it as much as I do.

Well that's it - a bit of a random selection really, but I had fun taking them all.  

Happy June everyone.  Half way through the year already.  I hope it's a great month! xxx

A VERY first Birthday

This week my baby turned ONE!!!!

I really debated about having a third child.  Was I doing the right thing? Would I have enough love to go around?  Could we afford it?  Would it make us outnumbered as parents?  Could I cope with three children with no family around for support?  But no matter how many 'if' and 'buts' swirled around in my head, my heart was always sure.  Eventually I let my heart win and I will be FOREVER thankful that I did, as none of us would be complete without our beautiful, cute as a button, little Miss L.

I have to be honest and admit that I am still 'processing' that fact that my baby is ONE!!  Somedays I really wish I could freeze time and she could stay little forever (actually there are moments when I feel a bit like that with all of them).

A little overwhelmed with all the pressies

We started the day off a little jaded (well Mr D and I did) as our poor little one year old kept us up half the night with 'ouchy' teeth.  The big two top ones are pushing through and they are really causing her some pain.  Nothing some pressies couldn't fix though!!  Master J and Miss H were so good and they let her do most of the unwrapping.  (Of course the birthday fairy did bring them both a little something too).

I just love that smile.

We haven't had a birthday party yet as mummy isn't organised enough, but dad took us all out for a birthday dinner instead.  By the time we left there NO CAKE LEFT!!

Yummy!!

Birthday girl in the middle

Vivid Sydney! This city is magical!

Tonight we took the ferry across into the city to see Vivid Sydney!  It's the most spectacular festival of lights and really one not to be missed   We went last year but it was freezing, Miss L was only days old and Miss H decided to start vomiting!!  It was definitely a night to remember but for all the wrong reasons!!

Tonight it was just beautiful.  The weather was balmy (well a little chilly, but no where near freezing), everyone was happy and the lights were amazing.

Customs House

The museum of Contemporary Arts 

The Harbour Bridge in all its glory. 

One of THOSE days!

Yes, you know the ones  - where everything goes wrong and the universe it just totally against you!!  Well that was my day yesterday.  By that dreaded time of day (the tea, bath, bed time) my usual 'organised' chaos was just plain CHAOS!!!

It all went seriously down hill at bath time.  Master J and Miss H were fighting over something in the bath and it was starting to do my head in!!  I can't even remember what it was about as I stopped listening to the constant shrill of "He said, she said, he started it, she started it...."  The only reason I was still in the bathroom was because Miss L still needs to be supervised in the water, otherwise I would have been well outta there!!

After not very long I'd had enough so I bundled Miss L into a nice warm towel and took her on to my bed to get her into her pj's.  I was just strapping up her nappy when I heard this awful scream (the one where you drop everything and run) and the next second Miss H was running into the room yelling "There's blood!!!  Lots of blood!  Master J is bleeding mummy!! COME QUICK"  I ran into the bathroom and sure enough, there was blood everywhere.  Master J actually seemed ok.  "It's just a nose bleed, mummy" he said, "but a really bad one!"  What happened I asked (taking lots of deep breaths!  If you didn't already know, I am NOT good with blood).  Miss H, threw a monster truck at me and it hit me in the nose".  "For god's sake" I thought!!!

He was now dripping blood all over the bathroom, so I told him to get back into the bath and put his head between his knees (I think that was the right thing???? Must re-new my first aid training!!!).  I was just about to get him another flannel (yes, there really was that much blood) when there was a huge THUD! followed by another blood curdling scream!  SHIT SHIT SHIT I totally forgot that I had left Miss L on my bed and clearly she had just fallen off!  I dashed back into my bedroom and scooped her up, rocking her furiously trying to calm her down.  Miss H was now skipping up and down the landing (still naked) shouting "Mummy said a rude word, mummy said a rude word!!"

Whilst trying to get Miss L to calm down, I remembered that I had told Master J to get back in the bath.  Oh god, what if he's fainted - IN THE WATER (something I would probably do - and was not far off it)!!  What a stupid thing to tell him!!  My stress levels now sky high, I ran back into the bathroom.  "You OK honey", I asked him.  "Yes, mummy I just need some more tissues' (Yep - still bleeding).  I started wondering if this was normal and should I be calling a doctor when the fire alarm went off!!!  I KID. YOU. NOT!  It was so loud that I couldn't even hear myself think!!!!

Why the hell was it going off????  I was sure that I didn't have anything on that could have caught fire?  Now Master J is yelling "FIRE FIRE!  We need to get outside NOW mum!" (bearing in mind it's pouring with rain outside and I'm the only one with clothes on right now).

I ran downstairs, half expecting there to genuinely be a fire but there was nothing!  Thank GOD!!  I checked everywhere but it was all ok.  Phew - I've made so many silly mistakes under pressure before that I didn't trust myself that I hadn't actually left anything on in the kitchen.

With the alarm still screaming, my head pounding, my heart racing, a baby crying, Master J shouting "Fire Fire!" and Miss H - well who knows what she was saying.......... I thought I was going to crack!!!!

After balancing on a chair, ripping the alarm off the ceiling with the end of a mop, and pulling the batteries out I finally had silence!!

Have you ever had one of those parenting moments where you feel like you've totally lost control of the situation?? Please say yes!!

(Sorry there are no photos on this post - it was one of those rare times when the camera was the last thing on my mind!!)

Oh and today is FRIDAY!  Yippeee and I'm smiling again.  Happy weekend everyone x

It's ok to be a little nervous! A Master class in blogging and a cocktail party

Even deciding what to wear was a tricky task!!!  I had to conquer two outfits, one to wear to the Kidspot Blogging Masterclass (which was going to be full of fabulous bloggers that I have only ever read online profiles of), and the other was a cocktail dress for the party in the evening.  The last time I wore a cocktail dress was so long ago that I had to send Mr D deep into our 'storage' to try and find my old stash of dresses!  I didn't even know if they were going to still fit me.

I decided to wear something warm and comfy, and packed my posh frock before headed out the door.  The kids were a bit confused as it's normally Mr D going off to work, not me!  "Where's mummy going?  When is she coming back?" I could hear them ask as I made a dash out the front door.

It was one of those beautiful, crisp winter days where the vast blue skies can't help but make you smile, and I had a whole heap of butterflies in my tummy to join in too.  As I pulled my wheelie bag along the road toward the bus stop I suddenly felt transported back in time to the days when I used to be dressed in my glamourous Virgin Atlantic 'whites', pulling my bag along to meet the crew bus ready for my next adventure.  I had that very same nervous excitement that I used to get in my early flying days when I was about to meet a brand new crew and head off into the skies!

What does one wear to their first ever blogging function????

I arrived at the venue early (I had given myself LOADS of time to find it as I'm an expert at getting lost, especially in the city).  I got out the cab, stood in front of the building and took a HUGE deep breath.  'Here we go" I though, as I headed through the doors (with only slightly trembling hands).

It's really quite nerve wracking standing in a room full of people who you don't know in person and trying to think of something intelligent to say to start a conversation - especially when you know they are all amazing bloggers!  Silly really when I used to work with some very well known A-list celebs at Virgin without even blinking an eyelid.  But for some reason I felt so much more nervous this time!!

I spied Naomi from Not just a mummy ,who'd I'd met once before, and her big beaming smile made me relax instantly.  We found a table and I sat down next to Rachel from Redcliffe Style  ("OMG OMG, just act normal" I though, with my heart beating at 100 beats a minute).  I wanted to tell her just how fabulous I think her blog is, but shyness took over and besides, I didn't want her to think I was some kind of nutty stalker lady!!  So we chatted about our girls instead and she was just so lovely.  Also at our table was Barbs from Patchwork Cactus, Salz from Dummyspit and Karen from Yellow Dandy Dreams.  All of whom were equally as lovely and I couldn't help feeling a little overwhelmed by all the talent in the room (in a good way of course and I had to pinch myself once or twice, just to make sure I WAS actually there).

Hailey Bartholomew (award winning photographer, film maker and founder of the 365 Grateful project - amongst other things) opened the masterclass with a very emotional story about where it all began for her.  She showed us a little film called 'White picket fenced-in" that she made before she even owned a video camera, and by the end of it I could feel the tears falling down my cheeks.  Not that it was a sad film at all........it just really really struck a cord in me.  It was about how she felt, as a stay at home mum, that the world was just passing her by!  She managed to beautifully articulate exactly how I sometimes feel ever since becoming "mummy' full time just over two years ago.  I'm not at all an unhappy person, in fact, I think I am the happiest I've ever been.   I love my three children dearly, but somethings I really do feel that there is something else out there - just for me, and if I'm not careful it's going to just pass me by.  Hailey, you have no idea how powerful your talk was for me, so for that I thank you for the bottom of my heart.

I don't know where blogging is going to take me, but right now, I love it!  And that is enough for me to keep going.

Hailey was followed by two other panels of speakers who performed a kind of question and answer type interview on everything you might like to know about blogging, from design, to social media and even to working with brands.  To me, who is a self taught, very new blogger (with next to no experience) the value of these tips and advice were immeasurable!  I was literally like a sponge, soaking it all up and furiously taking notes so not to miss anything!

These are just a few of the tips that I'll be working on:

Later than evening, after the Masterclass, was a cocktail party to celebrate all those fantastic bloggers that were chosen as the Top 25 Australian bloggers in their category in the Kidspot Voices of 2013 competition.  (You can find out more about the competition here).  I didn't make the top 25 but I was a nominee and so was invited to attend the evening.  And what an honour that was - I still can't believe that I was even nominated!!

There was a few hours between the Masterclass ending and the cocktail party starting, but not enough time for me to get all the way home, changed and then back into the city again.  I wasn't quite sure what to do, so I put a note out on twitter a few days before (yes, twitter!!!! I didn't even know what twitter was six months ago) asking if there was anyone that could help.  The lovely Amanda from A cooker and A looker replied saying that I could share her hotel room.  Amazing!!  She didn't even know who I was!!  Mr D wasn't convinced by this 'twitter' thing!  "How do you even know she's a woman?" he asked  "Anyone could be offering you a room - sounds dodgy to me!!!"  Luckily I met Amanda at the Masterclass first so I knew she was the real deal, but I still had to txt Mr D ALL the details of where I was!!

It's truly amazing how friendly and welcoming this online community of 'bloggers' are.

A bit of fun with Amanda from 'A cooker and a looker' and Aleney from Boy eats world

After a fun and exciting evening of chatting to lots of like minded and fabulous woman, I headed home with a smile on my face and a fire my belly!!!  And to top it all off, I got a lift home from the fabulous Seana Smith.  Her book "Sydney for under 5's" was literally my bible in our first few months here in Sydney!!!

Now THAT's a goodie bag!!

So if you haven't already done so, I highly recommend you check out all the wonderful blogs I've mentioned in this post, and I'd like to especially wish Amanda from "A cooker and a looker' and Aleney from 'Boy Eats World' the very best of luck in the competition.

Thank you SO much to Kidspot for this amazing opportunity and for opening my eyes to a whole new world.

(Sponsored Post) How to make your home FIRE SAFE this winter!

Do you really know how safe your home is from fire??  When I was asked to write this post I thought "Oh yeah, our house is pretty safe" especially as we've literally just had all our smoke alarms tested and replaced.  The first two things that popped into my head of 'potential dangers' were the iron and my GHD hair straightener's - both of which I will shamefully admit to forgetting to turn off in the past.  Luckily (for that very reason) I have a new fancy shmancy iron and GHD's that both switch themselves off if they are left unused for longer than 10 minutes!!!! 

So really that must make our house a definite low fire risk right???

WRONG!!!

I logged on to the New South Wales Home Fire Safety Audit and I was really quite shocked to discover that actually our home is considered to be a 'high risk' for fire!!  It has been a real eye opener for me as it made me aware of every day things like heaters and tumble dryers that could potentially cause a fire at home!!!

A fire in your home can be one of the most awful (and potentially tragic) things that could possibly ever happen to a family.  It just doesn't bear thinking about, so if you want to find out how 'fire safe' your home is (and I highly recommend you do), then just log into the 

NSW HOME FIRE SAFETY AUDIT  

and follow the steps.  They ask you a few simple questions about your home, your environment, and your lifestyle choices.  Within a few minutes they will not only give your home a fire safety rating but also some very valuable tips on how to improve your understanding of the fire risks in your home and how you can make it safer.

One of the questions asked was "Does your family have an emergency plan of action that you can follow in case of an emergency including fire?"  We didn't!  This was one of those things that just hadn't occurred to me to do.  Luckily you can download one here, which is a great help.  I also decided to chat to Master J and Miss H and explain to them what our smoke alarms were, and what would happen if they were to go off.  I turned them on for a couple of seconds so that they could hear the loud shrieking noise they made (which was met with fits of giggles and hands covering ears).  "So what do you think it means if you hear that noise in the house?" I asked them.   "FIRE FIRE!!" yelled Miss H, jumping up and down in excitement (mmmm, I'm not quite sure she's getting the seriousness of this!!).  "What should you DO if you hear that noise?" I then asked.  "Master J was taking this little lesson much more seriously (and already had his fireman suit on).  "If I hear that noise mummy, I run down the stairs and shout "FIRE FIRE' as loud as I can and then I will run outside and tell everybody else, so they can come and help!"  "Great answer kid" I said.  We did go into it in little more depth, but I was happy that they understood it somewhat anyway.

I'm afraid to say that it wasn't actually too long before they had to practice for real.  A couple of days ago I decided to do a bit of conventional cooking and not use my thermomix, and within 10 minutes of trying to 'lightly fry' some homemade fish fingers I had set the fire alarm off.  Poor Miss L got such a fright she decided to join in with the shrieking and before I could even get to the alarm to switch it off, Master J was literally flying out the front door heading over to the neighbours house yelling "FIRE FIRE" at the top of his voice!!!

I had to chuckle - but at least my lesson had sunk in!

So if you have not done so already MAKE YOUR HOME FIRE SAFE today.  I would truly hate for anything awful to happen to anyone, especially if it could have been prevented.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post however all the opinons written are entirely my own.

Have you made A Beautiful Mess?

I am a just little bit obsessed with this new smartphone App from A beautiful Mess.  Have you tried it yet??

Linking up for Wordless Wednesday with My Little Drummer Boys

A Mothers Day off and a yoghurt cake

Master J insits that EVERY day is Mothers Day! "Mums are SOOOO lucky!" he says "They can do whatever they want, whenever they want and they NEVER have any rules!!!!!"

Wouldn't it just be AWESOME if that was true??  What would you do if you could do Whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted??

Photo designed by Miss H xx

I really had the loveliest day on Sunday.  Mr D and the kids gave me the BEST present a mum could want........ A DAY OFF!!!  As much as I love my three little munchkins (to the moon and back), a day of blissful silence can never be underestimated.

It all started with a lie in.  I have NO idea how Mr D managed to keep the kids from waking me up, but I didn't hear anything until war broke out between Master J and Miss H about who had got dressed the quickest, and when I looked at the time it was 8:37!!!!!  A few years ago that would still have seemed  like the middle of the night not a Sunday morning, but these day anything later than 6:30 is heaven.

I came downstairs and Miss threw her arms around me and shouted "Happy Mothers Day Mummy! but don't forget you already had your presents!!!!!"  They had both been too excited coming home from Kindy and school on Thursday with all their beautiful home made gifts that I had no choice but to open them there and then!!!  "I know sweetie" I told her, "I haven't forgotten and I still l LOVE them"  She responded with a big beaming smile, so she was happy!  "You haven't got your present from Daddy yet" she told me....."He's got you a REAL coffee.  One from the shop and not from the kitchen!

Mr D had actually organised with another dad friend of his to take ALL six kids between them out for the day so that us mums could REALLY do whatever we wanted.

Once they had left I didn't quite know what to do with myself!  Where to start.......should I go for a walk, read my book, write a blog, go to the mall, go to the gym?????????  I actually found it really hard not to do all the boring household stuff, but I make a conscious effort not too and it was amazing how great it felt to just relax and not feel guilty about it.

I did however do some baking, which I find kind of therapeutic, so it fitted perfectly into my Day off activities.  I found the recipe for this raspberry yoghurt cake on the internet somewhere (a while ago now) and I copied into 'Word' so that I wouldn't loose it, and I foolishly didn't take note of the source.  So if you're reading this and it's your recipe - THANK YOU it was delicious!! xx

Orange, Raspberry and Yoghurt Cake

Ingredients

400g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
250g unsalted butter (room temperature)
300g raw sugar
juice of 1/2 orange
1 tsp almond extract
Peel from half and orange
3 eggs
240g greek yoghurt
250g fresh or frozen rasberries

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a 10 inch cake tin or large loaf tin with baking paper.

• Place the orange peel into the thermomix and whizz on speed 9 for 30 seconds.  Scrape down the sides and whizz for a further 10 seconds on speed 9.  Set aside in a separate bowl.
• Add the butter and sugar to the thermomix bowl and mix for 40 seconds on speed 7.  Scrape down the sides.
• Add the peel, almond extract and the orange juice and beat for 20 seconds on speed 7.  (Tip: squeeze the orange onto the thermomix lid with the MC in place.  That way any pips or pulp will not fall into the mixture).

• Add the eggs one at a time.  Beat each one in for 10 seconds on speed 7 before adding the next one.
• Add the yoghurt and mix into for 5 seconds on speed 3-4.

• Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt) and mix in on speed 5-6 for 1 minute or until well combined.  Scrape down the sides.
• Add the raspberries and mix in on reverse speed plus 3 for 20 seconds or until well combined.

• Pour into your lined tin and bake for around an hour.  Check with a knife or a skewer and if it comes out clean, then it's ready.
• Dust with some icing sugar and serve with fresh cream (or ice cream).

ENJOY!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Mothers Day too and I'm just going to take this opportunity (because I can) to tell the world that my family rocks!!

The Mum to Mum project

TODAY Johnson's baby Australia and the Murdock Childrens Research Institute released it's

The project is inspired by the shared bond of motherhood that all us mums have in common.  The idea behind it is that from time to time EVERY mum needs a little reassurance that we're 'doing ok'.  It really doesn't matter if you're a brand new mum with your first precious bundle or an experienced mum with a growing family.  NO two children are the same and every child brings it's own set of surprises that can send even the most experienced mum into a bit of a panic!!  Being a mum is not just the most rewarding job in the world but it can also be the toughest, and sometimes a simple 'reassuring' word from a fellow mum can do us the world of good.

Johnson's Baby Australia conducted a survey which showed that 79% of mums turn to other mums or their own mums when things get a little tough and they need some advice, support or encouragement.  The Mum to Mum project has been set up so that we can all share our little pearls of motherhood wisdom and encouragement with each other.

It can be anything from 'it's ok to cry' or 'bribery works' to 'You won't give your baby third degree burns by putting a bottle in the microwave - all you need to do is give it a little shake to disperse the hot spots!!' (can you tell this one comes from experience???)  I remember when Master J was still a baby and having several bottles a day.  He would literally scream the house down whilst the bottle either sat in a cup of water in the fridge to cool down or in a cup of boiling water to heat up!  I would be glaring at it, literally willing it to get to the right temperature IMMEDIATELY, whilst trying to soothe a baby who quite clearly was not at all interested in my (trying to be) calming voice, telling him 'any minute now bubs, any minute!" I'm sure if he could talk he would have said "For god's sake - you know I have my bottle at 10:30 EVERY morning and not a second later!  Why do we have to go through the same process at every feed?????"  It wasn't until a few months later, whilst visiting my sister-in-law (who is a mum of three), that I discovered that I could just pop the bottle into the microwave for 30 seconds, give it a good shake and voile!  Just like that, it was ready!!  She said to me (over the top of Master J's desperate screams) "Why are you heating it like that, just use the microwave???" I was sooo sure (as a first time mum) that using a microwave to heat a bottle was the WORST thing to do and that I could burn his mouth causing permanent damage!

I'm sure I'm not the only mum out there who just WISHES someone had given them some honest and practical advice whilst they were struggling with something - be it birth, post birth, sheer exhaustion,  breast feeding, swaddling, teething, fussy eaters, first day of school.........the list is endless.

This is Sarah Murdoch's (Ambassador for the Murdoch Children's Research Institue's) patch of advice.

If you would like to join in the MUM TO MUM PROJECT, then all you have to do is:

1. Like the Johnson's Baby Australia Facebook Page (using your personal account and not a Facebook page)
2. Click on the "mum to mum' App at the top of the page and follow the instructions.

Screen grab from the Johnson's Baby Australia Facebook page

Each piece of motherly wisdom entered will be stitched together to form a giant and beautiful 'virtual patchwork of collected wisdom' for all mums to log into and just have a read.  Hopefully it will put a smile on someones face, give someone a well needed giggle, ease someones anxiety, put someones mind at ease and touch hundreds and thousands of mums with messages of positivity and inspiration.

You can also vote on what you believe to be some of the 'best' pieces of advice and these patches will be printed onto 2,000 baby wraps and donated to the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute to give to some real mums who are involved in research being carried out to improve children's health in Australia and around the world.

With 99% of Australian and New Zealand mums on Facebook, we really have the power to make a difference - so log in and add your piece of motherly wisdom.  I really wish this was around when I was a first time mum.

The beautiful Ada Nicodemou, a new mum, and the gorgeous Sarah Murdoch, a mum of three.  Both Ambassadors for Johnson's baby Australia and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute 

A Little bit about the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute:

I was so lucky to be invited to the launch of the Mum to Mum project yesterday at the Muma Club in Bondi Junction, Sydney.  

Johnson's Baby Australia has joined up with the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute to help them with all the fantastic research they are doing to improve the health of children and their mums.  We heard some really inspiring personal stories of motherhood from both Ada Nicodemou (who you may recognise form the Aussie soap Home & Away) and Sarah Murdoch (who you may again recognise as Australia's Next Top Model presenter), who is a mum of three.  It is so refreshing to hear that no matter who you are, as mums, we are all in the same boat.

We also heard from Associate Professor Stephanie Brown who has done some amazing research on maternal health during post pregnancy.  She was such a warm and inspiring woman and started off by telling us a little about her own family and how she has recently become a grandmother to a beautiful little girl who was born blind. 

She also went on to tell us about some of the research she has done and I was really interested to hear about her findings.  One that really surprised me was that the there is a higher number of mums struggling with some form of post natal depression or anxiety when their first born is around 4 years old, than there is when they are 3 months old!!  Post natal depression is something that really strikes a cord with me after my own personal struggle with it, so I would LOVE for all mums to know that it's OK TO ASK FOR HELP!!!

Something that was not so surprising to find out was that almost ALL mums suffer from some kind of extreme exhaustion!!

Click here if you'd like to find out more about Professor Stephanie's research, and if you'd like to help too - then do head over to 'add your patch of motherly wisdom'.

Miss L had the best time at the launch and was a very lucky little lady to have such wonderful babysitters (provided very generously by Platinum Media & Communications) whilst mummy was busy listening to those inspiring women.

Happy Mothers Day (on Sunday) to all you wonderful mummies out there xxxx

*Disclaimer:  I was not paid or gifted to write this post and it was 100% written by me, with no external influences.  Unless otherwise stated all the images were provided to me by Platinum Media & communications.