Breaking Taboos With Tena

During my recent day out at Blog On in Manchester, I was introduced to the lovely ladies at Tena. My previous associations with this brand were that of older women suffering from that which we all come to expect later in life - bladder weakness. Actually, though, they had so much information to share that is relevant to my generation I was shocked. For example, did you know 1 in 3 women will suffer from bladder weakness in their lives, some of which will be in their twenties? I had no idea how common this problem can be, which is probably because it is somewhat of a taboo subject.

The Tena ladies explained that many women are so embarrassed to talk about it or get help that it stops them doing things they love to do. Tena have recently shared a video featuring women talking about their 'little leak' moments - it highlights that this shouldn't be such a hidden topic. So many of us can suffer from it and breaking the stigma by talking about it is the best thing any of us can do. I'm sure if we can talk about our periods and even our sex lives that we should be able to talk about something that can affect our lives so considerably?

So if you are suffering then don't be afraid to talk about it and make people like me aware that this problem is not just for the older generations. Let's break that taboo.

Me and Mine September 17

It has been some time since I posted on here. After taking a break all the way back in March I have been focusing my time on my YouTube channel and neglected my little blog. But I do still want to capture our family memories like I always have done so I thought I would write a little round up of the last few months to try and capture what has been going on with us.

The summer was relatively busy, despite me trying to rest as much as possible. We spent the first two weeks in Gran Canaria and it was lovely to be all together, switched off from the world and just enjoy each other's time. We made some lovely memories and the children loved the slower pace, daddy all to themselves and spending every day in the pool! When we got back it was a quick snap back to really as I juggled the school holidays. We had days out, trips with friends, saw family and tried to make the most of the summer without overdoing it, which is always a challenge.

Since then the children have returned to school and the transition has been pretty smooth. Jack is in year one and Holly has moved up to year two, which makes me gulp a bit as it is her last year in infants. It just seems to have gone by so quickly. And she already acts like a diva, so who knows what's to come as she gets older!

Mr H started a new job in July so has been busy whilst he adjsusts to his new role and the pressures that come with it. I'm also adjusting from the summer to autumn, which is always a harder time for me as September hits and my body just seems to go into shut down. I'm trying to not to let it affect my mental wellbeing though and just looking on it as a time to rest. So that's  pretty mich what we've been up to, in a very quick nutshell! Here is a video from our summer holiday, which now seems like such a long time ago!

Who Am I?

I am a wife.

I am a mother.

I am a thirty something.

I am a Yorkshire lass.

I am a chronic illness sufferer.

I am a sensitive soul.

I am an idiot at times.

I am gullible.

I am naive.

I am ferocious.

I am creative.

I am passionate.

I am ambitious.

I am not a blogger. At least not for now.

For six long years blogging has been a major part of my identity. It has given me purpose. It has give me focus. It has given me a sense of pride. It has made me confident. It has brought friendships. It is the only thing I have ever stuck to and one of the few things I remained passionate about. It gave me a place to record every memory. It gave me a place to offload. It gave me a voice. And now it feels like that is lost somewhere. One more thing stolen by this illness. One more battle lost.

For a few months now things have not been right. My head has been too busy for my body to keep up with. I've spent too much time in bed and too many hours trying to stop my brain from it's endless cycle. I have been fighting to keep up to it all, to retain my normality as much as possible, refusing to give in or back down.

 But I can't keep it up anymore. Something has to give.

I am so angry and so, so sad to lose this part of me. But I want to be there, to be present in my own life, and be awake long enough to watch my children grow and spend time with my husband, family and friends.

So with a heavy heart I am giving up this part of me, the thing I said I never would do. Hopefully it won't be for long, but it must be until I feel I have enough left to give. So this is a bit of a goodbye to anyone that reads this little part of the Internet world. Hopefully I will be back, we will see what the future holds.

Family Days Out in Lancashire: Liverpool

Growing up in Yorkshire I had only ever visited the west coast of England once as a child. That is until I decided to go to university thirty minutes outside of Liverpool and suddenly a whole new area was opened up to me. There are so many places to visit on this side of the country - Blackpool, Southport, Lytham and not to mention easy access to Wales. Of course on top of all these is 2008's capital of Culture and somewhere very dear to my heart, Liverpool.

Family Days Out In Lancashire: Worsley Village

Today's post features a place very local to us - Worsley Village. Despite driving through Worsley many times, I'd never actually stopped and visited, nor did I realise what there is to do there. It's a great place to spend half a day and finish off with a lunchtime treat and definitely somewhere to visit for the day as a family.

My Photo Of The Week

This weeks photo was actually taken by my husband (yey for getting in the shot!) and I love it. Jack on we're sat together on the edge of a rock with a waterfall gushing next to us, just having a lovely moment together. I love that my husband captured us all together like that.

Is It Ever OK To Argue In Front Of Children?

Is arguing in front of your children ever a good thing? Is it healthy for them to see conflict and know life isn't like a Disney film, or does it cause them unnecessary upset and stress that we as parents should shelter them from? It's something I've gone back and forth on since I became a mum.

Family Days Out in Lancashire: Fairy Glen

Now the weather is picking up a little bit, Mr H and I have decided to try and get out for a family day  at least once over the weekend. This isn't always easy for me when I'm trying to manage having Chronic Fatigue, but if I'm having a bad time we will still try and go out even if it's only to the cinemas. I've been searching and saving ideas for a few weeks now of local places we can try - not being from the area originally myself I don't have my childhood to look back on and Mr H is no help at all! Thanks to various Facebook groups and local friends, I've got quite a collection saved up, so this weekend we decided to try one that looked relatively close to home and make the most of the appearance of the sun.

Me & Mine February 17

Hello and welcome to this month's round up of our family. February has been an up and down month for us all and I think we are all definitely looking forward to Spring and lighter, warmer days. Half term flew by without much upset, the children enjoyed their time off and I appreciated spending time with them. Both are flourishing at school, both academically and socially and Mr H and I enjoyed a quiet Valentine's exploring a bit of our local area we hadn't visited before, finishing with a cream tea.

Holly

This Just In...Breaking Travel News

Stop Press! We have a special news broadcast coming to Hollybobbs news from two junior reporters! If you are looking to travel this summer then put everything down and press play!

My Advice To Help You Enrich Your Everyday Life

Do you ever feel like getting off the grid? Closing up shop, packing everything up and just getting away from life? I know I do. I have recently been following the travels of a friend on Instagram who for three months has taken her children out of school and travelled the world with her family. They've lived in Barbados, travelled various places in America and are currently on a plantation in Mississippi, and it looks an incredible experience for her and her family. Just watching her travels has made me seriously think about doing something similar. I love our home, our friends and the lives we had, but I do often think about how many other places there are in the world for us to see and experience.

My Photo of the Week

It's a bit grainy and blurry but it sums up my weekend spent in bed, with these two making me smile.

They Don't Want To Know

I'm tired today.

I'm struggling today.

I've spent today in bed.

Today is a bad day.

I'm lonely.

I'm fed up.

I don't know what to do.

All words I've uttered over the last forty eight hours. All words greeted with silence, musings of 'I know', or pearls of wisdom.

They want to help. They want to be there. They want to hear it.

Yet they don't.

My Photo Of The Week

I've decided to share my favourite photo of the week on my blog, for something I can look back on and also to make sure I'm sharing something of our family more regularly.

I just love this photo of Holly - we had a photoshoot over the weekend and had all donned matching checked shirts (of course). She'd borrowed Jack's hat and just looks so flipping cool in it. She gets more and more grown up every day, this little lady of mine.

Me & Mine January 17

2017 has arrived and already we are one month in. Here is our update for January.

A photo posted by Hollybobbs ❤️💙💛💚 (@hollybobbs) on Jan 25, 2017 at 11:27am PST

Berlin In Photos

Its nearly two months since my trip to Berlin with Jet2CityBreaks, but it is a trip that is still on my mind and definitely left it's imprint. You can have a look at my post about my time there and my advice for visiting with children, today I wanted to post a photo roundup of my trip, sharing those photos that haven't made any of my posts but that still sum up my fantastic weekend.

Please Leave The Light On Mummy

For some reason, since Holly started back at school in September she has had trouble at bedtime. Since she was a baby she fell into a great routine and always seemed to thrive by that. At three years old she would use her Gro Clock to tell what time it was, and turn her light out at whatever number I said with very little prompting. She never kicked up a fuss, she loved her bed and unlike her brother, was amazing at going to sleep.

No trouble aged two

Four months ago that all changed. I'm not sure what triggered it, but it hasn't been an easy adjustment for her or us and bedtimes have become something I dread. Holly now refuses to go to sleep and it seems no matter how much cuddling or soothing I do she doesn't drop off until she's literally tired out. She's been telling me she doesn't like being on her own, she doesn't like her bed and that she's scared of the dark and it has literally got to the point where we are both in tears and I just haven't known what to do to fix it.

Three years ago we went on holiday to Cornwall and as Jack was only two and not used to sleeping in a bed with no sides, which is all we had there, we would leave the lounge light on so he could see in the night. From then on he always needed the halfway light on at home, so then of course Holly got used to it. Neither of them will now let me shut their bedroom doors on a night and if they wake up and I've turned the light out they get upset.

Excited about her new bed, aged three

It's now escalated that Holly needs a light on to go to sleep. My mum bought her a lamp before Christmas and this has transformed bedtime, but I'm not sure how happy this makes me. On one hand she is back to her old self, going to sleep when it's the right time and not constantly shouting down. On the other hand I can't see how getting used to having a light on is a good thing.

Right now we are just going with it - I cannot be trekking up and down the stairs every few minutes until 10pm and she needs her sleep. Maybe this light stops the monsters and reassures her she is safe and if that is the way, then so be it. This parenting malarky is so trial and error, I'm never sure whether I'm doing it wrong or not, and that is often the hardest part. All I can do is my best and hope that I've got it right.

Aged six

Me & Mine: A 2016 Round Up

OK, so we are nearly two weeks into January (holy crap, how did that happen?!) but last year I wrote a bit of a round up of our family posts that I have shared throughout the year and wanted to do the same this year. Whilst I haven't managed to keep up to Me & Mine every month, again,  I do still enjoy seeing all the photos I have shared all together.

January 2016

5 Things To Do In Berlin With Children

During my recent visit to Berlin with Jet2CityBreaks, when we flew from Leeds/Bradford to Berlin Schoenefeld Airport on their inaugural flight, I took in the beautiful and breathtaking history of a city I've never really considered previously. Today I wanted to share some things you can do with the children if you decide to take a family trip there. Of course there is the usual Sealife Centre, Legoland and Madame Tussauds, but if you're looking to introduce your kids to a more authentic experience, here are my top suggestions.

Here's To 2017

I'm not really one for resolutions - I hate the pressure of having to stick to things and knowing if I fail it's out there for all the world to see. But it has occurred to me lately that I'm possibly a bit flaky and don't really stick to much. Apart from my marriage, blogging has been the only thing I have stuck out for longer than a couple of years and I tend to find some excuse not to complete goals, diets and any other resolutions I set myself.

So I've decided this year I will do my utmost to push past the self doubt and lack of motivation and put some targets in place that I can try and accomplish. If I don't, so be it, but I want to at least say I tried. So in no particular order they are: