Baby Show Ticket Giveaway

On March 2nd-4th The Baby Show, with MadeforMums is being held at the London Excel Centre. Mike and I have been invited to go along, now that we're parents to be! An incredible shopping experience, The Baby Show offers the biggest and best brands for parents, bumps and new babies - we can't wait!

Given that I'll be a disabled Mum with some difficulties and limitations, I personally cannot wait to meet all the exhibitors to try and test their products, anything that will help make me a better, more capable mother. Plus by the time of the show, we'll know whether we'll be buying pink or blue!

From Baby Bjorn, Chicco, Joolz, MAM, Tommee Tippee, Mothercare, Babiesrus and many many more The Baby Show really is the place to go for all your baby needs!

I have two full-priced adult tickets to give away! See below for your many chances to win!

Baby Show Ticket Giveaway

Good Luck!

L x

I'm Pregnant!

If you've not seen my countless social media posts or YouTube videos... I'm pregnant! I'm now in week 16 and thankfully rid of the 1st Trimester. What with pain, sickness, fatigue... and that doesn't even include my long-term conditions, I've felt dreadful.

I now have the practicalities of pregnancy and a baby to contend with, how will my body copy as the baby grows (and grow it will, Mike is a big guy and the baby is already presenting 9 days bigger than it's actual conception date!) and as a disabled parent, I'm going to have to find ingenious and practical ways to ensure the safety of the baby and myself. But more on that in the coming months.

Below are my first two vlogs about Button (babies nickname) and me.

Button Update No1

This video is from the day we found out we were expecting.

If you can't see this video click here

Button Update No. 2

This video is my pain medication withdrawal diary - emotional and a hard watch but I wanted to be honest with my readers. 

If you can't see this video click here

Enjoy

L x

Transport Tantrum

Its Vlog week! This week I'm chatting about trains.... no I'm not a spotter but I'm increasingly frustrated and annoyed by public transport in the UK... so I made a video about it!

Please comment, like, share if you think this is something that needs addressing! Watch the video below or if you can't see the video click here!!

Until next Wednesday!
L xxx

48 Hours Later!

November is Complex Regional Pain Syndrome awareness month! November 7th is the internationally recognised CRPS day and I made a vlog.

Every year on this written blog, I've tried to promote and create awareness of the condition I've had for 25 years. The condition really sucks, I'm in pain 24/7 but I wanted to create something a little different this year; the first is trying out Vlog, I hate my voice and I could think of much better things to do than spend the day watching my own face for hours but I wanted to get out of the comfort zone I currently nestle in!

Secondly, I wanted to do a piece about the positive side of dealing with a chronic pain condition and this is what I came up with...

I try to keep chipper about bad days, it's my belief that if you wallow you'll only concentrate on the pain and end up feeling worse, but then this morning....

I felt so rubbish! I've had a little burst of energy (read: coffee) but it has been a difficult day, one I wouldn't normally harp on about, especially when I look so God-awful but I think it's good to show both side of life for us with CRPS

So there you go, so now you have blogs and vlogs to look forward to, you lucky lucky people!

Until next Wednesday!
L x

Such a child! (Halloween!)

Halloween is upon us again! I simultaneously love and hate the season, I think it’s because I’m still a child mentally but clubbed with being a complete and utter wimp.

As a child/teenager my cousins Scott, Lee & Terry thought it was hilarious to scare the crap out of me by making me watch Thriller and Halloween on VHS, then whacking the lamp shades from the top bunks when we had sleepovers – bastards!

The trouble is I never grew out of that fear and I will not watch horror films I’ve never seen before (I’ll watch Halloween, 28 Days Later, Nightmare on Elms Street because I’ve seen them and I know what’s coming!) which is annoying for Mike, but the trouble is; I’m my own worst enemy, I’ll watch YouTube Videos on Planet Dolan and get fully engrossed in those cheesy (probably faked!) ghost investigation programmes on TV, then I have to sleep with the lights on and ignore the need to pee until morning – such.a.child!

On the flipside I love playing dress up with my Nieces and Nephews, Halloween related crafts, trick or treaters visiting, carving pumpkins (also roasting the pumpkin seeds and baking pumpkin pies – one must get their moneys worth!) and nights out – of course!

Yesterday I made Halloween lanterns with two of my Nieces and two of my Nephews who are 12, 8, 6 and 2 I made the whole project easy enough for all ages and I believe I had more fun than the children!

Halloween Lanterns

You’ll need

• Clean and Clear Jars
• PVA Glue
• Poster Paints
• Glitter
• Halloween decorations of your choice
• String 
• LED tea lights

Method

1. Mix 2 parts of PVA to 1 part poster paint for each colour.
2. Use these paint mixtures to paint your jars, the PVA will make the colours opaque so the tea lights can shine through.
3. We decorated ours with fake blood, glitter and cut black paper cut into Halloween themed shapes on our Cricut machine and stuck them all to the outside with more PVA.
4. Drill holes into the lid of each jar and feed the string through them as handles.
5. Leave your jar to dry then pop in your LED tea light and pop on the lid!

Until Next Wednesday
L xxx

novo (Salon) Review

I was lucky enough to win a competition with a Southend Hair salon called novo. I’d won a Kérastase Discipline Blow Dry Treatment for thick unruly hair and after two years without a haircut and a shameful lack of conditioning, my hair was is desperate need of some TLC.

I had a wonderful hairdressing team called Goodman and Brook but they’re in East Sussex and I used to see them when I visited my In-laws, but then they moved West Sussex and as much as I love the G and B team I’m not prepared to drive 2hrs for a hair cut!

Before G and B I hated going to the hairdressers, most of them did as they wished and not what they were asked to do and I once came out of a salon looking like one of my brothers with curtains for hair!

Having won the discipline treatment with novo I thought I’d treat myself to a cut and colour too.

I rode 4 and a half miles on my mobility scooter, only making my hair do worse and arrived at novo. I was greeted By Abbie who was my colourist, she made me a Cappuccino and we started my transformation!

Novo Southend Branch

I chose an even brighter version of the red I already was (although I think I’ll go even brighter next time!) and Abbie and I chatted the whole time. Not only was she glamorous, she was sweet and considerate.

Next, I was introduced to Paige my stylist. Another cappuccino down, we discussed what I wanted to some great length (pun intended!). Paige gave me her advice in regards to the cut in relation to my face and hair type, I felt like she knew exactly what I meant and I already trusted her judgement. We had a funny conversation about all the competitions I enter/win, she felt like and old friend.

After three hours of pampering and brilliant chat (and yet another coffee – I’d had 3hrs sleep!), I felt fabulous! I spent the rest of the day swishing my hair around like a Pantene TV commercial model; my hair was soft, bright and expertly cut.

Before and (thankfully!) after!

Now because I’d had my hair coloured I had to wait 3 days for my Kérastase treatment. So off I scooted back to novo for that. I was introduced to Jasmine, an absolute sweetheart who reminded me of my younger self; Pug mad, chatty, honest and a real people person. The treatment took three hours but my hair once more was gorgeous and I got caught more than once checking myself out!

I really recommend novo, I felt like a valued customer and had a laugh which made me forget my nerves and in fact, I’ve booked to go back in 6 weeks time – a true Lynsey seal of approval!

Until next Wednesday!
L x

To find out more about novo or to book an appointment go to http://novohair.co.uk/ join their facebook group here and check our their Instagram right here where you'll also spot my face!

306 Days

Well Hello. It’s been 306 days since my last blog. Let me explain.

In the last few years, a lot of stuff has happened, you would have read all about the good but I decided not to share the bad (you’ll have to wait for the biography to read all that juicy goss!) and believe me there’s been a lot of bad. 99% of the bad stuff was completely out of my control but it affected my work, opportunities, relationships, confidence and at points, my mental health.

Last December after particularly vicious troll message, I’d.had.enough. So, I stopped writing, completely. I didn’t want this blog to become a pity party and a negative place, but anyway, now I’m back!

I’m hoping you’ll all forgive my absence, so let’s have a recap...

The Boy and I

Mike and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary; a decade together has been interesting and wonderful in equal measures.  As we were saving like a possessed couple, we just went for dinner and cocktails which leads me to the biggest change; we moved house!

I’m no longer writing from our tiny flat/apartment in central Southend, we now have an actual grown up family home. We relocated a whole 4.4miles to the wilds of Shoeburyness. We have a dining room, 3 bedrooms, Estuary (Thames River) views and apple/pear trees in the garden! An added bonus is that we also have a garage which Mike has commandeered as a workshop for his art business. 

View from my new study - The Thames

This is our forever home, the house we’ll make as man and wife, the home we’ll bring our babies back to and our happy place in this crazy world.

We went on holiday with 11 members of my family to Portugal (we went on holiday 9hrs after we moved the last box into the new house!) which was wonderfully relaxing and we have spent the last 4 months getting used to our new home!

There have of course been many other goings on but I have to hold my horses and save them for another day and another blog. I’ve chosen Wednesday as my new blog day, I need to get into a routine with my writing, and I may add others days as I go, but we will see.

Until next Wednesday!

L xxx

Vidal Sassoon - Salonist - Review

I was asked to try Vidal Sassoons new hair colouring project Salonist, in association with Super Savvy Me.

Ten years ago, I dyed my hair bright red, although unintentional it became my “thing”. Towards the end of my twenties, I took it upon myself to look/act more mature, so I went for sleek black bob. Although I love my bob, my life in general became crazy and far too serious, my Mike joked that my old red hair held my superpowers!

So when I volunteered to dye my hair any colour (except blonde – have you seen my eye brows?) Super Savvy sent me two brunette colourants, a blonde and a glorious red. I posted all the colours on my social media. After all the votes it was decided that I would become a red head once more!

The colours I was sent from SuperSavvyMe 

I hit a snag early on, there was no way any colour was going to cover the black lengths of my hair, so I began the process of stripping my hair. The first lot only made my roots ginger, the second try made my roots blonde and the third set, that I left off my roots left my hair lighter brown but still very dark.

Strip One...

Strip two...

Strip three...

This was a three day process; my pain was through the roof – all in the name of vanity! On day three I just decided to go for it.

The Vidal Sassoon Salonist hair dye works on the bases that our hair roots colour differently to the lengths. So first I covered my roots, I tried using the root brush that came with the kit, but only being able to use one hand fully, I ended up using my fingers, I then added the colour serum meant for the rest of my hair. There was plenty of product to cover my shoulder length do, the Salonist kit didn't have an over powering smell like my similar products do and the colourant was easy to apply.

The Salonist Kit

No, I'm not naked!

I clipped up my hair and covered my head in a carrier bag (Superdrug if you must know!) and waited....

I got in the shower to remove the product, it looked as though I’d recreated the shower scene from the movie Psycho, but it didn’t take long, I then coated my hair in the Salonist conditioner which smelt lovely.

Even though my hair was wet (and therefore darker) I could see that the colour had struggled to cover the lengths of my hair. After I dried it, I had red roots, darker red mid hair and very dark ends eek! BUT I liked it! It looks as though I’d had an ombre treatment but the wrong way around, plus I’ve had three strangers asked me when I had it done!

Post dye roots

 So I’m now semi red head! As my hair grows, I’ll continue to dying it using Vidal Sassoons Salonist as the colour is a lovely warm red and despite all the stripping and dying me hair is glossy and soft!

All in all, I highly recommend Salonist, despite the multi red colours this was my fault not Vidal Sassoons. I will continue to apply my hair, using my fingers rather than the bowl and brush, I’ll probably keep those and use them for paint pots/brushes for my nieces’ and nephews art project –  yet another bonus!

Thanks to Super Savvy Me and Vidal Sassoon for the chance to get back my super powers!

L x

Feeling like a Red Balloon

Recently, I heard a joke about a red balloon and I thought it would be the perfect analogy to why I haven't blogged for 5 months. Like an old red balloon; I've felt let down, deflated a tad more wrinkled than I did last Summer. 

I've been very conscious that I didn't want to be/ or no longer be "social media martyr". I see competitive status' like "I've only had one/two/three hours sleep" or those who use their twitter feed to give us an hourly pain update, rated 1-10.  Worst of all, those who simply change their status to "I'm so happy/angry/sad" and when asked why, they refuse to answer - why put up a post that you're not willing to elaborate on to a SOCIAL MEDIA platform?

I fess up, I have done some of the above but after watching rather than posting online, I've seen how irritating and depressing it becomes for those reading. Don't get me wrong, we all need a moan or a venting session, it's nice to know there are others in the same situation or those giving you great advice, but do we need to post one the hour of every hour?

The last 8 years of my life have been dominated by 4 court cases (which by the way, I was not the criminal in any way, but I was the one mopping up the aftermath!) including family, criminal and Will & probate cases. It might have been easier to take a law degree! I've neglected my own goals, charity work and not to mention my family and friends. If I posted every time I was in pain, stressed, panicked I would have zero friends or followers!

All the events been exhausting and a few months back I decided to have hypnotherapy, it works very well on me from previous experience, and this time it really helped. So a long story short, the hypnotherapy worked and the cure was realising that I have forgotten to be optimistic, happy and grateful.

So how do you see the positive's in trauma? Well, I have gone back to seeing the bright side; what can I learn from all the cases? In my newly refreshed brain, I see that it has all been life experience; I will make sure I correctly file my Will and last testament, I will follow my instincts rather than fobbing off my opinions. I now know who my really friends are and I've learnt who only befriended me for their own gain and my useful resources - physical, mental or material. 

If nothing else, my memoirs will be an interesting read - split into several volumes!

Bear with me guys!

L xxx

Letter to my 40 Year Old Self

Hello!

Me again! I've had lots going on as usual! My Sister Nicola and her partner Dan, became first time parents, giving me my second nephew! Baby Alex was born on June 7th at 2:27pm weighing a very healthy 7lb 10oz. I am completely besotted with him and I now have 2 Nephews and 5 Nieces, with two siblings and I, still yet to have our own children!

Alex 07/06/2014

Mike’s been away as usual, I haven’t seen him for three weeks but he’s home in three days time!  He’ll be in the UK a grand total of 24hrs because we’re off to France for two weeks with his family, which includes 3 days at Disneyland!! I can guarantee I’ll be more excited than our 3 and 1yr old Nieces!

I still have to catch you all up on Australia but I thought I’d take a break from that to follow up on a project I gave myself last year.

Last week, I turned 30. I’ve been utterly spoilt as usual; My Mum and sister made me a homemade Afternoon Tea which was so lovely! Friends turned up to take me to breakfast, lunches, cocktails, dinners and yet more Afternoon Teas. I received tons of cards, gifts, text’s, calls and had a lot of love on social media – Thank you to you all – I’ve felt very special indeed.

On my 29th Birthday, as some of you may remember, I wrote A Letter to My Teenage Self (click here!) This became one of my most popular blog posts ever. I had friends and family do the same and I’ve had their work stowed away until now.

Turning 30 is seen as a milestone. I’ve been regularly asked how I felt  about changing decades. Getting older doesn’t bother me, (but is that because I’m still very young?)  but I do looked back over my 20’s and wished I’d taken a few more risks and ticked more things off my bucket list.

So, today I’m presenting you guys with my letter to my 40 year old self.

All those that sent me their teen letters, could you now write to your future selves for me please? If you’re a new reader have a look over both of my letters and if you want to get involved please do, I’ll be launching a competition around the entries!

Letter to My 40 Year Old

Dear Lynsey,

Wow, 40. I remember our Mum turning 40. She looked so young, in fact now she’s 50, she still looks like a woman in her 30’s. Since I’ve just turned 30, I’m praying I’ve inherited her youthful genes.

I’m hoping Mike would have proposed by 2024. If he hasn’t, did you have the gumption to just start booking venues, florists and buying your wedding dress? Then, only letting Mike in on the plans when he receives a save the date cards like all the guests? Bless him, the pressure The Boy must be feeling after 8 years is crazy, but I keep telling him to chill out and do it how he wants to do it, taking no notice of friends or YouTube proposals!!

I do hope I’ve gotten over my fear of having children by 40. I’m currently in a limbo where I should probably make the most of my younger body and pop out one or two nippers, but seeing how hard it’s been for friends and family, has had me running to the chemist within 24hrs of a late period.

This must sound completely juvenile to you now? I hope my keeping the breaks firmly locked in, that I haven’t caused us the heart break and stress of IVF or Adoption. I know we’ll make a great Mum, but I’m just not ready to give up my selfish lifestyle just yet!

I’m hoping that Complex Regional Pain Syndrome hasn’t lost you a limb by now and I’m anticipating a cure by 2024, I do wonder what life would be like without constant pain, although I’d rather there was a cure for cancer first, I long to see that in our lifetime. 

When we were 19, we seriously lacked in confidence. At 30, we still do, we’re just so much better at faking it! I do hope that confidence grows to be real and without an ego or vanity. 

By now I’ve linked the lack of fearlessness to the lack of work you commit to or produce. Every article we post or email we send to our editors, is sent with eyes close, and body poised like waiting for a bomb to go off, I hope in the future we’ve grown a back bone and some giant balls!

At the moment I’m waiting to hear when we’ll be moving to America with Mike’s work. I’m currently mood swinging between excited, terrified, curious and anxious. How do I say Bye to everyone without balling my eyes out? I know Denver’s only a plane ride away, but not seeing Mum 5 times a week is going to be so hard, this only being made harder by our nieces and nephews. Alex has just been born, I want to hug him every day. He’ll be 10 whilst you’re reading this – I cannot even begin to imagine him being anything other than a new born baby.

With all this in mind, I do actually think American will be great fun; in fact I’m apprehensive that we’ll like it too much and won’t want to come home, but by now we know we have to go where Mike’s work takes us and he’ll look after us no matter where we are. 

I hope I 30’s are full of love, laughter and plenty of luck. I’ll try my hardest to be the courageous woman we want to be, and I hope we make the most of every day. Try not to get "too" middle aged, one of the things I like about us is how easily excited we get about the smallest things, don't lose that enthusiasm for life. Continue to enjoy Comic movies, why should they just been for teenage boys? Carry on making your friend pose for the pre night out photo in all your future kitchens and please learn to not worry so much, I fear one day that worry will break us. 

Keep smiling; keep optimistic and I’ll see you in 10 years!

Love

Lynsey x

Cheers old Girl!

Push Girls

Starting my mission to gain 2,500 readers before my 2 year blogging anniversary I thought I’d look for other disability blogs.... I had some trouble find any that weren’t depressing or abandoned.

I came across Tiffany Carlson who writes a disability blog, Beauty Ability about fashion, dating and general disability issues. Her column on New Mobility.com is witty, honest and funny.

Amongst her articles I saw one called Push Girls Review of Episode 1. Push Girls is a reality TV show that aired in the US earlier this month. It follows four women living in L.A who’s motto is “When you can’t stand up, stand out”. Yup us wheelies have a reality show of our own but with fun and substance.

Push Girls - Image Borrowed from BWTV

These reality “stars” aren’t paid to get drunk, sleep around and glue diamonds to their nether regions, they want to show the world you can be fabulous, sexy, fun, dance, love AND be in a wheelchair.

I’m pretty much at ease with my disability, 18 years after I planted my butt upon my first heavy, clonking NHS tank of a wheelchair it can still suck and get I can still, on the odd occasion, get down about it, but a majority of the time I’m upbeat, optimistic and whizzing around in Flossie (wheelchair) or the GoGo (Scooter), but growing up I was lost and very much in need of other disabled role (roll! Hehe!) models.

Young disabled people need these kind of shows to high light that you can have a life, not half hearted attempts at disability in soap operas when they employ awful actors or cut their story lines when they either get criticism or find the story lines too hard to handle and the character moves away or more depressingly – dies!

Push Girls is a positive spin (I’m full of puns today!) on disability, life and ability to live it to its fullest. I’m just hoping they’ll air the series in the UK or better yet make one here!

L x