Kate's Blog

Follow me if you will as I try to navigate through the ups and downs of my world.

I'm writing this blog to help me make sense of all that has happened - from my diagnosis with non-Hodgkins lymphoma while pregnant with my third child in May 2008
, through to my reflections on chaotic family life as I try to pick up the pieces of my life again.


The kids are so small, and I'm working hard to keep us all safe and to stay in remission.

Stay with me - it won't be all doom and gloom I promise!



Thursday 29 July 2010

What's Going On

I'm getting into cycling! The whole family are getting into cycling. We have been given by a friend, whose kids have grown too big, a sort of trailer thing for Hattie which attaches around the wheel of an adult's bike. Rog's not mine, I voted early on!

But we're off to Scotland on Saturday for a couple of weeks, and we've decided we HAVE to take the bikes and the trailer with us so we can go off for lovely picnics in the wilds. However we also have 4 kids (my 12 year-old step-son is coming too) and lots and lots of stuff as you can imagine. So for the past couple of days we have explored EVERY option you can imagine to carry 5 bikes and 6 people on a 9 hour car journey. Tomorrow we're fitting a tow-bar and a flash bike carrier for a fair amount of money. The picnics had better be worth it!

It is lovely to be considering such things - two summers ago surviving chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant and radiotherapy were the preoccupations which filled my mind.

I've had some tentative good news regarding my writing. A big glossy national magazine are interested in commissioning an article - but it's not final yet! I'm excited though anyhow. I feel as if some of my recent hard work might be paying off at last. Watch this space!!!

P.S. on a completely different note - does anyone else have an extremely obstreperous 2 year old who runs the whole household with the ease of an experienced tyrant? Mine is very exhausting..... I'm trying not to wish for her to become 13 when at least she'll be sulky and silent and .... oh hang-on... argumentative and difficult. Hmmmm. Well, 16 then. Ok, 35.

Ear-muffs at the ready for that long car journey!

9 comments:

Vince said...

Good for you on the glossy mag.

And did you not think that a train there and back for you and the kids leaving Rog in peace to drive. And less likely to be up before the Beak in the old Bailey.

Kate said...

I did think about the train for me - giving Rog a bit more room for stuff while I could drink coffee and read in peace and arrive refreshed. Rog was not so keen. I don't know why.

Rebecca S. said...

Ooohh! Congratulations on the possibility of publication. Envy, envy, envy...
Have a wonderful trip to Scotland with lots of cycling and picnics!
And remember - regarding Hattie. You are the boss even though she thinks she is. Let that be your mantra!

Mummy mania said...

that's greta news about the magazine - it just takes one to start the ball rolling! Well done. and isn;t it lvoely to be throught the darkness and see into the light. Planning a cycling picnic - and all the effort that entails - compared to what you had to focus your energies on a couple of years ago - enjoy it, you deserve it.

Vince said...

Sorry, but again a comment.
I really get bringing a boat on a roofrack, but unless you have something of a Le Tour standard bike, why. You will spend as much humping the things up to Scotland in fuel. And you can actually start and get someplace without the worry about bringing the damn things back to the car.
Cheap holliers are in no way cheap, ever.
My first visit to Paris was a camping trip. What kind of lunatic brings a tent and bag when he could have in a b&b better.

Tracey said...

Congratulations on the writing. I would be envious if I had put in a lot of work to get published (as you have), but as I have done little more than think wistfully of it, I shall just be as proud as I can be of you.

As for Hattie...My Samuel has hit this stage. He used to be so mile mannered. He could play by himself and bother no one. Now, he is a beast. He screams and yells and hits and throws and runs away in places he knows I can't catch him. My mom has informed me she can no loner watch all three of my kids at one time, because he is so horrible. We have an out of town wedding to go to, in two weeks and we are stuck!!!

He won't nap at home, but naps like Rip Van Winkle at school and then stay up until 10 at night. Still gets up at 5:30. We are hostages!

So, I have nothing helpful to tell you about Hattie. Does it help to know that you are not alone? The she does not in fact need to be exorcised?

Sam will out grow it. As will Hattie. If they live that long. :)

Jen said...

I think you've described every 2-year-old. It's quite possible she'll sleep while you're driving but keep you up all night once you reach your destination. Good luck.

triles said...

It's inspiring to hear how far you've come in two years. Congrats on the writing developments.

Anita said...

I've learned a new word today - obstreperous.

I have one like that too, and she's well beyond 2!

But I love her so!

Congrats on the potential writing project. Who knows where your path may be heading.

Enjoy the biking!