That’s it, February is now over, well as of midnight.

As many of you may know, I’m not the biggest fan of February.

The beginning was a little shit, with the lasting effects of the never-ending viral thing, we’d played tag team with. Finally reaching  almost 8 weeks, it disappeared. Such a relief, I thought it would never go, still tire bit quicker; but February turned into quite an adventurous month.

Evening out with friends and parenting  crazy children, just a few of the inclusions for February.

Loud!

 
Managing a couple of outings with my closest friend, we’ve been adventuring for three years now. We never run out of ideas for what do, we have seen some repeats, but although it may be the same location, it is NEVER the same trip..

February Half Term saw us at Barrington Court, later in the week a little trip to Seaton.

These days have helped a little in the run up to what is always such a heavy time of the year for us.

The run up this year, we have been kept busy with a fundraising event, which I am sure if you have been reading you will know, I had spent some time publicising it. If you’d read Barn Dance Success, you’ll know we had a great time, and raised loads of money and awareness.

I do enjoy the organising of events, getting things ready etc, I of course help regularly with my children’s Majorette troupe. I had said several times that I do hate fundraising, which to be honest is a little untrue, it isn’t the organising, with a low esteem it is hard to miss the support, we can’t ignore the lack of acknowledgement of our girl, doing these events is our way (personally) of doing something as a whole family, you know. To include all of my children together, even when they’re not all here, most importantly to raise funds and group awareness. I let the negativity seep through all the positive in which we have achieved in this past year. I’m angry at myself for letting it.

We have had so many people say how proud they are of us, inspirational as her parents and as the Little Daffodil Team (can’t forget you guys), but we – I have focused on the missed words of encouragement, it is to put it bluntly, shit. This really is something I, we need to work on.

We have done amazingly in the years since our daughter died, we could have given up, but we didn’t, we had no choice. We carried on breathing, whether it through tears, or laughter we did. But we have wasted so much time on negative CRAP, this is something I know I need to work on.

To know having friends is not about the quantity of your circle, but the quality of how unbreakable a bond is.

The realisation that sometimes it is better to not get that invite or play date, and be alone than run the risk of being hurt over something that in the grand scheme of things is minuscule.

I deserve better. I just have to learn to accept that part.

Anyway I have drifted far too much..

Barn Dance, it was amazing. We raised just over £1700, one hell of a night, with many, many requests of another…

Curry night for us Daffs first I think…

Of course the day after we were met with Melody’s 5th Birthday, I have felt incredibly numb and cut off this year, I have had some tears. I go like this every now and again. Then the floods will come, it’ll hit me the same as it did five years ago. It is normal for me.

I still cannot believe it has been five years.

Final two days have been at home doing Barn Dance tying up.

And today has been Pancake Day, we had ours this evening.

How Do You Eat Yours?

Thank you for reading

Don’t forget to hit follow if you wish.

The Wet Wipe Diaries

Well, what a night!

The weeks leading up to the event was beginning to feel as if there was nothing going to fall in to place, with making a slow 50 sales it was hard to know whether it would be worth it. Well the days leading up to our event, proved amazing things come to those who wait. Our top target was to sell 100, it was our dream number, and was a comfortable number for our venue. We sold 104. So our ‘Sold Out’ went to plus numbers too.

We’re incredibly proud of this overall progress.

As for the night.

Pig Tails and Check Shirts filled the dance floor.

I hadn’t been to a Barn Dance since I was about 14, and probably spent most of it outside with my friends, and a lot of people attending had never been to one either. Looking around the hall, if there wasn’t bums off seats and giggles on the Dance Floor, there were many smiles and laughter coming from the tables. It was warm, welcoming, and felt more like a family occasion rather than a Charity event.

We really had a treat with our band – Ivor Hyde, whom at different points of the evening managed to get every one up dancing.

They certainly knew how to get us all moving!

Highly recommend them.

Every single person we spoke to during the evening would say just how much fun they were having, which meant so much to us, after all of the planning and stress.

“Keep up the good work, you are making a difference”

As you can see even Mayor Dave Bulmer and Cllr Amanda Broom joined in on more than one dance.

“Fantastic Night!! Loved it”

If you followed my publicity posts, you’ll know just how amazing our raffle collection was, how lucky we were to have received so many.

The lovely Sam Field ran the raffle on the night, making sure everyone had brought at least one ticket.

I am currently putting together thank you letters.

We hope the various winners are pleased with their prizes.

Along with the Dancing and the prizes there were a tiny team of bar staff,

Di and Marie, though they were incredibly lucky to have escaped the photos.

Then  we have the food, the Ploughman’s

“Amazing food, really enjoyed it.”

Put together by Gemma Green, assisted by her husband in the kitchen, on the evening, serving teas and coffees, along with making sure every one had enough ham or cheese on their plates, most were keen for more.

Of course Gemma and Sam made up part of the team, with Tracy Coath and Julz Scott, to make the event possible.

So, for us of Little Daffodils it was wonderful to raise the awareness of our group and of course the work also of the charity Towards Tomorrow Together.

(I promise I was not singing!)

Went through many, many thank you’s, I must say a HUGE thank you to Dave Sibley for taking all of these photos for us, they’re perfect and have really captured our event.

and a little about little Melody and where Little Daffodils came from, which brings me to the stunning memorial bunting, where we raised a glass to all those named on the bunting and every baby, who didn’t get to come home.

The important bit, we never imagined a week ago we would even have such a successful event, let alone the amount I am about to tell you we raised.

We are so grateful, and it really will help so many families, give so much resource in this area, that is very sadly lacking.

Our total from the Barn Dance and Raffle came to

We are so proud of what we achieved, with so few of us, we enjoyed every minute of the evening, and loved watching everyone else enjoy it just as much.

So, a week a go if people asked when would the next fundraiser be?

We’d say, “on your bike” or “Are you Crazy?” with maybe a swear word or two.

But tonight after seeing the above total, and what we can achieve..

When is the next event?

“We’ll see.”

Watch this space..

(Little Daffodils)

Thanks for reading .

Thank you for donations no matter how small.

Thank you for coming.

The Wet Wipe Diaries

I promise there isn’t much more to go..

I hope I haven’t bored you too much, but this really was the easiest and best option to get us out there, our event, the cause…every thing. More detail than just a one time article.

To be honest I have enjoyed writing about it all. I will also be doing a follow up, with hopefully a sizable amount of money raised and all important photos!

First things first…

Within the last hour or so we never thought we’d have been posting such an update, a week a go we’d barely made 50 sales. I won’t lie it felt incredibly disheartening.

However

That’s right, we hit our upper target, we’re really pleased.

It makes it more exciting seeing the words in front of us. Been hard work, but we’re here two more sleeps, we’ll be there.

I’m here with a little reminder of our raffle prizes.

I hope you have your ticket, there are still a few of these available, we’d like a Sold Out sticker for these too.

Here we go, I’ve put them together for these next two posts.

We’re so grateful.

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In this slide show we have

(I have previously mentioned all who donated and will again in our thank you’s)

An Ear Piercing Voucher

CineChard Tickets for Bridget Jones’ Baby

East Lambrook Manor Garden Tickets

Beautiful Mosaic Pig Picture

Plush Henry and his adventures story books

A Chair with Fox Fabric

£10 Voucher for Razooks

Hand wash

Wellington Boots

Devon Railway Centre Tickets

Woodlands Tickets

Crochet Cushion

Seaton Tramway Tickets

Wookey Hole Tickets

Darlington Vase

Signed Bath Rugby Shirt

£10 Voucher Country Butcher

Boston Tea Party Voucher

Bottle of Wine

Milky Way Entry

Taunton Town Football club entry.

Pure Beauty Voucher

As you can see we have some fantastic prizes on offer, we have been so lucky.

We’re really touched by everyone’s generosity.

Good Luck to anyone who has purchased a ticket and thank you.

See you tomorrow!

The Wet Wipe Diaries

We have as little as four days until our Charity Barn Dance and “epic” raffle.

We have managed to raise a lot of awareness with our publicity, which as a new community group in Chard it has been really worth while.

As a Charity, Towards Tomorrow Together is such a fantastic cause, and certainly deserves the awareness.

Baby loss affects so many people, from all walks of life, all ages, any gestation. Nobody is immune.

Unfortunately it is the ultimate taboo, and can be really hard to get the work that baby bereavement charities do. It is a grief that can last a lifetime.

Lost memories.

Lost dreams.

An empty chair. 

Hope that was given only to be snatched away. 

The devastation that follows, lives on.

As a group – Little Daffodils, who are supported by the wonderful Towards Tomorrow Together aim to help pick up the pieces, to light up the most darkest of times.

To leave nobody alone.

Every single penny will go towards this support, to raise awareness and to also to teach professionals a unique type of empathy, that many parents of babies who die don’t see.

Every penny will go into supporting your friend, your daughter, your brother, your sibling.

We are grateful to the very kind donations we have received to complete our amazing raffle prize pile. So touched that people have listened and wanted to help.

Thank you.

Today we have

This prize consists of tickets for Two Adults and Three children to gain entry to this fantastic location.

Situated in Sparkford, Somerset, being a charity themselves they took the time to donate this wonderful prize.

This itself is definitely worth buying a £1 raffle ticket!

If you don’t win, be sure to pay a visit, my children love it here, especially my avid transport fan son.

A chance to sit in some finest vintage vehicles, learn about the history of transport of days gone by.

I’m looking forward to visiting again.

Haynes Motor Museum

Huge thank you.
The Wet Wipe Diaries

There was an article recently about parents, Mums who look at their phones too much in the playground.  

I am one of those Mums.  

I don’t miss their faces as they leave the class rooms, I see them smile at me as they leave their day behind. 

I’m the Mum who hides behind her screen, I’m a little on the shy side.  But I’ve heard the whispers, seen the avoidances.  

I’m the Mum with social anxiety which plays a part. I’m awkward. 

I’m the Mum that doesn’t always get an invite for a cuppa or to be part of the conversation.  

I’m the Mum who feels incredibly lonely in the playground. 

My phone makes me feel less alone. 

I’m the Mum who doesn’t make friends easily.  The one who wants to be your friend but doesn’t know how.  

I’m the Mum who is simply misunderstood and is actually really nice. 

Who just wants a natter and a cuppa. 

So don’t judge the Mums with the phones, speak to us instead. 

You may gain a friend.    
The Wet Wipe Diaries 

I can’t believe there are only five days to go, though if I’m honest I’m not really thinking too much about the Barn Dance, more for the weeks ahead. Being our little girl’s birthday less than a week away, it is for us as her family an obvious hole, where we’re not doing last minute preparation, like other families would be when leading to a birthday, well like we do with her siblings.  

I’ve had such wonderful support from my online friends, well I say it again, they’re more than just online friends,  this past week, and I know they’ll be holding tight this next week and some too.  

This is indeed why a face to face group, one to one, communication is so important to parents who’ve lost their children,  when hope was taken, the road is long,  that there’s a friendly understanding face waiting to hold you up, while you pause for a moment to gather your thoughts and learn to breathe.  

Towards Tomorrow Together who support Little Daffodils who hold monthly meetings are such a fantastic cause, one day I hope no-one will feel alone.  
I’m here again to entice you for more tickets.  

We really don’t have many left.  I’d really like to see the back of them…  

We have 

Pure Hair and Beauty voucher, which entitles the winner to a back, next and shoulder massage.  

Perfect for the hard working people of Chard and surrounding areas.  A moment to relax, and be pampered. 

Thank you. 
Next we have 

A £10 voucher for Country Butchers of Holyrood Street,  a generous donation, at perfect timing ready for any Easter meats or for the promised heatwave that is on its way, get the BBQ meats from your very own local butchers. 

Thank you. 

Nearly there! 

The Wet Wipe Diaries. 

February Half Term

Today we have reached 2017’s 50th day. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know I’ve been sharing a photograph a day, head over and see..

Day 50 of 2017 already!

Well, this one really should have been Round up Three. But Take two would have just been a report of sickness and poorly children.

All but baby C took to having sickness of some kind on the week before half term. Each having days off. I wasn’t well –  still and although the Mister escaped actual sickness and stomach flu, he too was under the weather.

Towards the end of that week, the seven week long (well for me) virus, finally faded. The Mister felt better and was able to collect raffle prizes for our event at the end of the month.

As you can see Round Two on its own would have been just as shit as the earlier weeks.

I’d wanted so much to leap into 2017 with the blog instead, tripped, stumbled and sneezed my way into the New Year.

I did manage an evening with this lovely lady.

Majorette errand, meant a few drinks, giggles and a flat car battery (her husband was DES).

This week  saw Valentine’s Day, so many moan about it is so commercialized, (History of Valentine’s) and if we love the person then you don’t need Valentine’s to do it. Well, step aside while the rest of us enjoy opening a parcel or two. No we don’t “need” a day, it is just nice, we can’t afford to spoil each other every day, like people would have you believe, so it is a good excuse to do so. I like spoiling my husband.. As he does me.

He brought me a Sloth!

He took the day off from work, but of course it wasn’t to be the romantic meal for two.

It involved a trip to soft play (In Half Term? Yeah, I know crazy, crazy people!)

We stopped in for lunch at the Bell in Yeovil, part of the hungry horse chain.

Nice food, but still no dairy free pudding! Disappointing.

Still, was a lovely day.

An outing friends took us to National Trust property, Barrington Court in Somerset.

No matter how many times we go to these places, we-they never seem to tire of the adventures there.

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As you can see by the final photo, getting them all to sit nicely for a photo, is like nailing jelly to a tree..

We’d brought a lovely dress for this one from a charity shop, little something to boost her birthday pile.

The mistake being she was with us when I brought it, so she did  wear briefly, then Daddy took it away, and has hidden it well. The next day she wanted to wear it again, we said no, then attempted to find the bloody thing until I said that actually Daddy has worn it to work.

This was her response

Loud!

It was very loud. She still believes days later that Daddy has now lost the dress at work.

Naughty Daddy..(Unfortunately I don’t have photographic evidence).

Saturday surprised us with reasonably nice weather, so took an impromptu visit to the beach, although it was chillier at the coast.

There’s a lovely new park in Seaton, I say new it’s refurbished and has probably been there a while.. But it is clean, tidy all equipment looked well looked after.

(Same goes for Seaton’s other park actually).

We took a short walk along the sea front, it was really lovely to take in some sea air. Hopefully it won’t be long until it’ll be a lot warmer, for longer days out.

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When we returned home the three year old, stated

“I had a wonderful time”.

Stunning Beach.

Today, being the day before school was to sort School things out, then take the big ones to their Dad’s for a few days.

Not before a bit of camera fun at home.

Baby C, who has actually shot up suddenly over night, is turning into a right little comedian. There is never a dull moment, and she is following in her Drama Queen Sister’s footsteps.

Once the big ones had been dropped off, we snuck off and had a McDonald’s

Diet begins tomorrow.

I’ve been okay, mostly in the run up to her birthday, there have been days where it has felt heavy, but I’ve managed to talk it out to hubby or my friend from afar (fellow loss mama), dance it out or basically just grump it out.

Today, it dawned on me emotionally that a week from today it should have been her birthday. A living room full of presents and cards.

But instead it is a quick shop for a balloon next Saturday and a cake she’ll never eat.

It is wrong, on so many levels, I hate this.

The tears suddenly from nowhere appeared, was brief as I contained them, but the sadness of not being able to do anything “proper” for her birthday next week.

I know there are those who think why bother, M won’t know she is dead.

But we do. Don’t judge what you don’t understand.

Feel lucky that you don’t.

Five years ago today, I’d been to hospital twice the first time was to have a half day ‘MOT’, I was sent home only to return with regular contractions. Thankfully they had stopped.

I remember everything, just not everything about her…

If you follow mellybellyandme.blogspot.co.uk, you’ll already know how shitty I feel this time of year.

Right now I want to shut myself away.

I’m out..

The Wet Wipe Diaries

Six day until our great fundraising event.  In aid of a fantastic cause.  

Barn Dance featuring Ivor Hyde with a ploughman’s supper.  We’ve also our epic raffle taking place during the evening.  
Today’s prize reveal includes 

The Big Sheep tickets, which as you can see are worth £27.

This is a fantastic prize, at a location suitable for the whole family,  set in beautiful North Devon.  The perfect day out. 

Thank you. 

Next we have 

Tickets to our very own cinema here in Chard.  Showings are held in the guildhall, these tickets will entitle the winner to see March screening of Bridget Jones’ Baby.  I’ve yet to see this film, but have heard it is hilarious.  Stars the lovely McDreamy (GA fans will know..😉). 

Thank you. 

We’ve little raffle tickets left.  So get yours before they’re gone.  
The Wet Wipe Diaries