Feel Good Friday - Pet Power

We are big animal lovers in our house, in fact I suspect that my husband actually prefers them to people, he can't bear to watch the ending of Marley and Me, bless him!

We have two cats which became our furs babies when I was around 6 months pregnant with LC (we had gotten a kitten the year before who was sadly ran over just before her first baby, at this point I was 16 weeks pregnant and couldn't stop crying, I actually got sent home from work and was allowed 3 days off - that's hormones for ya!) These cats (our boy cat as a kitten above) have grown up with our family and are a big part of it, however they are not such big fans of Miss LC, I can remember their little faces when we bought her home from the hospital looking at us as if t say "WTF???" God knows how they will feel when it happens all over again in 7 weeks time, the OH is convinced they'll be sat by the front door with their little cat bags packed, with a house move happening in 3 weeks too I'm sure I will have two grumpy cats on my hands - eek!

Anyway, over the last 4 years that we've had these sweet moggies in our life they have become very precious companions to us all and despite their distaste towards LC they have have been a massive part of how she has developed and learnt.

A few years ago the Cats Protection League conducted some research with the Mental Health Foundation which showed how having a cat as a pet had a significant and positive impact on the owners mental health. Last year Time magazine reported on how having a pet could possibly lower your risk of heart disease too.

Here are some more good reasons why being a pet owner is good for your well being

•  Owning a pet helps with low mood and loneliness through companionship.
•  Encourages healthy lifestyle - walking your dog, horse riding, cleaning out a cage.
•  Helps develops senses that can lower stress from stroking, walking, even talking to them! 
•  Sense of responsibility and routine, having a pet puts structure in your day, positive for your well being and sense or purpose.

Here's my friends cuddly companions

 We've also found that as parents having our two kitties has helped us to teach and encourage LC to have compassion, thoughtfulness of others and about death too. As a toddler we showed her how to pet them carefully and be mindful of their space, now that she is older we get her involved with caring for them, she likes to get involved with feeding and combing.

Lastly, because we live next door to a diary farm, we get a constant stream of "presents"! Some are alive, which sees us running round the house at all times of the day or night trying to rescue mice, voles and birds, but we also get a lot of dead critters, mostly mice outside the front door. We have always been honest with LC about it, a very wise lady once told me not to tell her they were sleeping as this can make her frightened of bed time, so with out going in to too much detail we simply told her they were dead, no longer alive. Being little she just accepted this ans so when her Grandma's dog and Auntie's cat died last year she wasn't unfamiliar with what this meant and could grasp why they were no longer there. And so when my Grandmother passed away in April she wasn't scared by what had happened and understood why she wouldn't see her again. Recently she was in my mum's garden and they found a dead bird and she pointed it out to my mum who wasn't sure quite what to say to LC, "It's dead Granny!" she chimed, my mum agreed and when LC asked her what they were going to do with it my told her that her OH would bury it in the garden to which sweet Miss LC replied "Just like we buried Great Gran!" My poor mum didn't know what to say and just laughed, especially as my Grandmother was cremated! It just goes to show though that by having animals in our life from an early age we begin to understand and accept the cycle of life sooner which I think makes it more easier to handle as we grow older.

Now you could be reading this and be thinking "Well Karen that's all lovely and good but I don't have the time/money/space to be a pet owner!" - well, no problem, borrow a pet! You can do this through local services like this one  or this could simply be taking a friends dog for a walk, agreeing to feed Great Aunt Ethels budgie while she's on holiday or maybe spend some time at your local animal rescue centre as a volunteer, there are so many possibilities for you to boost your well being with some pet power!

So I want to know, do you have a pet that helps boost your well being?
What are your thoughts on pets and children?
Would borrowing a pet help you?

Share in the comments below!

Monthly Gratitude...

I try to find time each month to write a post about gratitude, it feels sometimes like we focus a lot on what's going wrong doesn't it? So by reminding myself about the positives I have a chance to give thanks for all that is right - it also helps my cluttered mind to keep some perspective too!

So as July is coming to an end in the next week here are some things I am grateful for this month...

* Finishing work for maternity leave to start

* Beautiful sunshine, flip flops and discovering these yummy fruit cordials (my favorite right now is their Ginger Beer Presse over ice and fresh mint!)

* Old friendships being renewed

* Some space and time to write down my dreams, ideas and goals

* My growing bump (although this does make things like painting toenails, putting on shoes, driving and getting comfortable at night a little awkward now!)

* How well my gorgeous big girl is coping with all the changes

* My mum, who is literally super granny to all her grandchildren right now!

* The wisdom and insight of others

Actually writing them down really helps it to sink in, keeping a gratitude diary is so helpful too, I write things on the pages of my diary to remind me what I'm thankful for and to try to stay balanced. Could this be something you might try next month? Here's how to get started:

* If you don't already have one, buy a fun, pretty or funky diary - all the new accademic ones are out in the shops right now, or maybe just a cute little notebook. I love these ones from Ban.do - they ship to the UK too!

* Choose a pen in a bright colour, I find that writing my gratitude notes and thoughts down in coloured ink helps them to stand out and stay in my mind, especially if I'm writing down other notes or appointments.

* Decide whether you want to write down daily, weekly or even monthly gratitude note to yourself.

* Set aside some time each week or month to go over your thoughts, ideas and doodles!

* Lastly - just get started, go on, try it out and see how you feel! 

Don't forget to share here too your monthly gratitude and let me know how or if writing them down made a difference. 

A Wednesday Pearl of Wisdom - Pearl Number 74

I know, it's a Wednesday but this post was too good to save until next week and I'm aware of the lack of Pearls on the blog lately so decided to share this with you today...

I was totally spoilt for choice when looking for a quote to match up with today's theme but decided this one from John Holmes was my favourite to use here, simple but powerful.

So I'm going to tell you a little story, a lovely lady who is in my blogging circle of friends had her second baby last year and has spent the following 12 months enjoying every single moment spent at home with her two little ones, her youngest has just turned one years old and the time to return to work has come round quicker than she expected.

We had spoken a few times leading up to this about how she was feeling as her return to the working world was parallel to my exit as my maternity leave started. Becca has been dreading this moment for a while and mentioned how she wished she could remain at home with the kids and have her blog as her main source of work (BTW check her out at Keeping Up with the Joneses this is the cutest lifestyle blog full of family, fashion and beauty!). I always love reading Becca's posts and often ask her advice on beauty products, and have always encouraged her to go for her dreams too as I know it would mean so much to her to spend her days investing in two of the things she is most passionate about, her babies and her blog.

So the dreaded day came for her on Monday and as I checked my Instagram feed that morning I came across a gorgeous picture of her baby boy with a caption about how much she would miss him and how sad she was feeling, I know this feeling well as I have already done it once when I had Miss LC and I sent her a simple message just to cheer her up and hoped it might help her a little.

Photo from Becca Galanopoulos

Later in the evening I returned back to Instagram and found another picture from Becca with the loveliest message for me underneath, Becca had written down my words and taken them with her, she told me it had really helped her to keep things in perspective and reminded her what she was trying to achieve, it had helped her get through that first awful day!

I was really blown away by this, never did I expect that what I had written would make such a big impact and I was thrilled to know that I had made her day a bit easier and lighter, such a simple message but what an amazing difference it went on to have...

I have been reading a lot lately about a certain line of thought and it goes like this, to serve others is the greatest gift you can give to the world and will make the biggest difference to those around you, I believe in this so much and love seeing it in action, knowing that my words had made her day lighter and more bearable was magic!

Now maybe it's just coincidence but I had my own Instagram magic moment this morning where someone has reached out to me and offered their own kindness because of a picture posted there, this only goes to reinforce to me that the vibes you put out there and the energy you want to feel will always come back to you if you support others in the same way.

So this week, how could you make a difference to someone else in need with a simple word or thought? Could you reach out to another to help them over come a hurdle, not for your gain but to simple make their day better? Maybe you have a story you could share here? I would love to read them!

Reflections on my new years resolutions

(This is obviously not a recent pic of me, no champagne for this pregnant lady!)

We are now half way through the year and today I decided I wanted to reflect back on my New Years resolutions, before I even re-read the post I made at the beginning of this year I knew what I had written would be so off the mark of where we are now - my excuse for not making ones that are relevant or achievable? I had no idea I was pregnant at the time!!!

The crafty ones I've set, well, with morning sickness and extreme tiredness it's was never gonna happen!The reading and learning ones, honestly, I've not had the time to dedicate to this, partly due again to pregnancy symptoms and ailments. However there are some that I have been able to stick too and I am pleasantly surprised that they've not all been a wash out!

I am proud to say that I've been saving, not consistently with amounts but as much as I can each month. Mindfulness, grace and gratitude have all become something that's very present and at the forefront of my life this year, I have gotten through some anxious and worrying times because of it. I haven't taken Miss LC to London or do I have any plans to this year but I did take myself! My trip was for Blogtacular and because of this brilliant blogging conference I was able to improve and lean more about my writing and photography skills so I feel like I've kind of nailed those ones.

Lastly the biggest, most important and life changing resolution that sat at the end of my New Years list was to find a new home for our family and goodness me that has happen in a crazy, spectacular and very unexpected way and now we are embarking on this journey, packing up our lives here in Somerset and moving up to Worcestershire in the next 5 weeks, 3/4 weeks before little Miss Cannon number 2 is due to make her appearance in to this world!

In the bigger picture I'm happy with what I've achieved this year, in fact I'm bloody over the moon, never ever did we think we would welcome another child in to our lives, it was starting to look hopeless and resolutions or not we've already made the impact we wanted in our lives for 2014, and who knows, the year isn't over yet, maybe I will make matching tulles skirt for me, LC and the new baby!

Did you make resolutions? How are doing? Or maybe you think their a waste and have found other ways to make this year your best so far, I 'd love to hear so do share below!