Welcome to the Wonderful Women. This week, I'm chatting to one of my blogging favourites, the incredibly inspirational Ursula Tavender, AKA Mumbelievable.
Let's not pretend the summer holidays at 6 or more weeks off school for kids, are not tough to get through. Yes for SOME, some of it, it's fun in the sun (when it doesn't rain so 2% of the time) but for a flipping mammoth amount (read 5 weeks) my kids tend to want to kill each other, me, wreck my house, and my mind.
As an entertainment producer and presenter Sam Mann has a fabulous life… who wouldn’t want to rub shoulders with Hollywood stars and get paid for the trouble?
Now Beyoncé could well be an 'earth mother' for all I know and what exactly is that anyway I hear you cry... to me it's a wade of days ahead of me filled with fun times with my kids.
I reckon I might just be a bit of a Peter Pan ( why there isn't a female equivalent to the youth-chasing PP I don't know, but that surely requires a whole other post)- essentially my point is, I refuse to GROW UP or more so, I don't feel that different from the 21 year old girl I was erm, (Googles a calculator)-14 years ago (case in point)- despite two kids and 2 c-sections (ouch) and cement thick concealer to hide my my eye bags.
Pregnancy - and especially your first pregnancy - can be a daunting experience. As a self-certified hypochondriac, even the smallest ailment is enough to to send my worry-levels into overdrive, so as you can imagine, when 'with bump' this was a million times worse.
A lot of people keep mentioning 'success' to me lately, some kindly comment that they feel I'm successful- and while that's flattering, it's made me question how I personally deem and measure success.
It's time for the latest Wonderful Women interview, which is one of my favourite features on this blog - celebrating all the incredibly inspiring and kick-ass women out there!
I literally can't believe my baby boy, Xander turned 3 on Sunday, my charming, loveable, second born son is simply growing up too quickly and I'd like it to stop, STOP I tell you- I want him to remain my baby always, and I suppose he always will be just that, my littlest, youngest love.
I'm so incredibly proud and besotted with my boys Oliver, 5 and Alexander, 2, so this post is first and foremost for them: my darling sons, so they can one day reflect on the blog and know how loved they are and how much they enrich mine and my husband's lives.
Gillene Butterfield is an Opera Singer, who works full time for Opera North. She became a Mum in September 2014 and lives in Leeds with her husband Nick, who is also a singer.
Gillene returned to work in March this year after her maternity leave, to take on the lead role of Julie Jordan in the revival of Carousel (13-23rd May) at the Grand Theatre Leeds and on tour.
