I am tired today and I have a huuuuuuge walk planned tomorrow so I am going to try and keep this short. I say try. I do have a tendency to ramble.

Speaking of which…guess what we did today! Exactly, we went for a ramble up Corstorphine Hill.

It was freezing temperatures again today but for some reason, even knowing we were heading up a hill, I hadn’t anticipated so much snow. And there was so much. It was utterly beautiful. From the crunching underfoot to the white dappled bushes, everything was just magical.

Even with how much my Wee Daftie has shown she can and is willing to walk, I don’t take it for granted so I honestly wasn’t sure how she’d take to this level of walking. It is more work than just walking the Water of Leith. And it’s different to just playing about in the snow. I shouldn’t have had any concerns, she clearly channeled her inner mountain goat and was literally skipping about the branches, rocks and snow.

She also turned into David Attenborough at one point, leading me down a trail to where the “Sparkle People” lived. She gestured to empty spaces and described their houses, what they ate and who their friends were.

I honestly wasn’t trying to remember the details because I was just so wrapped up in her story. It makes the tired days, the cranky days, the night waking, all make sense and ultimately manageable when she shows more and more of her glorious brain and imagination.

We did a huge amount of exploring but not as many steps were clocked up. Well, we hit 6,500 by the time we got home for lunch (soup, for a change!) but it felt like we should have reached over 20,000! We had a really lovely adventure and I was able to finish the steps off after lunch to pick up some sour cream for dinner. Another day that can only be described as “very successful”.

Another day done. And tomorrow will be the first day walking without my best walking buddy. I will be walking with my other best walking buddy instead. Happy days.

https://stepup.refuge.org.uk/fundraising/step-up-by-stepping-out-a-lot

#TeamRefuge

It was a very slow start for the girls in the Daft Family Household. I woke up this morning with a slight headache which I wanted to shift before we tackled the day. Lots of cuddles, painkillers, water and not getting up til way past decent, meant that we both were ready to face the day and next step (ha!) in our challenge.

Daftie had already decided that we needed an adventure walk so that she could use her new backpack, routinely referred to as the Adventure Backpack. It’s basically a dinosaur with a zipper. It’s a lovely bag and she was really excited to carry some of her own things in it so we packed spare gloves, a hat and some raisins for snacking and we set off.

Beside Dean Village is a weir that she loves to visit. We call it the Rushy Water due to the sheer noise it makes. It’s this gorgeous and calm pool that suddenly bursts forth into a thunderous drop into the river. It’s really cool and it’s one of those places that feels like you’re a million miles away from where you actually are when you visit.

After we hung out and marvelled for a while, we headed along the Water of Leith towards Stockbridge. Along the way we stopped to snack on the all important raisins and for Wee Daftie to stand on all the frozen puddles she could find. Which was a lot. There was less snow today for sure but it was literally freezing in every other aspect. Plenty of opportunities to break some ice and to practice walking like a penguin.

We had a tiny bit of shopping to do on the way home and then it was pea soup and toasties for lunch, followed by colouring and a movie in the afternoon.

Considering how lousy I felt when I woke up, we managed 6,500 steps by the time we put our feet up which was such an achievement and felt amazing. I finished off the rest of our steps – and then some – after putting her to bed. Another day done, another 10,000 – and then some – walked for Refuge. My Wee Daftie definitely helps to keep me going but knowing that we’re making such a difference makes it easy to dig deep when it’s needed.

I have my story to tell about why I want to do this for Refuge and I promise to tell at least part of that story this month. I just need to find the right way to tell it. Today, however, it’s all about having healing walks in beautiful winter sun, and calm winter night.

https://stepup.refuge.org.uk/fundraising/step-up-by-stepping-out-a-lot

#TeamRefuge

Thursdays, for the longest time in our little family, have been playdate days. From the earliest days of baby sensory, to the kids starting nursery, we’ve ended up hanging out with pals. Today, being Thursday, was no different. Even in these restricted times, we still make time to see our friends safely.

Armed with the necessities, a scooter and dinosaur backpack, we set off to meet our friends for a wander and natter in the dreich.

Now. In retrospect, the scooter was a silly idea. But Crammond, where we were headed is brilliant for scooting along. Wide paths, with plenty of room for all the joggers, walkers, bikes and buggies, great views and the occasional heron, make for perfect place to walk.

No scooting was done, but the kids had a great time and we two mammies had a good catch up. We really did see a heron today but I didn’t get a photo as it was a grey bird, standing in front of the grey sea on a very grey day. Not the best composition.

Once we’d left our pals, we took a longer walk back to go on a pine cone hunt. This lovely, soggy, grey and chilly morning meant that we reached our goal before we made it home in time for lunch. A warm soupy lunch again. This is definitely the weather for soup. Luckily, I like making soup. And luckily, Wee Daftie likes eating (drinking? I never know which you do to soup) soup too!

After lunch, we did more of the bubble experiments from yesterday as our homemade solution had been resting for the stipulated 24 hours. It was brilliant! The kit had loads of bits and we still have more to do. We made square bubbles, make a triangle shaped bubble “wand” and what they called a bubble snake…though the latter seemed more like a bubble trunk. Really super fun, Wee Daftie loved it and we got to talk through some of the science.

Because of our efforts this morning, I didn’t need to go out for a post bedtime walk. Which was good because I had somewhere to be at 7.30pm. Not literally, of course but virtually. I volunteer for with the NCT as a breastfeeding peer supporter and I had a 1:1 chat arranged in the evening. I’ve been a peer for a year now, finishing my training in November 2019, and it’s honestly great. The mums I support are amazing, the peers I work with are incredible and I like paying forward the good support I had when breastfeeding Wee Daftie. I’m not here to convince anyone to breastfeed, but I do like being a support to those who want to do it. It’s not always easy, it’s definitely a journey and frequently a roller coaster, but ultimately better with support.

Women supporting women, it’s my jam.

One full week of walking done and it feels good. Almost £300 raised, which is marvellous. Slightly sore feet, which is an occupational hazard. Some fun planned over the next few days to keep us going. Excited for the next few weeks and where this particular journey takes us.

https://stepup.refuge.org.uk/fundraising/step-up-by-stepping-out-a-lot

#TeamRefuge

Seeing as I have walked the legs off my girl in the past few days, I figured a more relaxed day today would be in order. Well, I say that. What I really mean is I wasn’t planning on having a huge walk with her…but we did manage to clock up a very respectable 6,000 before bedtime.

So much for taking it easy.

One of our neighbours very, wonderfully, kindly gave this bike to Wee Daftie. Oddly, just before her 4th birthday, which made it extra special. The bike used to belong to her granddaughter but she has grown too big for it so thought of us. How cool is that? It is too big for her, currently, but she is perfectly sized to reach the pedals, and pedal; she just needs help getting on and off.

20 minutes of back and forth in front of our building was enough cycling for one day, but clearly not enough exercise, as she jumped off the bike and then onto her scooter!

Off we went for a longer scoot and toot – and walk along the wall while I carried said scooter – before heading home in time for lunch. What a randomly busy and productive morning!

Our afternoon was taken up with bubble making and experimenting with Professor Daftie. It’s quite a cool little set. Some really simple science and fun but she was really into it. She wore her “science glasses” and kept referring to herself as a scientist. It was ace. My only gripe is that you have to make up your homemade bubble solution (with their instructions) but then leave it to rest for 24 hours. So we couldn’t do all the really fun giant bubble bits of the kit which was annoying. But it does mean we get to do it tomorrow!

After her bedtime, I took myself out for a walk to finish off the steps for the day. I also managed a lovely chat with my Biggest Sis, who randomly phoned. So I actually had lots of gorgeous company for all my steps today! Total bonus.

Feeling good that we’re getting into a good stride (ha!) and raising some money for Refuge. Almost one week done already, which is wonderful, so let’s finish this week strong with a good day tomorrow.

#TeamRefuge #stepup

https://stepup.refuge.org.uk/fundraising/step-up-by-stepping-out-a-lot

Wee Daftie and I had a chat yesterday and she said that she really wanted to go for a muddy walk. Considering how much it rained yesterday, and how soggy we got, I figured that today would be a good opportunity.

We essentially went the same route as yesterday because walking the Water of Leith is one of our favourite things to do and there are so many paths to take so it’s easy to have differing walks over the same paths. We started at a different bit to yesterday and wandered along, spotting squirrels, blackbirds, one yellow wagtail and absolutely hundreds of small birds that could be sparrows or tits or finches…some small tweeting things that all look very similar from a distance!

We have a couple of bird books and I have a fab app called Seek downloaded on my phone so we do frequently do some detective work when we spot a miscellaneous creature. However, often the little tiny chirpers don’t really stop moving for long enough to snap a decent pic.

We set off after breakfast, at about 10am, and made it home for lunch. A big bowl of soup to warm our bodies and our souls. It was another big and brilliant walk and my girl was a star. I don’t take her stamina and willingness to do this with me for granted. Not at all. I am always amazed by how far and how happily she can and will walk. We do have fun when we ramble but I don’t take it for granted at all. And I make sure to tell her how very proud I am and how proud she should be of herself.

Anyone who knows me well, knows I struggle with my face. Not how it looks, but how easy it is to read my emotions. I don’t wear my heart on my sleeve, I wear it on my face. I never want Wee Daftie to think I’m not taking her seriously but, mainly because she’s only four, her stories are hilarious. Which is fine when she’s being intentionally funny…but when she’s telling a “sad” story, it can be really hard not to giggle.

Take today, for example. We were on the bus home from our big muddy ramble, cuddled up on a seat upstairs when she says, “Mammy, can I tell you something sad?”

“Yes of course, pet, you can tell me anything.”

“I had a bad dream last night.”

“Oh. Did you? Do you want to tell me about it?”

She nods. “I had a dream I was eaten by a badger called Frank.” Pause. “Then he ate all the sharks.”

“Oh. Was he a mean badger?”

“No. He was nice! He saved me.”

“From the sharks?”

“Yes! But then he ate me. He tried to eat the bees too.” Dramatic sigh.

“You okay?”

Another sigh. “Yeah.”

“Do you feel better for talking about it?”

“Yeah. Thanks, Mammy.”

Never mentioned Frank again. I probably shouldn’t have found it so funny but there was something so comical about how she was talking about it all. I think the context of where and when she decided to tell me about her dream. She has had nightmares and night terrors before; the former always waking her up and the latter always waking ME up. We had also spent the whole morning together at this point so it was surprising to hear about this matter of fact bad dream so long after it happened! Bless her and her wonderful imagination. I hope she keeps it for as long as possible…just hopefully it doesn’t keep her up at night 🙂

Steps hit well before we started heading home for lunch today. We had a cuddle up and watched Beauty and the Beast as a well earned reward. We’ve raised £260 so far, which is wonderful. I can’t wait to see where we end up at the end of the month. #TeamRefuge

https://stepup.refuge.org.uk/fundraising/step-up-by-stepping-out-a-lot

Today was a day of two very different halves. The morning was lazy and domesticated, food centred and dry. The afternoon was busy walking, talking, opening presents and getting very, very wet.

We got up at a relatively normal time today. We’re still technically on “holiday” time. Even without the new lockdown starting tomorrow, Wee Daftie would have been off nursery today and we didn’t have any plans til after lunch so I just let her be my alarm clock this morning.

In general, she just lies in bed and hollars for me when she wakes up. It took her roughly four years to realise that she could leave her bed in the morning. I’ve never told her that she couldn’t get up but I’ve never really encouraged it either. Trouble was, the first time she worked out she could leave her bed was about 3am, when she climbed into my bed and I was woken up by her face staring at me.

It was a miracle I didn’t shreik. Thankfully, she doesn’t sneak through very often. Not because she isn’t welcome, but more because I’m not sure my nerves could take the fright on a regular basis.

After breakfast, we did some washing, played with her Hotwheels car collection, did a couple of games on my tablet, did lots of drawing and read loads of books.

We did a lot of things sitting down in preparation for using our legs for good in the afternoon. Which we certainly did.

After lunch, we hopped on a bus and went to meet one of Wee Daftie’s official unofficial Aunties. As blessed as I have been with my new Mammy Mates, I am so grateful for the friendships I have from pre-Daftie days. The Auntie we met today is one of my oldest (in every sense of the word) friends in Edinburgh and had Christmas presents to exchange so decided that a huge walk along the Water of Leith would be a great plan.

We met at the Shore and made our way along to Inverleith Park, where we found a suitable bench to sit on and exchange gifts.

We had clocked up and impressive 8,000 steps by the time we stopped, my girl and I, so I knew we would smash it by the time we made it home. And smash the target we did.

We had a glorious day, soggy, chatty and full of fun. After we said to goodbye to Auntie Numbnuts (my nickname for her, not Daftie’s), we finished our walk by singing our way through the rain. We were thoroughly soaked, again, when we got home. Soaked but stoked. Really proud of my girl and what we achieved today. She is really getting into our fundraising. She doesn’t know exactly what it’s for, but she knows it helps. And every step we take, every donation we get helps Refuge to help others every day.

https://stepup.refuge.org.uk/fundraising/step-up-by-stepping-out-a-lot

There was less snow and more rain today but seeing as I’m Irish, Wee Daftie is half Irish and we live in Scotland, we’re basically waterproof so what’s some rain between Dafties?

We had plans to meet some friends at the park so we had a lovely walk in the grey, chilly morning, ignoring the swimmers shrieking in the harbour and stopping to check out some starlings.

The friends we met are ones we made at one of the first baby classes we went to. At this stage, we’ve known them for four full years now and it’s so wonderful. It’s such a privilege to watch your own child grow but it’s beyond words to be a part of your friends’ kids’ lives too. I love how their friendship has grown from rolling around the floor at baby sensory, blowing raspberries to holding full conversations together. Never fails to warm my cold, cold heart.

After a good hour, and then some, of playing and chatting – we mammies may have done the bulk of the chatting, Wee Daftie and I headed back home.

We took a slight detour through this little wooded area that runs along the path that takes us from the park to home. It’s a super mucky path that people have built these cool little shelters by weaving branched together. Dog walkers can be found here frequently as well as lots of holly, plenty of roots to stumble over and the lesser spotted wild Daftie.

She loves it in here. Today was no different and she led us through, deciding which little path to take. “Okay, Mammy. Stop walking. You stay there. Don’t move. I’ll tell you when to follow.” She then rambled ahead. Stopped. Bellowed, “Okay! Walk!” Not suggesting she’s bossy at all. Just determined.

We got soaked on the walk home. Utterly saturated. My legs were red and soggy. Wee Daftie’s lips were blue and chittering. But we had the loveliest time and a good feeling after all our walking, playing, singing (“One misty moisty morning, when cloudy was the weather…”) The walk home took longer thanks to our woody detour and Wee Daftie wanting to walk on the walls along the Lower Granton Road but we made it home in time for lunch, a video chat with my Mammy (her Nana), hot choccie and gingerbread and a film in the afternoon.

My Big Human is back to work tomorrow so it was nice to have a lazy afternoon, finished off with homemade pizza for dinner! If you ever ask Wee Daftie what her favourite food it, she would tell you that it’s sausages and pizza. Every time. Ask her what her favorite colour and it will change every time. Favourite food? Sausages and pizza.

I was just shy of the target for today so it was another post bedtime walk. I got in trouble this morning for going out last night without her, by the way. Fingers crossed she’s not going to find out about this one!

Steps target hit after skidding, slipping, walking and arm dancing my way through Granton, listening to Fallout Boy. What a way to end a day.

It’s not always easy to find the motivation to head out when the weather is rubbish, but if helps raise a bit of money to help those dealing with and surviving domestic abuse, then I will happily walk in a hundred rainstorms.

Day three done. Ready for tomorrow and the next chance to step up.

Three very good things happened today. 1) We woke up to falling snow that stayed for the morning. 2) I had a chance to head out BY MYSELF for an evening walk, tunes blaring, walking at my pace rather than a 4 year old’s. And, most excitingly, 3) I have raised over £200 already for Refuge. Amazing. I am thoroughly delighted and touched by the support so far. £160 pays for 3 nights in a shelter for someone who needs it so that is just wonderful to help out in a practical way. Huzzah! So thank you so much for all the support so far 🙂

Seeing as we had freshly fallen snow and bright skies, it made total sense to head out for a walk to find the perfect location to build a snowman. And I had just the spot in mind. Or so I thought.

My brilliant idea was to head to the park beside the big Morrison’s at the Waterfront. There’s a duck pond and a good amount of green space that, I thought, would be covered in snow. I was wrong. There was loads of snow…just none of it was on the grass! The paths and roads were white, the grass was a green as the island I am from!

The duck pond was also about 90% frozen, with Mr Swany (as Wee Daftie calls him) sheltering under the bridge. There was a big flock of gulls and a small family of moorhens leaving little patterns of feet on the ice. It was really beautiful, even if it wasn’t the snowman building experience we wanted.

After lunch, I had a batch cooking mood on so while Wee Daftie played, I whipped up a storm in the kitchen. I love our open plan kitchen/living area for things like this. Wee Daftie and I can still chat and sing along to Elton John (truth) while doing our separate things. She’s really great about helping me in the kitchen and now she’s a bit older, she has her own little chores to do at meal times. However, if she doesn’t want to help, then I don’t make her. Most of the time, though, she will pop over and ask what I’m making or if she can stir.

After all the domesticity, and a chat with my Dad (or Papap as she calls him), I didn’t have enough time to fit in another walk before dinner so I opted for heading out after putting Wee Daftie to bed for a walk by myself. It’s not something I get to do very often anymore and I always love it. I have new wireless headphones that I wanted to try out too. Ideal opportunity to do so many things I like. There are a few different walks I take where we live but tonight, considering the slippiness underfoot, I took the most open, used path. Down by the water, under street lights, lovely.

Steps hit and I didn’t hit the floor so that is definitely a win for me and for charity.

Two days done and more fun planned for tomorrow. Happy days 🙂 Oh and we did build a snowman…though my sis did refer to him as a snow muppet…and my Big Human may have called him creepy…I’ll let you decide!

Happy New Year! What better way to start a new year than by dragging your beloved family around Arthur’s Seat? In today’s case, literally none.

With 2020 being a whole heap of rubbish for most people, I wanted to start 2021 with purpose, positivity, pondering and, eh, posturing? No, that’s not right…with purpose, positivity, pondering and putting one foot in front of the other for charity. (Better. Not perfect but better)

I came across Refuge’s Step Up for 2021 challenge on social media and I knew I just had to take part. For three very good reasons.

1) I can’t think of a better thing to do to turn around the mess of 2020 than raising money for an amazing charity.

2) The figures on domestic abuse in the past 9 months, since the start of lockdown, are utterly devastating. The work that Refuge do is incredible and give hope, support and a voice to those to need it. Sadly, they are needed more than ever now so anything I can do to help will go a long way.

3) When I was younger, I was in a difficult relationship so it just resonated with me on a personal level. But more about that another day. Today is all about positivity and starting my challenge.

The day dawned bright, chilly and perfect for a huge walk. I wanted to start strong with one big walk to get the ball rolling. I know other days will involve a couple of smaller walks to get up to the 10,000 steps (and others I guarantee will smash that number out the park) but today was a good day for a good walk so I brought whole Daft Family Household with me.

We set off after breakfast and got home in time for a late lunch, with my fitness watch buzzing on the way back to the car to let me know I had hit the goal already. Not a bad start at all.

I know it won’t always be this straightforward or easy but neither is life so I’m more than happy to take the easy A today. 11,000 steps clocked by 1.30pm, in the warm winter sun, with two of my favourite people? Not too shabby at all.

Day One complete. Excited to keep on going.

#TeamRefuge #stepup

https://stepup.refuge.org.uk/fundraising/step-up-by-stepping-out-a-lot

Happy Mammy’s Day to all those Mammies I know and those I don’t. Special shout out to my own Mammy and my two amazing sisters for being such brilliant Mammies. Just the best.

Speaking of Mammies, here we see one building her nest, ready for her babies. Amazing.

As it was Mother’s Day and our last day of walking for Cancer Research, I really wanted to do something special and purposeful. Like, I didn’t just want to casually hit out target by walking around the kitchen, so I figured a Big Walk would be the best thing to do.

And also it was Mother’s Day, Daddy Daftie treated us to brekkie out as it is my favourite meal to go out for. I think there are two reasons for this. One, I used to run a cafe so would spend my days serving breakfast to the masses. Two, it seems like more of a treat as it happens much less than other treat meals. I am less likely to be up and ready for breakfast out than say having a cafe lunch or even a pub tea, for example.

A super dark photo from at start of our walk.

After brekkie, Daddy Daftie dropped us off at the Shore so that the Daft Girlies could get our walk on. Daddy would have come with us but as he is only just home (and potentially away again very soon) he had some admin to sort out. I brought caboo, just in case, but the idea was for her to walk as much as she wanted to, as much as she was able for.

Turned out, that was a lot.

We hadn’t even stopped for lunch at this point and she walked every step herself…apart from those she ran!

As the day was immaculate and we had no time restrictions, we took three stops along the way. One to chat to some swans and goosanders. Another to just lie back in some grass and watch the world go by. And a third for our snack picnic. We had a properly big nourishing breakfast so I wasn’t concerned about an unconventional lunch but we definitely needed fuel for our mammoth mission.

Stop number one. Gorgeous.

We also passed some folk playing baseball in some fields beside Warriston. I had no idea that there was even one team in Edinburgh let alone what looked like enough for 3 or 4 to practise at one time! Wee Daftie was pretty interested but less so when I started explaining my tenuous understanding of the game. I do feel sorry for her sometimes when she asks questions. I tend to do one of two things. I either overload her with all the information I have or I say, “I don’t know but we can find out!” So either she gets too much info or her question doesn’t get answered til I have done a full research project.

Enjoying the colours and bumblebees in the Botanic Gardens.

We had a good poke around the Gardens before we found the perfect bench for our pit stop. It was up a hill, beside a fabulous bush full of busy buzzy bees, bathed in sunshine and beside a path where we could do a bit of people watching.

We had a good bit of r&r before setting off again. It honestly was only about 20 minutes but it was well earned and just what we needed.

Taken moments after we hit our goal of 10,000 steps. And a minute before I checked our bus times home.

We left the Botanic Gardens for Inverleith Park for a final walk, run and chat with the birds and doggies we met. It was while we were running up and down hills that I realised we had done it. My Wee Daftie, my little superstar had walked the final 10,000 all by herself. She walked tonnes throughout the whole month but I never really recorded how far she walked without a carry (mainly because how?) but it was so special for our final jaunt how much she did by herself. And happily!

That is the really amazing bit. She really didn’t complain or moan or muck about (outside of our playing Chasing Monsters and Stop and Go) she just enjoyed the walking and watching. Amazing wee thing. I couldn’t be more proud. And what an incredibly special way to spend Mother’s Day? Hopefully we can help other Mammies and their Wee Dafties, even a little bit, with the money we raised.

Just two very grateful Dafties, enjoying the sunshine.

So, I am going to do a final tally of steps and average per day tomorrow as I know that our total steps for today will be a bit bigger by the end of it. But wow. I am so proud of us and our little achievement. I am so humbled and grateful for all the support. I am so overwhelmed that we are done and I am so honoured to have done it with my favourite little idiot.

Even when we fight, even when she is annoying, even when she helps with my makeup, I am never not thankful to be her Mammy.

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/dafties-walking-over-cancer