Super Mum "Nicola Gifford"

HAPPY MONDAY to all my beautiful COTC friends AND a huge welcome to my new and exciting blog and website! It is still a work in progress with lots of things planned for it…..but as with everything, it’s one step at a time…..As I sit here typing on it for the first time it is a little daunting and I am hoping this post actually turns out “in the right spot” ….. he he ha ha ….. I will soon see…..So it has been a busy few days here in the world of COTC, I had a stand at the recent Gluten Free Expo in Sydney which was hectic, fun and interesting all rolled into one……but more on that later…..today its MONDAY which means its time for my weekly SUPER MUM INTERVIEW POST. Today I have a truly touching story from a very close friend of mine. We came to work in the same finance company many years ago and although we are so different in many ways we are also so very similar and clicked instantly. She moved overseas for a while which made us closer as we wrote (old fashioned “snail mail”) constantly and learnt a lot about each other. She is my Birthday buddy, same day and even same year, I think she is just a few hours older???….and hubby and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary on her Wedding Day! As I journey along with being a Mum of 4 I was so thrilled when she became a Mum of 1!

……..here she is, my gorgeous friend and a true inpsiring SUPER MUM……

“Nicola”

• Tell us a little bit about you and your family?

Hi. My name’s Nicola Gifford. I’m 34 years old and live with my darling hubby, Brayden, and beautiful daughter, Suzannah. Before having Suzannah, I worked as a Communications Executive for a global company in Sydney. I had a very busy, fast-paced and stressful life. Now I work one day a week locally while I get my writing and editing business up and running, and take great joy in looking after our long-awaited first baby. We’re a relatively healthy bunch in my family. I have no allergies at all but my husband has eczema/psoriasis. To keep it under control, he avoids eating capsicum and takes Evening Primrose Oil. We try to ensure we get enough oily fish in our diets but in truth, we don’t, so the next best thing is a supplement and Chia seeds on everything! I have inherited my interest in health from my mum, who, much to our chagrin as kids, gave us carob Easter eggs and sent us to school with ‘black’ bread. Despite feeling different and deprived as kids, I now appreciate how much effort mum made in ensuring we ate well. It created a foundation that has given me knowledge about, and a taste for, healthy foods, and means I have also improved my husband’s diet and will give my daughter the best health start I can.

 

• What one ingredient can you not live without and why?

There really isn’t one ingredient! I love food and believe we need a varied diet to stay healthy.

 

• If you had half an hour to cook dinner and realized you didn’t have anything planned, what would you cook?

These days I can whip up anything in half an hour in my Thermomix (a kitchen appliance that almost does it all). BT (Before Thermomix) I’d make an Asian soup with whatever I had in the cupboard. I’d put some water on to boil and chuck vegies, stock, Asian sauces such as Soy, Oyster, Fish, Sweet Chilli, and any Asian herbs in. I’d dice up some chicken if I had it and possibly add some two-minute noodles.

 

• What is once piece of advice you can pass on to other busy mums?                                                                     Get off Facebook! (Except to read the Cut Out The Crap page ;o))

 

• If you could have dinner with any 3 people in the world, who would it be and why?                               My friend, Skye, who lives in Coffs Harbour. I never have enough time with her, and she’s one of the most inspiring Supermums I know, then James Mercer to listen to and Chris Lilley to laugh at.

 

• You were diagnosed with Epilepsy as an adult, how has this changed your life? Would you share this personal journey with us?

I was diagnosed with late-onset Epilepsy about four years ago. Initially I really didn’t believe I had it. I’d only had one seizure and I just didn’t feel like the sort of person who would have a “condition.” Even the first neurologist I saw gave me the all-clear after a series of scans. Unfortunately, about a week later, I had a seizure while driving and hit a tree. I wrote my car off but walked away unscathed. A more in-depth test revealed I did have Epilepsy and I was put on huge amounts of strong medicine which resulted in hair loss, tremor and weight gain. Aside from this, I felt epilepsy hadn’t affected my life at all.

I saw a new neurologist when my husband and I decided it was time to go off contraception. The medicine I was on was considered highly dangerous to a foetus so I changed medication and soon fell pregnant. I was monitored weekly in the last trimester of my pregnancy to ensure my medication levels were in keeping with my increasing blood volume. I had a very healthy pregnancy but I was hugely stressed at work.

As my parental leave approached, my work pressures increased. On the Wednesday of my last week of work I rose early after a sleepless night worrying about what I needed to complete by the Friday. With stress and sleep-deprivation known triggers for seizures, it should have come as no surprise that I had a seizure that morning.

I can’t describe how my husband and I felt as we drove along Parramatta Road to the hospital in peak hour traffic. Our normally active baby was frighteningly still. We didn’t know if I had fallen when I had the seizure as my husband was still asleep, and we didn’t know if the convulsions had affected her. Once in the hospital we cried when we heard Suzannah’s heartbeat. Our baby was alive.

Twenty-one hours after the seizure, my waters broke and 18 hours after that, Suzannah entered the world. We were so grateful she was a perfectly healthy baby despite coming 15 days early.

One week later I had another seizure. When I regained consciousness I didn’t know I’d already given birth. It was a truly distressing feeling. Over the next two-and-a-half months I had four more seizures so I was only able to hold Suzannah if I was sitting in bed. It broke my heart as I’d dreamt of  being the type of mother who carried her baby close to her everywhere. It seemed like a cruel irony that many mothers wouldn’t have had such a long-held idea of how they wanted to parent, but here I was, feeling like I couldn’t be as good a mother as I would have, had I not had Epilepsy. When my doctor suggested I may have to cease breastfeeding I feel I was very close to having Post-Natal Depression. Despite being horrifically painful, and having five bouts of mastitis, I felt breastfeeding Suzannah was the only thing I had to offer her. I knew I had to ignore my doctor’s advice, for my own sanity, for Suzannah and I to bond, and for Suzannah’s health. As my medication was increased, the seizures dissipated.

I have now been seizure-free for over six months (touch wood) and am able to carry Suzannah and take her outside. I don’t need to be supervised constantly and breastfeeding has become a breeze.

My frightening experiences with the seizures have made me feel so lucky that Suzannah is here, un-harmed. Having Epilepsy has taught me how important it is to listen to your body, look after your mental state and be thankful for all you have. There are always others who have far worse circumstances to deal with.

 

 

Wow! Another touching story! I can’t even imagine not being able to carry my baby whenever I wanted to, let alone what Nicola had to go through. I know for a fact she is such a strong person and it shows in the beautiful smile that is always on her face.

I hope this finds you all happy and healthy and I wish you a wonderful week ahead……

Take Care of You,

Collette x

Super Mum "Nicola Gifford"

Super Mum "Merlene Dilger"

Good Morning! Happy "Super Mum" Monday! When writing my long list of "Super Mums" that I was hoping to chat to, interview and share their "everyday" yet touching stories, I couldn't go pass adding my Chiro to the list. This lady is my saviour when I am stressed and suffer bad headaches, she is the one that put my body "back into place" after giving birth to the twins in a frantic 2 1/2 hour natural labour and she is the only person I trusted to help Miss Alice when she was only a few months old and she was suffering from her traumatic birth experience.... with the TLC of this "Super Mum" she was a lot more settled, sleeping better and feeding better......I hope you enjoy her interview......

“Merlene Dilger”

·         Tell us a little bit about you and your family?

Hi, my name is Merlene. I am a practicing Chiropractor with a special interest in pregnancy, babies, and children. I also have qualifications as a Clinical Nutritionist, and I’m a Counsellor for the Australian Breastfeeding Association. I own my own practice – Better Health Practices – with my husband Ron (also a chiro) and I have 2 beautiful children – Murray is 9 and Tarni is 6. We have a Herbalist, 3 Chiros, a Massage Therapist, a Pilates instructor, and run Gymbaroo/Babyroo classes from our premises. My son Murray has food sensitivities (wheat and dairy) and after pulling wheat out of my diet I have realised how bad wheat is for me, so I suppose that makes me wheat-sensitive too! Murray tends to get really snotty and his ears fill with fluid if he has any significant amount of wheat, whereas I just bloat up. It’s terrible stuff for most of us, really.

·         What one ingredient can you not live without and why?

This is a bit of a tough one – my cooking patterns are constantly evolving as I learn more about we should (and shouldn’t) put into our bodies. I am really getting into using Coconut Oil now instead of the old favourite olive oil – and really enjoying the taste. Coconut oil is the most stable oil – it does not degrade at all when heated. So all the other oils (olive, avocado, nut oils etc) are great for us as long as we don’t heat them up.

·         If you had half an hour to cook dinner and realized you didn’t have anything planned, what would you cook?

If I have access to my Thermomix, then I could do a few of my favourites – a mushroom risotto, or perhaps tempeh bolognaise with gluten-free spaghetti. If I didn’t have access to my Thermomix then I would probably do some toasted ‘rollies’ as they are known in my house – mountain bread (not strictly wheat-free I know) wrapped around some avocado, mayo, smoked salmon, whatever I have in my fridge really, and then toasted (I add cheese for my daughter as she doesn’t have a problem with dairy). In half an hour I could probably also whip up Collette’s Apple Crumble – so easy and sooo yummy!

·         What is once piece of advice you can pass on to other busy mums?

It is fine to be busy, but when you are with your kids – be with them – be present in mind as well as body. I have learnt this by trial and error really. Having my mind elsewhere when I am with my kids is a sure-fire way of getting bad behaviour out of my daughter. And even if I haven’t had a great quantity of time with my kids, if I am truly present when I am with them, this makes me feel a lot more connected with them, and I carry that with me when I am busy and not with them.

·         If you could have dinner with any 3 people in the world, who would it be and why?

Only 3! Ok, Anita Roddick (founder of the Body Shop, author, and amazingly ethically responsible entrepreneur), Edmund Hilary (first man to climb Everest), and can I say my hubby? I would really like to share meeting these people with him – and we don’t get much of a chance to get out to dinner these days!

·         You own “Better Health Practices” at Kariong, you are a Chiropractor yourself, plus more....I would love to more of what you do and what started this passion? 

I fell into Chiropractic really – I knew I could never sit at a desk so I looked at studying physio versus chiro and liked the chiro philosophy – the way it looks at the whole picture, rather than looking at symptoms. Ron and I started the Chiro part of Better Health Practices in 1997 when we moved to the coast. Chiro kept me healthy and functioning as I trained to compete in the Ironman Triathlon the following year. A few years later our first child was born, and that is probably where my desire to work with kids began. My confidence in caring for children with Chiropractic grew as my family did, but I still feel quite a weight of responsibility in looking after kids. And wellness is more than just having a well-functioning spine and nervous system, so I decided to complete a grad dip in clinical nutrition, which I finished a couple of years after my daughter was born. I also qualified as a Breastfeeding Counsellor during this time, as supporting women to breastfeed really gets to the bottom of health and well-being for children. The Breastfeeding Association were a constant source of support and encouragement as I breastfed both my babies into toddlerhood.

In line with this philosophy of supporting wellness from the beginning, I have recently added Gymbaroo to the services I offer at my clinic. Gymbaroo is a movement-based class activity for babies to pre-schoolers. It aims to educate parents on the importance of each developmental stage that children go through, whilst having fun! From tummy time strategies, to cementing pre-reading skills such as good upper body strength and smooth eye tracking across a page, it is a fantastic programme and I am really enjoying watching the kids in my classes conquer new motor skills, knowing that it is not just good for their body, but great brain food as well!

As always, my family are my constant inspiration. My son has really led me down a lot of the professional pathways I have gone down over the last few years, he is my greatest teacher really. My oft-neglected husband is always so supportive of my work, and my daughter reminds me how good it feels, and how important it is to laugh and smile every day.

 Wishing you all a beautiful week ahead, full of love and laughter.

Take Care of You,

Collette x

Super Mum "Leanne Faulkner"

GOOD MORNING & HAPPY MONDAY!!!!

 

Once again I am SO excited about todays Super Mum Interview.....not only is this lady an AMAZING Mum and Step Mum but also a well known Business Woman.....I have a feeling that most of you will know the Superb product she made! I was so thrilled when she agreed to do this Interview, for a small business owner like myself I have learnt so much from her and feel so inspired by her....I hope you do too.....

“Leanne Faulkner”

·         Tell us a little bit about you and your family?

I’m probably best known for my entrepreneur work with Billie Goat Soap. I sold the business in February this year, and now I have established a small retail advisory business called Reaching Retailers. We help businesses to sell their products into retail stores. I am also running a project to develop more mental health services for small-medium business owners because there are currently not a lot of resources available to this group in Australia.

I am married to the best man in the world –John, and we have been together for over 14 years.  I have 3 fantastic step children; Joel, now 23; Kurt 21; and Krishel, 18. John & I have 2 boys also – Kyson, 12 and Liam 11. We’re one big family and I love it when we are all together. Joel and Krishel both had asthma and eczema when they were growing up, and it was that experience that lead me to start Billie Goat Soap for Liam – he also suffered from asthma and eczema. I wanted a natural alternative for the kids because traditional treatments just didn’t work, and I was very wary of the chemicals we were putting on their skin. I can see now how this experience, although stressful at the time, was a valuable one because it lead us to creating Billie Goat Soap, and our plain soap has now helped many more people than I had originally imagined! All of the family has been involved in the success of Billie Goat Soap – from developing recipes, helping with marketing, cleaning the factory or packing soap.

The whole family including girlfriends, boyfriends and friends

·         What one ingredient can you not live without and why?

Sounds crazy to say but it has to be my Rice Bran Oil non-stick spray! It helps with so many dishes, and it’s a great alternative to using traditional vegetable based oils. My mother suffers from macular degeneration in her right eye, and I try hard to steer clear of products that contain canola oil in particular. Crude rice bran oil has a higher level of tocopherols (vitamin e) than other plant based oil and this has been found to help slow age related macular degeneration. We also use rice bran spread instead of margarines.

·         If you had half an hour to cook dinner and realized you didn’t have anything planned, what would you cook?

That’s easy – I would cook poached eggs on toast. My boys LOVE poached eggs and it’s a simple dish to do quickly. Years ago we had a chook run, and there was nothing better than collecting eggs to eat for dinner. We don’t have our own chooks anymore, but I still make sure I buy plenty of free range eggs from our local farmer’s market.

·         What is once piece of advice you can pass on to other busy mums?

Always make sure you make some time for yourself somewhere in the week and stick to it! As a working mum in a family business, I found I was constantly thinking about work or discussing it with John, even when I was at home. This can be draining after a while and you can lose focus on the other things that are important in life. It often meant my family didn’t get my full attention. To change this, we made a rule that worked well in our family… No talking about work from 6pm Friday night through to 8am Monday morning. Every weekend was deemed work free, and this has been very successful for us. My boys love it.

Nowadays I don’t have the demands of Billie Goat as I did in the past, but I still recognise it is important to have some me time. Life is still busy – but little things help. For example, when I do the grocery shopping each week, I allow for an extra 20 minutes so I can enjoy a cappuccino before hitting the supermarket. It gives me a chance to sit quietly and read a magazine or similar. The kids never volunteer to come grocery shopping with me (to my surprise!) so it works out to be ideal “me” time!

·         If you could have dinner with any 3 people in the world, who would it be and why?

I’m tempted to say my husband, my husband, and my husband because he is so wonderful to be around. However, let me explore this a bit further. Aside from my husband, I would love to have dinner with Wayne Dyer. His work and views on the world have really influenced my own beliefs and values, and he has been a true inspiration to me. The other person would be my paternal grandfather. He died helping to build the Sydney Harbour Bridge back in 1931. My dad was only 12 months old so never knew his father, and my grandmother was so heartbroken she would not speak of him again. He was from Montreal, Canada and I would love to know how he ended up in Australia!

Leanne and her Husband, John

·         You created, owned and recently sold Billie Goat Soap....I would love to know more about this AMAZING journey.....would you tell us all about it?

Happy to share this story! As mentioned, Billie Goat began because of Liam’s eczema. All the traditional treatments did not work and this sent me to the internet to do some research. I found out goat’s milk soap is supposedly good to help with eczema and as I had dairy goat’s as a hobby, I decided to make some soap using their milk for Liam. After making lots of terrible soap, I finally developed something that helped soothe his poor irritated skin, and local demand for the soap began to grow. In November 2004 I left all other work to concentrate on growing Billie Goat.

By the time the business was sold in Feb 2012 we were range in over 1800 stores including Myer, David Jones, Healthy Life, Terry White & Babies R Us.  It was a fantastic journey and took a lot of hard work, commitment, personal belief and support from others. I am often asked what I think it takes to grow a business and for me, there are three things that I learnt. You need the following:

Passion. You have to believe in what you are doing each and every day you are doing it. Passion is infectious and if you feel it, those around you will feel it too. You have to know why your efforts are worth it – what makes your business different and special from all the others?

People. Make sure you are surrounded by good people who will support you in your journey. You need the support of those closest to you or else the experience will be a challenge. If they don’t share your vision, make the time to talk to them about it so they can appreciate the full picture. My husband John had an unwavering belief in Billie Goat, and when I felt times were too tough – he helped me to continue. You also need to recruit people who have the same passion as you (or close to!). This is especially true for small business. I have learnt that negative people generate negative energy and there’s no room for this in a developing business. Make good recruitment decisions from the start!

Punches. You have to be able to roll with the punches because there are usually lots of them. One of my facebook friends posted a graph the other day about business success and it was so true. Let me share it with you:

 

To be successful you need to know how to manage through the squiggly bits. We all go there – even the model entrepreneurs you read about in magazines and online – everyone has squiggly times. We just don’t have enough business owners sharing their tough time stories. It’s worth remembering that the Richard Bransons of the world are the exception and not the norm.

I made a lifestyle choice in February of this year and sold Billie Goat Soap to The Heat Group. Gillian Franklin is the founder of The Heat Group and Gillian and I had got to know each other over the years. It was time for the brand to move on to bigger and better things and I recognised this needed to happen beyond me. It was time for me to say farewell to my baby and I wish them all the success in the world. Again, my advice around selling a business is to make sure you know why you want to sell it, and what you expect to get out of the sale. I believe I made an excellent decision for both me and the brand. Onwards to new things!

You can learn more about my new venture at:

www.reachingretailers.com

www.facebook.com/reachingretailers

If you own a small/medium business (or know someone who does) and are feeling anxious stressed or depressed, help is available at:

www.businessinmind.edu.au

www.facebook.com/beatingbusinessblues

A huge THANK YOU to Leanne for taking time out of her busy schedule to talk to me.....infact, I must say that to all the Super Mums that allow me to share their stories....life can seem overwhelming and stupidly busy sometimes being a Mum, let alone trying to work as well, so its nice to stop for a moment, read these stories, be inspired and know that we are not alone.....

Don't forget to check out Leannes new exciting & inspiring business adventure on the link above....

Wishing you a truly wonderful week,

Take Care of You,
Collette xxx