The blunt, the glorious & the droll…

Aka talking honest motherhood to Carry on Katy…

Oh, this motherhood thing again…Haven’t I really exhausted the subject by now?! Well, as this happens to be pretty much the very core subject of this website, and although I may feel I’m abusing the poor word, here it goes another touchy one: motherhood is indeed a truly unique experience for each of us, the over tired, over excited and often over puzzled mums, yet by unique I truly and absolutely mean that motherhood is pretty much the same to all of us. Yes, we all have to forget about the uninterrupted nights of sleeping, we all have to live with our toddlers starling tantrums and let’s face if, we are all excited about full nappies and dummy talks. Still, most of us choose to share the picture perfect full of glamour and bewitchment while hiding that crappy nappy. 

So here I am writing this post about a square shooting mum who thinks motherhood deserves a glass of wine on top. Or two. Or even a bottle. A mum who’s not afraid to blog about her darkest motherhoody perks brought along by having a two bundles roller coaster journey. Oh, doesn’t this one mum do it in a brilliantly frank way? Count on a brightly written piece of what could be your day. Expect drawings of poop. This mum will have you rolling in the aisles…

I give you Carry on Katy.

1. How did the brilliantly hilarious Carry on Katy project start its journey? 

‘Brilliantly hilarious?!’…Gosh, you are LUSH to say so! ‘Carry On Katy’ all started on Facebook. I was the first one out of all my pals to have kids and I started writing funny one-liners about what life was like when the baby had puked in my hair or shat on my carpet. My friends admired my honesty- even my single friends said that they could relate to my posts and found it refreshing to read about the reality of marriage and having kids. Where a lot of people were posting pictures of their gorgeous husbands hugging their clean, cuddly newborns, I was posting pictures of my husband snoring on the sofa and my baby looking like he’d been possessed by an evil spirit.My pals told me to start a blog. I had no idea what a blog even was until a fellow cellist/blogger pal of mine told me what to do and in July 2014, Carry On Katy was born. I’m still not entirely sure what I’m doing to be honest as computers aren’t really my thing but one day I will learn what a widget is. One day.

2. Who is behind all drawings from your website?

I am the illustrator and the drawings came about entirely by accident really. My first ever post ( called ‘And the award goes to’) was about how we as mothers are rarely thanked for all of the things that we do for our families. In the post, I imagined what it would be like to have an award given to me in a proper Oscar-Style ceremony…and presenting the award was none other than my number one Hollywood beau: Hugh Jackman. I trawled the internet looking for a picture of Hugh and with every picture I found, a warning saying ‘This picture is subject to copyright’ came with it. I was so terrified of being sued that I just thought ‘Feck it, I’m gonna draw him myself!’. This way the picture would be my own and I wouldn’t end up in jail.

After the first post, I carried on drawing the pictures as I was too lazy to find out how to use pictures legally. If I wanted a picture of the Sex and the City girls, I’d draw it. My kid throwing a poo?..I’d draw it. Drawing the pictures also became a great way of protecting my children’s privacy which is very important to me. Now, the illustrations have become an even bigger part of the blog than the writing itself and I have more felt pens in my pencil case than any 35 year woman in the country no doubt.

 3. Balancing professional & personal lives can be one of the toughest challenges especially for women. How does a regular day of Katy look like and how do you create a working balance? 

Damn! If I had an answer to this I would happily share it with you all but the reality is juggling everything is incredibly difficult! My husband is also a musician and we take it in turns to look after our kids based around our freelance schedules. He is often on tour as he plays with Rick Astley and there is many a day when I turn on Facebook to see him sitting in a luxury hotel sipping a beer in Singapore whilst I am at home having cold broccoli lobbed at my head.

Those days aren’t fun but it works both ways. When he is at home, it is his turn to endure the broccoli-bashings whilst I hit the stage.

Regardless of what I am doing, my kids are always at the forefront of my mind. Some days I am sat on a stage in front of thousands of people in a tight black dress blasting out a tune whilst simultaneously reminding myself to add nappies and kitchen roll to my Tesco online order the second I get off the stage. Other days I’m stuck on the motorway at 12am on my way back from a gig in Manchester knowing that I will get back home to find that the toddler has crept into my bed and he will inevitably spend the rest of the night kicking me in the guts before I have to get up and do the school run the next day.

I’m super organised, super stressed, terrifically tired and feel guilty ALL of the time. I wear piles of make-up, drink bucket loads of Red Bull and dream of having a day off.

But despite all of the madness, my kids are happy as they get to spend equal time with both my husband and I which actually makes them incredibly lucky.

4. From my own experience, I know that blogging can be a very demanding task where 9 till 5s hardly apply. Which are though your favourite perks of being a blogger mum?

I love the blogging community…this has to be the greatest perk of all! I have met some cracking folks online and have even met some of them in person. I also get a rush from seeing how many people have read and commented on my work. I love making people laugh and if I succeed in bringing a tiny bit of light into a dark day then my work is done!

In terms of my blogging schedule, I have very little time to put together a post and usually write the post in my mind whilst stuck in traffic. I then scribble it down on a Tuesday morning, draw the pictures and post it that evening. If I had the time I would write every day but it’s impossible at the moment.

5. Where does your inspiration come from? Are there any inspirational figures you tend to follow?

My inspiration comes entirely from my kids. They are hilarious, sweet, challenging and unpredictable and these qualities all make great material for comic writing. Even on the darkest of days, I am able to look for the funny side of most situations. It’s how I keep myself sane and how I’m able to cope with my toddler pulling a giant dung out of his pants before handing it to me in the middle of soft play. It’s gross. It’s upsetting. And it’s hilarious!! Without them I’d have nothing at all to write about.

6. What is motherhood to you? 

Motherhood is a journey. Some days I feel like I’m cruising down the motorway with ease feeling totally in control and other days, I feel like I’ve hit a road block, run out of petrol and have a flat tyre and need to call in the RAC to come and rescue me.

Every day I find out more about myself as being with my children challenges me in ways that I have never been challenged before. I have never experienced such all-consuming love as I have for my boys (not even Hugh Jackman can compete).

I have learnt to laugh louder, to play more and to enjoy the little things that I had forgotten all about since becoming a responsible adult.

I have learnt to be patient, to embrace frustration, and to slow right down and accept that not everything is in my control.

Most importantly, I’ve learnt how to serve up fishfingers and Potato Waffles in three different ways and how to knock back a bottle of wine and still get up at 6am the next day to function with the powers of a superhero.

7. What do you do and enjoy the most when you switch off work mode?

I love wine, wine and occasionally I like a glass/pint of wine. My husband and I also watch a lot of Netflix and spend our evenings battling to stay conscious through an episode of House Of Cards without passing out from exhaustion. This leads me to my next favourite pastime: sleeping. It doesn’t happen often but when I get to sleep, I am the happiest I could possibly be.

8. Last but not least, which are your future plans/ projects/ campaigns you’d love to take on board? 

My number one ambition is to write a book. As yet, I have no idea what it will be about but once I’m away from the hustle and bustle of London (one good day) I hope the creative juices will start flowing. If not, I’m going to use my new-found freedom using my new treadmill for something other than drying towels.

My washboard stomach and/or debut novel awaits.

9. Which is your favourite inspirational quote? 

From Richard Branson: ‘Screw it, just do it!’

It’s a cracker! He said that if you want to milk a cow, don’t go into a field with a stool and a bucket and wait for the cow to come to you. Grab that bucket, chase the cow and get squeezing those udders!!

That’s how I roll! I love to squeeze the udders of life…how else will any of us know our true potential if we don’t chase our cows?!

If you’re wondering how the cartoon translates in real life, here you have the dazzling mum behind Carry on Katty…

If thirsty for more creative fun ways to enjoy motherhood and its perks, including trending my future events follow Allmumstalk Facebook page or you can get lots of colourful ideas from my Instagram #allmumstalk (I’m such an Instagram junkie!). Cool mums tweet, so throw at me your tips if braver (#allmumstalkhere)! 😉

Motherhood can be beautifully challenging yet tough. Good news, we’re all in this together!