Hey Beautifuls,

Again, not forgetting any one of you, I just wanted to say “Hi” and hope you are all well and happy.

I would love for more people to stop being shy and start writing messages here. It would be great to see. Thats my rant of the day.

Anyway, life here is very hectic. A baby and two children is a little difficult sometimes especially with Damaris (she 4 years old on the 21st of this month), with her behaviour. She is very head-strong, always has an answer for everything, will never let up and is pretty cheeky when she wants to be… oh and I forgot to say, a little mischievous… She is  giving us her fair share of a busier time lately as discipline needs to be conducted.

Zyah (will be 3 on the 12th of September) is normally pretty chilled and her behaviour is like an angel… but she has been a little more unsettled of late. I guess the reason being, Zeth. May be not knowing her place exactly… But all in all they love their baby brother. We love to see the love and care for him. They stroke his hands and hair and cheeks. He looks at them and listens to them.

Me, well I still can`t sing and I`m not holding my breath for that for another couple of weeks or so. I coughed in the middle of the night last night and man it hurt again… It was one of those `surprise` coughs and you can`t seem to brace yourself for it quick enough. I am trying to stay patient. I am listening to my album and also Annie Lennoxs album of late. Relaxing and thinking as its sounds out and I am either feeding Zeth or rushing around doing something.

Washing clothes and drying clothe. Man, there is a lot of that lately!!! Gary and I are doing washes like the machine is going out of fashion… The weather is more wetter so we are using the dryer too to get clothes dried in the meantime.

Generally life is much busier thesedays. I guess it will let up in the comings weeks though… Nah, I don`t believe so. As bub rolls and sits up and crawls and then starts to walk around the furniture… life will be as busy still.  BUT, the best thing in my world is my family. My bonus is music.

Gary will return to work on Monday and I must say, I miss him already. He has been brilliant in helping me. Not that he would have had it any other way. He is a very “hands on” Dad, always has been. I`m lucky like that and so is our children. I often see Das and even Mums not seeming to care for their children in quite the same sort of way as we do and it quite frankly, saddens me. I see many children who don`t wear much of a smile, I can see why.

Ok, must get back to the family. Girls are asleep, Gary is doing the Holland dvd ready for 5 believer/friends who won the competition of guessing the right time of when Zeth was to be born… Zeth is sleeping after going on a feeding frenzy… He is very settled now in slumber land.

Love you all. Can`t wait until I sing to the world again. I guess this time of “no voice” is about having time for family, my health, myself and the paths I want to take with my music career.

Be bad and make this moment your best one yet and then work on the next, or simply let it work on you. XXXX

written by Mandyleigh

Hiya Beautifuls,

Just a quick Hi before I get back into bed. I wanted to let you all know that I am thinking of you. XX

Zeth is doing absoultely beautifully. The girls love their little man brother. Zeth is now 8 days old. It is amazing how quickly time can go.

I am having a lot of help from Gary whilst he is home still for another week. He makes sure to do me a lot of hot water bottles for my rib area, he picks Zeth up for me in the night so I can feed and looks after the girls.

When Gary goes back to work ( I will then have more help from my Mum and Dad again, thank-you and lots of love to you both!), I know that my life with three children will be even more full on than when I had just the two girls. Then I have to get on with my challenges… The first one being… getting my voice back.

I did cough a couple of times yesterday and it just bundles me in pain until it subsides…

Please keep downloading the free music of “Fire & Snow”, and if you really like the album, please buy it and tell everyone you know.

My love and thanks to you all.

Be bad and take care! XXXX

written by Mandyleigh

Can only mean a pretty fight.

I would like to thank three very special people (who in these wee small hours as I woke to feed and change Zeth and then be very nosey to see what is going on across the world), Martin, Montse and Martijn,  for their love/support and encouragement to get through this little bad patch concerning me.

Its people like these who are wonderful friends and when all else is possibly gone, they will still be standing there.

So love to you my special people and I will do my absolute bad best to get well to the 100% and prepare for a tour that I hope you can be a part of in the not-too-distant-future to promote “Fire & Snow” and the upcoming music I have waiting for another album.

Love you all very much XXXX Enjoy Sunday.

written by Mandyleigh

Hey Beautifuls,

I wanted to say a little “hi” again before my back/ribs get too painful to keep typing here… So here I go.

As you know a few days back I told you that I again hurt my rib/s. I had yet another cough take me by surprise tonight at dinner and I sat there tense with all the pain. Gary rushed to support my sides as I still sat there not moving but starting to cry with the pain.

I then had a few tears in worry of not being able to get my voice back. It is very frustrating to me at this time because I want to sing again, ts been so many weeks that I haven`t been able to sing now due to the whooping cough and then the cracked rib. I am the “singer who just can`t sing”.

Worried, frustrated and wondering are a few of the feelings accompanying me about when my rib and side will get strong enough to help support the sounds of singing again. It is the thoraxic and muscle structure including all the ribcage that help to hold sounds once the vocal chords release them and with a cracked rib (not to mention the ever present cough that can start in a flash as it did tonight again), there is no support at this time in holding these sounds. I can hardly sing a note.

With a cracked rib its hard to get a decent breath because when you go to breathe in it will start to hurt and restrict how much breath you take in… I have on a kind of bandage at the moment to help support me. It helps a little as it doesn`t make my ribs feel as weak.

I guess the next few weeks are going to be very frustrating and challenging ones to me. I have also just had my third baby  too so I am needing to get my strength up. So, in the next weeks I need a lot of patience and perseverance for myself. I can not expect results in the 1oo% range straight away.

Anything worth having or doing must be worked for… So I know this is just another challenge for me, although I feel at this time that it is the biggest one I have had to go through concerning “getting my voice back”. It will not be easy. The frustration alone will eat away at me, but I will just have to have some patience. I will need to give myself time and I will have to rest when I can, take the vitamins that I need to take, exercise however much I am able to but not over-do it in the process and be open to healing each day.

My goals will be to regain my voice back totally, feeling very healthy in myself mentally and physically, and running like a bull into the music. As soon as I am able.

I hope you are all well and happy. I am sending a lot of love to special people at this time and they will know who they are. XXXXX

I love you all. X

Don`t forget, DONT BE SHY and please write your comments here or any of the blog posts. I would love to hear from you. If you see any spelling mistakes, forgive me

Take care and be bad!!!!

written by Mandyleigh

Hiya Beautifuls,

I just wanted to say that I am not hibernating. I am busy with our new little one, Zeth. He is such a lovely placid little man, just like the girls were.

I am slowly recovering but the rib is pretty bad still. I desperately try to hold off coughing for fear of the pain that happens each time, let alone the damage it must do.

I am now on calcium tablets to help my bones thanks to a very lovely friend who is a naturapath/iridologist, Caroline. XX

Gary and I are going through the recordings we had of our trip to Holland. Gary is making dvds for us, the family and the competition winners who guessed the closest times to Zeths birth, so we will send them along with the album “Fire & Snow”.

Its “Mothers Day” here on Sunday. Wonder what I might get? ;)  hehehe I have got the most beautiful gift… a beautiful baby, along with Damaris and Zyah. I am the luckiest Mum in the world!

As the days go along now I will want my rib to repair, my voice to start coming back. Its not only hard to sing with the threat of a cough lurking etc but also becauce the whole muscle and thorax structure need to support each sound being made by the vocals, it is very difficult to sing at this time. It will take quite a time to get the voice back as I know it should be. ARGH! I guess though that Rome wasn`t built in a few days…

Well away I go to rest a little whil before bub wakes for another feed. He is establishing his need to feeds at the moment and I must say he is a little man who sleeps a lot through the day, gets a hungry little man throughout the evening where I am feeding more or less non-stop and then will wake every 1 and a 1/2 to 2 to 3 hours (he was up every three hours last night…). We`ll see what happens tonight.

It has rolled around to another weekend. I wish you a good one. Be bad!

To Pete Zadeine and Kaz who have had a baby boy, Zac, CONGRATULATIONS!!! Have fun and lots of love from us.

Take care and know that I am thinking of many of you. If you are here for the first time, I hope you come back. I hope you are listening to the music and enjoying.

Love you all. XXXXX

written by Mandyleigh