Sophie

Let me introduce myself. I am sister number one or rather the oldest sister. I hope certain others don't respond with an allergic reaction to that statement, when you're younger its not so cool to brag about being the eldest but I've just realized that when you pass maybe 35 its cooler to be the youngest ;-)

I am proud to have turned 40 in May and celebrated 20 years of marriage to my best friend in life, Rogier, in August. We have 3 boys. My oldest son, Joshua, turned 18 in June and yes I am still in shock. Judah is 16 and Joel 13. We only have teenagers now!! But they were once little'uns, really.

10 years ago they looked like this

Yes I was a young Mum, we started young and are now enjoying the freedom that comes with having teenagers. We have "Little empty nest tasters" as I call them here and there. For instance leaving the boys on the campsite during vacation and going off for the day just the two of us. Its great :-)

Although I have teenagers at home my work is all about pregnancy and babies. While being a full time Mum, I have dabbed in catering (my other passion) for some time and I am now making a career switch and have just qualified as a doula. My business is in it's first year and I have the grand total of two paying clients right now. I spend much time trying to get the word out there and networking. Something that does not come naturally to me.

I grew up my first 18 years in Cornwall in the UK, then lived 19 years in The Netherlands and 3 years in the US in California. I speak fluent Dutch. Someone asked me this summer which culture has influenced me the most in my life, and I realized that the dutch culture weighs as heavily as the UK maybe even more. This is something that I think about quite a lot recently.

Some things you will hear me talk a lot about in my blog posts are:
Life as a Mum of teenage boys.
Pregnancy, birth and babies.
Living (as a local) in The Netherlands.
Maybe a recipe here and there.