20 Questions With.... Kate Says Stuff

1. How old were you when your first child was born? 26
2. What gender/age are your children? 8yo boy, 6yo girl, 3yo boy & 1yo girl
3. Will you be having more children? Oh hell to the no!
4. Where do you live? Outer north west Melbourne at the moment... but watch this space!
5. Why is where you live good for your family? Well where we are is fine, but where we hope to go is even better! Room to move, access to services for our boys (8yo with Aspergers Syndrome, 3yo with Autism), great schools and good friends nearby.
6. How would you describe your parenting style? Straddling the fence between attachment parenting and more mainstream practices. We co-sleep, I breastfeed full term and we practice gentle discipline.
7. If people saw you in the street, how would they describe you? Very blonde with a purple streak... that's what seems to be most noticeable! Either extremely flustered or serene and confident depending what day it is!
8. What’s the best piece of parenting advice you got? This too shall pass. It is often my mantra.
9. If you met someone else with children the same age as yours, what would you be talking about? School, toilet training, early milestones, toilet training, motorbikes, discipline issues, toilet training, autism spectrum behaviours (depending on the company), toilet training.
10. What is the stupidest thing anyone said to you as a parent? If you keep breastfeeding while you're pregnant you will hurt/kill the baby (three of my children would prove this isn't true).
11. Can you share your favourite restaurant for families? Sadly we don't have that opportunity often at all... but I make a wicked pizza!
12. What is one sentence you never thought you’d say? '(Insert name here) would you please just go and watch TV?'
13. Tell us something quirky about your children.
    My kids are just a big bundle of quirk. 8yo thinks we should start our own school where the curriculum is entirely motorbikes and mathematics. 6yo runs like an Olympic walker... she's all wiggle. 3yo would prefer to watch home videos of his siblings than play with his ACTUAL siblings and 1yo hates other babies because she thinks she is a teenager.
14. What is the best thing about being a parent? Cuddles. Seeing your children grow and develop. The way your heart fills to bursting just looking at them.
15. What is the worst thing about being a parent? Extreme sleep deprivation anyone?
16. What did you do before you had children? I was a teacher... when I left to have our first babe I was teaching Grade 5 along with a Year 12 Psychology class.
17. How have your own parents influenced how you parent? Yes. I grew up in a household where breastfeeding and co-sleeping was the norm, my children are growing up with the same scenarios.
18. What’s one thing people might not know about you? I have 5 tattoos and 8 piercings (only 2 earrings and a nose stud in at present though).
19. Describe your favourite parenting moment. The births of all my children, but particularly the home waterbirth of our 1yo with her older 2 siblings present. It was amazing.
20. Where do you see yourself in five years? Being very involved in whichever school the 3yo is attending (either mainstream or specialist), ferrying 4 kids to activities and therapies, feeling a bit sad that my last baby is at school, working from home in my spare time, loving life with my beautiful family.

Kate blogs at Kate Says Stuff about life with a Supertrucker hub and four children. She shares recipes, home organisation ideas and runs some great reviews and giveaways. She also writes about the journey of her children on the autism spectrum.