Becoming Blended Through Displacement with Waad Al-Kateab

Hey Guys! Well, it's been quite a journey since the last time we chatted, and I've stepped out of my little bubble to share a special life update... Shae's here!In today's mini update, I'll take you on a journey through what it's been like getting to know my gorgeous little girl and adapting to life with not just a newborn, but a toddler and teenagers! You know, trying to find our new rhythm and establish a fresh routine. But let me tell you, it hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows. Shae made quite the entrance into this world, being born with congenital pneumonia, and I'll be sharing that rollercoaster of an experience today.So, thank you for joining me on this incredible journey. Your support means the world to me.If you haven't already, become part of the Blended community by following and interacting with us @Blended on Instagram.Thanks for listening, and I can't wait to share more with you all!

Hey Guys! This is the last time you’ll hear from me for a little while, because when this episode comes out I’ll be 37 weeks pregnant and officially on maternity leave! To be honest I've been on maternity leave unofficially for a week or so because the tiredness has hit me SO hard.Before I go, I want to leave you with some final bits to round off this amazing series of Blended. You’ll hear my final preparations for pregnancy, an interesting update from team Blended and I’ve selected some of my favourite moments from the season for you to enjoy, one of the clips I've chosen does contains reference to miscarriage and baby loss so please take care while listening.I hope you’ve found this season of Blended as enjoyable and comforting as I have, thank you so so much for your support and community, it genuinely means the world and I can’t wait to share more with you guys on the other side!If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram.

Today on Blended, we are speaking to a guest that so many of you have been asking for! Former Queen of the Jungle, podcaster and author Vicky Pattison!Although Vicky herself isn’t part of a Blended family, hearing her journey to potential parenthood is very in keeping with the family stories we love to hear on Blended. Earlier this year she took the decision to freeze her eggs and start an IVF journey, but it hasn’t gone completely to plan. During a scan in January, the doctors discovered that Vicky had an ovarian cyst, meaning she couldn’t start treatment, luckily after a rocky few months, Vicky has been given the all clear and has started the IVF process.Vicky has been so open on social media in documenting her journey and showing both the physical and mental challenges that come with IVF. On today’s episode Vicky details the last few months of her IVF journey alongside sharing why she doesn’t yet feel ready for pregnancy and the scrutiny she’s faced because of this.It was such a pleasure to chat about her alternative route to motherhood, as always with Vicky this chat is open, hilarious and more than a little sweary!If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram

TW: This discussion covers displacement through war, and descriptions of death and violence so please be kind to yourself when listening.Next week marks Refugee Week here in the UK, and we’re honoured to be joined on Blended by the inspiring Waad Al-Kateab. Waad is a Syrian journalist, filmmaker, and activist. Her documentary, For Sama, was nominated for four BAFTA’s, winning Best Documentary, and it was also nominated for Best Documentary Feature at The Oscars.‘For Sama’ is a love letter from Waad to her daughter, Sama. The film tells the story of her life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while conflict rises around her.Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival, as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice – whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life. Waad has since settled in the UK with her husband Hamza and their young two daughters Sama and Taima.We chat about the resilience being a mum provides you, how war & conflict cause you to build families beyond blood, the impossible scenario of having to leave your newborn child in a different country and starting again in the UK for the safety of your family.Waad is an absolute inspiration, the challenges herself and her family have been through couldn’t be tougher, so to come out on the other side and speak with so much strength optimises the Blended story.Check out Waad’s incredible film For Sama, as well as her new film We Dare To Dream and please do follow @actionforsamaIf you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram

Hey Guys! As you’ll hear in today’s episode, life has been busy over the last few weeks! So it feels like a good time to fill you in on what I’ve been up to, book launches, birthdays and my ever growing bump!Thank you so much for all your questions that came in from my Instagram Q&A, I do my best to answer all the things you want to know!We’ve got such an exciting last few weeks on this series of Blended so please stick around and I’m hoping to do another one of these before going off to have the baby!Please click here if you’d like to (pre) order a copy of my brand new blended children’s book ‘The Family Tree’If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram

Nevine Coutry is the founder of the UK’s first dating app for single parents, ‘Playdate’. After divorcing her ex-husband in 2016, Nevine found herself as a single parent to her 3 year old son. Nevine tried all the mainstream dating apps looking for a new partner but would often get ghosted after mentioning her son or her divorce.It wasn’t until a couple years later at a friends’ birthday party that Nevine met a single dad, and they hit it off immediately. They joined family units and Nevine became a step-mum. Although their relationship didn’t work out, the experience left Nevine feeling so enriched by the Blended experience that she decided to create her dating app.Nevine’s story is a chance to hear what happens when Blended families don’t quite work out as planned, as Nevine says in the episode, it’s bittersweet but she would do it all over again.If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram.

TW: Mentions of self-harm and suicideToday we welcome the wonderful Louis Weinstock to Blended. Louis is a psychotherapist, hypnotherapist and coach who has 20 years experience in guiding adults and children through some of the toughest challenges life can throw at us: loss, trauma, divorce, burnout and breakdowns.Louis is also a published author, his book ‘How The World Is Making Our Children Mad and What To Do About It’ gives children the tools they need to look after their mental health in an increasingly turbulent world of climate change, social media and war. Today's chat is all about finding the balance of using social media in between different households and how we can help our children deal with trauma by helping ourselves first.Louis has such a calm, warm energy and has such an easy way of opening up deep topics, which hopefully makes it feel relevant and you can take some tips that can help you and your family. To find out more about Louis’s book ‘How The World Is Making Our Children Mad and What To Do About It’ ‘click hereTo find out more about Louis’s charity ‘Apart of Me’ click hereIf you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram. My book How To Build A Family is available now, and you can pre-order The Family Tree here: https://bio.to/KateFerdinand

Hey guys! Loads of you have been getting in touch with questions about Rio and I so it only felt right that I got him back on the podcast.We set the record straight on how we met, and as you’ll hear he didn’t make the best first impression… We also chat about how we’ve blended our lifestyles, how we resolve arguments (sort of) and there’s a bit of banter too. Safe to say Rio left the studio feeling like I’d taken the mick out of him but we do actually answer these questions honestly and we hope you find them interesting! If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram. My book How To Build A Family is available now, and you can pre-order The Family Tree here: https://bio.to/KateFerdinand

Here’s something very special for all the Blended listeners. A few weeks back, I did a live show with the amazing host of the Motherkind podcast, Zoe Blaskey. If you haven’t heard of the Motherkind podcast before, it’s basically a show where wellbeing experts help you find your calm, happy place in the madness of modern mum life.So today we’re sharing an episode of Motherkind where Zoe chatted to Reshma Saujani. Resham spent the last 10 years telling girls to lean in and fight to get to the top; however, after her experience parenting and working during the pandemic her message has changed. Find out what she now has to say during this powerful episode.If you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram and you can pre-order my book How To Build A Family here https://lnk.to/HowToBuildAFamily

Hi guys, I’ve got something very exciting to share with you today, it’s been a long time in the making, but I’m so excited to say that my brand new book ‘How To Build a Family’ is out tomorrow - I can’t quite believe it!How to Build a Family is a nurturing handbook that I wish I’d been given when I started out my journey in a fully blended family. As well as my experiences, and those of other blended families, it has advice and tips from experts you’ve heard on the show like Julia Samuel and Lisa Doodson. My goal in writing this book is to encourage, inspire and support families everywhere.In today’s podcast I also talk about my other new book ‘The Family Tree’ which will be coming out on the 8th of June (quite the author I know). The Family Tree is a reassuring picture-book adventure that will help blended families feel seen and celebrated, offering gentle conversation starters for the youngest readers.I hope you find these books refreshing and useful, as always thanks for your amazing love and support, I can’t wait to hear what you think of them!You can pre-order both books by clicking on the link here: https://bio.to/KateFerdinandIf you’re excited to be a part of the Blended community, make sure to follow @Blended on Instagram.