Friday 7 November 2014
Cake, cake and more cake!!
Hello blog reader peeps
Been a while again eh??
So lets start with the fact that Jack DID get his trike, we have the most amazing family and friends in the world without question. Its hard for him when he first starts to ride it but he absolutely loves it and of course he is more than made up with the yellow colour. It turns heads on the street as well :)
He has also got a wheelchair now which helps when both me and Tony are out with them. We make sure he still does plenty of walking as well though to keep the strength in his legs up. We took the children to Blackpool last weekend and he walked amazingly well. We all had a lovely time. Its great to get some time off and spend it together every now and again. There isn't enough of it!!
Jack is doing great! He is such a character and dare I say a monkey at times! His speech is amazing! He can hold a decent conversation with strangers now. Jack has a bag full of charm and within seconds of meeting someone he can wrap them round his little finger completely! It was Tonys 40th on the 25th of October and the dj took such a shine to Jack that he handed me his card and said to contact him if we ever wanted to do a party for him! See a complete charmer!!
Sooooo as you know I had said to raise the money for the trike I would face an enormous fear of mine and walk through the butterfly house in Chester Zoo. I did it!!!!!! One of the most terrifying things I have ever done in my entire life! I don't over exaggerate here either. The moment I walked in and saw them flying around I thought I was going to have some sort of breakdown! I had to take it one baby step at a time and put my hands on the side of my head to make sure I couldn't see what was coming from the sides. As soon as I got out I burst in to tears! It was a mixture of terror, relief, pride in myself and pride in my son! I would do it again tomorrow for one of my children :)
In other news we have been so busy with the business. It is so hard. We absolutely love what we do but we are getting tired. It takes most of our energy, our time with the children and our time as a couple. Things are just piling on top of me. Im struggling to balance everything I need to do and feel bogged down often. I can describe it as drowning some days! I need a few more hours each day just to do the day to day things. I feel like a terrible wife, mother and friend most days. We had to leave a wedding of one of my oldest friends last week before we had even eaten. I have never felt so embarrassed or sad in my life. Hopefully something will click soon and we can get into some sort of routine where we can take some time off and get some balance in our lives again.
Been a while again eh??
So lets start with the fact that Jack DID get his trike, we have the most amazing family and friends in the world without question. Its hard for him when he first starts to ride it but he absolutely loves it and of course he is more than made up with the yellow colour. It turns heads on the street as well :)
He has also got a wheelchair now which helps when both me and Tony are out with them. We make sure he still does plenty of walking as well though to keep the strength in his legs up. We took the children to Blackpool last weekend and he walked amazingly well. We all had a lovely time. Its great to get some time off and spend it together every now and again. There isn't enough of it!!
Jack is doing great! He is such a character and dare I say a monkey at times! His speech is amazing! He can hold a decent conversation with strangers now. Jack has a bag full of charm and within seconds of meeting someone he can wrap them round his little finger completely! It was Tonys 40th on the 25th of October and the dj took such a shine to Jack that he handed me his card and said to contact him if we ever wanted to do a party for him! See a complete charmer!!
Sooooo as you know I had said to raise the money for the trike I would face an enormous fear of mine and walk through the butterfly house in Chester Zoo. I did it!!!!!! One of the most terrifying things I have ever done in my entire life! I don't over exaggerate here either. The moment I walked in and saw them flying around I thought I was going to have some sort of breakdown! I had to take it one baby step at a time and put my hands on the side of my head to make sure I couldn't see what was coming from the sides. As soon as I got out I burst in to tears! It was a mixture of terror, relief, pride in myself and pride in my son! I would do it again tomorrow for one of my children :)
In other news we have been so busy with the business. It is so hard. We absolutely love what we do but we are getting tired. It takes most of our energy, our time with the children and our time as a couple. Things are just piling on top of me. Im struggling to balance everything I need to do and feel bogged down often. I can describe it as drowning some days! I need a few more hours each day just to do the day to day things. I feel like a terrible wife, mother and friend most days. We had to leave a wedding of one of my oldest friends last week before we had even eaten. I have never felt so embarrassed or sad in my life. Hopefully something will click soon and we can get into some sort of routine where we can take some time off and get some balance in our lives again.
Tuesday 20 May 2014
Absolutely BLOWN away!
Hi folks. I will start with a bit of an update on things. The Paton family has had a bit of a rough ride since I last spoke to you way back in November. Just before christmas we got a letter to say that our landlady would be selling the house and would like us to leave by April. We were horrified/terrified and really sad. We had hoped that once we had built ourselves back up from the fall a few years ago that we would be able to buy that house but alas it wasnt to be.
We started to approach other estate agents and were quite frankly disgusted with the treatment that we received from many of them. Now I know that our situation is a little............colourful lets say, we certainly are not criminals or bad people which is exactly how we were made to feel.
We were open and honest about our past bankruptcy and explained how it came about and how we have come forward to taking the plunge with the business again and how successful it is becoming. They werent interested! Some refused to see us, refused to even speak with the landlords, some wanted 6 months rent upfront each time and some werent even willing with a guarantor. We were so scared as to what would happen. The local council just dont have property for a family of our size, which in lots of ways is fair enough. We would never have decided to have 7 children if we couldnt pay for them ourselves but things happen sometimes.
Luckily a very very special friend of ours offered to be a guarantor for us and that on top of a fabulous landlord, who we will be forever grateful to for giving us a chance, we found the most perfect house and moved in March. We really hope that this will be the last time for a while now. The uncertainty of rental properties is scary, especially when you are a family of our size who cant easily be helped. Keep everything crossed for us that we get some years here. We would never afford to buy it! haha. The very best thing about this house is that it means I get to walk Jack to school everyday!! No more taxi. We do all miss Liam who was Jacks taxi driver before but we get to see him in the mornings which is lovely!
Business is going well. We are really pushing ourselves and have been quite drained just lately. Its been so very busy and on top of housework and appointments, kids and everything else it can be tough. Its very important to us to make a success of this though for our children as well as ourselves.
The walk to school has shown us a couple of things about Jack. Ive always known that his legs werent very strong and that distance could be an issue to him but I didnt realise how much he would struggle. Sometimes a 10 minute walk for me can take him 45 minutes. He becomes very tired and he actually looks exhausted by the end of the day. We went to see his physio and podiatrist and they have referred us for either a maclaren or a wheelchair for days out which will be a great help but they also mentioned about some specially adapted trikes that we could look at. I push Iris and have Bonnie on a buggy board so I couldnt push Jack as well. We went to have a look at the trikes yesterday and Jack LOVED them. The only downside was that we would have to fund it ourselves and its £900! There are charities that you can go to that can help but I have felt like I really want to do something myself, I want to feel like I have achieved something for my amazing son. Sooo as I am terrfied and i repeat this terrified of butterflies and moths, the worst and hardest thing I can think of is walking through the butterfly tunnel at chester zoo. Now I will add at this point that I did try this once and almost fainted at the entrance!
I have decided that I will do this on the 31st of May (day after my birthday..happy birthday to you!) and I have set up a funding page. I truly cannot put into words how blown away/overwhelmed/emotional and grateful we are at the response...ok ok yes that is a few words to describe it but not the magnitude of how I feel about it!
In no time at all he will be riding around and enjoying himself. It will help to strengthen his muscles as well as relieving his legs on long walks and Tonys shoulders on days out ;)
Jack is a boy that never ever fails to light up a room. I sometimes have to pinch myself that he belongs to me and I made him. He is beautiful beyond what you can imagine and has an aura of happiness about him. He loves nature and animals and always just seems to happy to be alive! He takes pleasure in things that me and you would take for granted. People can learn a lot from Jack, they really can. He is brave and never complains even when things must be hard for him, particularly when people cant understand what he is trying to say. To see him sat on the trike will mean alot to us all, his sisters included who feel the same pride and joy at him being a part of their lives. We are truly a blessed family and the kindness of family, friends and strangers is mind blowing. Thank you.
http://www.gofundme.com/93p238
We started to approach other estate agents and were quite frankly disgusted with the treatment that we received from many of them. Now I know that our situation is a little............colourful lets say, we certainly are not criminals or bad people which is exactly how we were made to feel.
We were open and honest about our past bankruptcy and explained how it came about and how we have come forward to taking the plunge with the business again and how successful it is becoming. They werent interested! Some refused to see us, refused to even speak with the landlords, some wanted 6 months rent upfront each time and some werent even willing with a guarantor. We were so scared as to what would happen. The local council just dont have property for a family of our size, which in lots of ways is fair enough. We would never have decided to have 7 children if we couldnt pay for them ourselves but things happen sometimes.
Luckily a very very special friend of ours offered to be a guarantor for us and that on top of a fabulous landlord, who we will be forever grateful to for giving us a chance, we found the most perfect house and moved in March. We really hope that this will be the last time for a while now. The uncertainty of rental properties is scary, especially when you are a family of our size who cant easily be helped. Keep everything crossed for us that we get some years here. We would never afford to buy it! haha. The very best thing about this house is that it means I get to walk Jack to school everyday!! No more taxi. We do all miss Liam who was Jacks taxi driver before but we get to see him in the mornings which is lovely!
Business is going well. We are really pushing ourselves and have been quite drained just lately. Its been so very busy and on top of housework and appointments, kids and everything else it can be tough. Its very important to us to make a success of this though for our children as well as ourselves.
The walk to school has shown us a couple of things about Jack. Ive always known that his legs werent very strong and that distance could be an issue to him but I didnt realise how much he would struggle. Sometimes a 10 minute walk for me can take him 45 minutes. He becomes very tired and he actually looks exhausted by the end of the day. We went to see his physio and podiatrist and they have referred us for either a maclaren or a wheelchair for days out which will be a great help but they also mentioned about some specially adapted trikes that we could look at. I push Iris and have Bonnie on a buggy board so I couldnt push Jack as well. We went to have a look at the trikes yesterday and Jack LOVED them. The only downside was that we would have to fund it ourselves and its £900! There are charities that you can go to that can help but I have felt like I really want to do something myself, I want to feel like I have achieved something for my amazing son. Sooo as I am terrfied and i repeat this terrified of butterflies and moths, the worst and hardest thing I can think of is walking through the butterfly tunnel at chester zoo. Now I will add at this point that I did try this once and almost fainted at the entrance!
I have decided that I will do this on the 31st of May (day after my birthday..happy birthday to you!) and I have set up a funding page. I truly cannot put into words how blown away/overwhelmed/emotional and grateful we are at the response...ok ok yes that is a few words to describe it but not the magnitude of how I feel about it!
In no time at all he will be riding around and enjoying himself. It will help to strengthen his muscles as well as relieving his legs on long walks and Tonys shoulders on days out ;)
Jack is a boy that never ever fails to light up a room. I sometimes have to pinch myself that he belongs to me and I made him. He is beautiful beyond what you can imagine and has an aura of happiness about him. He loves nature and animals and always just seems to happy to be alive! He takes pleasure in things that me and you would take for granted. People can learn a lot from Jack, they really can. He is brave and never complains even when things must be hard for him, particularly when people cant understand what he is trying to say. To see him sat on the trike will mean alot to us all, his sisters included who feel the same pride and joy at him being a part of their lives. We are truly a blessed family and the kindness of family, friends and strangers is mind blowing. Thank you.
http://www.gofundme.com/93p238
This is a picture of Jack trying out the trikes yesterday.
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