My day starts like any other Mum, I get up at the alarm and set about getting the kids ready for school.
But I’m not any other Mum and first my Little Man has to pull my stiff legs out of the bed.
Like any other Mum it’s time to get the girls off on the school run.
But I’m not like any other Mum school runs are in the past and Daddy takes them instead.
Like any other Mum it’s then time to do the housework.
But I’m not like any other Mum, I can a do a little but even the vacuum is too difficult for me to use.
Like any other Mum I can then either chill out and do my own thing or go shopping, meet up with friends, even go to work.
But I’m not like any other Mum. I can’t go out alone, and most days I don’t go out at all.
Like any other Mum it’s soon time to get the dinner on.
But I’m not like any other Mum, I can’t stand for long and I need help to cook.
Like any other Mum I can then bath or shower my kids and take them to bed.
But I’m not like any other Mum and I can’t keep going up and down the stairs.
I’m not like any other Mum. I am a disabled Mum. It happened over night and now I can’t walk more than a few steps. My pain is constant and fatigue consuming. My body doesn’t work anymore, not matter how much I want it to.
Like any other Mum I can cuddle my kids, kiss them and tell them I love them. I can plan from my chair some wonderful treats for them. I can talk to them and help them with their worries. I can educated them, watch television with them, tell them stories and play games. (So long as I don’t have to sit on the floor. ) I can take them out and on holiday with Daddy’s help. I can have fun with them.
Like any other Mum….
I love being a Mum.
Day out with a Mum on Wheels!
This is my post for Day four of Blogtober where I am attempting to post a blog every day for the month of October.
Today’s Blogtober post theme is Couples. If you want to know more about Blogtober you will have to read until the end of this post. (Of course reading is not an absolute requirement, but you are here now so why not?)
I had my first boyfriend when I was 12 years old, that’s younger than my daughter Star is now. She’s not interested in boys though, I wasn’t either, it’s just that all my friends seemed to have a boyfriend and I felt left out. He wasn’t a ‘real’ boyfriend though, I think our relationship lasted two days before I caught him knocking on the door of a neighbour. I didn’t bother again for a good few years after that, not that I was heartbroken, just that I literally couldn’t be bothered.
Now I am on my second husband! My first I married when I was twenty, which seems so young now. We were married for 10 years but then we split. I met my current husband 6 years later but we didn’t get married until 2016.
The Hubby
When I met Graham he had a terrible speach impediment. I soon got rid of that! All he needed was some confidence and me not speaking for him and the stuttering stopped. I soon discovered that finishing his sentences for him wasn’t helping, so I didn’t. I helped him to realise that what he had to say was worth listening to, and that there was never any rush to get the words out. He speaks normally now, has done for years, but the stutter sometimes returns in times of stress.
I’d known Graham for quite a few years before we got together as a couple, he was a neighbour. We often spoke over the garden fence or in the street. (well, he tried to speak, and I tried to understand what he was saying!) I can’t say I ever imagined us getting together, he’s a lot younger than me and I just wasn’t interested at first. He was 26 when we became a couple and I guess I like him more then.
Early Years
I loved being in a couple with Graham, he was happy having a night in, in front of the television like I was, but we also had some great night outs. Can you believe I went to my first ever gig with Graham, we went to see Travis in 2001. Then a year later we saw Ocean Colour Scene for the first time. (Graham now transports a member of OCS around some weekends as he plays in another band. And yes, they are still gigging, we have one to go to in December!)
We also loved going to a Victorian Style restaurant which was in an old manor house. We would sit in the lounge with a drink while they got table ready. This was a Victorian style lounge with a big fire and huge settees. The food was always fabulous, but no unauthentic stuff, proper roasts with all the trimmings, a nice bottle of wine (or two) and a lovely pudding. It would cost a bomb to dine there but we loved it. Sadly it doesn’t exist anymore.
The family
After a couple of years together Graham admitted he’d like children of his own. I’d always wanted a big family so I was thrilled (or crazy.) We started trying straight away and I soon got pregnant, only to miscarry a couple of months later. Then it just didn’t seem to happen again and I was getting older and my chances seemed to be slipping away. On Boxing Day 2004 I did a pregnancy test which was a big fat positive, Star was due in September but she came a bit early.
We thought about having another child but didn’t hold out much hope as I was now 40 years old. But then Boo came along, apparently my fertility had had been given a boost. I have to admit that by the time I got pregnant with The Little Man a few years later I thought I was menopausal, not expecting my fifth child!
Marriage
I always said I didn’t want to marry again and Graham was never really happy about that. When I got sick in January 2016 I realised a lot of things. One of those being that if anything did happen to me then it would be much easier for Graham if we were married. (How romantic!) So on Feb 29th I proposed to him while we were watching Jeremy Kyle. (note the irony!) He was overjoyed.
I soon realised that I was too, getting married to the man I loved was the right thing to do. We had a small but lovely wedding on November 26th 2016 which also happened to be my birthday. It’s also the date we got together some 15 years previously. It does make it all a bit easier to remember.
Our Wedding, November 2016
This is a Blogtober 2018 post, if you want to join in or read more then please click the badge below.
I’ve decided to join in with Blogtober this year again, I missed a year last year but I did join in in 2016. With Blogtober you are given a prompt to write about each day during October. As it’s the 2nd of October I’m already a day late so I am combining two posts in one. The first prompt is All About Me and the second is Boobs, Breast Cancer Awareness.
I’ve gained a couple of years since then, no surprise! But I’ve also had a few major changes. I got married!! So my surname has changed. I also had a new diagnosis for my illness. Back then I was diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis from which I had a good chance of recovery. A few months later my diagnosis was changed to Stiff Person Syndrome with PERM. This condition is progressive and can also be fatal. I’m working with my consultant on the right course of treatment, but it’s not easy with the condition being as rare as one in a million world wide.
I’m a mum of five, two adults and three younger ones. My children all live at home still and we have a five bedroomed house in South Birmingham. Life is very chaotic at times!
A selfie of me and my two youngest
Raisie Bay
This blog was born in 2011, a year after my youngest child. Until then I’d blogged about him in another Blog, Baby Number Five. Prior to that I’d also blogged about my journey to conceive my third daughter who is now 13. The blog spread over two years so you could say I’ve been blogging for 15 years now. However, even more impressively, my first ever blog was set up in 1998 and was all about my life as a university librarian. I had no blogging platform back then and had to write the whole site in HTML.
Raisie Bay started out as a record of my younger kids life and that is still a major part of my blog. But as the kids get older, and seem less reluctant about appearing here, my blog has started recording more of my life in general. Basically, it’s changed from a Mummy blog to a lifestyle blog. My family is still at the heart of everything I write though.
Header form my blog I started in 2003!
Boobs
My type of Stiff Person Syndrome is often apparent in cancer patients. Generally, when the cancer is treated, then the Stiff Person Syndrome is treated too. This is why some forms of chemotherapy may be the answer to curing my condition. I have been tested for all types of cancer and so far I’m okay.
I am insured against Breast Cancer. I took out the insurance 12 years ago when a friend was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Breast cancer and we both had babies. Sadly, she passed away when her child was just five years old. Since then I have had five friends succumb to the same awful condition. They are still around and still fighting.
I hate cancer, it’s a cruel disease that takes away so much. The sooner it is caught then the best chance there is of beating it though, so awareness is so important, as is checking yourself often. Find out more information on this here on the NHS site.
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Way back around 1994 I found a Graphic Book in the staff room of the Elderly Persons Home in which I was working. It belonged to a fellow workmate and when he caught me reading it he kindly loaned it too me. The Book was ‘The Light Fantastic’ the second book of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. I loved it and went on to read the first book ‘The Colour of Magic.’ And so it began, my love of Sir Terry Pratchett and his beloved Discworld.
I read Unseen Academicals some years later, but along with the blur of all the other books I was never able to pick a favourite. When logging into my Audible Account last month I decided to spend my monthly credit on the audible book of Unseen Academicals. It took a while to whither down my list and get around to listening to it, but when I did it didn’t take long to finish it.
I do love my audio books, it’s great to be able to crochet and listen at the same time, it’s like completing two hobbies at once. I love the story telling but this is the first book that I’ve listened to that is described as a drama. I wasn’t sure that I’d enjoy it but even though it didn’t stick to the actual story it was a fun listen. If you are not a Terry Pratchett fan then you would enjoy the drama. If you are a true fan then you may not like the changes to the book and characters, and even feel that it’s not in true Pratchett style. It’s been a long while since I actually read the book so now I have to the urge to re-read it to fill in the gaps.
Unseen Academicals
Sir Terry Pratchett loved to losely base his Discworld stories on Shakespearian ideas. Wyrd Sisters draws on Macbeth, Lords and Ladies on A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Unseen Academicals on Romeo and Juliette.
But there is no Romeo, he is actually a footballer called Trev!
Here’s the blurb from the book.
Football has come to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork. And now, the wizards of Unseen University must win a football match, without using magic, so they’re in the mood for trying everything else. This is not going to be a gentleman’s game.
The prospect of the Big Match draws in a street urchin with a wonderful talent for kicking a tin can, a maker of jolly good pies, a dim but beautiful young woman, who might just turn out to be the greatest fashion model there has ever been, and the mysterious Mr Nutt (and no one knows anything much about Mr Nutt, not even Mr Nutt). As the match approaches, four lives are entangled and changed for ever.
Because the thing about football – the important thing about football – is that it is not just about football.
Here we go! Here we go! Here we go!
My Thoughts
Although the drama did not stick faithfully to the original book I did enjoy the presentation. David Jason was the narrator with Jon Culshaw, Matthew Horne, Josie Lawrence and Jaime Winstone voicing the characters. It made me chuckle out loud at times and I really got in to the football match which was so well presented you could feel as though you were there watching. Although to be honest, I’m rather glad I wasn’t. I certainly wouldn’t be buying anything off ‘Cut me own throat Dibbler!’
I would like to listen to another drama on Audible, I’m just not sure I will listen to another Discworld one. It was fun, but I don’t like that it did not give you the full Pratchett experience.
Audible
I currently have a credit sitting in my account and I haven’t yet made up my mind on what to use it on. I’m not sure if I want to go for a psychological thriller, which is my usual choice, or to go for something different. It’s a bit of a dilemma for me at the moment, but it’s a nice dilemma as I know I’ll be looking forward to plugging in my ear phones and getting stuck in a new book.
Disclosure: I am an affiliate for Audible and this post contains affiliate links. They won’t cost you any extra to click but may earn me a few pennies. Thanks.
My kitten, Ash, is now 6 months old, so I figured I’d dedicate my Sunday photo to him.
What can I say about Ash? Well, he’s still as cute as ever, even though he’s a little bit bigger. He is playful and loves nothing more than a piece of string or wool to be dangled in front of him.
He also loves curling up on the settee, or the floor, or anywhere at all. He gets in the most weird positions, often arching his back and looking like a big stripy banana. He loves having his tummy tickled and if you try to move your hand away he will grab it with his paws as if to say, ‘I’ve not had enough yet.’ He also likes to lick you and will curl up next to you happily licking away at your hand or arm. Again, there is no escape as he goes in for the grab if you move.
He has long legs and big paws for such a little kitten. This makes me think he’s going to be a big cat. He loves jumping around and chasing any insect that dare enter the house. Spiders don’t stand a chance, he’s a good hunter already. He will also chase flecks of dust, he’s a bit daft sometimes.
He is getting on better with his big sister Sabrina, although he still jumps out on her whenever he can. He jumps on her back and bites her neck, but no worries, she gets him back, she is bigger than him after all. She growls at him and gives him a good slap if he gets on her nerves. But, we’ve also noticed her starting to play back. The other day she was hiding behind the curtain and as soon as Ash came into view she pounced on him for a change. It’s not all about fighting though, they will sleep on the same settee sometimes, or curl up near each other on the floor.
The next step is to have him neutered. It’s something we really need to do in an area that has a lot of cats, and with him having a sister in the house. Then we can think about letting him go outside. He’s so desperate to get out he makes a dash for the door whenever we open it. He seems a little small to be roaming free just yet though. We’ll book him in for his operation and then monitor him for a little while outside each day. I’m sure he’ll be making himself well acquainted with the neighbourhood cats in no time. Not like Sabrina, who doesn’t stray from the garden when she goes out.
It seems like only yesterday when we bought Ash home, but soon we’ll be releasing him on the world…well, the neighbourhood anyway.
A little Note About Positive Reviews on Raisie Bay
A little Note About Positive Reviews on Raisie Bay
Some people only write reviews when things go wrong with products, which is good because it lets people know that there could be potential problems. I’ve also seen negative feedback with say things like, I had to return this item because the colour did not suit me…is this useful?
I write reviews on most items I buy because I like to give genuine feedback. If I have a genuine problem with a product I will write my review in the appropriate place.
I write reviews on my blog too, but they are mostly positive. Why? Because I only write reviews for the things I’ve loved. If I don’t love them I let the person who sent me them know with details why and then let them decided if they would rather me write a negative review or not write one at all. It’s always the latter.
This is my blog, my place and I’ll let you know about the things I love. If you want to find out what other people have hated about the product then you will need to look elsewhere.
My reviews may all be positive, but they are still genuine.
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