Christmas time with our 16 children

Well Christmas day finally arrived I'm not sure who was more excited me or the children! 

Last night we were up until midnight as we had to wait for some of the children to go to sleep before we could do anything with the presents. After they were all asleep we could start on building some of the toys, I had got Tillie a huge dolls house that needed building, when Noel took it all out of its box he just looked at me and said  "i think its going to be a late night" after an hour of putting that together we then had to build oscars bubble car, we unpacked that Noel said "it says we need a hammer" we both looked at each other as we both know as soon as we need some kind of tools its a 20 minute search to find it and sure enough it wasn't there so we had to use a battery of the cordless drill, there's nothing like improvising but it did the job so once that was finished we went to bed thinking we would probably have a few hours sleep before they came pounding into our bedroom but i woke up at 6.30 and though they will be up any minute now but i must have gone back to sleep and we finally got woken up at 7.30 so we got a lie in! We went down to get Sophie and Joe up whilst everyone waited outside the lounge then as soon as they came upstairs we opened the door and they all ran into the lounge shouting Santa's been Santa's been! it was so magical there was wrapping paper flying everywhere and children shouting what Santa had delivered. Oscar was totally oblivious to what was going on and just sat staring at all his brothers and sisters opening their presents and little Casper just slept through it all. I remember Tillie being the same last year but this year she was so excited to open all her presents and she loves her dolls house. All of the children were so pleased with what they got and have spent all day playing with their presents.

Once we had finished tidying up it was time to get the turkey in the oven. We had a 10 kilo turkey, it was huge and just fit in the oven. Then we had to prepare all the veg, there was 7 kilos of potatoes and 4 kilos of carrot and swede and guess who had to prepare it all? yep, me and hubby! oh and 6 yes 6 sprouts for Noel and Chloe because nobody else likes sprouts, plus all the trimmings, we also had 50 pigs in blankets but when it was ready it was gorgeous and they all ate it so we have had a totally amazing day playing with toys and board games and seeing all there faces has just been so magical. We hope you've all had a fantastic christmas love the Radfords x

 Max with presents 

 Oscar opening presents

 Morning madness

 Casper and Daisy's 1st christmas, its just too much for Casper he's fallen asleep 

What a manic week we've had!!!

So a few weeks ago me and Noel decided to start a date night as we never get any time together as a couple and felt that we really needed to get some time together so Noel had been planning something for a few weeks and would not tell me what it was no matter how hard i tried to get it out of him so Friday came and it was date night and I was feeling very excited about going out for the night and my mum and dad coming round for the day which we always look forward to anyway. They arrived at 11.30 followed by Noel, he said he had a lot of paper work to do and would be working from home which wasn't unusual so when he got a phone call to go back to work i didn't think anything of it because that was normal but when he came back he said get your shoes on and come outside and when i got outside well, he had only gone and rented a audi a5 coupe and then he announced that we would be going to Chester for the night! well omg i was in shock because we never get to go away on our own ever, well we haven't stopped in a hotel for 20 years so I was over the moon and I packed my bag and off we went.
When we arrived at the hotel we were greeted by a concierge who took our cases and we went to reception where we were greeted by the hotel manager who was so lovely and couldn't do enough for us. When we were checked in he took us to our room and showed us round  it and it was an amazing room I felt like a princess! We had pink champagne waiting for us and when we went down for our evening meal we had a cocktail menu just for us which was amazing and did i enjoy all the cocktails on the list :) we had such an amazing time. When we got home the older ones had coped brilliantly Chloe had Casper during the night and he had been up at 3 then was in and out of sleep till 7 then she had to go into work for 7.30 but she loved having him.

This is our fantastic room


In the hotel we found this chair x

Then at 2 we had a dress fitting at the bridal shop so we took all the girls and when we got there they were all lovely and had cupcakes for the children and champagne for us grown ups so i started trying on dresses and i think it was the 4th dress I tried on and everyone loved it so we decided that that was the one so then Sophie and Chloe tried there dresses on and couldn't decide on the colour.. Chloe liked one colour and Sophie liked the the other  so they had to compromise and go with Chloe's colour and the little ones love there dresses. After this we then had to decide on where to renew our vows so we have now found the perfect place and we are so excited.
Also this week we have had lots of magazine and photoshoots which has been crazy but a lot of fun and I cant wait to see the pictures of our family.
We have had the 3 older primary school children's nativity play which was just lovely. I love this time of year, its just magical although this year i'm not very organised but i am getting there.



Smiley little Casper at 11 weeks x

We've been up to alot this week!!!

Casper is now 9 weeks and it has gone so fast! I hadn't had him weighed in a few weeks so me and Sophie went to have them both weighed  and i was so shocked at how much Casper weighs, he's 12lb 7oz and he's doing so well but hardly surprising he's put so much weight on because he never stops feeding. Daisy now weighs 11lb 12oz she's so dainty and 5 weeks older than Casper! to look at them both you would now think Casper was born before Daisy, they're both doing really well although Daisy has had quite a bad cold this week so has been very unsettled for Sophie but Casper is now starting to get into a routine. We usually start to introduce a bedtime routine at this age so that has started this week and is going well... we bought a baby monitor that you can see him with and it has a two way intercom on it which was so funny because the first night we used it we put Casper up to bed at 7.30 and came back downstairs and me and Sophie were just sat watching him sleeping when we saw Josh who's 5 go in and give him a kiss good night it was so sweet and he just stood there talking to him when Sophie said lets press the button to talk to him so  Sophie said Josh what are you doing?! and he jumped out of his skin and ran out of the room and came downstairs laughing saying Sophie you jumped me up well i've never laughed so much for ages it was so funny.

This week we have been very busy filming for our new programme and it's going really well. We're enjoying it so much and the children are having a lot of fun filming aswell. Ellie was very impressed that she got to wear a mic pack for her interview and we've also been really busy planning our wedding renewals for what seems like ages so on Monday we told the children that we are going to go abroad to renew our vows and that we would be telling them where when we had booked it all the following day so they were all very excited. When we had got it all booked we gathered them all around the kitchen table and announced where we would be going and there reaction was amazing! little Tillie knew exactly what she wanted to do and said go beach straight away shes so excited and Max is excited about going on a big aeroplane  and the rest of the children are just excited about it all and can't wait to go, it was just magical to see all there faces and see how excited they all are so next weekend we will be going dress shopping. The girls are all looking forward to choosing their dresses so its going to be amazing and its only about 7 weeks until we go so not long! Also this week we have been to book the christening for 11 of the children so things are very busy at the moment and i've got loads to organise in such a short space of time but i'm sure it will all come together in the end. so that's about it for this week.
Heres a few little pics.



Tillie been a little mummy and feeding Oscar a yogurt



Casper in one of my favourite cloth nappies



Our cute little teddy bear Oscar x

What we've been getting up to!!

The past few weeks have been very busy for us we have been wanting to build some bunkbeds in the children's bedroom for so long but just never seem to find the time to do anything so the other week we set to it and decided to knock a wall down to make one of the bedrooms bigger so that we could fit them in that room. So Noel went to buy all the wood to build them from scratch it took us the weekend to knock the wall down and put another wall up so once that was done we cracked on with building them. I say we but i didn't really do anything, it was Chloe that helped her dad build them and it took all week with some very late nights involved and the mess was unbelievable! I really hated the house being upside down but the finished product was more than worth it. Here they are


and they absolutely love them! and guess what... they actually all sleep in there own beds now! well, sometimes Max will go and get in with Josh.

Casper is now 7 weeks and he's just started giving out smiles and they're the biggest smiles ever! I love seeing his little dimples when he smiles with his chubby cheeks. The last few weeks have been quite hard with him because he's had a bit of colic and been very unsettled in the evening but he seems to be coming out of it and he has been a bit more settled the past few days, he's still waking up at least twice during the night but I love our cuddles during the night. Oscar has started waking up during the night because he's been teething bless him he got his two front teeth at the same time and he did suffer with them. I think he's going to start walking very soon because he's started using his push along to walk with so he's getting more confident, I can't wait to see him take his first steps. Also this week I have decided I better get on with the christmas shopping as i haven't bought one present yet! I'm very unorganized this year but the children were sat doing there lists for Santa the other night and Ellie had finished hers and she said to me "mummy, is this OK? or is it too much money?" So I said well it is a little bit too much so she said "well I tell you what mummy you can get me these and Santa can get me these." I just love her thinking then that way she gets to have all the things she would like, smart little cookie. I love this time of year and I can't wait to get all the decorations out and put the tree up. Max said to me "mummy, we need to clean the fire out for Santa because he has to come down the chimney"  I cant wait to see there little faces on Christmas morning. I love our big family, Christmas is so special and makes us realise just how lucky we are to have what we have.

a little pic of casper at 7 weeks

Never taking things for granted

This time of year has brought back some memories that to be honest I would rather forget...
on the 5th december 2011 we had just finished bathing the younger children and were sat on the bed watching in the night garden with Tillie when I looked at her and thought something's not right, she was just staring into space and I had seen that look before when she had had a febrile convulsion just 4 months before when we had been in Lanzarote and had ended up in hospital with her so I knew what was happening and said to Noel oh god she's having a convulsion so I said to him  do I ring for an ambulance and in a split second i thought maybe she would be ok till I realised that she was barely breathing so i ran downstairs and grabbed the phone and rang 999. I did panic and was shouting down the phone for them to just hurry up, Tillie was lying on the floor in the hall and wasn't breathing so she was talking me through doing CPR. I have never been so scared in my life when all of a sudden the ambulance crew turned up so they took over and managed to get her what we thought was stable.
We got in the ambulance and the paramedic said to the first response  man that had got there first will you follow us and if I need to pull over then you can help which I can remember thinking oh god do they not think she's going to be ok? so we set off and I could see that she was being sick so I said to him oh no she's been sick so he quickly got the suction out and then realised that she was deteriorating so started with the oxygen. By this time we had got to the hospital so as soon as the doors opened there was so many people waiting for her and we got taken into resuscitation and I suddenly felt safe and that she was was going to be fine but I soon realised that she was very poorly and they had to start bagging her. I can remember standing there praying to God that she would be ok and please God don't let us lose her, I have never been so scared in my life! By this point they asked us to leave and go to the relatives room. I can remember thinking God i'm so guilty for taking everything for granted and just getting on with life and just muddling through and praying to God that if she pulled through that I would never take things for granted again! Me and Noel sat in that room for what seemed like a life time until the consultant came in to say that she was stable and at no time had her little heart stopped and that she was still fighting. They took her for a ct scan which didn't show anything. A further 3 hours passed and they had to find her a specialist hospital that was able to take her, we did get news that they had found her a bed at Sheffield that was about 3 hours away so thought she was going to have to go there until she came back an hour later and said that alder hey could take her so when they turned up they had to transfer the life support which took forever' and when we finally did get to see her before she got taken away she didn't even look like Tillie she had so many tubes anandddd things coming out of her and her face was so swollen I honestly thought we were going to lose her, i've never been so scared I can remember coming home to get a her things and mine and just breakiong down in my mums arms it was just awful. So we finally got to alder hey at 3.25 am and were greeted by the staff in intensive care she said to us I don't want you to be alarmed be all the wires and alarms, she's doing really well and has been stable all the way and they haven't had to stop once on the way but she still didn't look like our little girl she just looked all swollen. We stayed with her all night and that afternoon they said they were going to try and take her off the support which they did, gradually. I remember when she did come round I had hold of her and Noel was sat on the chair and she suddenly woke up and started waving at him i've never cried tears of joy so much ever! I will never forget that moment so long as I live. The next day we got told that she had RSV and a chest infection so they treated her for that and then we were told that she could be transferred to a children's ward that day because she was doing really well. That  night we had gone out for something to eat and me and Noel got a phone call telling us to get back to hospital straight away because she had deteriorated. When we got there they were taking x-rays of her chest because she wasn't behaving like a typical RSV baby and those tests weren't conclusive so she had to have her leg drilled and a line put into it as they couldn't get any access to her veins and they weren't sure whether that got infected so they took an x-ray of her leg which showed that it was swollen but didn't think that the raise levels of infection had come from that so they took her to theatre for a lumber puncture for meningitis, that came back normal so they then changed her medication and she continued to improve. She spent 10 days in hospital until she was finally allowed out on the 14th December but on the 20th December she returned to hospital because she couldn't walk on the leg they had drilled into and turned out she had an infection in her bone, only slightly but after antibiotics they decided it was fine and that she would walk again in her own time. 4 months later she was walking again and was back to her normal self after a long recovery so everyday we thank our lucky stars that we have what we have and can't believe how close we came to losing our little girl in a matter of seconds. Just makes you realise what you have and to never take life or what you have for granted. I've wrote this blog for Tillie so she can read it in a few years and realise how precious, special and what a fighter she is.

Multi-Tasking!!

This week i have been mostly multi-tasking so it's been very busy. Sophie has been at work which has meant that i've had my gorgeous granddaughter to look after which has been fun and has felt very much like i've had twins to look after! Monday morning was fun because Max goes to nursery all day so it meant having to be organised and out of the door for 8.45 and with 5 children under 4 to get ready but we did it i had Daisy and Oscar in the double buggy and Max and Tillie walking then Casper was in his sling. Tillie did so well walking bless her and she's only 2 and a half she held onto the pram all the way there and back but it did take us quite a while to walk home then when we did get home Daisy woke up and wanted feeding so i just managed to get her fed before Casper woke up and wanted feeding. Max has been so funny because i'm feeding Casper myself he just can't get that Casper is getting milk from mummy he keeps saying no mummy thats boobies not milk it's so funny Oscar has been so good with him and will give him a cuddle but at the same time wants to poke him in his eyes so we have to be careful with him. yesterday the health visitor came out to do Caspers first visit and Oscars one year development assessment and i had Daisy crying to be fed then casper wanted feeding then Oscar wanted my attention and Max was being silly and showing off he was jumping off the sofa onto the bouncy chair and shouting  and Tillie bless her was just sat watching Peppa pig. The health visitor said to me if you want me to do anything then just tell me so i was sat feeding Daisy in her chair while i was feeding Casper and Oscar was sat on my knee multi tasking at it's very best, then hubby has had man flu so he's been ill for 3 days so i've literally been doing everything  and i really can't wait for the weekend to not have to be constantly running around but on the plus side at least Casper is sleeping well and only wakes up once during the night i really can't believe how good he is, he's settled in so well we're so very lucky i'm loving being a mummy to 16 gorgeous children how blessed are we.

Casper chilling out in our bed x

Daisy Tillie and Casper x

Daisy and Casper x

Our first week with 16 kids!

Well our first week with 16 kids has gone really well, Casper has settled in like a dream he's so good and such a placid baby he only cries when he's hungry or when he's been changed which he absolutely hates and screams the house down! He got weighed on Monday and had lost quite a bit of weight he went down to 8lb so i was told to keep waking him every few hours but in my experience i've found that if they're not hungry then trying to get them to feed is a challenge so it was hard work but he got weighed again on Friday and he is now back up to his birth weight so i'm feeling very chuffed that my milk is obviously filling him up.
The first night we brought him home we didn't get much sleep he just fed constantly but the last few days he has been doing really well and if i feed him at 10 then he will usually go till about 3 so i can cope with that but last night he actually slept all night so i'm feeling great though i doubt very much that he will do that again for us.
All of his brothers and sisters love him so much and are constantly asking to cuddle him so he's definitely not short of cuddles. I was a bit worried before I had him about how Oscar would cope with him but he's been really good which I think is partly because he's always getting cuddles and attention from everyone so he's adjusted really well  so that's been a big relief.  I can't believe Oscar is going to be 1 on the 22nd of this month! It  has gone so fast I can't wait to celebrate his birthday it's going to be such an amazing day for him and we now have 4 birthdays in October i definitely didn't plan that one very well lol.
Daisy is doing really well too, she's going to be 7 weeks on monday and now weighs 9lb 11oz she had a hip scan on tuesday because of our family history with hip problems and it found that she has to wear a hip harness and bless her she hasn't been bothered with wearing it at all we've found that if Daisy is awake then Casper will wake up and if Casper is awake then Daisy will wake up its as if they're in tune with each other its so sweet but the size difference between them is quite a lot. Daisy looks so big compared to Casper i'm sure that they're going to be so close when they're older.
Also this week we've been plagued with tummy bugs and that is definitely the downside of having a big family because once one gets it then they all get it so it's been constant backwards and forwards to school to pick up poorly children but touch wood we seem to be all clear for the time being so hopefully no more will come down with it.
This coming week we have a photo shoot planned at a big studio so that should be interesting, it's always quite a challenge to get them all to behave for long enough to have photo's taken last time we had a photoshoot done at home we had all finished and the photographer had put his camera away and there was a bang upstairs and sure enough it was Josh he had been up there the whole time so we had to start all over again!
So that's what's been going on this week in the Radford house.



Daisy chilling in her hip harness

Daisy and Casper he wasn't very impressed


And i love this photo of the 3 little ones in there cloth nappies xx


Big eyes this is the only time he has taken a dummy he now just spits it out in disgust.
.

My birth story for #16 Casper Theo born 3rd October @ 14.05

So here goes... on Monday the 1st October we were woken up by the tv crew at 6.30 they had arrived early because i was due to go in for my induction of labour. I had to ring the unit at 7.30 to see if they were able to take me in or if they were too busy but we tried to get through for about an hour and a half but it was just constantly busy so we decided to just make our way in so we said goodbye to the children and left for the hospital. When we got to the labour ward she said to us to go up onto the ward which we thought a bit strange because i was just going to be having my waters broke. Anyway, we got up to the ward and the midwife told us that they were very busy on delivery so couldn't induce me that morning but if it got quieter then they would take me down so we waited all day and it just didn't get any quieter so thought we would be able to go home and come back in the morning but my consultant wasn't happy to let me go home because of my labours being very quick and she thought that it would be the case with this one so i stopped in over night and hated leaving the children at home and not being able to see them.
So tuesday morning came and i was feeling hopeful that i would have him that day but when it got to dinner time and the woman in the next room was labouring up on the ward we realised that it probably wasn't going to happen again. I got very emotional and just wanted to go home to see the children so the consultant came in to see me and explained that she was going to do her best to get me taken down during  the night or early in the morning so Noel went home and was told to take his mobile and house phone up to bed with him just in case i did go down but morning came and i was still waiting. The midwife came in to see me and said that they had got very busy again so hadn't been able to take me down but would get the consultant to come and see me which she did very soon after she told me that she would go and find out what was happening on labour ward so off she went and an hour passed and we still hadn't heard anything so thought oh no its going to be another day of waiting and being away from the children but shortly after the midwife came in and said to me "right im going down to find out what's happening" and within 10 minutes she popped her head round the door and said to me "right are you ready to go have a baby" well the relief was amazing i never thought i would be so relieved to be going to be in alot of pain so Noel came in to the hospital and we went down to the delivery room. It was about 10.30 i had to go on the monitor for about 45 minutes because he was being very lazy and they wanted to see some movement from him before they went ahead and broke the waters. Eventually i was taken off the monitor and the doctor came in to put my cannular in and i really hate those things going in, they're so painful and the first attempt didn't work and it really made my hand swell up so she went on to try it in my other hand and that didn't work either so she decided to put it in half way up my arm, by this point i was just praying it would work so when she said yep its all done what a relief that was so we were all ready to have my waters broke so the consultant came in to do it and said his head was still floating around so they would have to do a controlled breaking of the waters so i had one person pushing down on my bump while another held his head in place to try and stop the cord from coming out first it was so uncomfortable but they broke the waters and there was so much of it but he still kept pressing down on my bump to try and get his head to come down so when he was happy that everything was ok they put me back on the monitor for another 30 minutes just to monitor that he was nice and happy after they had broke the waters which he was, he wouldn't stop moving around! So after i got taken off the monitor i was allowed to get up and move around to try and get his head to come down and start the contractions off i did feel a bit crampy but nothing much happened for a good hour then i had a really big contraction and thought right if the next one is like that one i'm starting on the gas and air well the next one was far worse so i grabbed the gas and air and got on the bed.
Well that was it! they just started coming one after the other till i said to the midwife i can't cope i need something else i think she had realised that he was coming she said do you feel pushy and i thought no i don't think so well with the next contraction i could just feel this overwhelming urge to push i think he took us all by surprise and before the midwife had chance to call a second midwife in his head was out and just one more push and he was out it was that fast i think Noel was in shock just how fast he was born he said all he can remember was the midwife saying just pant and him thinking no way is he here already it was such a lovely birth experience he is just absolutely gorgeous. He weighed in at a very healthy 8lb 8oz which is pretty much what i thought he was going to weigh so all in all, my labour is recorded as 16 minutes but i was actually only really in alot of pain for about 5 minutes. We brought him home yesterday and introduced him to all of his brothers and sisters. What a special time that was they all love him so much we feel so incredibly lucky and blessed to have what we have and it really makes me feel very emotional when i see them all together and see what we have created over the years and who knows maybe we will be lucky enough to have more in the future!!!!

38 Week pregnancy update with #16

So i'm now 38+4 and everything is still going great. I had my consultant appointment at the end of last week and we got a date for the 26th September which is today, but when we got home we had a phone call to say that they would have to change it to the 1st October so if Casper hasn't arrived by then i will be going in to be induced in just 5 days time but i have a feeling he will probably arrive before then anyway, but i am worried that if i do go into labour there won't be a bed for me because over the last week they have had to close the maternity unit a few times because they have been so busy that there haven't been any beds available. At my last check up his head was very low which is good and they still think he's going to be quite a big baby. I'm guessing he's probably going to be about 8lb 9oz. I'm still able to get a good nights sleep and i'm not feeling quite as uncomfortable because he's dropped so i have a bit more room but i have been feeling so crampy these past few days and after my sweep yesterday i thought i was going to go into labour because i was having some very strong contractions but after a few hours they died down. I've got another sweep booked for tomorrow so hopefully that will kick things off and we will get to meet our new addition. All of the children are so excited to meet him and keep asking when he's coming out so the next time i update my blog i WILL of had a baby! so excited!

my last bump pic x

My 37 week pregnancy update!

Well we have hit 37 weeks and are now classed as full term! This week I have had my consultant appointment which didn't really go to plan. As she was checking me and listening to Casper's heart rate I noticed that it was high so she carried on listening to him and it didn't come down so decided that I needed to be monitored just to check that he was happy in there and pretty much as soon as I had been on the monitor his heart rate started to come down thank goodness but he did give us a bit of a scare. if I was to say I have been feeling anxious I think that's an understatement I just really want him here safe and well now. I really hate these last few weeks I always worry until they're here safe and well. I have got another consultant appointment on Thursday to check to see if they can induce and get my date for hopefully just a few days later. I think we're all ready for his arrival now i've finally bought all his cloth nappies and my bag is now packed. i've been having loads of braxton hicks and feeling really crampy and irritable so hopefully he is getting himself ready to come and meet us all and we're all so ready to finally meet him everyone is so excited but we still can't decide on a middle name for him, that's proving to be quite hard but we do have a short list so i'm sure we will have chosen one by the time he's here.

What the radford's have been up to this week!!!

This week has been a super busy week for us and of course our first week being grandparents and all i can say is it's totally amazing we're loving it she's such a little cutie but has been making her mummy and daddy very tired because she has her night and day all muddled up so there not getting much sleep, and to make things that bit more difficult Sophie's boyfriend Joe just got a new job shortly before Daisy arrived and had to start the day after she was born so things have been even more hectic so on Monday i offered to have Daisy for the night so they could both catch up on some sleep,  i got to spend time with her and she was very good and only woke twice in the night for me and i really enjoyed it. I think we're so lucky that they still live at home with us so we get to have as many cuddles as we want and there's always someone that want's to help out i think that's got to be the best thing about having a big family, is the great support network and all the love that comes with it i really can't believe just how lucky and blessed we are.

Daisy having cuddles with Nanny and Grandad x

How gorgeous, her hair is amazing x

We have also been really busy with the filming for our new programme, we travelled to Dundee for another big family wedding and it was just the best time we have had in a long time getting to meet up with another big family that we have become very good friends with since our last programme went out. It really was a lovely day. We stopped in caravans when we got there and we had booked two but as usual we only ended up using one with most of the children sleeping on the sofas in the lounge and the younger ones in the beds they really dont like not being with each other. We had Oscar in our bed with us which was lovely because hes normally in his cot so i got to snuggle up with him at night to try and get him off to sleep which was funny because he kept playing peek a boo with me

Oscar playing peek a boo with me little monkey i could just eat him xx

Some of the children being filmed going to sleep in the caravan they weren't very sleepy x


The children all ready to go to the wedding we took 11  and the older 4 stayed at home x

So on Wednesday the children went back to school and it was Luke and Millies first day at high school. They looked so smart in their new uniforms
Millie and Luke all ready x
When we dropped them off at high school Millie did get a bit upset because she didn't know anyone but she had her big sis Chloe to look after her and she was fine after she settled into her form. They both had a really good day and so far are enjoying it, it now means that we only have 5 at primary school which has been a big difference in the making up of the lunch boxes but they have settled back into the school routine really well and then we have little Max who started nursery on Wednesday too! He only goes for a few hours in the afternoon but he is really enjoying it, he was a bit teary and clingy the first day but the following day he was a lot better so the Radford house has been so quiet we're just not used to having no noise and just having the little ones at home i think it's going to take a while to get used to, i dont like it when it's this quiet i like it to be full of laughter and chaos which some people will probably think is crazy but we love it.

My 35 week pregnancy update!!

Well this is a little late I've been very busy this week
So i'm now 35+3 weeks with #16 and i'm feeling so much bigger this week but i am managing to sleep a lot better my restless legs have eased so much over the last week which has been nice to actually be able to get some sleep, i actually though i was going into labour last week because i was have strong pains during the night that actually woke me up and because we were 250 miles away from home i was praying he didn't decide he wanted out, anyway they eased up after a few hours but i'm still getting a lot of strong braxton hicks so maybe he will make his appearance in the next few weeks and as you will probably know from my last post he has been breech so i have been doing lot's of things to get him to turn i have tried the bag of frozen peas on the top of my bump which my hubby thought was so funny and said to me that will never work, anyway we went for another 4d scan yesterday to check if he was still breech or he had gone head down so she had a feel of my belly and thought he was head down before she started scanning me and what do you know he now is definitely head down we did get to see so much detail at the scan he looks so gorgeous and has lots of hair and such chubby cheeks and we did notice that on his right cheek he has a little dimple so i will be checking on that when he's born he was also sticking his tongue out and frowning and he kept kicking the wand that she was pressing on my tummy he was a proper little show off and we got to find out that he now weighs 6lb 1oz im so in love with him and can't wait to welcome him into our family only a few more weeks to go. hear are some pics of our gorgeous little Casper.




My 35 week bump pic

Look who's arrived!!!

On Monday morning at 2oclock we got woken up by Sophie's boyfriend Joe to tell us Sophie's waters had broken in bed so me and Noel shot out of bed and went downstairs to see Sophie i said we had better ring the hospital so when Sophie was on the phone to the midwife she was asking if she was having contractions and sophie said no i don't think so at this point i noticed sophie was having a contraction so i said yep you are which was quite funny. anyway, i went to run Sophie a bath and get the last bits sorted for her hospital bag so that when she got ready she could head in to the hospital so when she got there she had a pain relief injection which made her really sick and her blood pressure shot up so she decided to use the gas and air which didn't really do anything so she was in alot of pain so opted for an epidural which made her relax more so after a 16 hour labour little Daisy Mae made her way into the world weighing in at 7lb 1oz and she's absolutely gorgeous, i can't even begin to put into words just how it feels to become a Nana it's just the most amazing feeling and i am loving it. I feel totally blessed to have what we have and i couldn't be prouder. Welcoming her into our family has been lovely all of her Aunties and Uncles lover her so much and i just know she's going to be spoilt rotten and in just a few more weeks we will be welcoming our new addition into the family how can our life get any better we are so very lucky
Welcome to the family Daisy Mae xx

Weekly pregnancy update 34 weeks!

Well i'm now 34 weeks with #16 and i'm feeling good apart from still not sleeping that well and heartburn is really starting to move up a gear but it's not to unbearable, i have my midwife appointment on Wednesday so i will get to find out if he is still breech and to be honest i really cant tell although i'm still getting kicks very low down i have been getting more kicks at the side and top of my bump so maybe just maybe he will have been a good boy and turned, i have been doing lot's of things to try and get him to turn this week I've been on all fours and iv'e had an ice pack on the top of my bump which he didn't like to much and was moving like crazy.
This week i have to make the decision whether to change hospitals because my hospital that i'm booked at are been very very funny about filming anything there and it's making me wonder if they have a problem with me or just big families in general and after a comment that one of the midwife's made about our family and big families in general it really has made me feel so angry to the point that i really feel like i need to put a massive complaint in it was totally unprofessional of her and for someone in a position of trust like that i just feel like i really don't want to give birth there anymore so i am going to look into transferring.
Sophie is now 38+2 so not long now well she could come any day now really and i think she's really starting to feel fed up with been pregnant and just wants it over with now.

We also picked up Sophie's pram for her this week which was a nice surprise for her when we walked through the door with it it took her a while to realise what it was as it was in a box
Here it is and Sophie loves it x

What a busy week!

This week i've been trying to get organised for the children going back to school so i've had to buy 9 school uniforms and 9 pairs of school shoes plus lunch boxes and PE kits it's just never ending , i went to matalan for all the uniforms and Ellie was so funny the woman on the checkout said the total and Ellie looked at me and said oh mummy that's alot of money the woman behind the counter found it so funny bless her Ellie is always the one to come out with things like that she's so funny so i think we are finally organised for them going back to school now which is good for me because i usually leave it till the very last minute, Luke and Millie are going to high school this time and they are so excited about it i just hope it lasts i think it's great that they are in the same year and they have each other they often get asked if there twins.I think they are more than ready to go back to school now with the constant play fighting and paddys that have been going on this week i feel like i've been constantly having to use the time out step and i very rarely have to use that one but have felt myself constantly saying right time out and it's mostly been Katie and Josh the little monkeys that have been sat on it.
  we made some cupcakes the other day that they really enjoyed doing and they did look pretty good and tasted even better we were very chuffed with them
yum yum
So this week we have also decorated Josh and Max's new bedroom after having a bit of a change around of rooms and this was what we found when we went to took the children in at night
it was a bit like how many children can you fit in a bed it was so funny they had all gone and got in Millie and Katies room so there was 6 of them in here with 3 in each bed it was so sweet it just goes to show just how much they absolutely love each others company and really hate been on there own i sometimes think we could get away with living in alot smaller house, we have all these rooms but some don't even get used it's crazy and this week little.
  Oscar has got another tooth so he now has 2 teeth on the bottom i don't think it's going to be long before he starts crawling because he's getting up on all fours now but just isn't going anywhere i think he much prefers to just roll everywhere because he can get from one side of the lounge to the other in record time im suprised he doesn't go dizzy because i do just watchimg him roll.
The children found a big cardboard box the other day so thought it would be fun to get in it and go down the stairs it was so funny i tried to take a picture of Katie coming down in it but she was so fast by the time the camera had responded to it she was at the bottom of the stairs anyway hubby decided to have a go because he's such a big kid
 Me and sophie were laughing so much im suprised we didn't go into labour he really cracks me up sometimes i think i actually have 16 children already.