FIVE FACTS ABOUT US

Over the month of April I feel as though every post I did was very specific, there was a lot of travel and child related content and not very much of anything else. Whilst I love reading that type of thing myself, I'm all to aware it can become a bit tedious for others who tune in and so I wanted to shake things up by sharing some simple facts about us, that I can't recall ever discussing over here. I love personal posts, it's one of the reasons I fell in love with blogging as opposed to magazines, because I could feel the person behind the words, to me they had more clout.
If you're nosy like me, then this is going to be right up your street.

01. We were broken into, the week we moved into our house.
Getting our first family home was such a big step, and one we were so excited about, as anyone who has took the plunge themselves will know. It's scary though, in more ways than one. Having to learn all the bill paying processes and insurance you need, as well as actually being out on your own, especially if John was ever out in the evening, it was a bit daunting. Even more so for us. We got the keys to our house on a Monday, with the intention to move our things in on the Saturday after a little bit of paint work and a couple of new carpets going down. Me and my Mum arrived on Wednesday and noticed the front window was unlocked, (you could notice this from outside, as we had no curtains up yet) we thought nothing off it and continued with painting. Queue me and John turning up on Friday to finish more odd jobs and await our new appliances to be fitted, and realised someone had actually stolen the carpet from the living room. Yes, you read that right, the carpet. I honestly didn't think that would be something worth stealing, but alas with nothing else in the house, bar some toilet roll, it was the only thing they could put their hands to. Thankfully we hadn't moved any of our actual belongings in yet as I'm certain they would have been gone too, luckily though we had insurance so it would have been covered but it doesn't really bare thinking about. Me and my Mum hadn't noticed on Wednesday as some carpets were already gone from the house ready for the new ones to be laid, we just didn't think. After a forensics team visiting, it became apparent that although the window was made to appear unlocked, someone had got in with a key. This was not good news for me, how on earth could we live there knowing someone had a key? Was it a neighbour that the previous owner had once given a spare too, maybe it was a friend or relative, who knew? It terrified me and even after a lock change, I just didn't feel safe and knew I wouldn't until they were caught. Thankfully, and also scarily, they left fingerprints, the forensic team showed us their prints on the front window of which you could make out someones face pushed against it, staring in. A thing of horror movies let me tell you. Fast forward a month and I receive a phone call from our detective in charge of the case, after following everything up, they found our carpet - laid on someone else's floor, who had been sold it by the previous owners. Really?! Some Jeremy Kyle stuff this was turning out to be. We weighed up our options, do we pursue with criminal solicitors Liverpool, or do we let it go? It was frustrating, how someone could do that, but I was glad they were caught and almost instantly I felt at ease. We've lived in the house now for over three years, and thankfully had not a single incident since.

02. I had Noah when I was 21.
Being a young mum isn't something I really touch upon, because whilst it's a huge part of our story, it's not something that I feel defines me. Now I'm older, I don't feel as obviously judged for being a young mum, as I once was. When Noah was born I had a really baby face, but thanks to another addition and a huge amount of sleep deprivation I think I've aged considerably. Twenty one is deemed a young mother now, but back twenty years ago it was the norm to have children earlier in life, rather than later. I do think there is a stigma attached to those who family first, and career later, as though they made a mistake or weren't savvy enough - it couldn't be more wrong. But alas, it exists.

03. I'm originally from Manchester.
I say Manchester, though it's more like greater Manchester. My home town Rochdale has featured pretty high on any 'Places you don't want to live' list, and I can see why, it isn't great. But my parents took the decision to move whilst I was at university, I was 18 and had chosen to attend De Montford in Leicester, pretty darn far away from the north west. Until my parents moved about as close as they could get, without actually living in Leicester themselves, so now we live in the East Midlands. It's strange to think that we haven't been here all our lives, as it definitely feels like home and I couldn't really imagine going back now.

04. My waters broke at 29 weeks.
Now I have spoken about this in a bit more depth, but having your waters break 11 weeks early is utterly terrifying. Especially when nobody believes you. I'm so grateful that I had growth scans, thanks to Noah being a 9lb 13 porker at his birth, because had I not, the reality of what would have happened is too stark to even contemplate. It's ultimately the reason we won't have any more children, I'm not willing to put a baby at risk or go through the upset we went through. Pregnancy with Patrick was hell from the get go.

05. Me and John have been together for eight years.
We met just over eight and a half years ago, at University. I initially thought he was gay, and for some reason he was adamant I worked for Tumblr, which I definitely did not. He studied computer science and I did drama, him from Stevenage and me from Manchester, so we are polar opposites. Yet here we are over eight years later with two children under our belt.

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