What have I done so far?

Now initially I started writing this post, pre 40th birthday which was in July but i didn’t get round to finishing it until now.

“As the countdown begins to my 40th birthday I’m sitting here contemplating what I have achieved so far with my life and where do I go next. Will I embrace becoming forty with open arms, will I try to ignore it and shrug off the snide comments “oh you’re getting old now” from younger friends, only time will tell..”

So let’s start at the tender age of…

16 – Left school started an apprenticeship, had 1st child (gulp I hear from many of you) yes I was young!

18 – Got married, because I believed it’s what I should do.

19 – Another child, moved once or twice,

20/24 – Another two children, separation, divorce!

25 – Met my soul mate.

26/27 – Holidays, lived the couples life and loved every minute – moment.

28 – Married for love, moved again, went to University.

29/32 – Honeymoon period, had another child 1st Son Grayson X

33/34 – Struggled, mourned & finally came to terms with Grayson being disabled, non-stop hospital visits and therapies, appointments and the realisation that this is the rest of our lives.

34 – Another child my beautiful daughter Addison X, became a part-time stay at home pa

35/36 – Started semi-blogging.

36 – Another child my second son Deacon X

37-39 – Renewed our wedding vows for our tenth anniversary. Became a stay at home parent/house husband, working part-time when I can, started vlogging.

40… Celebrating my fortieth in London.

 

The list above is the big events I guess, and although this doesn’t seem like I’ve done much with my life that’s different from many others out there, I know that it’s all the little bits in between these various events that make the memories too.

It may not sound very exciting or dramatic but I can honestly say that I don’t think I would really change any of it as I wouldn’t be who or where I am today. Upon reflection forty has come & gone I’m still me no different in-fact I actually love being forty, I don’t feel old as I believe age is just a number but at the same time I now feel fairly worldly-wise enough to help others when and where I can.

Please let me know what you’ve accomplished and are proud of in your build up to your 40th.

When do you stop? Am I mad!

Now some of you may think I’m stupid, some may understand and the rest couldn’t care less! But here goes…

I’ve recently turned 39 and as i now start the countdown towards the next big birthday i’m contemplating with the notion have i had enough children. Some of you who just read that I envisage eyes bolting out of their head and saying to themselves, “are you crazy?”

And to be fair if it was me looking at my life as someone else I’d probably say the same! But hear me out first.

As some of you may know I have three beautiful children one of them being disabled, all three are such different characters and I probably wouldn’t change them for the world. Over the last six months or so the wife & I have constantly been back & forth on whether to have another. We both said we always wanted to have four children but with various health problems and the constant financial strain I think that the fourth will not blossom even though a good portion of me still yearns for that little one to nurture.

Our youngest was three in June and he is a HANDFUL! He does deter us from having anymore, but when he is in a loving & caring mood it’s those times that we’ll miss when he starts school and I think to myself “we could have one more, couldn’t we ?”

Age for me isn’t an issue like it used to be regarding having children as I got older, I felt once I was past my mid – thirties that was it no more! It’s now upon reflection that I more than we can do it and still bring another life into this world we’ve come this far and managed to challenge and overcome all that the world has thrown at us, so surely we can…

 

Have fun stay safe

It’s that time of year again when we find ourselves climbing into the loft to locate those brightly coloured and shiny decorations for Christmas.

And as with any other year it’s a time to be vigilant as always when it comes to safety. So below you’ll see some top tips for staying safe and enjoy the spirit of Christmas.

 

Christmas Crafting made easy

It’s that time of year again where everyone slowly starts getting in to the Christmas holiday mood as you pull out the decorations from the loft, check if the lights are still working and go on the hunt for the perfect tree.

My 4 year old daughter Addison started school in September and since then has been pretty much not stop crafting. So this year with trying to manage the purse strings as always I thought why not try to make some decorations from scratch and get her involved too.

We were kindly approached by Go Cable Ties to take part in their DIY Christmas challenge where we were supplied with some basic materials to re-create a festive Christmas Light. Perfect I thought costing next to nothing and get the family involved too.

We opted for the star as the wife is a little obsessed with them plus I had my own little star helper following in my footsteps to help out. Below is a few shots taken during production, and a little time-lapse for fun.

 

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I was sent items FOC from Go Cable Ties, all opinions are my own.

It’s finally upon us!

What’s upon on us I hear you say.? Tomorrow sees the amazing, fantastic news that Dad Channel UK officially launches it’s YouTube channel.

This channel is the culmination of a diverse group of dads/fathers from all walks of life and breadth of the country with one of us in the USA giving an insight through the social media of vlogging into the everyday of our lives from a dads point of view. I was one of the lucky few to be selected to join this elite team which I’m humbled and honoured to be apart of.

There’ll be highs, lows, plenty of emotions and humour in the mix with some serious issues covered too. My hope is that you’ll find something you can either relate to, help you in some way in the future or you’ll see a snippet in one of the many videos and mention to a friend “hey have you seen this channel on YouTube, take a look!”

So please tell everyone you know it would mean a lot to me, and don’t forget to get liking, commenting and sharing as much as possible across all social media platforms as a little goes a long way.

In the meantime come and check out this group of social butterflies at dadchannel.co.uk 

Photography

So today is just a gallery of my favourite photos that I’ve taken so far this year with my Nikon D90 enjoy.

Food Glorious Food

I like my food! Actually lets rephrase that I love my food always have and always will. I’m very open to trying new things constantly from wherever in the world it comes from and to date I have only come across two things I detest, firstly tuna in anyway shape or form and secondly olives absolutely despise them.

So whenever someone says to us do you fancy coming round tea or dinner I pretty much jump at the chance. Today it was the mother in-laws. She had already mentioned a few days ago that an old family friend was down visiting and it would be nice to kill two birds with one stone i.e. say hello catch up and have some food. I straight away asked what was she cooking to which she replied “I’m doing Mexican” OMG! We love Mexican in our household so as you can probably tell we couldn’t wait.

My mother in-law is a really good cook I like to think, so in turn my wife is incredible at cooking as well and this makes me a very happy man. When we arrived the aromas were so inviting and the selection on offer was awesome from tortilla wraps with chicken, beef and steak fillings to tacos with all the trimmings. My sister in-law and family came too so it was nice to catch up after a few days.You’ll have to excuse the incorrect picture here but sorry I was filling my belly and didn’t take a pic Mmm but you get the gist.

Love Mondays

So now half-term is over and the two eldest back into their school routine I can get back to mine.

Don’t get me wrong I love my children and spending quality time with them is great whether it be staying in and crafting or going on adventures, but since I’ve become a stay at home dad and I only have the youngest of three still at home I make the most of the time I get to myself, obviously I still have the house to contend with and it’s not so much time to myself but I have a semi routine and come Monday to Friday its pretty much the same.

Knowing on Sunday night that the children are cared for at school Monday through till Friday is a kind of relief I suppose and all I have to do is to pick them up when they finish it’s a nice break so to speak. From 9-3 I can catch up on recorded series on the TV or finish editing that vlog that’s been plaguing me, or just sit back and relax (chance would be a fine thing) but whatever happens I now love Mondays apart from crawling out of bed at stupid o’clock.

What have I learned About Me Lately

As strong and independent as I think I am I’m not. I’ve recently come to realise I can’t do all I can to resolve everything that life throws at me and that has been tough to swallow.

Thinking like this has worked for me for a while but in reality all that has happened deep down inside is I have become a shadow of my former self and now no one recognises me, not even my own family. I thought I was doing a good job and the right thing most of the time but alas not.

It’s funny but thinking back to when I was in my honeymoon phase of my relationship I felt like I was invincible and I could conquer the world, and up until now I have. I’ve tried not to let anything or one get in my way of what I wanted and succeeded.

But now as I’m approaching forty (18 months or so) It has dawned on me I’m not doing as well as I thought or could be doing, so as of today or maybe tomorrow I’m starting a fresh, a new me, a new man and more importantly a new husband and father.

Through the month of November I plan on joining in with #BEDN, blog everyday in November which is brought to us by the wonderful  Rosalilium 

My 1st Time with a Pumpkin

So being married to a woman from a woman with dual citizenship of UK/USA and knowing how big a holiday it is in the states, you’d think that pumpkin carving and everything associated with it would be a given around this time of year.

Actually no, we’ve never really celebrated Halloween let alone contemplated such an undertaking of carving pumpkins. Addison wanted to do one so I said do one we will, without a clue. So I watched a few YouTube tutorials and afterwards thought to myself I can do this, in the mean time my sister in-law had decided to have a carving party and make a big deal of it.

So below are some pictures taken before during and after the aforementioned event, all in all I think the adults enjoyed it more than the kids.

I think they all came out wonderful, see if you can guess some of the famous characters? Happy holidays/Halloween