Hi everybody

I now have a website all about my fantastic family so i will be putting all my new posts on there i would love for you to come and have look

http://www.theradfordfamily.co.uk/

see you all over there

Sue xxx

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