10 things you didn't know about me – until now! – Mummascribbles

OK so I may have written posts with facts about me previously – but unless you are randomly scrolling through the many pages of my blog, you probably won’t even find them! So, I thought with it being the Summer holidays, me being SUPER busy and struggling to even sit down and write anything, and YOU being SUPER busy and not having tine to sit down and read anything – that it would be fun to do a little fact finding post about me! So you wanna know more? Then keep reading!

I nearly died when I was a baby

Yep – I might as well start with the biggest fact about me. Approximately 36 years ago, when I was months old (no-one can actually remember my exact age and the two newspapers that covered my story both stated completely different ones), I almost died. I was fast asleep in my pram downstairs and my Mum was bathing my sister upstairs. Only I woke and started crying. My Mum quickly rinsed my Sister off and got her out of the bath so she could come and tend to me, only she wasn’t quick enough. I had worked myself up into such a state that I stopped breathing. She got to me and I had turned blue. Like a rag doll (her words). She phoned my Dad in an absolute panic (as you do!), and then called an ambulance. My Dad worked 2 minutes up the road and he jumped the red lights to get to me with a colleague who was first aid trained. Said colleague gave me mouth to mouth and saved my life! What a drama hey?!

I went to the same school as David Beckham and Harry Kane!

Yep. I claimed the David Beckham thing for years and then old Kane came along and topped it off. I mean, I wasn’t in their year or anything (Kane is way younger than me, and Becks a fair few years older), although my Sister was, and on a recent school visit (to celebrate their birthday), she told me how she used to sit in the music room ogling at him out playing footie on the field!

I have two tattoos

I thought I would have more by now, but I just haven’t got around to it. I got my first at 18, and it is a Chinese symbol on my back meaning Youngest Sister. And I have a butterfly and stars on my foot!

I have a tendency to choke on things

Mostly hard boiled sweets. I think I am actually a cat and just had a number of lives because I have been near death far too many times!

The first instance was as we were driving home from Wales after a weekend visiting family. I had a hard boiled sweet in my mouth and it stupidly slipped into my throat. You know what they say about how if you are actually choking, you don’t make a noise? Well that was exactly the case. Nobody could hear me and the car was dark as it was an evening drive. I was whacking my Sister on the arm who thought I was being annoying, but she finally looked over at me and saw the problem and screamed to my Mum and Dad that I was indeed choking! Dad emergency pulled over, right at the entrance of a cemetery! He jumped out, bent me over, whacked me on the back, but it wasn’t working. And then I sneezed! And the ruddy thing came flying out!

The second time was at my Nan and Grandad’s house and the culprit was a Werthers Original. It slipped down, I managed to notify people, and my Grandad hung me upside down and whacked my back until the thing came out!

Safe to say, I stopped eating hard boiled sweets and was over the moon when Werthers brought out chewy versions! I will forever be paranoid about the boys eating anything like that. In fact, I probably just won’t let them!

I went to University

Yup. In 2001, I moved up to Stoke On Trent for 3 years and studied Film, TV and Radio Studies. I clearly had too much fun though, because I got the 2:2 drinkers degree as it was called!

I prefer dogs to cats

Don’t tell my cat though! He is lush (except for the fact he keeps bringing live animals into the house), but my heart will always belong to dogs. I grew up with a Rough Collie called Cassie. We got her when I was about 4 and she died when I was 18. I am desperate to add a dog to our family, and hopefully after the wedding next year, we will do just that.

I used to volunteer at an RDA Centre

And it was the BEST thing ever! In case you don’t know, RDA is Riding For The Disabled Association and they are absolutely flipping amazing. I spent a couple of years volunteering for the centre in Chigwell Essex and even though getting up stupidly early on a freezing cold morning was extremely hard, I absolutely loved it. I mucked out, cleaned tack, groomed my fave boy Wills (and other horses), helped on lessons – and in return I got horse riding lessons each week. I made such an amazing group of friends down there, all who were about ten years younger than me, but now they are all grown up and getting married themselves! It was, and still is, a truly special place, and I only stopped volunteering when I found out I was pregnant with Zach.

This photo was taken with a really old phone hence the weird size!

I have known my other half for 20 years

But have only been together for 9 years! Yep, we met at college, stayed in the same group of friends through the years, and after many years of trying to romance me, I finally caved back in 2010! Next year will be our ten year “anniversary” and we get married two days after it!

My Dad died when I was seven months pregnant

Some people know this, but I only write about it every now and then because even though it’s been seven years since he died, I still find it hard to talk about! We lost him very, very quickly (3 months) after he was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour. We lost him in late July and Zach was born in late September. He never got to meet either of my beautiful boys.

I have lived in 8 properties

So obviously I lived with my Mum and Dad for many years which was house number 1. I moved out when I was 22 and lived in a flat above my Brother-In-Law’s butchers shop (he wasn’t my BIL at the time but that’s a whole other story!). When he closed the shop down, I had to move again, so temporarily stayed with him and my Sister at their house while I found somewhere. After a few months, I found a house share round the corner from her and stayed there for a while. I made really good friends with the other girl who was living there and we decided that we didn’t like smelly boys, so we found a flat of our own. But after six months, she decided she was going to move in with her then boyfriend! So I found myself in another house share in the next street where I stayed for 2 years. By then, the other half and I had got together and we very quickly moved in to a flat together. And then, after three years, when Zach was 18 months old, we bought our first house, which is where we are now!

So there you go. There are ten things that you probably didn’t know about me. Sorry if you did though!