Pick Me Up! 02-Aug-2018

Louise and I have been best mates for three years. We became bosom buddies after meeting in hospital when we were both expecting. Living just down the road from each other, we’d spent our pregnancies chatting, laughing and just being there for one another. She’s like a best friend and sister rolled into one. So it was Louise who was by my side when I had Bobby by Caesarean in March 2016. She knew my hubby Stephen would have wanted to be there, despite having an operation of his own on the same day. And when her baby girl Skylar came along in April, I was one of the first to visit to visit the new mum and baby. The kids are fast becoming best friends, like us. I know…

I looked on as my husband had a lesson on a Segway in Spain recently. He was wheely good. Manisha Kuinkel, Harrow Lily instantly fell in love with this beautiful dolphin when we were on holiday at Discovery Cove in Florida. Sweet! Nicola Partridge, Lordswood Here’s my sister Olivia and me, treating ourselves to a day of pampering. We loved getting our nails done. Deanna Bardsley, Stockport Pretty as princesses! My daughters Jessica and Jadine looking stunning in their bridesmaids’ gowns for their cousin Sam’s wedding. Karen Wells, Gravesend Jasmine looks so proud of her Claireabella bag – she couldn’t wait to show it off. Stacey Hill, Torquay Think Archie got more of his dinner on his face than in his mouth! Kerry Lucey, Tadworth My boyfriend and I had…

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His fist came flying into my face, splitting my lip open Hearing the doorbell, my stomach fluttered with excitement. ‘Hello there!’ I smiled, opening the door to my boyfriend Alan Brady, then 31. It was March 2013. We’d met through a dating app nine months earlier. But the thrill of seeing him hadn’t dimmed one bit. A single mum of four, I couldn’t believe my luck. Tattooed, funny and confident, Alan was gorgeous. ‘I’m in love with you,’ he said later as we danced like teenagers round the kitchen. I thought I might explode with happiness. ‘I love you, too,’ I gushed. Thankfully, Alan got along famously with my kids Jade, then 16, Charlie, 9, Rico, 6, and Riley, 3. But some of my friends weren’t so sure. In time,…

Walk out on older man? Annabelle, 35 Chester I was 19 when I married my then 35-year-old other half. Now, I’m 35 and he’s 51. I was head-over-heels for him back then, but I feel as if I’ve missed out. Lately, he never wants sex, never wants to go out and it makes me feel like he’s controlling me - turning me into a stay-at-home wife. He says what we have is perfect, and always has been, but am I now seeing the reality of marrying an older man? He doesn’t want counselling and hardly talks to me, as he says there’s nothing to talk about. Is this what marriage is? I’ve been feeling like this for quite a fewmonths - should I consider divorce? I can’t help thinking I’d…

There and then, we made love. Afterwards, it made me giggle As my boyfriend dropped to one knee and said those magical four words, a vision of our future flashed before my eyes. Me and James with a big happy family round us. A lifetime of happiness filled with love, laughter - and, most important of all, family. ‘Yes!’ I squealed to James, then 28, ‘Of course I’ll marry you!’ Then in 2011, I confessed, ‘I want a baby.’ So we started trying. Despite our efforts - and it wasn’t for lack of trying - I didn’t fall pregnant. Each time another period started, our dreams of starting a family were chipped away some more. In early 2012, we were referred for tests to check our fertility. What if it’s…