Lucky 11

Hurrying the kids into Frankie & Benny’s, I smiled at the waiter. ‘Table for 11 please,’ I said, pointing at the kids. As our excitable troops followed to be seated, I could see a roomful of eyes counting our family.

Along the table, we had Taylor, 21, Oliver, 18, Morgan, 16, Aston, 14, Jensen, 12, Tristan, 10, Gemma, eight, Xavier, four, and Radleigh, two.

Chatting away to my husband of 21 years, Layden 49, we ignored the whispers We are used to people judging and watching us – there’s a stigma around big families, after all.

Many people think large families are miserable, caus havoc, treat their children unequally and struggle to keep up with the demands. But our children are happ healthy and respectful.

We feel like the luckiest parents alive.

When Layden and I married in 1998, we never planned to have children. We fell in love at 15, and neither of us were brought up in big families.

It wasn’t something we’d even considered.

Then after having our firstborn Taylor in 1999, everything changed.

‘She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me,’ Layden said, loving being a dad.

Layden began travelling less for work, and I left my banking job to be at home.

Two years later, we had our son Oliver, and started working for ourselves.

And every two years after that we had a son, until our seventh baby came along – our little girl Gemma. I had a natural childbirth every time, and I loved pregnancy. ‘Morgan is exactly like you,’ Layden said, admiring his blue eyes and blonde hair. ‘And Oliver is a mini version of you!’ I laughed –his dark hair and dark eyes were exactly the same. Jensen is the only one that’s a mixture of us both, with gorgeous green eyes. We had our baby boy Xavier, and then I suffered a miscarriage. ‘We’ll try again,’ Layden comforted me.

Feeling blessed to have our beautiful children, we tried once more for a baby.

And fortunately, Radleigh, now two, was welcomed into the world.

Although, it wasn’t as smooth a labour as the others. Radleigh was breech, so I opted to have an emergency caesarean in hospital.

And the following day, I was up and out, driving the car.

As a mum of nine, there was no time to sit still!

At the time, Layden had retired, but we were struggling to make end’s meet.

Selling our business, we downsized and moved from

Essex to Suffolk. We invested in play centre, and 4 Fun became our next family ompany.

Then Channel 5 reached out and started filming us for Me and My 10 Kids. Whilst the kids worked hard at the play centre, threw tent sleepovers with their friends in the back garden, and cooked casseroles in the kitchen, the cameras followed our every move.

During filming, I noticed a mole on the right side of my chest.

‘It’s itchy and irritable,’ I told the GP.

‘I certainly don’t think it’ll kill you,’ he advised.

Opting for a second opinion, I had a biopsy on the mole at a dermatology clinic.

Holding Layden’s hand, we waited for the results.

‘We’ve got the results,

unfortunately they came back positive,’ the dermatologist said seriously.

‘However, I’ve got a course of action planned that is even more positive,’ he explained, reassuring me. ‘Does this mean I’ve got cancer?’ I said, taking it all in.

‘Yes, carcinoma is a common form of skin cancer,’ he said, confirming it.

Staying calm, we decided on photodynamic therapy treatment (PDT).

PDT uses a light-sensitive drug and a laser to destroy cancer cells.

Going home to the kids, I Frances Seymou her busy day in the life with nine children… I noticed a mole on my right chest I love being a mum LUCKY The Seymour family Y 11!

REAL LIFE

Y 11!

carried on as normal. Packing their school lunches, Layden looked at me. ‘I’m amazed by you,’ he smiled across the kitchen.

Months on, I’m waiting for the results, but everything looks positive.

When people ask me what a day in the life is like with nine children, I tell them: ‘It’s organised chaos!’

Radleigh and Xavier are always awake at 6am.

Creeping into our bed, we have morning snuggles and then stick the kettle on and get breakfast out and ready for everyone.

Croissants, toast, cereal, porridge – it’s safe to say we get through a lot of food.

60 litres of milk a week, to be exact.

‘We need a cow in the garden!’ Layden chuckles.

At 8am, we rally the troops up for school.

Rushing around in my bathrobe, I put a load of washing on whilst Layden irons the kids’ uniforms. ‘Who needs lunch money?’ he calls, loading them into our 12-seater Land Rover Defender. We end up doing six school trips back and forth a day.

Half of the children go to school, and the other half are home-schooled when it suits. We put every child through the education system, and then let them make their own decision when they hit secondary school.

Jensen, 12, recently decided that school wasn’t for him, but Aston, 14, loves to go.

Morgan, 16, started homeschooling too, and now he’s working for Epic Games, successfully creating gaming maps for Fortnite.

‘It’s the school of life,’ Layden says, teaching the kids at home. Everyone helps out at 4 Fun different times. You’ll see them ressed in their polo irts, cleaning uipmentand serving ffee and cake. Oliver, 18, is director Planet Pizza, the zeria in the play ntre, and even little by Radleigh is our oduct tester! At home, the kids are ways playing and king a mess, or as Layden likes to call it – making magic. ‘Can I bake cupcakes?’ Gemma, eight, asks most days.

She’s usually got her nose in a bowl, covered in cake mix by 10am. Layden and I sit down and have our breakfast mid morning and then either spend the day at work or cleaning the house and shopping for food. We cook everything from scratch and need to go to the shops daily.

Sometimes it’s just to grab a few bits, other times it’s a £200 full trolley.

A quick dinner for us would e spaghetti olognese. If we’re not making homemade pasta, we boil

different types of dried pasta for different kids.

‘Can I have fusilli, please,’ Tristan asks, whilst Morgan and I choose spaghetti.

We cook two types of pasta auce, one with mint and one without, and lots of garlic read and dough balls.

And we always eat tea ogether around thetable.

Although it sounds cliché, very day feels like Christmas Day in our house.

I wouldn’t change the chatty, giggling table conversations for the world.

We openly talk about everything, including the ins and outs of the family business. ‘Thanks for food,’ Aston says, hugging his dad before he clears his plate.

Our evenings are full of films, books, games and usually the kids’ friends visit. We haven’t got a strict bedtime routine – instead, they all self-regulate within reason.

All the kids have their own bedrooms, and the youngest two share a room. As you can imagine, Layden and I hardly ever manage to fit couple time into the daily mix.

We value the rare moments we get to ourselves.

Standing outside the front door on an evening, we watch the twinkling stars and hug, taking in the peaceful silence and view of the beach.

Some mornings, Oliver, 18, will stay in charge whilst the two of us pop out for a coffee at our favourite café. ‘I can’t remember the last time I went on holiday,’ Layden says, whilst we try to plan a tripjust us two. For the past three years, myself and my eldest daughter Taylor, 21, have taken the older kids away, whilst Layden stays at home with the young ones. Life is too short to not enjoy every moment. We feel so privileged to have the family that we do. We work together, play together, eat together. For us, family always comes first. Our home is crazy, fun and full of love 4 Fun play centre My amazing husband

They mean everything to us