We had 10 boys.. now we’ve finally got a girl
does 49 laundry loads a week, and vacuums seven times a day.
She said: “It’s not easy with so many boys running around, but I like everything neat and tidy. I can’t stand mess.”
As she speaks, her youngest boy drops crumbs as he munches a Mini Roll – and out comes the dustpan.
David, diagnosed six years ago with early onset Parkinson’s, is a hands-on dad, sharing the housekeeping duties.
Despite his daily health battle, he says of his huge family: “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I always try to have time for each of our boys.
“Medication helps with the symptoms, which are thankfully still minor.
“It’s difficult to have a holiday as one group, that’s not happened for years.
“The seven-week school summer holidays can also be an endurance test – most of the time they’re just happy on their Xbox or Wii Switch.”
Just inside the front door of the family’s five-bedroom detached home, around 40 pairs of Adidas and Vans trainers, as well as school shoes and Hunter wellies of all sizes, are stacked neatly on a shoe rack.
They have to buy at least three pairs of shoes every few weeks. David said: “We don’t tend to do hand-me-downs, there’s no point. Being boys, their clothes never seem to last.”
Although the family have a sevenseater people carrier and a five-seater Range Rover, Alexis cannot drive.
So most weekends David takes the older boys out while Alexis stays home with the younger ones. If they want to go anywhere as a family, David does a double journey.
In between picking up toy cars and Lego – and putting down the toilet seat – Alexis’s one concession to femininity was previously limited to scented candles and flowers.
Now Cameron’s crib sits next to the “It’s a girl!” cards, draped in a bright floral blanket. It quickly becomes clear the having a girl around is proving a novelty, as a procession of boys peer in and poke at their new sister.
One pops a large white toy fur cat, complete with pink ribbon, at her feet.
Alexis said: “David and I sometimes look at each other to say, ‘ What have we done?’ But when the boys come out with something funny and make us laugh, it makes it all worthwhile.”