Underneath the smile

Childhood

I came into this world on Saturday 17th February 1990 in the early hours of the morning at Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield to my parents Kathryn and Martin Hall I was their first-born child. My Mom and Dad got married in 1987 and they were married a few years before I appeared in this world.

I had and still have several aunties, uncles, cousins on Mom and Dads side of the family and a loving granny Lois who called me lullabelle I am told. My family adored me I was the first girl born in the family after my Mom which was nearly 24 years. I was surrounded by boy cousins growing up I wanted a girl to play for so long and by the time the next girl was born that lived locally I was at secondary school.

When I was a few months old I was christened at St Barnabas Church in Erdington Birmingham where my Granny Lois went, she was a big part of that church in Erdington. There was the christening after party locally where many of my family came and I have seen the video recording of the day on video.

I was a quiet baby and turned into a very quiet and a shy child. I struggled to learn new things easily. I didn't meet milestones as a child, but health visitors or doctors didn't think there was anything unusual about it. When I was learning to speak, I would speak end of words which meant I had to have speech and language therapy at walmley health centre for a few years until my speech improved which helped a is have NO problems with my speech since then.  I never crawled I went straight to walking but that took a lot of time almost anything with coordination I struggled with as a child, or I never did which included swimming which I still cannot do. I learnt to ride my bike without stabilisers at 10 which was a huge achievement for me.

I never went to nursery Mom tried to get me to attend at Honey bears nursery at Walmley rugby club, but I wouldn't stop crying and screaming the entire time after mom had tried to leave me there a couple of times with other children and nursery staff, so Mom pulled me out of nursery. My granny said to Mom I will be ready for school when I start but I wasn't. I attended playgroup where parents stay but I didn't like playing with others I liked to play alone.

As a little child I had light blonde curly hair which has never disappeared unfortunately Mom put my hair in hair band type bows which she made for me they didn't exist for little girls like they do now, and mom put my hair in top knots. My hair got thicker and thicker as I got older and now as an adult, I can have an opinion of it I hate it. I was a fashionable little girl and I have taken pride in my appearance the majority of the time throughout my life. As a child mom dressed me in smocked dressed in matching frilly socks. I remember seeing a photo in pink boots which look so much like the dr marten boots I own now.  My hair went darker blonde darker blonde as I got older. My Mom did my hair washed and styled it for a long time I was past 14 I feel when she stopped. I have found my hair hard to manage and at times have had it cut shorter due to how unmanageable it is at times when it's longer and thick. I first had my hair cut into a bob when I was around. 8 before that I had very long hair which got knotty very easily. When my Mom used to do it as a child I wouldn't stay still, and Mom would sometimes get frustrated, and I would run off then which made it into a huge situation.

Granny Lois passed away beginning of April 1993 from breast cancer which is extremely sad as I don't remember anything about her apart from her house in Erdington and screaming after my Mom, I feel that could be my first memory. I never attended her funeral as I was so small, I was just 3 at the time of her passing I was 3 and 2 months old.

As a child up until I was an adult I have been on some amazing holidays in some hot countries and been lucky to go on these holidays. My Mom, Dad and max celebrated new year in Lanzarote with their friends for some years and then we started to go to Dubai a couple of times. Other holidays I've been on during the summer mostly have been Tenerife, Jamaica, Turks and Caicos Islands, Gran Canaria, Spain, Padstow in Cornwall and I have been to Disney in America which I loved when I was 9 I liked meeting Disney characters with the autograph book with my cousins and Max my younger brother. I found holidays hard to adapt to so since becoming older I don't go on them anymore as I get anxious before and during once I get home it's a sigh of relief, but I ruined a lot of holidays especially as a teenager for my family cos I was so anxious and couldn't adapt to the change of scenery and not being able to do my routine that I like to stay to it exactly especially as a child. In Lanzarote and Cornwall, we always went to the same place, and I still couldn't cope with change.