05/09/2026
**“How do you do it?”**
It’s a question we get asked so often.
How do you cope with three children?
How do you manage a wheelchair and a pushchair?
How do you cope with Penny’s meltdowns?
How do you live with her seizures?
I’ve been asked this question a lot this week since coming home from our trip to Disney, and honestly, I never quite know how to answer.
What is the “correct” response?
Do I give a nervous, awkward smile and say, “We just get on with it”? Or do I actually answer honestly and say, *“She’s my daughter. What do you expect? This is the hand we’ve been dealt.”*
The difficult thing is that I know these questions are never asked with malice. They’re usually asked with genuine support and kindness. But sometimes I struggle to put into words what our reality actually looks like.
Because behind the smiling, happy photos and the Disney magic were more seizures than I could possibly count. There were angry, public meltdowns, completely visible to every parent around us. There was happy stimming that other parents innocently told their children to “shush” because they were repeating Penny.
There were hard moments. Lots of them.
But we do it because life is there to be lived.
Those moments of pure, unfiltered joy — like watching Penny meet Anna and Elsa — were worth every difficult moment that came before them. And we have two other children who deserve to experience the magic too.
We may have been dealt a different hand, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop living life to the fullest.
And with **My Penelope** there to support us, we’re getting better at understanding Penny’s limits, recognising the signs and knowing when she needs more support.
That’s why tracking is so important.
You track the hard moments so you can understand them, learn from them and hopefully plan more of the good ones.
Because the goal isn’t to avoid life because it might be difficult.
**The goal is to understand what makes life possible — and then go out there and live it.** ❤️
