My Penelope

13/03/2026

World Sleep Day matters in our house because sleep is not just sleep.

When you’re raising a child with complex needs, a broken night doesn’t stay in the bedroom. It follows you into the next day.

Poor sleep can increase seizure risk for some children with epilepsy. It can raise sensory sensitivity and make regulation harder for autistic children. For children with cerebral palsy, pain, discomfort and effort can make sleep fragmented, and fatigue then affects mobility, learning and participation.

Everything overlaps. Sleep affects fatigue. Fatigue affects seizures, regulation and mobility. And then the cycle starts again.

That is one of the reasons we built My Penelope. A free app designed from lived experience to help families track real life between appointments, so patterns are easier to spot and you are not relying on memory when you’re exhausted.

If you’re in this world, you’re not alone. And you’re not overreacting when you say sleep changes everything.

Link in bio.

08/03/2026

This International Women’s Day, I want to recognise working mums everywhere, and especially our co-founder, Lucy.

She is a mum of three and a full-time partner in a law firm, while also living the reality many SEND families know too well: appointments, sleepless nights, school meetings, paperwork, and the constant pressure of advocating for a child with additional needs.

She didn’t accept that this is “just how it is.”

She helped turn that reality into purpose.

That purpose became My Penelope.

Because parents are often forced to become the coordinators of their child’s care with very little support, and the mental load is relentless.

Lucy is also pushing for more honest conversations about working motherhood, burnout, guilt, and the invisible pressure that so often goes unspoken, especially in demanding professions.

Leadership and vulnerability are not opposites. They are powerful together.

This International Women’s Day, I’m grateful for women like her and for every working mum who is holding everything together while trying to change things for the better.

06/03/2026

One of the biggest challenges for families like ours is that complex needs are rarely looked at as a whole.

Conditions overlap. Symptoms affect each other. Sleep affects seizures. Seizures affect mobility. Fatigue affects behaviour.

But too often, the system looks at each piece separately.

That is why tracking matters. It helps parents build a clearer picture of what is actually happening day to day.

And that clearer picture can change conversations.

Free app now live link in the Bio.

05/03/2026

Mood changes can seem small in the moment, but over time they often tell a much bigger story.

That is why we kept the mood tracker simple.

A quick entry. A clear timestamp. A record you can actually look back on.

For many families, that can help spot patterns around fatigue, environment, illness or routine changes.

Built for real life. Not perfect life.

Free app now live. Link in bio.

04/03/2026

After a bad night, it can be hard to know what to keep an eye on the next day.

We always come back to these three things first:
- sleep quality
- any seizures or disturbances
- mood and behaviour changes the next day

Small patterns often explain big changes.

Tracking does not need to be perfect. It just needs to be simple enough to use in real life.

Save this for later. Free app now live.

02/03/2026

This weekend has made me reflect on something we live every day with Penny.

No one seems to look at the whole child.

Penny has cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism, severe sleep apnoea, and other needs, but time and time again, support is looked at through one diagnosis at a time.

That is not how real life works.

Her sleep affects her seizures.
Her seizures affect her fatigue.
Her fatigue affects her mobility, learning, regulation, and mood.
Her autism affects how she communicates what has happened and what she needs.

Everything overlaps. Everything matters.

That is one of the biggest reasons we built My Penelope. We needed a way to record the bigger picture and turn real life into evidence that actually helps.

Because families should not have to fight this hard just to get people to see the full child.

If this is your world too, you are not alone.

25/02/2026

We built the seizure tracker for real life, not perfect conditions.

It helps parents log what happened without relying on memory later, especially when things are stressful.

Built by parents. Used by parents.
Free to download.

MyPenelope

24/02/2026

Seizures rarely happen at convenient times.

They happen when you’re tired.

When you’re stressed.

When you’re just trying to keep everything together.

One of the hardest things parents told us was trying to remember exactly what happened afterwards — especially during appointments weeks later.
The My Penelope seizure timer was built to take some of that pressure away.
It helps you:
• time seizures when it’s safe to do so
• log events quickly
• build a clear history over time
• and give clinicians better real-world information

It’s simple by design — because in those moments, simple matters.

If this is something your family is navigating, the free app is now live.
🔗 Link in bio to download
💜 Save this post so you can find it when you need it

23/02/2026

Most appointments show a snapshot.

But parents of children with additional needs live the full picture every single day.

The sleepless nights.

The seizures that don’t happen in clinic rooms.

The meltdowns that no report fully captures.

My Penelope was built from this reality — to help families track what real life actually looks like.
If this resonates with you, you’re not alone 💜

⬇️ Download the free app

🔗 Link in bio

23/11/2025

I’ve written something extremely personal — something many SEND parents will understand all too well.

This weekend was one of the hardest we’ve had in a long time.
Meltdowns, exhaustion, broken plans, emotional strain, and the visible toll it takes on our whole family… especially Penny’s siblings.

It’s the side of additional needs parenting that most people never see.

I wrote this blog to show the real emotional impact of raising a child with cerebral palsy, epilepsy and autism — and why the MyPenelope app means so much to our family.

If you’re a SEND parent, I hope it helps you feel seen.
If you know a SEND family, I hope it helps you understand them better.

💜 Read the full story here:
https://www.mypenelope.co.uk/post/the-untold-stress-families-face-when-raising-a-child-with-additional-needs

A Father’s Raw and Honest Reflection on Loving a Child With Cerebral Palsy, Epilepsy and Autism.When Family Life Begins to Break Under the WeightThere’s a kind of exhaustion that lives deep in your bones when you’re raising a child with additional needs — the kind few people ever truly see. ...

10/11/2025

This is a deeply personal one 💚

When Penny was born, life stood still in the best and hardest of ways. What followed was months of worry, instinct, and learning to fight for answers.

Our journey to her diagnosis has changed everything — but it’s also shown us the power of love, faith, and the strength you never know you have until you need it.

If you’ve ever felt that “mum instinct” that something isn’t right — trust it.

Read our story: When the World Stood Still: Our Journey to Penny’s Diagnosis

https://www.mypenelope.co.uk/post/when-the-world-stood-still-our-journey-to-penny-s-diagnosis

Life Between Lockdowns: The Calm Before the Storm.After Penny was born, everything felt calm — eerily calm. She arrived between lockdowns, in a world where joy was muted and connections were made through screens. Friends and family met her over Zoom, and though it was strange, I secretly loved it....