Christine McGuinness shared a picture of herself ‘patiently waiting for shops to reopen’ after she recently admitted that lockdown had been ‘difficult’ for her family.
The model, 32, showed off her figure in a pair of denim hot pants and a pink puff-sleeved top as she sat with her back to the camera in front of a mirror on Instagram on Sunday.
She told her followers ahead of non-essential shops opening in the UK on Monday: ‘Patiently waiting for ZARA to open. Does anyone know if we will be able to try on clothes in store?..’
‘Patiently waiting for ZARA to open’: Christine McGuinness put on a peachy display as she ‘patiently waited for shops to reopen’ on Instagram on Sunday wearing denim hot pants
Christine put on a peachy display as she sat facing away from the camera in her summer ready ensemble.
The mother-of-three had styled her golden tresses into picture perfect loose curls that cascaded over her shoulders.
Her celebration comes as lockdown measures in the UK eased on Monday to allow shops, gyms, and outdoor dining areas to re-open across the country.
In an interview on Wednesday, Christine revealed that lockdown had been ‘difficult’ for her family and shared the challenges of parenting autistic children.
Honest mum: Christine’s celebration comes after she revealed in an interview on Wednesday that lockdown had been ‘difficult’ for her family
The model, 33, and her husband comedian Paddy, 47, are parents to twins Penelope and Leo, seven, and their sister Felicity, four, who all have autism.
Christine admitted that while the experience has been tough at times, it is so rewarding to see her children make breakthroughs and reach milestones.
She said: ‘Seeing the children do anything new makes us feel like we’ve won the lottery and want to do cartwheels.
‘They played in snow for the first time. They were always scared of the snow. But this year we got out there and eventually they were rolling around in it.’
Family: The model and her husband Paddy are parents to twins Penelope and Leo, seven, and their sister Felicity, four, who all have autism
Christine said that she doesn’t make a fuss during these moments just in case it stops her kids, but she later watched back a video in amazement.
Despite these happy events, Christine has candidly spoken about the struggles she faced after becoming a teacher and therapist at home while in isolation.
She said: ‘Lockdown was really difficult at first. It’s been an uphill struggle. The children were getting a lot of support at school but that all stopped. Suddenly we had to become therapists for them and it wasn’t going too well.’
Progress: Christine admitted that while the experience has been tough at times, it is so rewarding to see her children make breakthroughs and reach milestones
And Christine previously revealed her youngest daughter Felicity, had developed a stutter in lockdown due to lack of social contact.
During an appearance on Loose Women in February she detailed the impact of the pandemic on her kids.
Felicity’s speech has been affected as the kids’ speech and communication has regressed since they have been in lockdown at home, with all three children struggling with the communication they have worked so hard to build.
She said: ‘It’s really affected their speech, I spent years and years going to speech and language therapy with the children they’ve all gone back with their speech and communication, my youngest daughter has developed a stutter’
Opening up: During an appearance on Loose Women she detailed the impact of the pandemic on her kids
On lockdown and the kids, she detailed: ‘It’s really affected their speech. They’ve regressed quite a lot. Again, speech doesn’t come naturally to them…
‘Spent years going to speech and language therapy with the children and I still do, but they’ve all gone backwards with their speech and communication skills…
‘My daughter, Felicity, developed a stutter over the first lockdown, which was never there before. It was every single word so it was quite severe…
‘She is still in speech therapy getting help for that, it has got a little bit better now she’s gone back to nursery. But these are problems that definitely wouldn’t have come into our lives if it wasn’t for the global pandemic.’
She went on: ‘It’s been a rollercoaster. It started off extremely difficult, for everyone it was a massive shock. Our kids are autistic and they struggle with shock…
‘All of these differences were suddenly thrown at them, the school was closed, not allowed friends or family over, which we used to do, at weekends we couldn’t go to the park.
‘With three children that struggle with change anyway and don’t really understand an awful lot, that was extremely difficult, for them to suddenly change overnight…
‘We did kind of get used to it over the summer, they did stop asking about going out and that’s sort of where we’re at now. It’s quite sad really that they now accept it’s normal to stay in…
‘We’ve spent years and years encouraging our children, it doesn’t come naturally to them, to go and socialise, going out to busy places and new places like play centres – they can be quite frightening – it took them years to do that quite happily…
‘Now they don’t even ask about it, it’s like it doesn’t exist anymore. It’s quite sad. I do think if/when things go back to normal we’re going to have to start again with all of that. We’re going to have to really build up their confidence again as anxiety is through the roof.
‘As an example, I stopped at the petrol station, I took my son in with me, and somebody walked past and he literally threw himself back from this person as he was so petrified of someone walking near him. It’s sad that’s the reality of today.’
Despite the hard times, Christine gushed: ‘We’ve had some magical, magical moments. And overall they’re happy, they’re healthy and they’re doing absolutely amazing and I love them to bits and I’m dead proud.’
Speaking about homeschooling, she said: ‘I feel for everyone doing homeschooling. It’s not tailored for children with additional needs, it really isn’t. They’re very black and white our children, school is school and home is home…
‘We can manage an art class and P.E, the fun things, but the actual homeschooling sitting in front of a computer, it’s just not right. I don’t think it’s nice for any children… we are trying to get them back into full time…
‘They started doing a couple of hours and we’re building it up to full time. Again, it’s just a very, very slow long process for our children to build it back up. Hopefully, next week they’ll go back to full time.’
Christine and Paddy are set to reveal the challenges of raising children with autism in a new BBC documentary, Autism And Our Family.
Insight: Christine and Paddy are set to reveal the challenges of raising children with autism in a new BBC documentary, Autism And Our Family.
Despite their struggles, The Real Housewives Of Cheshire star said on Mother’s Day that she felt ‘blessed to be their mummy,’ as she articulated the joys of being a parent.
Christine captioned the Instagram photo: ‘Blessed to be their mummy.
‘They have shown me so much love and happiness, they give me giggles and strength, they taught me patience I never knew I had.
‘Being a mummy will always be my greatest achievement, my proudest moment and it’s everything and more than I ever wished for.’
‘Blessed to be their mummy’: The Real Housewives Of Cheshire star has previously articulated the joys of being a parent and said her children taught her happiness