Professional dancing couple James and Ola Jordan have had a busy few months moving home with their two-year-old daughter Ella.
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In our exclusive interview below, the former Strictly Come Dancing stars tell HELLO! all about the move and how little Ella has adjusted to the change, as well as updating us on their daughter’s separation anxiety at nursery – which unfortunately is not going well.
WATCH: Ella does her mum's hair and makeup!
Things have got so tough with Ella's clinginess that James and Ola are still yet to have a proper date night since her birth, and it's taking its toll.
Catch up on all their family news here, and find out why Ella had a meltdown over a sandwich…
The big house move
HELLO!: Hi guys, you moved house recently, how has it all gone?
Ola: It's an adventure, let's just say!
James: Yep. Ella 'helped' with the packing. We got twice as much done when she was asleep compared to when she was awake! She'd be there ripping the bubble wrap off and hiding in the boxes! It was sweet, she was being a kid, but when you're trying to pack it’s a bit stressful.
Ola: We sold our house and we're living in a rented house right now until our new house is ready at the end of April. The move didn't bother Ella at all, although I think she’s a little confused.
The other day she said, 'Mummy I want to go to my new home'. I asked her, 'Do you mean where the cinema is and the pool,' and she went 'Yeah mummy, home.' I don’t think she understands what 'new' means. It’s hard because they get attached, don't they?
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The adorable Ella Jordan
James: It is what it is. We've done it for her. Yeah, we’ve moved out of an amazing home, but it didn't suit us with Ella and we feel we can hopefully give her a better life somewhere else.
The new house is nice – obviously nowhere near as big as our last house, but our last house was four floors. The new house has five bedrooms but over two floors, so more mainstream.
Ola: It will be great to be able to let Ella into the garden from the kitchen. In our last house, our kitchen went out onto a balcony, so I didn’t want to open the door with Ella there. To go down to the garden was a whole mission.
James: We had to go down to the basement to go into the garden. We just want to be able to open the doors and let Ella go and play. The new house is more kid-friendly. I wouldn't say it’s the forever home but it's good for the foreseeable future.
With everything that’s going on in the world at the moment, our old house was too expensive to run. A swimming pool costs a lot of money to heat.
Ola: I've changed a few things with Ella's room now – I don’t have the chair in there anymore. She used to fall asleep in my arms in the chair; now she falls asleep in her bed.
James: You have to lay in the bed with her.
Ola: That's because I’ve got her used to that. I'm just lazy and want to lay next to her. I think going into the next house I'm going to do the next stage, Ella falling asleep in her bed by herself.
Ella’s sandwich meltdown
James: Yesterday we picked her up from nursery and she walked out and we asked her if she had a nice day. She cried and had this huge meltdown, saying: 'You didn’t give me a sandwich today!'
Normally we get home and she hasn't eaten her sandwiches, so Ola obviously thought she'd give her something different as the nursery says she doesn't eat them.
Ola: She cried her eyes out! I was like, 'I'm sorry Ella!' I don’t know why she wants the sandwiches there so much if she doesn't eat them.
Ella was not happy about the missing sandwich
James: I would say she's got more stubborn, more independent; she has to do literally everything on her own. She gets up in the morning and goes and gets her bowl and breakfast out. She puts on her slippers by herself.
Ola: She also goes to the toilet on her own. It's amazing to watch her become this little person. She pours milk from a jug into a cup at nursery. That's really sweet. She can put her own shoes and trousers on now too.
James: If you try and do stuff for her, she gets angry – she wants to do it.
Ella struggles at nursery
Ola: Ella still isn't settling very well at nursery. The staff told us she has separation anxiety. It was taking her a long time to settle and then she'd cry twice every hour. They said that was quite a lot but she was getting much better, although she's not like the other children – she’s quite extreme, I'd say. She doesn't get used to it; she's still clinging onto me.
James: She was terrible this morning. She was really screaming. Even in the morning when she woke up, she said, 'I don't want to go to nursery.' It breaks your heart every time. It feels horrible. She's really struggling.
Ella with her dad James Jordan
Ola: We went and had a nice breakfast after we dropped her at nursery. I said to James yesterday, 'I feel like I’m cheating on her' because she was so upset going into nursery. I felt like a terrible mother.
The other thing is even if we're not working that day, we have to pretend that we're going to work. So we've both got to get ready and pretend that we are going out! One day when James stayed at home in his pyjamas and I got Ella to nursery, she didn't like that because daddy was at home. She knew in the back of her mind: why is dad at home in his pyjamas?
James: Listen to this… one day I got dressed, got in my car, let her see me drive away and then I came back once they'd gone! She is so switched on.
Even today, in the car on the way to drop her at nursery, I said to Ola that we've got to go and get something from Bluewater. Ella went: 'I want to go to Bluewater!' So I had to say, 'After nursery!' She doesn't miss a trick. She listens to everything. She wants to know everything.
Ola: She’s like you. James is quite nosy.
James: Am I nosy?
Ola: Yeah, you are [laughs].
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Ella’s Christmas nativity
Ola: Ella is in her nursery Christmas nativity play – but we're going to miss it because we're working. When I found out, I cried. I couldn't hold it in. I was like, 'Oh no, I’m going to miss my baby's first nativity play'. But I guess I'm not the only working mum to feel this way, you just get wracked with guilt. She's going to be dressed as a star.
James: Well, I'm a bit disappointed she's not got a lead role! [laughs]. She's a star – one of many stars! But we're not going to be there.
Ola: They said they could maybe video it for us. I'm gutted though. She's been singing lots of songs like Jingle Bells.
James: Her talking is really advanced now too. She’s stopped swearing which is good! I think she realizes that they are bad words.
The elusive date night
James: It sounds bad, but Ella is so clingy that we haven't been out without her at all in the evening. People will find it hard to believe, thinking celebrities are out all the time, but we're really not.
One time I remember we went out for a meal without her and left her with a babysitter, we had her on the monitor at the dinner table.
Ola: I would love to go out more, but I don't want to put her through that upset.
James: But then people would say, that's why we're in the position we’re in – because we don't do it. It's a Catch 22, isn't it?
James and Ola want a date night!
Our last proper date night was before Ella was born. Nearly three years ago. I mean, don't get me wrong, I've been going on dates with other people… [laughs] and they've been really nice dates…
Ola: Yeah right!!
James: Even when we go on holiday with Ella, a lot of people would just get babysitters. We don't. The way we look at it, when we're on holiday we're on holiday as a family together.
I remember saying to a friend, 'If you don’t have couple time, your relationship will suffer because of it', and their relationship did suffer. I do feel we're getting to that stage now where we need to start having 'our time' as well.
It must be affecting us in some way – but we've been together so long, for 23 years, and have been through so much together, that this is something that we're going through. But it's not like one of us is wanting to go out and the other is saying no.
Ola: If Ella was happy to stay with a family member, we would easily have done that earlier. But because she’s going through such heartache, for me that's not fun to go out then. I won't enjoy myself if I know she's so sad at home.
James: We'll get there. It's just a combination of lockdown and our profession meaning we're home a lot.
Ola: We both enjoy Ella’s company as well.
James: We like being around her, feeling at home and putting her to bed. We do need to make time for us as well though.
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