Saturday, August 28, 2010

Giggling Tom

Giggling Tom!
August 2010

Thursday, August 26, 2010

The last couple of weeks have been full of excitement for the girls, especially Caitlin.

We spent the weekend out in the bush, off road following some very brave, but very stupid friends who did the Avon Descent. It was Tom's first experience of the Avon and while he slept through a lot of it, he loved being out in the fresh air. Caitlin of course loved the bumps and crashes that 4WD in her chair causes and Grace, well, she was just Grace and loved it all!

The girls also had dress up day for book week which is always the bane of my life, but a huge highlight for them. Caitlin wanted to go as a clown and Grace went as Eleanor from the book The Day my Bum Went Psycho!!! Tom even got into the spirit and wore a Winnie the Pooh outfit. The girls paraded across the stage and the smile on Caitlin's face was priceless. These are such special memories, I have to try and remember them for always.

Caitlin is busy practising for her First Holy Communion and last night we had a Parent and Student information evening. Caitlin was THE most excited person there. She was so vocal throughout the whole night and we had such a special time together, just the two of us, which seems like a rare thing these days!

We are also trialing a new head switch and head support system, in conjunction with a PODD book for communication and she is really thrilled with this. It's taken us so long, and as with everything, a long, hard fight where Mum ended up bursting into tears and throwing a patty at the therapists but we seem to be making some progress now. Thank God for her teachers and her school that gave me 110% support and also went in to bat for us. We are so lucky to have them.

This system now means that we are working on Caitin having her own voice and can innitiate conversation for herself rather than only being able to respond to what we ask her. This has to be the highlight of the year for Caitlin so far. It's such a huge thing to think that we might finally be able to really get to know our beautiful, intelligent and funny little girl. She may not feel so isolated now, however, I am a bit scared about what she might tell me in the future when she gets going with it all!!!!!!

Ben Cousins is about to be on TV and I really want to watch the second half so I will leave it there for now and write again soon

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Not a whole heap to report this week. Life is busy but it's all good.

Winter is nearly over and Caitlin has remained flu free so far but I am touching every piece of wood I can find right now.

Tom is smiling, giggling and so alert. He is sleeping through the night, having a feed at 9.30pm and then not another one until 6.30am the following morning. He does wriggle around and sometimes has a bit of a squawk at about 4am but it is so short that we don't have to go to him, he just puts himself back to sleep.

Caitlin is doing some amazing communicating with her head switch. She is so clever and loving the little bit of independence it does give her. She loves to be a bit cheeky with it sometimes. Its so exciting to see that there is a way for us to hear her, however, I am a bit scared what she might tell me when she finally gets a communication system that gives her a voice.

Legs is now officially OLD. He turned 40 on the 4th!!!! We had a small gathering on the weekend of his birthday just to mark the occasion but the big party is happening in Oct. We are waiting until then so his family can fly over from Victoria to celebrate with him. I'm not sure who is more excited, Legs or Grace who is hanging out to spend some time with her cousins.

Grace is still flat out with all of her sport. There isn't a day when she doesn't have something on. She dotes over Tom and is still the most amazing help for us.

Me, I'm just the most content person getting around. I have my two beautiful girls who amaze me all the time and then there is my little man who just makes my heart melt. I am so lucky to have him and I am truly treasuring my time with him. To top it all off, I have the best, most loving and supportive husband. What do I have to complain about .........absolutely nothing!