What a day (3 months) I have had! (part 2)

I'm doing this in dot point because I'm lazy its easier!


* Today I had to take Ashlee to the OT. The finger she broke has been very sore so after a trip to the doctor, an x-ray then a trip back to the doctor we find it hasn't healed.....

(This is not her actual x-ray but it is very similar to her original x-ray weeks back)

The break is actually called an 'Avulsion fracture of the distal phalanx'. Basically her finger was bent back so far that the ligament pulled a chunk of bone off (a volar plate injury). The ligament is still not healed properly and the little piece of bone? Well it floating around in her hand somewhere I guess because it is not there anymore....hmmmm. So it is splinted again and we just wait. No sports, no movement. She even has to shower with it on. The splint is pretty purple to! LOL!

* Ashlee is going to Wollongong next week to compete in Athletics!

* Zachary has had his AFO's approved and we pick them up this month! Finally! We will also soon be receiving his Bath seat.

* Wednesday we went and tried out some wheelchairs! Well Zachary did. I forgot my camera, I really wish I had it. He did so well and has so much upper body strength that he mastered it in under 15 minutes. We tried out 3 different ones:

The Mini Ultra Lightweight

Great chair - fits Zach perfectly but it doesn't grow at all so we ruled this one out pretty much straight away. You have no idea until you see this chair in person how tiny it is!


The Avantgarde

This chair was the one that Zach did the best in. He mastered this one straight away and didn't want to get out! It has room to expand width wise and also can be custom made. The little wheels at the front also light up the faster you go. It comes with wheel guards in a choice of cute little designs too...lol


And lastly The Teeny Plus




After almost 2 hours this is the one we decided to go with. It grows in both width and depth and should do him to well over 6 or 7. (I did check with I can get light up wheels with this one, and yes I can....hehehe) This one will be custom made to suit Zachary. For example we will remove the wheel guards as they inhibit his ability to push himself but will add swivel arm rests so he can get in and out of the chair. Also getting handle extenders on this so he can be pushed if needed.

Now just to convince the rest of the gang that this is not a toy!

* Anna has her Eye Clinic appointment very soon. We will see what that will bring -I really have no idea.

* Mitchell is going great guns at preschool! He is also going with his Dad tomorrow. As much as he drove me up the wall today I'm not looking forward to it :( I'm going to miss him A LOT! He will be going for the weekend then back for Preschool on Monday then back to his Dad's for a few more days.

* Me, well I'm feeling totally drained and not quite understanding how I manage to function at the moment. I'm having a hard time getting any real sleep at all these last few weeks then I'm running all day the next day! Not to mention my doctor thinks I have broken my tailbone but that is another story! Just an excert from my week so far:

Monday: Mitchell was at preschool and Zach and Anna were in care for the morning. Leaving me some time to try and catch up on some washing, run some errands; housing, medicare, etc. In the afternoon we had physio for an hour then a doctors appointment.

Tuesday: We have early intervention on Tuesday. Over an hours drive there, 2 hours of group and over an hours drive back. Nothing else on these days because we really have no time.

Wednesday: Ashlee had a doctors appointment then off to spend two hours looking at wheelchairs.

Today: O/T appointment for Ashlee over the other side of town. Back to our side of town to get to the chemist and medicare as well as haircuts for the three little ones (pics to come - Mitch got spiderwebs! And it was Zach and Anna's first haircut!). Then off to two doctors appointments for the afternoon. Managed to run down and do a quick grocery shop before dinner too.

Tomorrow: X-ray of my tail bone in the morning. Need to get some paperwork witnessed and call about a dozen real estate agents. Then off to Cooma (about an hour and 20 minutes away) to drop Mitch with his Dad.

In between all this I some how find time to eat (well most of the time), shower and occasionally blog. I'm looking forward to Monday morning! Three little ones in care and the morning to myself (well no appointments yet!).

I think I have rambled enough. Time to hang these few things on the airer and go to bed and hopefully get some sleep!

Just a quick update

more to come tomorrow....

Today we saw Dr Lowe. Booked in for Botox for his Abductor muscles. December 14th at this stage but Dr L said that will change as he is opening up some more places - expect it in the next month to month and a half. Watching his calf muscles at the moment and reviewing them again in a few months times, he doesn't want to do them right now. He wants him in his AFO's for at least a month before the review. Other than that everything is great and he is very happy with Zachary's progress.

The trip to Sydney was long and tiring with lots of snow traffic! Plenty of phone calls today from O/T, DADHC case worker etc. The one day when I'm really busy! We are heading into DADHC on the 9th of September to road test some wheelchairs. Appointment with The Spastic Centre to do some 'before botox' measurements and also need to meet up with our Physio to do some measurements for his wheelchair. Busy, busy and just when I thought things were going to quite down again for a bit. On top of all that we have our regular physio, our early intervention, we need to visit the audiologist (for both Zach and Anna) and Anna has appointments too! The main one being the Eye Clinic at SCH in a couple of weeks. Argh, 'life with Special Needs' is becoming a real reality now - full steam ahead.

Other news, Ashlee got through another round with Athletics. She is now competing in Wollongong on September 17th! I'm so proud her! Between her skill with netball and her brilliant athletic ability she is going to go far! I have no doubt her future will definitely involve playing or teaching some kind of sport.

Spoke to Mitchell today. Missing him like crazy! He got a 4 wheeler motor bike from (D)ExP for his birthday and he has been spending every waking minute on it apparently! It scares me a little but (D)ExP is very responsible with safety so that puts me at ease a bit.

Oh, and one last thing......we need to get one of these....

$69 from here.....Dr L is a bit concerned about Zach falling a lot. 99% of the time its his head that takes the hit - onto tile! So mainly when we are at home he must wear a 'Head Bumpa'. Super fashionable! hehehe.....

OK, not such a quick update but photos tomorrow! Fires on the side of the highway and all!

Yippee!

Today I had a meeting with the lovely Daniel from our local counsel. He is the coordinator of the Disability Services and in turn organises the respite care. Now I must say Zachary is not a high need demanding child at the moment (well not more than any other 2 year old!) but he some special needs that do take up a lot of time as many readers of this blog would totally understand. So I have started Zach (and Anna of course) in daycare one day a week to take some pressure off. I can go and do the exciting things like grocery shopping in complete peace (and buy way to much stuff because I have time to just browse the isles - eek!). DADHC kindly contacted the counsel to inquire about respite and that was what today was all about. They will pay for his time in daycare - more than just one day if I feel the need - you can probably understand how happy I was to hear this! Daycare is sooooo not cheap and even after the Centrelink rebate it is still costing me a pretty penny to send the three there. Without going into detail lets just say it has three figures. I was able to get a day of Preschool for Mitchell on the same day so I'm like totally kid free! Anyway it was an awful amount of paper work but its done now.

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Mitchell has gone with (D)ExP until Sunday. I miss him already and he has only been gone for a few hours! I still have another 4 days until he is home again. I must say that I do really appreciate the break as Mitchell has been very testing lately. I can totally understand, he has been through a lot recently and it must be hard for a 5 year old to understand. First in comes these two little babies into his life. They needs turn out to be much more than we expected. Just when he feels that things may have settled down his Mummy and Daddy stop living with each other. I'm kinda glad my parents split up before I was old enough to know any different. My poor little guy, it really breaks my heart!

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Not much else going on here at the moment. Getting ready for the trip on Friday. Just normal things.....For now I'll leave you with these.....

The last few days

We had another visit with Emma and Damo for Physio. They are brilliant and Damo always has Zach in hysterics! Its so funny to watch. They make therapy so much fun for him so I'm trying to what they do at home as Zach hates doing his stretches and therapy for me. From what I hear that's not unusual though. Our main goals at the moment are to teach Zach to sit properly and to crawl properly. If he doesn't do those two things we don't hold out much hope for him ever walking. Our main therapies are stretching, ball play - where he lays over the ball, trying to get him to stand holding on to a hula-hoop (without me hanging onto him!) and we are using a 'wobble pillow' to try and get him to learn some balance (which he has none of, nil, zilch!)

Our days seem to be consumed with therapy or some kind of appointment at the moment but it hopefully will pay off in the future.

Today we were meant to be picking up Zach's AFO's but due to some funding stuff ups we now have to wait another month. Hopefully they will be ready by then. So instead of going to The Spastic Centre's Orthotics Clinic we went to Early Intervention instead. Last fortnight they had a professional photographer there and today I got to see some of the gorgeous photos he took. Next time we will pick up a disc with all the photos on it. I'll share some, they are so special.

On the way home (its an hour each way) the little ones slept leaving me with complete quite!

(And no I didn't notice until we got home that she had taken her arms out of the straps! Ahhhh)

(Zach snores too! Oh and excuse the McDonald's box - its a fortnight treat thing after EI)

Tomorrow Mitchell goes with (D)ExP until Sunday leaving me with only the twins and of course Ashlee - who is ever so helpful (no I'm not being sarcastic) - to take up to Sydney for the day to see Dr Lowe. Looking forward to seeing him and showing off the progress Zach has made since we last saw him 3 months ago! I was hoping he would have his AFO's but that's not to be.

I'm also looking into buying some new convertible booster seats for Zachary and Anna. I want the CarGo one that Big W had in their catalog but in usual Big W style they didn't get any in and are not planning to - WTF? Why have it in the catalog than!! I want that one because it is the narrowest on the market. Mitchell currently has the Maxi-Rider and although I could just buy two more of them they are not going to fit across the back seat of the car. My other option is to buy two of the Maxi-Rider AHR's and move Mitchell into one of these.....

Infa Vario Max Booster

I think that they will all fit, I'll just have to do a few measurements. The investment of over $1000 - worth it? The three other seats will be sold. Or I can get two of these....

Infa Comfy Cruiser

and not the Maxi-Riders. They are cheaper but would like to do a little research first. Anyone tried any of these?

Lastly, Ashlee sent home from school again today sick. We are heading to the doctors soon to have a good health check up and see if there is any underlying problems....

Alright, dinner time!! 'See you' all later!

Faith

Today I took the kids to church. I grew up like this, my Dad used to take us every Sunday and I did really enjoy it. The church we went to is the church I grow up in, there were some familiar faces and plenty of new ones.

The kids had a great time. Sunday School Mitchell and Creche for the twins. Mitchell even asked if we could go again tomorrow! It has been over 5 years since I went last. (D)ExP wouldn't allow it and we didn't live close enough anyway but today I decided it was time to return and see how it went. I really did feel a since of peace and comfort and wasn't at all worried about (D)ExP's reaction. He would whole heartedly be against the kids attending. I think I need this, faith and support from some lovely people.

Not much else going on. When we got home Mitchell laid in my bed and watched High 5 and rested. The Zachary and Anna went to bed, Mum and Ashlee went to the Fruit and Veg Market and I laid down on the couch with 2 Panadine to try and get rid of a lingering Migraine I have had for 3 days now. It seems to have worked, currently pain free!

Mum and Ashlee have gone to the evening service and I'm feeding, bathing and loving my other children. Off now to do a bit more of that.....

Please keep Baby Stellan in your prayers as he is not doing to well at the moment.

Lastly, here are a couple more photos of my loves.....

A new thing with Anna is hair......we turned this:

Into this:

Zachy loves his walker - and I love this face!



And his cute little chubby feet! (but not the biscuit on the carpet!)

That's my boy!

Mitchell and Scooter - birthday present!



This photo was actually taken by my talented daughter!

And this one too!



And lastly - The Girly Girl

P.S I've been 'playing' around in photoshop way to much! - these actions are all from The Pioneer Women!

Oh what a day!

Today we had 'the' court appearance. (D)ExP - and I can assure you that the D doesn't stand for darling! - is trying to get an AVO on me, yes that's right - ME! The judge basically laughed at him but 'has to go through due course and hear the matter out'. So we are back again in August. A REAL waste of time on every bodies behalf.

Right now I have so much support around me, it really feels great. Even having my bloggy friends leave words of support feels great. Finally I have reached out and asked for help with the local agencies and we are getting somewhere. There are also quite a few people, locals, that have come out of the woodwork with offers of help. Considering this is (D)ExP's home town, that says a lot!

I will admit I am scared. Not scared of our soon to be new life, that I am really looking to, but scared of how things will pan out with all this mess. What fight do I have ahead of me?! Is a fight even going to be needed?! Who knows. (D)ExP is so unpredictable.

Tomorrow I have absolutely no plans, and that feels great. I am looking forward to spending the day tidying up and just going nowhere. Just spending the day with the kids.

Tonight - well I'm going to get these children dinner, a bath and tuck them in bed safe and sound for tomorrow is another day. I am going to do the dishes and fold the washing that I did get hung out. I also need to start sorting things out and begin thinking about packing things up! A daunting task.

So thank you to everyone for their support. Back to life now....