Thankful Friday

So today we had more bad news about the car. We have now been without it for 2 months apart from the two days when it worked before the engine broke. The fuel pump that we had fitted is faulty so it needs to go back to the place we bought it and keep our fingers crossed that they refund our money with no problems. They havent been very helpful so far *Sigh*

I can do nothing about it though, just keep my fingers crossed that it won’t take too much longer to fix properly. We will feel so luxurious when we eventually get the car back!

Today I am thankful for

• My friends. I called my friend this evening to ask her a HUGE favour. She said yes without even thinking about it and we now have the use of her husbands car for a few days. She is dropping the keys off in the morning. Her husband will use her car for the time being since she rarely uses it anyway. I am so so thankful that we do not have to spend another weekend cooped up indoors.
• My sister. We had a lovely chat on Monday night and she popped in last night with a Cheryl Cole doll for Robyn. Robyn adores Cheryl Cole so this was a very very popular choice!
• My husband. This week I heard from a friend who has a husband that is behaving pretty badly. I am so thankful that my husband is fab 🙂
• My children. There have been moments of stress this week with Robyn having a very messy bedroom and Katie being very difficult but they always make me smile even if it is because Katie is shouting at Robyn “YOU SILLY GIRL ROBYN!” when her bedroom was a tip!

Today it is “Wear Red” day. Together with some friends we have raised funds and awareness for the British Heart Foundation. It is a charity very close to us. We had BHF pin badges as wedding favours and also had a collection at our wedding reception for the charity. Today we are thinking of baby Samuel and also of my late father-in-law, Barrie.

February Scavenger Hunt

Here is the mosaic of my completed scavenger hunt for February. It was a tough one this month!

1. A picture worth a thousand words, 2. Bogus Teddy, 3. DSC05696, 4. 44/365: Candle light in Taizé, 5. 35/365: Racing Cars, 6. 14/365: Starting to thaw, 7. DSC05701, 8. 57/365: Wear Red Day, 9. 56/365: Hot chocolate, 10. Jawbreakers, 11. Light-love, 12. Making Waves, 13. Hello Neighbour, 14. 51/365: Origami wishes, 15. 32/365: Mini Marshmallows, 16. 34/365: Frustration, 17. Right of Way, 18. 52/365: Crescent Street in snow, 19. 41/365: Devotion, 20. A Wee Dram

Happy Thinking Day

Today is World Thinking Day for the Girl Guides and Girl Scouts across the world. Robyn was allowed to wear her Rainbow uniform to school today and I thought a photo of her promise badge was apt for todays 365 picture.
You can read more about World Thinking Day here on Wiki.

Happy Thinking Day to all Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, old and new 🙂

Learning about Autism

I came across this picture from here this evening. I saved it to my laptop and then opened it in paint so that I could circle the characteristics that Katie shows.
I ended up circling all but one of them! Very very interesting. Since recognising Katies needs we are coping with her so much better. We are all happier. She has more choice and is more able to express what she wants and needs.
We still have a long way to go but even just recognising this is a wonderful step.

Simple Saturdays

Today we have had a wonderful day.

It was a slow start to the morning, we chilled in bed for quite a while to make the most of having a day with nothing to do. It was warm and cosy in bed and the girls were playing happily all around the house.
I got up eventually and got in the shower. I managed to discourage Katie from joining me. Sometimes it is nice to have a shower on your own without little Katie dictating how I should do it!

Next came breakfast, or rather Brunch. Anthony went off to buy bacon, egg and sausage rolls for us and we devoured them rather quickly with a hot cup of tea. At this point we were all watching “The Hunchback of Notre dame” on TV.

After some snuggles from the girls and some silly games I went off to the shops to buy some sweets for a photograph as part of the Flickr Monthly Scavenger Hunt. Anthony and I had a little reminisce about them. Anyone else remember Jaw Breakers?! They are smaller than we remembered them to be.

This afternoon consisted of cups of tea, drawing with the girls, more silly games and a quick visit from my Dad. The girls were really pleased to see their Grandad and more cuddles were given.
A simple tea of beans on toast for Robyn and Katie was a milestone in our house. They have always refused it before but they have suddenly decided to like it. I’m super pleased about that because it is such a quick, cheap and healthy meal! Pudding was jelly, raspberry of course. I only buy raspberry jelly. I’m not sure the girls even realise there is another flavour available to buy lol.

The car was picked up by the mechanic. It should be back on Tuesday. Let’s hope it is!

Now we are all watching “Total Wipeout”, a trashy gameshow on TV. All is peaceful and Katie is about to go to bed. We have just realised that Robyn is still in her pyjamas and it made us smile.

Simple, snuggly Saturdays are wonderful. They should be available on prescription. No rushing, no pressure, no bad moods. Just a happy family spending time together and enjoying it. Some might say it is boring but not to us 😀

Thankful Friday

It has been half term this week and we have had a lovely time relaxing as a family after I returned from my retreat. I will blog about that another time when the kids are back at school. For now it is enough for me to say it was wonderful but I missed my little family more than I ever imagined I could.

So this week I am thankful for:

• My family. I am thankful that we can spend time together and enjoy it and also that we are able to spend time apart. We are a family that laugh, cry and be silent together and yet we allow eachother the space we need. To me that is perfect.

• The NHS. This week Katie had successful appointments with various health professionals to continue the support that we recieve. I was speaking with someone from the States last week about the NHS and it made me realise how lucky we are in the UK. I am so thankful that we get free healthcare that makes such a difference.
• My friends. One inparticular this week has been great to have around. I am building up a firm friendship with her and we are soon arranging to go swimming together. We have also promised to take our girls (her daughter is Robyns best friend) to the cinema together.
• My parents. Yet again they are helping us out financially by facilitating the loan that we need to get our car fixed. This time it needs a new engine which is going to cost around £850. Ouch.
• The kindness of others. Last Sunday while in France we were a bit worried about catching the bus to the train station in time to get the TGV we needed to catch the flight home. There was lots of snow in Taizé and we had a big hill to walk down with our luggage. A lovely French girl offered us a lift down the hill and so we caught the bus and got home. We were so thankful.
• Good food. In Taizé the food is basic. When I say basic I am being generous. It was lovely to come home and eat good, tasty food! 
• Taizé. Taizé is a magical place for me where I can feel at peace. I cannot describe how I feel when I am there but I get an immense feeling of wellbeing. That only has to be good.

Have a good weekend everyone xxx

Katies Paediatrician Appointment

Quick update on Katie…

We got to the child development unit and immediately bumped into the Portage manager who has been so lovely. She was really pleased to see Katie and told her colleague who we were… she was lovely too. She said she had typed up all of Katies notes the other day and commented on how lovely it was to actually meet her.

The peadiatrician was very friendly and put us at ease straight away. He explained that she had been referred to him because he often assesses children who dont seem to tick the right boxes for a clear diagnosis.
He asked us LOADS of questions about how Anthony and I were as children and then about how Katie was as a newborn. He was very interested in the fact that she was always a very unhappy baby and how the best thing to stop her crying was to just put her down. Cuddles never had a calming effect on her, quite the opposite.

We spoke about her little rituals and how it is now part of all our lives to just get on with it and go along with things. We can never just have a kiss from her for example… the order has to go “Kiss, cuddle and nose”. If we do not say the right things at bedtime (Night night princess, don’t turn the light on, I love you, See you in the morning) then she will cry and be very unhappy until we go back and say it.
Some of the things he asked us we found ourselves really agreeing with. “Does she spin round alot?” was one. She spins round and round until she falls over and then does it again and again. “Can she cope with loud noises?”. No, she often puts her hands over her ears and shudders. Playgroup have noticed this too.

He also asked if there is anything she does that suprises us for being advanced for her age. Katie knows all her colours apart from silver and gold. She knows numbers and also some letters. She can remember a, c, e, i, m, o, r, and w. She doesnt use them in context or anything but she knows the letter and remembers it so well.
She can draw a person with eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hair, arms, legs, fingers and toes. She is beginning to write her name too.
I know Robyn could do none of this at this age.

He ended the appointment by saying yes, it does look as though there are some autistic tendancies there and it warrants being investigated further. She will need to have some blood tests done to check all sorts of things including her thyroid levels etc. They will also look at her DNA and make sure everything appears normal.
The blood tests will need to be at the hospital, we have to wait for an appointment for that.

All in all it was a very good appointment. Lovely to have another professional tell us that we are not imagining things. We still have alot of people look at us very suprised when we tell them she has all this support. Alot of people do not realise that Katie is any different from any other child… they just think she is naughty which is incredibly frustrating for me.

She was a really good girl at the appointment and then proceeded to have a mega strop in Asda on the way home lol.

The car

After yesterdays thankful Friday post where I was thankful that our car was fixed I can now report that it has broken down again.
Anthony got in the car last night to go to collect a suitcase so I could pack for my trip and it wouldn’t start. There came a clunking noise from the engine and Anthony seems to think it sounded pretty terminal.
I don’t mind admitting that last night I was spectacularly fed up. We didn’t have any tea as we just didn’t feel like eating. After spending £450 getting it repaired we were pretty down in the dumps!

The fedup feeling has to stop though. Sooner or later our bad luck will run out. The mechanic is coming back on Monday so we will know then what the damage is, whether it can be repaired or if we need a new car.
If a new car is needed we will have to get a very cheap runaround for now at least. Job hunting without a car has been tough. We still owe money on this car so taking out a loan like we had to last year isn’t an option for us.

While I am away next week Anthony will be able to use my dads car. This is great and hopefully when I get back the problem will be sorted!

Cars eh? Blummin’ nightmare!

Thankful Friday

I’ve been meaning to start Thankful Friday blog posts for a while. My friend Mel always writes on and it always makes me sit and think about my own week and what I should be thankful for.

So here I am. This week has been a fairly frustrating one. We have waited in for the mechanic to come and fix our car that broke down on 27th December, yes that is almost 6 weeks without a car! I have been quite poorly with horrible dizzy spells that make me pretty much unable to do anything apart from sit or lay with my head very still. Katie has been quite difficult this week too. The tantrums have been creeping back 😦

However, this week I am thankful for:

1. The mechanic finally turning up on Wednesday afternoon and eventually managing to get our car started. We dashed straight out in it just because we could. We felt so free!
2. The NHS. Robyn saw her consultant today about her hiatus hernia. Her tablets have been increased and she is back on the list to see the surgeon again at his next clinic in April. I saw a doctor on Tuesday about my dizzy spells and got some tablets to help the symptoms. If they dont work I have to go back. They are not doing much so far so I will certainly be going back again after my break (see my next thing to be thankful for). I also picked up my new glasses on Monday. New prescription so I am now able to see properly again and thanks to the UK benefit system my new specs only cost me £10.
3. My husband. On Sunday I go away to Taizé on retreat for a week. My husband will be home alone with the girls. For this i am so so thankful.
4. Playgroup. Katie being able to go to playgroup has been a lifeline for me this week. She is so happy there and that makes me happy!
5. I am thankful to my friend Mel for helping me to see things from a new perspective. Life is good. Things can only get you down if you let them. My outlook on life has totally turned around since I started to understand you can get anywhere in life if you really want to.
6. For our £10 winning lottery ticket on Wednesday.

Happy Friday everyone!

February Scavenger Hunt

February 2010 Scavenger Hunt

1. A Picture Worth a Thousand Words` (Please tag as msh0210-1 and msh0210) Here
2. Bogus (msh0210-2 and msh0210) Here
3. Center of Attention (msh0210-3 and msh0210) Here
4. Enchanting (msh0210-4 and msh0210) Here
5. Fake (msh0210-5 and msh0210) Here
6. Frozen (msh0210-6 and msh0210) Here
7. Hands on (msh0210-7 and msh0210) Here
8. Heartsickness (msh0210-8 and msh0210) Here
9. Insomnia (msh0210-9 and msh0210) Here
10. Jaw Breakers (msh0210-10 and msh0210) Here
11. Love-letter (msh0210-11 and msh0210) Here
12. Making Waves (msh0210-12 and msh0210) Here
13. Hello Neighbor! (msh0210-13 and msh0210) Here
14. Origami (msh0210-14 and msh0210) Here
15. Pick of the Bunch (msh0210-15 and msh0210) Here
16. Red on Green (msh0210-16 and msh0210) Here
17. Right of Way (msh0210-17 and msh0210) Here
18. Street Photography (msh0210-18 and msh0210) Here
19. Square (msh0210-19 and msh0210) Here
20. Wee Dram (msh0210-20 and msh0210) Here