407 + 303 Weeks

Well, the Easter bunny came on Sunday.  The kids were so very excited.  We heard them at 6:30 in the morning, so we got up, and Carmie was in Arley's bed, and they were lying there reading and chatting to each other, waiting for the right time to wake us up.  They were very cute.  Carmie had been telling me the night before that Easter is her favourite holiday, because of the hunt.  And I can see why, they had so much fun.  They got a mix of chocolate eggs, and plastic eggs with money inside, and a couple of presents.  But there were eggs everywhere!  We let them go for gold with the chocolate that day, but since then they are happy to just have an egg after dinner, and so it seems like their Easter egg collection is going to last a very long time.

Sadly the day before I sprained my ankle, with a third degree sprain.  Jeffrey and I decided to take the kids on a hike nearby (one we have never done and that I was really looking forward to doing), and I made it literally ten steps from the car before I tripped over a tree root and went down.  I knew it was bad because I heard a popping, cracking sound, and then I got really sick.  Needless to say, our hike was over before it began.  I was helped to the car, and then put to bed, and have been on crutches since that afternoon.  It is slowly getting better, but not fast enough.

Yesterday the kids went to holiday care at Ulladulla public school, because it was the day all of the kids were going to go to Funland.  At 10am we got into the car, and I tried to drive them there, but I just couldn't push my foot down on the clutch.  I called my sister who is in town, but their car was in the shop due to a flat tyre, so the kids and I had to walk to Ulladulla public school.  Well, I hobbled all the way there, and then all the way back.  It wasn't very fun.

On Sunday the town hosted the Blessing of the Fleet festival.  We have never taken the kids to it, and this year we had told them about it (before I had sprained my ankle).  They were so excited to go, so I had to crutch around the festival.  But the kids had a blast, riding on the carnival rides, and eating ice cream.  The festival was followed by amazing fireworks at night, on the harbour, and we watched them from Lolo and Dida's house, with Georgia and Mark and Zach and Baz.  Despite my pain, it was a really good day.

Arley has been very difficult this week.  It feels like he is going through a regression, like he used to. When he was younger, we would have about two weeks of calm, followed by two months of Arley hell, and then the hellacious times got shorter while the calm times got longer.  But it feels like we are in the middle of a regression again, with lots of yelling and obstinacy, lots of anger and abuse, and it makes life very tiring and difficult.  I hope it doesn't last much longer.  Our therapies start up again next week, so hopefully that will help.  I also have my NDIS meeting on Monday, to evaluate Arley and see what funding we are going to get for the next 12 months.  It is nerve-wracking, but I am hopeful that the meeting will go well, as it did last year.  Carmie has been very emotional this week too.  I'm not sure if it's a reaction to Arley, or if she has her own stuff going on.  Her four wobbly teeth are bothering her - her front tooth is just about out, because she dropped her iPad on her face two days ago.  The tooth has dropped about 2mm, so now she has a snaggletooth.  Jeffrey has been taking the kids to the park every day while I've been housebound, but I still think they need to get out more.  They need long walks on the beach, and good hikes (hikes where their mum doesn't fall and sprain her ankle!).  Hopefully next week I'll be better and life will get calmer.

Jeff and I got this cute series of the kids up in my studio:

 Easter morning

 At the Blessing of the Fleet festival