412 + 308 Weeks

We had a big weekend this week, with a family trip to Bowral to stay at my sister's house.  Oma and Opa came down to stay too, and then we met up with my aunt and uncle for lunch and dinner on Saturday.  It was a lovely family meet up, and so nice to have the kids in the same house with their grandparents and cousins and aunt.  Arley was a little out of sorts, because he really thrives on routine, and pretty much everything was different during our time away.  We relaxed on the kids' diet,  their screen time, their exercise time and their bed time, and I could really see the difference.  In fact, Arley still hasn't returned to his pre-trip self.  He is still quite disregulated and ornery.  I think we just have to face the facts that if we do anything out of the ordinary, it will disrupt him, so we had better make it worth it!  Luckily it was a worthy weekend :)  The kids had some good cousin time with Zach on Sunday morning, and Opa's belated birthday dinner on Friday night was really nice.

We have all been sick this week.  We came down with Arley's cold - first Carmie, then me and then Jeff.  We are all on the mend now, but the cold winter weather has finally set in, and that just makes the aches and pains feel even worse!

Despite the cold, the kids and I made it out today to meet Arley's new friend Ben and his mum.  We went down to the rock pools at the harbour to hunt for fossils (and we found some!).  Luckily the weather really warmed up, but then I had massive pile of jackets and sweaters to carry with me.  I didn't get too many photos from today because both Ben and Carmie ended up stripping down naked to go fossilising, as you do!

The kids continued with their horse riding lessons this week.  They are such little stars up there on their horses, they make me so proud.  They also had another sleep over at their Lolo and Dida's, however Arley was scared by all of the wind, so I had to go pick him up at 9pm to sleep at home.  And then he woke me up bright and early the next morning to drop him back off at Lolo's so he didn't miss a thing.  I was able to get a full day of work in on Wednesday, which is lucky because I am behind schedule.  But that's pretty standard for me!

Fingers crossed that Arley becomes more regulated and next week is a little easier.

411 + 307 Weeks

The weather has been amazing for autumn, so we have been making the most of it.  Jeffrey took the kids to the park in Milton on Saturday so I could get some work done, and on Sunday we set forth on the hike that we tried to do before Easter when I sprained my ankle.  No accidents this time, and the hike was beautiful - less than ten minutes from home, amazing views, and we'd never been there before!  It really is astounding where we live.  On Tuesday Jeff and I took the kids to Dolphin Point for some easy exercise and exploring.  It was the most beautiful day, and of course Carmie ended up swimming.  We found a dead school shark on the beach, and Arley had no problems poking it and prodding it everywhere.  We took magnifying glasses with us so the kids could explore the rock pools, and we taught them how to burn dry leaves with the sun's magnification.  Hopefully they won't be setting our back yard on fire any time soon!

Poor Arley got sick on Monday with a bad cold.  He was sick until Wednesday, and is still coughing.  He has passed the cold on to Carmie, who was so sick today.  We are hoping it clears quickly because we are heading up to Bowral tomorrow for a family get together.  I took the kids to get their hair cut today, and Carmie had hers all chopped off!  I couldn't believe she actually went through with it.  She has so much head pain when she brushes her hair, because her head is ultra sensitive, so she just went for it and cut her hair short.  It looks really cute, and it is going to be super easy to manage.  I can't quite believe she did it though!

Little Arley has been missing his friend Jemma so much.  He made her a card last week, and then on Sunday he begged me to take him to Target so he could buy her a unicorn with his pocket money.  He was all set on buying her this $30 unicorn, but I put my foot down and found him a little stuffed toy unicorn to buy her instead.  On Monday I took him to the post office so he could mail it off to her.  He is such a sweet little guy sometimes!

Speaking of Arley, we had another session today with the behaviour specialist.  We have been seeing her every two weeks for about eight months, and today she left saying she won't be back unless I call her, as we are done!!  It is such a good feeling!  Arley is much more manageable now, and so much happier.  It has been hard work, but I really feel like he is such a success story, and I am so proud of him :)

It is really nice to feel on top of things.  I still have a crazy amount of work to do, and I'm up all hours of the night doing it, but our family life has settled down so much, it all seems doable.  It really feels like we have turned a corner.  I'm sure there will be more battles in the future, but I'm going to enjoy this peace while it lasts!

Friday morning horse riding

 Jeffrey took all of these photos during their park play

 Family hike

 More tree climbing

 Arley mailing Jemma's present

 Exploring Dolphin Point

 New hair!

410 + 306 Weeks

On Friday at Peak after school care, the kids were allowed to bring Coco the toy monkey home.  I couldn't believe how much Arley treasured that monkey!  The kids have about a million stuffed toys, but apparently nothing compares to Coco.  Their love of Coco was kind of cute, but caused far too many fights for my liking.

The kids had horse riding on Friday morning, and Carmie got to ride a new, bigger horse, called Percy.  She was so excited, and with good reason, because Percy is a beauty.  Arley's trotting is really coming along.  He has been desperate to canter, and at horse riding on Monday he asked his instructor if he could, and he was so excited when she said yes.  However, when it came right down to it, he was too scared!  He thinks he'll be able to in a few weeks.

It was Mother's Day on Sunday.  Arley woke up super excited and charged, which is never a good thing.  All the excitement was too much for him, and he got really oppositional and defiant (a perfect Mother's Day gift for me).  Lolo came over briefly in the morning, as the kids had made her some painted flower pots.  All I wanted to do was go to the beach, as I haven't been able to go since I sprained my ankle.  So, after lunch we took the kids and Bella to Collers Beach.  It turned out to be a really lovely time.  Carmie cracked a rock open and found a fossil, and she was thrilled.  Arley hadn't wanted to go, but when we wanted to leave, he was begging to stay.  So typical!

We started our Austalia project this week and the kids did OK.  Carmie needs about three times the amount of breaks as Arley, but we got through it.  As part of the project we made mini pavlovas, and the kids loved them.  They seem quite happy doing this, so hopefully we can keep it up.

We got Carmie's report back from the speech pathologist.  Her tests were all over the place - some really high and some really low.  She also has a rare speech disorder called cluttering, and the speechie is recommending us to see a developmental paediatrician.  It does feel like this is never ending, but I spoke to Arley's OT today at his session, and she thinks it is worth pursuing to see what's going on with little Carmie.

Speaking of OT and Arley, he is doing so well that our OT is dropping his sessions from weekly to monthly!  We are all so excited by this, it is such good news.  We have come so far with Arley, he is a different kid to when we started all of this.

The kids have been getting along really well for the last few days.  We have been going to parks, they've been climbing trees, playing games together, actually having real conversations, and today they have spent half the day being 'spies' with spy books and trying to sneak up on me.  It has been rather lovely, so hopefully it stays this way :)

Cute video of the kids trotting (of course):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1yBgsmbTTw

Arley with Coco the monkey

Lovely photo that Jeffrey took

 Feeding Coco

 Making mini pavlovas for our Australia project

 Yum!

 Mothers Day beach walk

 Petting the horses at Milton park

 Success!