586 + 482 Weeks

What's new this week?  I turned 48 on Sunday.  48!  How on earth did that happen?  All I wanted to do on my birthday is stay home and relax, and have no stress.  Going out is very stressful for us.  Jeffrey made me breakfast, I read my book outside, took some phone calls, played with the kids, hung out with Jeffrey, and had a relaxing, stress-free day.  Just what I wanted!

Things have been pretty chill this week.  It is still school holidays, so we haven't been out much.  We don't do well with crowds!  The kids had horse riding on Tuesday.  Arley was very resistant to riding again, and just wanted to spend his time grooming.  We did manage to get him up though.  He is one tough cookie.  If you give him a pass he will think he never has to do the activity again.  Always re-drawing the lines.

Carmie started seeing her psychologist again, because the kids' NDIS funding came through.  Her goal for the next few months is to make some new friends.  She is also going to start seeing the OT again, as well as Arley's behaviour specialist.  I'm trying to cram in a bunch of therapies now so that by Christmas we can have a good break, and then enjoy the rest of the summer without therapies (except horse riding).  In October she will start physiotherapy, and I have two therapy assistants coming in for two hours every Friday starting mid October.  They will be taking the kids out into the community so I can have a break.

I don't have much news to share this week.  Arley met his new support worker who is replacing Holly today.  His name is Zac, and they weren't really connecting until I said they should go play Xbox together.  I think eventually they will be hooking up with Carmie and her new support worker Abby, and they will all go out together.  This will be on Mondays.  We are very busy - I have things scheduled every day except for the weekends.

I don't have great photos again this week.  It would help if we left the house more!

My birthday

The kids painting the planter box Arley is making with his OT

585 + 480 Weeks

I have hardly anything to report! I have been sick all week, but am feeling better now.  Carmie was sick until two days ago.  We didn't go out this past weekend.  On Monday I took Carmie to get her back x rayed, and I haven't had the results back from the paediatrician yet, but from the x ray itself I could see that her spine isn't exactly straight.  I'm trying not to worry though.  I will be booking her into physiotherapy right away, as both the kids' NDIS funding came through.  This means more supports, which is a huge relief.

Horse riding and Taekwon Do were cancelled this week due to school holidays.  Holly came over for her last session with Carmie, and it was really sad!  Matt, Arley's behaviour specialist, had a session with him on Wednesday, and it went well.  Matt is very knowledgeable on Arley's differences and difficulties, so I'm finding his support very helpful.  We have to take all demands off Arley and let him do as he pleases (within reason) for a while, in an effort to get his anxiety levels down.  It seems counter-intuitive to any parenting advice you'd get anywhere else, but we are giving it a go.  Arley seems happier for it at least.

Carmie has had good sleep all week, which is awesome.  I can't say the same for me.  One night Bella kept me up for two hours - she kept nuzzling me to get me out of bed, then would make me follow her and then she wouldn't want anything.  One time I even filled up her food bowl, and I turned around and she was nowhere in sight - it turns out she had gone back to bed!  The following night Arley kept me up.  He had woken from a nightmare, and then apparently it was fair game to keep calling for me for the next two hours.  :(

This morning my friend Andrea came over and brought her son Chayse.  He loves our VR.  It's good because the kids are getting used to being around him, and Andrea and I get along well.  They live only a few minutes away too, and they homeschool.

That's all I've got for this week.  I don't even have photos of the kids, so I just turned around and took some of them at their computers.  This is all I could get from Arley - he is getting more and more difficult to photograph!

584 + 480 Weeks

We have had a lot on this week, and sadly Carmie has been sick for a lot of it, and now I am sick.  I think Arley was sick too, but he isn't very aware of his internal feelings, so I don't think he noticed that much.  On Tuesday he was very very spaced out.  Holly came over on Monday for her sessions with the kids, and she was getting over a cold - I guess she wasn't truly over her cold, because she gave it to us.  We've had some bad news regarding Holly - she has resigned from the company who sends her to us, so after Monday she will no longer be the kids' support worker.  We are gutted.  Carmie cried and cried when she found out.

We had a quiet weekend.  We played Finska together in the backyard.  Much to Arley's dismay, Jeffrey and Carmie won again.  Arley and I have only won once.  Jeffrey and I have date day every Saturday afternoon, so we did that.  We usually just have some drinks and play some games together.  I went house hunting for Mum and Geoff but had no luck.

On Tuesday morning we had Arley's private Taekwon Do lesson, and it went well.  He got through 20 minutes of it, and then Carmie and I finished off the hour with our own lesson.  Arley is doing really well at some things, but he just cannot coordinate himself to do certain things, like blocks.  He has trouble doing something called 'crossing the midline' and it makes some things a real struggle for him.  We have a break from Taekwon Do over the next few weeks because of school holidays, so I'll work with him at home on it a little if he'll let me.

The kids also had horse riding on Tuesday, and Carmie had a really long lesson.  She is learning how to do exercises with the horse before she rides, and it is tougher than it looks.  Arley actually rode this week, but he was very zoned out so he just sat in the saddle and was lead around.

On Wednesday morning Jeff took the kids to Chambers Island to see Clint, and I had a full two hours alone in the house!  That's only the second time I've had alone in 14 months.  The house was so quiet!!  Afterwards I had to take Arley to his follow-up appointment with his new paediatrician.  It has been four weeks on his new med, which has been amazing for his ADHD, but not so good for his eating.  He lost 1.5kg on it :(  We tried so hard too.  So, the paed put him back on his old med, and she is slowly raising the dose in the hopes that he will eat more and it will be effective on his ADHD as well.  The good news is that since he lost so much weight he is very aware of how skinny he is and he doesn't like it, and for the last few days he is trying to eat as much as he can, and he has even tried a few new foods.  He had some fried potato today (mild success), and the big win is that we discovered that he likes McDonald's strawberry thickshakes!

Arley's anxiety has been getting the better of him lately.  He woke up from a nightmare one night this week and kept me up for a couple of hours.  He is scared to use the kids' bathroom, and also scared to go into a dark room alone, even if he knows where the light switch is.

Carmie had her first appointment with the paediatrician today.  We really like her; she is very thorough.  The paed is putting Carmie on a low-dose of an anxiety meds as well to see if that helps her insomnia.  Carmie goes back to her in four weeks, and if her sleep isn't better, the paed is booking her into a sleep clinic.  We are getting real help!  The paed is also doing basic genetic testing on the kids, getting Carmie's back x rayed to look into her poor posture, and has booked Arley in to the hospital to get his blood drawn by a specialist crew who will give him gas to help calm him.  I'm so grateful for good doctors - we had awful ones for so long!

Bella turned 13 this week!  She is such a sweet old girl.  She is still in good shape, but we are getting a little sad and worried, because the average age of a wolfhound is 6-8 years, and the average age of a staffy is 12-14 years.  We're trying not to think about it, but we can't imagine life without her :(

I think that is all for this week.  I'm hoping Carmie gets better tonight because tomorrow she has a young writers creative writing workshop.  Fingers crossed!

Bella with her new haircut on her 13th birthday

Arley grooming Dakota.  These two love each other.

Cleaning Dakota's hooves

Carmie taking Chilly through his exercises.

583 + 479 Weeks

It has been a really good week, except for the fact that we had to say goodbye to Lolo & Dida this afternoon.  They are leaving tomorrow morning to go back to Ulladulla.  They didn't manage to find a house they liked to buy.  The search isn't over - I will be looking for them, and then Mum will fly up when necessary.  It's a two day drive, so it's not so easy a move.  It seems that house prices are dropping too, so waiting a little while is probably a smart thing to do.

The kids have loved having their grandparents around.  We had them over for dinner, and we had a couple of lunches out.  We all went out for Father's Day which was on Sunday.  Jeffrey got taken care of pretty well that day, so he was happy.

Carmie has been doing well this week, with only one night of insomnia.  We have been to afternoon sessions of Taekwon Do together, and she has been busy finishing a short story that she has been writing for a few weeks.  She was unable to come to our private Taekwon Do lesson on Tuesday, but Arley did, and he did great.  He even learned a few new things, which is a really big deal because he usually gets very stressed and angry.  Today I was able to show him some more moves, so this is very encouraging!  His session with Holly was only an hour long this week, and that went much better.  This morning he had OT at home.  He and his OT are making a sensory garden out of pallets, and he was hammering away like a champ this morning.  It is the most engaged he has been.  He also did a page of maths with me, and baked some muffins, which is a big win!

On Wednesday I took the kids back to the park play with the homeschool kids.  Carmie was a bit awkward but trying hard, and Arley was lured in by the two puppies that were there.  Arley and I ended up going back to the house where the puppies came from to look at the whole litter, along with some guinea pigs, two parrots and a snake.  He was very happy - he just loves animals.  Carmie stayed at the park with the other kids.  I'm hoping that next week we will have more success, and both kids will actually play with the other children at the park.  Small steps!

Every morning I have to contend with trying to get Carmie out of bed, dressed, eating breakfast, and tidying her room.  It is a very long and frustrating process, because she is very slow and unmotivated in the mornings.  Today I decided to not prompt her at all - no reminders except for brushing her teeth.  I learned a good lesson.  She did everything in her own time, just like she does when I prompt her a hundred times over.  I discovered it makes no difference at all whether or not I remind her to do her morning routine - she takes just as long either way.  So from now on I am taking it easy and leaving her to it.

The kids had a great horse riding lesson on Tuesday.  Arley just groomed his horse again, and Carmie was very tired so she rode on the lunge.  They were so calm and happy afterwards, I really think equine therapy is brilliant.

Anyway, it's been a great week.  Here's to more!

Arley and a guinea pig

Father's Day

This afternoon at Taekwon Do :)

582 + 478 Weeks

Mum & Geoff came up this week to look for an apartment to buy, as they finally sold their Vegas condo and are going to move here.  As usual we surprised the kids - we had Lolo and Dida sitting on our outside sofa, and I asked the kids if they could help us with the grocery delivery.  They walked outside and saw their grandparents, and were so excited.  Carmie was annoyed that we got her again.  Haha.

So, Lolo and Dida had dinner with us that first night, and then we have only seen them here and there because they are so busy looking at units and townhouses.  They've found one they like and made an offer today, so our fingers are crossed. 

On Friday of last week we had Arley's friend Chayse over, in the hopes they would connect again.  Arley was hesitant to come out of his room at first, but then he started playing Xbox with Chayse and Carmie.  It was going pretty well until I heard Arley saying, "Stop it Chayse.  Stop it Chayse!"  That went on for a few minutes, and then he took himself off to his room.  I was actually really happy that he did that instead of causing drama.  He needed to regulate himself, and we have been told to let him do that as much as necessary.  He came out again and played VR with them for 10 minutes, and that was it.  Carmie and Chayse had a good time though :)

We went to the park play again on Wednesday.  Arley gave it a go for ten minutes, which was much better than last week.  He wasn't grumpy at the kids or anything, he just watched.  Carmie had a bit of a play too.  

On Monday Arley wasn't able to do his session with Holly.  I ended up sending her home after 15 minutes, because there's just no point sometimes.  Then on Tuesday morning I took Arley to his private Taekwon Do lesson (Carmie had insomnia again and was unable to join us).  Arley lasted 10 minutes, and during that time he was very angry and uncooperative.  He ended up storming off to sit in the car.  Mr Kelly was very sympathetic and understanding.  Later that day at horse riding we took the pressure off and asked Arley what he wanted to do.  He only wanted to groom his horse and clean the hooves, so that's all he did.  We are learning that when we take the pressure off him, things go more smoothly.  Carmie had a great horse riding lesson though, trotting on the lunge.  She just loves it.

Carmie has had two more nights of insomnia this week, despite her medication.  I hate it.  I feel so bad for her, and it means that we can't do the planned activities.  She is always very hyped up at night time, and very difficult to get out of bed and motivate in the mornings.  She was able to do some good tree climbing with Clint on Wednesday, and she had a good session with Holly on Monday.  Being tired makes her very emotional, and she gets upset at the slightest thing.  And then late afternoon hits, and she gets a burst of giddy energy that lasts several hours and then she can't sleep again.

I have only a few photos for this week, and none with Lolo and Dida.  Lolo and Dida are coming over for dinner tonight, and hopefully this time tomorrow they will know if they got this townhouse and we will all be celebrating.