706 + 602 Weeks

Just a quick update, as I have no photos and not much to say!  All activities and therapies have started back up again.  I've been struggling to get the kids back to a regular schedule.  Arley has been a tough nut to crack, but I think I am making progress.  Carmie has been more amenable, however she hasn't been very well - lots of nausea and some sleepless nights.  But we are getting there.

Carmie (and I) made a new friend this week.  My friend Nicky and her daughter Lexi are friends with a mother and daughter, and the mother has been really struggling as her autistic daughter has been having a lot of anxiety socially.  Nicky thought Carmie and the daughter, Vilia, would get along, and she wasn't wrong!  They seem very similar indeed, and they chatted up a storm, along with Lexi, and they were all really happy.  The mum and I got along well, and it seems I can help navigate parenting an autistic kid, because she is quite clueless and is asking for help.  Poor thing, it can be very stressful, especially at the beginning.  So, it's been a win with new friends!

Jeff's guitar school started back up for the new year, and he already has three new sign ups.  So, we couldn't be happier on that count too.  Things are looking good for the year ahead.

Now, if only I could get the kids in line!  LOL.

704, 705 + 600, 601 Weeks

We have officially survived Christmas and New Years.  Christmas was great, very relaxed but still fun, with Lolo and Dida coming to spend Christmas Day with us, as well as my brother Sting and his girlfriend Sarah.  We had gift giving in the morning, an easy Christmas lunch, a swim in the pool, dessert, and plenty of chill time.  It was really fun, with no drama.  The kids loved their presents, and it was really nice to spend the day with family but in the comfort of our own home.

Boxing Day was not as fun.  We decided on a family trip to the beach, which we only attempted once last summer and it was not good.  We gave the kids lots of warning, both wanted to go, but then when it came down to it, Arley's anxiety skyrocketed, and it was a disaster.  It took an extra 45 minutes to get out of the house, there was lots of shouting and lots of tears, huge emotions from Arley...we got to the beach and I managed to get him and Carmie out swimming in the ocean, and that was fun.  We had 15-20 minutes of swimming before Carmie had to go back to the sand, then Arley got double dumped by two waves and he was done.  He couldn't stand the feeling of sand being in his swimmers and water shoes, and he let us all know it.  We packed up and went back home, all of us emotionally exhausted, and Jeff and I promised each other never to do a family trip to the beach again.  It was far more damaging to our family dynamic than positive, and these are not the kind of memories we want to make!  The next day we stayed home and had a family swim in the pool, which was really fun and no stress, and most of all, no tears, shouting or anxiety.

New Year's Eve was a disaster as well.  In the car on the way to see the fireworks, Arley couldn't get his headphones working properly, which was enough to set him off, which was enough to set Jeff off, which was enough to set me off, which was enough to make Carmie burst into tears.  It was awful.  We turned around to head home, then decided we should go because Carmie was just so upset, then we got stuck in traffic trying to get to Point Cartwright where we were planning on watching the fireworks, Jeff dropped us off and then drove off to find a parking spot.  Jeff never made it back in time to actually see the fireworks, and Arley was so worried about him and so upset with himself for setting off the whole chain of events that he couldn't enjoy them.  And then the fireworks were only 7 minutes long!  I called Jeff and had him pick us up (he missed the whole thing, stuck in the car), and we drove home with none of us speaking!  OMG.

Other than that, we have had a relaxing time.  The kids have been sleeping late, Jeff and I have been hanging out together a lot, I've been doing lots of creative stuff, and the kids have been going to some groups and not to others.  We are definite home-bodies, with good reason!  Jeff starts back at work next week, and the kids' schedules ramp up again, which I think is a good thing for us all.

703 + 599 Weeks

We took Carmie to the Crowded House concert in Brisbane this past Saturday.  It was awesome!  Some parts of the night were tough.  Finding a restaurant near the venue where we could all eat dinner was difficult, but I found a place that suited our three respective diets, but it was so loud!  It was the noisiest restaurant I have ever been to, which wasn't great for Carmie considering her sound sensitivity.  She had to wear her headphones and we were barely able to speak to her, and the food took ages to come too.  It was yummy, but the wait and the noise were really disappointing.  But the concert was awesome!  It was at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, which holds about 15000 people, so fairly large, and Carmie was in awe.  She had a blast during the concert (wearing her headphones!), whooping and cheering with the best of them.  It was so lovely spending time with her.  I still remember my first concert - Billy Joel, with my dad.  We are so glad to give Carms a similar experience.  Jeff loved the show too.  Arley didn't come - he opted out, and had a night at home with Lolo and Dida.  He has no real interest in music, so he was fine with it.

Everything else has been pretty good.  The kids are still doing their activities, so not much has changed.  They are really looking forward to Christmas next week.  The weather has been crap, but next week it looks perfect, which is excellent timing. Jeffrey wraps up his teaching tomorrow and will have just over two weeks off.  His break won't be completely work-free, but it will still be a break.  We have to get ready for next year, creating a new class schedule and advertising etc.  But there will be no face-to-face with students, which is good.

Poor Carmie has been getting hives pretty badly.  She has had cold urticaria for years, but now she seems to have developed chronic spontaneous urticaria, which really sucks.  I have been giving her antihistamines every day, but if it doesn't go away soon, I'm going to have to take her to an allergist or immunologist.  Just what she needs, another medical issue. Poor thing.

Arley is Arley...sweet, belligerent, loving, volatile, kind and ruthless.  You get the picture.  Same old same old!

This sign was in the bathrooms at the concert venue.  This is what we deal with here in Queensland!!

At the very noisy restaurant 

Right before the concert.  I couldn't choose my favourite photo!

702 + 598 Weeks

It's Thursday, my blogging day, and I'm actually writing the blog!  AND I have photos for this week!  It is a small miracle, but a miracle none-the-less!

Not that I have too much to say.  LOL. We have had an easy week.  We decorated the tree, which only went down with a little hiccup when Arley was upset that he has no handmade Christmas decoration with the letter A on it and he stole Carmie's letter C decoration and wouldn't give it back. But it was our most successful tree decoration session we've had.  I don't know why, but the kids and Jeff always end up fighting while I try to keep the peace and Christmas spirit.  Not this year!

The kids are doing well-ish.  Carmie is as pale as a ghost and hasn't been sleeping well, but we are on top of it now.  (It might just be because she was using her phone up past midnight, unbeknownst to me!).  She has been quite diligent with her speech therapy (with Jeff - the burden is off me!), and has also been doing her physio therapy without too much coersion.  Arley has OT exercises that we have to do, and he hasn't been too bad at them either.  Arley is getting a little better in doing some things for himself.  I have made him up a recipe book of the things he eats and drinks, and I'm having him help me with the steps so he can learn to do things in the kitchen.  The biggest issues for him are his sense of touch and sense of smell.  He can't touch cold or wet things, so that is quite a challenge to overcome.  When he is regulated, he will work on these with me.  When he is dysregulated, it's a total no-go and he becomes very defiant.  So I have to choose my moments!

The kids are very much looking forward to Christmas.  They aren't really taking much of a break from their activities, which is great, as too much upheaval isn't great for them.  And good for me and Jeff too, as we will actually have a true break some days.  Which is very necessary!!

700, 701 + 596,597 Weeks

I am such a slacker these days, not doing the blog weekly!  I don't have that much to say each week I think, and I'm taking fewer and fewer photos as the kids get older...

It has been a good couple of weeks though.  The kids are doing really well.  Carmie is working on her physio and speech exercises, and still doing her five groups a week.  Arley has been working on his own OT exercises, and he is now going to groups two days a week, plus out with Clint on Tuesday mornings.  Remarkably, I'm finding myself with time on my hands!  Mind you, I fill it very easily and therefore run out of time to do simple things like writing this blog!

Arley hasn't seen the neighbour boys as much, which means our house has been more peaceful.  He has a mate, Liam, who he sees at his groups.  I'm friends with Liam's mum, and she tells me that Liam is as stoked with Arley as Arley is with him.  The neighbour boys keep coming down to play, but Arley tells them he is too tired.  He still likes them though, I just think he's not used to being so social.  Carmie has joined a painting group, which makes me super happy, although she says her paintings are really bad.  I'll see about that!

For the past three years, Jeffrey has gone out and cut down a "Christmas tree" and we've had these ridiculous, wonky trees.  This year we booked into the Christmas tree farm here, and on Monday I went and chose our tree.  It is a big, bushy thing that is a little lop-sided, but much nicer than our previous trees, except...when we were trying to straighten it out in the base, I was standing and holding onto the trunk with my hand inside the tree, and Jeff was working at the base, and suddenly I felt a sharp prick, screamed "Ouch!" and withdrew my hand, only to see the pine needles shifting around and coming face to face with an enormous, fat spider.  I couldn't let go of the tree because of Jeff, so I just started screaming while this spider started working its way up the branches in front of my face.  OMG, I was freaking out.  Jeff clued in to what happened, saw the spider and said, "Holy shit!" while Carmie googled what to do with a spider bite.  I washed my finger with soap and water for a good five minutes, then iced it...and was completely fine!  Except for my heart just about exploding in my chest.  It gives me the creeps just writing about it.  So, we have decided that this is our last year with a real tree.  I just can't anymore!

Trying to get a selfie will Bella.  She's getting so old now (15!) but she still seems in good health.

Carmie and I have been getting our nails done.  It's our girly time :)

The dreaded spider that bit me.  Look in the left hand corner - that's me having a heart attack on the couch.

699 + 595 Weeks

We have had a much more positive week, thank goodness. We have all been in good health, apart from a couple of nights of insomnia for both kids.  Our air conditioner also got fixed, but this happened right when the weather turned and got cool - still happy it's working though!  The kids both had OT on Monday morning, and Arley rocked it!  Carmie not so much, as she hadn't slept the night before.  But Arley's OT sessions have gone from struggling to get through 20 minutes, to lasting the full hour with no problems.  He has two male OTs and he loves hanging out with them now.  Such a relief.  They are working on retained reflexes with him, and his sensory aversions.  Carmie's OT is going to start cooking with her, so she can get on top of prepping some meals for herself.  Carms is becoming so independent - she gets picked up and dropped off for all her groups.  She has even managed to drag herself out of bed for the last two days, without me having to nag her!

Now that I am feeling better, I finally put into place the new parenting control system that I bought.  It can control every screen in the house, separately.  On Monday I refused to turn all screens on until everything that needed to be done was done, and yes, Arley kicked up an almighty fuss.  It was pretty awful.  However, he soon found out that I was serious, and he did all of his jobs.  Since then he has complained at me, but he has gotten his stuff done each morning without the tantrums.  I am very hopeful going forward!

I made it to a live drawing session on Tuesday night.  I have made friends with a woman called Karyn.  She is a student of Jeff's, but she is also an artist, so she came along too.  It was so good to get out and be surrounded by other like-minded people.  Of course, I forgot to take my canvas so I couldn't paint (it had to be something!) but at the last minute I threw my iPad into my bag, so I worked on my iPad, and I loved it.  I might even do that more often - no mess, no cleanup, no hassle!

I chopped my hair off yesterday.  It was down to my shoulders, and it was driving me crazy.  It was too hot and heavy to wear out, but I'd get a headache within 20 minutes of tying it back, and I couldn't swim freely in the pool without washing it, and the only reason I had for not cutting it is that it had taken me two years to grow it out.  Realising this was not a good reason to keep it long, I had it cut yesterday.  I'm still trying to figure out the style, and I woke up this morning looking like a tumbleweed, but I tell you what, it feels so much better!  I'm ready for summer now :)

That's it for this week!

Please excuse the silly photos below, they are all I have for this week!  Arley and I were messing around this morning.  Also excuse my new, unstyled hair cut!

698 + 594 Weeks

This has been a horrible week.  Jeff and I lost a good friend from Las Vegas over the weekend.  We found out on Tuesday evening.  Jeff and Levi were very close, and we are also good friends with his wife Gina.  They have two children together, only 6 and 8 years old.  Levi was only 45 years old.  This has shaken us up so much, it's really hard to think of anything else.  It was an accident - they were riding in a jeep at the Dumont Dunes, and Levi lost control of the car.  As far as we know, Gina and the kids were in the car as well, but they only suffered minor injuries, while Levi died at the scene.  It has been absolutely gut-wrenching.

It's hard to even write about other things that happened, but I guess I should.  Arley had another sleep-over here at the house on Friday night.  Luca and Kai both slept over (Kai slept on the couch).  It was exhausting, but worth it. Luckily for us, Arley said he will not do a sleepover again, as Luca snored all night, and Arley didn't sleep.  In the morning, Arley woke Luca up and kicked him out of his room so he could sleep!  LOL.  The boys have been back here for a few after-school plays since, and the three of them are getting along very well.  It is chaos when they are here, but it is also so nice to see Arley navigating friendships!

Our air conditioner has been broken for weeks.  Apparently we have been cooling off the neighbourhood, as we have a hole in the duct and air is pumping out the side of the house.  Of course, we are in the middle of a heat wave, and our house has no ceiling fans.  Who builds a house with no ceiling fans in the sub-tropics??  So, it is painfully hot and muggy here.  Apparently the weather is breaking tomorrow, so things will ease up.

Carmie is doing well.  Arley didn't go to her social groups this week, so she is much happier!  I think I have managed to convince Arley that Carmie's groups are too boring for him, so I'm hoping it stays this way.  Carmie definitely needs her space.  I took her out to lunch yesterday (after a fun visit to the gynaecologist - more meds for Carmie, OMG!), and we had such a nice time.  One on one, she is the perfect date.  She gets overwhelmed in larger groups and crowded places, so there are only a few places she is willing to go, but we have one only a few minutes away.  She's looking really cute too, as Jeff took her to get her hair cut on Saturday.  Of course I have no photos to show of it!

I'm signing off now.  Sorry about the crap photos from this week!  I will do better next week :)

New friends :)