Hi again.
It's been over 12 months since my last post.
Wow...where has the time gone?
Jarod is 10, Ben will be 8 next week & Grace will be 3 in November.
She has started putting two words together, & I've started understanding some of what she says, which is brilliant.
Barry & I are going along strong & happy. I think we make a great team.
I've started exercising regularly again & hopefully sooner rather than later, I'll be back to my trim self...which I miss soooo much. I'm eating well & am feeling better in myself.
I have some wonderful friends that are always there for me & I hope that they feel the same way about me. And if we are being the best friend we can be to all our friends, then we all have many best friends.
I can honestly say that my friends get the best out of me...& they bring out the best in me. Lucky for me, they are true friends & love me just as I am, many faults & all :) And I love them!
The update this year....I'll try to keep it brief, I have lots I want to get done today :)
I have started studying, Certificate 3 in Disability. When I'm finished I'll be qualified to work with people of all ages with disabilities. I'd really love to get into the advocacy side of it, maybe in schools etc.
Inclusion is something very important to the majority of all people, & it really is lacking in so many areas & ways.
I've also started cake decorating courses. I'm doing my second one now & I'm LOVING it.
It's so much fun.
Grace is running around, climbing & becoming quite destructive... a typical toddler I'd say :) She is showing fantastic comprehension skills & is learning to peddle her tricycle.... she hasn't quite got it, but she tries very hard & with her very long legs, strength & coordination, i don't think it will be far away.
Putting 2 words together, making animal sounds & their names, well I can understand it anyway, & lots of signing to go with her words, is making communication progression easier than expected.
Her fine motor skills are really good for her age & she is TALL TALL TALL! Taller than most of my friends children the same age as Grace (with & without T21).
The boys are going really well.
Jarod is excelling at school & has also been diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome last year. And ADHD, & OCD he's not physically hyperactive, but his mind sure is! He reads novel after novel & is teaching himself ancient Greek off the internet. He can tell you the whole Greek alphabet, how you write it & how to pronounce it. All for fun of course. He has friends at school who are learning it from him & they email each other in Greek...it's very funny.
Ben has come along in leaps & bounds this year. His tics are getting progressively worse, which is saddening & frustrating but he's still making enormous progress.
His teacher this year is amazing & has helped us with Ben's self esteem, so now there are no signs of depression. Amazing. No more suicidal 7 year old... things are looking up that's for sure.
His teacher has worked very closely with both David (Ben's Dad) & I in making sure we keep up at home what she has started at school. She saw the need to lift Ben's self esteem & she knew that if he learnt to read that would help him, & was she right! My little boy can read so well now. He's caught up a year and a half in 8 months.
Here's a little bit of gossip... but it's good & I'm allowed to tell people :) It's more sharing news then isn't it? Well, the boys Dad came back from interstate this year & we share custody of the boys, it was hard at first adjusting from having then full time, it felt like they were ripped from me... that's just my feelings, not what actually happened. Now I'm ok with it & take the time the boys are away to focus on Grace & my marriage & also reflect on the week prior & see how I could improve my parenting with the boys & see where I got it right (sometimes that actually happens you know :).
Anyway, David, the boys Dad came & talked to me a while ago & told me that he & Ben's teacher had started dating. I was so happy I hugged him...and her when I caught up with her for coffee (we had port actually) to have a chat about it all. I let her know that I was ok with it & I wasn't going to make her & David's life hard. Besides, I'd told him 6 months ago to ask her out, didn't think he'd listen to me though... hehehe.
The reality of it is that he was going to meet someone one day, someone was going to be in 'that role' in my childrens lives, so as far as I'm concerned, we all got lucky! Georgie is an amazing woman, who certainly deserves to be happy. I've always admired her on a personal & professional level, ever since she taught Jarod a few years ago. I already know her somewhat & everyone that knows her loves her. There is no denying that she is fantastic & if i'd been given the job of choosing the woman to be step mum to my sons, Georgie would have been my first choice.
It's still early days, but she makes David happy, if he's happy, the children are happy. If the children are happy, then I am happy, if I am happy, Baz & Gracie are happy. It just keeps on going.
So, really, this blog is a good one, we are all happy :)
Hope you are all happy too!
Love Mandy xx
