But he doesn't look disabled

When I post pictures of Nicholas online, I am conscious not to post pictures that show him in a negative light. We certainly document "the bad times" so that we can remember what happened and when, but when it comes to posting online I do try and post the most beautiful pictures of Nicholas that I can find.

Pictures that can #sparkjoy

To me, my son is Nicky. I do not know him in any other sense. So when someone meets him for the first time after talking with us about his diability, they often say "but he doesn't look disabled".

Most of the physical indicators of his syndrome are hidden away.

His hypotonia is hidden by his clothes.
His lack of talking is hidden by his smile.
His lack of eye contact is hidden by his long eyelashes.
His lack of social interaction is hidden by his jittering energy.

Our friends, meaning well, will say "oh but all kids are fussy eaters" or "all kids are mischievous". We have even had people say "boys will be boys" when they saw Nicholas dismantle something in their home.

But for us we know that he will essentially always be a fussy eater, he will always struggle with strength, environment, sound and social interaction. All of these factors will influence his ability to play and therefore learn.

But he is Nicky, and I love him to bits and I can't imagine him in any other way.

Why I am not Phelan Lucky

Since my son's diagnosis, lots of people have asked me about whether I am a part of support groups that can help me. Give that there is only a handful of kids in my town that have his condition, support groups aren't quite the same as if he had another more well known condition.

So when groups to do with my son's condition try to raise awareness or money they need a catchy phrase and "Phelan Lucky" is the phrase that has been coined over the last year or two. I applaud them on their initiative, but I would never really wear one of these t-shirts that they produce, because I am just not Phelan Lucky about my son's condition.

Last year I was asked to present to a group of Year 10's about my son's conditions. They were doing a unit on Ethics with Gattaca as the stimulus. In a world like Gattaca, Nicholas would probably not exist.

My presentation was part of the Religious Education lecture on the value of human life and I spoke about how although Nicholas is hard work, his life has added value to mine that I couldn't imagine.

Recently I have shown a number of friends my speech and they have encouraged me to share it online so that others can read it.

Here was my talk (now with added hyperlinks!).

------

Dear Phelan-McDermid

It has been an interesting journey, this last year.

It was in May 2014 that my two year old son, Nicholas, was diagnosed with you. We had spent the previous 6 months coming to terms with his diagnosis of “Low functioning Autism”. Not the trendy Asperger’s or “high functioning”, but the darker, harder to handle “classic autism”. But it wasn’t until we talked with our assigned Genetics Councillor, that the enormity of the diagnosis hit us.

In one sense, my scientific mind finds you fascinating. How the deletion of something so small called SHANK3 can cause so much havoc to someone’s brain development. I’ve learnt about chromosomes, proteins, human growth hormone, and like the nerd that I am, I stalk research scientists online in the hope that they might share a bit of the puzzle with me and perhaps even a pathway to improving Nicholas' quality of life.

People comment about how positive I talk about his condition. Perhaps it’s years of training to be a teacher that allows you to put on that mask when you are talking about something that is so personal and difficult to fathom.

Just like every other chromosomal syndrome, the effects are circumstantial and never the same as another child with the same diagnosis. This is both a fascinating and frustrating aspect of chromosomal deletions. Nicholas is 1 in 1000 kids worldwide diagnosed with you. 

How lucky are we? 

We should buy a lotto ticket!

Christmas 2015

But then the reality hits, although all the science might be interesting, the diagnosis is very real to me. Because of you, Phelan-McDermid, my son won’t experience the world in the way I had hoped he would. 

At a metabolic level his brain doesn’t make the protein needed to create new pathways, new synapses. Any skill that he learns can be very easily lost and regression is a key characteristic of his condition.

I see how excited my daughter gets as she discovers something new and I know that because of you, Nicholas will never be able to embrace the rich learning opportunities that this world has for him.

In 20 years time, as my husband and I approach retirement, we will still be caring for a man that will be fully dependent on us to be fed, for his nappy to be changed, for him to be washed. 

There is a high likelihood that your presence in our son’s life might lead to epilepsy and maybe kidney disease as both of these conditions are a characteristic of Phelan-McDermid.

Christmas 2015

There is this moment in the mornings before the dawn breaks, in my dreams, when I can imagine that my life is normal, or perhaps as I had always planned it to be. That I have a normal family, with normal “first world” problems.

When I was pregnant, people asked what I was having and I said that I didn’t care so long has he was healthy. When Nicholas was born, we counted the fingers and toes and a wave of relief washed over us.  Those first few months you dream of how your child might develop and grow. You look into those eyes and wonder what life holds for him.

And for us there were no early indicators that anything was “not right”. We did all the tests that we needed to do while pregnant so that there would be no surprises.

Nicholas was slow at crawling and not talking much, but that didn’t stop you looking forward to possible conversations about life, the universe and everything. Being part of the audience as they graduate, giving them relationship advice or having heated philosophical discussions.

You look forward to how you might pass on your values and beliefs to them, and how they might become productive happy adults creating lives and families of their own.

To then hear the news several years later that your son will most likely never speak, will probably be dependent on you for the rest of your life and will never find recognizable enjoy in all the things that you wanted to show and teach him; It is heartbreaking.\\

But then I look at him playing on his trampoline and slide, and I see an innocence that he will never lose. He will never worry about things like money or war and he will look at the world in a totally different way to the way that most people do.

He will sleep when he needs to, he will communicate that he needs food and drink and when he feels like dancing he will take my hand and motion for a twirl on the kitchen floor.

We will continue to hear squeals of delight when he hears Justine Clarke’s voice, and he will never grow “too old” to enjoy Sesame Street.

He will never tire of lining up his cars, and a sheet of stickers will continue to be a source of enjoyment for him and frustration for us when tidy up at the end of the day.

Spending time with the family will always be exciting, we will never have to experience the moody teenager stage that many of our friends experience at the moment. He will always wear the combination of clothes that I look out for him, although he would much prefer to be running around naked.

Mummy’s hugs will always be welcomed and he will never be too old to “hold my hand”. He will never be manipulative, nasty or jealous - Happiness for him is a genuine feeling, not a mask to be put on for others to see.

When we walk to new places he notices the texture on the ground or the reflection on a wall. He looks at the sky with a sense of wonderment and when he is sick, he wants me in his bed next to him guiding my hand to cuddle him.

He will never tire of the Benny Hill tune to cue to him that it is bath-time. Faithfully he grabs our hand each time and drags us up the stairs, and is often standing in the bath trying to undress before the water is switched on unlike my daughter who avoids having a shower like the plague.

His disability has brought our friends and family closer together. Meeting his needs means listening to each other and supporting each other.

Birthdays and Christmas’ are not about the multitude of gifts but rather the experiences that we can share with him. We have had the best belly laughs by the unpredictable way in which Nicholas tries to get to the cookie jar or the way he tries to play Humpty Dumpty with you on the couch.

We have found out who our true friends are, as they offer to babysit this special needs child for no other reason than they are our friends.

Although there are days when I hate the fact that you have come into our lives, I hope that I will be able to turn this problem into an opportunity to learn, grow and support those around us who are struggling far more than we are.

At the end of the day, Nicholas being happy is the most important thing in my life at the moment, not the job, not the new car or new iPhone, but seeing a genuine smile on my son’s face.

So while I am not "Phelan Lucky" about my son's diagnosis, I am trying to see the positive side.

From

Nickie’s Mummy

#BigRockTrip - Traveling with Nicholas

I'm not sure if we are crazy, but we agreed to accompany a group of close friends on a trip from Melbourne to Uluru during the Easter Holiday break. 

For those people with no concept of the size of Australia, it is like driving from one side of Europe to the other. But in harsher conditions, sometimes with days of no petrol stations or internet services.

Image courtesy of Google

Knowing that Nicholas is special needs meant that packing "lightly" was a bit more of a challenge than usual. I guess his disability isn't as very visual when you only see him every once in a while within a controlled environment. Often people comment that he doesn't look like he has a disability. At social events we can set him up in the corner with his iPad and his cars and he will generally be no problems. There is another four year old on this trip with us. When you put them side by side, you can see the differences quite clearly.

But in the outback, Nicholas can run and continue running. He doesn't respond to "stop", but will respond if we start to sing a Justine Clarke song. That has been the greatest challenge so far on this trip, his ability to go from stand-still to full on running in 5 seconds. Which is manageable if there is an adult looking out for him, but if you turn his back all of a sudden he is half way to Adelaide in the wrong direction. When he gets exhausted he falls to the ground and is a dead weight to pick up. He then re-energises and he is off again.

So we needed to bring a pusher with us. Which took up lots of room in the back of the car and sometimes the pusher was completely impractical in the outback (it is falling to bits and it is not a rough terrain pusher), but the ability to strap Nicholas into a safe space has been so important for his safety and our backs! At 20 kilo's we are pushing the limitations of the stroller a bit. 

He is too heavy to go into a camping back pack and when we do horsey rides on our backs he doesn't have the understanding to clasp his hands around our necks. We looked at the piggy back rider, but when he is exhausted he is a dead weight.

Today has been the first time since starting this adventure that I have had a change to read the online newspapers and although I was initially shocked to read the article of the Canberra Primary school that build a "cage like structure" in their classroom. I can totally relate to having a safe space where you can place a high-needs child. 

I'd be asking questions like, why does the child need a withdrawal space. For the safety of the child or the rest of the children? What disability does he have. Some autistic children are physically violent and bite. The article leaves out so many details and places all the blame on the school without allowing the reader to understand how the school came to the decision. I am sure that the decision wasn't made in haste and was made to try and ensure a conducive teaching and learning environment for all involved.

In the outback it is harder to allow Nicholas to roam free and do what he wants, he has loved the opportunities to run and feel the soil and use all his senses in this new environment. But his safety has to be paramount.

We have spent the night in Cooper Pedy in a hotel, and for me as a parent it has just been bliss. A confined and safe space with internet access. Tomorrow night we are back to camping and back to the carefully choreography that we go through to enable him and us to enjoy the outback safely.

Reflecting on Rare Diseases Day 2015 #22q13 @MCRI_for_kids

This weekend we pause to reflect on Rare Diseases Day which aims to raise awareness of rare diseases and conditions which effect members of our community. There isn't much that we can do as a society to "fix" people affected, except support those doctors and researchers that are finding ways to lessen the impact or cure rare diseases.

My son, Nicholas is one of about ~ 1,000 people worldwide (60 in Australia) who has been diagnosed with Phelan-McDermid Syndrome (22q13); a chromosomal deletion that effects the brains ability to produce the protein needed for long term memory and cognitive development.

As the costs of genetic screening becomes cheaper and more sophisticated, the ability for us to identify why children are developmentally delayed becomes easier. So cases like Nicholas' will become more common place in the future, rather than lumping them all under the "Autism" banner.

Nicholas has just turned four, and he is non-verbal which means that he finds it hard to communicate. His low muscle tone makes it hard for him to physically do sign language (Makaton) and his issue with memory means that he basically just can't remember. He has low muscle tone and auditory processing issues. Many of his habits manifest as what would traditionally be described as low-functioning autism.

He gets exhausted very quickly and has just dropped his 2-3 hour daytime nap. There are some physical issues along with increased risk of kidney challenges in his future. I am sure that you can google all the details if you want them.

Currently there are many 'institutes' in second world countries that offer stem cell therapy for children such as Nicholas. But the landscape is a bit of a 'wild west' with un-FDA approved clinics offering cell reprogramming that costs the earth. There are currently a number of hospitals looking into cell re-programming because there are implications for dementia patients.

Children such as Nicholas, will be less of a burden on Australia's disability support system if we make science and research our priority. Tacking on the label of Science Minister onto the role of the Minister for Industry, is just insulting. I try not to make political statements on this blog, but in this case, our Federal government has it wrong. I encourage you to let your local federal member know how you feel about cuts to Science, Universities and government funded research institutions such as CSIRO in favour of privatisation and the establishment of new private medical research insitutes who will only research if it is commercially viable.

But in the meantime, if you would like to help, please consider donating to the Murdoch Children's Research Institute to support ongoing research for cell and gene therapy to lessen the impact of chromosomal abnormalities.

https://www.mcri.edu.au/resear…/…/genetics/cell-gene-therapy
https://donate.mcri.edu.au/

On the Donation page, please mention Nicholas Kammel and then indicate the condition that he has, Phelan McDermid Syndrome or 22q13.

We are very fortunate to have a little boy that gets so much enjoyment out of life and who at least sleeps through the night. He finds great joy in Bubbles and slides, and is totally in love with the "Where is the green sheep?" book by Mem Fox and Judy Horecek at the moment.

He loves his family and he is learning to dance (quite clumsily) to Quando Quando Quando. But at 20 kilo's, he is still very much a dependent and we rely heavily on a pusher when we go out to either restrain him for safety or to push him when he is exhausted. When you pick him up, he goes limp like a rag doll cat, which makes dealing with him 10 times harder if he is uncooperative.

Nicholas will have a wonderful life, as he is oblivious to what is going on around him. 

Please consider donating and writing to your member of parliament.

;-)

Margaret

Nicholas, Hanen and Study

I've been rather quiet on blogging front, but rather busy on the instagram front. I was remarking to a friend that life gets pretty complicated when you have kids. But when you have one with special needs, it is even more so.

We got through some pictures from childcare of our wee man playing and smiling. He has been smiling a lot more lately and his development has progressed in all the directions except speech!

He is loving his trucks and cars at the moment and will spend ages playing with the various vehicles at childcare and home.

That lovely gap in his front teeth was him pushing his dummy through them to the point where it created a gap! I love the fact that you can see his gorgeous hands in this picture and of course, he is smiling. It is so hard to get a good picture of him, I can only imagine what was happening behind the photographer. Childcare carers dancing about and trying to grab his attention.

He is loving books at the moment and can remain engaged with book for a good half an hour. Port side Pirates comes with a CD that he loves to listen to. Favourite songs are Justine Clarke Dancing Face (oh the irony of this) and the Wiggles Rock a -bye your bear.

But despite the fact that he is progressing in play, we still we have no real distinguishable speech. Next month we start a Hanen "More than words" program at Melvin Speech Pathology in Camberwell. This is a 4 month course which includes parent workshops and speech therapy assessments. We are hoping to develop some skills to try and help Nicholas along. It would be nice if there was a few words for Christmas (can you hear that Santa?).

He is still rather set in his ways with routine and eating is a nightmare. It has to be a secondary task in his eyes, not a primary one. So often there is Play School running in the background for him to focus on. He still requires his favourite coloured bowl and spoon and you have to be so careful when he is eating not to disturb him too much, or else there is a giant tantrum ...

He loves tunnels, when Mummy and Daddy act like a dog and crawl around the floor. We have started to feed the cats together each day and he carefully divides the food between them and then we are encouraging him to give them a little pat at the end. Unfortunately we do need to remove the water dish for this activity as Nicholas loves playing with water.

I have two more subjects to go for my Masters of Eduction (Teacher Librarianship). One practical and one theory. But fitting in the study and work experience visits in-between work and Nicholas' therapy sessions is a bit of a challenge

We are moving house in a few weeks and I am hoping to get a bit of sewing action before I move. I have so many quilting ideas, but alas, no time :(

My wee man turned 3 this week

Can't believe how fast three years passes you by when you have kids.

I can't believe how slowly 3 months goes by when you have a son on the spectrum.

He is non-verbal, but finds his voice (noise) when he doesn't like what he is doing or how you are doing it. Routines are king, and colours play an important part in his life.

He generally only has two speeds, running and sleeping. 

So keeping him still for all sorts of things is a challenge.

New textures are a challenge for him, but he seemed to cope well yesterday with mucky hands when we went to the farm. 

And he didn't freak out when the "Robert the Goat" wanted some food.

He was so exhausted and hungry after two hours of running around the farm that he sat and ate lunch, and for a moment I forgot that he was diagnosed last year as being on the spectrum.

Vlad wishes you a Very Merry Christmas

A tsunami of organisation and emotion comes crashing down on Christmas Day. We were hoping that 2013 would be the last year renting, but given the challenges with council, it looks like we will be here for a bit longer.

It has been a tumultuous year for us. 

The most major thing being that Nicholas was diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum (ASD). He is turning 3 in February, and he is basically developmentally behind. No words. Great understanding and inquisitiveness, but lack of communication means plenty of tantrums. Activities need to be carefully planned and moved into rather than shifted into. We are getting there slowly, but the next three years before he goes to school will be hard work.

Tori has finished her first year at school and I am dumbfounded at the growth that she has displayed this year. Her inquisitiveness and ability to just absorb what is around her is phenomenal. In the last few months she has shot up in height, reaching my shoulders. Lucky her she will undoubtably be taller than me!

I have one year left on my study journey to get my M. Ed (Teacher Librarianship). It has been a hard slog, especially with the baggage associated with Nicholas' diagnosis, but I am still plugging away. 

Craft and my small business has taken a beating this year. Despite attempting some markets, the time and effort required has been in short supply. At the moment, it is important that I just focus on Nicholas. Here and there I pick up some custom handbag or baby wear jobs, but the dream of a sustainable small business is far from my mind at the moment.

Mishka has been a welcomed addition to our family this year. Despite her health worries early on, she has integrated well into our house and is certainly a personality to be reckoned with!

If you are reading this, I wish you all the best for the festive season. Take some time to relax, rejuvenate and recharge for the year ahead.

Life has gotten a bit more complicated lately

Yet again I have disappeared off the face of the earth, and no I am not pregnant again!

My son, Nicholas, has been diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum.

Before you ask "what type", he is 32 months old, 2 3/4 years old. At this age, all they do is place them on the spectrum and get them into early intervention programs. It won't be until he is closer to 4 or 5 before they start diagnosing him as high or low functioning.

But what this does mean is that I have been more than a bit pre-occupied with filling out forms, medical appointments, speech therapists, blood tests and paediatricians. And then there are the physical manifestations to deal with. Tantrums, anxiety attacks, sensory overload and no talking except for two words (Ja and Milch).

And well Konstant Kaos has been sorely neglected. 

I am still crafting away to try and keep my sanity, check out my Instagram feed for crafty goodness. But I fear that the possibility of markets is far out of reach for me at the moment. It isn't that I don't have the ideas, but the time and energy is being sucked out of me by my little ASD vampire and he will require all of my blood and attention to give him the best chance of leading a "normal" life.

Challenges that photographers have

I've been desperately trying to get a nice picture of my son for his Godfather. Quite a wonderful gift arrived for him this week, you would think that I could take one nice photo as a thank-you! 

The task is more challenging than it seems! 

Trying to pick the time of the day is a bit of a challenge ..

And then you get the mischievous look ...

And then trying to keep him still for 10 seconds is a nightmare ...

you know what they say, don't work with animals or children!

The end of a long week

What a week!

Nicholas goes in to get his ears cleaned and grommets next Monday, we are hoping that it will improve his language development. When tested he had no response in one ear and only minimal in the other. So we will wait in anticipation to see what kind of difference the operation will make next week.

Nicholas at 18 months

It is true what they say, the second child isn't photographed as much as the first one. This is probably due to the lack of time!

 

So when Nicholas was out running in the backyard last weekend, I couldn't resist grabbing the camera and taking a few snaps.

At 18 months his personality is starting to shine through. He is a serious boy, but he seems to be enjoying taking things apart. Still not a lot of conversation, but he knows what he wants and how to communicate it.

When spinning on Daddy's computer chair, we get fits of laughter out of him.

Next month we are off to see an ear specialist. He has had three ruptured ear drums this year and many more ear infections. We are hoping for a solution and perhaps an opportunity for him to vocalize more, although every one tells me that boys (especially if they are child #2) are a bit lazy when it comes to talking.

One of these day's I will get some time to do some crafting. Two weeks to go until I finish my Uni subject and then watch out sewing machine.

Sick Nicholas

My little poppet is sick :(

He has gingivostomatitis (sore mouth with ulcers). We have no idea how he got this as we brush his teeth and he doesn't have any sugary foods. We have had several days of unbearable sleeping patterns with excessive amounts of drooling. It came to a head when we had to take him to emergency last night because he wouldn't stop screaming. Unfortunately they couldn't do anything except give us strategies to care for him.

Now that we know what the issue is, we can care for him properly. We got some industrial strength "Bonjella" from the chemist, but water, food and sleep seems to be the best solution. So my hubby and I will take it in shifts sleeping with him.

We are slowly settling into our new rental, but we are still living in boxville. I still have boxes that I need to unpack and I haven't yet had an opportunity to do any serious sewing. I am hoping after my end of semester school reporting cycle that I will have some time to be creative. I miss the geometry of patchwork.

On a memory card

Working through an old memory card, I came across this one!

My daughter is quite expressive and it is wonderful to capture something like this that I can use against her on her 21st ... it would have been such a lovely photo with Nanna if she was smiling!

Heh! I have no idea where she gets it from ...

I should clean my memory card more often ... things like this get done when you have an essay to complete!

Why I haven't been on twitter lately

I can't believe that in one month my little boy will be turning 1.

Since we got back from Sleep School, he has gone from strength to strength. We are now crawling and cruising and clearly saying Dadda. We are giggling and doing "happy dances". He wants to stand everywhere which makes bath times fun! His crawling speed is now quite fast, so you need to make sure that everything is out of reach, including cat food!

He has just started Childcare and I can't believe how easy he has settled in. My daughter had separation anxiety most mornings when I dropped her off, but Nicholas just crawls off into the distance and doesn't look back. When I pick him up he looks up, smiles at me and then goes back to what he was doing. I finally feel that the universe has given me a "break", 2012 is going to be a good year.

I am gearing up to go back to work. I start prep work next week and then we are back the week after on the 25th January. I am hoping to set up my desk next week and have my first week of lessons sorted and the unit timelines done.

As for crafty stuff, I have been busy de-stashing via Pin, Cut, Sew etsy shop where I will be putting fabric and patterns for sale. I have also re-opened Konstant Kaos etsy shop and I am busy taking pictures of my stock for that shop as well. The chances of me doing markets this year is quite remote, but I still want to create and sell.

If you have a minute please "befriend" both Pin, Cut, Sew on Facebook and also Konstant Kaos on Facebook and share the link with your friends.

10 months

We coming upto the 10 month mark with Nicholas and I am not sure where the year has gone. It is already that time to be talking about returning to part time work next year :(

I haven't gotten half of the crafting done that I wanted to get done. But we have put a house on the market and on Saturday she goes up for Auction. It is amazing how much physical and emotional energy selling a house takes.

At 10 months he is a strong little boy, doing things that his big sister never did. Like standing in the cot and shaking the sides of it, whilst screaming. He has started to try and climb the stairs in the hall and likes to pull himself up on everything; Me, stools, couch, cat ..

His sleeping is so much better since we visited Mitchum Private Mother Baby Unit. We now have the techniques to get us through those horrible days and nights where he is restless.

I have abandoned any plans for a crafty Christmas this year, making minimal gifts. With the lack of sleep and house plans I was just making mistakes all over the place. What I have done is organised a craft box for when I sit in front of the telly. Full of projects that don't require lots of brain matter.

Do you have a crafty box? What is in it?

Through the eyes of a four year old

My daughter has claimed my old battered digital camera and spends lots of time taking pictures of odd things. But every once in a while she takes some gorgeous (in focus) shots of Nicholas.

On the change table, the picture previous to this one was a close up of the inside of Nicholas' nappy ...

In the high chair.

Then mummy had to grab the camera and take a picture of the both of them. It is true what they say that you take less pictures of the second born. Not because you don't want to, but because you are so bloody busy running after the first born!

What a ride the last 6 months has been ...

On the 18th, Nicholas will be 6 months old. Although some days have been excruciating long, the 6 months has flown by.

As it was expected, he is such a different baby to Victoria. We thought he was never going to smile, but then he did. Since being on Losec reflux medication (4 weeks now) he is smiling more and more. The down side to having reflux has been his inability to be on the ground for long periods of time, he would much rather stand or be seated upright. So although he knows the mechanics of rolling and moving about, he would much rather be standing.

Most days he is quite serious, almost deep in thought. But every once in a while you catch a joyful look upon his face and if you are lucky you even get a picture of it!

His first two teeth came through last week, a full 4 months earlier than his sister. He seems to like solids, throwing himself at the spoon when it approaches him. But breastfeeding .. well, we ARE breastfeeding, but it has been a battle. Breastfeeding was more enjoyable with Victoria and we did it until she was over 2 years of age. Nicholas is a lazy feeder and a poor latcher which means that there is more work for me to do to make the breastfeeding relationship successful.

A good night of sleep is when Nicholas does a 4 hour block. Again, different to his sister who was sleeping 6 to 8 hour lengths by this age. We have his weigh in on Friday at the Maternal Health Nurse. But I can tell that he is long and large and wearing clothes that Victoria was wearing at 11 months.

Long Weekends

Long weekends are for sleep in's and watching TV in your Jimmy Jams ...

Hugs from big sisters on the couch while watching Playschool ...

Or kicking back and having some fun .. who is that gorgeous boy in my mirror?

What are you upto on your Long Weekend?

Mother's Day

I loved the way that my daughter told me what was in my present as she handed it to me. The smiles from my little boy who is becoming more aware of the world around him. My husband for giving me some time to myself and the laughs shared with the grandmothers to whom I am indebted for the way they support, encourage and nurture my role as mother in my own family.

I hope that you all had a wonderful Mother's Day last weekend.

11 weeks

11 weeks and it feels like more. Nicholas is sitting on the 95th percentile for height and the 75th percentile for weight. So we think he is going to be a big boy. Still not sleeping more than 2-3 hours through the night. He has one more week and then we bring out the big guns!

It's been a weird version of hell in my household over the last two weeks. With me suffering a migrane and then my husband got food poisoning and then in his weakened state, got the cold. Which then of course turned into something worse! He has been bed bound for most of the week, that is, when he didn't go into work!

So I am looking forward to next week. Looking forward to everyone feeling a bit more healthy and I am looking forward to spending more than 10 minutes in my sewing room.