Speech therapy update

Well a fortnight ago the boys had their formal speech assessment in preparation for the Development Unit Team meeting next month. And the abridged version is that both have been diagnosed with a severe receptive and expressive language disorder and they tested in the first percentile for their age, meaning that if 100 children were
tested 99 children would score better than them. I actually took this news in my stride (which surprised me) and I took the literature I was given and left the rooms.

My poor hubby is devastated - he said he thought that "one day the boys would be fine" and this has hit him really hard. I have tried to emphasise to him that they are still our two beautiful boys who are social butterflies and love life, but
it is hard. Mitch & Harry are of course oblivious and they told me they "did a good job" :-)

So now it just needs to sink in...

The Speechie was great and took ages to explain this all to me. She agrees with my belief that the boys have microscopic damage done to their brains as a result of the extreme prematurity (even though all CTs etc have been clear). And she explained that the problems the boys have with their speech can never be cured, but can be managed to varying degrees.

On a happier note - Mitchell has his glasses and he loves them. The firt time he put them one he turned around and said to me... "Mummy I can see. Now I can read books!". He is very good with keeping them on and carefully puts them on if they fall off. At this stage the only problem we have is when Harry and Mitch have a fight - then the glasses seem fair game :-(

If I get myself organised I will post a photo of Mitch with his glasses - he looks so grown up!

Sending much love to our family and friends.
Even though we may not be in touch often you are in our thoughts and hearts,
Love Lisa

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers and grandmothers who read this blog.
I had a very special day. I was woken up after a lovely sleep-in by two happy little boys who jumped on the bed and demanded a cuddle and shouted "Happy Mother's Day Mummy!" Then they gave me my Mother's Day presents - firstly the latest Ben Lee CD and then my beautiful eternity ring with three stones symbolising the three men in my life.

I have been dropping none too subtle hints about an eternity ring for the past few years and each time Kev would smile and change the subject. Then Pat visited from Sydney and asked what Kev was buying me for Mother's Day. She said a look of panic went over his face and he realised it would involve his least favourite activity.... SHOPPING! Then she suggested she would find out some things I might like, but had he though of a ring.

So last Thursday we went late night shopping just to check out some jewellers and I saw this ring and just fell in love. It isn't too big for my hands and the ring on display fitted perfectly. So Kev went back and picked it up yesterday.

Isn't it beautiful? I just adore it.

Happy Mother's Day,
Love Lisa

I HATE spam!

I really do hate spam! And not that processed muck in the can (although I don't like that either), but those incessant messages you get in your inbox offering to increase your sex drive, enhance your manhood or help you win millions.

My latest introduction to spam has been on this blog. So now in an effort to limit the spam I encounter on a daily basis I have changed my blog setting so that I can moderate the comments before they appear. All that means is that if you post a comment it won't appear until I have a chance to read it... Hope that makes sense.

Sending lots of love to our family and friends,
Hugs,
Lisa

PS - Here's a thought. Maybe the guy who invented spam DID have a very small manhood and that's why there has been a proliferation of those kind of messages. (hehe)

And life goes on...

The challenges of raising two very opinionated three year olds are many! Sometimes Kev and I look at each other at the end of the day and are amazed that we have somehow survived. Harry is particularly stubborn at the moment. He insists on doing everything himself, which as you can imagine takes a long time. BUT today it was very cute because he told me "no Mummy you not come in toilet I do it myself." So I stood outside of the cubicle (at the local park) and waited for the little master to complete his ablutions. I could imagine all kind of disasters... wet pants... wet shoes... BUT he DID do it all by himself. He was so proud and told Kev all about it when he got home. However he blotted his copy book by purposely scratching the car with a bark chip - he was so quick I couldn't even try to stop him. It was one very sad boy when Daddy got home.

As for Mitch he is adamant that he wants help with EVERYTHING!!! He looks up from under his long brown lashes and says "its too hard". I am sure this works on lots of epople, BUT not Mummy. It honestly takes all of my strength to not jump in and put on his shoes or put his toys away... instead a wait and wait and wait. He is so loving and adores long cuddles and kisses. He has been battling neverending nasal congestion, so we are waiting for an ENT appointment in August (hate to think how long it would take if we didn't have insurance). I just want to make sure that there isn't something we could do to ease his obvious discomfort. Sometimes at night he honestly sounds like Darth Vader with his noist breathing.

Apart from that we are starting to think about kindy - the boys will start early entry next term which is just 90 mins once a week. We visited the kindy the other day and both boys were immediately at home, grabbing the teachers' hands and leaving us without a backward glance. I think Mummy might be the one shedding some tears though when the first day arrives...

Hoping that all our friends and family are contented and well,
with lots of love,
Lisa

Guess what?!! I have made it to round 4 of Scrapbooking 4 Less' Scraptacular 2008!

I just had to share that I am up to round 4 of the Scraptacular 2008! Can you tell I am excited? I have always felt that my scrapbooking doesn't quite measure up to the other amazing work I see in magazines and on forums. BUT this time I decided to bite the bullet and submit my work. This is the final round and I am waiting to see what the criteria is and who I have to model my work on this time. The layout above and the layout on my previous post were submitted for round 3.

For those of you who love scrapbooking here is a link to Scrapbooking 4 Less. Shelley has some of the best priced scrapbooking stock around and the forum is a lot of fun!

Now I am doing a happy dance!
Very exciting :-)

Moments of beauty

I just wanted to share my latest layout of Harrison. These beautiful images were taken by my friend Bec when visited Sydney in October. Aren't they breathtaking? If only Harry was this serene all of the time (grin).

We are looking forward to a holiday at the beach this Easter. The packing and unpacking is a drag, but the boys love the opportunity to go to the beach and where we live isn't exactly coastal! It will be lovely to catch up with some of our family who will be there too.

Hoping that Easter Bunny is generous to you and yours,
Love Lisa

I feel sick...

Why is it that being sick is so much harder with children? I can remember a time when if I felt sick I could stay in bed all day. And now? Well Harry wants breakfast at 7am and nothing or no-one is going to stop him on his quest for 2 weetbix with hot milk and a slice of toast with "begemite". Mitch on the other hand would happily snuggle for an hour or two. He is NOT a morning person and neither am I... so we understand each other (grin).

The past week and a half I have felt really tired and lousy. So after a couple of visits to the GP and a chest x-ray I discovered I have Pneumonia. Now many eons ago when I was a nurse I looked after many people with Pneumonia (usually the elderly - does that mean I am getting old?). Anyway they would often mention how tired they felt and while I understood why I didn't truly understand. Let me tell you I feel tired... bloody tired... fall asleep at the table kind of tired. Infact every day this week I have ended up in bed sleeping while the boys have their nap. And even then I feel tired. Anyway on antibiotics and trying not to do too much... so I am hoping it will get better soon. Although if anyone can tell me how to rest with two three year olds I would be glad to hear (grin).

Apart from that I wanted to share my latest entry in our Scrapbooking 4 Less Scraptacular. It is a beautiful photo taken of Mitch & I at my Dad's place.

Hoping everyone has a restful weekend,
Hugs,
Lisa

Moving forward...

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been so loving and supportive as we faced our latest hurdle. With the benefit of week the diagnosis seems less dire and I am certain that we are already doing the right things for Mitch regarding his speech. Our latest playgroup at the Hospital was an interesting affair because it seemed obvious to me that our case had been discussed. Everyone was very careful with what they said - but the good news is that we will be having team meeting with the therapists, the paed, the kindy and ourselves to discuss the plans for Mitch & Harry. This seems a good way to make sure we are moving towards a common goal. I will reserve my judgement on the speech therapist until after this meeting...but I can say that in the cold, hard light of day it is apparent to me that she doesn't know how determined we are as a family to ensure our boys get optimal treatment.

A dear friend of mine reminded me today about how I have somehow lost myself over the past four years - and I am sure this happens to most parents. However her words did have a ring of truth to them - so I am going to try my best to let all of this therapy talk slide until the next meeting and focus on just being me and having fun with the boys. The beautiful thing is that both boys appear to have no clue about my inner turmoil and are loving life! Although if Harry gives me too much more backchat his life may be shorter than he can imagine (grin).


Speaking of Harry I thought you may like this layout. It just captures his Joie de vivre - his love of life! Down at the beach and loving splashing about in the shallows. Notice he is wearing his lifejacket - which he insists on wearing even in ankle deep water (grin). He is definitely his mother's child - obsessed with the detail. He checks before we go anywhere what we are doing, who we will be seeing and what snacks I have packed... as I said he is a mini-me through and through.

Anyway that's it from me for tonight.
Thank you again to everyone who has emailed, phoned or spoken to me in person. You have no idea how much it has meant to me.

Hugs,
Lisa

Speech Therapy, Scrapbooking and Swimming...

I know that this is a strange combination but it really sums up our past month.
Firstly speech therapy... where do I begin? I was informed yesterday by the speech therapist in the boys' hospital group that Mitchell doesn't have verbal dyspraxia he has a language disorder (Harry is to be assessed next week). She said that he uses a lot of learnt phrases to fill in the conversation (which I have long known) and that he really doesn't understand a lot of what we are saying to him. We have now been told that he needs more intensive one on one therapy than the hospital can provide. The funny thing is that just at the beginning of term we got to the top of the public waiting list for our area, but the speech therapists agreed amongst themselves that the boys didn't need two seperate speech therapists ( due to possible confusion for Mitch). So now we are back at square one. Up until now we have paid for a private therapist through our health insurance because the boys weren't deemed to have a significant speech problem initially. Then when we were referred to a Paed when the boys were 2 1/2 years old, he felt the boys needed help with speech and got us into this hospital group and on the Child Development Unit waiting list for ongoing assistance during schooling.

Last night I just fell apart. How much more can I take? I am so tired of never getting a break - it is just one thing after another. I said to my friend yesterday that the moment I went into premature labour there has never been a day without worry - and I am just so bloody tired. I know I shouldn't complain and things could be so much worse, but I feel at breaking point. I don't know what to think. What does this mean for Mitchell? Does he also have an intellectual delay? Will he ever understand? Will speech always be a battle for him? And then how is it that one speech therapist (who has seen him for over a year)has said verbal dyspraxia with good receptive skills and another (who has seen him twice)says no this is wrong he has a language disorder and has poor receptive skills? How as the mother do I know who is right? It's not a rollercoaster - because that has a start and end - this is a merry-go-round where I am forever trapped waiting for the next calamity to strike. How do I get past my tears? And how do I know what to do next?


I DO know that tomorrow I will get up and the boys and I will face whatever challenges are ahead, but I am just so tired.

Now on a lighter note (thank god I hear you cry) scrapbooking - for those of you that know me well you would realise that I LOVE scrapbooking! If I could do it every day I would! Anyway, it seems like the gods have been conspiring against me over the past week because Harry has decided he doesn't want to go to bed. So our nights consist of Kev and I playing tag team putting Harry back to bed until he falls into an exhausted slumber. Now this would be okay except that he insists on screaming endlessly in a pitch that can decalcify the bones! I have no idea why he has started this... maybe it is just a stage, but boy is it exhausting. So by the time he falls asleep I feel to tired to contemplate anything creative so there goes my scrapbooking... However I have manage to complete one layout for the Scrapbooking 4 Less Scraptacular competition - it is of Mitch looking very grown up and serious at Port Vincent.

And finally swimming. I have had great intentions for months to get the boys into a swimming class more for the exercise than anything - maybe it will exhaust Harry so much he will beg me to let him sleep (I dream). But I just can't seem to get motivated. The boys love the pool and so do I - although I have been known to frighten small children as I clamber into their wading pool with both boys. Kev on the other hand doesn't like swimming or pools or the beach at all. Which makes it an interesting exercise when we go to the pool and he doesn't want to swim. Because let me tell you there is nothing more difficult than watching two little children at once in the pool! So for the moment I have decided to put this into the too hard basket. Sounds un-Australian doesn't it. Maybe my boys will be scarred for life with the knowledge that they didn't learn to swim until they were four years old. Or maybe they will be scarred by the mental image of me in bathers! Who knows. I suppose that's the interesting thing about parenting, you never know what is going to happen and how this will come back to haunt you in your dotage...

With much love,
Lisa

Has Tom Cruise finally flipped his lid?

Has Tom Cruise finally completely lost it? I couldn't resist checking out his latest effort on YouTube - and what a frightening display it was! Laughing inappropriately Mr Cruise rants on and on about his special gifts as a Scientologist...without revealing what those gifts are or why he feels so special. Makes you a bit scared to watch it! Well it did scare me anyway. And I am hard to scare...after all I have twins! Check out the interview which allegedly was leaked from a Scientology Forum...




Its a strange, strange world...
Lisa