Posts (page 2)

Our children's school doesn't use chalk any more.

They have white boards of the "wipe-off" variety.

They also have boards which are plugged into Teacher's laptop and are touch sensitive.

Gone are the roll round machines on dodgy castors that needed repainting every year.
Gone are the bits of chalk lobbed skilfully by Teach to wake up the dozing back row boys.
Gone is the Duster Monitor busily banging white clouds and making letters and patterns on the wall by the door.

.

So?

Touch sensitive computer gizmos! How cool is that?

Wonder if they'll me play, er, I mean share the learning experience next time I go into school?

Oh. we've got the car, by the way.

Smells nice.

Zafira

My little girls are taking their foray into the world of fashion.(That's one stamp that isn't on MY passport!)

Shoes

Starting from the bottom: Jodie has laceless white pumps with elasticated pink grips.

Heather has opted for a higher Bling Ratio with some sparkly silver trainers

With both the girls Pink is slowly being pushed out in place of Bling.

Loud T-shirts are definitely Tops in the world of 7 to 9 fashion and Jo goes with the Bling Bling movement. This stylish offering boasts "Royalty" for our little princess and is covered in sequins.






A splash of colour from big Sis with this Party Girl collage which designed to give Daddy a headache. Loud and Proud H!

Trendy Bums

Ashley has seizures when he gets too hot or when he gets very distressed.

He gets distressed very quickly.

This evening Gill's out and after he went to bed he started to cry so my 9 year old, Heather went up to turn him over and give him a drink. This usually does the trick.

But I could hear on the monitor that he was stressing quickly.

Meanwhile baby C was taking her last feed and as she heard him cry joined in.

I called up to H to leave him, come down and take over the feed. She's capable and I could calm Ashley. It's a knack.

She chose to ignore me and try to get his shirt off to cool him down.

He started to scream rhythmically - a sign that he's close to a seizure.

Then Heather ignored Jo who I'd sent up to get her and by the time she appeared to take over C's feed,  Ashley was close to a seizure.

When Heather finally appeared, I legged it upstairs, scooped a wet sponge out of the bathroom and after washing him down and cradling his 45 pound frame for 10 minutes managed to talk him down. A dose of calpol and more calm talking and the little man is asleep.

Strange. In her effort to help little H actually made things a bit worse.

Everyone's asleep now and the house is calm.

Bit traumatic that.

There are some big changes ahead.

A week on On Sunday Ashley is 3 and starts school a few days later. When people say "hey, I bet it's flown by" we usually shout "No" in unison. The last three years have been a long line of hospital visits, home visits, injections, physio, assessments, journeys to hospitals around Manchester and many many sleepless nights.

Today he had his last Portage visit (home physio & occupational therapy). Gill said she was quite tearful having seen Ashleybobs go from a static almost blind baby to the big wonderful noisy lad that he is. She's celebrated every tiny victory and contrived a host of interesting activities to help him move on.

We are eternally grateful for her support and ingenuity and value her as a true and supportive friend (hope your reading this T. Sorry, love, you're stuck with us now xx)

The girls move up a year at school, of course. They've both grown a lot over the summer. Not just physically but as little people. Heather changed Cerys' nappy today (off her own bat, I might add!) and Jo is trying SO hard to be a good sister.

Cerys is changing every day and surprises us with what she can do and how she's developing.

The car arrives in a few weeks too. The world will get a bit smaller again. (It's been 5 years)

The house and job are the same and Gill and me are good for another decade  (or six!).

Change is harsh, but it's good too.
===================================
Things change
Houses change
Styles change
People change
You change
I change
It’s all down to time
It’s all down to nature
But as time and nature change everything
I want one thing to remain
You and I together
Changing together
Forever

by Meow Shorty

Well the turmoil of the last few days is over and we're all back together again.

Heather's two days of Outward Bound were "Brill, Daddy, just brill!

Jo behaved herself at her friend's house.

Ashley's hospital visit was okay too. It's the last time we'll be using the "Transport for Sick Children. They're a voluntary group of drivers who take us to hospital visits. We're getting a Zafira in September and can't wait.

The girls are knackered and should sleep well tonight.

Just Cerys to feed and put to bed now.

Busy days.

Oh, I spent some of today organising a school reunion. Restaurant-Pub-Club. Should be good.

Back to work tomorrow. Booo.

We're enjoying a quiet evening with only two of the brood at home. Both the girls are out for the night - one at the  local Activity Centre (climbing, canoing etc), one at a mates.

Only having the babies to look after is like a holiday. We're fighting each other for nappy changing and feeding rights!

Later we are eating mostly chocolate and watching a filum togetha.

Gill's been eBaying so with some of the pennies I've bought some inserts for my filofax. Funny, as a younger man I'd always sworn to commit the ritual death of a 1000 papercuts if I'd ever got one. But with the children filling our lives (especially Ashley and his many appointments) we just can't get organised without a diary AND a calendar.

Our address book is getting quite voluminous too (I cross reference .... sad, I know)

Ashley is going to see the Endochrine doctor tomorrow (glands, hormones, growth charts, daily injections) at St Mary's. Shouldn't have any surprises (fingers crossed)

Day off for me. Yeeha.

So proud of my boy.

He's 3 years old in 13 days and has Developmental Delay.

Today he spooned a whole meal into his mouth. I loaded the spoons. This is a HUGE step forward and once again shows that he is moving on.

Half days at Nursery start in September and we are very hopeful of more growth with this stimulating environment.

{for the uninitiated Ashley has a poorly developed Corpus Collosum, Septo Optic Dysplasia and epilepsy. He presents as a VERY large 1 year old, can't walk, has limited communication and is probably the most endearing person you'll ever meet (he has a "harem" of aunties, nurses, girlfriends etc who adore him)]

Thought I'd share.

My two little girls (7&9) are entering the world of money and fashion - both things I've never set much store by.

Now the money side I can handle.

We've started giving them pocket money instead of buying them sweets (and saying NO). I got them purses too (Jo's lost hers!). They've both had bank accounts all their lives and have taken to saving and spending with gusto.

We send them to the local shop too (we wait with dread for their return) to loosen the strings a bit.

However the fashion side baffles me.

Jo set for Beaver Beach Party

Fashion to me was wedge heels and 12" flares.

Their mentor in this hazy world is a 12 year old neighbour who often wears a variety of berets, skirts, jackets etc. pinched/borrowed off her big sis.

Following H up the stairs I dared to ask why she was wearing a skirt over her trousers. A stony stare was followed by "They're leggings Daddy, tch".

Put me in me place.

Perhaps I shouldn't ask?

We had a poorly internet connection today so borrowed a laptop this evening to catch up on eBay listings (£12 for a baby seat which cost us 15 was amongst the best results). Using Windows vista was a bit odd for us SP acolytes as was the pad thing you have to stroke to move the cursor. Our sound has been dead for a few years now so we jumped a bit when music started to play too.

But the most fun bit of kit had to be the webcam installed in the casing. We've taken photos, sung to it too.

Well I did.

The kids looked on with great disdain.