About Time!

Well it is about time that I should sit down and fill you all in on what has been a very busy few months in the McGrath family household (I will keep it short).

In February Leo and Jack both went off to preschool and daycare. Jack was a little hesitant and a few tears and tantrums were had along the way. Leo loved preschool from the very first day. He has a wonderful special needs teacher who is marvelous with him, she really gets the best out of him and we can see this at home, he is coming along in leaps and bounds.

Late February Jack turned two. Marsie & Parsie timed a visit so they could help celebrate the momentous occasion. (I think he is already starting to act out "the terrible twos") Boy do we have a fun year ahead of us!

March was all about intervention. This year Leo is having weekly home based sessions and this is paying off! He is doing marvelously. I feel that all the hard work is paying off.

April we all jumped in the car and headed North for Easter up to Marsie and Parsies house (dog included). Boy was that a fun car journey! There were lot of toilet stops, and it wasn't for the dog. The Easter Bunny found where Leo and Jack were staying and he left behind lots of chocolate Easter eggs. The weather was fabulous it was the best weather I have experienced up there, so look out Marsie & Parsie it may become an annual visit! The best experience was early one morning while walking up the long sandy beach we spotted a tiny little loggerhead turtle making its way to the water apparently there had been quite a few hatch and make the dangerous and long journey to the ocean. Where ever you are now little turtle we hope you made it past the seagulls and are swimming free.

Well here we are with a very busy week ahead. Leo is having his fourth birthday party with 20 children from preschool coming. Dr Croc is making an appearance (I believe in outsourcing when it comes to kids birthday parties). Dan is turning.....40 Shh... don't tell anyone. So now I am back on track with blogging the next blog will be BIG!

Brody!

I was reading an Austism newsletter and came across theis story about a very brave little boy called Brody. I have added Brody's blog if anyone is interested in reading about this very brave little boy and his family.

Brody Thomas Reilly is 4 years old, lives at Nabaic, NSW with his mum (Vicki) and step father (Bill Morris). He has an older brother (Luke) that lives in Queensland. Since Brody was born he had a emergency caesarean on the 21/7/2005. At the age of six months he started having febrile seizures, which increased into seizure disorder and up to date has had 10 seizures, the longest going for 2 hours. At the age of 2 years he was diganosed with ADHD and then at the age of 3 years Autism. Then to top it all off at the age of 4 years he was diganosised with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia with T-cell,and is now in Westmead Children's Hospital Sydney awaiting a bone marrow transplant. Brody loves and enjoys any type of super hero's such as Ben 10, spiderman, batman, Ninja Turtles, Power Puff Girls and more. He wants to drive a real Ben 10 car and he enjoys horse riding and has a special bond with Tyson and Tess the dogs. Brody has lots of fun and adventures with his cousins Domenic and Ethan.

Cucumbers, Intervention and Swimming Lessons

Ah yes it is that time of the year when everything starts to return to normal. What I mean by normal "for us" is routine! Intervention for Leo is up and running again, this year we have a lovely lady called Lynne and she will visit every Monday at 9.30. Our first session was a little different Leo spent the first half hour covering his eyes so he could not see Lynne, he seems to do this when he is confronted by someone he does not know! After some coaxing he slowly came round to her! Then in the afternoon it was off to swimming lessons. I was very surprised at how well Leo went, he was able to follow most of the instructions and really enjoyed the water.

Today (Tuesday) we had the lovely Michelle for Speech therapy, we always have a great time with Michelle. So that is our week so far!
Oh and I have been making a christening cake! Wow I had forgotten how time consuming making cakes is as well as seeing to two boisterous boys and trying to fit in therapy time with Leo.......I feel physically and mentally exhausted!

Since Christmas I have lost my veggies to the bugs.......they have won the war and I wave my white flag in resignation, except for the beans and cucumbers! Wow who would have thought it was so easy to grow cucumbers, I have given many away as there is only so many you can eat! So if you come by my house you are sure to leave with at least four, five maybe even six cucumbers. Another idea is to pickle them, although I know everybody hates the pickles in their burgers at McDonald's, maybe I should just stick to giving them away.......

Happy New Year!

Happy 2010 to everyone!

A new Year and a new decade, if only I had a crystal ball to see what lies ahead for us. For Leo & Jack it will be a year of adventure, Jack will go to daycare and Leo a new kindergarten, fingers crossed they will embrace the change, especially Leo. For me, who knows what is in store, a little bit more time for myself maybe......

Mid 2009 we decided to buy a dog (not a puppy) and hence we have our beautiful Mariah. When we were going through the process of choosing a dog we met one of Mariah's cousins Mi Mi, she was also available, but Mariah was the one for us. This week my sister decided they would like a Labrador, but like us did not want a puppy so I mentioned where we got Mariah and as things would have it beautiful Mi Mi was still there, I couldn't believe it and now she has a new home with Charlotte, Thomas and baby Neve. I am so happy she has gone to a wonderful home where she will be loved. Ahhh happy endings and happy 2010 to everyone!

Tinsel, Reindeers, Santa and all things Christmas!

Christmas is here and all is well in the McGrath household. We have just returned from 2 weeks holiday. We had a wonderful week at Noosa Heads, the weather was perfect (very hot) and the kids loved swimming in the pool, I especially enjoyed the break from cooking, making the beds, cleaning etc. The second week we were nomads and visited our families from Bribie Island down to New Brighton. As much as I love going away it is always a wonderful feeling to come back home. Mariah and Milo were very happy to see us and made sure that we spent lots of time with them over the weekend as penance for leaving them for 2 weeks.

The veggie patch is overgrown and the cucumber seedlings I had planted have gone berserk, I didn't realise they grow so big and spread out so far! The tomatoes are growing beautifully and may need rescuing from caterpillars, I am not sure what to put on them as I was hoping for "organic tomatoes" I will have to do some research. I am finding it very hard to grow veggies in Summer as the bugs are raging a war against me and I am afraid they are winning at the moment!

Another war that is quietly raging away in our house is Jack versus the Christmas tree. I know it is his age but he cannot leave the decorations alone, as fast as I put them on he pulls them off, I suppose by the time Christmas is over I won't have to remove any decorations as he will have removed them all for me!

ROAR.........Leo is well and truly taken with dinosaurs so much so he moves around the house by stomping like Brachiosaurus and roaring like T-rex and his favorite DVDs are Ice Age 3 and Dinosaur King. I am feeling a little on edge as I love a bit of peace and quiet and it feels like I may never experience this again! On the upside this is very age appropriate and it shows Leo is progressing very well. ROAR!My little Jack is no longer a baby. When we were away we decided to try him out in a bed and he took to it like a duck to water. So off came the rails on his cot and it is now a little bed and he is now a proper little boy! I am amazed at how well he is doing and also sad that baby life as I know it is now coming to an end! As Christmas day is not too far away, I still have quite a bit to do. The house is still in a mess from unpacking and I have this urge to make sure everything is in order before the "man in the big red suit" makes an appearance, see you all in 2010!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR XO

Lifestart

Every Wednesday morning for the last year we head off to the Lifestart "open playgroup". They are a wonderful organisation that provides intervention for children with special needs. When I first went with Leo, our diagnosis was very new and I was feeling very raw and apprehensive about the whole life ahead of us with Autism. So every Wednesday I would head off with Jack and Leo and sit, learn and watch Noni and Fiona (the therapists) and all the volunteers interact with the children, then the mum's would leave the children for some structured play and have a little "down time" away from the children. It has been during that "down time" that I realised I am not the only mum with a child with special needs, there are many out there, by talking to other mums it makes all the days ahead easier and in some ways very "normal". Leo will attend kindergarten on Wednesday next year 2010, so he will no longer attend Lifestart on Wednesday mornings, I think I am more sad than he is, so I have decided to sign up to be a volunteer, they have given so much to us, so it is now time to give back! Thank you Lifestart for all the wonderful help you have provided for our beautiful Leo!

20 Years!

Finally I have some time to sit and write.

How time flies! A few weekends ago I attended my 20 year school reunion on the Gold Coast. Wow what a blast! I had the time of my life catching up with everyone. I did leave feeling as though there was still so much catching up to do with everyone. It is so hard to cram 20 years of your life into a few hours of chatting. I feel a catch up before Christmas is necessary, so I will contact as many as I can and see if we can organise a gathering. A dinner out in Brisbane maybe.

I was happy to know that Leo and Jack survived without me for the four days I was away(for the reunion), it was the first time I had ever been away from them, great for me and also good for them. Nanny visited and helped Dan out with boys, a big thank you to Mary for doing a great job!

I was surprised to see the veggies have grown over the four days I was away, due to the hot weather. The Lettuces had all bolted and were tasting very bitter, so off to the compost for them. I have some new seedlings in the ground but they are a long way off from anything edible.

The carrotts are nearly ready and the peas are starting to look good. I should have some tomatos soon they are all hanging there shiny and very green. The cucumber vines have flowers so this is promising. However I am waging a war with all the bugs, they seem to be taking over and making it difficult. So this weekend I will try out some more different organic herbicides, somthing has to work apart from me picking off all the big fat green catipillers by hand (that would be a long and tedious job). I also think it is time to bring out the slug trap they (the slugs) seem to have taken a liking to my baby cos lettuce seedlings.

On another note our beauthiful Mariah is not looking a s svelt as usual and I have have found out why! Please see movie below.

Last Friday was Jack's first day at daycare, he was a little upset but no where near as upset as Leo was. I hadn't thought how this would impact on Leo, he was not used to Jack being there with him, obviously the scenario has allways been the same Jack and I drop Leo off and then we would go home. So the good old autism kicked in and Leo had a big meltdown. Hopefully he will be a little better about the whole thing this Friday. Fingers crossed!