I can breathe.... almost

I cannot begin to tell you how utterly and completely NUTTY it's been around here. Not because there has been a lot on, but because Uni was all consuming. Last week I wrapped up all my assignments and lectures and have started breathing once again...
I have an exam on Thursday, and then that will be it for a while. I have made the decision to pull out of a subject and only do 1 for a while. The stress of the work load is making my body break down and deteriorate. For those who don't know, I have a psychosomatic condition (see I did learn something this semester!!!) called Fybromyalgia - and the symptoms increase in intensity when I am stressed and overworked. I can't manage the work load of second year subjects as well as effectively manage my family. I am sad to say that I wasn't a very good homemaker and Mummy this semester. I have to put my role as Mum and wife first, and have to do what I can manage.

So... for all those readers who call me super-mum....you can see that I'm not really.

So what's been happening around here?

Mop: Sat the NAPLAN test - and loved it. Funny girl! We have had some issues with her social skills and the poor love has struggled to build relationships with the girls in her class. We understand that it's typical for gifted and intelligent children to neglect building their social skills, but we didn't want her to suffer and be lonely during her school life. So we have been working on building those skills, and it's working because she is making more friends and valuing the friendships she is building.
We had a proud moment: Mop came home from school one day saying that some year 6 boys were bullying her and saying that she was a "failure". I was pretty angry, but I kept my cool and calmly asked her if she spoke to a teacher about it. She had, but she couldn't find the boys to identify them (Mop's school has zero tolerance to bullying).  I had a chat to her about it, and tried to get her to understand that she wasn't a failure, and that those boys were cowards, ganging up on her when she was alone. She matter of factly replied: "Oh well, I know who I am on the inside and that's all that matters. Besides, they are pretty pathetic, year 6 boys ganging up on a 7 year old girl!" My mouth dropped open in surprise! What a very mature outlook. The very next day, the boys found her and started on her again, she turned around, faced her bullies and laughed in their faces and told them they were bullies. It shocked them. They haven't returned. :) Atta girl Mop!!!!



EJ: is plodding along. He is going through a very loud silly stage at the moment which drives us up the wall, but I seem to remember my brothers doing it too. So I guess it's normal.
His SPD seems to waver between good and bad. Some days he's feral, some days he is calm and copes well. We are addressing certain behaviours of his that are not acceptable and starting to crack down on them. I don't care what his issues are, he can't behave like that. Things like screaming at us in rage, hitting, spitting etc.
One really good thing is that he has finally stopped whining about going to school. Usually he would refuse to get dressed, and sit their and whine "I don't want to go to school". It was a habit. He gets into ruts and even if he DID want to go to school, he would say that. Last week he got really sick with croup and he had to stay home for three days. He was climbing the walls and by the end of it, asking to go back to school. We sent him on the fourth day.... and we have not heard one whinge or whine out of him about going to school. It's such a joy now in the mornings.
He is loving school and they are stretching him and exposing him to more and more. They take him to full school assemblies, something I thought he wouldn't be able to do for ages!! He loves them!! He enjoys his lessons and is doing brilliantly.



Milly: Has been growing up so fast!! She's really a little girl now and not my baby. She refuses to let me cradle her anymore and wants to cuddle "properly". Excuse me! I'm not ready for that!!! :) We had her down the hospital a few days ago with pretty bad croup. We had 4 nights of it and it was dreadful. Waking up every few hours, wheezing and coughing and crying. Last night she seemed to finally shake off the flatness.
Not much else to say, except she has been very tolerant of her Mama burying her face in text books and pretty much leaving her up to her own devices. She is very independent and usually goes off to play with the dog or plays some other imaginary game.



Not much else has been happening. Daz is working hard as usual, and is doing well. He has done amazingly while I have been so flat out with my studies. He's supported me and has done the jobs that I have not been able to do.

In August we are going to a Foster Care Information evening. Fostering is something that Daz and I have been considering for many years. Our hearts are heavy when we think of children who are not being raised by parents who cherish them, living in hotels and supervised by a social worker. We have space in our home and love to give and we would like to make a difference in someone's life by providing them with love, family, education and an introduction to Jesus. When we go to this information evening, it will pretty much help us decide whether to go ahead with it or not.

Something else that I have just started is getting more into photography. If you would like to see my work, I have set up yet another blog: Sunshine Lollypop photography and that's where I'll display it all as I learn and get better. I may do some photography as a hobby and a way to earn some extra cash. Depends if I get asked or not eh!?
Now that uni is mostly over I've had some extra time to start some projects that I have been wanting to do for a while. I've started doing some journalling, which you can have a look at on my creative blog: Skipper's Creative Expressions and I have really loved doing it. My next challenge is to learn to knit!!

Righto... better go have some breakfast.
xxx