Monday, February 2, 2009

Wow!!! has it really been over two months since my last post!!

I guess so! I put it down to that time of the year, christmas, holidays and general laziness on my part :)


We had a month long family holiday - away from home and away from family!!! (Apart from just the four of us). We visited so many farms, butterfly houses - my kids are so townie, the pic below is one of their highlights - they loved feeding the lambs, and also helped to hand milk a cow!


This year brings many changes to my life...I volunteer and run (with 3 other wonderful ladies) a community cafe, I have done this for the last 4 years and have decided that this year it will need to be one of the things that I drop, for various reasons really, one being that the business is moving so quickly and I really want to capitalise on that now and to do that I need time!!! The other, my son, as most of you know has high functioning autism, plus a generalised anxiety disorder (my household is never quiet, chaos rules!) We have done occupational therapy for the last two years, he is on a gluten, dairy, artifical sugar, msg all free diet. Thank goodness I know how to bake! This year we have a new therapist working within the family (a bit like the nanny programs - but she solely works with my son and teaches us the resources and skills to deal with things that crop up).


Like most on the Autistic Spectrum, he has trouble with expressing emotions, feelings and gets incredibly frustrated and the therapist will be helping him to work through and deal with these as they come up. Another area that she will be focusing on is social skills, trying to form a bond with his sister, and less of the concrete thinking (a little flexibility in the household would be like a miracle at the moment). For this to work successfully, it involves more of my time in the household working alongside my son supporting him and teaching him skills where needed with the resources given to us. Plus enjoying this time together.

I am so proud of him, he has come so far and conquered so many hurdles! It is a joy and a blessing watching him grow in this journey of ours, and as a family we are strengthened in our love and support of each other.


Wow! making up with a long post this time. :)


I managed to get a few new products off the needles over the christmas break, and have listed them in my shop on Etsy. Below is a sneak preview




I have lots planned for the blog this year, I loved doing the giveaway and plan to do a few more, plus share some great sites and links with you.

2 comments:

flapjacs said...

Great to see you back! happy new year! Love the pic of your townies. Glad you enjoyed your holidays. Was the long drive a nightmare like you thought it would be?
Your new plans sound really really good. I am sure your family will thrive. You can always go back to the other stuff once your kids grow up more, right?
I'm so happy you've posted today, it's lovely to catch up on your news.
And a pic of my favourite baby's cardy, so cute!

Brenda @ Natural Star said...

The long drive was quite pleasant, we did it in short bursts and technology has it's place, son got a portable DVD player for christmas and a heap of fishing DVD's, plus we had acquired a GPS TomTom which stopped the how much further? how much longer do we have to be in the car? I am looking really forward to slowing my life down and enjoying the extra time with the family.