Never-ending illness

Yep, boys have been ill again. This time all three have had a very bad dose of bronchiolitis which gave them asthma too. Jacob was so bad he had a trip to hospital and spent the day there being observed. To top it off, S&J both got ear infections. Poor little things spent the whole of Easter week coughing, spluttering, vomiting, crying and not doing much sleeping (the coughing kept them awake). It's been pretty tough, particularly as Bren and I came down with it shortly after but luckily we didn't get it quite as bad as the boys.

We're all on the mend now though and I'm hoping the boys will be back to normal by the end of this week. They've been getting stir-crazy and so I've been taking them out for short walking trips along to our local post box, just to give them something to do outside. S walks, J&A are in the stroller. S needs a purpose to his walk, hence posting a letter, otherwise he just wants to sit down, play at the side of the road, asks to be picked up every 5 seconds, or stands watching birds and cars. Whilst it should only be a return trip of 5minutes it generally takes us about 20!

We've had some fun in the back garden too but the boys really are getting more and more mischievious. I had to bring them in today 'cos I turned my back for a couple of minutes which gave S enough chance to put soil all over his and J's heads...great stuff!

Of course, A looks like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth but I know he's going to be upto no good very soon too.

I'd better get back to some cleaning up whilst all three are having a rare moment of napping at the same time.

Meltdown

Well, it didn't go exactly brilliantly with S&A at day care today. Both had a bit of a meltdown; they were only there two hours!! Samuel cried when I was leaving and of course I did too...as some of you will know, it just breaks your heart to see them like that. They said he settled for the second hour but broke down in floods of tears when I went to collect them. He was OK was I put him in the stroller next to Jacob and gave him his lunch. The carers said Alex was inconsolable and I was really surprised at that because he's the more easy going of the two. I think I found the problem when we got home - he had a very dirty nappy and I think it had been there for a while. Now whilst his dirty nappies don't smell until you open them (it's such a great surprise!), I am a bit taken aback that they wouldn't have checked that, kinda seems one of the first things to do when a baby is crying for a while. Anyway, I'm going to give it another go next week as I don't really have much option 'cos I need childcare and fast.
Whilst I missed S&A, Jacob and I had a good time together. We did the grocery shopping and J got to sit in the trolley seat which he just loves. He was 'talking' all the time and kept both his cochlears on which is just fantastic 'cos normally when we're out and about it's too noisy for him. I didn't even have to turn them down. Just goes to show what some one-on-one time does for him...and I know S&A need that too. It was a very tough afternoon though cos S&A wouldn't settle. Understandable of course, but I sure need a beer now!..(it is evening time now, for those of you concerned about me taking to the bottle during the day!).
We have our weekly hearing therapy appt. for J at the cochlear implant centre tomorrow and have our volunteer helper, Megan looking after S&A at home. She hasn't been for a few weeks and is due to finish her time with us in a week or two. She has been an absolute super-star and we all love her. Just hope the boys are OK for her tomorrow after their upset today.
Well, I'm off to have tea, which has been lovingly prepared by my fabulous husband and then we're going to be having a very romantic evening of painting the kitchen cupboards together. Bren thought he'd purchased white acrylic paint to go on top of the nasty chocolate and lime cupboards but he managed to pickup silver instead!!! Well, at least it will brighten the place up.
A few more photos of our gorgeous boys...

Making Biscuits

I like to get the boys involved in a bit of baking now and then so I decided to get them to make some biscuits yesterday. Don't know what they enjoyed more, playing with the flour, eating the dough or banging the rolling pin! Yes, it always creates loads of mess but we all have so much fun.
Just heard from a lady tonight at how incredibly lucky we've been at getting S&J into Heathdene pre-school next year. She sent me an email saying, she went to the enrollement night & could only get her kids in one day. She lined up from 3.30pm, enrollement started at 6.30pm, she was the 13th person in line!So there you go, how lucky are we?!
Have S&A booked into day care for a couple of hours tomorrow. Is the first time for them and I am very nervous about it. Don't know how they'll be but I'm soon going to find out!
OK, must be off to bed as it's late.
Photos of the boys making biscuits...


here are the mutant results...can you guess what any of them are?

Standing Frame

Jacob now has his very own standing frame. He loves it but finds it very hard work, much more than his previous one. Guess that's a good thing though as it'll only make him stronger. He can currently only stand in it for approximately 10-15minutes before he needs a rest. I'll just have to ensure he has lots of standing sessions throughout the day. You can see from the photos below that he likes it and Samuel too. Samuel likes to stand in it for a while once Jacob is out - he doesn't like to miss out on anything!
So the boys are finally well. Took a good two weeks for them to get over the gastro they had and I can certainly say that I'm pleased I don't have to change as many nappies.
We've had a very busy week catching up on all appointments and seeing friends.
Had some fantastic news on the pre-school front. Both Jacob and Samuel have been accepted into a local pre-school which has a fantastic reputation. I've talked at length with the Director and we all went for a visit last Thursday. Every child we saw looked happy and the place had a great vibe. I couldn't get over how many classroom assistants were there helping out and from what we have heard and saw we know both the boys will be very well looked after. There's still a lot to sort out in order for the school to get the required funding for Jacob to have the required one-on-one tuition but we have a foot in the door so it's a great start.
Right, well it's late as and I need to get some sleep so I'll have to cut it short there. Will be back blogging regularly again now...

oh-oh...

I haven't posted for a while 'cos the three boys and I have/are ill with gastric flu. It's not been very nice and there have been a ton of nappies to change but we're slowly getting better. Alex started with it over a week ago then S,J & I all got it on Wednesday. Poor Bren has had a VERY busy week at work and has then had to come home to look after all of us so he's certainly ready to drop...am keeping my fingers crossed he doesn't now get it.
So it means that there is not much to report as we've had a fairly quiet week at home.
I've been ringing round day care centres for the boys. I need to get S&A looked after at least once a week whilst I take Jacob to his appt.'s at the cochlear implant centre. Bren and I also want S&J to begin pre-school next academic year (Jan '09) which means we need to get them on a waiting list now. We would like Jacob to go to the same pre-school as Samuel so he too will be mainstream but that is going to be easier said than done...everyone wants to know what his physical & hearing status will be and of course we cannot predict that. Just means I have a lot of work cut out to find the right and most suitable place for them both.
Found out that Jacob's standing frame is nearly ready for him and he will be getting fitted for it on 11th March. We currently have a loan one but the one he's getting is brand new, has been purchased for him and is on wheels so we'll be able to push him round the house in it...or at least Samuel will!! For those of you who don't know, children who can't stand unsupported by 2 yrs need to have a frame so they can bare weight on their legs. By so doing it helps the hips to develop properly. If the hips don't develop as they should it means operations will be required down the track; something we're hoping Jacob won't have to have.
Jacob's physio at the Spastic Centre as also recommended he gets some feet/ankle supports to aid him with his standing and she's referring us to a CP clinic at the local children's hospital. Seems this clinic will be able to assist with lending equipment, getting regular x-rays done and everything else that is required to ensure Jacob is reaching is maximum potential.
Even though the boys have been ill we have still had some fun moments. Samuel is a laugh a minute with his speaking. Bren and I are having to be incredibly careful about what we say because he's repeating everything he hears. We were in the car the other day and I was getting impatient with another driver and Samuel repeated my words of, "hurry up lady!"...thank goodness that was all I said! Another time I was parking the car when he piped up, "oh-oh, crash!" I wasn't impressed by that statement and told him that I'm quite OK at parking, thank you very much. He's also very keen on listening to music and the other day kept asking for "luck lady" from "dolls guys" which of course is 'Luck be a Lady' from 'Guys and Dolls'...I know it may seem like a strange choice but I guess if that's what you're in the mood for! I don't mind his musical taste coming from me but I do wish his dance moves were more like his dad's!
Jacob hasn't produced any more wonderous words as yet but is still babbling away. He's loving playing with Samuel these days and it's plain for anyone to see what an amazing bond they have with each other. Alex is only ever a couple of feet away from them, crawling along and trying to get in on the action. Today I heard him say 'da-da' but unfortunately his dad wasn't with us to hear it.
Well, another day is well and truly over and as it's very late I must sign off. I'm attaching a couple of rare photos of me and the boys and a very cute one of Alex on our garden rocking horse...still can't believe he's only 7 months...is it only me who thinks he looks like he's a triplet?!!