"Honkey Donkey"

Tonight, Samuel was sitting on my knee, Jacob was sitting on Bren's knee and we were all singing songs together. We finished, "do your ears hang low" at which point Bren pointed out why Jacob was looking so shell-shocked was that we used to sing the song and do the actions with S&J all the time when they were little but today would have been the first time he'd actually heard the song!

Samuel then asked me for "honkey donkey"! Well, I couldn't work out what he meant. Bren and I just sat looking puzzled at each other and kept asking Samuel to repeat what he was saying..."honkey donkey, honkey donkey... and then we realised - Humpty Dumpty!!! but of course!

Blue Beard!

Samuel & Jacob had a great time painting yesterday after their tea. Most days they do some crayon drawing but yesterday I decided to get the paints out. Luckily it's washable paint (who would chose any other?!) and they had great fun painting themselves as well as the table!
Alex got a few splodges dropped on him whilst he crawled underneath Jacob's high-chair, picking up and eating all the food Jacob had dropped during his tea. I reckon Alex was a dog in a previous life.
Winter seems to be upon us now. We didn't get a summer this year so it's a bit of a shock to have to wrap-up in jumpers alreay...I mean it's only 16-20ºC which is very cold for this time of year.
It means we're indoors a lot now so I'll guess we'll be having a lot more art and cooking sessions.

Happy Birthday Auntie Nonie

Happy Birthday dear Auntie Nonie.
Hope you have a wonderful day and get spoilt rotten!
The boys absolutely LOVED having a birthday cake in your honour...a fresh cream cake and once the boys had all had a bit and I took the rest of the cake away, Samuel cried!
They were all as 'high as kites' later on once the sugar kicked in!!!
lots of love from us all
xxxx


(Doesn't Alex look the healthy one, tucking into a bit of watermelon rather than cake? Actually, this photo was taken the other day. He was very tired at cake time and therefore a bit grumpy so there were no good photos of him).

Happy Birthday Gramps!

When I get older, losing my hair...Happy Birthday Gramps!
Hope you have a fantastic day.
love you loads
S,J&A
xxx

My Boys

Haven't been able to update our blog for a couple of weeks as we've been experiencing problems with our Internet access. Our ISP finally seems to have got it's act together and so we're now back online!
Have been busy, as always. Boys have been ill yet again...colds but not as bad as last time and they haven't had much recurrence of their asthma this time which is great. Samuel is constantly asking for his nose to be wiped though; Alex just comes up to me and rubs his snotty little nose all over me - lovely - and Jacob just lets his nose run!
I have had a little change to my daily routine though. I've started a weekly session of pilates at one of my friends houses once a week and as well as it being some 'me time' we just have such a laugh. I've also been very busy with my new role/s having joined our local branch of the Australian Multiple Birth Assoc. I've been somewhat over-zealous and ambitious and have signed on as Vice-President (most definately a rushed decision on voting night!) and as Premmie Support Rep. I've been feeling somewhat over-whelmed with the VP role as I had no realistic idea of how much independent work would be required - it's a fundraising role - BUT it's a great challenge, something to get my teeth into, my brain working and a chance to meet some great people along the way. I've already been so inspired by many of the new committee members, particularly our Newsletter Editor. I've therefore set-to and written an article for next months newsletter and thought I'd share it with you. For those of you who know me well, you'll know I wear my heart on my sleeve and this article does indeedshow that.
Here goes...(sorry, it's long!) -
“Hi, I’m Katrina, mum to twins, Samuel & Jacob (26mths) and Alex (9mths). We had a complicated pregnancy with the twins which led to Jacob being profoundly deaf in both ears and having cerebral palsy” ... and here I go again. What I should be saying is “I have 2yr old twins and a 9mth old baby, they’re all beautiful, a real handful at times but a total bundle of joy”. Why do I always have to break into telling everyone Jacob’s deaf and has cerebral palsy?! He’s Jacob, he’s beautiful, he’s a very loving little boy, he has a wicked sense of humour, he’s extremely mischievious, independent, determined and just so very, very patient (a rare attribute for a 2 yr old!). Don’t get me wrong, I’m not at all embarrassed about the disabilities Jacob has; I’m so very proud of the achievements he’s made to date and how he’s already overcoming the fact that he is different to a lot of other kids his age. I'm still trying to work out why I have to blurt this out as soon as we meet new people. I know I don't want people to judge him, categorise him, treat him as a 'write-off', stare at him, feel sorry for him...the list is endless! I guess it's part of me wanting to protect him and possibly now a habit I've got into...now you all know, so I won't have to blurt anything out when I do in fact meet you! I guess the main thing is, I'm extremely proud of Jacob and I do want to show-off just how well he's doing.
So yes, I am the mum of 3 gorgeous boys who fill my days (and nights sometimes!). It is certainly busy being the mum of multiples and also a parent of a disabled child. Jacob was born profoundly deaf and after 6 or so months there were signs of a physical disability presenting itself. Jacob has spastic quadriplegia with very low muscle tone (hypotonia). He can now sit un-aided and has done so for several months but regularly falls over and most of the time cannot get up on his own. Four months ago he began shuffling round on his bottom, a gigantic milestone for him as it's given him much independence and there is now far more interaction with his brothers, particularly his twin, Samuel. In fact, they quite often play 'chasy' with Samuel bum-shuffling exactly the way Jacob does. Their relationship is continuing to change now Jacob can hear, as he has cochlear implants in both ears. The first was implanted in Sept. last year and the other was Jan. this year. He wasn't hearing anything prior to the implants and he's now showing that he's hearing LOADS e.g. waves when we say goodbye, claps when we tell him he's a clever boy, turns to his name being called. We've never known if Jacob would talk (the CP plays a major role in this as he may not have enough control over the muscles in and around his mouth) but the last few days have shown us some miraculous results...accompanied by many tears! He is saying “eee-ow” when being shown a picture of a cat, “oarrrr” when shown a picture of a lion and just after his tea tonight he looked at me and said “moe” and I have interpreted that as “mum/mam” (even if it wasn't, he can now say “m” which is a start!). Not only that, but he'd knocked off both his coils (part of the cochlear apparatus which needs to be attached to the head in order to hear) yesterday when we were dancing and singing and he asked us to put them back on by putting his hands over his ears and making a vocal noise. Now this out of everything is worth celebrating because any parent of a deaf child who has begun using some form of hearing aid will tell you that until your child actually wants to hear it's a bit of an up-hill struggle.
Well, there you go...oh, and my 3 other boys (not forgetting my husband, Brendan!). They are simply amazing too. Samuel is a chatty, very affectionate, beautifully sensitive, Thomas-the-Tank-Engine-loving, cranking pants sometimes(!) little boy and Alex...well, I reckon he thinks he's a triplet cos he's just about doing everything his brothers are doing, oh, and not to be outdone by Jacob he said “ma-ma” at tea-time for the first time today too!! Brendan, well I reckon I'm the luckiest gal in the world...you'll meet Brendan sometime soon I hope and you'll then know why.
I often think how incredibly lucky Jacob is being a twin. Not only does he have that special twin bond but he has a brother to watch and learn from which I know makes him even more determined in everything he tries. Can't wait to hear what Jacob's next word is going to be...I just hope he doesn't attempt what I said tonight when I dropped something on the kitchen floor!

Meow

It's happened! Tonight, at bedtime story time, Jacob said his first unprompted word ie. he wasn't just repeating something we had said. Bren was showing him a book with a picture of a cat on the front and Jacob said, "Eee-ow", clear as a bell a number of times. He always seems to produce great sounds when it's evening and he's with his daddy! Perhaps it's the only time he can actually get a word in edgeways, what with a screaming little brother (Alex doesn't half scream lots....and LOTS), a very chatty brother and an even chattier mammy!
I've really got to try and get some quiet time with him during the day when we can really do some hearing therapy. I just don't know how I can get Samuel and Alex both happily occupied at the same time and have it quiet enough to do sound work with Jacob...I reckon I've got to stop thinking of it as an impossible task and just try.
Anyway, J's back at Sylvanvale (early intervention class he goes to two days a week) tomorrow and I know he works very hard there and gets great attention from his carers. How do I know this? Well, apart from what I see when I'm there, he comes home absolutely exhausted and gets very crabby unless I let him have a quick snooze.
Right, I'm off to get his back packed for tomorrow as it's always a rush in the mornings...