At our place

At our place life is busy. I find it harder than ever to find time for 'me' and scrap, even upload my daily photos to the computer. I have only blogged a handful of times since early August. Gulp! For me, the most important thing is taking my daily photos and printing them for my 365 project - a scrapbooking album with a week's worth of photos per double page spread - like Project Life, if you're familiar with that. The space I keep blank for adding journalling each week is staying blank, but I figure I can always go back and write in anything with the photos themselves to jog my memory! When there's more time...

At our place Angus is progressing in leaps and bounds. He is my daily dose of joy. On Mondays and Tuesdays he attends an ELC for children with autism, which he seems to love and which provides me with a few hours to upload photos, wash dishes and clothes, pay bills, check emails, and so on. It's a long drive there and back though, which is a big drawback. Two and a half hours in the car each day for me, and his day finishes at 2.30pm. But still worthwhile for that little bit of respite. The other five days of the week, including the weekend, Angus receives 'Systematic Behavioural Therapy' for three hours per day, most of which I do myself. Ian shares with me on Sunday and we have some awesome student therapists who help us out. It's a play based programme which Angus - and we - love and he is really starting to use words and play imaginatively. Exciting stuff!

At our place Tasmin has been attending four sessions of kindy a week, with some time at childcare to give me time and space to do Angus's therapy. If she's home, it's really really hard to close the door to the therapy room and leave Tasmin outside, even for 20 minutes. She has a radar for pens and markers and so the graffiti inside our house seems to be growing by the day! We've stopped for school holidays now but next term she will attend kindy on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and go to childcare an extra day, so Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays. She loves childcare and has a good friend there. So it's a positive all around. All rather costly though...

At our place our savings are gradually dropping. I inherited some money when my darling Dad passed away two years ago and we are having to use that money to pay for Angus's autism interventions. And using that money for everyday stuff, like kids' clothes, to be honest. I wonder when I will ever be back at work full-time given Angus's needs at the moment. I'm really unsure where he will go to school when the time comes - special school or mainstream? Unless and until he develops language, I'm going to be looking for a special school. And let's face it, here in Adelaide, there aren't many options. Compared to what families in Sydney and Melbourne could access, that is. My step-daughter turns 18 next year and it will be the last year we pay child-support. I hope this will help, as it's a substantial amount of money we pay each fortnight.

At our place Ian wakes up in three hours (3.30am) and will take his daughter Stephanie on a memorable trip-of-a-lifetime to Los Angeles. It's a trip that's been in the planning for more than ten years and they've both been looking forward to it. It's given us a great excuse to buy a new Canon Powershot Ixus point-and-shoot camera (which I'll be discreetly popping into my handbag on his return!!!). I'm hoping he remembers me at the duty free shopping area! Just kidding. I doubt they have scrapbooking shops there LOL!

At our place spring is in the air, and while winter lingers behind the grey clouds, and there's still some rain about, I'm already thinking about the summer months ahead. When I get a whiff of the freshly cut grass on those sunny days, oh I feel so happy! Ian has been getting outside the last two weekends, cutting the weeds (the ground looks remarkably like lawn!) and laying down mulch. Tasmin loves to go outside and join him, walking around in her Dorothy the Dinosaur gumboots and collecting found objects hidden in the bushes. Angus loves going out too, but if he's allowed on to the road he runs like mad. We live in a cul-de-sac which is mostly very quiet, but still, it's nervewracking. It's also very funny to watch Ian running past very quickly then realising he's off chasing Angus again.

At our place I'm planning ahead for the next two weeks with Ian away. My aunty Robin arrives in Adelaide on Sunday and while she's staying in a swap house, plans to have Tassie over for a night or two to give her a mini holiday. I hope that works out! It's going to be tricky managing the two children without Ian but at least Tassie will be in full time day care for the second week. Ah, a bit of breathing space!

Thank you to Ali and Flis  and Sharmaine for inspiring me with your open and honest posts and helping me realise that I've had something to say! And you know what? It's ok to say it!