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Somehow (due to a Blogger fault!) this blog post of a couple of weeks ago got moved back into my "draft" list, despite the fact that it had about a half dozen comments on it! Strange! :-/ So I'm re-publishing it now.
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I think my blog has become rather boring - nothing more than a large photo album. :-/ I'm not sure anyone even looks at it anymore - so maybe I should just quit the blog and upload photos to something simple like Flickr. I used to get more comments here when I "talked" more, but my time is so restricted these days that I don't really have time for a chatty blog - and certainly not the brains for a blog with anything sensible to say! ;-) But maybe it's easier to just keep the same - and have a very boring blog which no one reads! Oh well.
So, life remains very busy with 4 little people to look after - and it's going to get even more crazy soon, as Deborah is desperate to crawl! It was very exciting when the first two children started crawling - but sometimes it's almost a dreaded thought to think of another little one that can escape out the front door and get into mischief (or danger!) - or under the feet of older siblings! It's a bit more peaceful when they stay in one place - or at least roll about in the same room! However, I *do* still get excited about her trying to crawl (and *do* encourage her!) just feel a bit scared at the same time! :) For now I love the peace of mind when she's asleep on my back in a sling and I know she's safe from her brothers! She still isn't sitting up on her own (just flies backwards!) but I think it's likely she'll be crawling before sitting! It's hard to believe that she'll be 7 months old on Friday.
In other news, we've recently begun the process to have Benjamin assessed regarding the concerns we have that he's on the autistic spectrum (perhaps Aspergers syndrome, or at least at the higher functioning end of autism). It was around February last year that we first had concerns in this regard, though looking back we can see things that were different about him from when he was much younger. Ideally one would prefer that children didn't have "labels" but it seems he's gotten worse over the past year (both behaviour issues and sensory ones, etc) so we felt it was best to seek a diagnosis. We started with seeing the health visitor about it, then were referred to the community pediatrician. I had to answer 11 pages of questions about him (everything from birth to now) and return it to her. Now we're waiting to hear back from her, as well as a visit from the educational psychologist and the speech & language therapist, etc. It's likely to be at least 6 months before a diagnosis is reached. I'm not really sure what we're likely to gain from a diagnois, but perhaps a confirmation of what we think the problems is will be helpful. I have to say I'm very thankful that Benjamin is so verbal - it's a real blessing when you consider the many autistic children who are non-verbal. I will admit that sometimes it would be nice to have a bit of quiet (as he can talk to me for hours on end!) but I much prefer my very talkative Benjamin!
I think being a mother is rather different to what I expected it to be when I was younger! :) As a teenager with spending a lot of my time cooking & cleaning and looking after my siblings, I thought it would be so easy to be a mother - that I had plenty of practice at everything. But once you're the MAMA yourself, it's quite different. And then when you have a challenging (or perhaps, special!) child, life seems to become twice as complex as it was before, and perhaps 3 times as hard as you thought it would be! The details of daily life that are easy for most parents are filled with stress and added complications for those of us which children that aren't neuro-typical! :) Just going to church is quite a challenge with Benjamin - the singing that most of us enjoy can bring Benjamin to tears, even when it's not *that* loud. :( He says that singing hurts his ears - actually causes him pain - and it can make him very stressed out the whole time, trying to find a way to block out his surroundings. He's even this way with singing at home. So, being verbal and able to communicate with us helps us to know why he has a lot of meltdowns, but doesn't exactly mean the solution is any easier! :) We manage to cope with taking him out to church once a week (Lord's day morning), but usually with the "sensory overload" being so recent, he's not able to cope with going again in the evening. I think he almost forgets how bad the struggle is when there's a week between going, though he still worries about it. But I just try to encourage him on and we survive - just! :) Clement loves singing though, so probably he'll be going out to church with Peter and Abigail before long. Benjamin also struggles with all other social settings - even going to the park can be painful.
So, life with Benjamin takes up most of my time (certainly all my mental energy!). But I know he's *so* worth it and do love him very much! :)
After my above words, likely rather confused with all the noise around me - here are some photos, which my blog posts are never without!
Deborah playing with her favourite doll and learning how to pull hair - ouch!
Biggest boy and smallest boy!
Sitting in her pushchair watching mummy
Biggest three getting some of their energy out! :)
My precious little girl!
Rolling around swinging a toy crane in her hand!
Benjamin and Deborah playing together
Deborah rolled to her favourite place - the toy parking garage! She *loves* to play with cars and trucks!
Abigail and Benjamin with friends at a park in Inverness a couple of weeks ago. We met up and had a picnic, which was a lot of fun.
Sitting in her Bumbo enjoying the sunshine, while mummy hangs the washing on the line
She thought Abigail's "space hopper" looked lots of fun and the handle meant she could actually play with it
Enjoying her first chocolate chip cookie - bad mummy! lol
Yep, playing with cars *again*! Guess that's what happens when you have 2 big brothers! :)
Playing Lego with Abigail and Benjamin - not Duplo either!
Close up photo of Deborah and Benjamin playing Lego
So precious! :) Deborah is Benjamin's absolute favourite person - sometimes he says she's the only one in the world he actually likes! LOL Though I think he's starting to get frustrated with her when she grabs things he doesn't want her to. :-/
Enjoying the beautiful sunshine! We've had lovely weather the past few weeks (probably over a month now) and I just *love* the bright days!
Growing up so fast - enjoying some dinner here! Only downside to "baby led weaning" (aka self feeding!) is the MESS that you get when you have rice for dinner! Seemed there were a million grains of rice to remove from the floor afterwards!
My little artist! I was amazed that Deborah knew how to use a drawing board at only 6.5 months old. She just picked up the pen and draw a picture all by herself!
The finished masterpiece! :)
The finished masterpiece! :)
Enjoying some dinner! She loved the salmon patties!
There he is! :-) Clement and his Uncle Nat! Two weeks ago we were privledged to see my brother Nathanael - he came and stayed 2 nights with us. We were very glad to spend some time with him and the children were delighted to have him here. We took him to nearby Dunrobin Castle, which we all enjoyed - we hadn't been before. Most of the photos on this blog are from that day.
Deborah at nearly 7 months I think (photo taken a few weeks ago). She was rocking back and forth and trying to attempt crawling. She's not quite there yet but she's just this week finally learned to sit up by herself! She can take herself from a tummy position to sitting up very quickly and is quite pleased with herself. Next time I'll have to post some photos of her sitting up. The photos on this post have been ready to upload for over 10 days, so trying to do a quick blog before they're really dated!
The delightful Deborah having a ride on Daddy! :)
Biggest 3 doing a jigsaw with Uncle Nat - though I think they ended up leaving him to finish it! ;-)
The children really enjoyed the "falcon display" at Dunrobin Castle. Here's the man with a barn owl.
One of the falcons
Clement going round in circles (and nearly getting dizzy) in a "dungeon" - he loved it in there! (I think it was probably a potting shed or something similar.)
"Let me out!"
Waiting patiently for her dinner - or maybe she'd just finished it!
the front of Dunrobin Castle. This photo and the remaining ones were all taken by my talented brother and his amazing camera! :-) He got some really good ones, so sharing them here!
My Clement! :-)
My biggest 3 darling children
The beautiful gardens below the castle
Castle from below
and again
Meant to be a cuddle, though I'm not sure the picture gives that impression! lol :-)
Me wearing Deborah and holding Clement's hand
An amazing photo Nat got of the owl in flight!
Castle
I love these photos he got with flowers in front of the castle
Me and my sweet baby! It was fantastic being able to tour the castle with ease wearing Deborah in a sling. Certainly it would have been impossible to use a pushchair here! LOL
Biggest girl
The always moving Benjamin - a real action pic here, which truly captures the spirit of him! :-)
Clement!
my dear Abigail
Yes, she is very sweet!
Abigail and Clement peeking out of the "dungeon"
Peter and Benjamin looking down from the castle wall
Clement and his daddy
Abigail and Clement
