Summer holidays wrap up

Our Summer holidays have been very, very low key this year. 2012 was just such an overwhelmingly busy year for our family that what we needed for our Summer holidays was a lot of time doing not very much.

This has been particularly important for S. We found out at the end of last year that the reason for his ongoing fatigue issues had nothing to do with CP, but rather that he has had glandular fever (mono). That kid needs a break. Allergies, severe hay fever, eczema. Like he doesn’t have enough challenges…given all that he’s had going in, his high achievements last year are pretty impressive!

M also had good reason to be tired – 2012 saw him doing weekly speech therapy, occupational therapy, social skills group, school readiness group, swimming, yoga and of course kindergarten. I am not saying he did too much last year. The gains he has made in all areas of his development have been amazing and I am so proud of him. He’s a confident, caring, much calmer boy who is so ready to start school.

And for my poor little A – being dragged along to all of the above was pretty exhausting too!

And I know how he feels. I usually try and fill school holidays with lots of outings and adventures. But this time around all I have wanted to do is hang out at home and luckily the boys have felt the same way.

That’s not to say we haven’t left the house at all! A few of our out and about highlights for the hols include a fun weekend at a friend’s beautiful beach house, complete with steam train and ferry ride home; lovely Christmas with extended family;  New years eve fireworks in the city; Giggle and Hoot live in concert,  including a meet and greet with Jimmy Giggle afterwards (I won a radio comp!); birthday fun at the zoo with our beautiful “baby” A – now 3 years old, eek!); some lovely park play date catch ups with friends and of course a few train rides!

For me, there’s also been a couple of super fun fun-runs and my first ever (mini)Triathlon which was a great laugh (though much harder then I had imagined!).

At home there’s been a lot of time playing in the garden made even more special by the brilliant back deck that my super clever husband has been building all Summer and a fun new paddling pool. There has also been a probably excessive number of hours spent on iPads and computers and a lot of fun had with our new Just Dance game on the Wii (we are all great at Gangnam style moves now ). The fun run at our house that S organised was a huge success with my sister and her kids and another friend coming over for a lovely morning of garden runs, obstacle courses and laughs.

Kids have enjoyed making their own movie trailers with the great iMovie app and I have loved working my way through the brilliant Breaking Bad series on DVD (now half way through series 3) and also lots of reading – currently half way through Sweet Tooth (latest novel from Ian McKewan). Also finally read and loved the Hunger Games series and Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.

I should add that the reason I’ve had time to do anything these hols is that my brother in law is visiting from Indonesia. Young and with lots of energy, the kids have loved having him around. (Me too ).

School starts on Thursday. I am both excited and nervous. Excited for M to be starting school and for S to be heading into grade 2. But I am worried about how S’ s energy levels are going to hold up and about how M is going to cope with the big adjustment to being a school boy. A is also starting 3 year old kinder – which I feel confident he is going to love but do worry just a little he may be rather young in the group.

For me, I have big plans for the year. My first half marathon in July, trail running and also more triathlons. I am also starting the year doing a round of Michelle Bridges 12wbt,  with the goal of kick starting my year in a healthy direction. I am also going to join a gym for the first time. So yep – planning on this year having a lot to do with my health and fitness. After years of thinking that is a selfish goal, I have realised it’s actually what I need to do FOR my family as much as for myself. I am also hoping to do a little more work this year. I look forward to that mental stimulation and the way it will ease our financial stress a little.

2013 is definitely going to be my first year in a while that doesn’t revolve around therapists and appointments and early intervention. There will still be a little of that. Two kids with additional needs makes that a given! But I really hope that this year the balance will well and truly swing back into some sort of less frantic normality where we can focus more on enjoying life and each other. Bring it on 2013!!

(Ps posting from new phone. Pics to come later)

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