time flies.......

Hi,

so what have we been up to the last few days?

Last time I posted we had just came back from our weekend respite break & the timing couldn't have been better as we needed it to prepare for the week ahead.


It was a fairly uneventful week as far as appointments for the kids go, we actually had none for a change but with it getting into the tail end of the holidays the kids were getting more & more of a handful for Kerrie & it's getting to be a bit of a strain at work at the moment. Luckily we had some plans in motion to ease the strain.

On Tuesday we had a package arrive for Dylan, my Mom had generously offered to get him a climbing frame as an early birthday present which obviously had to be put up as soon as I got in from work! Took me better part of 3 hours, mainly down to me being tired after work & my dodgy fingers but it was well worth it to see his face when he got to go on it for the first time! I am expecting a trip to A&E soon though!

On Wednesday we had arranged to take the kids to the local children's centre for a play session aimed at special needs children. This wasn't till the afternoon so we had a trip into town to get Loukas's glasses fixed. Again. So far we have had to replace 3 pairs that have been lost & get more pairs fixed than I can count. This is all down to little miss mayhem, she just won't stop pulling them off his face & throwing them or breaking them. All I can say is I'm glad we have them insured & a very understanding local Specsavers!

Dylan had a bit more of a play on his frame & it seems he has made a friend from next door, the neighbors must have had their granddaughter over & they both began talking through a little gap in the fence. It was actually quite sweet both calling each other from different sides of the fence & they carried this on most of the week & Dylan has ended up inviting her to his birthday party.

We dragged him away from his little friend & headed over to the children's centre for the play session. We had Charlotte with us so we all had a child each which would make things easier. It was a fun session with a broad section of activities for the kids. There were quite a few different disabilities there & all were catered for with the activities. There was a ball pit, craft activities & an outdoor play area. It was good for the kids to get out & see somewhere different & even Dylan enjoyed it. What we are trying to do is include him in as many activities that we can when disabilities are present, we want him to have a good understanding of what it can be like as it will always be part of his life. He doesn't really seem to notice the differences much but when he does he asks questions in the usual blunt kid fashion which I think is actually good, no skirting around the issue & the more he knows the better.

Thursday was a day I was both looking forward to & dreading at the same time. I had my first physio appointment to see if they could do anything about my neck/hands/side/feet etc issues. I was looking forward to it as it was hopefully the first step in getting the problems sorted, it is getting quite wearing now, but I was dreading it cos I knew it would hurt being my first time & they would have to push me to find my limits.

I was not wrong. It was painfully obvious from the very thorough series of movement exercises that all was not right with Mr Clarke & some of the stretches actually bought a tear to my eye! Can't really complain too much though, this is what Loukas & Grace have to go through every day. The Physio came to the decision that although I had problems with the disks in my neck it was actually my side that needed attention more at the moment. After a lot of poking & prodding in that area she said, to quote "it's a mess in there" & broke out the acupuncture needles. Apparently there are muscles in there that are too tight & some that are too loose, most likely from an injury I had 2 years ago that has never fully healed & acupuncture would potentially help.

Now I've never had acupuncture before but I'm at the point where I'm willing to try anything to get rid of the pain & get things back to "normal". It really is a bizarre feeling, you can feel the needles going in slightly until they hit the area they are supposed to then you get a really sharp pain spread outwards momentarily then pretty much nothing as it must relax the area. She put a few in my side & a few up & down my spine area & I ended up lying there sort of feeling but not feeling those areas.

When she took the needles out & asked me to get off the bed I nearly dropped, it was such an odd feeling of not being in control of my lower body, feeling tight but loose at the same time & sort of out of body. I felt physically drained as well, it's really hard to describe how strange I Felt. Easiest thing to do is go have some yourself, go on, it's really fun! Luckily the therapy centre was opposite work so propping myself up with my bike I staggered back to work. Not entirely sure how I made it through the next few hours but I did & began to feel a bit more normal on the way home.

Good job, as we had decided to take the kids out for dinner in the evening to get them out the house for a bit & make use of the mobility car to do some more family oriented things. It has certainly been a big help this holiday, with them all getting older & more mentally if not physically active I don't think the odd pushchair ride into town or the park would cut it anymore & they deserve to see & do more.

We didn't go far, just over to a local common with a child friendly pub for a relaxing meal. This would actually be a bit of a test for the twins to see how they would handle being up after their bedtime, something we want to try & push back a bit if we can.

We have always been a bit reluctant to take the kids out for dinner, part of it is us still probably being too over cautious worrying how they will react & behave in new surroundings or how we would deal with the logistics of getting them in & out of the chairs or if they would even fit in the chairs due to their size & lack of mobility but one of the good things about our recent holiday was that it forced us into the situation & for the most part it wasn't ever as bad as we thought. Obviously you still need to take precautions like moving the cutlery away, no one likes a fork in the eye after all, & always carrying a back up seating solution in case the chairs aren't suitable.

It was however a very nice evening. The chairs were easy to get the twins into, which yes I do go on about a lot but if you have to struggle to get them in it can upset them &they never settle down well after that. The kids were all brilliantly behaved, no food throwing & all eat quite well. Grace did have a bit of a session of trying to eat the crayons on the table & was "unhappy" when we stopped her but even that was not as bad as it can be. Dylan was a little disappointed that we didn't get a booth with a tv in it as some did but overall I think everyone including Mom & Dad enjoyed the evening.

We got back well past bedtimes but even though the twins were exhausted they still managed to find the strength to kick their sleep systems off before dropping off. They still are fighting this hard so next step I think is to wait until they are asleep & try & put them on without waking them. Easier said than done but I think it's worth a shot!

The bank holiday weekend was a bit uneventful as far as the kids go, I was working so we hadn't made any plans but Kerrie still managed to get them into town for a fun day they were having in the town centre, mainly for Dylan as he had seen a monster hunt & was keen to go.

On Monday Kerrie (with her Mom's help) took them all over to Trentham again. It was a lot busier than the last visit & the queue to get into the gardens was massive so she decided to just have a look around the shopping village instead. It was a struggle to get around & Dylan's behavior was less than good as well so Kerrie pulled the plug & headed back home. Sadly the kids & crowds don't mix well, something we should have realized by now, it's just a shame as it can limit activities sometimes.

Dylan went off with Auntie Jess for the afternoon so when I got back from work we decided to take Loukas & Grace out for tea to give them a bit of Mommy & Daddy time. We headed over to the common again, they had a little Wimpy there & Kerrie was feeling the call! Didn't hurt that the twins loved burgers & fries too.We didn't stay all that long, the day was catching up with both of us & we had the nightly struggle with the sleep systems to contend with when we got in.

So that was the week that was. Bit more going on this week, tomorrow (Wednesday) we're off to Oswestry to visit the movement centre again for another check up of how the twins are doing with the Targetted Training, then on Thursday Kerrie is taking Loukas over to Birmingham Childrens hospital for his MRI. Hopefully. Thinking about it it's been nearly a year since he was supposed to have had one but as regular readers know one thing after another has stopped it going ahead. Fingers crossed for this time! I've also got my next visit to the house of pain Thursday as well. Can't wait.

Thinks that's about it, probably forgotten something as usual but if it comes to me it can go in the next one!



Thanks for reading
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