The holidays have began!

With Christmas now past....and I hope you all had a fantastic day, the holidays here have well and truly begun and although we are still busy it's somewhat easier now that we don't need to worry about kids and school until the 2nd of Feb 2009. Now talking about Christmas we had a wonderful day, we had 2 back up plans in place for Lance if the strategies we put together fell apart but he managed well enough and that meant Tim and I could relax somewhat and just keep an eye on Lance and check in with him throughout the day.

We spent the day over at Tim's parents, 17 of us all up and all of them being from Tim's side but it was so nice to catch up with his older sister and her hubby, Tim's niece and her hubby and their 3 children and Tim's nephew and his wife of course with grandma and grandpa and our family crew. The day was perfect, the food was gorgeous and it was just nice to sit back and relax with family and loved ones.

So what did Santa bring you ask......lol! Ok first up the boys got an XBOX 360 Elite Bundle, Lance got one of the guitar hero thingies as well, Maddi got Star Wars Clone Wars DVD, they both received extra games for the XBOX, new doona covers and the typical stocking stuffer thingimajigs such as jocks, lollies, smelly packs...you know the deodorant, shower gel things all bundled together and money. The girls got a Wii.....lol I still think it's funny, Wii Fit, Wii Music and the Wii Sports and another game was bundled with the Wii console itself as well and new sheet sets. The santa stocking stuffer thingimajig stuff with knickers and manicure sets, lollies and money.

The family recieved a PS2 with new games and Tim got a bunch of DVD's to do with motorbikes and new jocks and I was so lucky this year because I got a DSLR....woohoo yep a brand spanking new Canon EOS 1000D Twins Lens DSLR. We were all so so so fortunate and thankyou SANTA!!!

Guess what? Received a phone call today and my grandmother is now officially moving into a nursing home on Wednesday, yep New Years Eve. So today I made that all official and tomorrow I need to go to the hospice she has been in for almost 2 months and let her know the good news even if she will forget 10 secs later and start packing and sorting her things not only there but at mums too. The wonderful thing about it is once she is moved and settled which may take awhile then she can call her new room home and be looked after well. More paperwork to do of course but we are finally seeing a few positives in this horrendous time we have had this year and I tell you I will be glad to see the back of 2008 although I said the same thing in 2007 but truly I figure it cannot possibly get any worse then what we went through this year.

Lance is doing well and we just hope and pray it stays that way for a little. Would you like to hear (well read) some more great news? Of course you would....Lance is getting a support worker and he starts work with Lance on the 5th of January. He will come in slowly and build up a repore with Lance and then support him with activities through the week such as gym (he has been funded a brand new gold gym membership for 3 months), shopping, and things like that. It has been a huge positive and Lance and Tim and I have met the support worker who is a young fellow of 20 years of age. Armed already with a wealth of experience he has accepted working with Lance and it was made official just before Christmas.

Onto some more good news Stephanie is now part of the Young Carers Support Network (part of the Carer's Support Services in your local area here in Australia) and 2 Saturdays ago she had her first official outing with a number of kids who are all in similar support/carer situations. An afternoon at the local swimming pool, water slides, pizza's, cans of drink, some new friends and all paid for as well. So if you have a young carer in your home (although we have 3 you can only choose one) then please check out Young Carers which is a part of the Carers Support Services in your area.

Ok well that's about all the news there is for now and no I haven't done any recent LO's, sad I know but I just haven't the time. Once my grandma is settled in her new nursing home, Lance has all the services and help put in place which is slowly starting but getting there finally and the family gets some much needed respite then and maybe then I will have a little more time to get back to my passion with scrapping..... we can only hope and pray for another miracle can't we??!!!!!!!!.

Till next bloggin' I wish all of you wherever you are in this world of ours a truly wonderful and exciting New Year and all the very best for 2009. Hugs Chris xoxo

Merry Christmas!

To all my friends, followers and bloggers alike I wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas wherever you in the world and however you celebrate this special time of year. I know that there is so much emphasis placed upon present giving and receiving but remember the true meaning of Christmas - celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and what that means to mankind. I look forward to waking up in the morning and watching my children, although all teens, excitedly unwrapping gifts placed specially under our tree.

This year has been an exceptionally difficult and horrendous year for my family, but you know things are looking up and even though it is still very difficult and there is so much happening......so much of that is for Lance and we are finally starting to get services in place for him.

Anyway that's a story for another time but for now it has just gone past midnight here on Christmas Day and while I sit and type these words I am thinking of so many of you but I am also thinking of how things have changed in my world and my life and for the first time my dad is not here with us to celebrate Christmas (RIP Dad xoxoxoxo), this year my mother is in Melbourne celebrating it with others and this year my grandmother is celebrating it in hospital.....wow who would have ever thought such a day could be completely transformed as such but this year I still have my husband Tim and our 4 kids and I love them all dearly.

With much love to you and your families MERRY CHRISTMAS and may your day be filled with cherished moments, fabulous memories, beautiful people and kids full of giggles. Hugs Chris xoxo

All things Formal!

Isn't she gorgeous?!!! Yep that's my DD Grace at her year 10 formal last week and as much as I had tried to blog about it earlier silly blogger was having a few troubles so we will try, try again. It was a gorgeous night and the girls all looked beautiful and hey don't worry the photo with the wine glasses is non alcoholic and nothing more.

These are just a few that were taken on the day/evening and we do have some professional photos due this week and I can't wait to get my hands on them. Grace and her friends hired out a stretch limousine for the evening which took not only her but 9 of her friends to the formal. Once there we had kids arriving in all sorts of transport. Harley Davidson's, mustangs, vintage cars, rodeo utes, more limousines and one kid arrived in a supermarket trolley adapted as a side car fitted to a push bike which was pretty impressive and fun. We even had a few fellows hire out a helicopter and fly in now that was pretty awesome to see. Oooh I can't wait to see how the professional photos have turned out and Grace had a few done which we pick up later this week along with a professional DVD.

Ok so what else is new you ask!!!! Hummmmmm....I have finished inspecting the nursing homes (all 7 of them for high levels of care) here where we live and have popped the preferences down now and we just wait for a bed to come up in one of them and take it. Some paperwork is done and we just wait for that to be processed, receive the findings of that and take it to the next step once done. Considering all the difficulties everything is being done and nanna is doing well.

Lance has been well although still on a high and his last visit to the paediatrician suggests that Lance is bipolar which we have believed for a long time now as the pattern is there and so is the behaviours associated to each state of mania. That is something I know I will be bringing up this week with his psychiatrist and what her thoughts are on that.

Maddison started on dexamphetamines a month ago for ADD and the meds have been somewhat beneficial. His review appointment with the paediatrician was last Thursday and he now wants Maddi to start on Ritalin so we are wading through all that and we are seeing the benefits thus far. Of course the school Maddi is attending is finally acknowledging that Maddi indeed has learning difficulties and that he needs lots of help. However until a full diagnosis is made and we find out whether or not Maddi is indeed autistic or not with ADD the school may not be able to manage or fund the help he needs if at all they can as when questioned by the paediatrician about what supports can the school offer to those who have learning difficulties they mentioned zero.

The girls are doing well and everyone is now finished school and on holidays so it's going to be a long break for us. I haven't been able to do anymore Christmas shopping and so I am way behind and then there's Grace's birthday on the 23rd which I haven't even had time to think about. Appointments are still full on no end in sight there although thankfully I have finished looking at nursing homes but still with both my boys receiving help and Christmas drawing upon my far too quickly I still need that clone. You know I haven't stopped doing hospital rounds since midway through September and I am still there most days as I deal with nanna's stuff and visit her. Today I am taking up a small Christmas tree, some decs, stocking and tinsel and decorating her room. We are allowed and so I thought why not. Anyway I had better love ya's and leave ya's as I have the cleaning lady coming in half an hour and I'm not dressed....rofl! Till next bloggin' stay safe and take care, hugs Chris xoxo

Yay it's done it's finally done!

I can't believe I finally got out there on Thursday and did the bulk of my Christmas shopping. Not only is most of it done but now I can sit back and relax that apart from Grace's birthday shopping (23rd of Dec) and the stocking stuffers I am done and for me this year that has been a huge achievement.

Oh and did you want to "hear" some exciting news?! Yeh you did, ok then here we go. A few months ago Lance's tv simply stopped working. Now to those of you out there thinking yeh so just replace it and we'll be fine, well we simply couldn't afford to and so Lance kinda took over our main tv in the lounge watching all HIS fave shows etc etc which has caused some difficulties for the rest of us.

Anyway his case manager and psychiatrist found out, decided that because of Lance's many difficulties and the impact it has on the family, that he needed his own space within his room and his own tv. A funding application had to be made, put in for approval further up the line and if approved we would be funded a new tv. Guess what..... the approval took about a week and we received that funding yesterday and Lance is the new owner of a flash new 32"LCD TCL tv. How awesome is that and already he has set up his DVD player and XBOX and even his computer can be connected to it and just in one day it has made the hugest difference. So a huge thank you to our health system here because with that small amount of funding it has made the biggest difference. Oh and there are a number of extra digital channels he can access too, something like an extra 19 ....not bad 'eh! Check it out below!

L32E9AD 32' (81cm) Integrated High Definition LCD

Features
Built in HD tuner
8 ms response time
3000:1 Contrast Ratio
Viewing Angle 178º (H) 178º (V)
Resolution (pixels): 1366 x 768
Colour: 16.7 Million
Stereo
3 x HDMI Version 1.3a, YPbPr, VGA
S-Video Input
AV input
Parental control/Child Lock
Wall mountable (bracket not included)
Teletext DTV
Analogue tuner
CEC control simple to connect with DVD etc
Super power saver( standby < 1 W)
Hotel lock
3 Year Warranty

PURE AWESOMENESS!!!

I am now starting to look at high level care nursing homes for my grandmother. There are 7 of them for me to inspect of which 2 I have already made an appointment for next week with those I need to and once fully done 5 of them will be put down as preferences and we wait for a bed from those 5 to come up and then move her to her new home. All the paper work, the assessments, all the legal documents and the difficulty with it all as mum still wishes to maintain being her full time carer and power of attorney but doesn't want to do anything she needs to, has to or is responsible for. That makes things extremely difficult in any legal matter. So we do what we can with the Doctor and Social Worker who are there helping me with what's necessary.

Oh and guess what? We have finally put up the tree. It went up last Saturday and stayed naked until I found some time to pop the decs on it but slowly it is coming together and I just need to add a few more along with an angel topper and all will be done, promise I'll take a pic when it's finished!

Well I think that's it for today but how 'bout that pure visual in Lance's new TV?!.....total awesomeness!!!! Ok take care, stay safe and until next bloggin' be cool, hugs Chris xoxo

Pinch and a Punch......

....for the first of the month. Yep that's right here downunder it's Monday the 1st of December, the first day of summer and not too many sleeps left before Santa arrives. Have you been good or bad, naughty or nice?

Life is still full on here and there is just more and more being added to my already overflowing plate. Yesterday I had a bad day and today is not the greatest either. Things that take place, decisions made without my knowledge, things said that just make you go mummmmmm and that effect you so badly that you feel worthless, useless and downright low that at times my life really sucks.

Lance has been ok for the past couple of days although we had a serious issue with him and Maddi on Wednesday night which ended in major meltdowns all round. He is on a major high at the moment so we ride the waves with that, some extreme and some not so, and wait for him to crash and burn again as he usually does once the high hits its peak and he comes down off it.

Grace has finished school, her exams are over and done with and now the next exciting thing is the YR10 formal on the 10th of this month. Talk about long holidays though.....weeks and weeks it feels. Both Maddi and Steps are still there for 2 more weeks and then they are finished for the year and how we are going to survive these holidays will be a miracle in itself. With everyone home, not having enough to do, different routines and day to day boredom (so say the kids) it will not only be difficult but it will be so draining - physically and mentally and I usually love the holidays.

No scrapping at all this time round. No digi and no paper as I just have no time to concentrate or even think along those lines. I am still fully and heavily dealing with the dramas of my poor dear 95 yr old grandmother which has taken on it's own complexities with me in the middle of all the drama and trying to do what's right for her with the doctor's, social workers, nursing staff in my favour and then my mum throwing a real doozy in the midst of it all.

This week is just as full on as any other week and today already there are 3 appointments and I am just filling in time before I go off to the next one. Not enough time to do anything else but thought I would grab this time to update my blog.

On the positive though we had home help start last week and from here onwards for at least the next 6 months someone will come in once a week and clean our home. Just the basics so sweeping, vaccuming and mopping floors, cleaning the bathroom and if time permits a little dusting. In that time I hope to get a chance and take a "breather" and catch up on my emails, snail mail and phone calls to those that need to be contacted and I don't feel guilty at all. I simply can't do it so if getting someone in to take a little pressure off this family then that works in my favour for sure and although we have to pay for it at least I know it's done.

Well that's it for today I hope you all had a good weekend and and for those on the other side of the world I hope your having a great weekend. So till next time take care and stay safe, hugs Chris xoxo