Katy's Beliefs

I've been having a hard time figuring out what to post about lately. Well, Katy over at Bird on the Street, posted this list and I thought it was great and needed to be shared. I hope you enjoy it!

Don't you just love #20?

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in NICU parents

Twinmama over at The Galli-ringo Family posted this article today. It talks about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in parents of NICU babies.

I can relate...as I'm sure many of you can. I thought it made for some interesting reading.

The words I hate

I really don't mind talking about Ben and his CP. Most of the time, I actually enjoy it. I like it that people are interested. I enjoy educating them. Mostly, I think I just like to talk about how amazing my Ben is.

But there is one comment that alot of people make that I absolutely hate. It doesn't always sound exactly the same but the meaning is the same. Basically the person thinks that I should be grateful that Ben isn't worse off. Basically,

IT COULD BE WORSE.

I get what they are saying. I really do. I AM GRATEFUL. I am filled with gratitude each and every single day. I read ALOT of blogs. Most of these blogs are written by moms with a special needs child (or children). And there are kids out there that are a lot worse off than Ben.

There are kids on feeding tubes and oxygen. There are kids who are blind or deaf or both. There are kids who don't have speech. There are kids with cancer and brain tumours. And there are kids that don't make it.

I GET IT. It really could be worse.

But don't they get it? Don't they understand that it SHOULD be so much better. Don't they see that Ben should be able to walk and run and jump? Don't they understand that Ben shouldn't have to spend hours each week in therapy? Don't they get it that Ben should be able to play tag and hide-n-go-seek and kick-the-can? Don't they know that Ben should be able to dance at his wedding?

I know that they are just trying to make me feel better. But for some reason, it doesn't. For some reason, it makes me feel that they really aren't trying to understand our situation at all. For some reason, it feels more like they are just trying to make themselves feel better. They want to think that we have it good. That things aren't really so bad for us.

When the reality of the situation is...IT SUCKS. But of course...it could suck even worse.

Just around the corner...

Our backyard last Fall

My favourite time of the year is just around the corner. I love Fall. I start thinking about it every year starting sometime in June...probably on the first hot day of the summer. I think it must stem from when I was a kid. I loved "Back to School". I loved getting new clothes and school supplies and heading back to school to see what all my friends had been up to all summer.

Now I love Fall for many reasons. Cool mornings followed by warm afternoons. The colours of the leaves. Halloween. Football Season. Thanksgiving. Apple picking.

I also get to be ME (yes, just plain old me...not wife, not mommy...ME) for most of the month of October. I work in October. It's the only time where I actually work and get paid. And I actually get on a plane and leave my husband and kids. That's hard but it's great to just be me for part of the year.

Oh...and another awesome part of Fall...getting ready for Christmas...and maybe even that first snowfall.

What's your favourite time of year?

52 Hours

As I've posted before, Ben has been doing very well with Speech. He's been in Speech Therapy for about 4 months now (once per week). When he first started, he had about 5 words...although he had stopped using them. Now, it's a completely different story. I'd guess he has 40 words. Maybe more. He doesn't form any 2-word sentences yet but he's very verbal.

He had Speech Therapy this morning and she's so happy with him, she doesn't want to see him for SIX MONTHS! I was thrilled. I knew she was going to cut back how often she saw him, but I had no idea that we'd get 6 whole months off. Granted, she wants to see him if he's not forming 2-word sentences by November. But I'm sure he will.

So basically, I have 52 hours per year to fill up. I'm not quite sure what to do with it.

Wish List Wednesday

For my first instalment of "Wish List Wednesday", I only have one wish. I want a picture like this...only with my kids in it...

Our morning walk...in photos

Most days of the week the boys and I head out for our morning walk. I try to get out of the house by 8:15 and we get back around 9am. Somedays I don't say much and use the time to hear myself thing. But other times I use the walk to try and show them new things and teach them new words.

Here they are as we head out. All summer they have loved wearing their "GAP" hats. But they wouldn't wear their sunglasses. Well, on this day, they decided they had to wear their glasses. Aren't they just adorable???

Doesn't Daniel look oh so serious in this pic? He's probably checking all the "cucks" (i.e. trucks) in our neighbourhood. The neighbours are doing renovations so there has been lots of activity on the court these days.

Ben looks almost sad in this photo. I'm not sure why...but he's totally cute though.

(Just a side note...early in the spring he couldn't sit up in the stroller and would just lie back in it. To get him more straight up and able to see the world, we used to put a rolled up towel behind him. But he doesn't need that anymore, he sits up nice and tall and checks out the world. Just another sign of how far he's come.)

I'm not sure what they're "talking" about in this photo but it was just too cute to leave out. Ben is on the right and obviously explaining something to Daniel.


At this point in the walk, they have found something that has piqued their interest. They are freaking out here (although Daniel doesn't look like it here). I decided to take a picture of this thing of interest...

A digger!!! How exciting! They were just thrilled to see this on our walk. But they were confused why it wasn't doing anything. So they then kept saying "stuck". And I agreed. Yes, it must be stuck and that's why it's not doing anything.

On this walk, I taught them what the sky is. I explained that's where the birdies and the airplanes are. A plane actually flew overhead and Daniel is pointing to the sky and saying "sky" in this shot.

I also took the opportunity to teach them what a Stop Sign is. They were quite excited and kept saying "top"... and for the rest of the walk, when we came across one I would do an exagerrated stop at each one. They loved it.

And here they are at the end of our walk. We got home just as our nanny was arriving and as you can see, Ben was very happy to see her.