Posted on October 30th, 2013 by Tracey
Another year of fundraising for Rett Syndrome research in Australia is over! We completed the Rebel Run Sydney on Sunday and raised $1,655 in the process 🙂
I am so thankful for all our family and friends coming together for Team Jovie – I still feel a bit crazy busy but it meant alot to me that we did it together.
Posted on October 16th, 2013 by Tracey
it’s been a while since i’ve had the time to blog!
you’re probably not wondering why, it’s obvious that having 3 kids was always going to be busy so i didn’t want to put any expectations on myself to blog on top of that. instagram, yes – but words don’t come easy for me.
we have been busy, yep, but everyone on this end is doing great! Jasper loved having school holidays but is back at it now – his last term of kindergarten which is totally scary. he turns 6 in a couple of weeks and is just the best big brother for Jovie and Miles.
Jovie is fantastic. we’re trying to decide on whether to enrol her into kindergarten next year (or the year after), but i think because we’ve left the enrolment so late in the year, she’ll miss out anyway. i don’t mind having another year of Jovie home 🙂
Miles is so cute! and big! we haven’t weighed him lately but he’s just turned 4 months old and has outgrown 6 month sizes, eeeeeep. he prefers to be held upright, all the time, so it’s rare for me to have 2 hands free – which is why i’m typing this up super quickly before i go make myself an early lunch. he’s been sleeping really well lately (8pm-5am) but still has his nights, it’s be expected i remind myself, and i don’t mind giving him extra attention. he’s my baby!
the spring weather has been really hot lately – something i’m learning to live with. i’ve been working on my anxiety and panic issues (which turn into agoraphobia), which has been hard but interesting. on top of that, i’ve been actively eating well and trying to be active everyday. i’m 4 months post pregnancy, my third baby, so i’m trying not to be so hard on myself because weight loss has always taken time with me. it’s interesting to be in a place where you feel like you’re starting over again – who am i and where am i going to be in a year? i know i’ll be a mum (duh) but the possibilities are always endless.
it’s already mid October, halloween is just around the corner and before you know it, it’ll be Christmas and then the start of another year. time flies!
Posted on August 19th, 2013 by Tracey
Jovie’s visit to the Rett Clinic at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead was on Friday – it’ll be an appointment we’ll attend every year, forever basically. It’s really great to have such a great team that can answer my questions and also spot things that are common with Rett. We love our regular GP, but having access to Dr Ellaway and the therapists there is such a great resource because they see girls with Rett all the time – it’s their speciality 🙂
After doing a mad rush to get all 3 kids ready before 8am, leaving Miles with Grandma and dropping Jasper at school, we navigated the morning peak hour traffic (horrific) but got there with a few minutes to spare – phew! (Though I should say, we feel lucky that the Rett Clinic is within 20 minutes of our home – I know families that travel by plane to get there).
We didn’t have to wait long (yay) before the team of therapists took us down to the play room to do an hour of therapy before our Rett Clinic appointment. There was an occupational therapist (OT), speech therapist (ST) and music therapist (MT, I guess? lol). We’d never had music therapy before – but Jovie LOVED IT. At first she didn’t know what was going on – all these new people – but she loves her music so it didn’t take long for her to warm up to it.
The MT was awesome – she’d play guitar and get Jovie to help strum. The OT would help position Jovie – and we learnt that holding one arm (gently) to her side, would encourage her to use the other arm/hand to play! The OT gave us an arm splint to use since it looked like it could come in handy (it did). The speechie would jump in there and help Jovie communicate a little better with what she wanted to do next (cymbal, drum, piano, dancing or nothing). As she was doing that, I had some great talks with the OT and ST about any issues and how we’re doing. I have a big note written down to follow up on getting the paediatric stroller for her soon, then a hi-lo bed and a hi-lo chair for mealtime.
Before we knew it, the hour was up and we went over to the Rett Clinic room.
The Dr was there, aswell as the Nutritionist and our super amazing Genetics Counsellor (who has seen us through all the Rett Syndrome stuff aswell as the CVS & Amnio I had with my last pregnancy). Again, to be in a room with people that just ‘get it’ is comforting – and Jovie was super happy to see them too!
Her checkup went well – no scoliosis, she’s eating healthily, sleeps well (for now, haha), and is doing pretty good generally. They were worried about her stomach bloating though – Jovie swallows alot of air and holds her breath but her stomach doesn’t seem to ‘deflate’. So she’s had some blood tests for lactose intolerance and coeliac disease (familiar?) – we won’t get the results for a week or so but have started on a lactose free diet just to see whether that will help.
After meeting up with Regan (he works in Westmead and happened to have a half day) and getting Jo’s blood taken, we set off home so we could pick up Jasper & Miles. A slightly busy day but an interesting one!