Kitten fun and help for Mum

I had started thinking about the fact that Asher will probably need to drop her afternoon nap soon. The thought really shook me as those 2 hours after lunch are my time to re-fuel. So it got me thinking about what else I can do to make life more manageable. I called the lady that handles the Carer Support that I get, and she confirmed that there will be no change before Asher turns 5. So I will continue to only get 2 hours a week from them. I had a great time chatting to the lady though, and she gave me some good ideas on what other options may be available to try. She was also a real encouragement to me. It's really helpful to talk to a fellow mother who has gone through the hard years of having a young child with special needs.
On Tuesday afternoon, just before the preschool closed, I headed down to have a chat to the teachers. My first goal was to find out more about options for getting extra support with Asher's care.
I was however, so impressed with the whole environment, that I immediately starting thinking about getting Hezekiah enrolled.
So on Wednesday morning I took the children (except Rachel) down for a visit. Hezekiah had a wonderful time and is so excited about starting. He will be attending on a Wednesday while I am in town with Asher at the Champion Centre.
Asher had a fun time too. The only way for her to attend is for her to have someone to care for her one-on-one. The Champion Centre are the ones that normally get this all set up. What they normally do in these situations is to get someone to spend 3 hours with the child at the preschool (I believe just once a week - which is all I would want at this stage anyway). This can only happen once the child turns 3, so I am looking into this at the right time.
It's quite an adjustment for me to think of Asher being cared for away from home, by someone else. Thankfully the preschool is just down the road from us though, so if she did have a seizure, I could get to her before it even reached the 5 minute mark.
Having never sent my children to preschool, it's all a rather big mental adjustment. I realize however, that I need to make some changes so that I can cope.
As my doctor said: "No one in the world who has accomplish something big, has done it without help." He reminded me that my task as Mum is so much harder now. And there is nothing wrong with acknowledging that I need help.
The Champion Centre will be actively involved in trying to find someone in our area to be able to help with this, as well as discussing in detail with the person where Asher is developmentally and what their care would involve.
It's a blessing to me to have them coming along side of me and helping through this all.
ABOVE and LEFT: These photos were taking in the afternoon - what wonderful rain we have been having. And it is SO needed. The drought has been really hard for the farmers.
These two had so much fun. They were sopping wet though, so enjoyed a warm bath once they came in.
Thursday 28th: It's always lovely to see how the kittens enjoy sleeping over each other.

Little Miss decided that Shadow needed a lick. So sweet.

What a sweet little face.

We have so much fun in the evening watching the kittens play.
One of their favourite activities is to play on this toy. I had just recently thought we should give it away as the children don't play much with it. I sure am glad we still have it. They have so much fun with it.

Friday 29th: When Brendon leaves in the morning for work, he regularly sees all three kittens on Shadow's bed with her. So I asked him to get a photo. So sweet. Apparently one morning they were lying on top of Shadow.

As soon as Shadow hears that we are awake, she is up and ready to go. The kittens don't agree and stay on the bed for a while. So Asher got to enjoy a little cuddle with them today.
I had to smile when I saw Hannah giving the little grey male a lesson on the iPad. She was showing him all the grey kittens on Asher's MusicColor app.

Playing with Ruth through the glass.

Hannah's jacket is enjoyed a lot as a spot for nap time.

They love the slide.

They had so much fun this evening. And we had fun watching.

We wanted to encourage the little black male to drink as he is smaller than the grey ones. Puss was not really interested in feeding them though, she just wanted to bath them. So we took Little Miss (who had been sleeping) and gave her to Puss to bath so that the wee black one could get to drink. I don't think she will be feeding them for much longer.
Thankfully they are all eating well. The little black one especially likes Puss's food. He doesn't even bother with the kitten food.
It was cute to get a photo with a kitten on each level of the cat tree. I have really enjoyed watching them playing.