Mushrooms, teeth and eyes

Wed 7th: Asher spotted this game when we arrived today and started playing with it straight away. She has been working on verbalising her colours and shapes. I didn't even know she knew any shapes - but it sounds like she does.

Treat time for Ruth and I. It was a little cooler today, so I enjoyed a scone and cream (so just Ruth's ice cream Sunday tall enough to be in the picture).

Thursday 9th: Enjoying some time outside throwing and catching bean bags. It's so good to see the variation to games that has been able to be introduced so quickly.
This evening she had a seizure just before 9pm. Thankfully just short 1 minute ones again this week.

Friday 9th: I got a quick glimpse of Asher's daily plan when I dropped her off this morning. So much detail and so much effort put into helping Asher, each step of the way. I am so thankful.
Primary assembly today. It didn't go as well as last time, but it's all a learning process. Some good things came from it.
Asher received her "Welcome to Whero" certificate today.


We had quite a few mushrooms in the garden again today, but different to last weeks ones. In shape colour and size.
This was the huge one that we brought in to try and find out if it was edible. We got different feedback (some saying it's a safe field mushroom and others saying it looked too pink underneath). So in the end we didn't risk it.
The comment I most appreciated was: "Doesn't leave 'mushroom' for anything else on your plate." :-)
No photos from the weekend. Anastasia had been feeding more at night for a few nights (1:30am, 3:30am, 5:30am), so I was exhausted. I ended up staying home on Sunday morning while the rest went to church.
Anastasia and I had such a long sleep through the morning. We were asleep by around 10 and only woke just before 1 when they got home. It was just what I needed to feel more alive again. I'm guessing she is going through a "growth spurt" and hopefully it will settle soon.
Monday 12th: Hezekiah has been enjoying Anastasia a lot over the last couple of weeks. So it was nice to catch this photo today of him chatting to her. She is so lovely and responsive - so it's very rewarding chatting to her. :-)
At 1:15 Asher had her first seizure at school. It was only about 40 seconds but the strange thing was that she was conscious. She didn't fall over but grabbed Rachiel and was very stressed by it, breathing very quickly and clearly scared, so I'm glad it stopped so quickly.
Tuesday 13th: A busy day in town for me today. First was Ruth's orthodontist check up. She has lost 3 baby teeth since her last check up. She still has a lot on the top to come out.
Her mouth is still pretty crowded. They plan to see her again in 9 months. The good thing about this is that we don't pay for these follow up appointments. We only paid for the original one - and all the follow ups are free.
They will make their money when it's eventually time to do some work in getting them straight (she has one top tooth totally in the wrong place, biting behind the bottom ones).
And then we headed to the hospital for Asher's follow up eye appointment. Thankfully today was a quick appointment and they didn't need to put drops in (which you have to wait for 30 minute to dilate the pupils).

The first blessing was that when we arrived there was a mobility parking spot available (Asher has a mobility parking permit as it's really hard with her to keep her safe around roads).
We were 40 minutes early and so I anticipated a very long wait. I was really pleased when I was able to get Asher to play with a big 4-in-a-row game they had there. She does love posting, so it did appeal to her (and they have a similar one in her classroom). This was a huge blessing as previously Asher didn't even want to look at things in the room but stuck to her familiar toys and her iPad, to keep her from getting stressed about the unfamiliar room.
The next blessing was that we didn't wait long at all (I was just about to take a photo of her playing and we got called). So we were all done before her appointment was even due.
The check up went really well too. The lady was really friendly and good with Asher. She asked if she was verbal and I said no. So she checked without asking Asher to answer any questions.

She even managed to get photos of her eyes on just the 2nd attempt. So many blessing that I left feeling so very thankful. I even had enough energy to make a stop at some shops on our way home. Not an easy thing to do with Asher and Anastasia, but we put Asher into a trolley seat and Anastasia was in her car seat in the trolley (and then Ruth had a 2nd trolley for the shopping). We got Rachel some potting soil for her gardening projects and some other things we needed (like a new washing line). Anastasia did so well through the whole day. So much time out and so much time stuck in her car seat. I couldn't have asked for the day to have gone any better.
Rachel made mac-n-cheese for dinner which is always much enjoyed. Ruth decided to let Asher help dish up (her 2nd helping). It was lovely having Ruth with for the day and it's the one negative about her going to school. I love how she interacts with her younger siblings. She is such a great big sister.
Anastasia had a great time this evening with Dad playing "This is the way the ladies ride". She was laughing so much that I got my phone to try and get a video. As soon as she saw it she got very serious though. She was eventually smiling again at me, but no more laughing. It was so much fun to watch though.