Busy weeks and baking...

My little friend attends childcare on Monday and Friday.

If I am not recovering from night shift, I usually spend the day rushing around tidying, washing, vacuuming and trying to do a little baking. Like all mums, there is no 'down time,' but I always feel like I have had a productive day. I must confess today, I did however put my feet up momentarily to watch Wonderland - regrettable I know. :)

So, our week ahead is going to be full. I am working three shifts and we have 2 important appointments scheduled for Dominic. Both appointments are related to the outcome of his assessment for ASD and early intervention that needs to be commenced. I am feeling a mixture of emotions, but mostly positive and just eager to find out what the experts think we need to do. Lots of work ahead and decisions to be made.

In the spirit of positive thinking, I decided that I should make us a big fat chocolate cake. Although I still predominantly cook healthier foods, one should always make exceptions for treats don't you think? 

I got this recipe from BabyMac. If you haven't checked Beth's blog out, you really should.
The cake is called "Anne" (check her blog out for the reasons why), and according to Beth, is the 'perfect' chocolate cake.

Here is a photo of my version of 'Anne'. It was delicious - the perfect accompaniment to my pre-night shift coffee and will undoubtedly put spring into my step for what should be a very productive week.

Happy Tuesday lovely readers!

Don't forget to check out my instagram account http://instagram.com/homeandfreesias

Life changes....

Lovely readers.......

So, I have been missing in action for sometime. I have deliberated long and hard about writing this post.

Do I need to even explain to you why I haven't written for so long? I do feel like I owe you an explanation though. I love this blog. I have missed this blog but there may be a few things that I mention from time to time now, that are new. That I haven't mentioned before. Quite a few things, life changing things have happened in our family since I last wrote.

I don't want to go into too much detail. It would take me days to write all the things that have happened in our little family over the past 6 weeks. Hopefully, by letting people know where we are at, they will understand why at the moment things that may be so easy for some families, like having a BBQ in the park, are just that little bit harder for ours. I hope that by letting people know about Dom's ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder), you won't feel sorry for me/us - we are the lucky ones to have such a beautiful little boy after all. I just want you to be aware and maybe on the odd occasion, just let me 'vent' - through this little blog.

I will have some friends who read this post today, who I have not spoken to about Dominic. 

I am sorry that I haven't called you and told you personally. It is not the easiest conversation to have with people - 'Gee, the weather has been great hasn't it? Did I mention that Dom has ASD?' See what I mean? 

It does feel strange to even have the word 'Autism' feature in my conversations with people. I am still not a fan of this word. Hopefully in time I will feel differently. Nor am I a fan of the word 'disability'. If anything, I feel like being on the spectrum has the potential to 'en-able' Dominic in ways that you and I can only imagine.

We have had tremendous input from health care professionals so far, and a lot of care and support provided by our family and friends and for me, particularly my brilliant friends at work. 

Dominic is three, the greatest age to begin early intervention for ASD. 

Dominic talks - mostly when he wants something or has something that he wants to share with you. 

In our situation this is usually to talk about numbers ('1,3 and 5 are odd Mummy!) or trains. Boy, do we love trains - and home appliances :)

 The difference for Dom, unlike some children with ASD, is he is trying so hard to engage with us and people, particularly other children around him. He loves Montessori (we love his teachers too!) and he wants to be part of his little community. He is making that very clear to us and the health care professionals that have met him during his assessment process. This is tremendously reassuring. 

We have good reason to believe that with early intervention, he will thrive. Just to be able to ask him how his day has been and for him to answer us and smile, will be the most unbelievably brilliant day. For him to wave me off to work will be amazing! Dominic did wave when he was 9 months old. This soon stopped, never to be done again - in retrospect, one of our early warning signs.

We are not sure what early intervention will involve at this stage. I will keep you posted. 

In the meantime, I am back. 

I still love decorating, photography, baking and gardening except now, I am also the mother of a gorgeous little boy with ASD.

x

This photo was taken at the Kindy Disco a few weeks back. We did dance together but the disco lights were far more appealing :)