Six Years.

Six years..... gone in the blink of an eye.

Six years ago tonight, I was in the throes of labour, eagerly awaiting the arrival of my beautiful girl.

At 1:44am, Miss Cooper Mikyla was born - in that moment, I changed forever - for in that moment, I became "Mummy".

A full head of dark, soft hair... a squished little nose, ten fingers, ten toes

 - and a pout, oh that pout! 

I fell instantly in love with this beautiful girl. (Little did I know, she would be just as beautiful on the inside, as the outside....)

Over the last six years, I've had the pleasure of watching as Cooper has grown - from squishy bundle, 

to smiley baby, 

cheeky toddler,

 (Actually make that REALLY cheeky toddler!)

and now - the sweet-natured and absolutely beautiful girl that we all know and love.

It's rare that a day goes by without somebody taking the time to find me and compliment Cooper.... telling me of a sad child she has comforted, a thoughtful gesture, or just gushing at her sweetness (and fragility).

As a mother, nothing warms my heart more than to hear that Cooper is a well-loved (and highly-thought-of) child... but I'm afraid I can take little credit. That sweetness is intrinsic to her - it's nature, not nurture. I'm incredibly proud of this little girl - and feel SO blessed to have the gift of raising her.

To Cooper - who I'm certain will stumble upon this at some point in her life (that's what Google is for, yeah!?)... Thank you. You light up my world like nobody else (and yes, that's a "One Direction" reference, but so very apt!) and I am honoured to call you my daughter.

I love you, my beautiful girl,

Mummy xxxxxx

Random Ramblings... and a dishwasher named "Emily"

Been flat out in our neck of the woods!


The move is complete, my battles with Telstra are ongoing (whose aren't!?) and after a doozy of a meltdown in the REA's office - I have my bond back on the old house.


The girls are both loving the new house. I'm happy to have some places to put stuff.


We also now live near a park ;) 

We now have a dishwasher, named "Emily" (It's got "Emilia" stamped on it, I'm guessing it's the brand but overheard Cooper telling Bailey that 'she' has a name, haha)


In other exciting news - Bailey now has an awesome pod/egg/swing chair - just need to work out how/where to hang it! I entered a FB competition and thanks to a computer glitch, a group of awesome people, and the generosity of EQUATOR Homewares, B has somewhere to go to chill out!


We've also just started with an OT - B will have her initial appointment on Tuesday and I'm looking forward to working with her to (hopefully) get the monster on the road to a good start to school in 2013!


Cooper's showing signs of anxiety/depression, so off to the psych with her - can't blame her living with 2 quite unstable people! Poor kid is feeling quite awful and coming out with phrases such as "It feels like my whole family is dead" or "It's like everyone wants me to kill myself" ... for a generally-happy 5yo it's pretty concerning to be dealing with this stuff and I'm thinking it needs to be sorted out!

In more positive news! It's been birthday-central in these parts of late!


C&B were invited to a big sis/little sis party on Saturday, before heading to their Dad's place to celebrate his birthday...then back Sunday to celebrate MY birthday, before heading to Brissy with Daddy for another kiddy party. 


Add to that their own party on the 26th and you can imagine the excitement! B has requested a "rainbow party" and C wanted Katy Perry to come along (and um... do the face painting haha) 


Does anyone have any party-related hints, tips, or DIY info they'd like to share? I'm thinking I need all the help I can get! 

Putting it out there....

Laying here in bed, late on a Wednesday night - I've just posted the list of female Aspergers traits from Rudy Simone's "Aspergirls" on my FB wall - and the replies received made me wonder:

How often, if at all, do you think that Aspergers in women is actually misdiagnosed as PND?

Personally - I think AS is responsible for many of the issues I faced, which led to a PND diagnosis upon the birth of my girls.

Babies and children change our routine, they are demanding, noisy, require lots of touch and interaction. They often don't make sense and disturb thought processes or important things we are doing. They present us with many, many, many things that Aspies find challenging - yet we love them, so then comes the guilt.

Had I received my diagnosis pre-children, perhaps I'd have been a little kinder to myself when struggling immensely with all of the above. I know that already, a few months down the track, I'm beginning to change how I respond to my shortcomings - rather than wonder why I fail as a mother, I'm acknowledging that I can and will often respond differently to others, and that it's ok for things not to come naturally at times. I'm learning my limits and how to stay within them whilst meeting the needs of the girls.

Would be very interested to hear the opinions of others on this one!

Shopping Centre Showdown.... ASD Mumma Style!

Had my first "shopping centre showdown" today - 


After a big day out, I had to stop in at Coles to get something for dinner and B started to lose it.... screaming and stamping and starting to hyperventilate.


We exited with our pumpkin, potatoes and milk - not stopping to browse etc. Just a necessity shop.


An older man sitting on a bench outside the supermarket let out a loud "OH WOULD YOU SHUT HER UP!"


Well... he picked the wrong Mumma on the wrong day (it's been a doozy!) ... I politely (and loudly ;)) informed him that B has Autism, and that he should think twice before being so quick to make judgements in future.


I didn't hang around for a reply... I really didn't expect one though!


The loveliest American lady came past me afterwards and almost made me cry, with her kindess and understanding.


Way to cap off Autism Awareness Month - I'm hoping if nothing else, old mate will think twice in future before mouthing off ;)

Microwave Babies?

Mummy do we put babies in the microwave when we are making them? Or do we just mix them? What do we put in the bowl to make the babies? I want two girl babies, how do two girl babies get in the tummy? ... Bailey, age 3

While there's silence...

Crazy just doesn't do it justice!


This week has been..... challenging! After having a backyard full of police and forensics and detectives early last week (the people renting the granny-flat behind me were doing a spot of cooking...) I made the (very easy!) decision to move the heck out of my house.


So - this week has been filled with mountains of paperwork! Thankfully the "finding a house" part was easy.. but then there was the application, the letters to get out of my lease here, the signing of the lease at the new place, the bond loan application and finally - the changing-over/redirection of LOTS of stuff!


Oh, and on top of this - filling out all the paperwork for Centrelink and Autism Queensland to get the ball rolling for funding etc for Miss B!


Add in the whole packing/moving drama and it's been a tad chaotic! (So chaotic, in fact - I completely forgot about B's daycare photos - conveniently planned for 2 days this week that she does NOT attend care! Thanks to the school mum who reminded me! Oh, and it looked like a great shot!)


So - in light of this - I've not had a lot much else to share (I see I posted last week about B being sick, but actually have no recollection of doing so. I never claimed to have a functioning brain though ;)


On the upshot - the new house is gorgeous (check out this kitchen!!)

2 more sleeps! Woohoo!!


Oh, and excuse me if I'm doing this wrong, but have bluffed my way through joining the IBOT fun ;)

Miracle Recovery

B's been sick - I'm talking "can't keep water down, and vomiting green foamy stuff" sick.

Poor possum was miserable and I was worried about dehydration, so off to the GP we plodded.

Receptionist noticed us and sighed, "Oh you poor little darling".... (It was about now that I realised B was also sans-underpants.... oops, thankfully I had some in the car!)

Sat and waited for 10 minutes or so... in that time Cooper needed a drink, so she and Bailey helped themselves to some water from the cooler.


By the time we got into the GP's office, B was giggling, skipping, and being her usual defiant self.


She kept the water down, and was told off for stealing a handful of flyers on the way out of the centre.


I'm thinking divine intervention? Or a cruel joke... I had hoped for a nanna nap today, boo!

(Glad she's feeling better though :))