i love Ikea!

Today we went to Ikea to celebrate my eldest and my daughter passing their ice dance tests.

We were going to Ikea anyway... as Oatie has been looking forward to the Swedish Meatballs and fries for a while. It's also a nice place to go if you're feeling homesick as the same Ikea in the UK tastes exactly the same in Canada lol! The UK Ikea that we went to was 5 mins from our home and with their free baby meals and kid friendly environment, we found it a nice place to go where you got real plates but food on a budget. Also the refill of coffee or tea was also very nice :)

Wow, where has the time gone...

Happy Birthday! Oatie is 4!

Oatie turned 4. The main thing is that he had a brilliant day! We hadn't decided on a birthday party as such as a lot of our good friends are on holiday or about to go this week. So we'll probably have a gathering of people to celebrate his birthday in a few weeks time. I am sure he won't mind... he'll get another cake!

If you don't want to read a rant! then scroll down to the photos below! (It's about disabled people being excluded by able people)
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For me it was a day of mixed feelings, I suppose the difference between my older two's birthday and Oats. My older two at the same age, had a hall full of people... and Oatie, well not many of his peers would come.

Still even now, you think someone has got it, got Oatie and on your inner circle of Oatie Supporters... only to find that this person, when it comes down to the crunch.... is actually no different, at the core than the people who view "disability" with disdain...... it's the exclusion, I think it's the exclusion that I find the hardest. (In a nutshell, Oatie doesn't get invited to a party but a non-physically restricted person does, who both (Oatie and this boy) know the boy, both from the same place). It wasn't that Oatie didn't get invited as such, it was that it was all "secret-secret, hush-hush" as the mum was I thought from the inner circle of families that I trust. I think what it was was the fact that it was all hush-hush, but then they spoke about it right in front of me, and rubbed your face in it too... not once but over DAYS! (the boy in question and Oatie are a few days apart in age so it wasn't like he's 8 and Oaties 4) and it wasn't like she said..., "I'd like to invite him but it's going to be a boisterous kick a ball around party..." and give him the choice. It was also at her house so it wasn't like 15$ per person nor did she ask If I would stay with him as I would do.

Then the mum (also a friend of mine) from the boy who was invited... did say, when she asked about directions..."Oh I thought that Oatie would be invited, as (friends/same age/ your neighbours). and she felt bad... she then said... "ahh Exclusion.." "I was like, yep probably..." And told her not to feel bad, they can invite whom ever they want and it isn't and won't be the last time Oatie will be EXCLUDED from things.

nevertheless, you cannot be surprised at other peoples crapness... I feel like Jack Burns from "Meet the F's..." she's out my circle of trust! lol! All I wanted was honesty... and not some whisperings behind my back!

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Oatie showing off his Drinking Skills with a Glass

A new Dora DVD for his ABR Bench time...

Dora Cake with Sparklers and Candles

Today (Wednesday) Oatie and I got in 3 hours of ABR, we did one of the new style exercises and two favorites of mine. We watched one of his new Thomas Tank DVD's.

Cars 2

Today we took Oatie to see Cars2 for an Early Birthday treat. It was Fabulous !

Had the best birthday for a decade!

The last few birthdays have been fairly awful really :( ... but this birthday was just wonderful.  It was definitely more enjoyable enjoying getting older rather than lusting after an "number", or lusting after an all able bodied family too.

As you could see Birthday Eve was fabulous and on my Birthday, I woke up to Tea and Biscuits (cookies) in bed, and they were German biscuits from my 85 year old German friend from the pool Ed.  (I was born in Germany! prematurely).

For breakfast we had a full English Breakfast, Bacon, eggs, tomatoes etc... the full works with a nice teapot tea.

The older two had skating class up in town so that was nice after we popped home and went to a local farm for Lunch, everything is home made, all the fruit and veggies grown there and they raise buffalo too.... which is delicious it's like an English Tea Shop, but Western Style...   After that, we popped home and then went Glow Bowling which was fabulous, Oatie won he got 116 and I came second... with 98.  We play ten pin in England so 5 pin is a real novelty.... and I have no idea how the scoring works.. but at least these bowling balls don't break your nails lol!

After that we had home made pizza, with the cake that I made the day before, and sat down to watch a film we've all be wanting to watch together for ages and had popcorn and birthday cake to finish.  (and yes, we almost set the smoke alarms off, we lit all 33 candles!, I cheated somewhat I used the number 6 & 7 from the kids previous birthdays to make up 13 of the candles....

So it was an absolutely brilliant day and definitely the best birthday in a decade!

Happy birthday Eve Mummy...

The kids are celebrating mummy's happy birthday eve... Usually I haven't looked forward to my birthdays since 25 lol... But this year a few people my age either are battling cancer or have died... In the past year that I know. So... I decided that I'd be thankful that I've reached another birthday rather than fighting it lol!

Anyway the kids are celebrating my birthday eve as they've called it. And they're having so much fun x

You can see the happy birthday mummy chalked on the drive behind Oatie x

I did it, I ran the Half Marathon!

Last Sunday the early hours of the morning I think it was around 3am, I woke up in the night and decided I'd enter the Calgary Half Marathon. Later in the week my quad seized up and I'm like hmmmmmmm oh no! Luckily my friend who does triathlons recommended this sports body technician, calling her a physio or osteopath wouldn't fit... and anyway I found that my knee had a sheer going through it my ankle was out and turning in and my sacrum was 1.5inches higher on one side than the other. This was Thursday and this therapist said I was good to go for Sunday.

Having the reaction that you do when your body is re-aligned, I was like hmmmm not sure if I'm running. Anyway 5.30 on the morning of the run, the cramp had gone. (I did borrow Oatie's Eggs too).

So the run started at 7am, and I am not sure of the exact time I have got as they haven't published the chip times, but I believe it be between 2h12 to 2h16. I was on par to finish at 2h06, but on the last three miles where I usually would pick my pace up, my leg and ankle was feeling good and had the choice of going all out for it..... or finishing on a great time but in one piece. At which point I had to remind myself of my objective, to finish.... nothing more... I did do a 100m sprint at the end... and I didn't look up as the finish line was congested and a bit like playing frogger!

The funny bit was that I ran this Half 3 years ago, 3 days after we moved to Canada in fact and I couldn't remember my previous time. So I thought I ran it 8 minutes faster, as it turns out, I ran it around 20 minutes faster than 3 years ago.

I didn't have time to raise money for charity on this instance, however I ran it for a few reasons.

I ran for Oatie, this guy (my son) who pushes past the boundaries of everyday life everyday. He achieves what doctors say he would never achieve. He always works hard and is a boundary pusher. Every now and then I need to push the boundaries of achievement too. For me it keeps us in sync. The last time I ran it I didn't know he had CP he was 11 months old. This time I ran it, knowing he is physically impaired and well not training specifically for it and just going for it and beating the odds and funny enough beating my course PB time by around 20 minutes go to show what we can do.

I ran it to tell my body, yes your thyroid might be shot, and yes, your endocrine system is messed up.. and the whole throat lump thing..... however body, I can and I WILL. Which mirror's Oatie's philosophy.


I also ran it for me, for my soul and I find the whole experience rejuvenating.... I feel so ALIVE when I'm running that distance and to finish injury free was a total bonus especially how I was on Thursday! I can't believe that 20 minutes off my time too and I hadn't trained. I hadn't run more than 10km and the run was 21.1km.

In-between that, my eldest had his bowling party and I made him an R2D2 cake for his Starwars themed party. I wrote a post midst last week, that I haven't yet published but it's about our family's transition, probably the last straw of our family unit accepting Oatie's condition, not giving up but actually, not at all, more us, adjusting from an all able bodied family to one with physical impairment. I'll publish it later this week.

Love

Oatie's Mum
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Muggy Wednesday.. and no I'm not complaining.... I wouldn't do that!!!

Well today is MUGGY and it reminds me of the UK or (Montreal!!), it was gorgeous and sunny and Muggy!!! My friend and I did a 10k (6 miles) run it could have been a bit further but the Nike GPS had "interferrence" from what I know not... as we were outside... but we did the same route as last week but added another mile and we felt it running up this crazy hill at the end.

I'm thinking of being crazy, and running a half marathon in 8 days time with no more than 10km of the 23km under my belt. But saying that I ran 4 halfs in 12 weeks (no injury) with 2 weeks training (the first was on a dare) the next three one good friend moved 4 hours away so we decided that we could chinwag for 2-3 hours, while we ran ... (and we did, we have a classic photo of a lapped half marathon when the photographer shouted at us, you girls still chatting and we're like YEAH! and he snapped a photo of us laughing, it's still on my piano today, and I love it!) and ran this same one that I'm contemplating on running 3 days after landing in Canada, when we moved country! I'm on the mindset, and I don't care if I come last and I don't care if I have to pull out half way round... I just fancy doing it.

Oatie Climbed in to the CAR today, he needed a little bit of help... but not much. We were just about to start getting our Bench organised for our new exercises when..... The FedEx girl arrived. (OMG have you seen their uniform.... her socks were very special!!! it was like something out of St Trinians.... or Halloween... well that aside, Oatie opened our front door, I'm not sure what she thought of our little man opening the door, especially with his cheerful greeting and gorgeous manners...

Well inside, was his OTTERBOX cover!!! He saw it and shouted " my IPAD YEAH!!!! My Magic Pad YEAH!!! My Ipad is HERE!!!! YEAH!!! I waiting for Ipad YEAH" it was spontaneous and priceless and more to the point, I LOVED how he just saw the OtterBox Brand or the yellow or whatever visual cue it was and he knew that he was waiting for the otterbox to use his ipad....

Well he was straight on there playing with the Xylophone, and then he was spelling words with a match the letter game and my favourite was 24 card memory... (12 pairs) he did that and I have to say I made him do it again thinking it was some weird fluke... what I think I'm going to gain from the ipad is, I know he's very very bright... but I think I'm going to see how actually bright he is.... Well in someways it's almost a "crime" someone that bright being 'trapped' in a body that won't comply with his heart... and then you have some thug, who has perfect bio-mechanics... and (well to me that's wasted...) I'm sure what I've said is totally politically incorrect.. but hey ho... this time 8 years ago I was battling people who claimed that I was't giving birth and 10 seconds later my eldest was born! But if you look at the upside... it's people like Oatie who with that level of drive, push the boundaries and push for advancements and it's those people who can and have the potential to make a difference, I suppose I see my role as facilitating/letting him reach the full potential that he can be...

So tonight is Birthday Eve,... in the UK it would have already been the time of my eldest's birth... so we sang him an early happy birthday.. which he loved as it was to the minute... (don't get me started on leap years and the quarter day!). So my son who was born at 32 weeks, will be officially 8 in Canadian time in a few hours... 8! 8! 8!, I'm going to be cliché but it has flown, I remember holding this 3lb14oz premmie in my hand literally... and taking so so so long to change his diaper/nappy that i'd either get soaked or have to change it again, as he was so fragile and delicate and with all the monitors on him, it was like a puzzle to change him...

Oaties feeling better... Will he make a whole week of school?

Well his iPad arrived, but the Otterbox case to protect it, isn't ready for sale yet.

This is Oatie during our Egg hunt.

Oatie playing with his new playdoh

Well today he managed to pull up his own trousers for the first time, he stood up in open space and pulled them up all by himself... Look...

Today we got on 2:10 as me eldest had a choral concert ... It was lovely.

Snowy Monday!

Well, if you don't believe me, it's been snowing lots at the weekend, apparently people have seen Geese re-migrate south again! lol!

Oatie still looking wiped from flu and then his vaccine

Our trees have no signs of buds and well it's all rather odd really! I think Spring has been cancelled.

The disabled ramp had 8inches of snow, so Tina Turner biceps for me today lol!

Well since I've given up coaxing the kids in the car, we've been late, as my voice can't take it, but today, the kids actually self motivated themselves to get in the car, so we were on time, my eldest is always on time, but it's my daughter who's the one who's late. Oatie doesn't start till 8.45. My eldest is meant to be at school at 8.35am, and 12km away, my daughter is meant to be at school at 8.25 and Oatie 8.45 same place as my daughter. So I drop my eldest off first, his principle gave him permission to be early early, and the I drop the other two off after.

My ice princess on her Birthday during warm up doing an arabesque- spiral

My little girl turned 6 on Friday, and had her birthday wish, to be an ice princess. When she fell asleep, she woke in the hotel room to a huge banner and lots of balloons and her presents. I smuggled a homemade dairy free chocolate cake with icing that she didn't know about, it was a cat head of her cat. She so didn't care where she places, she bounced and high fived all the girls who got medals... I bought her a new sparkle comb for her hair to skate in and and then we went for a shop, and she got some girly things and had a nice meal in a restaurant and then they served the chocolate cake. She was so happy, she fell asleep with a huge grin on her face.

Her hair, it twinkled as she skated! lol!

Oatie meanwhile has got a renewed appreciation for rinks, he claps for ALL the skaters and cheers them all on and likes watching it, and is very sweet and now likes taking photos too.

My eldest came away with a medal for each of the events he skated in. He's near the top of his level and My daughter is just starting out. She placed well she got 4th and 5th out of 8 and the other girls were 2-2.5 years older than her so she was really pleased she did as well as she did.

Oatie Babysitting her cuddly toy... he's wiped from cheering

Today we got in 3.5 if not 4 hours of ABR. Oatie had a great day at school and my older two had their last practice before DOUBLE TEST DAY - yikes!

The last test day, I was fairly sure that my eldest would pass and he did. This test day, I don't know, if they do they do and if they don't they don't. I just said as long as you did your best and try your hardest and you fail then I don't care. If you don't practice/try and then fail then I would. All you can do is do your best, and you have two options to try and risk failure, or not try at all. The second isn't really an option in my book, to me that's not living.

So my son is testing the second dance surprising his coach with one of the new tops I made, he's looking forward to that. My daughter is wearing her new princess dress. The dance partner joked with her saying now your 6, I won't have to bend down as far. The poor guy is skating a dance in a squat with her!

The day after is the last competition of the season for us. Huge flights (groups to skate against), for my daughter, and for my son it will only be 2, he likes it when there is lots of guys to skate against, more of a challenge and more exciting. The next level up of boys will be exciting to watch, they competeded against my eldest when he first started out, and then they moved up... and the same group will be skating against each other and we haven't seen those four boys go head to head for 1.5 years... so that should be fun. My daughter will be skating against 7-8 year olds and lots of them... as the almost nine year old from our club is in the next group.

Well I had better go and fix dinner, it's home-made pizza today and the kids are decorating mini princess chocolate cakes with the dolly picks in.

Happy Birthday Oatie

Today is my 3rd Birthday, tonight we are flying to ABR for my next visit.