This Week

The first week of holidays is always welcome. It started off with the promise of our washing machine being fixed (this didn't happen). Tuesday was a day with Kiran at Harrow. We had a great session at Gymboree and then shopping time. The theme for Gymboree was Push and Pull. We played with balls, pushed the air log, sang, danced and of course climbed. Kiran's friend Indraneal was there, they played well together. Wednesday Kiran went to Nursery so I could finish my studying - yippee, it's all done! Thursday the weather wasn't great but we went to Odds Farm with Kiran's Godmum, Bridget. Kiran loved all the animals. He was able to sign or name most of the animals and loved the huge slides, bikes and the open spaces for running around in.

Pride, pride, pride

Yip, I am very proud of the choir that went to The Royal Albert Hall. They had a very long, at times boring, day and performed brilliantly. All of the parents came to say 'Thanks and they enjoyed it'. That is a rarity in teaching these days. Unfortunately the role of a teacher has taken on more social work and many parents now expect more and more. So it was great to get such a sincere thank you. The kids performed really well and even were commented on by another school. When I signed up for the performance I didn't realise that I would be performing as well - I did ok. What a great honour to perform at the Royal Albert Hall.

Royal Albert Hall

Today was a great Mum and Son day. Ian was off doing a garden and K and I had a great day in the backyard playing in the tree mansion. The neighbours came over and had a great time.

Tomorrow I am taking my school choir to the Royal Albert Hall for a concert. I can't wait. It is a very prestigious opportunity to sing there. It will be a very long day. We won't be back til way after 11. Ian and Kiran have tickets so hope Kiran is ok. He normally is ok with a late night as long as he can see things happening.

I am now on holiday - yippee!

One week on ...

I have been really busy at work. We have our link school Headteacher visiting from Uganda. We have eaten out every night and taken him around the sight of London. He leaves on Sunday. Watch this space for an update.

Kiran has had a bug since Thursday night. Very messy and not the best time in the world for the washing machine to break down - grrr! Ironically the bug does not effect Kiran's enthusiasm or energy. In fact he thought it was funny being sick - weird kid! As for the washing machine - hand washing novelty has long worn off. Hope it can be fixed soon.

On Sunday my choir will be singing at the Royal Albert Hall. I am really looking forward to it.

Roll on the weekend and a long needed break.

Seven!

Thats how many test tubes of blood they took from my arm today. They are investigating the antiphospholipd syndrome for lupus as well. We wait til 30 June to see what comes of that.

The weather has gone very windy and cooler today. There is even snow in Scotland.

Kiran made a beautiful picture today. He was very proud of it. He jabbered away for ages telling me about each perfectly placed splotch (I mean artistic rays of light).

Not much else happening here. Although I did reconfirm today that Ian can't read maps!

Happy Mothers Day

To all the mums out there, hope you had a great day.

I certainly did. Firstly Kiran had a sleep in til 8:30 then we had great time watching the Muzzy video. Kiran thought it was hilarious when I threw the washing in the bathtub. (Our washing machine blew up yesterday). We then went outside to hang it out, Kiran was straight into his tree mansion. He hasn't seen it for at least 3 months. He had great time with the balls and hammering etc. Then Kiran broke another record and had a sleep for another 4 hours. We raced up to the shops and got some fresh mint for dinner. By the time K had his dinner and was in the bath Ian arrived home from the contest. They got third - woo hoo!

Time for bed now. I am off to the hospital again tomorrow morning.

World Down Syndrome Day

Today is a wonderful day to celebrate all those very talented people out there with their extra chromosome. I am very grateful to have Grace in my life. She has shown me so many fantastic qualities that make a super person.

Today, in her honour, I am officially announcing that I will be running the 10k London Run for Down Syndrome. Date: July 12. Training is going ok. I will post more about this later.

To support a wonderful organisation that doing amazing work with kids for with the extra chromosome please visit http://www.reecesrainbow.org/

Kiran's birthday party. He is now 2. Weighs 10kg and loves life. His cake is a big red bus.

New Beginnings

Hello Everyone, yes, we are still alive and kicking.

Last year was definetly a whirlwind of emotions.

In February I started back at work. Firstly doing all sorts of teaching around the school and then in May became the music teacher for Years 4 - 7.

Kiran continued to grow, slowly. He continues to put on weight slowly(At this point he has just made 10 kg and is in the bottom 2% for his age range. He spent 2 days a week at daycare and 3 at a childminder. In between all of this Kiran had many many appointments with dieticians, surgeons, gps, speech language therapists (for eating) and hospital teams.

I had another miscarriage in July and was sent to a miscarriage clinic where they have done a mountain of tests. It turns out I have a blood clotting disorder called Antiphospholipid Syndrome. Plus a couple of other minor complications. Anyway with all of them together it really does make Kiran our little miracle.

Ian is still at the same place, working , well can't really say working hard. He has changed employers and is about to change employers again.

Tomorrow is World Down Syndrome Day. I will be posting about my new challenge then.