I'm starting with the complete year of my siblings photos. These pics, which I've been taking monthly for the past four years, mean a lot to me and they show how the girls are growing up together beautifully. It *may* have been difficult to get the girls to produce some of these smiles on demand, but there are many more smiles every day which just weren't captured at the time. These two are the reason I started blogging; but much more than that they are the lights of my life and what keep me going.
This year in May, we finally moved into our new house after first putting an offer on it back in September 2015. I've documented the whole renovation process on my blog, and just need to round it all off with a final post about how it is looking now, seven months after moving in. I've accepted that it will never be a perfect show home, but in the last few weeks we finished off some of the last major pieces of work (barring the patio, which you'll no doubt get to see and hear about next summer) and now it really does feel like our home.
I know we are incredibly lucky to have this, and I am truly grateful to those who have helped us achieve it. Not so enamoured with the builder who lost interest towards the end and made the whole moving process very stressful - it ended up being a couple of days after Tamsin's birthday instead of a couple of weeks before, and downstairs we had no kitchen sink, worktops or carpets when we did move in. But here we are, and fingers crossed, here we are staying! If you can't wait for my major 'almost finished' update, you can take a sneak preview of how it looks now over on Suzanne's Inside, Outside & Beyond blog.
We enjoyed Christmas here with my family and after that we had a small party here in our new home for our closest friends and their families. These friends have been a huge support to me this year, and I hope they know how much they mean to me. We managed to make time for a brilliant weekend trip away in October to a wonderful city, Barcelona, and I did something I've never done before... Segway!
This year in June, Sasha finally reached the point where she felt she could no longer attend mainstream school. Although this seemed sudden in some ways, in others I knew it was a long time coming and not such a surprise. She had coped very well with our three house moves in a fairly short period, but her Pathological Demand Avoidance meant that she had found the increased pressure in terms of work and testing at school more and more difficult. She also became aware this year of how different she was compared to her peers, and that has played a big part in this major change.
Several people have commented on how much more relaxed and herself Sasha seems now the stress of school is over; however I'm acutely aware that time has dragged on and 2018 will begin with much action around trying to find what is best for her. A standard home tutor is unlikely to draw many results as Sasha needs to learn in such a 'non-standard' way. Many may question why I am not home-educating Sasha, but the truth is that she's not ready to learn from me. We will need to be innovative, and there will be future update posts on how we proceed of course.
Sadly over Christmas we were left hanging with no fixed answer about what the LA will be doing regarding Sasha's schooling. I've tried to put it to the back of my mind (pretty impossible if I'm honest) and am hoping to bring you new news on that as soon as possible.
In January I met up with some other great SEND advocates at a mental health conference at Priestnall School in Manchester, and in July I was honoured to be asked to speak with them as part of a panel of parents at the annual Education Festival. I spent a fair amount of time on Twitter and received great advice from some Twitter friends who are always prepared to go the extra mile - thanks guys, hope you know who you are! I'm hoping to carry on with some work in the education arena over this coming year.
In October we managed a trip to Center Parcs with our old friends, who have joined us at one parc or another almost every year for the past seven years. It was a special trip as Sasha got chance to spend time with a friend she had been messaging with - another girl with a diagnosis of PDA. I'll write more about that another time as it was amazing, as was Sasha's experience of learning how to swim like a mermaid - definitely recommend this for any children under 10!
I've been busy with the blog over the year and have reviewed the usual eclectic variety of products and experiences - we managed to enjoy a review trip to Eurocamp's Le Brasilia website in France. We should have visited this the year before but had had to cancel our holiday because of an unexpected hospital stay for Sasha. So it was a relief to make it in the end and enjoy some sun, sea and sand!
Other blogging highlights were reviews of a mattress, the Sea Life Centre, a real Christmas tree, a vacuum and a mop (seriously, one of my favourite products!), and the chance to attend the BritMums awards on a boat as well as checking out an MSC cruise ship with BlogCamp. I also had the opportunity to make bread at The Jamie Oliver Cookery School and won a competition to go back for a different cookery lesson - so am hoping I will find the time for that soon!
This is all just a small snapshot of what's been going on for us this year; sometimes it's easy to forget all the great bits as you get overwhelmed with the harder times.
I never feel like I've managed to write enough of what I would like to for this blog; I'm hoping that in 2018 I will be able to bring you many more PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) focused posts. On the 18th April the PDA Society will be holding their second ever conference and I'm delighted to say I'll be helping at that.
There's already much more to look forward to in 2018, some known and some of course unknown, but I'm going to put myself out there now and let you know my very unoriginal New Year's Resolution - to lose weight. It's actually quite an unusual one for me, as I've often sworn I would never do a diet. I haven't actually worried much about my weight before now, but being stuck at home with Sasha has obviously provided many more snacking opportunities and it's time to address this. My aim is to feel fitter and healthier in time for a family wedding in August - my eldest brother will be tying the knot and of course I need a new dress for such a special occasion. I'm not brave enough to post a full length selfie here but maybe there will be comparison photos later in the year... I already have a great group who are providing the motivation and support, so watch this space!
So that's it, another year almost over, much to be thankful for. How did yours go, and what are you expecting from the new year? Any resolutions? Leave me a comment, I love to hear from you!
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