It's been a while...

Sorry I haven't written for a while. It has been pretty manic recently; I'm in the process of changing jobs (still with Unilever but a permanent job and one which doesn't require moving house for the 6th time in 9 years...) which means I'm still doing 2 jobs a while and the endless stream of appointments Clair has with Ross continues.

Since I wrote last we've been for a weekend up north, Clair and the boys staying with our friends the Chapmans in Nottingham, while Rich and I headed to Snowdonia for some mountain madness. Apparently I'm more like an intermediate rather than a beginner now (I think as I have completed a climbing move after removing one boot in order to get a foothold)! Fin had a ball with the twins that weekend as always.

Clair then took the boys to Scotland for a few days over Fin's half-term and to go to his cousin Tom's first birthday party. The journey was really difficult for Clair with the flight leaving about 6 hours late, and only made worse by Easyjst managing to lose Ross's special-needs corner seat during the flight. The way they have managed to be consistently unhelpful in trying to find it has been very impressive, if extremely frustrating. I've given up on them ever finding it now and have ordered a replacement; that's one way to discover how disgracefully expensive equipment for special needs kids is!!!

Clair also took Ross to see an ear-expert who cheered us up no end by telling her that Ross was deaf and would need to be admitted for an operation during which they will fit him for 2 hearing aids. His hearing was the one sense we thought seemed to be working pretty well so that was a real shock.

The marathon training is a real struggle. I haven't been very successful in getting many runs in durng the week but have managed runs of 11-12 miles the past few weekends. Pretty hard work and the knees are pretty wrecked after each one. It'll be alright on the day I'm sure.

Thanks to a cold and an eye infection, we had just about the worst night's sleep ever last night. Ross woke about 11pm just as we were going to bed so I stayed up with him until about 1am at which point I had to go to bed as I had to get up at 5.30. Clair was then up with Ross until 3am, and wasn't long asleep when he woke again at 4am. He was still awake when I left.

Think we need a break. But good news is my parents are arriving on Thursday and we're taking the opportunity to head away to the Cotswolds for one night. Looking forward to it!

2 bits of good news;
- we should be getting 3 hours per week respite help from a charity called Crossroads (this is fantastic news as we were getting no's everywhere we asked)
- we should be heading to the south of France with the Chapmans again this summer at some point. Can't wait...

If you fancy a good read (and an insight into what life's like with a son like Ross) buy a book called Blue Sky July by Nia Wyn. I'm about half-way through and it's scarily similar to our story!