Good News Friday #25 and a Big Thank You

How on earth did it get to be Friday? More to the point, how did this get to be Good News Friday #25? This means, of course, that I have been blogging for nearly six months. When I wrote my first post and first Good News Friday, I didn’t know if they would be the last. I didn’t know if I could keep up the momentum of blogging (it’s been a struggle sometimes, but I’ve just about made it), or whether anyone at all would ever read this except me. That they do read this small, nichey blog, amazes and delights me daily.

I’ll reflect a bit more on my six months of blogging next week (Wednesday is the big day), for now, it’s the time of the week where I like to accentuate the positive and think about the good things that have happened this week, in a bid to get a bit of perspective on things (seeing past diagnoses, genetic tests, ongoing battles, problems with Sissyboo at school, and no washing machine for the past 10 days) and, as importantly, to gently encourage you to share any of your good news with me in the comments box or on Twitter (@premmeditations) or on the blog’s Facebook page.

So my good news:

Well, there’s Boo’s standing frame and boots, which I blogged about earlier in the week, so I won’t say too much about them again here, except to say that they are still causing endless hilarity and excitement here with Boo and Sissyboo. Long may that continue.

Then there’s conductive education. This week The Grumposaur came and he has committed to trying to do the sessions with him alternate weeks to help me with work. This is huge for all of us. The control freak, I mean adoring Mum in me (actually I am adoring Mum and a control freak, as you might have guessed if you regularly read this blog) would like to do all the sessions myself, but I am also struggling with work and I am desperate for The Grumposaur to be more involved in Boo’s therapies and treatments. I haven’t kept an exact tally of Boo’s appointments since leaving hospital last May, but it must greatly exceed 150 appointments, of which The Grumposaur has been at 3 (1 by accident as he happened to be in the hospital when the consultant walked in). He had a great time, and so did Boo. They adore each other. Being so involved in something so positive (not an appointment where we’re told, again, what Boo can’t do, but where we work with him to work on what he can) is energising and wonderful. I hope they both get lots out of it. It will be hard for me to let go of something (if only on an alternate week basis) but I know I need to. Some weeks I feel like I am going to snap in two.

But the big news this week is that The Grumposaur and I are going away for a night at a spa without the kids. We’ll be gone less than 24 hours and the kids will be with my Mum and sister. You can probably count the number of nights out we have had since the kids were born on one hand. We haven’t been away for a night together on own own since July 2007. It will be lovely. We deserve it. The kids will be fine. But I am still very nervous. Nervous Boo will keep my sister awake all night. That Sissyboo, who is having quite a wobble at the moment (Boo and school-related) will be difficult. If I’m honest, I worry we won’t have anything to talk about except the kids. But I hope it will be like it is on the odd occasion I go away with work: difficult until the moment I get there when it’s lovely and peaceful and I can worry (mostly) about me and only me. I’ll let you know how it goes next week.

The biggest news of all, I think, though, is that we have got through this week. A week of diagnoses and the dilemmas they have presented us with. We have decided not to get ourselves tested to see if we have the same genetic imbalance as Boo. We are content with the cerebral palsy diagnosis. We are moving on. And that feels huge.

I cannot thank all of you enough for the lovely comments you have written and tweets you have sent in response to my Diagnosis Day post. Many made me smile. Others made me cry. Mostly they made me feel welcomed, understood and extremely lucky to be part of the amazing community of parents in the blogging/tweeting world.

Thank you all. I haven’t been able to find the time to respond to all of your comments yet, but I will. They mean a great deal to me.

I hope you all have great weekends, and do share your good news. We love to hear from you.