Parents in Wheelchairs

Very funny at the weekend - I told Sarah that we were going to go shopping for a present and card for Daddy (for Father's Day) and that it was a secret as it would be a nice surprise.............we went downstairs in the lift and Sarah announced excitedly to James "I go shopping with Mummy to buy present and card for you Daddy!"...........HILARIOUS!!

I never could have imagined that I would have been able to do so much with my little girl - I thought that being in a wheelchair would mean that I would spend a lot of time sitting on the sidelines watchiing while other people had the fun - NOT TRUE!! Thanks to my husband, I have been on fairground rides and on the trampoline in the back garden with Sarah recently. She clings on to me for safety and giggles without any inkling that I am trying to keep myself upright too!!
It has been a wonderful couple of weeks trying out new crazy things with my girl - and it gives me a glimpse in to the wonderful future we have.......one in which I will not always sit on the sidelines (I know it will happen from time to time but that's OK). Thank you James x

Went on a girlie shopping trip with Sarah a couple of days ago....we 'did' luch and then went in for the kill.......looking at handbags, clothes, accessories...."I like this Mummy! This is nice Mummy!" I looked up at one point and couldn't see her....I called her name and this little grinning face popped out from behind a stand of about twenty dresses and said "Yes Mummy?" Very funny indeed!!!!!!

     Sarah                                       Mia                            Jack

Sarah had her first tea party with friends of her own recently - it was bank holiday weekend and some friends of ours came over for the afternoon. They have two children - Mia is 5 and Jack is 3.
I think I was the most excited! - I made chocolate crispies and bought cocktail sausages.......stoppped myself from doing cheese and pineapple on sticks!!
I got Sarah up from her afternoon sleep and she came downstairs to find 2 children (that she probably didn't remember) playing with her toys which were all strewn around the kitchen and conservatory. Sarah is not really used to sharing her toys and she looked a little shocked! However, I explained to her that Mia and Jack were her friends and that I'd said it was OK for them to play with her toys while she was having a sleep. She seemed to understand and was so cool about it - the only thing she wasn't prepared to share during the afternoon was her 'Ellie' - a little elephant she has had from birth and who is notorious within our family circle and at nursery too!
They all played so nicely togehter and sarah and Mia brushed each other's hair outside on the decking.....very sweet.

At tea time, the three of them sat around Sarah's little table and helped themselves to sandwiches, crisps, sausages and, of course, the chocolate crispies....it really gave me a glimpse of us inviting Sarah's friends round for tea in the future.
We then all sat in the lounge and the children clambered up on to the laps of James and Scott while they watched 'Nimbo' (finding Nemo).

Good girl Sarah for sharing your toys so nicely and playing with your friends - Mummy looks forward to making chocolate crispies again!!!! xx

This is what I was made for.....being a Mummy.....I have just spent a lovely day with Sarah on my day off. We have played on the bed; tickling, bouncing, singing, laughing, watched 'Nimbo' (Finding Nemo), had coffee with an old neighbour, had lunch together and then Sarah had a couple of hours sleep while I did some housey chores and fiddled with my new computer........

I heard Sarah calling out for me so I went upstairs to find her struggling to get one of her socks back on. I asked her why she had taken it off and she said "got bits in it Mummy, needs to go in the wash". So we took her other sock off and she got out of bed. I opened the curtains and she said "it's raining......what a shame". I couldn't stop laughing at she sounded so sincere! We then went downstairs and made a cup of tea - Sarah got the milk out of the fridge and poured it into her cup. She is so interested to take part in everything that is going on. Daddy came home and we did some drawing and then Sarah asked to do some sticking......so I cut out some shapes (including a fish that she had sepcifically asked for) and Sarah smeared the glue over the page and then stuck the shapes on. She was so pleased that she walked upstairs to find Daddy to show him. They stayed upstairs and Sarah had a shower - she has just come downstairs to find me before she goes to bed. She hugged me and said "Special day Mummy". Well, what else is there to say? - it was indeed a special day for me and the fact that Sarah thinks so too is heart-warming to say the least.

Thank you for a lovely day Sarah - you are a beautiful girl and you amaze me every day. x x

Well, I was caught off-guard last night.... it was sarah's bed time and we went through the usual routine; undress, sit on toilet (Sarah, not me!), collect towels and get in the bath. As I was running the water, waiting for it to reach the correct temperature, Sarah played with 'turtle' and 'boat' - nothing unusual there. We then got on with the shower - me sitting next to the bath holding the shower head to wash Sarah who wanted to 'stam up'. We both had a squirt of soap and washed Sarah's hair, tummy, legs, back etc. "Toes too Mummy!"....I then rinsed Sarah's hair and body and said "There! All done".
"Thank you Mummy, 'my' hold it now please". So I handed her the shower head and she turned it to face her and lifted her head so that the warm water trickled from her neck, down her tummy and she said "Arrh, that's nice. I love you Mummy".
"I love you too Sarah" I then took a long hard look at her standing there with long wet hair and a perfect little body and I had one of those moments when it hit me - she's my daughter, look at her; she's so perfect and lovely and she's my little girl. It brought tears to my eyes which rolled down my face as I sat there smiling at her.

Sarah really is awesome and the experiences of motherhood are like nothing else in life - often it is the little things which fill me with joy. For example, I love putting her little shoes on and when it's time to get her up after her afternoon sleep, I often get 'butterflies' as I'm going up in the lift to see her. We still have the baby listener connected up and often the first sounds we hear of Sarah in the morning are of her singing - what a perfect start to the day!!!!

Happy days indeed x 

We have been waiting for some decent weather for a while now and wouldn't you know it?...............the nicest day of the year so far and we were booked in to tobogganing and 'snow play' at the Snowdome!! Sarah was confused, to say the least, when we got her to change in to her wellington boots in the car park before we went in.......blimey it was cold inside!! After a short wait, the boys went off to a tobogganing session and James, Sarah and I went in to the snow play session. Nothing too outrageous - sledges, inflated rings, a few small slopes and lots of snow! Unfortunately, Sarah was not overly impressed with her treat as she cried when she went down the slope and didn't seem too keen when James dragged her around on the sledge. She was unsteady on her feet and it appeared that she had lost the confidence that she had gained only a couple of months ago when we had quite alot of snow. 
I was marooned and couldn't move very much at all....so there seemed nothing for it but to jump on the sledge myself....legs pretty secure and holding on for dear life (oh dear!), James pulled me up and down the length of the play area. Then he started to get a move on (or so it felt) and it felt wonderful! I simply cannot remember the last time I was on a sledge and the unevenness of the snow made movement unpredictable. Add in loss of control and it was quite exhilarating! It was SO nice to be out of my wheelchair. Sarah then sat on my lap and we did a few laps together which was lovely.
Towards the end of the session, James took me for one last 'tug' and pulled me towards the slope in the middle of the area.....it was too steep and I slowly fell off backwards, landing on my bum in the snow - it was fantastic and I felt so normal for a few minutes....we laughed and threw snow at each other before James helped me back in to my chair. 
I think that 'one' forgets what it's like to feel free of the wheelchair as it rarely happens (always within reach) and I didn't think for one minute that I would experience that today. 
Thank you James for the idea and getting it booked....and apologies to Sarah as it was meant as a treat for her and I think I stole a bit of pleasure for myself. 

    Sarah's language skills are developing really well and at an alarming rate - she is stringing more words together to make a proper sentence now. For example "I want to sit on your lap Mummy please" and "I can't reach it" where it was only about a month ago that she was saying "Mummy lap" and "No reach it" respectively. There are many words and phrases that are still not developed fully and only we can disseminate what she's saying. I also learnt yesterday that although Sarah has a high level of understanding about what we're saing to her, there are times when she finds it hard to disseminate what we're saying and therefore meaning...........yesterday, we had spent most of the day in the house as James and I were decorating the lounge. Sarah played happily and also 'helped' with some of the painting. After her afternoon sleep, we decided that she really needed some fresh air and exercise. Sarah got her coat, put it on and cheered "Ducks!?". "No, sweetheart, we are not going to go in the car, we are going to go for a walk around the block and see who's out and about". "Yeah!" she exclaimed and off we went "Bye Daddy, see you later!" We got to the bottom of the road "Do you want to put your gloves on Sarah? It's cold." "Yes please Mummy it's really cold". So, gloves on and we carried on walking. She was great; walking next to me on the pavement. Sarah spotted a plane..."Plane!" (pointing to it in the sky)."Oh yes, where do you think it's going?" "Going in the sky" she replied. A bit further along a lady with a dog stopped to say hello. Sarah stroked the dog and counted his legs...."two three four nine!" A few minutes later I said "We're nearly home now!" and Sarah stopped and burst out crying. I couldn't understand what had happened. She tried to tell me and in the jumbled up sentence she said "want roundabout". It was then that I realised that when I said that we were going to see who's 'out and about', she thought I'd said 'roundabout' and the whole time, she thought we were walking to the roundabout. I asked her if that was what she thought and she said 'Yes'. I explained what I had said and that she has mis-heard or misunderstood me and that we could go to the roundabout another day. Who knows exactly how much she understood but sure enough she stopped crying and we started to walk again. I promised her a lollipop when we got home and her eyes lit up!
We arrived home about 10 minutes later and Sarah took her coat off, hung it on the peg and went to tell Daddy what she'd been up to while I went and found her a lollipop......
She understands so much but maybe sometimes not as much as we think!

That's it! The website is now published. Got loads to 'tweek' though!!

    Well, it's been over a year and I never published the website. Maybe it's time to do it now. I have so many tales to tell about my experiences with Sarah now she is 2 - I can't believe where the time has gone!