Merry Christmas,


I hope this short greeting find you all well and in good festive spirit.

It’s Christmas day night here now and we are relaxing after the usual festive day of eating!!!

There was great excitement in the morning opening presents followed by a late lunch before we had dinner at the O’Shea’s house and had a lovely day with all the Family. My Mam and Dad are here from Ireland and it was great to have them to share in a New Zealand Christmas.

The Kids were so much fun opening their presents and the excitement was great to watch.

The weather was a bit wet so we had Christmas indoors which was a pity for my parents not to experience an outdoor one but as long as it improves for the rest of their holiday they won’t mind.

I hope you are all keeping well and enjoy your day where-ever you maybe.

Merry, Merry Christmas and we wish you and your families a very Happy and Prosperous New Year

Lots of love,

Ger, Caroline, Ashling and Jamie.

Ash has started school !!!

Well it’s been nearly 4 months since the last update, where has the time gone!! The winter is over and we are now looking forward to summer and my parents coming for Christmas.


Ash is growing up real fast and believe it or not started school last Monday the 28th of October. It was a big day in the life of our little family and the fruition of a lot of preparation by Mam (Caroline).

NZ is a bit different to other countries in that you start school the day you are 5. Depending on when your birthday is (first half or second half of the year) you then go to school for the rest of that year and if you are in the second half of the year, you then restart that year the following year. Otherwise, you move up. So since Ash will be able to repeat this year, we decided to let her go “part-time” (3.5 days) between now and Christmas (7 weeks) and then she will restart the year after the summer holidays at the end of January.

Mam has put in huge preparation for school and between lots of school visits and organising a school uniform to actually fit Ashling, things have been full on, not to mind fool proofing the school for Ash!!! Ashling knows half the school already and she only has one week down!!! In all seriousness though, all the hard work has really paid off and the transition from Pre-School to School has been really smooth because of it.

Ash has a Teachers-Aide while at school which is wonderful. Her name is Kerry and she is a friend of ours, so we are absolutely delighted that she has taken up the job of looking after our precious little girl while she is at school. It really is a blessing and a huge re-assurance for us.

Well that’s about it for now. Jamie is missing her best friend but is going to Pre-School 3 afternoons a week and she loves that.

Talk again soon, Ger, Car and the Girls

Here is a video of Ash. Her “graduation” from preschool was fantastic. She had two great years there and was very happy and very well looked after. Jamie is also floating around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7Z3IZSxykg&feature=youtu.be

Ash is getting stronger by the day...

Some more recent videos of Ash's fantastic progress, and the girls having a bit of fun...

1. Ash and Jamie cycling their bikes...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVFwU-1jj8U

2. Ash walking and climbing at Physio...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvYIrclq23g

3. Ash Playing T Ball at Physio....very short!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiZJNHmuYx8
4. Girls having a Teddy Bear’s Picnic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b-V8b2Bdyg


5. The girls singing – bit of a shaky start!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4gycTUo2II


Enjoy xxx

May Update

Hi Everyone

Things are going great here in New Zealand. We've had a lovely end to our summer with a month of great weather. 
Ashling is getting stronger every day. She’s walking quite confidently now, especially indoors, as you’ll see in one of the videos below. She still finds unlevel surfaces very challenging like grass, bark, paths, steps etc. However, she’s not really pushing her stroller much anymore; she’s walking independently most of the time, or just holding an adult’s hand. Ashling and Jamie continue to get on great and are quite protective of each other. Even though Jamie is 2 years younger than Ash, we’ve already noticed her looking out for Ashling when they are around other kids. It’s really cool!

Ashling is continuing to have regular Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy, and this is helping her to get stronger and to use her hands better. She has started letter writing and finds it challenging but she’s getting a better handle on it recently. The O T is convinced that Ashling is naturally right-handed but because her left-hand is more functional and has a stronger grip, she’s tending to use her left hand, but not easily. Ashling will be starting school at the end of October so we’re trying to start getting prepared for that. Yikes!!!

Other things that Ashling is doing is weekly swimming, which she’s really enjoying. It’s just another form of therapy/exercise for her but I think she has a bit of a crush on the male teacher so that’s helping her to persevere! Yay for that! She’s going to be starting RDA (Horse-Riding) soon and we’re quite excited about that, as it is supposed to really help with stability and core strength. She’s been on the waiting list for 2 years.

Ger and I are well and enjoying this easier phase of life with Ashling’s appointments. It’s so great to not have any planned surgeries for the next year. Hopefully that won’t change.

Well that’s all for now.

As always, thanks a million for taking the time and interest to read this.

Lots of love, Car and Ger xx

Below are some videos that we took over the last couple of days, nothing too exciting but probably worth watching..... We recently visited the Zoo, took the girls to the Circus and Jamie had her first visit to the cinema (just to give you a bit of a back ground to their stories!!)

1. Ash chatting...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3grNdUb13UY

2. Jamie Chatting...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRBvR7EoF-g

3. Ash walking...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km57SyhfKu0

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Feb 2012

Well it's been a while again. Things have been pretty good overall. We've had a fantaastic Christmas with Ashling gaining great confidence in her walking. She is now walking most of the day, sometimes without anything, but most of the time with her buggy in front of her for stability. She pushes her stroller/buggy around the place, as it's a very sturdy one and she can rest on it. She hasn't been using her zimmerframe walker much at all recently. She's doing really well. I will take a few videos of her out and about walking over the next week or two cause I don't seem to have any of her walking. I never bring the camera out with us so I must start doing that. Otherwise you'll think we spend 24/7 at home. Ha ha!!!

Jamie is going great. She's just so much fun and the two of them get along brilliantly.

Ger had a very active Christmas, doing The Half Iron Man in January (half mad is what he is!!!!) But anyway, Ash, Jamie and I were his biggest fans. I have put a couple of videos on of him cycling by and running by. Don't blink or you'll miss them - they're very short. They're mostly for Ger's family in Ireland.

Well that's it for now. Will write a proper update on Ash soon, along with some videos of her walking.

Here are some videos of the guys...

Ash's Christmas Show at Preschool
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew-UHLY1p8Q

Girls' Painting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_z7BTm-4oQ

Ger's Half Iron Man - the cycling part - Really really short!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctmd9S-GLDA

And his running part...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwD8EYWOEB0

Girls messing with Dad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOzxYp-GRy8

Jamie dancing to a song on TV - quite cute
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfSxiAYwjNA

Thanks for taking the interest to look at this xxx