Recovering well at home. Thanks Everyone ;)

10th March, 2020

Hi Everybody, Ashling here. 

I just wanted to say thank you so much, for all your love, support and prayers over the last month. They have been hugely appreciated by me and my family. The whole entire hospital stay went really well, the nurses were gorgeous, and doctors were really relaxed and kind. I am delighted to be home now, it’s great to have my own space again without people constantly coming in and out (nurses and doctors). Another thing that’s great about being home is being with Patch! We are having so many cuddles, the odd time she literally lies on my arm! I have been doing home physio 4x a day, which is basically just repeating what I was doing in the hospital. Next week or the week after we are going to start at the Wilson centre which will be good too. I got into the pool yesterday, which felt great so I am hopefully going to be in there most days. My least favourite thing about being in the hospital was probably the day after surgery when I had the breathing tube! I didn’t like it because I couldn’t talk, and as most of you probably know I am a chatterbox! My favourite part was probably, the nurses because they were so kind, although I loved it when visitors came in as well. Although overall I think my back surgery went pretty well, and I am very happy I got home as early as I did.  

Thank you all again for all the support, love, prayers, food and gifts you have given me and my family. I am super grateful! I hope you all have a great week.

Lots of love,

Ashling & Patch

          💕❤️🎉

Bye Bye Starship- Hello Home Again!!! WOO HOO!!!

Hi Everybody.

WO HOO - I’m delighted to report that we brought Ashling home from hospital yesterday afternoon. She had managed to stay off oxygen for 24 hours and so she was allowed to go home. We are absolutely thrilled to be home and for our family to be back together. Our little Dog, Patch, has not stopped wagging her tail since we arrived. So cute. Ash is settling back into her bed in her room, although she will be spending a lot of time in our La-Z-Boy chair in the sitting room. We have a plan for her home physio for now to get Ash moving and to make sure she gets plenty of rest post-surgery. So, we are keeping things very quiet for now.

The week after next we will start doing a block of physio for six weeks and this will help Ash get back on her feet properly. We will either do this at the Wilson Centre in Takapuna or at Starship hospital.

Ash has a spinal appointment in six weeks’ time for a follow-up to check her wounds and do some x-rays. I will post pictures of these. In the meantime, this is a picture below that we got from her surgery. We can see a big difference already in her back and in her neck, which is amazing. But because she is quite sore, it is difficult for her to stand up straight so far, but that will all come soon with time. We are managing to stay on top of her pain mostly, with a rigid medicine regime and this will all lighten over the next few weeks.

We are incredibly grateful for the journey that we have had, everything pretty much going according to plan. Even though it was very hard at times, we never got too overwhelmed and felt supported throughout. We are so appreciative for all the love, prayers, gifts, dinners, baking and even the incredibly generous yogi- money collection for Ash- Honestly, I just get emotional thinking about how kind people have been and how loved we have felt. Thank you all so much. 🙏🙏🙏

Over the next few days, we will put together a post from Ashling once she’s feeling up to it. ❤️ XXX

Day 8 Post Op- Home is calling......

I'm delighted to report that Ash has turned the corner!!!! The Drs have taken her off the big drugs that were causing her so much heartache (literally!!! She has bad chest pain!) and put her onto easier medications for her little body to deal with.
Today she's back to herself and getting a bit stronger. We took her off oxygen this morning and so far today, she has been holding her own. They are continue to monitor her and if she manages to stay off oxygen for 24 hours, rumour has it- SHE"LL BE GOING HOME TOMORROW!!!!

And if she doesn't manage that- well at least we know it should be our last weekend in Starship.

PHEW- we are more than ready to go home!

Thanks everyone for sharing this journey with us :) XXXX

Day 6 Post-Op

Hi Everybody.
Our brave Ash is continuing to do okay at the hospital. The Drs have been finding it a bit difficult to get on top of her pain and she is still requiring oxygen and needed a second blood transfusion today, so it hasn’t been too easy for her.
But at the same time, she is making steps towards home every day, so to speak. Her physio consists of getting out of bed, standing, sitting in a chair for a while and doing a little bit of walking with the aid of a walker. For the last four days on the ward, each day she has progressed a little more. 👍She is still in pretty good spirits most of the time but has found these last few days harder due to pain and cabin fever we think. Her blood transfusion today started at 2pm and finished at 10:15pm so that was enough to send anyone around the twist!

Anyway, we still feel that going home is in the near future because she has less attachments every day, and we are slowly weaning her off oxygen!

Please keep up all the wonderful prayers and good wishes. I cannot tell you how much we appreciate them. Sending love to you all XXX

Day 3 Post-Op

Great news – Ash went up to the ward today, a day later than we thought, but we are thrilled that she is back on the ward and out of ICU.

She is tracking along nicely and is able to get out of the bed now with lots of help and do a short stand and a couple of steps, with a walker. The physios are very enthusiastic, and they come twice a day to get her going very quickly. We are really happy with the care that she is getting.

She is still on IV pain relief and supplemental oxygen but she is looking stronger everyday 😉

Onwards and upwards from here- Woo Hoo xxx

Thansk everyone- the prayer and good wishes is holding her up- literally
(That and Glenn's cooking and baking!!!!! ;) Glenn - you need to STOP! LOL 

Day 1 Post Surgery

Hi all.
Just an update on our champion. It's been pretty full on at the ICU.....that’s nights sleep for all of us didn’t really happen to honest BUT I am so happy to report that they just removed her ventilation tube successfully and she is now on Vpap only.
In four hours time she will be allowed to have a drink or an ice block and we might switch her just to oxygen which she would be more comfortable with.
Keep up the prayers please because they are working.
We are so relived to see that Ventilation tube out, and for Ash to have her voice back. There was a lot of guess work overnight, trying to figure out what she needed. It was like a workout, drawing pictures and doing what felt like charades all night! Ger n I tag-teamed it and we both got a few hours sleep.
At least now she her voice back, she can complain (not that she does), and ask for what she needs- phew.
Please God she’ll be talking her head off in another few days xxx

Afternoon Update:
Ok so they have decided to be a little bit more Conservative and keep the Vpap mask on for another 24 hours. Even though she doesn't like it, at least she can still talk, and we also think this is a good approach to make sure she doesn't go backwards. Slow n steady wins the race! Overall she is recovering nicely for someone with respiratory issues so we are all very pleased. She is just amazing.
The New Zealand surgeon just came in to see us and told us that he thought the surgery was amazing and that she will be the first of many to have this surgery in New Zealand. He thinks it was totally the right choice for Ash. He also told us that the Australian surgeon who did it with him, left last night and he did not get paid any money to do it. Gosh it makes us feel So grateful. We have asked for his contact details so that we can get in touch with him to thank him. They will show us X-ray pictures over the next couple of days so that we can see how straight they got her. It turns out that some of her spine was autofused so it was difficult but her back will straighten more with the rods as she grows.
Will be in touch again tomorrow XXX

Surgery Over - PHEW!

Ashlings surgery is done! Woo hoo.

It was a long day - Ash went to theatre at 8:30 and we didn’t get to see her til 4:30pm.

It sounds like the surgery was a success. There were no complications thank God. We had a chat with the surgeon on the phone and he was very happy with everything. We will see him tomorrow. 

Ash has been brought to the intensive Care Unit and she has a 1 on 1 nurse taking care of her here. She is still being ventilated, as was pretty much predicted- So they are going to continue to give her respiratory support, keep her drugged and pain free in ICU tonight, and then tomorrow they will change tactics a little. They say that rest is the most important thing for her now. She has not woken up yet and it looks like they want her to continue resting.

They have given us a room to sleep in so we will be close by. The care has been fantastic. 

Thank you all SO much for all your prayers.

Much love,

Us

Xxxxx

Surgery Day Tomorrow 26th Feb

Yikes the time has just flown by here at Starship- 3 weeks of Halo Traction has just passed by so quickly. I thank the Lord everyday for Ashling's can-do positive attitude, which has made this journey so doable so far. I am also so grateful for family and friends (including my yogis!), who have supported us so lovingly.

Last day of halo traction and Ashling has continued to ask for more weight as she was DETERMINED to get to the ideal weight, which was half her body weight, before the surgery (15 kilos). So sure enough, this morning we loaded on the last .5 kilo and she is now on 15 kilos of traction. She is very comfortable on it it now, still getting some pain relief for her head but generally comfortable on it. She' s a bit of a legend.

Tomorrow morning Ashling will have her Bipolar back surgery, and they will take the halo off at the end of her surgery. She is first in the morning so please say a prayer for her around 9am as she should be in theater then. The Surgeon is coming from Melbourne this afternoon and they will be all ready to go in the morning. As you may know, Ashling's type of genetic, non-idiopathic scoliosis is not treatable with conservative measures like casts, bracing, magic rods etc. Because her scoliosis is so stiff, our only options were spinal fusion (fusing the whole spine, and not growing again) or this newer surgery, which is done quite routinely instead of spinal fusion, at The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. Invented in France, this surgery involves fusing the top and base of the spine and inserting 2 rods up through the middle to hold the fusions in place. These rods will lengthen/grow with the child. Even though Ash will be the first kid to have it done here, the Surgeon is very experienced in this surgery and will be assisted by our trusty surgeon here. We are confident that this is the right surgery for Ash.

I will post a blog tomorrow evening and let you know how the surgery went.

Thank you all for your continued love and support.
All the very best.
Car, Ger, Ash, Jamie and Patch XXX

The Picture Below is not Ashling - it just shows what it looks like- taken from this journal:

file:///C:/Users/c_o_s/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/3SSB1A4M/Spinal%20fusion%20France%20(002).pdf




This is X-Rays taken of Ashling's spine last week. The Pic on the right is pre-traction and the one on the left is after 2 weeks of traction. The difference is unreal, as you can see, in her neck and in her upper curve: The pics were not photocopied side by side so don't think that she has grown that much - LOL

XXX

Some VIP visitors this week

Hi Everyone,
Ash is continuing with the Traction and is doing so well.
She is now up to 10KG which is better that what the doctors expected. She is a trooper.

We anticipated the days to be long and arduous but Ash is keeping busy each day.

With school - not so much!!
Exercises - A little bit!!
Visitors. We limit the visiting to 2 visits per day because with all else that is going on it can end up a busy and tiring day.
We are grateful to everyone who does come in.

Here are a few pictures of some VIP visitors, apologies to all the other VIP guests that we didn't take pictures of!!!

Love Ger

 Padraig and Cathy

 Amy and Jamie

 Yay- Patch made it too!

Update - 8 days of halo Traction Left!

Hello everyone,

Hope you are all keeping well ;)

We are heading into our third week here at Starship and Ash is continuing to add more weights on, each day she looks a bit taller. It's quite incredible! She's now holding 11 kilos- I can hardly lift it up and down off her wheelchair as we have to remove it a few time a day for bathroom stops and food.

She has just 8 more days on traction and then she will have her back surgery next Wednesday, the 26th. Keep up the prayers pretty please.

All in all, we are getting by and our experience so far has been OK, nothing too stressful- just tiring and a bit tedious but not stressful. Thanks everyone for all the continued support, which has made this journey so much easier than it might have been. :) You have all been fantastic!!!!

Ok so here are some pictures below of Ashling...

Thanks everyone. Love Caroline X

Pic 1 Ash Sleeping, held in position by the pulley system and weights, with just enough space at the back of the halo to rest her head on the pillow. The stretching of her spine continues at night, and holds what has been achieved during the day. She cannot move her head all night long. And she's normally a side sleeper! But she's sleeping all night long!!! Praise the Lord!!

Pic 2 Ash is her wheelchair- just getting on with business as usual

Pic 3 The weights at the back of her chair. At this point she was on 9 kilos (now she's on 11).












Pic 4 Jamie- our other angel (minus the halo).

Our wonderful Kids Yoga Teacher and babysitter called round to our house with flowers and a card for Jamie saying: "Happy Saturday Jamie. Please know that just because you don't have a halo like Ashling, we all know that you are an angel too".

Made me cry!

Thanks Katherine ;)


Quick shout out to Ingemar and Dionne too for also making it like Christmas morning here at our house, also thinking of Jamie!!! 

Thank you to all my yogis (I miss you heaps) and to all our friends and family too.
You are all so kind with your thoughts, prayers and support. We REALLY appreciate it.
Lots of love XXX

A room with a view.

Hi All,

Thanks a mill for all the continued dinners, help, love, prayers and general support. Everything is going as well as could be expected. Ashling is being a total trooper, just getting on with the business of accepting more weights and shortening her day as much as possible with chocolate, visitors, netflix and a TINY bit of school work.

We were moved to a room on our own a few days ago, which has made it much easier. We were first put in a room with 4 patients, then in a room with 2 patients (one of whom was a significant snorer!) and now we have our OWN room, wand it even has a view and a little outdoor area. This means we can sit outside sometimes, which makes things a bit more normal- and the weather has really been playing its part too- just perfect.

We look out at Auckland sky tower, which is all lit up at night. The pictures don't really do it justice but it gives you an idea. We have brought in our camping shelves and fairy lights and made the room like a home away from home, as cosy as possible. Ger and I have been playing tag-team at the hospital. One of us is by Ashling's side all day and night so we haven't seen much of each other, but we know that this is all temporary.

Ashling is getting great care in the hospital. The nurses are just fantastic, going about their job with a constant smile and they really want to support Ash as much as they can. We are feeling very grateful for our experience at Starship thus far.

We have now been given a date for Ashling's back surgery- Wed 26th Feb, so about 2 more weeks of halo gravity traction and then they will remove the halo when she is having her back surgery.

Our weight lifting girl is now managing to hold 7 kilos- they are aiming for half her weight, which would be 15. But they say that they rarely manage that.

Anything from here if a bonus as far as we are concerned.

Ok, over and out for now.

Lots of love from us XXX

First couple of days with Halo Traction

Hi Everyone,
We have had a good first few days with halo traction.
It has been hard and Ash has had some pain. It mostly under control through the pain medication that she is taking routinely.
We are already adding weights to it starting with 1KG and working up to 3KG today.
She is a trooper and is being very determined despite having a sore neck from the strain.

Here are a few pictures of the setup.
She can sit in a wheelchair during the day which is rigged up with a pulley system to hold the weights and there is a similiar system in the bed for at night.
She takes it off during the day at meal time but other than that, she is tolerating it most of the day as best she can.
In the wheelchair we can go out and about the hospital which helps break up the day.

It has been a great weekend of visits from her friends and family which has been great for the distraction.

This is Ash sitting in the wheelchair with the pulley system and weights attached.

These are the weights hanging at the back of the wheelchair.

This is it rigged up.

Thanks again for the continued love and prayers. We can feel them giving us all the strength and courage that we need to get through this time. :)

Halo Surgery done- PHEW! First Hurdle Done and Dusted!!!

Ash has had her halo surgery this morning and it went really well.
Today she is just going to get used to it and get over the pain related in her head and neck.
Tomorrow they adjust and start gravity traction. This entails adding weights to a pulley system to begin stretching her spine.

She is in great form and we are very proud of her bravery and attitude.

Thanks for all the prayers, love, get well wishes, texts and emails from everyone. You are all awesome.

Ash - Back Surgery

Hi Everyone,

We are re-opening this blog after 7 years.....so we can try to keep people up to date with Ashling's up-coming surgery. This was our blog for the first years of Ashling's life and it has been dormant for quite a while now.

Ashling heads into hospital this Tuesday to prepare for Bi-Polar back surgery, aimed at helping to straighten her spine. As many of you know Ashling's scoliosis has progressed aggressively over the past 18 months. As much as we would love to, it won't be possible to keep everyone updated individually so we are going to try add updates to this blog when possible. You will be able to leave comments here too, which will be an easier way for us to stay in contact when we can, rather than by emails or texts.

We think that this blog will also help keep Ashling entertained somewhat (but visits would be great too!!!). Being the person that she is she, Ash would love to hear from you and we will endeavor to get her to add posts herself even if this is a bit "old-school" now!!!

The plan is that Ash will go into surgery on Wednesday and have a halo attached to her head, which will then be used to lengthen and stretch her spine slowly over a few weeks using a weight system. This will begin to straighten her back, as well as help make her surgery more successful.

Then Ashling is having a new spinal surgery in a few weeks (no definite date yet) which will be done by an Australian Surgeon, assisted by her spinal surgeon here at Starship, Dr John Ferguson. This is the fist time that this surgery will be done in New Zealand, which is why they are flying a surgeon over to do it. Ashling is pretty special indeed!!!

If you would like to know more about Halo Traction, this is a video that we were given the link to, in order to explain it to Ash. It is really good. But beware that this hospital in Texas specializes in this and so Ashling's equipment and therapy will not be as "Cool". But this is a good idea of its appearance and function.

Halo traction video


Thank you all for your prayers and love.
Lots of love,
Ger and Caroline

Isn't time flying by.....................

Hi All,

Well I cannot believe that that we haven’t updated this blog since Christmas. Time is just flying by eh! It’s pretty scary how quickly the kids are growing up.

Ashling is doing well at school after a shaky start. She had the misfortune to break her femur quite badly half way through her first term, and so had to wear a full spica cast, which was really tough on her. She missed a lot of school and it has taken her until now to catch up.

She bounced back well physically, and is now stronger than she was pre leg break. We did a lot of rehabilitation and it has paid off. She has also started weekly horse-riding with the RDA here (Riding for the Disabled) and she absolutely loves that. Her pony’s name is Sparky and he is perfect for her. You can see her riding here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6ADjBTBuJo&feature=youtu.be

Ashling loves school. She has some gorgeous friends, like Ava and Gabby. She even fancies a little boy called Charlie and they have kissed on the lips apparently (can I remind you that she’s 5!!!). She’s obviously taking after her Daddy, and starting early! Ha ha.

Jamie is growing up so fast, it’s just crazy. She’s only 3 and half and she’s counting down the days to school! She doesn’t start until she’s five so we’re going to be head-wrecked! She’s a great little girl and melts my heart on a daily basis. Her favourite thing to do at the moment is singing and going swimming.  You can see her singing here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc0XDZ2NqUg&feature=youtu.be

Here are the two girls singing Xmas songs mid year – what’s new? This is when Ash was in the spica cast...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZCBl9yvyls&feature=youtu.be

We recently went on holiday to Australia and had a fantastic time. It was our first real holiday overseas since we went to Ireland 3 years ago so it was well overdue. We took the girls to Sea World and to The Australian Zoo. Their heads nearly fell off looking around! It was just gorgeous watching their reactions to everything. Ger and I loved every minute of it. We even got to catch up with our good friends, the Hennessey’s, while we were there (hence their son is in some of the videos – no we haven’t had a little boy since we last blogged!!!)

Here are some videos of our trip. Hope you enjoy them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Ulp7EFbSs&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0tq8B8RT50&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm-a1b3qqj0&feature=youtu.be

My birthday is also here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Nx3RkRDMO4&feature=youtu.be

Take care,

From Car and Ger xxx

 

 

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