Christmas 2011

Christmas 2011

What a year it has been!  Huge achievements and huge stress.

The year began with the opening of the new Midland office for the Child Wellbeing Centre.  This venture meant that we joined forces with 4 other people (initially) to create a 'one stop shop' for services for children ..... psychology, speech pathology and occupational therapy.  This venture went well for the first 6 months .. and then in July we added early intervention services for children with autism ..... and things began to really hum! We now have 13 people involved and next year looks like being even bigger!

On the Kaylia front, she has been able to resume her ABA therapy two days per week and she is working hard on learning social behaviours.  (These are ways of communicating and relating with people that her autism has prevented her from learning/absorbing as she grew .... so we have to teach her "manually".)  She is showing real progress and she frequently gives us a jolt of pleasure when she comes out with some little gem ... it shows that she is taking in all the things that she is being taught.
She began this year in Year Two at Darlington Primary School but by mid-year it was clear that this school was not the right place for Kaylia and we moved her to South Ballajura PS.  This is where she began her preschool years.  Now in year two she has rejoined the same group of friends from that time and she has one-on-one aide time in a class of six students!  She is so happy there.  It has been a good decision to move her.

Our other big news for the year has been Bali.  In January my older brother Peter began the process of buying a villa in Bali. The process came unstuck and after much serious talk, Naomi and I decided to take over the purchase.  The financial side has been very hard work and we haven't reached the end yet.  By early January, the whole purchase process should be complete.  We have spent this year commuting (almost monthly!) to Bali to do basic set up of a new dwelling plus the extras needed to prepare it to be rented out on a commercial basis.
[If you follow the links to the right hand side of this page, you will be able to see what the villa is like.  As well as a rental venture, it is also our second home and Kaylia loves going there.]

Of course this much activity has created a high stress level for both of us and we look forward to the coming months where the villa settles down to a 'normal rhythm'.

On the people front we have seen Zoe join us for the first part of the year ... wow - what a time that was!  We fondly hope that Zoe may be back in 2012.  After Zoe, Sally joined us ... and then moved on to an Asian travel feast.  Kat replaced Sally mid-year  ..... Now what can I say about Kat?  If I spoke the truth it would appear that I was being effusive and OTT.  Kat has become a close family member for us.  We know that she will probably move on to greener pastures one day ..... but we don't want to think about that.  For now she has no plans to do so and we are all happy.

Health?  Kaylia has been the subject of much "medication work" while we tried to find the ideal dosages.  In November we finally found what seems to be an almost ideal dosage .... it has meant that she is largely freed from the severe anxiety attacks that have made life so bad for us all.  We feel as though we have a new little girl .... she is so happy!

Naomi has been under huge stress from her heavy work load coupled with her heavy study load.  She is close to the end of her Masters in Clinical Psychology and we'll all celebrate when the end comes!  Apart from stress related issues, she has also had the sadness of losing her mother in February. Anyone who has been through that will be able to share that sadness.

Me?  In the early part of the year, I found that severe osteo-arthritis in my right wrist meant that I was diagnosed with a SLAC wrist  (Scaphoid Lunate Advanced Collapse).  This meant surgery to reduce the debilitating pain.  So in May I had surgery to remove the scaphoid bone and to fuse the other wrist bones. I have about 8 screws in the bones that held them all together while the bones fused.  The operation and recovery was a nightmare .... but the end result has been worth it.  I now have about 20% of normal movement ... but no pain!

So... I hope life has been good to you too!  Best wishes to you for Christmas and the New Year!

Naomi, Kaylia and Ian