Her life – and motherhood for me – began with beauty. “She has a little problem with her mouth,” they said – and handed me my firstborn with a blanket across her face. Within hours, almost before I had had time to meet her, my room was filled with pictures of other babies, other children […]
Busy times.
The summer holidays are nearly over and before you know it, they’ll all be back at school again. It feels like it has been a packed holiday. Last week in particular was crammed with ‘stuff’. We went to visit my sister for the day because (aside from wanting to see them!) Fran had to go […]
Lax Toddler Parenting #10: Speech Apathy
This is how I like my children… In the garden, being noisy, having fun, not connected to app or screen or anything much. It seems a pretty perfect way to be. Bene, like his biggest sister was, is in his element when he’s being physically boisterous. He’s all about body at the moment, has been […]
Thanks for all the fish.
Quite by accident, I missed a huge milestone moment last week. I sent Fran off to her cleft team review and when she came back, she was discharged from full team care! 15 and a half years of regular meetings with the same people came to an end and I wasn’t there to see it […]
Having a Cleft Lip & Palate by Fran
I’m delighted to welcome Fran to the blog today, who has contributed a post on growing up with a cleft lip and palate. I’m sure it doesn’t need to be said that her attitude and outlook about her cleft make us very proud of her but it’s great to read how it feels in her […]
The Ten Things That Make Me & Us.
A person, a family, are far more than a collection of things, ailments, personalities, looks, interests and abilities. What I notice more than anything about having a large family, is how we all alter with each other; each little change brings about something new. With the exiting of Amelie from every day home ed, Maddy […]
And now she is 14.
My big girl, my biggest girl, is 14. Max and I have spent quite a lot of the evening saying this in awe. 14. Wow. And she looks so beautiful in that picture too, growing into the young woman she is becoming. She feels like a young woman, another adult in the house really. A […]
Trauma and tears at ENT
Fran (who has given me permission to write this latest twist in her cleft care on the blog) had a routine trip to the ENT department this week. She was referred by her Cleft team surgeon and speech therapist, who were concerned by her hoarse voice, which has developed over the last year or so. […]
The one where Merry catches up using the photos on her phone to remember things
Argh! Weeks have gone by! Argh! Right. Lots of big and important things. Masses. Huge. Fran had an appointment with her surgeon at the hospital. The upshot of this was, as we suspected, they thing she needs more surgery to correct her cleft palate. It’s been obvious for a while that she is hoarse and […]
