I have had many dear friends through the different seasons of my life and I’m acutely aware that in my current season, it takes a warrior to stand by my side. Despite my recent decision to blog about my life of raising a child with special needs and his two sisters, I keep our personal […]
In the early years on our farm we adopted some goats and a livestock guardian dog, Rosie, to protect them and our girls. This was a huge learning curve for us city slickers. Rosie is a Great Pyrenees and this breed is one of a kind. I am a huge animal lover and grew up
After months of appointments, fittings and trials, William’s hearing aids had arrived. We booked the final appointment to head down to Victoria to have them set just right for him. We didn’t get anything particularly fancy but they are shiny blue for our little man. Our appointment was on a Friday so traffic wasn’t the
While I was pregnant with William, Bear and I decided to move. After losing our daughter we both felt suffocated living in Victoria. We were both born and raised there, had an amazing friend group, most of our family was around and our careers were well established there. Although we are forever grateful to our
It was never an option to send William to a regular public school. With the challenges that William faces every day, I honestly couldn’t imagine sending him to school. Likely, he would be at home sick most of the time anyway. William’s delicate respiratory system is just the beginning of why we decided to homeschool
When William was an infant, we started early intervention after being warned by professionals that children with Dystonic Cerebral Palsy can develop a variety of different issues that require surgical intervention. Our early intervention program included Occupational Therapy (OT) and Physiotherapy (PT). It wasn’t long before we added Speech Therapy to help us with feeding
About 7 years ago I started a battle that I was not going to back down on. William had been in the hospital countless times and one day I just said enough is enough. My husband, “Bear” had taken a new career in order to support our family so that I could stay home with
There will always be things I’d like to hear from William. But I have learned that if I listen with more than my ears, he will tell me everything I want – and need – to hear. Recently, I would have given my soul to have him tell me where it hurts. But through his
My oldest, my friend, my sensitive soul and the human I want to be like when I grow up. Mimi Pie is her nickname and I’m not sure how she got it. Occasionally we call her Pipps, Pipper Pants and Mimes too. She’s 15 years old and she’s taken hold of her life with total
We have five members in our family. Only two of those members are adults and everyone has somewhere to be. When both Bear and I are in the game, we have an unspoken system of sharing adult duties. But when one adult loses the ability to perform their adult duties, those duties fall to the