Slowing down

Life is pretty much back to normal for us. Last week we returned to our regular routine. I can walk and drive now, so I’m doing the school runs and going to playgroup, chair yoga and the office for work again. I feel like I’m a part of society once more.

Being incapacited was not much fun. I was forced to slow down and I needed to rest a lot. I had some frustrating moments. Phil was left to looking after the household all by himself and I felt bad that I couldn’t be of much help. All I was able to contribute was folding the laundry. I eventually learned to accept my situation and embraced my free time to read, watch DVDs and join in our current family pasttime of The 1000 Dot-To-Dot Book: Cityscapes.

The upside to this was spending lots of time at home with Catherine, playing hairdresser and dress-ups, having tea parties and napping. She even helped massage my knee and would copy my exercises. Nicholas loved going to school and getting picked up by different family members throughout the week. They adjusted really well with the temporary change to our routine and learned to ask Daddy for help with everything.

From Oct2014

Slowing down has also given us many opportunities for bonding time: family movie nights, making loom bands and creating stop motion movies. Although staying home would often make us stir-crazy or sometimes we couldn’t bear another minute of each other’s company, we’ve definitely become closer as a family. We’ve learned how to deal and interact better with each other. I’ve also realised how much the children have grown during this period.

Some amazing milestones include Catherine deciding she no longer needed nappies at night (!!), realising how much Catherine’s followed a conversation between me and Phil when she suddenly makes a comment that makes complete sense, Nicholas wanting to talk to Phil about stuff going on at school or just sharing his thoughts with Phil and myself without prompting and Nicholas having better control of his emotions after a highly overwhelming occassion.

They continue to entertain us. Driving to school on Friday morning was fun when the two of them at the back started singing along and dancing to Coldplay’s A Sky Full of Stars. The other night Catherine was making us all laugh when she was telling us a story about her driving to Melbourne all by herself. She thought she was hilarious. Then we found Nicholas did a Google search on “Nicholas B.’s grandparents” for his homework on making a powerpoint presentation.

Phil’s just had some achievements himself. He was recently awarded 3 out of the 3 fellowship and grants for which he applied!