The importance of hearing checks..

We had the standard “hearing checks” conducted with all three of our children whilst they were newborns at the hostpital.

Then at the 2yr health check up i enquired if another test was required and was told by my GP that unless there was any cause for concern, then this would not be neccessary..

It wasn’t until our son turned 3 and started at pre school where they conducted a ” speech screening test” that we realised the importance of such hearing checks.

Connor was pronouncing some of his words incorrectly or with an accent(this could well be due to my English accent and his fathers Irish background) and when in a group he was becoming frustrated if his peers could not always understand what he was saying.

This lead to a few tears and tantrums at pre school halfway through the year and we had a meeting and agreed on an assessor coming from the child start program on the coast to see if he may need some speech therapy down the line.

Interestingly, the first question this lady asked me, was if Connor had recently had his hearing checked as this could be affecting his pronounciation.

We proceeded to book an appointment with an audiologist and were given the news that he had hearing loss in both of his ears due to fluid in his ear.

This, although quite common, came as a bit of a shock to my husband and I as we had not noticed any major signs.

We followed up with a further hearing check and 3 months later another check up appointment.

The result has been a course of antibiotics from the doctors to try to clear the fluid and as his hearing appears to have gotten worse, we are now scheduled to see an ear, nose and throat specialist in February to see if Grommets will be needed.

We will have to go on a waitlist for this.

We also had to go on a waiting list for various appointments and speech therapy assessments and as this took a few months,we did seek private speech pathology for 3 months until the assessments said he was doing well with his speech and would need to go back for reviews.

The long and short of it is that the importance of hearing checks is grossly underestimated as it can affect a childs speech at the most crucial of ages.

Luckily we are making things happen and trying to stay on top of things for our son and do what is needed.

We are hoping that he will either have an operation before he starts school next year or at least, we may have a date in the diary for check ups and the  assistance he needs.

Lets keep our fingers crossed that our other children do not suffer the same problem- and at least, knowledge is power ,so, as parents we are now very much aware of the importance of hearing checks from an early age….

Christmas Gifts on a budget!

Aah-its thats time of year again and i can hardly believe that its 12 months already since we made the huge trip back to Europe.

This year will be different..spending Christmas at home with family and friends in Australia will be a very special time that we are all looking forward to.

The added bonus of nanny and grandad coming over to see us soon too will be amazing for the children and i hope that my husband will manage some much needed holiday time from work too.

I love Christmas..but there is always that added financial stress that innevitably accompanies the festive season..particularly since we have added three children to our brood.

Long gone are the days of exclusive gifts for hubby and i and our border collies and bunnies!

Thesedays, i simply have to budget!

This tends to start each year in July when the “Xmas  lay by” options are available at Kmart,Target,Big W and Toys R Us..

I manage to save quite a few dollars on each item put aside as it is on sale..

Then,a few months later, November catalogues also seem to offer quite a few xmas toys and childrens items at a discounted rate yet again , so i end up getting the last minute christmas ‘stocking fillers’ through these.

We have also decided each year to get each of our 3 children small individual presents and then they have a main present for outdoors that all 3 can share-this year will hopefully be a Cubby House and last year they were lucky enough to recieve  a trampoline for example- and ALL of us have spent many happy  hours this year in that!

I think the special thing about  giving and recieving Christmas gifts on a budget is that there seems to be more thought that actually goes in to deciding what to get…when money is no object then its easy to get carried away on a huge shopping spree and quick decisions being made on the spot, whilst the trolley gets loaded up..

When money has to be divided up and allocated to each gift then more time inevitably will get spent searching for the best gift available for that amount of money.

All of the parents in our mums group decided to put in $10 for each childs birthday present this year (as they all fall in january and the spending was ridiculous at this time of year)and we made the choice of giving our own children a little gift to open with santa at the christmas party,rather than buying gifts for every child.

This was to cut costs but retain the special feel of the festive season..

We have all organised our Christmas party at a friends home with bbq facilities and an undercover deck which will be great for both adults and children come rain or shine-and each year, one of the dads dresses up as santa to save on hiring one for the occasion!

All the parents put in $15 to cover the cost of the food and decorations etc  and a wonderful day is had by all..just because we are all having to be more budget conscious these days, it is still very special in a similar way to both giving and receiving Christmas Gifts on a budget..

Night time Nappies

HELP! my twinnies have started taking their night time nappies off almost every night whilst in their cot and UNFORTUNATELY for this” busy mama”, it has also marked the start of several “unwanted” gifts being left in and around their cots too-uughh..

In a previous blog,  i did mention that i had been greeted twice of late with “vegemite” styled smears of their number two( and i know this sounds disgusting!) on their cot sheets..i thought it was a rarity and tried to nip it in the bud and have just purchased some more pull ups for the night time sleep rather than usual nappies.

The problem i have though is that our daughters just love to undress totally and this includes taking off nappies,underpants,pjama bottoms,shorts,all in one suits-you name it and they get out of it!

I am running out of ideas as the pull ups are also quite simple for them to remove..i am finding myself dreading each time they go down for a rest (as most of this time consists of playing in their cots anyway!)

Is it time for putting them into a bed instead i wander as we did this with their older brother before he turned two..

I had been hoping to keep the twins in their cots just that little bit longer for a number of reasons:

It keeps them safe and contained and out of harms way in their room

and , as there are 2 girls sharing quite a small room, the cots take up less space so there is more room to play!

I may have to admit defeat though in the coming weeks and buy them their beds a little earlier than anticipated..watch this space regarding the “Night time Nappy” and wish me luck with the pull ups!…..