Life in Calgary is Good!

My excuse for not keeping up with the blog is that everyone that usually reads this has been here with us!! Just kidding.. but we have had visitors with us since the day we moved in and we have been so busy enjoying our time with them, that I haven't had time to sit at the computer. But sadly, Emily and Dana left us this morning, Diane left us on Friday and now we are all on our own. Don't worry though. We are doing alright and actually looking forward to settling into real life, or at least, creating our new life. It will be interesting to see if we remember what life is like when it's just the five of us.

So here we are, six weeks into our new home and we love it as much as we did the first week. I can't say it enough. This city is the place to be. I love that we can hop in our car and go for drives into the mountains and always find new stunning things that we haven't seen before. We feel spoiled rotten.

The boys are all doing great. I'll post some separate blogs on each of their progress. Things are moving along wonderfully in regards to the funding and establishment of the programs for the kids. Jake starts kindergarten at a French Immersion school this week and the twins start their Nursery School program on Thursday. It looks like it might be one more month before the final implementation of funding/programming kicks in with our ABA provider and we have yet to know how much of that we will be granted, but I am more than hopeful that it will be exactly what we need for Owen and Will. In the interim, our agency provider and social worker have been advocating for us and have got the approval to give us a behavioural consultant for 10 hours a week for each of the twins. This person will be the same who will eventually work with the boys full time once the real programme kicks in. She will be working on some specific behavioural goals with the boys, in our home, every afternoon. Some of the goals we will be working on with Owen, for example, are the implementation of a picture exchange communication program, the reduction of tantrums, etc. The difference between the behavioural consultant and the programme that starts in a month will be that it will lack the really specific strategies to achieve these goals and the psychology/programming behind it. We are just thrilled that they were able to provide us with this service in the meantime.

This service has already been granted to us in addition to respite care, a community aide who will work with the boys out in the community, a small clothing allowance, light housekeeping and a diaper grant. It's unbelievable and we are thrilled that all of our income might actually be able to go towards typical bills and expenses and not just all the extras that have come with the boys.

Jonathan is still stressed about his job situation. He has a placement at a private school to begin on Tuesday so there is no need to worry. He is still hoping to find a placement within the board, but it looks like they are still in the process of filling positions with pre-existing/returning teachers first. I am sure he will hear something in the next two weeks.

Me? I'm still the housewife/taxi driver/administrator/nurse/hostess/researcher/blogger. Life goes on as per usual, no matter where I live. :) I'm happy. I am thinking about registering for a class or two for the winter semester through correspondence though. It would be nice to get my brain working again without it being totally preoccupied by household or autism related stuff. We'll see.

Life In Our New Home:

When Owen and Will are not fighting, they are really learning how to play together nicely. Okay, maybe not exactly play, but at least tolerate each other's presence. Diane took this picture and she swears that the boys sat for over an hour together like this.

What will we do when the boys outgrow the wagon???

Diane and the boys pose for a pretty pictures in front of a garden at the Zoo. There's Owen's Popeye pose

Dad continues to impress - scratch that, embarrass us - with his rediscovery of his high school cheerleading moves. Actually, what you can't see is the trampoline in front of the pool that he bounced from and Owen and Will signing "more" over and over again. They love it!

Will and Jake at play with Popeye in the park

We love our backyard firepit and have spent several nights making Smores. We miss Bronwyn's expertise!