when I grow up….. I want to be  Mum, and a full time carer for one of my children…. I can honestly say that the second part of that thought never crossed my mind. I never thought when I was growing up, that I would have a child with different abilities and that I would…

There have been two times on this journey with Veronika that the phrase “its just not fair” has crossed my mind. The first time I thought “its not fair” was after her 1st MRI from when Veronika was only a week old, and the NICU doctor said Veronika had brain injury from the stroke she…

In 2012 we were working through transitioning Veronika from ECIS(early childhood intervention services) where she had been attending ‘school/playgroup’ since she was 7 weeks old. Part of that transition was taking part in the pre-kinder program at the school Veronika was going to go to kindergarten at.   I had been talking with Veronika’s teacher…

My girl really is AMAZING, yes I already knew but today she continued to make me so proud of her determination. A couple of months ago I wrote a blog about Veronika continuing to walk(I will post link in comments). Veronika’s Physio was extremely concerned about Veronika hyperextending her knee and the pressure it was…

The National Disability Insurance Scheme(NDIS) trial turns 1 tomorrow….for our home state Tasmania it’s been rolled out for the 15-24 year old cohort. The federal government has begun tightening it’s belt on what’s deemed as ‘reasonable and necessary supports’. One item in question is iPads….for us an iPad was the beginning of Veronika developing fine…

One thing I won’t ever get sick of, is hearing the excitement from the students, teachers, staff and parents at school….at Mondays assembly Veronika was presented with a Principals award for receiving 5 star awards at school. That in itself was very exciting and by all accounts Veronika was delighted when our acting Principal Mrs…

Veronika Will Walk… Just over 6 years ago  I was told Veronika would never walk, following her 1st MRI when she was a week old. 6 years ago I made a commitment to my baby girl, that one day she WOULD  walk, that she would walk into her 1st day of school….and in February 2013…

Last year, when I had Veronika at one of her pediatrician appointments we were discussing Veronika’s communication methods. We started signing with Veronika when she was around 5 months old, and it took around 10 months before we got a sign back from her. Once she started signing though, Veronika progressed pretty quickly with learning new signs…

This Friday is World Down Syndrome Day(WDSD)….World Down Syndrome Day is a global awareness day celebrated on 21st March every year. The date for WDSD being the 21st day of then 3rd month, was selected to signify the uniqueness of the triplication(trisomy) of the 21st chromosome, which results in Trisomy 21 or more often known…