Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me…………. Happy New Life Birthday to me!

Well what a year it has been and I am both astounded and amazed that a year has past already and that our lives have definitely changed for the better! My last update was in January and sorry for the delay, the past four months have flown, life is really busy and I can cope with it all.

In January Joe and I celebrated our anniversary, we went to all the big bash games in Adelaide in the heat and we were enjoying the warm weather with lots of outings and family fun during the school holidays. I am very grateful that my heat intolerance and fatigue has gone now. I had my first hair cut/trim in late January and my hairdresser showed me how to style short hair, whilst its not how I would like it to be it is actually growing fairly quickly and getting there. To see how much it has grown since January to May is quite unreal and the wig has been put into retirement.

For some crazy reason I decided that I would have a go at riding to work. I had the energy and desire to do it so one Wednesday I left nice and early and got on my  bike. It took me 1 hour and 10 minutes along the beautiful linear park. It was a little bit of hard work especially some of the hills that I had to get off and walk up but I kept going! I arrived at work looking like a beetroot but I made it. I did however suffer for numerous weeks after every time I sat for long periods of time on a hard surface with a very sore coccyx! So far it hasn’t been possible to do it again with school and kindy drop offs and busy mornings, and it is easier to drive to work but it definitely is not because of MS that I haven’t done it again.

Bianca went happily into year 1 and Dominic started Kindy at the beginning of February. It was also very busy with a birthday every couple of weeks, we had Dominic’s birthday and I was super happy with being able to create another themed cake for him. I have found I am quicker and more refined with cakes already and making his “Jake and the Neverland Pirates” cake was another chance to prove to MS that I am better off without it! Next it was Joes birthday and we went camping up at Bowhill. Over this weekend Bianca and I learnt how to ride a motorbike. I was surprised at how fast a little 50cc bike goes and it even had the throttle limited as well. I never would have expected that I could have the strength to manage a bike or that I would enjoy it so much. It is one new thing that I have been able to experience when it would have never entered my mind before.

Finally in March it was Bianca’s birthday and besides having a fight with the uncooperative purple fondant she had a basic but high 7 tier rainbow cake. On the day of Bianca’s party we had a couple of hours in between it finishing and getting on a plane that arvo for our 14 day holiday. I had to be super organised, packed and tidy so we could fit it all in and not be late for our departure.

And we were off, we had a fantastic cruising holiday with great friends whilst still needing and wanting to be super careful. I didn’t swim in any spas, or go in past my shoulders in the pool for the one time I got in, I did have a glorious time at the beaches enjoying the warm waters. We arrived home from Sydney the Thursday night before Good Friday and then quickly repacked before leaving again for a wonderful time in Robe with different friends. Whilst we were in Robe we were lucky enough to visit a fellow HSCTer’s restaurant Gather food and wine. Wow what an experience and I highly recommend it to all visiting Robe or the south east.

After being able to run again I planned on giving the non competitive 7 a side summer hockey a shot to see if I would be able to commit and take part in the season proper either this year or next. I played a few games when my schedule allowed and was stoked to be able to take part again. I didn’t have the skills I used to have as my balance and coordination was still affected but I enjoyed my time out there even though I was a shadow of my former self. Well as it turns out in April my dreams have come true and I have re-joined my team since last playing in 2013 and even though I am not going to training I feel I am improving every week with some skills returning and I even managed to play nearly a full game at right half! The best bit is I am not wiped out for days after the match, take that fatigue! (Okay maybe I am not running as much as I used to but I am running again!) Bianca and Dom have also started playing hockey in the under 9s this year and it is truly wonderful to see them getting the same enjoyment out of something that both Joe and I do (or did) and being a part of our history.

This year it has been pretty stressful at work with some uncertainty around our Specialist Migrant Services team and who would be a part of it going forward. Restructures are sucky enough without a whole service being left in limbo. Once it was decided I was fortunate enough to be able to remain with my team and move into a new division which I am very very happy about but also means I very much miss my wonderful workmates who went back to head office. Changing the way we work has meant lots of extra hours and solid work being produced (one reason why I haven’t had time for an update). I feel really energetic about it all and am coping extremely well when this would have again wiped me or tasks taken twice as long. I even packed and unpacked a fair amount of the office things and got some compliments about how fast I got things done – a real rarity!

We finally have been able to get a pet for the kids, a beautiful friendly little rabbit called Kiely as we promised that when I was well enough we would look into getting something for them. We will also now starting to repaint from top to bottom and re organise our house getting rid of all our excess possessions. We will be getting new carpets and finally getting our ensuite completed as they ran out of time when we were in Russia and it has been sitting idle and locked up since returning. It will be nice to be able to use it again and have carpet back in our bedroom and it can all happen now I am 1 year post. YAY!

So as you can see we are all happy and healthy and enjiying life. The last year has been a wonderful journey for myself and my loved ones and I am forever grateful for all your support and love along the way. I am so sorry to do this to you but I am going to stop here as I am now up to date, this post is way too long and I feel my 1 year check up reports deserve their own blog post and when I have them all I will get it out there for you to see! I promise it wont be long….

Much love to you all and until next time xx