Overwhelmed

Thats how I have been feeling.....

We have about 16 months until we would ideally like to have Aaliyah's surgery, and a LONG way to go fundraising wise.

I need to get better with my time management. I have just been feeling so so so overwhelmed with day to day life. WORK, UNI, STUDY, FUNDRAISING all whilst trying my best to raise 2 kiddos 2 and under, one of whom still likes to grace me with her wail at least once a night. Neither of the girls attend daycare (personal decision, Aaliyah would not do well in a day care setting). Yes I have ALOT of help, Jose is wonderful and we have very supportive family. However the day to day stuff, its all on me. And thats ok, it really is, its just tiring.

I could give up uni but I would lose all of my credits. They are changing the system, so if I dont keep at it, I will loose a whole years worth of credit. So I will continue.

Financially, I need to work. And no, not a "need to" so we can have a nicer car/go on a holiday/buy new furniture kind of need. Its a "need to" so we can pay our bills/buy groceries type. Its only for a season, but its hard. We have everything we need and more but working, especially the shifts, is taking its toll on me. Its tiring me something chronic. But its not an option of giving up so I will continue.

And fundraising, well unfortunately that gets put on the back burner sometimes, as much as I hate that it does. We still have our usual fundraisers going (selling cabury chocolates) but I really need to get on top of organizing something a little bigger.

What can I do to make it easier/more workable?

Well at the end of April/Early May we are moving. So more work, but the payoff will be fantastic. Our new house is literally a 5 minute walk to my parents house. Its a better area, with a great park minutes walk away. And its a house!!!! With a lovely undercover area and a huge back yard. We are so so so excited to move. Whilst our townhouse has been great, we really have out grown it. The girls need a back yard, we will be closer to work/uni/parents thus saving money on petrol. Its a single story, so no more running up and down the stairs, rushing when I am upstairs for fear of what is going on downstairs!

The downside to the move is that our trivia night is being put of till the end of May. Which I suppose could be a good thing as this will allow me to more time to organize prizes, tables, raffles etc.

The other thing that I am doing/going to do is let my housework slide a little. Those of you that know me, know I like to keep a clean and tidy house. Let me tell you, it is so so hard in our little unit that has TERRIBLE storage, next to no cupboard space. We do not even have a proper pantry. This will be easily remidied once we move as our new house has a LOT more space!!! Until then I am just going to have to accept that our house is not going to look "perfect". Clean, yes, tidy?? sometimes. Perfect?? no.

Im also going to use moving as a perfect excuse to declutter and get rid of as much stuff as possible. So yet another reason why moving is a win-win.

I am also trying to set myself an earlier bedtime. The girls go to bed between 6:30 and 7pm. I am giving myself until 8pm to catch up on housework. After that 2 nights per week I will do my uni work, 2 nights I will be at work and the other three I plan on relaxing by either watching trashy tv shows or reading. My plan is to be in bed by 9:30 with the light out by 10pm. All doable except on work nights. Those nights I get to bed between 12:30 and 1 am *yawn*

In saying all of this I have to say it is ALL WORTH IT. For them. For my little family. I know that in a few years time, when I have finished uni, when Jose is finished uni, when Aaliyah has had her operation, IT WILL HAVE ALL BEEN WORTH IT. Until then, I shall soldier on, with a diet coke in hand.

Now, I know that it is mostly family that would read this (I can tell by the stats, my average post gets about 10-15 views, haha), so please remember, I am not whinging that you dont help enough, nor am I asking for more help. I am so blessed to have you all beside me helping as much as you do and I am eternally grateful for that. I love that our girls get to grow up surrounded by both sets of grandparents and all of their aunties and uncles, something Jose and I both missed.

AN AALIYAH UPDATE

Aaliyah continues to amaze us as well as her therapists and doctors with her developmental milestones. She is such a chatter box and has the memory of an elephant. As far as speech and language development are concerned she is still above average (as in above average for a fully hearing child). We are so pleased that this is one less hurdle that she has to cross.

However we are noticing more and more how terrible her directional hearing is. If we are not talking to her on her good side, chances are she will not respond or will respond inappropriatly. This is frustrating for both her as well as whoever is trying to communicate with her.

Wearing her hearing aid over the past few months has become a bit of a struggle. The band itself is quite thick, and quite hot to wear. She now tells me "no hearing aid" when we try to put it on her. We have started to add bows etc to it to make it seem more pretty to her, to encourage her to wear it more often. I lose track at the amount of times per day I find it lying in some random spot in our house and chase her down to put it on again.

She also seems to think that Hadassah's headbands are hearing aids. It is so hard for me to watch her little face look confused as to why her sister doesnt have to wear a hearing aid but she does. It really breaks my heart.

Aaliyah and Hadassah have such a special bond, I am so grateful for that. They light up when they see one another. We have seen very little jealously on Aaliyah's behalf. For that we are truly thankful.

In the next month or so Aaliyah will be attending more of her six monthly reviews. I am interested to see how they all pan out.

Stay tuned for tomorrows post about her surgery

xxx

Thankful

Hi all,

Just a quick update:

Looks like the cost for Trivia night will be somewhere between $20-$30 dollars. Hiring a hall will cost around $200 and we also have to allow for some snacks. We are hoping to have some good prizes donated as well as one or two cash prizes.

My cousin Adrian is yet again helping our fundraising efforts, thanks to his high school friend Jack. Jack is a magician and we (Adrian, Jack and myself) are currently putting our heads together in how we can put together a magic show fundraiser. As I know more I will let you all know. For those of you in Sydney, Jack has a website www.magictobelieve.com.au

On a different note, we were shopping today and we were in the parents room, making a stop so that our toilet training Aaliyah could use the bathroom. On our way out, another little family walked in. Similar to our family they had what appeared to be a 2 year old as well as a baby in the pram. Difference was the 2 year old little girl had very little hair, most likely the result of Chemo, meaning that this poor little lady is facing one mighty big battle. Seeing that put a lot of things in perpective for me. Yes, it is frustrating that Aaliyah has to deal with a complicated, harder to fix hearing loss. Yes, its going to cost ALOT of money to fix it. But at the end of the day, it is not life threatening, it is not going to cost her her life. Yes it affects her quality of life to a small extent, but nothing like if she was to be battling the poison that is cancer. That little girl has stayed on my mind all afternoon. She has served as a timely reminder that no matter how hard things may get, someone is always doing it harder. Please remember this little girl in your prayers. She weighs heavy on my heart and mind.

xxx

Hi all, still here...

I just wanted to post a little about what has been going on.

Aaliyah continues to far exceed her doctors and auditory-verbal therapists expectations. We are so thankful for the progress she continues to make.

I would also love to take the time to tell you all about a wonderful shop that has taken on "Aaliyah's Journey" as their cause. Meat at Metropol is a little family owned butcher shop, located in Carindale on Brisbanes southside. They (in my humble opinion) have the best Ham that one can buy. They are promoting Aaliyahs page/blog on their website as well as have a tin set up for donations. They are also donating all the meat for when we hold our sausage sizzles. They have gone above and beyond what we thought ANY person/business would do. They are also donating a signed Broncos Jersey (mint condition, 20 years old) to our Auction that will be taking place later this year.

So, I am asking you, IF you live on the southside and are after quality meat, PLEASE pop in to the boys at Meat at Metropol and tell them Aaliyah's Journey sent you :) We are so thankful for their giving hearts.

After you have bought your meat, pop on over to Brumby's, yet ANOTHER sponsor. They will be supplying all of the bread for our sausage sizzle (date to be advised).

Our biggest fundraising news is that we are holding a trivia night starting at 7pm Saturday April 28. Prizes/Raffles/Market Stall. We will be providing light snacks with soft drinks and water available to purchase. I have already organised a host for the trivia night, but if you are interested in helping man one of the stalls, sell raffle tickets or organize a group please let me know. I will be organizing tickets once the location has been finalised. I will be making some phone calls tomorrow.

Thanks in advance. More tomorrow, once I have more details.

xx