So much has happened in the last few months, the biggest news probably being that we’ve moved! We feel in love with Britannic Park so much that when a really wonderful flat came on the market we bought it as fast as humanly possible. If your one of my facebook friends you’ve probably seen all the updates, photos and the like about it.  Words can’t descibe how wonderful it is here. There is much more room (Skin now has his own walking pole in) loads of light (we never have to turn our lights on before 8 or 9) and best yet we now have outside access! We have a huge porch and steps that lead down to a cricket pitch. There are people playing cricket almost every day now that the weather has warmed up and Skin spends most of his days heckling the players.  It;s been a godsend, I can send him out there where he’s happy for hours on end and I can get on with all the decorating inside without him chaning his mind every two minutes (5 tester paints in the living room and he still wasn’t happy, when i finally made the decision to go with one he told me it was awful….only to love it once it was done!)

Other then outside access the other great thing about this flat is that with outside access we get to have pets! After a rather long complicated story about a stray cat we decided that we needed a cat of our own. Well actually Skin decided we did and insisted upon going to the Cats protection Agency to pick one out yesterday. Of course once there he decided that we needed not one cat but 2! so as of tomorrow we will be the proud parents of two 6year old tortie sisters. Of course we got the cats with the understanding that skin would be the one taking care of them as I am about to start work…he doesn’t remember this deal today, funny that.

As far as Skin’s improvement goes I think the best way to describe it would be with a  little story. On Saturday we went out with a bunch of friends for a Bday party. Skin and I were the first ones at the restraunt and every time someone came in he greeted them very loudly with a personal little greeting …most of which I shouldn’t repeat! He was on a role all during dinner, laughing, joking, singing (VERY LOUDLY) and the like (he even ate quickly….for him!)  After dinner we moved onto a friends house where skin proceeded to dance and sing until 2 in the morning.  So yeah he’s improving!!!!

Once a week we go into the hospital for physio where he practices walking. He has his own cane, which he likes beating people with while doing his crazy old man impression, and he uses it to walk across the room. His walking has improved loads, he needs a lot less support on his weak leg and can keep his balance for ages on his own. Actually as I write this he is standing next to the window waving at the neighbors:) He has gotten so much more movement and strenght into his right leg, its not perfect yet but it really is getting a lot closer! We go swimming a few times every week and he swims laps on his own and the swimming teacher in me loves that he kicks evenly with both legs! He did 16 lengths today…not to shabby for a one armed crawl!

His speech has come on in leaps and bounds as well. His speech therapists told us last week that he has already exceeded ever goal that she set for him 6 months ago, she can’t believe how good he’s doing! He talks all the time and is getting much better at finding the right words to describe his thoughts, although we still do get some strange sentences every now and then.

That has to be it for now, but I will try to update again soon. With pictures of our cats at the very least!

Skin is still  improving , it’s his speech and cognitive abilities that are making the most improvement and WOW it’s been good! He talks all the time and is getting much better at saying when he wants things and can carry on conversations for longer and longer each day. Earlier today he was able to talk to a friend on Skype for almost an hour and was making jokes and talking about all manner of things! Even one of his careers who had been on holiday for a week commented on how much better he is after just one week!

cognitively he has become much better at solving little problems (and some big like sorting out the TV!) as well as telling time and doing some simple maths. I’ve been trying to get him to write-up my work for me and I knew he was getting better when he refused and then tried to escape from the room! He has also been able to plan and carry out pranks, much to my annoyance! Today he had both me and the carer going for ages with one of his little jokes (and no I won’t write about it, but if you ask nicely I may tell you in person….the jerk:P)

physically he is continuing to improve as well. He’s not standing yet, but he is getting more use out of that right leg than ever before. Mostly he is just getting stronger! We’re really mean to him now that he’s at home and make him do everything for himself so now he can get in and out of his chair on his own, wheel him self around and basically perform almost every daily task on his own (other than stuff in the kitchen, but then he wasn’t great at that before!)

We spent most of the weekend at his sister’s house playing with his nieces, eating good food and watching fireworks and then home each night were he would lie, beg or trick the careers into getting him what he wanted. It seems that none of his things are good enough and that mine are much better so I’ve been sharing all my bath gel, toothbrush, toothpaste, BED and so on.

All in all it has been a great week!

We are planning a housewarming party on Dec 5th 3-7 if any of you will be in the area let me know and I will send the address! I hope to see everyone there!

Skin is talking more and more every day. He jokes around talks to his careers and basically can’t be quite for to long!

Our team of careers is in place and we worked out a schedule today that gives Skin loads of therapy at home every day. Life as we knew it is back on track!

visitors are more than welcome and we have no visiting hours that you have to ahead to (but please no one before 9 am!)

He actually gets to come home for the whole weekend (even with a sleep over on Sat night!) but since he still has to go back Sunday night we’re only counting till Monday!!

We’re planning a house warming party for the near future, so keep it in mind!

We have hired 5 careers and hope to eventually hire one more(they will be working twelve-hour shifts, round the clock to start with). Somebody has to be making sure that Skin isn’t getting into too much trouble aka someone has to wheel him down to the pub when I’m at school!

 Other wise everything else is going well. He is putting weight on, practising standing, talking all the time (expect doing the Simpsons, I’ve learned the hard way that talking is not appreciated then) and making grand plans for the future (I guess we are going to America!).

On Tuesday Skin and I went to his sisters house to celebrate his nieces 5th birthday and nobody sang louder then Skin! He also insisted on going to her birthday party on Sat at one of the local children s play centers. I wasn’t sure if it was the best idea when he brought it up, but after three days of him saying that yes he wanted to go a friend and I loaded him up and brought him to maybe the loudest place on earth! Skin seemed to enjoy it though, he sang Happy Birthday and scared some poor little children by pulling faces at them and saying “ooohhh scary” all in all a nice time.

We interviewed carers (for the first year we will have someone at home with us 24 hours a day to help with rehabilitation and basic things) We picked three out of the five people and hopefully will interview a few more this week. This means that hopefully Skin will be home for good before Halloween!!!!

Now that this surgery is done we are officially starting the countdown to HOME!!! We interview carers on Thursday and then we only have to wait for them to get their back ground checks done…..three or so weeks and then home for good!!