Lauren’s first year dragged. I mean depressed, angry, up all night nearly every night dragged the bottom of the ocean, kind of dragged. I felt like I was being stamped on left right and centre and needed help but no one really knew how to help. It was a long long year and literally turned my entire life upside down.

Lauren’s first year also flew by so fast I could barely catch my breath. The contrast unbelievable. A good friend of mine recently said that from the outside looking in on parents of children with complex needs, it looks like we’re on a roller-coaster and have no option of getting off. It does feel like that. Battered, bruised, some enormous lows, some highs that by far out reach the lows. The year is a blur in my head and I regret that I possibly didn’t enjoy Lauren as much as I should.

We took Lauren on a few holidays that year, Firstly Centre Parcs, Tenerife, Isle of Arran, Perth in Scotland. We travelled to London. We made sure we had breaks from the normality of our now non normal lives. We made sure Lauren had experiences. Saw outside, swam, breathed in fresh Scottish air, we loved travelling with her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So on her Birthday I wanted it so anyone and everyone who loved her could come by so had an open house. We had so many visitors who loved her, she got so many gifts and we felt very loved as a family. She had stayed relatively well in her first year and we just wanted to enjoy her Birthday, and that we did!