Like a Dream

We still wake up every day in our new house feeling like we are on holiday, or that it's all just a dream. We just don't look at the outside - or else reality hits that there is still a lot to be done :)

There are so many things I love about the new house, but THE best thing is that things are so much easier with Noah. In our old house we rented, to give Noah a bath was a huge effort - especially if you were on your own. He is 36.5 kg but it seems like a lot more because he doesn't hold any of his own weight, so carrying him is getting harder and harder.

In the old house you couldn't hoist him into the bath as there was no way that the hoist could get under the bath. We either had to do a two person lift or carry him on our own. If you had to carry him on your own, by the time you got from the lounge room into the bathroom, he pretty much dropped straight from my arms into the bath as I couldn't hold him any longer.

Even when we had In Home Support we had to be around if we wanted Noah to have a bath, so we could help Di and Alison carry him into the bath. We often had to choose whether we would use the time of having In Home Support to get out and do something without having to drag Noah around with us, or whether we would stay home or cut the time out short, so we could get back and help them get Noah into the bath.

It has been SO good being able to give Noah a shower by myself or knowing that Di and Alison can give him a shower on their own. The hoist has been dusted off and is actually being used (at least a few times a week...I still need to make myself use it more often).

Last Sunday Noah really needed a shower when he woke up (that's a whole other story that isn't that pleasant to talk or think about!), so I got the hoist out and got him into it, put him in the shower and out again on my own and all I could think about was 'HOW GOOD IS THIS!'. It's like a dream knowing that we can do things so much easier and I can do it all by myself when I need to, without worrying about how I am going to carry him to the bath comfortably and safely for both of us.

We finally got our spa installed this week and while Di was here doing In Home Support last night, we thought we'd try hoisting Noah into it to see how it would go. It's so nice knowing that Noah can either have a spa or a shower now without the struggle of trying to get him in. He quite liked lazing around, having the bubbles blowing on him.

The spa is raised up underneath so that the hoist can fit under it. It's great as when you are washing him that you no longer have to bend over and break your back.

Kobe jumped in with Noah and after the initial shock of having the jets blowing on him, he loved it and cried when he had to hop out.

Jalen said 'I'm never ever getting out of here' and Harri wants a spa every night!

We looked for the perfect house for us for so long and could never find one that had things we really needed - space for Noah, accessible for Noah and big enough for all of us, that was in our price range. We had pretty much given up. It's hard to believe that we are now in a house that was everything we needed and more. It's not the location we would love to live in forever, but for now we are just so grateful that life is so much easier.

It really will be a dream when it's totally finished.