Michelle Tant

I came on today to have a look at last years new years resolutions (in the vague and vain hope that I kept some?!) and it appears that I wrote none! Well none on here anyway so I shall attempt to cobble some together now. A little news first though - we received the final statement for our lovely boy and the recommendation is that he have fulltime help at school which is brilliant and exactly what he needs. I spoke to his INA and she is prepared to up her hours to accomodate him so I am so happy. A great way to end the year! The good thing about having neglected to write NYRs last year is that I hopefully haven't broken any I may have had in mind? I thought though that I would start with a quick 'Thankful List' from this past year. In no particular order (I'm thankful for all of them!) - My Thankful List 1) My son starting school and successfully getting the statement he needs 2) Getting into uni to study midwifery and loving every second so far 3) Husband getti...

Well it really has been a while since I last blogged here. A couple of reasons really... Twitter being a bit of a culprit but hey ho. You can find me on there by the way if you like. I have imaginatively called myself @michelletant LOL The other reasons include my all consuming midwifery course. I kid you not, it has the potential to completely take over your life. Plus of course my family. So I am here today for an update of sorts. You may have read my post about my son with (amoung other things) sensory processing disorder ( http://michelletant.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/supermarket-meltdowns.html  ) and we have been going through the statementing process with him. What that means it that we applied for a 'Statement of Additional Needs'. You have to apply through the county and it has to sort of be done on your behalf by the agencies involved with the child. So in our case it was the Speech and Language Therapist, the Occupational Therapist, the Educational Pyschologiest, t...

You weren't like other children, And God was well aware, You'd need a caring family, With love enough to share. And so He sent you to us, And much to our surprise, You haven't been a challenge, But a blessing in disguise. Your winning smiles and laughter, The pleasures you impart, Far outweigh your special needs, And melt the coldest heart. We're proud that we've been chosen, To help you learn and grow, The joy that you have brought us, Is more than you can know. A precious gift from Heaven, A treasure from above, A child who's taught us many things, But most of all "Real Love"   Author Unknown

My 4 year old son starts school in September and of course in any family this is big news. My baby boy is growing up, leaving nursery and joining big school with his big brother and his baby sister is taking his place at nursery. Part of the normal cycle of family life. For us though, this has been anything but normal. When I think back to when number one son started school, my feelings couldn't have been more different. I was confident about his ability to fit in, to progress, to get the most out of school. I took it absolutely for granted that this next step in his life would go smoothly, that after a couple of (expected) tears at the classroom door, that he would be flying. And he has... he is happy, popular, well behaved, progressing academically and apparently a pleasure to have in the class. My second son is a sociable, beautiful character with a delightful sense of humour. He has brilliant rythym and loves music. He is a speed demon on his scooter and he will bounce happ...

When I started as a Breastfeeding Counsellor, I used to cram as many things as I could into my antenatal classes. A year later and some more direct experience supporting brand new mothers in their early breastfeeding experience and I find my classes to be a bit different. I used to go to great pains to tell parents how they could do it properly, not quite step by step, but almost. I'd justify this approach by thinking about how I would have appreciated the information before I breastfed my first child. It took being on a postnatal ward with a brand new mother with an hours old newborn to remind me in exquisite shock just what it is like to be a new mother. It took me right back and I started to think long and hard about just how I felt in those first 24 hours. Morphine induced haze aside, when the mist started to clear, I was overwhelmed with the enormity of the task ahead and the minute and beautiful creature in my arms. The realisation that all the information I'd bee...

I haven't posted in a while as I have been a little distracted! On October 3rd, 2011, I applied to University to study Midwifery. I was invited to interview in February and then on 29th March 2012 I heard that I had an unconditional offer and I start this September! Despite wanting this more than I can explain, I was still overwhelmed by the emotion that poured out of me! All the waiting, the tension... the pure emotional rollercoaster that is the Midwifery application process... When I first started looking at this all those years ago, people said to me that mature students literally just walk into courses and so in a way I just kind of thought that I wanted to do this, so I'll go to uni and it'll all be wonderful. Back then there wasn't a lot of info online about midwifery applications but the timing wasn't really right anyway. I looked at it again when I was pregnant with my daughter and found www.studentmidwife.net and it was there that I had my eyes opened...

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait til tomorrow, For babies grow up... we've learnt to our sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs, Dust... go to sleep! I'm rocking my baby, And babies don't keep. Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.9