New Powerchair being built

Back a few months ago, I blogged about the big decisions on Missy's new powerchair and how we had received funding approval for the majority of the chair except the vertical lift.
Well, we had to make the difficult decision if to go ahead with original order of a Quickie Rhythm or wait a couple of months for the new Glide Powerchair to arrive. We decided to wait to check out the new glide and thankfully it was the right decision we think. The Specialised Wheelchair company quickly brought up one of the first demo models for us to trial and it fits better in our van, it's suspension is better and is quieter to operate. So it is currently getting built and hopefully it should be ready in a few weeks.
We self funded the vertical lift option so hopefully we she will get increased independence opportunities once the new chair arrives, not before time as the old Roller RAD chair is falling apart along with the temperamental electrics.
It's been a long and tedious process but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Very Pleasing School Report

My girls had very pleasing school reports, and it was lovely their hard work is reflected in them.
Missy received 5 for effort in all subjects(5 being the maximise) this is always the most important area and it's great that considering the daily physical challenges that sucks the energy from Missy, she continues to put in a big effort.
Some lovely teachers comments were "Missy gives 100% effort in every area and never ceases to amaze me with her excellent achievements. It is wonderful to see and share with her a great sense of humour. She is a valued member of the class and shows empathy and concern for all her peers. Missy is an attentive listener in class and values all chances to engage in communication with her peers. Missy is gaining pleasing results in maths."
Missy's report also acknowledges the initiative and consistent effort that Miss H(her teachers aide) puts into everyday. While we are always appreciative of Miss H assistance in Missy's inclusiveness and helps provide opportunities to excel in the classroom, it is nice to see the teachers acknowledge the expertise that some Teachers aide can bring to the child's life.

ABR Clinic in August

We will be attending another ABR Clinic in Sydney during August. After our last clinic in Nov 2010 we weren't planning to attend another until Nov 2011.
There has been some new ABR techniques added that have been proven to show great results. This is the greatest technical breakthrough that Leonid and his team have seen for the last ten years.
Leonid posted his blog about the egg and the pelvis transformation – which is of course fantastic to listen to: http://blyum.typepad.com/on_abr_and_beyond/2011/06/mind-blowing-freaking-miracle-pelvis-transformation-in-quadriplegic-cerebral-palsy.html the egg and the new ball rolling techniques are bringing a lot of very fast changes.
Even though our ABR hours are not fantastic, we may as well be using the most improved effective techniques with our time.
We have just completed our home video to send to Singapore and look forward to catching up with other families, Sarah and Jensen from ABR Asia at Sydney.

Miley comes to Sydney

The fun hasn't stopped lately with our family going to the Miley Cyrus Concert last month. We were fortunate enough to have our local service provider financially assist us to attend the concert.
As with every outing lots of planning is involved, right from the start we hit obstacles with seating and being told we could only have one person sit with Missy and the other two in separate seating. So we told them that's not fair and not acceptable, and ended up been given two lots of two seats directly in front of each other...Ok
Off we headed for the 4 hour trip to Sydney in the truck(with the manual chair on the back) because our van won't fit in the car park. The girls listen to Miley the whole trip and had many of the songs memorized, as we entered the car park, Missy's excitement was boiling over and I think H-Ho couldn't believe the amount of people in one spot.
So after queueing at the merchandise store, the kids got their requests, H-HO a t-shirt and Missy a hat. Into find our seats and disappointment took over as Missy took her spot which was on a balcony with horizontal bars(who thought that was good idea doesn't use a wheelchair and hasn't tried to look under or stretch over a bar for 2 hours to see) and the other two seats which were suppose to be in front were not, so we called the supervisor. A very empathetic supervisor listened to our disappointment about we expected and this was not suitable, he quickly found other seats that were together and actually very close compared to where we were.
Settling into our new spacious seats, Missy was waving off the support singer to get Miley on. Missy didn't have to wait long and Miley was on stage,I don't think the girls could believe it but it didn't take them long to get up and dance. Missy stood up to dance, but also danced on my lap and in her chair, waving her arm and legs wildly while belting out the vocals.
Miley sang for 1 hour and 20 minutes and then said good-bye but with encouragement from the crowd, especially my girls she came back on to sing 3 great songs.
We all had a wonderful night and a night the girls will long remember.