A Picture Says a Thousand Words

I almost forgot to link up with Eden's Fresh Horses this week. *gasp*

This week its all about pictures and what's been happening in your world.  

So post your favourite pictures from the week or whenever and Link Up.

This is my favourite pic of Dyllan and Paul.  They both look so serene and it's just a nice pic.

These are my $15 Heels.  They have since been renamed the killer heels as I twisted my ankle in them and I'm still limping!

Dyllan got his head stuck in a coat hanger. after I finished laughing I took this pic!

Fix You

Through the BabyCentre forums I got to know a wonderful mum and began to follow the plight she faced and fought everyday to help her son with Autism.  She faced waiting list after waiting list, some up to 2 years long before anyone could provide her with the building blocks she needed to help her son become all that he could be.

She. Never. Gave. Up.

According to the 2009 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC), an estimated 64, 600 Australians have Autism.  This is double the amount surveyed in 2003. The majority of the care of those diagnosed falls to the family. Formal carers provided less than a third of the care.  According to statistics only 2,200 people diagnosed with Autism receive daily formal care.  The rest falls to an often overworked, stressed family member.

Public waiting lists are long, private care is expensive.  Most families can't provide the care their child deserves.  My friend decided enough was enough and took things into her own hands.  She began fundraising, raising awareness and never stopped fighting so that her son could get the care he needed.  I am constantly in awe of everything she does for her family.

  Here is a video she had created the explains the plight more than I ever could.

If you wish donate please head over to their Facebook page: Ipads 4 Autism

Deprivation

Over the course of my obsession with food and weightloss, I think that I have read just about all literature and heard every line about how to achieve wellness.  A comment today sat me on my arse and made me think hmmmm.

What was that comment you ask? It was a reply to a post on an online forum about healthy eating that told the poster if she wanted to ensure her diet was healthy, then she needed to go through her cupboard and fridge and throw out the junk.  That wasn't the mind blowing statement.  This was: If you think it's bad for you, then you shouldn't be giving it to your kids either.

MIND BLOWN

We have it ingrained into our head that the kids need to eat healthy blah blah blah but whenever mummy or daddy goes on a diet, they don't eat the same food because we don't want to have to 'punish' them or deprive them of anything.  

I ask you this however.  What are you really depriving them of?

By removing junk food as a staple food item you are depriving them of the likely hood of being an overweight adult, of having high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes 2, heart attack...the list goes on. 

Doesn't seem so bad now does it?

You poor thing

The newborn stage wins hands down as my least favourite stage...so far.  I hated being in charge of this helpless little person and having no fucking idea what he wanted half the time (or so it felt at the time).  A sleep deprived me is also not pretty..cue emotional crying mess.

Friends have told me I look good with a newborn...natural.  I'm happy to nurse your squishy, cute newborn and will happily put my hands out when you ask if I want a nurse.  I'm also quite happy to hand them over when they start screaming or pooping..have fun with that.  What I'm not happy with, is doing it all over again myself.

I really struggle to be overjoyed for friends when I find out they are expecting their first.  It sounds horrible but I find it hard to get past how I felt during those first few months.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for them and their excitement.  I just can't help the niggling in the back of my mind as everyone assures them of the 'rainbows and butterflies' they are going to experience when they are pregnant and then hold their bundle of joy in their arms. I'm the friend that has to hold back from saying 'Welcome to Hell'.  

Maybe I'm just cynical or maybe I just like to tell it how it is, rather than approach the world with rose coloured glasses.  Having a baby is awesome and your life will be changed forever.  However it isn't always rainbows and butterflies, sometimes it just down right sucks. Some days a straight jacket and a padded room seems like a GREAT option, some days you don't see an issue with wanting to put your kids on the street with a sign that says 'Free to a good home'.  

Just to throw a spanner in the works though, and when you think that you can't possibly take anymore, you get your first smile. You watch them take their first steps, hear their first belly laugh and watch as they become more independent.  Somehow that makes it all worth it and you're glad you didn't sell them on ebay (even if you already had an awesome new pair of shoes picked out to spend with your profits).

Self Harm Awareness Day

March the 1st, is Self Injury Awareness day. Everyone knows someone who self harms or has self harmed in the past. Show your support and wear or draw an orange ribbon to show your awareness. Self harm isn't a joke, it's a coping mechanism and can be a symptom of other mental health problems. Smile at someone, it could make their day.

The website Responsibility defines the act of self harm as: 'behavior of deliberately causing oneself pain or injury.' 

Today is a day set aside to raise awareness of self harm.  Self harm is such a taboo subject that spreading awareness of this struggle that many people face every single day. Self harm isn't a failed suicide attempt.    

Facing up to an Emergency Department after an episode of self harm borders on terrifying.  You never quite know the reception you are going to receive.  It could be revulsion, scorn or if you are lucky compassion.  An article in the European Journal of Emergency Medicine states 

'Staff in the emergency departments of hospitals are reported as being negative or ambivalent toward suicidal or self-harming individuals. According to the literature, these patients are subjected to stigmatization and lack of empathy. This phenomenon has been linked to a decreased quality of care offered to these individuals and to missing an important opportunity to prevent further suicidal behavior or repetition of deliberate self-harm'

If this is how 'professionals' treat people who self harm...then the general uneducated public can only be thought to be worse.

For me self harm is like an addiction.  It's like any coping mechanism that we develop, we fall back to it when familiar obstacles present themselves.  The hard part is replacing these behaviours with something positive.  Something that gives the same 'rush' because for me that is what is was.  It made me feel when everything else was numb.

If you or someone you know self harms please get help.  It might not provide an instant cure but it's the first step in releasing the grip that self harm has.

This was such a great support for me as a teen: http://self-injury.net/

Check out these websites for more info:

Lifeline

Beyond Blue

Kids Help Line

If you have self harmed please seek medical treatment at your nearest Emergency Department.