Debra over at Home Life Simplified is running a 52 week Simplify Your Life Challenge and I have decided to join in. If you want to find out more head on over and read all about it, but for now here are my answers to Week #1′s Challenge:

Create a list of everything that went “right” in 2011

Even though 2011 was a tough year for us, there are many things that I feel went “right”! Here they are in point form:

• Sophie started working with a fantastic Speech Therapist and Occupational Therapist
• The Luke Priddis Foundation opened a special Playgroup for kids with Autism at our local school
• We have met some wonderful people through the Playgroup – especially Kari who has given us much needed advice and support
• Sophie’s FaHCSIA funding finally came through, helping us with her therapy costs
• Chloe continued to impress me with her mature attitude towards her diabetes – she never complains and just does what she has to do to look after her health
• Chloe again spent her school year productivily earning many academic achievement awards including a 1st in course in Creative Arts
• Clare finished primary school with a bang, earning herself many school awards including the schools Citizenship award
• Caitlin once again earned a class award for her consistant effort throughout the year
• Riley surprised us all by earning the class achievement award and medal for the year
• Rob always works long hard hours to provide for our family
• My good friend Jess and I start The FunRaising Girls, hosting movie events to help raise funds for organisations in our community

I’m sure there are many other things but these are the things that come to mind right now

One of my goals for 2012 is to stay organised and one way I am planning to do that is by making weekly meal plans. Not only is it going to eliminate the 6pm “what are we having for dinner” drama, but it will also save us money and by sticking the menu on the fridge it will stop my kids from asking me “What’s for dinner?” over and over again

So each week I am going to post my families menu with links to the recipes I use.

Here is this weeks menu:

Monday – Crumbed Fish, Mashed Potato and Steamed Vegetables
Tuesday – Meat Pies, Chips and Salad
Wednesday – Lemon Pepper Chicken, Wedges and Salad
Thursday – Satay Chicken and Rice
Friday – Leftover Spaghetti
Saturday – Tacos

It’s been almost 3 years since I joined in with I’m an Organizing Junkie‘s  Menu Plan Monday Meme  and I was really excited to see that she is still going strong with it. So if you want to see more great menus, go and check it out

Our iPad is a year old now and we have certainly got our monies worth out of it. It is always being used by someone in the family and is rarely put down.

It has been especially good for Sophie with so many great apps being created to help autistic kids.

Many of my friends have gotten iPods and iPads for Christmas and have asked what apps I use most, so here is a list of my favourites as well as a list of Sophie’s favourites.

Over the next few months I’ll go into more depth about each app and why we love them but for now here are our lists.

The Apps I use on a daily basis are:

Flipboard – a great magazine like aggregator. It pulls feeds from Google Reader, Facebook, Twitter and more.

Cost – Free

Google Search – kind of obvious I know, but I use the Google app alot. I like it better than apps Safari web browser and it has alot of the Google functions I use daily, like Google Docs and Gmail.

Cost – Free

Facebook – another obvious one but I use it daily, so I had to list it. I wasn’t a fan of the Facebook app when it first came out, but the latest upgrade has made it much more user friendly.

Cost – Free

WordPress – if you have a WordPress blog, this app is a must. I use it mostly to draft blog posts and read and reply to comments on my blogs.

Cost – Free

iBooks – iBooks is a great app for ebooks. You can purchase books from iTunes straight from the iBook app or sync PDF’s from your library.

Cost – Free

The Coeliac Society of Australia Ingredient List – This is a handy app for anyone with Coeliac disease. There is lots of information and an ingredient list built in, so it’s quick and easy to check a product for gluten if you are not familiar with it.

Cost – $8.49AUD

Snapseed – Snapseed was iPad App of the Year and I was luck enough to get it when it was free but I still think it is well worth the $5.49. It is a great app to use to modify your photos. The effects are great and are perfect to touch up your photos.

Cost – $5.49AUD

Feedly – a great RSS reader. You can pull in content from your Google Reader account. I use Feedly more than Flipboard because it has some really great sharing options.

Cost – Free

Twitter – another obvious one, but I really wasn’t a fan of it when it first came out. Now after a few upgrades it is much cleaner and nicer to use. Pus it’s great if you have multiple Twitter accounts, it’s very easy to flip between accounts.

Cost – Free

170,000+ Recipes : BigOven – a great recipe database and now has a menu plan option.

Cost – Free

Awesome Lists – perfect for any list maker. It’s easy to use and is capable of making multiple lists.

Cost – $2.99AUD

eBay – the eBay app is another one that has gotten better since it was launched.

Cost – Free

Now here are some of the apps Sophie uses most:

First Words: Deluxe – provides endless fun for the toddlers in your life, all while giving your child a head start on learning their letters and learning to spell words.

First Words: Deluxe is toddler-tested and approved, with a user-interface designed specifically for the littlest of fingers. The game includes 174 words, including: animals, vehicles, colours, shapes and words from around the house.

It has a wide range of options let you tune the game to match your child’s current skills and abilities.

Cost – $5.49AUD (there is a free version here – First Words Sampler)

Bob Books Reading Magic – Start your child reading with this phonics-based interactive game. The simple drag-and-drop interface can be used by the youngest children. Your favorite Bob Books characters and full-color animations encourage kids along the path of learning to read.

Bob Books Reading Magic continues Bob Books’ commitment to bringing children a satisfying, successful first reading experience, with easy first steps, wholesome values, authentic hand-drawn illustrations, and beautiful full-color animations.

Cost – $1.99AUD (There is a free version which includes 3 scenes and 8 words here)

iLuv Drawing Animals – iLuv Drawing Animals is a unique art app designed for anyone who wants to learn to draw. Unlike many other coloring book & drawing apps in the App Store that provide you with a limited library of images to work with, iLuv Drawing Animals includes 40 unique animals to choose from!

Built to work as a learning tool, this app perfectly balances fun with education, and is intuitive enough to ensure its accessible to kids of almost any age.

Cost – $1.99AUD

Old Macdonald Had a Farm – All In One activity center and full interactive sing along book for children. Carefully designed for babies, toddlers and children of all ages this application is a unique, new and high quality musical production of the song joined with fabulous animated activities and games.
Ideal for an engaging, educational, visually and audibly exciting experience.
Cost – Free

My PlayHome – My PlayHome is the original and best dolls house app. Massively interactive, your kids can explore and use everything in the house. The characters eat, sleep, shower, brush their teeth and more. Want the room to be darker? Close the drapes! Fancy a change in music? Pop a different CD into the stereo!

Cost – $2.99AUD (there is a free version here – My PlayHome Lite)

Magnetic Alphabet HD – It’s an infinite source of fun and a great way to stimulate their imagination and creativity.
It comes with a rich set of colored pieces that can be placed freely on the board: letters, numbers, symbols and funny figures.

Cost – $3.99AUD – (there is a free version here – Magnetic Alphabet Lite)

Toca Tea Party – Invite your friends to a tea party around your iPad! Set the table, choose your favorite cookies and cakes, serve the tea and you’re good to go! Simply eat and drink with your finger! With Toca Tea Party, you can play together with your kids in a way that stimulates their imagination.

Cost – $2.99AUD

In the Night Garden – Let your children meet up with Iggle Piggle, Upsy Daisy and Makka Pakka to explore the enchanting world of In the Night Garden. Featuring many of the locations from the show including the Stepping Stone Path, the Daisy Patch, Makka Pakka’s Cave and the Tombliboo Bush. Dance with your favourite characters or play counting games with the Pontipines, help Upsy Daisy catch her bed or even dress the Tombliboos!
Make new friends in an interactive playground filled with the sights and sounds of the world famous TV show.

Cost – $1.99AUD

CBeebies On the Go – CBeebies On the Go is all about fun and taking a little bit of CBeebies with you wherever you go. It’s a brightly coloured world full of games, activities, wonder and a selection of the favourite CBeebies characters from the TV channel. With simple touch controls designed specifically for young fingers, children can explore and discover delights and surprises throughout CBeebies On the Go.

Cost – Free

What are you favourite Apps and what Apps can’t you live without???

What do you think of my new layout?

I love it!!! A huge thanks to my very clever daughter Chloe for creating the cute header up there

1. SIBLINGS NEED COMMUNICATION THAT IS OPEN, HONEST, DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE, AND ONGOING. Parents may need to deal with their own thoughts and feelings before they can effectively share information with siblings. Children may show their stress through their withdrawal or through inappropriate behaviors. Siblings may be reluctant to ask questions due to not knowing what to ask or out of fear of hurting the parent. While doing research on siblings, Sandra Harris found that developmentally appropriate information can buffer the negative effects of a potentially stressful event (Harris, 1994).

2. SIBLINGS NEED DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE AND ONGOING INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR SIBLINGS’ ASD. Anxiety is most frequently the result of lack of information. Without information about a siblings’ disability, younger children may worry about “catching” the disability and/or whether they caused it. The young child will only be able to understand specific traits that they can see,
like the fact that the sibling does not talk or likes to line up their toys.

3. SIBLINGS NEED PARENTAL ATTENTION THAT IS CONSISTENT, INDIVIDUALIZED, AND CELEBRATES THEIR UNIQUENESS. Many families make a major effort to praise and reward the child with the disability for each step of progress. This same effort should be considered for the siblings. Self-esteem is tied to this positive recognition by parents. Remember to celebrate everyone’s achievements as special.

Read all 12 at Autism Support Network!

are underway!

Come back later to see the changes

Tonight, my partner Rob told me about a Twitter hashtag that he had been following – #youmightbeanautismparentif .

I jumped on to Twitter and have been reading through them, some have made me laugh and some have made me cry but I have enjoyed reading them all!

Here are some of my favourites:

@AspieKid said “you think a meltdown is something that happens to a child, not a nuclear reactor”

@AspieSide said “your heart literally stops when your spouse says “are we out of _____food item” when trying to pack lunch”

@TGIDinner said “You 1st started figuring out your child was on the spectrum cuz she cud quote entire Spongebob episodes verbatim”

@Calormom said “You put up a Christmas tree today & since have said over & over ‘no touch’ & ‘we don’t eat trees’.”

@loumelgarejo said “Your child has driven you from tears of sadness to joy in the span of seconds.”

@spectrummymummy said “you know just how much work goes into play.”

@diaryofamom said “you would give anything to crawl inside that beautiful mind and find out what’s going on in there.” and “you’ve learned to stay eerily calm in the middle of a sh-tstorm.”

sabrinaloulou said “If you have to stop half way to school so your son can lick THE bollard It’s just easier”

When I started blogging in January 2006, I had 4 kids and I was juggling all the demands of being a mum with the need to find something just for me. Blogging helped to fill that gap, it gave me a creative outlet, a place to get things off my chest, a place to archive my many interests and a community of like minded women to bounce ideas off and to share the highs and lows of being a parent with.  I never imagined when I started out that 5 years later I would be juggling much much more than I could ever have imagined.

In the 5 years since A Juggling Mum was launched, my partner and I have had a 5th child, our eldest daughter Chloe has been diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes and Coeliac Disease and our youngest daughter Sophie has been recently diagnosed with Autism. Just when I think I have this whole parenting thing down, I’m thrown for a loop with something else to learn about and deal with, but nobody said being a parent would be easy

I have found myself once again in need of a place to get my ideas down, a place to keep all our resources in one place and a place to document our achievements. So I am bringing A Juggling Mum out of retirement.

I have to say that I have missed the Mummy bloggers community and I am really excited to get back into the community again.

If you are a Mummy Blogger with a child with Autism, Diabetes or Coeliac Disease leave me a comment and don’t forget to leave your url so I can pop by for a visit

I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth, I have just been busy lazy preoccupied with another project. I have been working hard on getting The Twilight Fansite up and running with everything looking and working the way I want it too. But anyone who knows anything about blogging will know that once you have accomplished one task another 2 or 3 to-do’s present themselves! It has been a fun process though and I am thoroughly enjoying it. It helps that I am totally obsessed with Twilight at the moment

The kids went back to school half way through this week, which has been lovely! I think they were all pretty sick and tired of being at home and itching to get back to their friends again. Getting back into the school/preschool routine wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be and I am loving having some peaceful days with just one or two kids at home.

It has been really hot here in Sydney, high 30′s to 40′s, so it’s hard to feel motivated to get out and about, but from what I have heard our heat is nothing compared to the temperature in Victoria and South Australia at the moment. The poor things are suffering through a heat wave! Hopefully it will end soon and you’ll all get some relief.

Because it is almost time for our kids to go back to school I thought you might enjoy these tutorials for washable lunch bags:

Mad Quilters adorable lunch bag

Sewing Notions cute ‘hobo’ lunch bag

Remains of the Day’s cute lunch bag

Blissful’s adorable lunch bag

Sew News has this very funky lunch bag tutorial

Supafine’s lunch bag based on a plastic shopping bag

All People Quilt have a tutorial for these lunch sacks