Please, 2013, be kind

2012 is rapidly coming to an end.

2013 is looming and the first couple of months of it promise some big changes in our household!

Our oldest daughter, E, will be starting her HSC years (year 11 and 12).

Our oldest son, L, will go into year 8 and is being moved into the Gifted and Talented class at his school. Some of you know about the problems he has had with bullying over the past year, and we are all hoping that this move will provide him a more appropriate learning environment as well as a more supportive social environment (if you missed it and want to know you can search for "bullying" using the search function at the top right of the page, most of the information is in this post- Brave, Smart and Strong.....).

Our second son, I, will start High School in the year 7 Gifted and Talented class at the same high school as his older brother and sister.

7 year old MissK will go into year 2 at our fantastic local primary school with a new teacher.

MissG will start Kindergarten at the same school as K. Some of you have been following her progress through the preparation activities we've been doing with her (if you haven't and want to catch up just search the blog for "Transition to school" using the search function at the top right of the page).

And, Baby Number 6 is due to arrive in the first week of February, just after everyone is back at school.

Sometime during the first half of next year I will be aiming to returning to work in a part time capacity so that Hubby can reduce his work hours a bit in order to help him manage some health issues.

To be completely honest, I am pretty nervous about all these changes.

We've done everything we can to prepare for all the school transitions. There is seriously nothing left we can do to help the kids be ready for those. I have actually been so busy with all that preparation that I have not spent very much mental time on the fact that I am pregnant and we will have a new member in our family in about 6 weeks. Now that we have arrived at the first few days of the month I have purposely set aside to be quiet and stop this routine of attending an average of 2 appointments day making sure everyones medical and mental health needs are taken care of, it has suddenly hit me how tired I am, and how little time is left before all this big stuff I've been getting ready for happens.

But I'm mostly wondering if I've done enough to get ready for this baby? I have the physical stuff covered- bassinet, blankets, nappies, clothes, pram, etc.... it's more the emotional stuff. Not that you can really completely prepare for that. But I'm thinking about the social stories and conversations and practice visits that we do to prepare for other big changes, and I've done none of to get ready for a baby in the house!! It is probably because I've been so busy with everything else, I guess. At least I've realised with enough time to do something!

I'm thinking I'll put the car seat in the car and have the stroller in the house where the kids can see it. At least if some of the baby paraphernalia is visible that should help with awareness of an upcoming change, right? And I might be able to find some books on the shelf about new babies (I think we have some!) that we can use to talk about what babies are like with MissG. I don't think it will be as hard for the older kids to anticipate- they've at least done it a few times before. I do wonder how the change will impact the two younger ones, especially MissG as she makes her big transition to school at the same time as becoming a big sister. How are ASD and SPD going to impact her experience? It is a complete unknown.

So- it is a big year coming up, no doubt about that. I'm not really one for New Year Resolutions, or for making wishes. But, if I knew I could have wishes granted, I would wish for a bullying-free year, for a year with no new diagnoses, and for a year in which no more cuts are made to the support my kids need to attend school. It's not too much to ask, surely?

Please, 2013, be kind.