Life as I know it

Ava Finn bounced into our world as a leap year baby in 2008. She was the smallest baby I had ever seen weighing only 5lbs 6 oz and was 10 days overdue! She was like a doll. Perfect. Mia was 3 and was being assessed for autism when Ava arrived. We also just bought our first house and had got the keys the day before Ava came. We were 22. Talk about pressure! All our friends were still out partying and working and we were on to baby no 2 and a mortgage!. Ava was a dream baby she slept all night from 6 weeks of age, she never cried, she was such a happy baby always smiling and Mia adored her. I found it tough with two children. It was hard going especially when you have one child with special needs. Daniel could literally only take two days off as he was so busy I'll never forget how tough it was and yet he would  come in and do every night feed, nappies, everything he could. We used to joke that Ava was so laid back that when you walked into a room Ava would not notice you  were there

When I was younger my dad always told me I was going to be a writer. I loved to write. I used to write him and my mum letters and stories.  Each time no matter what I had written whether it be good or bad he would say 'Your gonna be a writer!'.  So that was my plan. A writer who would travel the world. Kids were not on my agenda at all. My dad was a great man for giving me life lessons even from a  young age. We used to take walks together and I treasured that time together. Dad used to say 'Life is what happens as your making plans'. It was May 2003  and I was loving my teenage life, no responsibilities, out with friends constantly partying and planning to start college in September. My mum and dad were teenage sweethearts. We always looked up to them and I always wanted to marry someone like my dad in some ways. He adored my mother and she him. They had given us the happiest of childhoods and  shown us what unconditional love was. It was their time now for themselves.

Ever since Jack was diagnosed with Autism we have put everything we have into helping him. When he was diagnosed we did just as we did  with Mia and Ava we cried, felt sorry for ourselves for a whole 24 hours and then got on with getting him the help he needed.  We could not go in to denial Jack had to come first. My first priority for Jack was to get him speaking and into an autism unit pre school because I knew that way he would get all the early intervention straight away instead of sitting on waiting lists like Mia had and get nothing. I would not waste years. Mia had taught us everything we needed to know.  Jack was diagnosed in the May and would start in the pre school in September. I had so many doubts as Mia didn't attend a 'special' pre school but having worked in said school  I knew it was the right place for him. I swallowed any heartbreak I had over Jacks diagnosis and spent all summer trying to teach him to speak properly, he did speak but a lot of the time we