Mama Mia

Our 'red indian' warrior coating himself with sand!

Go all blacks! Deqlan in his all black jersey - Dada couldnt be prouder! Oupa Chris brought it back from his recent visit to Sandi and Mike in New Zealand

Logs and Joshua racing

Deqlan and Keaton in their Noddy pjs!

What a lovely tickle for T

One of the most stunning presies Keaton got - a portrait from one of his buddies Dewald - his mom did this herself!

Playing with Coreen and Loren

Knock knock whos there?

Happy as ever

i love Deqlan full of mud!

Nix and Darryl entertaining Deqlan - rather practising!

Logan in action, about to go into a double somersault with a side twist!

The best part of the jumping castle is when it deflates!

Nanna enjoying Keaton beaton

The girls catching up

Jeran playing with Keaton

beautiful Reece, look at those eyes!

Aunty Jen & Uncle Ken

Dee, me and Mom

everyone chilling

Nana and Deqlan playing fussbol

Yippeee!

The boys in jacuzzi

Hannah giving Nana a big hug

Deqlan and Ivan playing foosball

Wes still supporting baby Declan

Reece! Its your birthday next!

Nanna, Keaton and a very proud Meggie

How cute are Malakai and Caden?

Happy Birthday dear Keaton Happy Birthday to you!

After a much enjoyed dunk in the pool

Elriza and Mr Caden in the most cutest hat!

Noddy, sorry Logan!

Best buddies

The birthday boy swimming with Hannah

Hannah and Logs

Hello Mr Malakai!

The STUNNING kids table and Noddy treats, stunning!There were even noddy bells on the table cloth, Meggie even made Strawberries dipped in chocolate to look like Noddy hats, hats off to you Meggie and Conrad!

racing cars and noddy biscuits - to divine!

Keatons 1st Birthday table

Noddy and Big ears riding Keatons cake!

Keaton enjoying his balloons!

mark wishing keaton

Hi Everyone

Hope you had a great weekend!

Our week started off very early this morning as speech and occupational therapy resumed and it went very very well.

Martie, Deqlans speech therapist was very impressed to see Deqlan spending more time sitting on the chair doing an activity then just getting up within a few seconds. He also didn't try and pull me around our out of the room, so we are happy with that.

Then we went to see Anri whom we haven't seen since Oct i think last year , and she was very happy to see Deqlan. Deqlan LOVED the rice bucket and enjoyed letting the grains filter through his fingers and feel them in his toes. We are trying to teach Deqlan instead of throwing the sand or rice grains he loves so much , with no purpose, to try and show him to throw it into something, to give the action a purpose, so that the habit of throwing doesnt become an actual habit! We are very sad though to hear that Anri will be leaving the Baby Therapy Centre at the end of the month and will miss her terribly. So we will meet our new OT next week Wednesday,

We also start a play group next week Tuesday , which i am so excited about ! Its at baby therapy centre and there will be a group of max 6 kids - and for 45 minutes we will try and play together and share things and get Mr Deqlan used to being in a structured environment doing specific activities with other kids - cant wait!

We had a great weekend and continue to see huge improvements in Deqlan - firstly the transition from normal food to gluten free, casein free, sugar free, yeast free food is going much better then planned. Deqlan is already eating gluten free bread (that actually looks like bread , you wouldnt know or taste the difference), gluten free pasta & spaghetti, gluten free biscuits that look like oreos, gluten free crisp bread and this morning we even tried gluten free chelsea bun , which was amazing! He hasn't had his favorite cream soda drink in nearly 2 weeks, he hasn't had his beloved choc a break biscuits for nearly 1 week, so slowly but surely we are going to do this, i am so proud of Deqlan, he really is taking this well - i think the trick is to do it slowly , with Deqlan - some folks go coldturkey , but we would have huge issues with Deqlans milk, which he loves so much! One things for sure , he definitely loves italian food as much as his Mama does! We have also gotten Deqlan drinking plain water, yes plain water! And pear juice - the only fruit juice that doesnt cause havoc and feed the candida - so Deqlan has really made huge steps in the right direction! So proud of you my boy

Deqlan also has a rash on his back at the moment - it started in october last year with one dot, looking similar to excema , then the dermatologist said he had no explanation , put cortisone on, then it kept coming back, every time 2 or 3 dots more, this time, most of his top back is covered - and what do you think its from .....CANDIDA ! Dr L guesses is the cause, plus the reason for the delay in talking, the reason that Deqlan walks on his tippy toes and and and... so we are sending off a stool sample to a lab in cape town that will tell us if there is a candida problem , leaky gut issues etc.

Deqlan is making some new sounds! On the same Thomas dvd, in the same place, he started saying 'kuk' 'kuk' and we figured out this is his word for Ducks! Hooray - Mark and I were so very very happy , last night we heard him so Ka for cat! So we are thrilled !

Deqlans nappies are also a zillions times better - i think its got a lot to do with cutting out the gluten and sugar already and this just motivates us more !

I am reading a booked called A REAL BOY -and boy its it fantastic! Its about a boy in the UK who is so unbelievably similar to Deqlan - their loves and certain traits are almost identical - and the say no two kids on the spectrum are the same - but Deqlan and David do seem to have a lot in common! I have never ever laughed out loud when reading a book, but this book has me smiling and laughing and crying - i have ten pages to go and not wanting it to end. It just continues to give me so much hope that ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE, THOSE WHO HAVE GOD AS THEIR GOD, THOSE WHO NEVER EVER GIVE UP HOPE AND THOSE WHO WILL NOT ACCEPT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE SAY.

Hope you enjoy the pics from Keatons birthday! Please continue the prayers for Deqlan and all our warrior friends and angels around the world

Have a great week, God Bless and lots of love

Mark Samm Deqlan Logan

SACRED HEART OF JESUS WE PLACE OUR TRUST IN THEE ALL FOR THEE OH LORD OH MY JESUS ALL FOR THEE