‘Are you going to try for a girl after this one?’ I have been getting that question almost daily lately. I get it. People wonder when they find out that you are having your third boy. And in no way am I offended. I am a big enough person to admit it. I would love a daughter. Of course. My mind immediately goes to pink tu-tu’s, gymnastics, prom, and being the mother-of-the-bride. My world right now is mud, dirt, Nerf Guns, Legos and poop. Yes, poop. It’s wonderful and amazing.…
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I have talked a lot about how lonely this life is. About how isolated I feel. About how no one I know, gets it. I’m not sure when it happened, but one day recently, I told that selfish voice to shut up. I lay down at night next to the one person in this world who gets it. Why does he get it? Because he is going through the exact same thing. When I met my husband, it wasn’t love at first sight. But once he finally convinced me to…
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We met with Cooper’s social worker yesterday for another 6-month evaluation. If you follow our journey, you are probably noticing the uptick in medical appointments and evaluations. It seems to always work like that in our world. It is all or nothing. We will have a few quiet months and then boom. It feels like every day there is something. Evaluations are inevitable when you have a child with needs. We meet every three months for one area, every six months for another and bigger, more meaningful evaluations are yearly.…
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I went for a walk tonight with my dogs. Like I try to do every night. It’s my sanity after long days. As I was walking I took note of four house being built down the road from mine. So much change. I let myself think about the house we moved into just a month ago and how I plan to live here the rest of my life. No joke. I’ve told Jamie he will have to carry my dead body out of here. I let myself think about our…
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It was no surprise to me. I mean, I didn’t even cry. Maybe I even zoned out a little bit. I heard him say, “What we are looking at is Autism Spectrum Disorder.” In my mind I was still thinking about why in the world playing with a baby is an important part of these assessments. He went onto say, “I am writing his prescription for 10 hours of TSS and 3 hours of BSC weekly.” I mean my son has never even played with a baby doll. Why would…
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We write this blog and share our story, not to get sympathy from others, but to educate others on what autism is, how different it can look from one person to the next and to offer support to others who are walking the same road. We don’t write it to complain about our life, but to celebrate life and our sons. The support for others is a big reason why we do this. To all the autism moms and dads out there: We see you, we know your struggles and…
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Today, the girls and I made plans to enjoy a nice lunch outside at the Old Mill with Jack while Cam and Daddy went for haircuts. In addition to The Old Mill being my daughter Olivia’s favorite place on earth, we thought Jack would enjoy watching and feeding the ducks while we ate. I prepared as I normally do – with toys I know Jack loves, water, snacks, my phone at easy access in case I needed to put on a show, etc – the works. We are used to…
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We had our son Cooper’s ITP meeting on Thursday and this mama found out that her smart kid can spell hundreds of words. He’s even moved on from three letter words to four-five letter words. I about died of shock when he spelled green and blue. Looking back, I didn’t know if this would ever happen. And no one would look into their crystal ball and tell me if it was a possibility. If I could give advice to myself a year ago I would say don’t ever give up.…
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My son Cooper is always with me. Always in the same room. Always near me. We move throughout the house together. He’s my little shadow. Never doing what I’m doing. Just always near. He sits outside the bathroom door. He waits for my shower to be over. The kid that seems to be oblivious to almost everything knows where I am at all times. When I’m gone he asks for me. He waits on the porch. Or near the door. He asks for me with his speech device…’I want mom.’…
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Parenting is hard. I think we can all agree on that. You are raising a tiny little human from birth to adulthood without an instruction manual and silently praying they turn out sane and happy. Now imagine if that tiny little human has a diagnosis of some sort. Autism. Cerebral Palsy. Traumatic Brain Injury. The diagnosis could be physical, emotional or neurological. It could be obvious. Or maybe it’s invisible to the outside world. Scary right. You aren’t a doctor. Or a therapist or a physiologist. There is no instruction…
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