Over the weekend I made a plan. I prioritized my mountains and I decided to put personal things on the back burner for a bit. I don’t need to exercise right now. I don’t need to paint Sawyer’s pink room. I don’t need to unpack every single box in this new house. All of that can wait. PS. How cute is that room!?!? What I need to do is figure out Cooper’s diet. I decided that he is going to join us at the dinner table for all meals when…
Read MoreI love how he says…I never saw his autism as something that needed to be cured. And that he just wants his son to be happy and not hurt himself. So touching and made me cry in the break room like a baby. There is always hope my friends. We just have to adjust what the end result looks like. [facebook url=”https://www.facebook.com/Upworthy/videos/1185660188141504/” /]
Read MoreI recently read a study that found moms that have children with autism, have also been shown to have stress levels similar to combat soldiers. I have felt this for years but I could never admit it. If I admitted that I couldn’t handle Cooper than I was admitting he was severely autistic. Admitting meant defeat. Or failure. There are a lot of emotions that go into asking for help. I am strong. Seriously. This blog is the ONLY place I break down. Not in real life. Not to friends.…
Read MoreI get so many emails from people wondering where I am. Emails wondering if Cooper is ok. If I am ok? People that genuinely care about Cooper and his development reach out to me on a daily basis. These emails and messages warm my heart. And I am so thankful for them. It reminds me that Cooper’s journey is helping others. That is amazing. I can remember the blogs that got me through. I would read them from start to finish in a night while drinking a bottle or two…
Read MoreI had a conversation this past weekend that I can’t stop thinking about. It just keeps coming back. Not negatively. Not positively. Just more thought provoking I guess. It opened my eyes to the ignorance out there. I don’t share Cooper’s autism with most people. You would never meet a new person and immediately say…I have two kids…one is deaf. Or one is blind. Or whatever. I get to be choosy about who I share my Cooper story with. And I use it wisely. Maybe that’s weird. I’m not embarrassed.…
Read MoreThere are four sides to autism. At least that’s the way I see it. There is Cooper. He has autism. Then there is me and his dad and his brother and family. We have different expectations and emotions about Cooper. There is the rest of the world and how they perceive Cooper. There are teachers and aids and therapists and insurance companies. Doctors, financial aid workers. You name it. Cooper has it. And then there is the business side. Yesterday, while working an 8 hour day, I answered 4 phone…
Read MoreI gave Cooper a sign for Halloween. It was simple. It said Trick-or-Treat. I gave it to him because he looks so much like a typical child and people don’t know how to react when he does things. They get nervous. I get nervous. And then Cooper gets nervous. By giving Cooper a sign I removed the guesswork and answered the questions that people have. ‘Is there something off with that child?’ We’ve all been there. You’ve all wondered it. Let’s be honest. You see a kiddo or even an…
Read MoreI thought getting a diagnosis would be easy. My son is different. He doesn’t talk. He flaps. He screeches. He hates to be touched by strangers. As a baby he never slept. Ever. He cried constantly. Endless ear infections, stomach issues, constipation, hearing problems. The list goes on. He never babbled. To this day he’s never said a word. I thought it was obvious. There is something wrong. Tell me what it is so I can fix it. That’s what you do. It’s broken and you fix it. No one…
Read MoreI took the boys to the beach this past weekend to soak up some of the last bits of summer. The beach is kind of our place to go. Cooper does his thing and I play with Sawyer. Cooper loves the sand and will spend hours (if I let him) throwing rocks and sand into the water. So yes, it is best if we go when no one else is there. He doesn’t notice if people are in the way. He just throws. This is the isolation I always talk…
Read More
Six months or so ago my dear friend Alicia put something into motion.. She saw a Facebook post by a photographer asking for people to nominate extraordinary special needs families. This amazing photographer, Kacie K Photography, understood firsthand how challenging and upsetting something like having your pictures taken can be for an autistic child. And for their parents and siblings. Unbeknownst to me, Alicia nominated our family. Here is her letter to Kacie K Photography: Kacie, First of all thank you for providing the opportunity for a family to have a photo shoot…
Read More