When you’re a #specialneeds parent, these things will happen

Today has not gone as planned. I needed to get the kids to school, go walking and be done in time to do an interview for next week's episode. I was supposed to speak with Annette Hines, author of the best selling book, Butterflies and Second Chances: A Momโ€™s Memoir of Love and Loss. I had everything setup for my 11 AM interview and literally at 10:59 AM, the phone rang and it was the school telling me that Elliott was sick. I was a little flustered because I hate canceling anything, let alone at the last minute. Annette was so kind and understanding. I totally appreciate that. Being a special needs parent means that thing will come up at the last minute and there's nothing that can be done…

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New Episode: Joel Manzer (S2E2)

In this week's episode of The Autism Dad podcast, I speak with my good friend Joel Manzer of Autisable. We talk about his current endeavors to benefit the Autism community, as well as have a discussion about some things that going on in the community that cause tension. We have some opinions. Whatever you do, don't miss out. ☺ This episode is sponsored by lakikid.com

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Despite the heartache, I’m grateful for this one thing

It's been a long morning so far. Elliott and Emmett weren't moving very fast today. We did however, make it to school, albeit a little late. Truthfully, they weren't really late, just later than we aim for. They're going to hang out with their mom and grandma this afternoon for a couple hours, so I'll have a brief reprieve. I've said this before but I will say it many more times going forward. It doesn't matter what happened between their mother and I. That's a grownup situation. My personal feelings can't play a roll in deciding what's best for the kids. I think it's great that the kids get to see their mom. Frankly, I would be upset if they couldn't. Ideally, kids should have access to both parents and…

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I lost my cool tonight

For the first time in a long time, I'm actually feeling good-ish about myself. Selfcare is a priority again, even if it's not perfect, I'm doing my best to work with what I got. Today was a pretty decent day. The kids drove me crazy, but that's par for the course. ☺ Everything actually went mostly okay. I even got my recording equipment almost working. When the cables arrive today, I should be good to go. Hopefully it will be in time for my interview today but if not, I'll manage. The meeting tonight with Lizze, her mom and the kids therapist was actually fairly productive. At the very end, I allowed my emotions to get the better of me and I unloaded. While I will not apologize for how…

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It’s been a frustrating couple of days but……

It's been a frustrating couple of days but also kinda exciting. The kids are beginning to stay afloat for the most part and while school seems to be going better-ish, Elliott's not sleeping and Emmett is very much struggling with impulse control, like a lot. It's probably an ADHD and anxiety combo but it's proving difficult to manage. At least he's doing well at school. I'd rather have issues at home than at school. We had a very emotional therapy session last night and I meet with Lizze, Pattie and my amazing (and I mean that) mother in law tonight to hash some things out. Hopefully, this will prove a positive thing and everyone benefits from it, especially the kids. ☺ As for the exciting part of things, the boys…

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Fingers crossed

Not sure how today is going to go. The boys are moving very slowly and Emmett's saying that he doesn't feel well. I've got lunches made and the car warming up but I don't know what's going on just yet. Emotionally the boys seem to be doing a little bit better or so I thought. Truthfully, very much like me, they're going to have good days and bad days. I'm hoping that we're still a go for school today. I have therapy myself this afternoon and if any of the kids are home from school, I'll have to reschedule. Fingers crossed...

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I finally feel like I’ve put some checks in the win column

We've had a pretty good day. There have been some challenges but we made it through. I wanted to share a couple highlights from today before I go to bed. First of all, I was able to set up a temporary area in my bedroom, where I can record podcast episodes and interview guests remotely. The equipment is relatively basic but the recording quality will be increasing significantly moving forward. Also, I thought it would be cool to help my kids find their own voice and create regular or semi-regular episodes with each of my kids. All have expressed interest but Emmett is all in. Today he was practicing using the equipment and figuring out his voice. My thought is to create shorter, weekly episodes with my kids, on a…

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I’m heartbroken that he thought this

Emmett has been sleeping in my room since his mom left. He's afraid that if he's not right there, he could wake up and I'll be gone as well. There's no way to really navigate this in the short-term and it's going to take time and patience for him to heal. That's said, he informed me last week that he wanted to be back in his own bed this week. Originally, his goal was the end of the year and we're working in therapy to help him through this. Anyway, this past weekend rolls around and he begins having tummy aches again. I figured it was anxiety related but wasn't sure about the specifics. Turns out that he was okay moving his clothes back into his and Elliott's bedroom but…

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