We have been struggling for awhile now to get Elliott sleeping on his own.  Most of the time he ends up in our bed.  This eventually leads to me moving to the couch because our mattress is uncomfortable enough on its own and Emmett likes his space. However,  one thing I managed to get done with tax return before literally dumping everything into this van was by the kids new mattresses.  The goal was to get Emmett and Elliott bunk beds but that will have to wait till next tax return now. However,  I setup one of the new mattress sets in our room for Emmett and so far he's enjoying it. With that said,  however,  he's still climbing into bed with us. On the plus side,  instead of going…

My kids have everything been in rare form all day.  I mentioned earlier about Emmett starting another flare up.  Gavin is being....actually Gavin is doing pretty well,  all things considered. Elliott on the other hand is just an emotional mess. He cries at the drop of a hat and is generally more difficult to keep moving.  I don't know how to really helpful him but I'm really hoping the Zoloft helps to ease his anxiety because this little boy is just a bit higher strung lately. I think I would die,  I would just literally die,  if I could say "please go get ready for bed" and it actually happened.  Instead,  I have to remind Gavin because he forgot what he was supposed to do before he made it to…

We discovered a new problem this afternoon.  Well,  actually this has probably been going on a little while now and has only now come to our attention. I was laying down in bed and little while ago and I heard a loud chewing sound,  coming from the ceiling. Squirrels have chewed through the facia along the gutter line and entered the wall spaces.  They seem to be chewing their way in farther and farther.  It's actually really loud and will easily be enough to drive me crazy.  I'll have to call an exterminator and deal with the problem before the kids start to freak out about it.  Gavin is especially susceptible to paranoia as he is prone to seeing and hearing things that aren't there. These little critters haven't actually…

Emmett’s not in the best of places today to start with because he has hit another cycle of fevers and cold sores. We are basically going from one meltdown to the next.  The last one was over a tower of Jello he created from all the Jello cups I bought for him last night.  He couldn't decide which one he wanted so he unloaded them,  from the fridge,  in groups of two. He's very particular about things like this. Numbers and patterns,  colors and shapes are very important to him. He had eventually removed every Jello cup from the refrigerator and made a tower of them on the table in the living room.  We let him have them out for a little bit but then wanted him to choose the…

I've been talking about Elliott’s anxiety issues for quite some time now. I wrote about his issues with germs as well as his unusually high anxiety level. As time passed by,  these issues have begun interfering with his daily life and reducing the quality of it as well. In my experience,  kids with Aspergers are prone to issues with anxiety.  Does that mean that every child or adult with Aspergers struggles with anxiety?  No it doesn't.  Having said that,  my kids are perfect examples of Aspergers coupled with anxiety.  We had Elliott to see Dr. Reynolds last week.  Elliott was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder.  Which,  as I understand it,  means that he simply is overly anxious all of the time. After a long discussion and a whole lot of…

Emmett has begun yet another fever cycle.  It began yesterday and he is not a happy camper. Emmett’s cold sores seem to be getting worse with each new cycle.  This time around,  they look more like blisters and have thus far spared his tongue and instead taken up residence on his cheeks and in his throat. Needless to say this puts Emmett in a foul mood.  Much of his day was spent screaming. While I was running around all day so I wasn't experiencing this all day like Lizze was,  I still had more than I wanted to. Along with Autism,  Emmett has some pretty major sensory processing issues.  When he is in as much pain as he simply has to be in, it's pretty much a one way ticket…

It's been one of those crazy days that I'm not wanting to repeat anytime soon. I was literally running around doing errands for most of the day. By the end of the day I had pulled the seats out of the van, picked up 3 new mattresses,  hauled them upstairs and set them up. Next I had to put the seats back in the van and picked up the boys from school. I had to also hit the grocery store,  the post office and fill the water jugs. Then it was time to make dinner and feed the boys.  After dinner, Lizze and I got the boys ready for bed. Now I'm just trying to relax and catch my breath.  I wanted to write a bit tonight as I have…

I have some big news.  Yesterday,  I managed to replace our van and I financed it all by myself. I honestly couldn't believe it went through. We got a 2004 Freestar Limited.  It's basically exactly what we had before just newer.  Downtown Ford really came through for us. While this is great news,  it did come at a significant cost.  It took took every last dime we had.  I would never have done this if I had any other choice.  Taking on a car payment is the last thing in the world we needed to do. We are completely tapped out and many of the things that needed to be done with tax return won't happen now.  I needed to get a treadmill so I can improve my health since…