Emmett has been potty trained for most of the year but still struggles with the clean up aspect.  However,  yesterday Emmett went potty and wiped himself when he done. I know what your thinking,  awesome..right? Well,  yes and no.  Yes, it's good that he took the initiative because that shows independence.  However, the rain on the parade was the fact that he wiped himself on the couch.  So,  as you see,  I'm torn as to how I should categorize this one. :-)

I met with Dr.  Reynolds this morning about Gavin.  Beginning tomorrow,  Gavin's Clozapine dosage will be increased from 100mg in the AM and 200mg in the PM to 200mg in the AM and 200mg in the PM.  Gavin is manic and so we have to adjust accordingly in order to stay ahead of the curve.  He also said that we should stay home over the Christmas holiday.  He said Gavin can't take the excitement and will likely become more unraveled.  We can't let that happen so we will just have to make do. We also decided that I need to have the uncomfortable conversation with the school about Gavin's sexual aggression.  Not a pleasant conversation,  trust me. We go back in 2 weeks for a medication follow up. Sigh....

Lizze kicked off the week of appointments with a follow up at pain management. She has been off her fibro medications for about a week because insurance needed a priority authorization for the refill.  Apparently,  there was a policy change and Lyrica (spelling?)  is no longer covered.  It took a week to work out the prior authorization and so she ran out about a week ago. When she saw her doctor this morning,  they informed her that because she has been off the Lyrica for a week,  she has to start all over again.  This is a huge blown to her because it took her well over a year to build up to where she was,  just 7 days ago.  She is in horrible amounts of pain, now she won't…

Holy crap...  I was just looking over the weeks appointments and so far we have 17 freaking appointments.  The scary thing is that I know there are at least 1 or 2 more for Lizze that haven't made it to the calendar.  Five of these appointments are out of town at Akron Children's Hospital.  Elliott has the developmental neurologist and the immunologist on the same day.  Gavin has his 5th antibody infusion on Friday and Gavin and Emmett see the ENT on Wednesday.  Emmett is there for a surgical follow up and Gavin is there for a surgical consult.  Lizze isn't moving around a whole lot right now so I'll be escorting everyone through most of the week on my own,  unless she feels better. The only reason I'm looking…

I was to vent a little bit right now, so please bare with me. Right now I'm really frustrated with Gavin because of his recent relapse into sexually aggressive behaviors.  I'm once again having to protect his little brothers from his unwanted advances.  Right now,  he very into kissing and so he always seems to be looking for an excuse to kiss one of his brothers.  Tonight,  Lizze caught him making out with a Mario plush doll,  which of course,  lead to Emmett doing the same thing.  I'm ticked off because I'm constantly having to make sure Gavin is supervised when he is around his brothers.  This makes things so much more difficult because they can no longer just go upstairs and play.  Like I didn't already have enough to…

I'm making a conscious decision to try and be more positive in 2012. I won't be fluffy or fake but I also want to spend more time on the little victories. I will always be realistic about things as I truly believe that is the very best approach to Autism Awareness.  I just want to celebrate my children's accomplishments more publicly going forward.  I want people to take comfort and know that they are not alone in the struggle and heartbreak that can go along with Autism.  I want people to understand that it's okay to feel overwhelmed and even resentful at times.  I think I have done pretty well so far with that. However,  while it's important people not feel alone,  it's equally, and arguably even more important to…

So I battled the insane traffic, both on the road and in the grocery, to grab a few things before we have to give the car back to my parents.  My goal is to make a big pot of chicken soup. I love cooking,  and it's something I can actually do for my family.  Assuming of course I can get the time away from the kids to get this done.  Lizze is not feeling well again so I don't know if she will be able to watch the boys long enough to get this done. I hope you all have a safe and stress free weekend.  :-)

I thought I would take a few minutes while things are quiet and talk about what I'm thankful for. All to often, I get wrapped up in what's going wrong,  that I forget all the many things I have to be thankful for. I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful that Gavin is doing as well as he is.  I know we are still struggling but it has been so much worse than it is right now.  All things considered,  he is doing remarkably well and I'm extremely proud of him. I'm thankful that despite the elusive diagnosis, we have many dedicated people working to help Gavin with everything that he is going through. I'm thankful that Elliott is doing so well at school.  He struggled with the transition at…