Blog - Page 70 of 1611

We had to break quarantine for the first time in 173 days

I'm absolutely exhausted but I wanted to share a quick update and then go into more detail later on if need be. We wore our KN95 masks and broke quarantine today for the first time in 173 days. That means we came into direct, sustained contact with other people for the first time since this all began. The reason for this was vaccines. Elliott and Emmett each needed a vaccine. Elliott needed his MMR booster and Emmett started his HPV. Elliott had his MMR delayed for health reasons when he was little and he needed to get caught up. Gavin needed labwork and all four of us needed flu shots. We visited Akron Children's Hospital for the boys vaccines and Rite Aid for our flu shots. I wanted to make…

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August 26, 2020

Confessions / My thoughts

A huge thank you and a birthday confession

Today has been a total roller coaster ride. I turned 42 years old today and it was a rough birthday for a million reasons. The last few days have been particularly difficult for me. The other night I had a very vivid dream. It was basically that my family was whole and that my marriage never imploded. It was just everyday life things. Kids went to school, I worked and we did all the normal things we used to do. It felt so real and it was one of those dreams where it's like you wake up in your dream and think you're actually awake. It's really weird. Anyway, it was such a good feeling and it honestly felt like all of this last year had just been a bad…

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August 25, 2020

Why Money Will Never Determine Happiness

Most of us go through our lives, never receiving a mountain of money in the post. It just doesn't happen to the vast majority of us. That's statistics for you. But even when it does, we should take note of the effects that it has. The world seems to teach us that the product of hard work - financial resources - is a route to happiness. But when you study the lives of people who have mountains of the stuff, you soon find something entirely different. They're not particularly pleased with their lives. That's a fascinating finding for our purposes. It means that the way you feel often has very little to do with the amount of money that you have in the bank. Pexels - CC0 License The observations…

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August 24, 2020

Confessions / Depression Management / Inspirational Posts / My thoughts

Focusing on the positive helps me remember that #depression is lying to me

I'm very much in a darker place right now but I'm also refusing to give into depression. Fighting depression is an imperfect, uphill battle that's part of an invisible overarching war that I've been engaged in for most of my life. Part of my battle tactic is to force myself to focus on the positive things in my life. Depression tells me there's nothing positive but I know that's not true. There are three amazing little humans in my life and that's the most positive thing I can imagine. I'm going to share some pretty cool things my kids did today. Gavin's life is challenging for him but this kid never fucking gives up. This morning he was up before everyone else, which is normal for him. He focused on…

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August 24, 2020

Confessions / Depression Management / My thoughts

I can’t shake the #depression today

I can't really explain why but I'm struggling today. I'm feeling defeated and demoralized. Nothing happened outside of really bad dreams last night. Honestly, I think it's probably just a new battle with depression. By new I just mean a resurgence. There's a great deal of stress in my life right now and I'm getting overwhelmed by it all. I'm turning 42 years old on the 24th of August and I wish things in my life were different. I live in a bad neighborhood that I can't seem to get us out of. In 12 days, it would have been my 17th anniversary but instead, I find myself alone with my kids, as we try to survive a global pandemic. My kids are amazing and I love them completely. At…

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August 23, 2020

COVID19 / Distance Learning / Lockdown / My thoughts / Planning / School

We persevered this week

It's been a crazy stressful week but I'm so proud of how we persevered. The boys ultimately made it through their first week of distance learning and even exceeded their hours for the week. Their experience has been improving and while Elliott is still having technical issues, Emmett seems to be experiencing fewer. For the most part, we tried keeping to their previous school schedule but it didn't always work. What I've found was that giving the boys a little freedom over how their day is managed, seems to motivate them. Obviously, I can't let them loose but if they start at 10am instead of 9am, who cares. As long as they complete their work, that's all that matters. One of the coolest things about distance learning is that if…

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August 22, 2020

COVID19 / Lockdown / My thoughts / Planning

It’s grocery day

Today is grocery day in The Autism Dad household. It's everyone's favorite day of the week for obvious reasons. I try to time grocery delivery for once every week or week and a half. It's tough to keep groceries in the house but I manage. I want to give a huge shout-out to all of the delivery people who make this possible for my family and all the other families out there like mine. I'm so grateful for everything.

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August 21, 2020

General Update / My thoughts

It’s been a really shitty week and I’m down but not out

This week has been pretty rough, and that's by our standards. Thus far school has been a technical frustration for the boys and they're quickly forming an opinion that will be difficult to work through. The boys are very turned off to school at this point and there are only so many battles I can pick right now. I need this to work. Admittedly, I'm really frustrated with it myself and have questioned whether or not we chose the right school. I will say that the school staff seems really cool. I've spent a good bit of time on the phone with various teachers and administrators this week. Everyone is super nice and wanting the boys to have the best experience possible. These technical issues will hopefully be resolved in…

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August 21, 2020