This evening, Gavin went down into the basement, all by himself and cleaned out the litter box. Our basements a bit on the creepy side but he didn't let that stop him. He says that he enjoys cleaning out the litter box.  I'm not sure that I'm happy he enjoys it because that seems a bit strange but I'm thrilled that he's taking this on and learning something new.  To some people, this may jot seem like a big deal.  In truth, I suppose it isn't.  Having said that, what is really wonderful about this is the fact that despite his continued regression, he's able to still learn new things.  As far as I'm concerned, this goes into the victory column. Great job Gavin..... While this picture has nothing to…

While at therapy tonight, the boys discovered that Dr. Pattie had some pool noodles.  We let Elliott and Emmett sorta go at it for a little while.  They had a ton of safe but physical fun. This site is managed almost exclusively via WordPress for Android. Please forgive any typos as autocorrect HATES me. ;-) Follow @Lost_and_Tired Visit the My Autism Help Forums To reach me via email, please Contact Me

How many of you have had your relationships with others affected by Autism? I know how stressful raising 3 children with Autism is for me and my marriage is not exempt from feeling that strain. Lizze and I don't always get along. In fact, the strain, stress and constant sleep deprivation has taken its toll on our marriage. We love each other and will be celebrating our 10th anniversary in a little over a month, but to say that our marriage hasn't been impacted would not be true. We've lost touch with friends and family as well.  I would even go so far as to say that some relationships simply were not strong enough to weather the special needs Autism journey.  Lizze and I both have been unfriended on Facebook…

Lizze woke up sick this morning and is likely going to be sleeping most of the day.  This is all tied to the massive fibro flare she's been coping with for the last few days. Apparently, this is something that is impacting many members of the fibro community and is being caused by the recent weather. I'm feeling very overwhelmed right now because I'm failing at so much and with Lizze down, there is even more on my shoulders. We lost our internet this morning because we are behind on the payments. This impacts a great many things in my life, including my ability to maintain this site. Lizze and I have tried every agency and resource available to us and we still can't get the gas turned back on..…

My boys are doing pretty well today.  Emmett doesn't appear to be in the fever flare, which is fantastic. Gavin's doing well this morning and while Elliott's a bit on the whiny side, he's well also.  How are your kids doing today? Just so that you know, I'm not looking for anything in particular.  You can share the good and the bad. Sometimes just saying it can help you feel better.  This site is managed almost exclusively via WordPress for Android. Please forgive any typos as autocorrect HATES me. ;-) Follow @Lost_and_Tired Visit the My Autism Help Forums To reach me via email, please Contact Me

Why I decided to put this together I decided to put this together because I'm constantly being asked about vaccines. Parents are understandably worried, confused and overwhelmed by all the information floating around. Will vaccines cause my child to be Autistic? The truth is that kids are diagnosed with Autism, regardless of whether or not they've been vaccinated. So it's not that simple. Personally, I'm a believer in vaccines and I don't think there is any denying that they save countless lives. However, not everyone feels the same way. My goal with this article is to help parents to rely less on what celebrities like Jenny McCarthy have to say and more on their own personal research. I think that if we can take the power away from the people…

One of the things that I'm working really hard to do, is teach my kids the things that they won't learn in school.  Things like every day life skills that help to foster independence. As an example, I take the boys grocery shopping, so they can learn healthy food choices and even how you check out. Today I showed Gavin how to clean out the litter box. I'm going to double check with his immunologist to make sure that's safe but it's a new skill he's learned. While not a glamorous one, if he wants a cat later in life, now he knows how to cleanup after it.  Gavin also helps with trash day and small repair jobs around the house.  He loves cleaning and actually looks forward to trash…

I wanted to give you all a peak behind the curtain, so to speak.  Every Monday night, we have to refill Gavin's pill dispenser for the week.  We go one week at a time because the pill dispenser is broken and we haven't been able to replace it yet. This may look like two weeks but it's actually divided up by AM and PM. The top row is given in the morning and the bottom row is given in the evening, at bedtime. For the most part, he's taking the same thing in the morning and at night.  Doling these pills out one week at a time has actually worked out pretty well for us.  Thankfully, Gavin is amazing at taking his meds. He never complains and never gives us…