I wanted to take a minute and wish all of my readers, wherever they may be, a safe and happy New Year. I hope that we all find peace and happiness in the New Year. My wish for 2018 is that we can all come together, despite our differences and see one another for the truly amazing human beings we are. Allowing things like race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity and even political beliefs to divide us must stop. As individuals, we need to make a decision about what we want our lives to mean. We must decide what kind of world we want our kids going up in. Let's make 2018 a year where hate and bigotry are outweighed by love and acceptance. Let's teach our kids to…

With Christmas quickly approaching and a house full of kids with Autism, we are bracing ourselves for a very challenging couple of weeks. Christmas is every kids favorite holiday and our kids are no exception. The difference is how our kids handle things. What kid doesn't get excited about opening presents or eating tons of Christmas cookies. Most kids are able to manage, especially with the help of their parents. Kids on the Autism spectrum tend not to manage so well, even with the help of their parents. The anticipation of opening presents, wondering/worrying about what they're getting and all the other excitement associated with the holiday's, can be extremely overwhelming. As Autism parents, we know what overwhelming can lead to and that's the dreaded meltdown. I've always referred to…

We are getting some breathing room today, at least for a little while anyway. Lizze's parents came and picked the boys up for the day because they're awesome. ☺ We're not getting as many breaks anymore because life happens and priorities have to shift accordingly. We totally get it and frankly, totally agree. At the same time however, I'd be lying if I said it didn't have a negative impact on us. The math is simple. Fewer breaks means more overall stress. This is why we never, ever take the breaks we get for granted. This is why we always appreciate what our family is able to do in regards to helping us get breaks. Most everything helps and we're beyond grateful for our supportive family. ☺ Life isn't easy…

The goal for this morning is to get the kids to school on time and if I'm lucky, in a good mood. ☺ Immediately after that, I have to run Gavin across town for what will end up consuming the rest of my day. That's right, he needs his Monday morning bloodwork again. This is how we are monitoring whatever is going on with his blood. Here's how this will go down. Gavin will get his bloodwork done about 8:30-ish AM. From that point on, my anxiety will be through the roof because I'll be awaiting the results of his labs. The results will tell us how our week is going to go. If they're bad again, the focus will be on figuring out what, if anything we can do.…