Today has been pretty rough. Gavin had no school today and had 3 major meltdowns. Nothing went as planned. I got the van in and fixed. While I was waiting I walked 3 miles with my parents today. Our route took us through the old apartment complex we lived in when I was really little. Brought back a ton of memories. I was still a bit sore from my 6 miles yesterday so I took it easy today. I have been having issues with my Samsung Epic 4G from sprint. I couldn't get the GPS to work at all. Samsung makes amazing tech but truly horrible software for the tech. The GPS would show me in random places across the country. This one today would turn itself on when slid…

Emmett John is the only one of our kids without an official diagnosis. After discussing things with everyone involved we are having issues trying to get a straight answer. The development pediatrician says right now she is leaning towards PDD. However, she has only seen him once.  The help me grow team is working in the areas of speech and say he is 9 to 12 monthes behind developmentally. They are encouraged by some of the progress he has made but we have a long road ahead. We aren't excited about lables for the sake of lables. We do, however, want answers. A diagnosis will give us a direction in which to go in. Right now we are kind of in limbo waiting to figure out what is going on.

Gavin and Elliott spent the night at Grandmas house this weekend. Sounds like they had a great time and got a sorta break. I say sorta break cause it was a very busy weekend for us. Our washer died and I spent Satuarday at the laundrymat doing about 15 loads of laundry. I was able to cram them into about 10 loads. We had gotten behind on laundry so this was only about half of what actually needs done. Lizze spent hours sorting everything so I could take them to get cleaned. Now we have to either fix or replace our washer. The van is also going back into the shop to have the exhaust repaired. We have a break right behind the converter and are getting exhaust jn the…

Change is not easy for my Autistic kids. This time of year is especially tough for Gavin. The time change and fact that it gets dark earlier is something that really throws him off. He is still adjusting from this last one. During this period of adjustment he will have more trouble sleeping then usual. He is much moodier the normal and just all around struggles. It usually takes him a few weeks to adjust and it not a pleasant week for him of us.

The intervention team met this week and formed a battle plan. Emmett John will start an early pre-school 3x a week. He starts the first week of December. We are going to have to figure out new pick up schedules for the kids because Emmett and Elliott will need picked up at the same time. I think we will get Elliott a bit early and then pick up Emmett. Emmetts time is absolutly crucial and Elliott will be at the end of his day anyway. Then we will jump on the free way and pick up Gavin. It's going to be a ton of driving but at least we have the van back up and running. Emmett John is begining to say more words. He now says "thank you". Lizze…

Anyone that has followed our journey over the years knows that life with Gavin is challenging and sometimes dangerous. We have been concerned about the impact his behaviors are having on his younger brothers for quite some time now. The reason this has popped up again is because the earily intervention specialists involved with Emmett John have suggested that some of Emmett Johns behaviors are mimicking Gavins. That is exactly what Dr. Patti says about Elliott as well. She says that Gavin has contaminated everything. We don't know where Gavin and his behaviors end and the other kids begin. Because of how dynamic Gavins issues are it makes it extremely difficult to know what behaviors are actually Emmett and Elliotts and what behaviors are either reactions to or imitations of…

After 9 months of waiting for your little miracle to arrive, it finally happens. You see your child for the first time and you feel love like you have never thought possible. You may have loved many people or things in your life but nothing like this. Everything is perfect and you finally bring them home and begin your new life as a parent. After a few months, you get into the groove of things. Everything soon becomes second nature. A few months after that you start to notice things. They are little and you probably should not worry but you do anyway. You visit your pediatrician for some peace of mind. They tell you it is nothing to worry about. However, after a while it becomes clear that something…

I feel like we are on the brink of collapse. We have everything closing in around us. Gavin is really, really struggling, not to mention driving us all crazy. He just doesn't ever seem to stop. We have no idea what his motives are or wether these things things are within his control. Dr. Patti seems to think he I playing us in many situations. I can see that but how do we know for sure and what the hell are we supposed to do about it?