I want to talk about what no one wants to talk about for just a minute. As a special needs parent in general but autism more specifically we are so focused on our kids that we often neglect ourselves. That needs to change. Who will take care of your kids if something happens to you? It's an unpleasant topic but a vitally important one. We need to take care of ourselves in order to ensure we are here for as long as possible to take care of our special needs kids. I'm very guilty of letting myself go. I was weight training 6 days a week for many years and running almost everyday. I was in amazing shape. Now after a career ending back injury and 3 kids I'm struggling.…

Lizze took ER to camp this morning and left me home with Gavin. Gavin was still sleeping when she left. When she came home he was standing "in" his window waving to her. We have told him many times that he cannot do that and why. We drop the top sash of his window down so he can still get air into his room. He's less likely to hurt himself this way. He stands on the windows sill and pulls himself up so he is leaning against the screen. He's on the second floor so it's a good drop. I"m afraid we might have to secure something over the windows now. Right now the only thing we have that works is the oatmeal. So after is giant meltdown over getting…

Ok. So much has happened in the past few days. As you may have noticed my blog has changed. I'm now an official website. This was made possible through a random act of kindness. Until I get permission I won't go into details. I'm so happy to have this new site. I now have the freedom to do so much more. Thank you for making this possible for me. This is still a work in progress but I'm up and running now. My new address is . Twitter doesn't appear to be updating correctly but I'm working on that. Facebook is working so please be sure to check out the Lost and Tired facebook page and become a "fan". That's it for now. Thanks for following me over here. I…

My wife has a new article up at the examiner.com. Please give her a click. It's a great article and each click helps pay the bills and support our family. Here is the short link: Cleveland Examiner.com. Thanks LT Posted without proper editing tools from my Blackberry.

A friend sent me a message on Facebook today. She had some information she thought we might be able to use. I was touched by the gesture but what really hit was what she said later. I'll share that in a minute. I have said many times that I wish people understood what it was like to be in our shoes. She responded to that honestly by saying, " I cant say that I understand completely except from one parent to another your happy when they are happy, you laugh when they laugh, you cry when they cry because you love them so much. " That statement really hit me. If more people felt that way then maybe we could bridge the gap. Maybe we wouldn't have to feel so…

Emmett John is hiding from me. Do you know where he is? LT Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

We just got back and the movie was good. Gavin would have never have made it through the first 20 mins. Way to intense for an aspergers child with anxiety issues. We have been doing this for so long now we look at each other at the same time and say Gavin would be freaking out right now. As a special needs parent knowing your child's limitations become second. We don't even realize we are doing it most of the time. I think it's one of those things nature adds to our pile of resources. Lizze and I both knew we made a good choice to send Gavin somewhere else after the movie was done. Elliott Richard and Emmett John were fine. Er made it through the whole movie and…

We are off to see Toy Story 3. Gavin is on his way with Grandpa to go visit Great Grandma Gene. Gavin cannot sit through a movie at the theater (probably a sensory related thing) so it really is unfair of us to make him go just so we can all do something as a family. He'll have a blast with Grandpa so I don't feel so bad. Maybe I'll try to get him to a dollar movie this summer and see how he does. I would love to see a movie with him again. The last one we went to was "Over The Hedge" and Gavin was freaked out by the "hedge" not the scary bear. We get up and leave every time. But I like trying every once…