#Autism parenting is an uphill battle every single day and that’s okay

I'm not looking for life to be easy. I'm not looking for anything to be handed to me either. What I would very much appreciate is a level playing field. Life as a full-time caregiver to four people with special needs is rewarding, challenging, never dull and absolutely exhausting. As an Autism and Special Needs parent, there are things I have to worry about constantly, that won't even show up on most others radar. Each one of these worries weighs heavy and keeps me up at night because my brain is continually trying to find solutions to the many problems facing my family. There are so many things I wish I could change about my life, but my wife and kids aren't one of them. Sure, I'd take away their…

1 Comment

Something I do to help my #Autistic son better navigate life and the people in it

Gavin's been in a really good mood today. He's usually a good mood kind of person but today was a bit different. I've been working with Gavin for years on being able to goof around. He's so serious all the time, and if you try to joke around or tease him a little, he tends to freak out. We've been practicing making stupid jokes and some harmless, good-natured teasing. The idea behind this is that Gavin can loosen up a bit and better understand the difference between goofing around and being made fun of. Gavin tends to take everything personally, and that's not always the appropriate response. It's similar to knowing the difference between someone laughing with you and someone laughing at you. Anyway, this morning, I made a joke…

1 Comment

Being an #Autism parent has been exceptionally challenging for me today

It's been a long day. It's been a very, very long day and my anxiety is through the roof. Between Emmett and his fricking pick eye and Gavin with his incessant talking, and psychosis, I'm frazzled. Emmett has had two rounds of eye drops and should be able to return to school on Wednesday. He's tolerating the drops, but he's not happy because they burn a little bit. That said, he's doing a good job thus far making me both grateful and proud. A large part of my current stress and anxiety centers around Gavin. He's not doing anything wrong, and the challenges we face in coexisting with him are not his fault. Nevertheless, he's exhausting, and his constant talking is extremely frustrating. I'm struggling today, and I haven't been…

1 Comment

A light at the end of the tunnel

It took several phone calls, but we finally have Emmett on the path to recovery. We will hopefully stop anyone else in our house from getting pink eye. On the way home from picking Elliott up from school, we hit the grocery store and then grabbed Emmett's eye drops before heading back. I'm slightly frazzled in general today, and I was heavily focused on getting Emmett fixed up ASAP. He needs drops in both eyes, four times a day for seven days. He should be good to return to school on Wednesday. Unfortunately, Emmett is not a fan of eye drops by any stretch of the imagination. Hopefully, he'll cooperate, and this doesn't turn into an even worse situation. So we're clear, Emmett's issues with eye drops are sensory in…

0 Comments

Waiting to hear back

I got Elliott to school this morning and called the doctor about Emmett on my way to go walking. They didn't schedule an appointment yet because they may just call in a script. Pink eye is pretty straight forward. Emmett is miserable, and they haven't called back yet. I'm going to give them until noon, and if I haven't heard back, I'll call back. I may just run him to the urgent care, if we can't figure this out soon. Pink eye is incredibly contagious and I don't want to have our own little outbreak. Outside of that, Lizze isn't feeling well, Gavin is acting weird and my walk went great. 😀

0 Comments

Poor Emmett is absolutely miserable

It was a long night. Emmett slept until 2 AM before waking up in a panic because his eye was glued shut. I applied warm compresses until I was able to pry his eyelids apart. I'm not gonna lie; it was gross. The good news was that my eyes opened without any issue, which likely means I've escaped pink eye thus far. I managed to get Emmett back to sleep, but he woke again a couple of hours later. This time, both eyes were stuck shut. That's right, he now has pink eye in both eyes and is twice as miserable. I was unable to get him back to sleep that time. As I said, it's been a long night. The good news is that Elliott woke up pink eye…

2 Comments

You’ve got to be kidding me

I sort of feel like the powers that be are shooting at the ground around my feet and screaming dance monkey dance. The last seven days have been a nightmarish blur. We've survived it, and I'm grateful, but the ride isn't over just yet. First, we had Gavin come off his meds and go completely psychotic. He went back on his meds and was rushed to the emergency room a few hours later. He was released the following day, and we came home to Elliott not feeling well. Elliott ended up going to school on Monday because he was feeling fine, only to be sent home after developing a fever. He was home the entire week and was joined by Emmett on Wednesday. Mr. Emmett spiked a fever and had…

2 Comments

Just a few things I’m thankful for

It's been a lot of doom and gloom lately because of life throwing so crazy shit in our direction, with laser-guided precision. In the spirit of Easter, I wanted to take a step back and gain some much-needed perspective. What better way to do that then share a few things I'm thankful for. 😀 First of all, I'm grateful for my family. We often find ourselves struggling or facing obstacles that may seem impossible in the moment, but we always find a way. I can't ask for more than that. My wife and kids are absolutely amazing and the light of my life. ☺ We have family on both sides that are incredibly supportive, and we wouldn't have made it this far without them. Lizze and I both lost a…

1 Comment