This is what it looks like when #Autism explodes all over your house

I wanted to take a minute and revisit some basic Autism in real-life moments. This particular one is from this evening and is a perfect example of how Emmett likes to see his world. In the picture below, you can see what my fridge looks like, after Emmett organizes things. Emmett, like many kids with Autism, appreciates thingd like order. He likes straight lines and everything in its place. The only place he tolerates disorder is his bedroom. It's weird and I can't explain it but it's one of his quirks. The bottom line is this, it makes sense to him, it doesn't have to make sense to me. Leave a comment and share the post in you can relate or even see this kind of amazing display in your…

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I have 2 important goals for today

We've had a fairly typical morning. Lizze had a doctor's appointment and we're trying to get ready for Vivint to arrive tomorrow. The boys are doing pretty well and Gavin is being Gavin. We have two main goals aside from survival today. Survival is always our bottomline but we work hard to build up from there. ☺ I'm working on the outside of the house because I need to figure out where the best, most inconspicuous place is for a new camera is. If we'd had this done when it was originally scheduled, we'd have caught this asshole who shot off 6 rounds on the side of our house the other day. We had to reschedule our last install because something had come up. Truthfully, the outside of our house…

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The 1 thing we usually do after our kids get a #vaccine

I was hoping to recover from the events of this morning but doctors appointments can be tough for Autism families. I tried my best to keep everyone moving forward but it didn't always work out. On the way home from the boys pediatrician appointments, Elliott wanted to stop and get something to eat. That's always been an unofficial tradition after someone gets a shot. It's not written anywhere and there's no rule that says we have to but it's proven to be a great way to redirect after a stressful experience like getting a shot. Anyway, it was tough but I had to say no because things are really tight right now and I need to put all I can into grocery shopping. That being said, rather than get fast…

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The lowdown on today’s doctors appointments

Both Elliott and Emmett had appointments this morning with their pediatrician. This was a regular well-check and an ADHD follow-up as well. Elliott was really anxious because he knew he needed a vaccine. Turns out he needed two vaccines, meningitis and HPV. The HPV was the final in a series of three and the meningitis is required by the school now. Anyway, Emmett's appointment went well and it was quickly over. Elliott's was more complicated because we're dealing with several things that need considerably more attention and follow-up. We bumped up Elliott's antidepressant a little but because he's really struggling and that was his psychologists suggestion but we've exceeded the limits of his pediatricians comfort level in regards to managing his mental health medication. Thankfully, I was able to call…

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Until the day I die

I'm lucky I have no hair because if I did, I'd have ripped it out this morning. Gavin's already struggling and that struggle is pushing me closer and closer to the edge. I'm trying so hard to do right by everyone in my family but I think that task might just be bigger than me. Last night, Gavin came to us about midnight, complaining of his chin being ichy. He's was clearly distressed but not wanting to tell us what was wrong. After a painfully awkward, completely unnecessary back and forth, he admitted that his beard is what's causing the itchiness. For some reason, he was embarrassed to say that his beard was a problem. I told him to shave and slap some lotion on his chin. That should help…

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I’m drowning

Today was one of those days where I simply didn't cope well with anything. Between the shooting yesterday, the raccoons (and yes I said raccoons, as in more than one) in our attic, everything going on with Lizze, all that's going on with Elliott, Gavin's constant decline and Emmett's daily struggles, I'm drowning. I'm having one of those days that I think every special needs parent has. One of those days where the weight of everything on my shoulders becomes too much to carry gracefully. There's a great deal of worry about the future of my family. I'm really struggling to make ends meet and I've recently had a longterm partnership expire because the program was terminated. That has hit pretty hard and I've not been able to make up…

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6 shots were fired within feet of my house and my kids are terrified

The boys are having a really hard time tonight and that's because we had a rough evening. I'm not going to sugar coat anything and I'll skip right to the point. About twenty-six minutes after five, Lizze and I were in the living room when we heard gunfire. We hear gunfire almost everyday but today was different. It sounded like someone had just fired off six rounds into the side of our house. I ran to the living room window on the north side of the house and saw the shooter riding a regular bike passed my side door. I followed him around to the front of my house. As he made the turn by our car, he looked at me through my front door and the gun in his…

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We’re on a mission to release this little guy into the wild

I told you awhile back that we rescued a tadpole from the pet store and our plan was to safely let it growup before we release it into the wild. That day has finally come and we are going to release this little guy into the wild. Frogs are disappearing in record numbers and we want to do our part to help put at least one back. So, that's our plan for today. We're driving way too far away and hiking way to far in order to find the perfect spot for the him to be released. This should prove to be fun...

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