Finding balance when the kids are gone

The boys are going to spend the day with my Mom. I think they're getting picked up just before lunch. Lizze and I have no plans, aside from grocery shopping today.  I do want to try and get some things done around the house. Frankly, thays only ever really possible when the kids are not home. At the same time, not resting during the time away from the kids can be a mistake.  The challenge is finding a balance that works, without tipping the scales to one side or the other. 

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My kids with #Autism had their first real play date yesterday

We had a pretty awesome experience today, with our kids first real play date. In all our years, the kids have never had a real play date because play dates for kids with Autism isn't always easy, or ever easy. Without spending a great deal of time on this, I'll simply say that trying to find actual peers for kids with Autism can be an enormous challenge. Even if you do manage to find a peer, there are literally a million things that can go wrong. Putting two or more kids together with the many issues that can go along with an Autism diagnosis, can be a disaster. One example I can remember from the kids just interacting with classmates has to do with boundaries. Some kids with Autism have…

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Something awesome is planned for today 

We have a big day ahead of us. Provided that everything goes well for both parties, a play date will happen this afternoon. The boys will be hopefully playing with some friends from school this afternoon.  I say provided everything goes well for both parties because our other families have unpredictable lives and things simply don't always work out.  Having said that, everyone is planning on being there this afternoon, and fun should be had by all.  This is such an exciting day for me because I want so badly for my kids to have the kind of childhood I had, but our neighborhood and the challenges associated with Autism, make that nearly impossible at times.  Frankly, I'm not sure who's more excited, me or the boys.. ☺ 

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Today’s Victory: You won’t believe what Emmett did tonight

The paycheck came today and I decided to take the family out to Cracker Barrel for dinner. We haven't been out to dinner as a family for a long time, and there's good reason for that.  We haven't had the money to do things like this for awhile. Secondly, it's fucking hard to get three kids with Autism organized, and cooperative, all at the same time.  Just getting out the door was a nightmare. I came damn close to forgetting the whole deal because I'm in an enormous amount of pain, and running short on patience. More on that later.  We finally made it to Cracker Barrel and surprise surprise, Emmett has a mini-meltdown because he can't decide what he wants. That's another reason we avoid these situations. lol Our…

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Electricity into my lower back

I woke up this morning and my back is completely out. I have a major back injury, and for the most part, I'm okay. Sometimes however, things can get bad, and significantly impact my ability to do just any anything. Thankfully, Lizze is reviewing a portable tens unit and I'm currently zapping my lower back with jolts of electricity. That may sound bad, but OMG does it feel amazing. Hopefully, this will losen things up and allow me to walk today.

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#Autism Parenting: Some days are worse than others

We had a really challenging day. Rather, Emmett had a very challenging day, and subsequently, so did the rest of us.  Any parent would gladly take away their child's burden and shoulder it themselves, but when it comes to Autism, there's no possibility of that. No matter what we do, sometimes we just can't help him.  For me personally, this was an emotionally draining day because Emmett was completely out of sorts for most of it.  The main issue for the first part of the day was clothing related. He couldn't wear any shirt. There's one shirt that he can wear, and we can't find it. It's got a picture of a pug wearing sunglasses and headphones. It's nowhere to be found.  His other shirts are bothering his shoulders. He…

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Gavin had a bad reaction to his #IVIG infusion

Gavin gets his IVIG infusion this morning, but I'm a tiny bit concerned. When he had his last infusion on Friday or Saturday, he got sick afterwards. He began not feeling well about an hour after it was done.  He soon became sick to his stomach and needed his anti-nausea medication, in order to make it through the night.  Thankfully, he's feeling better today but he had a rough go of it.  I don't know why he sometimes has bad side effects but not all the time. I'm grateful it doesn't always happen but I wish I could nail this down because if I knew why, I could try to fix it.  Unfortunately, it may just be a Gavin thing and there's no rhyme or reason to it. Hopefully, today's…

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This sets a terrible tone for the day

It was a rough night. Emmett woke up after a really bad nightmare and never went back to bed. He woke up shortly after midnight, just as Lizze and I were going to bed.  There was zero chance of getting him back to sleep and in order to prevent him from waking anyone else up, further complicating things.  As per the usual in situations like this, we moved to the living room in an effort to salvage whatever sleep I could.  My efforts were fruitless because he never went back to sleep. This of course, sets a terrible tone for the day, that I'll have to attempt to overcome. 

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