dad Archives - Page 195 of 457

Maggie passed away last night and we’re all heartbroken

In November of 2008, Emmett was almost six months old and we were a dog-less family, not looking for a dog. In a completely random occurrence, Lizze stumbled across a picture of a dog with the most amazing smile. We weren't looking for a dog because we had just recently had Emmett but we found ourselves drawn to the picture and it turned the dog was actually somewhat local to us. Lizze wanted to go look at her in person and for whatever I went along with it. It was one of those spontaneous things that wasn't really like us at the time. There was just something about this dog and we made the forty-five minute drive to meet her in person, not knowing what to expect. What we didn't…

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April 14, 2018

Gavin / My thoughts

I fear Gavin’s becoming a bit more paranoid

Lizze and I had a pretty good morning. None of the little missions we went on panned out due to bad information but it was nice to try. We ended up just walking the track. Gavin will be coming home soon because he's apparently getting anxious/freaking out because he needs his infusion and can't do it at grandma's house. I don't know why he's so worried. He's doing perfectly fine as far as time is considered. Even if he did it tomorrow he'd be fine. He's sorta becoming more paranoid. At the same time, despite our many attempts to explain how this works to him, I know he doesn't understand. That may be to blame as well. I don't want him worrying about this stuff to the point he begins…

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April 13, 2018

My thoughts

Still struggling but forcing myself to exercise

Lizze and I have a few hours to ourselves this morning and that almost never happens. Gavin spent the night at his grandparents and the boys are at school. What I want more than anything is to crawl back into bed and sleep off the nausea but that's not in the agenda. Lizze and I are going to go walking shortly. I want to go. I need to go but I feel like shit still. At the same time, I know that I'll feel better as I walk and that's why I'm forcing myself to go. I'm losing weight and getting back into reaching my fitness goals. It's unfortunate that I'm having such a difficult time withdrawaling from Paxil but the more active I am, the better I feel. So,…

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April 13, 2018

Gavin / Vivint Gives Back

Making changes to keep Gavin from hurting himself at night

We've been having some issues with Gavin, particularly at night. The other day, Gavin got up about 9 PM to use the bathroom. Lizze was still reading to the kids and I was in the living room. All of a sudden, we heard a really loud thud. I thought Emmett had fallen off the top bunk but Lizze headed right to the bathroom cause she knew it was Gavin. Gavin swears up and down that he never fell. He claims he only put his hands on the floor to keep himself from falling. Everyone in the house head the thud and no one believes it was from him gently putting his hands on the ground. The problem is that for some reason, his bedtime medication is making him very sedated…

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April 12, 2018

Autism Parenting Struggles / Gavin / My Personal Victory

My oldest son with #Autism is really trying my patience

I'm not going to mince words here. Gavin is driving me crazy and there's no end in sight. He's eighteen years old on the outside and about six years old on the inside. This large age gap between his emotional age and his chronological age has always been problematic. As he gets older, it's becoming more obvious and increasingly frustrating. Gavin's a great kid. He loves his family to the best of his ability, always looking to help around the house and he never gives up or complains about his lot in life. I've raised him as my own since he was about fifteen months old and I see him no differently than I do Elliott or Emmett. Unfortunately, it's getting harder and harder to overlook some of the behaviors…

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April 11, 2018

My thoughts

I’m hoping for a good day all around

The boys got off to school without much trouble. Lizze got their lunches together and I cooked some scrambled eggs. Of course, Elliott was the only one to eat them because Emmett will only eat scrambled eggs is they are pure yellow, without any white showing. That wasn't happening this morning so I will settle for one out of two. Emmett will be finishing up state testing today and his teachers are cooking them a pancake breakfast in their classroom, so he'll be fine. ☺ I've been checking with Elliott after school each day (which I've always done) to find out how things are going for him. So far it seems like things are going pretty well. Unfortunately, that doesn't necessarily mean anything because Elliott never tells us about something…

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April 11, 2018

Autism Parenting Insight / Inspirational Posts / My thoughts

A real life example of why #Autism Parenting is so challenging

Throughout the school year, we've had some concerns with certain teachers. It's not that they're doing something that was clearly wrong but rather we disagreed with their approach to dealing with kids on the Autism Spectrum. Recently, Elliott has been emotionally distraught over things he said were happening in the classroom. These things ranged from being singled out in front of the class, being questioned about his medications and being shamed over his struggles with homework. Whenever we've approached the teachers about this, Elliott says he would be confronted the next day by his teachers and he was terrified. When this came to our attention last week (Thursday), my initial reaction is one of being pissed off and wanting blood. He's one of my babies and I'm a papa bear.…

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April 11, 2018

My thoughts

I’m a little lost right now

It's no secret that I'm struggling a bit right now. If I'm being honest, I'm struggling more than just a bit. I sound like a scratched record but the withdrawal from Paxil is killing me and it's impacting me in many areas of my life, this blog being one of them. Once upon a time, I had a direction and was moving in a somewhat linear fashion. Lately, most of what you will read here are random thoughts and experiences because that's just where I'm at. I know that makes it harder to follow and I understand that but my life isn't easy to live either. I'm really trying to make this user friendly and as helpful as to my families as possible. I ask that you remain patient with…

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April 10, 2018