Read more about the article Why #Autism Parents sleep when they can
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Why #Autism Parents sleep when they can

I slept for a couple of hours after dropping the boys off at school and feel so much better now. There were a million things I needed to get done this morning, but none of that was going to happen without at least some sleep. This morning's nap puts me at a total of only four hours of sleep but sometimes I get must less and so I'm grateful for what I can get when I can get it. Gavin and Lizze are both sleeping right now, and that gives me some time to myself to get some writing done. Writing helps me to clear my head, deal with my depression and also provide a better life for my family. In other words, it's very important to me. One of the…

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January 12, 2017
Read more about the article 2 hours of sleep
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2 hours of sleep

This morning was particularly rough for me personally. Elliott was up until almost 4 am and shortly after falling asleep, he woke up screaming because he must have bitten his the inside of his cheek. He was really upset and in pain but I couldn't figure out what was going on until we were up for the day. Elliott wasn't able to tell me what had happened because he wasn't fully awake. He did go back to sleep but when the alarm went off to get the day started, we had only had about 2 hours of sleep. The boys did get off to school without much issue but I'm going to have to take a nap..

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January 12, 2017
Read more about the article Fixing what’s broken within the #Autism community
Inspirational Posts / My thoughts

Fixing what’s broken within the #Autism community

One of the things that I've seen as an obstacle within the Autism community, is our ability to work together regardless of our differing beliefs. I've spoken about the major rifts that have formed and how those rifts are preventing unity.  If you've been blessed enough to not run into one of these rifts, count yourself lucky because it's not always a pleasant experience, especially for the newly initiated parents within the community who have no idea what they're walking into.  Likewise, if you haven't experienced this first hand, don't discount the validity of these words because many others have experienced these things.   These rifts have led to factions or individual groups that sorta break off and do their own thing. What leads to these secessions is often a…

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January 11, 2017
Read more about the article Feeling grateful 
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Feeling grateful 

Last night Elliott fell asleep with no problems. Emmett on the other hand had a rough time again. I don't think he fell asleep until 10:30-ish. That's an improvement over what it's been lately but it still presents its challenges. We had a slow start to the morning and a hard time waking the kids up. Truthfully, we had a hard time getting up as well but someone has to captain the ship. Having said that, once they were awake, Elliott and Emmett got ready for school without incident. In fact, Emmett put his socks and crocs on without hesitation this morning. I don't know what's different but he just woke up in a place where his shoes and socks were okay. This does happen on occasion but not very…

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January 11, 2017
Read more about the article #Autism: The Unpleasant Truth
Inspirational Posts / My thoughts

#Autism: The Unpleasant Truth

I've been connecting with so many new Autism or Special Needs parents lately. While this is such a cool thing for me because connecting with others in a similar circumstance is a positive thing. At the same time, it's heartbreaking because there are so many people out there who are isolated, scared, overwhelmed and feeling hopeless. What's become clear is that, based on my personal experience, as well as interactions with parents from all over the globe, there isn't enough support, services, understanding or even compassion. Frankly, it's not even almost enough. Somethings wrong when the fastest growing childhood developmental disability in the world doesn't have some national/international infrastructure that directly helps families seek out and obtain early intervention services. There's something wrong when parents burn out because raising a…

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January 11, 2017
Read more about the article We just received the @nest PRO learning thermostat today
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We just received the @nest PRO learning thermostat today

Vivint was out today and they installed the nest PRO thermostat in our house. Supposedly, this will help us save 10 - 15% on our heating and cooling bill. That savings can go right to our grocery budget.  I'm pretty excited because I just love new technology and I love saving money.  The nest integrates with the Vivint Smart Home system we have, as well as with our Amazon Echo. I can simply tell Alexa to set living room temp to whatever I want and she'll do it.   I can also control the nest from the nest app, as well as the Vivint app.  I haven't had a huge amount of time to work with it just yet but as I do, I'll share my experience. I had talked about this a…

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January 10, 2017