When my son’s autism was discovered six years ago, I wasn’t ready to think about the future. Nope. I focused solely on the present and helping him. And it wasn’t easy. It wasn’t like help just rolled in. I learned quickly there is no prescription for autism. Instead it was trial and error. And a whole lot of advocating (fighting) for services and supports. But hard work paid off. And he was worth every bit of the hard. When he turned 8, I was ready to dip my toe into…
This morning I thought about forever…as we woke up before the sun and hurried to get ready to go find trains. This is what we do. When you first find out you’re going to become a parent you think about raising a child, sending them off to college and watching them get married to start a family of their own. I’m not saying he won’t ever do any of these things, but I’m also saying we aren’t promised he will either. The day you find out you’re not just a…
Recently my daughter Sage who holds her feelings in like they never existed, who would rather use her fists to deal with hurt, broke. Her sky blue eyes welled up and her upper lip quivered as a stream of salty tears spilled down her cheeks. My dearest Sage, You have a job more important than other kids your age. Not only do you have to protect your littlest sister from dangerous situations, you must also protect her from hate and evil. Sage, there will always be mean people who spew hate. Yes…
Today was a bear of a day. A no good, really bad day as the kids say. But there were highs too. My baby said ‘love you mama’ when I left his room tonight. He’s never said that before. I thought my heart was going to burst. I even made him say it again. It was just so perfect. And then earlier today, while driving, my middle son asked me how babies are made. I froze. And because he’s so smart he said, ‘don’t worry mom, I already know. You…
Last night we brought our three boys to a green house to pick out pumpkins. Our middle son was very excited. He loves all things holidays. He also loves overdoing things, much like his mama. 17 pumpkins seems totally reasonable to us. And the baby, he was in heaven toddling along with his brothers. Our older son Cooper, well, he was along for the ride. Pumpkins aren’t really his jam. That is until he realized that the green house had Christmas trees. So many Christmas trees. He immediately gasped and…
There I was, alone in the hospital, being monitored at 33 weeks pregnant with my unborn son. Nevermind that my family was states away and Shane, my husband, was hours away just finishing his overnight shift. My phone rang as the doctor entered my room. Shane stayed on the phone listening as the doctor explained our current situation. At the highest dosage my high blood pressure still wasn’t regulated and my migraine seemed to be going nowhere either. It was time to induce. Still alone in my hospital room, Shane…
My daughter is about to be 12. In 19 short days she will be in her last preteen year. She is beautiful, smart, lives in her own world that we proudly insert ourselves in everyday and she also has autism. Severe, non-verbal, complicated autism. And this world we live in is not designed for her. We have to make constant alterations to the environment around us to make it tolerable for my girl and her needs. But unfortunately the environment and the people in it, don’t always want to bend.…
Here is my blue-eyed, blonde hair, sweet boy looking at me. He shows his love through his eyes. He may be unable to tell me he loves me verbally, but he shows me in his unique way. Thinking back three years ago, life was a lot different. It was the start of our autism journey. It was the start that our life would change forever. He was not making any form of eye contact. He would not interact with peers. He would always want to be left alone. It was…
I’d like to talk about The Autism Dad for a moment. You’ve probably come across him once or twice. It’s not always obvious at first. He’s the guy attempting a smile while his son screams. He is the man who holds his teenager’s hand as they walk down the street, oblivious to the stares. He is the father whose vision of coaching Little League and relaxing on Sunday afternoons sprawled in front of the football game have been replaced by sessions of Applied Behavior Analysis, and speech therapy. This…
This will be my most unliked post, and I get it. I’m never trying to “start something” or offend anyone, but I do want to be honest in how I feel on this journey. My name is Danielle. I share our families journey at Story of Noahism. I made a tiktok a couple weeks ago and on that app comments get a lot of attention. More so than IG. And one of my top comments meaning hundreds, almost 1k to be exact, of ppl have liked it, goes something like…
