A Special Needs Mama

A special needs mamaIs weary in her soulDay after dayHas taken its toll Years of sleepless nightsMany thankless jobsThe constant demandsAnd heart wrenching sobs The daily needs grind herAlmost to the boneThe exhaustion, the diapers,all of the unknown A son she prayed forWho’s unruly and wildA son she prayed forWho’s misunderstood as a child But wipe her tears she mustAnd get on with the dayFor duty calls againDuty – without pay The phone calls, the letters,She’s desperate for a breakWhy don’t they help?She thinks, for goodness sake She’ll make them…

Read More

I’ll Be There For You

After my son Harper and I lay down, he always requests a song. He will say “sing!” Then he will name a certain song. Lately, it has been the “Friends” song. Yep, you heard right…the theme song from the show, Friends. He is definitely his Mama’s child! He would prefer the whole song, but I normally just do the chorus. Tonight was different. Tonight, I sang the whole song. As he drifted off to sleep, I caught myself really listening to the words. Tonight, as I lay there singing my…

Read More

The Power of Words

“I like good strong words that mean something…” ― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women The quote above is from one of my favorite stories as a child. Little Women reminded me of my youth. I loved the story, and I still do. I think what I liked most about it was the way the story was told. The beautiful words and details that Louisa May Alcott chose to tell her story. I am infatuated with words. I love to write them and hear the intoxicating way they coalesce to form…

Read More

Boy Forced to Wear Fluorescent Bib so Teachers Know he’s Autistic

A London woman has sued her son’s school after claiming it made her autistic 7-year-old son wear a fluorescent safety vest on the playground. Why wear a vest you ask? So the students and teachers would know that he was autistic of course. The mom of a seven-year-old boy has launched legal action against his school after she says he was forced to wear a fluorescent bib so teachers would know he was autistic. Joanne Logan, said she had launched the case so that other kids like her son Charlie…

Read More

She Doesn’t Look Autistic

“She doesn’t look autistic.” “Are you sure?” “Autism is just the new ADHD.” “Oh, I would have never known.” “But she’s so pretty!” These are all responses I have heard when I first tell someone about my daughter’s autism diagnosis. I am always walking a fine line when it comes to telling people. It’s not because I’m embarrassed or don’t want to talk about it. I am a proud mom and autism is not a bad word in our home (disability in general is not). No, I usually don’t want…

Read More

Two Boys and a Sister on the Way!

My son Nolan was born May 2007.  He was the easiest baby who came with a painless, smooth delivery.  He made parenthood a breeze. There was no hesitation in giving him a sibling right away. Mylan was born December 2008, and Nolan wanted nothing to do with him.  He would hide his head or leave the room entirely if Mylan cried. I could never get that beautiful proud picture of big brother holding newborn brother. I was horrified that the loves of my life were not like the online photos…

Read More

My Son makes Fun of the Autistic Kid in Class

I know bullying happens. I am not naïve to that. But what I didn’t know is that sometimes parents think it is funny too. They promote it. They laugh about it. They condone it. And they even brag about it over a cup of coffee. I was sitting with a few co-workers the other day having a cup of coffee and we were sharing stories about our kids. We were laughing about the drama around little girls and the laid back personalities of little boys. I was hearing about dance and…

Read More

We've Been Hiding Out

So where have we been?!?! Soaking up summer the good old fashioned way! Cooper is done with preschool for the summer and is only attending Fraser. Which is still five days a week. He is also getting speech 1x  per week and OT 1x per week. He handled the transition like a boss. As rigid as he can be that kid can go with the flow on so many other things. We found out that Cooper knows all of his letters and numbers up to 10. He also knows his…

Read More

I Thought I Had More Time.

I am spiraling down fast. I’m finally seeing it. The behaviors. The rigidity. And it makes it hard for me to breathe. Jamie was on a fishing trip so I flew solo with the boys this weekend. Cooper was Cooper and than add in dogs and a toddler. It is what it is. The problem is I saw Cooper’s rigidity like never before.  I think I can say I watched him unravel before my eyes. It’s bad. And it’s controlling every second of our lives. Every meal was a fight. Every thing was a…

Read More

Get Through Today. Better Days Are Coming.

Cooper is back. My sweet, smart boy is back. I know that sounds crazy right? Cooper has been a little monster for the last month or so. You can even tell by the theme of my blogs. A little over a month ago my posts were hopeful. Then, they changed. More fear, desperation. More anger. Things changed last week. I am so excited I have a smile on my face as I type it. Thank you God. He’s playing again. Laughing, ‘chatting’ non-stop. So much that he woke us up…

Read More