What If This Is It?

I’ve been really, really off lately. Irritable. Crabby. Most definitely not happy. I’ve even noticed that I am avoiding Cooper a little bit. It started after his birthday party on the 6th. That was a tough one. We changed our whole lives for Cooper. Every single thing is different now. And that’s fine. I have zero regrets. And every month we are told by Cooper’s therapists how amazing he is doing. Thriving they say. Better every single week. Amazing eye contact. Such a sweet boy. So engaged. Just a joy.…

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What if I Haven't Learned Anything Yet….

I found this quote a while back and it has meant a lot to me. I  keep coming back to it. It seems so right for my life. There is a post that I haven’t wanted to write for a long time but I have been scared. Scared that I will get judged as Cooper’s mom. As an autism mom. As a person. And that my inbox will get flooded with hate mail. I will be ‘that’ mom that referred to autism as a box full of darnkess. But, I am…

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The Age Old Spectrum

I spent last night thinking about the autism spectrum. I went to bed fine but Sawyer woke us up around 11 with the flu. No good. Vomiting and sleep deprived parents is never good. So, as I lay there waiting to sleep I started to think about the spectrum and Cooper. I always picture it as a straight line with high-functioning on one end and low-functioning on the other end. And the inevitable question….where is Cooper on that line. And an even bigger question…does it really matter where he lies…

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Looking Back

I’ve been down since Cooper’s birthday. So has Jamie. We’ve done a very good job isolating ourselves and Cooper. And when you live in a bubble it’s incredibly easy to block out delays and differences. But the party brought it all out. No hiding. Don’t even get me started on age 4 as a milestone. I know we will bounce back. We always do. It just needs to run its course. So, anyhow I spent the night looking at videos on my iPad. I absolutely love seeing videos of the…

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What Autism Looks Like To Me

I had a conversation with a friend this weekend about how everyone’s life looks amazing on Facebook. And how it’s all a load of shit. Nobody’s life is perfect. But nobody takes pictures of the sad moments. Or at least we don’t share them. Why would we. We don’t want the reminders. Or the questions from people about them. Or, pity. I am sitting here looking through the pictures of Coops birthday party. He is overstimulated and extremely stressed out in most of them. I would not call it a…

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2 Month Update

Cooper has been at Fraser for 2 months. That is absolutely crazy to me. When we considered moving 3 hours away, with the main reason being for his care, I secretly thought it would never work. Not the us part but the school part. Traditional therapy has been a nightmare for Cooper. We started with having the school district in our home, then went to traditional speech and OT at the hospital and then tried ECFE and lastly speech at a specialty clinic for kids with language disorders. ALL FAILURES. That sounds…

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Fish Oil and Apraxia. Does it Work?

Morning all, I wanted to do a quick post on Fish Oil and Apraxia. I get quite a few emails about the brand and dosage that I give Cooper. Cooper hasn’t been diagnosed with Apraxia as of March 2014 but he does have ‘some’ of the symptoms and I feel that giving him Fish Oil can only help his overall well being. Apraxia, or Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)is a developmental disorder that affects the ability to say sounds, syllables and words. Children with Apraxia often display problems with coordination,…

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Super Cooper is Growing Up

Something has changed with Cooper. Even as I type this I am hesitant. I haven’t even said it out loud to anyone but Jamie.  I’m scared if I say it too loudly it will disappear. So let’s pretend I am whispering. Last Friday we stopped giving Cooper his daily dose of Miralax. This was a huge step for him and we thought for sure it wouldn’t work. But it’s been over a week now and he is doing great. Thank God. We also started Cooper on a new dose of Fish Oil last week as well.…

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