Posts Tagged ‘Self Care’
I’m Letting the Guilt Hold me Back
The days are long but full of so much joy. We spend every waking moment devoted to our kids and a lot of sleepless night when our brains won’t let us sleep. We IEP, we advocate and we constantly search for services. We clean up the same hoard piles 19 times a day, we do therapy and we handle meltdowns like a champ. We get so busy just living with Autism that we forget to live. We forget to take care of ourselves. The guilt that comes with taking time…
Read MoreWhen I Think about Reality
When I was pregnant with our third baby, Jamie and I would talk about our worries over introducing another little one to the family. There were two of us. There would be three of them. We’d be going from man-to-man to zone defense. But there was more to it than just that. Our son Cooper, who was 7 at the time, and now 8, didn’t have any self care. That means we dress him. We put his shoes on. We still feed him many of his meals. He doesn’t grab…
Read MoreAn Autism Mom out in the Wild
I’m off on my first trip without my son. I ordered everything from Amazon as I can’t shop in stores with him. I ordered all the groceries for the weekend so they won’t have to go out. I feel like I’m prepared to do this first trip solo. It’s been 4.5 years….I can do this. Right? Well, I got everything ready and here I sit on the bathroom floor after my son is in bed trying to make my feet not look like something from Jurassic Park. It hit. The reality…
Read MoreLearning the Value of Self Care
Self care is EXTREMELY important. It’s the reason they tell you to put the oxygen mask on first and then give it to your kids. If you are not OK, you can not help others. Having a child with special needs is taxing, extremely taxing. In years past, I was not using self care at all. I didn’t believe in it. I didn’t think I deserved it. I thought it was selfish. I thought it was fluffy stuff. So, I ignored it and actually went the other way which was…
Read MoreVIDEO: A Realistic Look at the Future
Today, I want to talk about the future. I want to talk about how we are preparing ourselves and Cooper to have success as he ages. For years I wondered what it looked like. Would Cooper talk? Would he live on his own? Would he be potty trained? Would he have self care? No one could tell me. And often, if I brought it up, people outside my world would say I was being negative. That I should stop thinking about the future. So, for a while I stopped. And…
Read MoreAutism is Easier When I Take Care of Me
I screamed as loud as I could as the water from the shower head poured over me. I have no idea how long I was in there. I don’t know if anyone heard. Worst of all, I didn’t know if anyone cared. I had reached the end of my rope very quickly in raising a child with autism. With our extreme efforts and my sons lack of progress I told myself I was the problem. I started to consider removing myself from the picture. But the problem didn’t begin overnight. It…
Read More13 Steps to Better Self Care
Self Care. Those two dreaded words. As a special needs mama, self care is the first thing to go when I feel sad. My son doesn’t talk. He doesn’t go to school. He doesn’t play. He doesn’t interact with children. He doesn’t play a sport or ride a bike. He doesn’t read. He doesn’t write. We rarely leave our house. We more so just live in his autistic world. And with that life comes a cycle of grief. The not knowing is hard. The knowing is hard. The accepting is…
Read MoreToday, Self Care is…
Today, self care is leaving work early to pick up Sawyer from preschool and waiting with him for five minutes while he examined a crack in the sidewalk. Which he was sure was a secret path to the middle of the earth. As I tried to rush him along he told me, ‘NO MAMA. I am doing science.’ So of course, I squatted down beside him, in the cold and drizzle, and looked for the center of the earth. Self care is getting home in the daylight and walking my…
Read MorePractical Goals, Measuring Success, and Accepting Limitations
I would like to introduce you to Jess, a 29-year-old woman with Autism and cortical blindness. Much like many of my favorite people, Jess came into my life in the virtual way. I stumbled upon her through Instagram. And I fell in love with this vivacious, funny, southern Belle. I asked her mother, Val, who blogs at Autistic Interpretations to write a post for Finding Cooper’s Voice. I hope that you all are as intrigued by Jess as I am. My name is Val, and I am the mother of…
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