Posts Tagged ‘special needs family’
When Time Seems to Stand Still
I went for a walk tonight with my dogs. Like I try to do every night. It’s my sanity after long days. As I was walking I took note of four house being built down the road from mine. So much change. I let myself think about the house we moved into just a month ago and how I plan to live here the rest of my life. No joke. I’ve told Jamie he will have to carry my dead body out of here. I let myself think about our…
Read MoreFriend, I Understand You May be Scared
It’s the end of the school year and administrators are sitting with teachers working to create the best classes for the coming year. I understand it’s not an easy task. This year, I sit on the other side of the table as the parent who understands that my autistic child may be placed in your class. I have even heard that a few of my ‘friends’ have requested that their children not be in my child’s class. I want you to know, I understand. Really. I do. Friend, I remember…
Read MoreWe Have A Little Secret…
We have been keeping a little secret! I am 21 weeks pregnant and couldn’t be more excited. Baby S is due in October! I know you will all have a million questions and I will gladly answer them for you. I am guessing this list will cover a few of them. Yes, we were planning this. Yes, we are excited. Yes, we are very nervous and scared but Jamie and I also refuse to spend our days worrying. Yes, Cooper’s autism impacts every decision we make. Yes, Cooper’s number one…
Read MoreThe Can’ts Will Become Cans
I remember like it was just yesterday. I dazed out of the evaluation window as we waited for someone to come in and explain how this “process” works. My son had just turned 2 a couple of weeks earlier, and he was finally old enough for an official diagnosis. I was anxious because on that today, June 9, 2015, I would find out that it wasn’t all in my head. That something was indeed wrong. We listened, we asked questions, we tried to initiate activities that showed the doctors why…
Read MoreThat Moment When
For some reason I thought about autism when my girls were babies. I kept track of their milestones, and as they grew, I was reassured when they continued meeting them within the normal range. A new school for autism was being built just down the street from us when our first was a baby, and I remember thinking to myself, “I sure hope we won’t ever have a need for that school”. I thought about autism with our son Austin as well. Just once when he was a newborn. I remember…
Read MoreAfter Thoughts…
As a parent, we have hopes and dreams for our children. I would lay in bed, watching my daughter sleep and smile just picturing the woman she would one day become. I saw an independent career woman, an amazing mother, a loving wife—I saw her living life to the fullest—enjoying every moment. Autism changed those dreams overnight. When Kya received her autism diagnosis, a flood of emotions washed over me that my mind and body could simply not handle. As the fog slowly began to clear, I was tasked to understand…
Read MoreWhat is Normal?
When I became pregnant with my first child in 2007, I had no idea the journey I was about to embark on. I felt that I would be like every other mother I knew and have that ‘normal family’. It didn’t turn out that way and honestly, I could have never imagined the hurdles that we would have to go through over the last 11 years. My daughter was born in 2008, health and happy. For the first two years everything was perfect. One day, I noticed a small tremor…
Read MoreWe Don’t Need to Decide What is Worse
My ah-ha moment really has nothing to do with my son or his autism. But more about how moms in the special needs world view and treat each other. About three years ago, I met one of the most important people in my life. My close friend Carrie. She has a little guy who is 4 ½ and has nonverbal autism. My autistic 6 ½ year old is verbal. So, they are basically opposites. Carries lives pretty far from me, so we don’t get to see each other often. But…
Read MoreDiagnosis Day
1 in 189 girls are diagnosed with autism. Today, my girl officially became the 1. I pictured her soaring in with a superwoman cape and “saving” all the other little girls from this fate. But as we know, it’s not a choice like that. I’ve never worked so hard for a piece of paper I didn’t ever want. The piece of paper saying my daughter has a chronic disability for which she can never be cured took nearly a year of constant phone calls, evaluations to submit, i’s to be…
Read MoreTraveling with Severe Autism
We just got back from a 3-day trip to Washington, DC. To say that I was dreading this trip would be an understatement. Plane rides, security checks, hotels, crosswalks, crowds, the unknown – all of this is so overwhelming for our family. You see, we have three amazing kids, but Drew, our 13-year-old son, has severe autism. He is non-verbal and really doesn’t like to venture very far outside of his routine and typical home/school/therapy environments. Or does he? This trip literally started off with a disaster of the epic…
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