So excited!!!

We're buying a house!!! Yes I am crazy excited!  It's been a whirlwind since we decided we were ready to buy now.  We've been talking about buying for awhile and were trying to figure out the right timing.  Well, last Friday night we decided now was the best time.  By Wednesday we had an offer in on a house and by yesterday we were under contract.  Crazy crazy stuff!  The house we are buying is amazing and had multiple offers.  Seriously so excited!

Closet Anyone?

Lexi has to eat between school and therapy.  If she doesn't she spends half of the session mad and overwhelmed.  So once we got home yesterday I settled Zoe in and made Lexi a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  The problem - I couldn't find her to give it to her.  I knew she hadn't left the house because the door was in plain view of the kitchen where I was making her sandwich.  So she had to be somewhere inside.  So I peeked back in her room just in time to hear some banging coming from her closet.  Surprise!  There she was having a wonderful 'ol time in her cramped dark closet.  See she doesn't like the light on in her room unless she is doing therapy.  So her room is dark, and her closet is even darker - but apparently she likes it.  These pictures aren't dark thanks to the camera flash.  Otherwise it is almost pitch black in the closet.

Lessons from the River - Part 2

My river trip with autism moms (and other fantastic women) was amazing.  In case you missed part one of what I learned on the river click here.

On to installment two of what the river, and the experiences I had on the river, taught me.

Don’t forget the sunblock.

Ok this is a common sense thing to learn but for someone like me it is actually a good lesson.  I’m that person who never puts on sunblock but is really pale so always burns.  I just assume I might burn anyway even with sunblock so why bother with the stuff to begin with.

Advocacy much?

Lexi taking a break from her stickers and
Zoe heading for the door.

I can’t tell you how many meetings with Utah State Legislators I have dragged my kids to.  I will admit that I don’t hold the record though.  I am sure the President of the Utah Autism Coalition, Mirella, has taken her kids to more meetings than I.  But I digress. 

Tonight I drag both girls to another meeting.  See Nate is at school on Tuesday and Thursday nights, and inevitably almost all of our meetings with legislators end up being on a Tuesday or a Thursday.  Actually meetings face to face with legislators is my favorite part of advocacy.  So today I was tired of missing these meetings and decided Lexi and Zoe were just going to have to come with me.

The River - Part 1

How would you like to wake up to this?

I’ve thought over what would be the best way for me to describe this trip, and have always come back blank.  Because, really, there is no way to sum up in words the beauty and mystery of the river, the marvelous grandeur of the red rock country, or the feeling of oneness that comes from the bonds of sisterhood.  So instead of trying to explain the unexplainable, I am going to tell you about what the river taught me.

Happy Father's Day - Strength of a Mountain

Walking w/Zoe yesterday.

Doing Lexi's hair this morning.

There are a few subjects that I know I cannot adequately express my feelings and thoughts in words.  One of them is what an amazing father Nate is!  I know some moms joke that their husband is like another kid.  I cannot joke like that – if anything I wonder if sometimes Nate wonders if I’m like an extra kid. 

Falling off the planet

My river trip with autism moms was AMAZING!  I have so much to tell you about the realizations and inspirations from the trip, plus all the crazy things that happened while I was gone and once I got home.

Unfortunately, I have to fall off the planet for the next two weeks.  I am a grant writer and I have a MASSIVE federal grant due in 2 weeks that I am basically starting today.  To give you an idea of how massive it is: the FAQ's pdf is 19 pages, the instruction manual is 49 pages, the guide is 95 pages, and the technical assistance call is about 2 hours long.

Pseudonyms - Meet Lexi and Zoe

For the safety and privacy of my girls I have decided to start using pseudonyms for them.  Over the next week or two I will be changing their names to their pseudonyms in all of my previous posts.  I will also be deleting comments using their real names.  Thank you for your understanding!

Lexi – Oh my sweet Lexi.  She is the silliest, cutest, quirkiest 4 year old I know.  She was diagnosed with classic autism a few months after her 2nd birthday.  Now her days are filled with school, therapy, and fighting/playing with her baby sister.  I love Lexi with everything I am and will fight to the end of the earth for her.  She is such an amazing little girl.  I am lucky to call her my daughter.
--Likes: cupcakes, lollipops, spoons, puzzles, fiddlesticks, pigs, cooking, and her iPad.

Zoe – My adorable Zoe is almost a year old.  She is toddling all over my house and bonking her head on everything.  Her favorite person in the world is Lexi and so she follows her around everywhere trying to be just like her.  Zoe lights up my world every day.  She is insanely sweet and adorable – and she knows it!

--Likes: everything Lexi is doing, all of Lexi’s toys, balls, pacifiers, walking, baths, and anything with a cord.

Anyone can give up...

Always hurts to hear it

My beautiful Skylynn!

It doesn't matter that I knew Skylynn was behind her peers.  The first time someone else told me, and put months to justify how behind she was, really REALLY hurt.  It was the same with her autism diagnosis.  I knew she had autism, but somehow the doctor confirming it still really hurt.  Because Skylynn is constantly assessed for school and therapy I go through this pain periodically.  It always hurts - every time.

Musings of a Busy Mom living on Autism Island - Update

Lately I have felt uninspired by my blog.  Sounds artsy and weird but its the truth.  I would sit down to write a post and I felt confined in what I could write.  I didn't know why though.  The whole thing seemed a bit odd.

I kept trying to figure out what was going on when it dawned on me - it was all in the name "Autism Island".  Somehow I felt that since I was writing on the blog "Autism Island" I had to somehow address everyone living on this Island and attempt to write things that were interesting to everyone living here.  We all know that is basically impossible!  Autism Island is such a diverse place.  It doesn't matter what opinions I have - someone will think the exact opposite.  And that's ok.  Here on Autism Island everyone's path is different.

No Concept of Normal

I honestly have no concept of normal.  I tell people this all the time.  We’ll be talking about kids and someone will say “oh that’s normal for this age,” or “yeah it’s normal to feel like that,” or “yeah we are a pretty normal family.”  All of these statements confuse me.  Not in a literal sense.  I understand that they are saying something like: this, that, or them are typical or are doing typical things.  What I mean when I say it confuses me is that I don’t really have a frame of references to what normal is.

Time to reach out

In the world of special needs parents, we autism parents are kind of like the cool kids on the block.  I mean think about it, with rates like 1 in 88 children national have autism it is obvious that there are A LOT of us.  We form support groups, blogs, organizations, lunch groups, play groups, schools - well you get the point.  When you enter the autism world it gets pretty easy to go all out into autism EVERYTHING.

But I think we need to take a step back.  What about the other special needs parents?  Are we leaving them out in the cold without any support?  Are we trying to reach out to them?