In the decade or so that my wife and I have been special needs parents,  we have never had respite care. People ask me about it all the time and want to know why we don't have it.  Well,  it's complicated but I want to explain probably the biggest reason we don't. Most people probably think that we would kill for respite care. The truth is that while we would benefit from respite,  it's just not that simple,  at least for us. There's something that you need to understand about being a special needs parent.  Please understand that I mean you in general.  I know many of you out there understand this.  :-) We looked into respite many years ago,  when Gavin was having upwards of 6 or 7 huge…

I don't remember when I actually got this.  It was a long time ago but it's probably my most frequently used material possession,  aside from my phone. I have this on the wall, positioned so that I see it every time I come down the steps in the morning,  or walk into the kitchen. It's meant to be a constant reminder to always keep perspective. I can't say how well it works all the time but it does help to remind me that some things are simply outside of my control and that I should focus on those this that I have power or control over.  I just thought I would share this with you all.  I'm not overly religious and I'm certainly not preachy.  I just think this is…

Good News/Bad News   Lizze visited with her neurologist this morning. This was a very bittersweet appointment and one that brought with it, some very disheartening news. One the positive side, her neurologist has agreed to take over as her pain management doctor. This is a really good thing because it puts all her care under one roof. This also means that only one doctor will be managing all her medications and that's also a good thing. However, this is where the good news ends and the bad news begins. Out of options   Lizze has had the same migraine now for over 5 months. The previous headache infusion was a failure. For those unfamiliar with what a headache infusion is, it's basically Intravenous medications, given for a set period of time per day for…

We met with Dr.  Pattie last night to discuss Gavin’s behaviors and the impact they are having on the family.  She watched the videos and described the behavior as institutional behavior. This is very concerning because he's continually escalating. Since this is willful behavior it's even more concerning. The reason is because when doesn't get the reaction he's looking for,  he ups the anty.  The biggest concern is how far is he willing to go. If he doesn't get the reaction he's wants,   by hurting himself,  what will he do next? His meltdowns are becoming much more violent and they are moving in a direction that makes them more dangerous to those around him. One of the things Dr. Pattie mentioned last night was that Gavin has absolutely no ability…

I wanted to share a few pictures I took the other day.  These were shot with my Samsung Galaxy Nexus.  I was pretty impressed by the quality of the shots. My subject was a baby Praying Mantis.  We have tons of these things all around the house.  For whatever reason,  the rose bush,  behind my house is a hot spot for Praying Mantis.  There are egg sacs all over.  These little guys are finding their way into our house. That where I first met this guy. He's so tiny,  I had to be really careful not to squish him when I moved him outside. It's supposed to be good luck to have these around. While there jury's still out on that one,  I did enjoy seeing a baby Praying Mantis, …

Alright,  so tomorrow is the last day of school.  This time,  I'm like 99.9% sure.  :-) Elliott had a rough start to the year but hit his stride just a few weeks into the school year.  He has done absolutely amazing this year and I'm sooooo proud of him. He's looking forward to returning next year and that is really good news. I'm really grateful for all that Summit Academy has provided him this year. They made the transition easier for Elliott and I look forward to returning next year.  :-)

Alright. The site is most restored. There is some memory issues that are causing the site to shut down. We were trying various things to identify the problem and can't seem to find what's going on. For now, I'm back up and running. I've scaled things back a little bit in hopes of helping things out. My good friend Stuart Duncan is been working very hard to fix this problem and for that I'm extremely grateful. He working with the awesome team at EZP.net to get this fixed. As is the tradition with the Lost and Tired family, this issue is bizarre and doesn't make any sense. I really want to express my appreciation to Stuart and the support staff at EZP for helping to get me back up and running. I'm really sorry this…

Gavin had the worst meltdown I have ever seem this morning. I don't know what is happening to him but he is escalating out of control.  This morning he completely flipped out over Lego's. He has been hoarding all the Lego's again. He makes these amazing creations, which is awesome. However, the problem is that he keeps these things long term. Basically, there's no Lego's left for the other boys. This leads to problems. This morning I told him that he needs to put the Lego's back into the pot. I explained to him that his big Lego car needs to be pulled apart and the Lego's returned to the bin. He began doing so, until I left, that is. As soon as I left, he hid his car and…