This is pretty simple to ask and perhaps a bit more difficult to answer. I'm asking you this question as it relates to parenting but more specifically, special needs parenting. Do you care what other people think? Personally, I have learned not to wear my heart on my sleeve, so to speak. This is especially true when putting yourself out there, as I have. Having said that, as a special needs parent, there aren't a whole lot of absolutes, especially when it comes to parenting kids with Autism, or kids with Autism and very, very serious mental heath issues. Generally speaking I can take a few punches from people over parenting decisions my wife and I have made. Whatever....right? However, I tend to become more aware of criticism when it's…

Emmett fell asleep while waiting for Grandma and his brothers to pick him up and take him to see the movie Epic. This was a few moments of peace for my sweet Emmett.  The blue lips are from the popsicle, he's breathing just fine.  This site is managed almost exclusively via WordPress for Android. Please forgive any typos as autocorrect HATES me. ;-) Follow @Lost_and_Tired Visit the My Autism Help Forums To reach me via email, please Contact Me

I officially declare this the worst fever flare that Emmett has ever had and he's had a great many of them. Lizze and I have been sleeping in shifts lately and so we are both exhausted. Poor Emmett is absolutely inconsolable.  We were going to try and take him to a dollar movie because we were hoping that it would be a distraction. He was excited to go but complained that his shoes weren't tight enough. Then he freaked out because he wanted to spend time with Lizze's parents and we can't move him past this. So Lizze called her Mom and she's going to pick Emmett up and take him to see Epic at the dollar cinema. Elliott and Gavin were already over there because they spent the night…

Emmett woke up really, really early this morning.  He was in lots of pain wanted to go downstairs and have a popsicle.  Exhausted, I dragged myself out of bed and downstairs to sit with my ailing Emmett John, as he ate a popsicle, in a bid to numb his mouth up.  Apparently, the popsicle was making his mouth burn and so we moved to his chocolate milk. He insisted that Lizze had bought him a crazy straw but I knew nothing about that.  However, I was actually able to find one for him.  As soon as he saw the twisty straw, his demeanor improved.  He began sipping his chocolate milk through the twisty straw. It's barely 8am but I've already learned that life tastes better through a twisty straw. This…

Gavin's had a pretty good weekend.  There have been a few bumps along the way but they barely registered on the scale of things we worry about.  From my perspective, it feels as though he's getting sucked into his imaginary world and that sorta occupies him.  One of my readers point something out that I hadn't considered.  With Gavin spending a great deal of time playing with people/characters that only he can see, it's kinds hard to find the silver lining.  However, as my friend pointed out, the characters he's hanging out with are all good guys.  It's not like he's hanging out with people or things that are dark and violent.  There's the silver lining and it's actually a pretty good one.  In the past, Gavin has gone into…

We got our letter today, notifying us that the case has been closed.  While that's great news, I'm confused by what I read.  When we were interviewed by the CPS worker, they told us that we were accused of not taking our kids to the doctors. That has been our understanding until reading this letter.  This letter states that we were accused of emotional maltreatment and neglect.  Color me confused........... Maybe that's a generic term for not taking your kids to the doctors?  Either way, we've been cleared and I feel like our good name has been restored. I will say that I wouldn't wish what we've been through on anyone.  Ours wasn't even that bad compared to many other innocent families forced to submit to Child Protective Services because…

Okay, here's what's going on with Emmett.  First let me thank you for the thoughts and prayers.  We really appreciate them.  In a nutshell, Emmett is negative for strep throat. That means that this is entirely a fever flare and a bad one at that.  The ER doctors were awesome and really good to Emmett.  He did really well, despite being scared. The doctors in the ER contacted the doctor on call in immunology and it was decided that since this flare is so bad, we would put him on a cycle of steroids. This is a double edged sword because while it has shortened the flares in the past, it's not good for the immune system and can't be done very often, at least not safely.  We have to…

Emmett has gotten so bad that Lizze and I made arrangements and took Emmett to the ER at Akron Children's Hospital.  His fever was high and he was inconsolable for most of the day.  My concern was that he may have strep throat on top to of the fever flare. He's been complaining of his throat all day and that's not something we've seem much of before during a flare up.  There's not really anything we can do about the flare itself because it has to run its course, which is typically about 10 days.  However, if strep throat is involved, we can't let that go unchecked. Here's to hoping were not dealing with anything more than another fever flare.  Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.  This site…