Please don’t take even the little things for granted

I've been feeling optimistic lately and I still am, but at the same time I'm feeling overwhelmed. For some reason, life is feeling heavy and difficult to carry. Nothing has happened that would shake up my snow globe, so to speak. The boys have been a handful and then some, all day long. Emmett can't decide on anything and Elliott is becoming more and more difficult to feed because why wouldn't he. It's all sensory related stuff and very difficult, if not impossible to work through. We are basically buying food in an attempt to get the two youngest to eat and they won't. Sometimes they'll try it but there always end up being something wrong with the taste or smell and they won't eat it. We spend more money…

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A special New Years message

I wanted to take a minute and wish all of my readers, wherever they may be, a safe and happy New Year. I hope that we all find peace and happiness in the New Year. My wish for 2018 is that we can all come together, despite our differences and see one another for the truly amazing human beings we are. Allowing things like race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity and even political beliefs to divide us must stop. As individuals, we need to make a decision about what we want our lives to mean. We must decide what kind of world we want our kids going up in. Let's make 2018 a year where hate and bigotry are outweighed by love and acceptance. Let's teach our kids to…

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I like to focus on what he CAN do and less on the things he can’t

For all Gavin's struggles, and they are many, he still does some pretty amazing things. While he'll never be independent, that doesn't mean he's not gaining some independence. ☺ Every single morning, Gavin begins his day with a bowl of oatmeal. He makes it all by himself and when he doesn't have chocolate chips to mix in, he simply cuts up an apple instead. He used a special tool we have that let's him safely cut up and remove the core of an apple. He doesn't use a knife, especially unsupervised. My whole point here is that it's important that I focus on things like this because it's so easy to get wrapped up in the things he can't do. The reality is, there are a great many things he…

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Managing Christmas with 3 kids on the #Autism Spectrum

With Christmas quickly approaching and a house full of kids with Autism, we are bracing ourselves for a very challenging couple of weeks. Christmas is every kids favorite holiday and our kids are no exception. The difference is how our kids handle things. What kid doesn't get excited about opening presents or eating tons of Christmas cookies. Most kids are able to manage, especially with the help of their parents. Kids on the Autism spectrum tend not to manage so well, even with the help of their parents. The anticipation of opening presents, wondering/worrying about what they're getting and all the other excitement associated with the holiday's, can be extremely overwhelming. As Autism parents, we know what overwhelming can lead to and that's the dreaded meltdown. I've always referred to…

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We all have our reasons for getting up in the morning, even when it’s hard

Life isn't easy for my family. It's never been easy and there are so many times where I feel like I can't keep going on. Sometimes, the idea of getting up in the morning, only to face the same impossible challenges, is just too much. On the other side of the coin, there are moments when I'm reminded why I have to keep going. These moments help me find the strength and courage to keep moving, even when it's not easy to do so. Tonight was one of those nights. ☺

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A new way I’m raising #Autism Awareness

I've been working on doing more product reviews and it's taking off like crazy. The whole point of this is to capture people's attention with the products and while they're reading, they'll learn something about Autism. I used to do something like this when I was developing for Android. During the installation of my ROM's, the user would read the Autism facts on the install progress screen and learn something. This was wildly successful but after a few years I stopped developing and that is no longer a project I'm working on. As for the reviews, I have had a huge response from a ton of companies. Here's an incomplete list of current sponsors: Shark (Robot Vacuum) Neato Robotics (Robot Vacuum) Jabra Bose Touch Point Tile Anker Arteza Rowkin ELF…

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#Autism Parenting: Where breaks are not a luxury, they are a necessity

We are getting some breathing room today, at least for a little while anyway. Lizze's parents came and picked the boys up for the day because they're awesome. ☺ We're not getting as many breaks anymore because life happens and priorities have to shift accordingly. We totally get it and frankly, totally agree. At the same time however, I'd be lying if I said it didn't have a negative impact on us. The math is simple. Fewer breaks means more overall stress. This is why we never, ever take the breaks we get for granted. This is why we always appreciate what our family is able to do in regards to helping us get breaks. Most everything helps and we're beyond grateful for our supportive family. ☺ Life isn't easy…

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Just a day in the life of a Special Needs parent

The goal for this morning is to get the kids to school on time and if I'm lucky, in a good mood. ☺ Immediately after that, I have to run Gavin across town for what will end up consuming the rest of my day. That's right, he needs his Monday morning bloodwork again. This is how we are monitoring whatever is going on with his blood. Here's how this will go down. Gavin will get his bloodwork done about 8:30-ish AM. From that point on, my anxiety will be through the roof because I'll be awaiting the results of his labs. The results will tell us how our week is going to go. If they're bad again, the focus will be on figuring out what, if anything we can do.…

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