Read more about the article #Autism further complicates an already unpleasant situation
Akron Children's Hospital / Autism Parenting Struggles / Featured / Gastroenterology / Gavin / My thoughts / Surgery / Vivint Gives Back

#Autism further complicates an already unpleasant situation

This is going to be a fricking nightmare. It already is. Gavin has begun the pre-op cleanse if you will. If that wasn't bad enough, he's not allowed to eat anything for at least the next 28 hours. For most people, a 28 hour fast would be very difficult. Gavin however, isn't most people. His life revolves around two things, his tablet and food. Food is such a huge thing for him and he becomes very unpleasant to be around when any of his meals are perceived to be late. To say that Gavin is food motivated would be an enormous understatement. He already ate breakfast before we could get to him this morning but the hospital said it was okay, as long as he eats nothing else. To make…

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June 4, 2018
Read more about the article Preparing for a crazy Summer in our not-so-safe neighborhood with @VivintGivesBack
Featured / Vivint Gives Back

Preparing for a crazy Summer in our not-so-safe neighborhood with @VivintGivesBack

Sometimes I share my experience with Vivint Gives Back in regards to helping prevent wandering. There's also another side to our Vivint Smart Home System, provided to my family, and that's security. We live in a neighborhood that has on countless occasions, proved itself to be very unsafe. We've been involved in drive by shootings, people have been stabbed in front of our house and we hear gunshots almost every single day. Our car was just recently broken into again as well. It gets scary, especially for the kids. As summer approaches, we are working on some commonsense safety measures (that I'm not getting any into in this particular post) but aside from commonsense, we rely heavily on our Vivint Smart Home System to help keep us safe. We have…

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May 24, 2018
Read more about the article If you worry about #Autism related wandering, we can help
My thoughts / Vivint Gives Back

If you worry about #Autism related wandering, we can help

Over the years, there have been a few areas in regards to Autism parenting, that have really become personal for me. Wandering is among the most important of them. As a father of 3 boys with Autism, I count myself truly lucky that we haven't had to deal with wandering, any more than we have. I've shared on a few occasions, how Gavin managed to let himself out of the house at least twice. We found him collecting recycling out of people's trash cans. I don't think Emmett ever successfully escaped but my goodness, he was determined to. I was able to snap this picture when he was younger. It shows the lengths he would go to let himself out of the house. This is no joke. I think he…

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May 11, 2018
Read more about the article Making changes to keep Gavin from hurting himself at night
Gavin / Vivint Gives Back

Making changes to keep Gavin from hurting himself at night

We've been having some issues with Gavin, particularly at night. The other day, Gavin got up about 9 PM to use the bathroom. Lizze was still reading to the kids and I was in the living room. All of a sudden, we heard a really loud thud. I thought Emmett had fallen off the top bunk but Lizze headed right to the bathroom cause she knew it was Gavin. Gavin swears up and down that he never fell. He claims he only put his hands on the floor to keep himself from falling. Everyone in the house head the thud and no one believes it was from him gently putting his hands on the ground. The problem is that for some reason, his bedtime medication is making him very sedated…

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April 12, 2018
Read more about the article @VivintHome is giving away 4 free SmartHome systems in honor of #Autism Awareness month
My thoughts / Vivint Gives Back

@VivintHome is giving away 4 free SmartHome systems in honor of #Autism Awareness month

I wanted to take a second and share something really amazing that my good friends at Vivint Home are doing in honor of Autism Awareness month. They're giving away four (4) free SmartHome systems in the month of April. (see below for details) I've spoken about this countless times before. There is no way to completely eliminate the risk of a child with Autism from wandering or escaping the house. This is a widely accepted fact that keeps many of us up at night, there are things you can do to limit the risk of your child getting out of the house and wandering away. How can Vivint's SmartHome system help prevent wandering? https://youtu.be/fhOFiycKx4w Who's eligible and how do I enter? Any North American household with at least one member…

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March 29, 2018
Read more about the article Getting ready for our appointment with @VivintHome
My thoughts / Vivint Gives Back

Getting ready for our appointment with @VivintHome

Tomorrow, we'll be seeing the return of Vivint to our home. We're having a new camera added to the back of our house and a new alarm panel installed. When they're done with that, they're going to do a once over and make sure everything is up to snuff. In order to get ready for this appointment, we need to make sure that the Vivint tech has clean access to all of the Vivint devices in our home. The boys and I are going to spend the evening straightening up the house to make sure we're ready for them to come. This is actually the best way to get our house caught up.. Lol On a side note, please remember that you can take advantage of the Vivint Gives Back…

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March 8, 2018
Read more about the article Gavin’s IVIG infusion is NOT going well
Common Variable Immunodeficiency / Gavin / Immunology / IVIG Infusion / Vivint Gives Back

Gavin’s IVIG infusion is NOT going well

Gavin's IVIG infusion is not going well this morning. For some reason, we can't get any flow and I'm having to force the solution through the tubing manually. It works but it's very difficult and quite painful for a Gavin. I don't know what's wrong for sure, but it could be scar tissue. All I can do is continue to force it through or re-stick the needles in his belly. Gavin wants to avoid being re-stuck and I don't blame him. Hopefully, this will finish up sometime this afternoon and he will be okay. I'm just going to keep an eye on him through the Ping camera from Vivint Home. I've found so many uses for this system but the best have involved using the cameras to monitor my kids…

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February 26, 2018