Today’s Victory: It looks like physical therapy is a go

There are many things that happen in the course of the day for an Autism or Special Needs family. Frankly, things move so fast that it can be very difficult to keep up. Speaking for myself, it feels like I spend most of my time, running around putting out fires. It's even more difficult when the other parent is chronically ill because life becomes infinitely more complicated in pretty much every way imaginable. Lizze is dealing with lots of health issues; most impactful are those related to her chronic pain. She's made tremendous progress over the years and there's hope that things will continue to improve. The reality is that living with things like Ehlers Danlos, fibromyalgia and chronic migraines can't possibly be understood unless you're loving it first hand.…

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Apparently purple is for girls?

Gavin's blood work went great and even though they didn't have the color of wrap normally gets, he accepted purple. I think he views purple as a girls color and therefore accepting it is a pretty big step for Gavin. We've tried to explain that guys and girls can wear whatever colors they like. He's very simplistic in his views and that's not likely to change. 🙂👍 I ended up walking in the rain this morning after I finished with Gavin. It was actually significantly colder today than it was yesterday. We've been dealing with 110° F temps recently, and today it was in the low 60's and pouring down rain. A little bit ago, Emmett and I got home from picking up his birthday present. It took him forever…

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In true Monday fashion, my plans have fallen apart

I woke up this morning with every intention of going walking but for the third day in a row, mother nature has had other plans. The temps have dramatically cooled but now it's raining/storming and it will be for most of the morning. I do plan on trying again throughout the day, as there are breaks in the weather. Instead of going back to sleep, I decided to catch Gavin before he took his morning meds and get his blood work done. He was stressing out over it last night, and I figured he'd appreciate getting it done right away so he could take his meds, as well as his morning nap. I'm writing this as I sit in the parking lot and wait for Gavin to have his blood…

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Today’s Victory: Spending Time Together

It's been a rough day, but that's nothing new. On days like today, it's not always easy to focus on the positive. Having said that, I'm really pushing myself to do this on a daily basis because it's important. There a quite a few things that caused a shit-ton of stress and anxiety, but there's always something that can be viewed as a victory. Sometimes I need to look harder than others but there's always something. Today's victory is going to go to Mr. Gavin. He's really struggling with life right now, and so I feel it's very important not to overlook the positives when they come around. This particular victory might not seem like much on the surface but if you're an Autism parent, I suspect you'll understand. I've…

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Sometimes we just need to vent

Lizze and I had some tense moments after the kids left. I think that we are both so overwhelmed by everything going on around us, and hiding that stress from the kids takes a toll. When they leave, we end up purging. Lizze and I don't fight per se, but we both vent about everything we've had penned up inside. Once the kids leave, we can more freely talk about the things that need to be talked about. There's nowhere in this house that allows Lizze and I to have a private conversation, without everyone else overhearing. Our house is pretty small and even talking in a very low voice, is loud enough to carry up the stairs to the second floor. There are many things that we need to…

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I think we’re getting a break today

I actually got a solid eight hours of sleep last night and I feel pretty good this morning. The boys are going to hang out with their grandparents and probably even go swimming at some point this afternoon. This insane heatwave is still bearing down on us, so it's nice that they can get out of the house and go swimming. I have absolutely no plans for today. Lizze seems to be doing pretty good this morning so maybe we can do something while the kids are gone. As usual, money is tight and with it being so hot outside, our options are limited. Still, it would be nice to get out for a little while and do something fun.

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Today’s Victory: Being patient when things didn’t go his way at @GameStop

It's been a long day here at The Autism Dad house. I'm feeling all kinds of stressed out for various reasons but there is something that I want to celebrate tonight before I call it a day. As you might recall, Emmett turned 11 years old on June 26th, and you may also recall that he couldn't decide what he wanted for his birthday. We've been trying for over a month to figure out his birthday present, but he wasn't ready to make a decision. That all changed today. Emmett decided that he wanted his own Xbox One controller, so he could use it with his phone. We all play Minecraft together. I play on the Xbox, and the boys join from their phones. Using a controller with their phones…

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It’s called irrational guilt for a reason

I'm feeling quite overwhelmed, frustrated, and guilty today. I'm really trying to remain positive, but I need to replace our car in the worst way. We have four or five trips to the Cleveland Clinic before the end of the month alone, and I'm not wanting to keep pushing the car to go on these trips. We're having lots of electrical issues on top of all the mechanical and physical problems already present. It's frustrating because I try so hard to make everything work and while things could be much worse than they currently are, I can't seem to get us to a better place. I'm really trying to focus on writing, building partnerships and inking new as deals, so I can provide for my family in a more meaningful…

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