Read more about the article Our Easter was derailed but we made the best of it
My thoughts

Our Easter was derailed but we made the best of it

As I'm writing this entry, we have two kids who've come down with a respiratory bug. Elliott and Emmett are both not feeling well. Elliott was running a relatively high fever of 102.2°F. Emmett is showing the same symptoms as his older brother, but with added unpleasantness of still being inside of a fever cycle.  Both boys have been moody, which is understandable, but it makes all the every day struggles that much more challenging. Thankfully, both Elliott and Emmett are asleep in their own beds, meaning I get to sleep in mine tonight. ☺  As a result of having two sickies in the house, we ended up canceling our plans for Easter.  We could have split up, leaving Lizze and the boys at home, while Gavin and I went…

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April 17, 2017
Read more about the article Holiday’s can be really tough for #Autism Parents and here’s why
Autism Parenting Insight / My thoughts

Holiday’s can be really tough for #Autism Parents and here’s why

Easter, as with pretty much any freaking holiday that we celebrate, puts my wife and I into a position where we need to decide whether we go to see family or stay at home.  At its most basic level, this is the choice between dealing with major fallout, or limiting the amount of fallout we have to deal with.  When we go to holiday functions with family, we all have a good time while we're there. The problem arises when the boys become overstimulated and right about the time we get home, the meltdowns begin. I'm not sure there's ever been a holiday for us, where this wasn't an issue,  As for this Easter, we will be going to celebrate with my family. The boys will have an Easter Egg…

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April 16, 2017
Read more about the article OMG…. The overstimulation 
Autism Parenting Woes / My thoughts

OMG…. The overstimulation 

The boys arrived home tonight in a pretty decent, but absolutely overstimulated mood. Lizze's mom called to say that she apologized in advance because the boys are going to be a handful, and that they were. 😁  They had gone and done some Easter Egg hunts and one of the places involved dropping thousands of eggs from a helicopter. They had fun but way overstimulated.  Emmett wanted to go to bed right away, but it was only 5PM and we weren't going to set ourselves up for him to wake up super early. He may do that anyway but at least we weren't complicit. 😁  Elliott's having a rough time sleeping but Emmett is out like a light. Gavin must have eaten something he shouldn't have because he's dealing with…

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April 15, 2017
Read more about the article Why I’m focused on the now and not the future
Inspirational Posts / My thoughts

Why I’m focused on the now and not the future

In life, there are always things to worry about. Sometimes however, one has to focus on the now, and put the worries for the future to the side. Today is one of those such days.  After all the unforseen expenses that occurred this month, our financial resources for this month have pretty much dried up.  While I'm very consumed with this problem and frankly, I don't know what I'm going to do, there are things that still need to happen. Groceries are way up there in the list of things I still need to pull off, but so is preparations for Easter.  I went out to Walmart after the boys left to spend some time with their Grandparents. As much as I hated having to spend what little money we have…

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April 15, 2017
Read more about the article Feeding Emmett is getting more challenging 
Emmett John / Feeding Problems / Sensory

Feeding Emmett is getting more challenging 

I wanted to share a quick example of why it's so hard to keep Emmett, my youngest with Autism, fed.  Below you will see a picture of a piece of pizza that Emmett wanted to eat this morning. After heating it up however, he began to panic and ultimately decided that he couldn't eat it because it was missing some cheese at the very tip of the triangular slice.  There is absolutely no way to work through this with him.  I'm so frustrated because he's not eating much of anything, as a result of these sensory issues. I don't have the budget left to survive this right now, but Emmett needs to eat.  It's becoming increasingly more difficult to help him find something he's capable of eating.  Can anyone else…

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April 15, 2017
Read more about the article Confessions of a struggling and stressed out #Autism Dad
Confessions / My thoughts

Confessions of a struggling and stressed out #Autism Dad

This is going to be a super honest post. I've not written one like this in awhile because I got tired of judgemental and ridicule from people who don't get it.  One of my regular readers has been encouraging me to return to some of my more brutally honest writings because it provides further insight, and it may help others in similar circumstance.  With that in mind, here we go.  My anxiety and stress level have been extremely high recently. Truthfully, they're always high. I'm raising three special needs kids and stress goes hand in hand.  Lately however, things have been getting pretty bad, and rather than write about it, I keep it bottled up inside. In the past, I wouldn't have thought twice about sharing but ever since Lizze…

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April 15, 2017
Read more about the article Why trying to get my son’s new glasses was so frustrating 
Autism Parenting Struggles / My thoughts

Why trying to get my son’s new glasses was so frustrating 

I mentioned last night that when it came to getting Emmett's glasses, I ran into a frustrating situation. Here's what happened, but before going into this, I want to say something first.  Not everyone agrees with public assistance and I get that. There are people who abuse the system and that's wrong. There are however, families like mine, that wouldn't be able to survive without it, especially where insurance is concerned.  This post isn't about being ungrateful or feeling entitled. It's about sharing a struggle that some might not realize exists.  Please don't judge those of us that rely on this program to survive, simply because of those who abuse it.  Emmett's on disability for a variety of reasons, meaning he's on Medicaid. Actually, he's on Buckeye, which is a…

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April 14, 2017
Read more about the article You won’t believe what the worst part of the eye appointment was for my son with #Autism 
Akron Children's Hospital / Doctor's / Emmett John / Gallery / My thoughts / Optometry

You won’t believe what the worst part of the eye appointment was for my son with #Autism 

It's been such a long day and I'm sure you're all surprised to hear that I'm exhausted. I feel like I've been on the go for most of the day and spent all my remaining energy along the way. 😁  For this entry, I'm going to focus on Emmett's eye appointment. The rest can wait until later on.  The long and short of it is, Emmett's appoint went well. Emmett did a great job, especially considering how long we were at Akron Children's Hospital today. Emmett did great with the eye drops that dilated his eyes, and great with all the lights shone in his eyes during the exam.  All the things one would think he would struggle with, he did great.  That being said, there was one area he…

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April 14, 2017