Read more about the article I’m so excited about this Thanksgiving
My thoughts

I’m so excited about this Thanksgiving

It's been a stressful week and I'm content knowing it's soon coming to a close. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I'm really, really looking forward to it. I'm excited for a couple of reasons. The biggest is that it's going to be really small. At this point in time, it's going to be us, my parents and my Grandmother. It's going to be hosted by my parents and as soon as they tell us what we can bring, we'll be contributing to the cause. ☺ What's so nice about this is that in a small group like this, not only do we get to visit more, but the kids tend to do much better as well. The boys have never done super well with large crowds of people.…

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November 16, 2017
Read more about the article It could always be worse. At least that’s what I tell myself.
Autism Parenting Struggles / Elliott / Emmett John / My thoughts / Sleep Issues

It could always be worse. At least that’s what I tell myself.

Last night was Hell on Earth but it could have been worse. A couple hours after putting Emmett and Elliott to bed for the night, Emmett woke up with can only be described as restless legs. He was beside himself because his legs were driving him crazy. If you've ever dealt with restless legs before, it's horrible. My Mom deals with restless leg syndrome, as does Lizze. On occasion, I've experienced it myself and I swear to God that when you're dealing with this are 2 AM, cutting your legs off seems like a viable option. Emmett's never had this happen before and we tried all the tricks we know about to help him, but nothing worked. We tried massage, weighted blankets, warm water, walking around, tensing/relaxing his leg muscles,…

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November 16, 2017
Read more about the article 1 rule we have for starting our kids on a new medication
Medication / Medication Management / My thoughts / Parenting Advice

1 rule we have for starting our kids on a new medication

When it comes to either beginning new or making significant changes to a medication in regards to our kids, there's always one rule that we follow whenever it's possible. My wife and I never like to make changes to medications during the school week. There are some times when it doesn't matter or it's medically necessary to begin a medication during the week, but for the most part we like to wait. The reason for this is very simple. We take medicating our kids very seriously and when it's deemed necessary to put one of our kids on a medication, we want to insure that they don't experience any side effects. In order to do that, we need to monitor them closely for changes. Again, I'm talking about medications that…

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November 16, 2017
Read more about the article I totally forgot to tell you
Elliott / My thoughts

I totally forgot to tell you

I was so completely overwhelmed by the doctors appointment this afternoon that I forgot to mention what happened with Elliott's bloodwork. I gotta be honest, Lizze and I both were exhausted after the appointment. The boys were such a handful and like the Energizer Bunny, they kept going and going. Anyway, as far as Elliott's bloodwork went, it didn't. While we are making some progress because he's now able to talk about it without freaking out, he still wasn't ready to go today. We've talked it over with his doctor and while they'd like him to just get it done, the understand and agree with our approach. We're looking longterm on this and not just a fix for this one time. I'm hoping that the Prozac will help him relax…

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November 15, 2017
Read more about the article We don’t medicate our kids all willy-nilly
ADHD / Anxiety / Elliott / Medication / My thoughts / Parenting Advice

We don’t medicate our kids all willy-nilly

Today worked out pretty well, at least better than expected. Gavin goes to my parents every Wednesday and spends a few hours hanging out. This gives Lizze and I a reprieve from all the talking. Something had come up for today and he wasn't going to be able to go but last night, my Mom sent a text that we were still on. I knew Gavin would be excited because all week, he's been talking about how Grandma has to go out of town and he won't be able to go on Wednesday. My Mom picked Gavin up and Lizze and I took the boys to their doctors appointment. Not having to drag Gavin along, made it much easier and worked out well considering how challenging the boys ended up…

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November 15, 2017
Read more about the article Why my son with #Autism has threatened to run away
Autism Parenting Insight / Elliott / My thoughts / Vivint Gives Back

Why my son with #Autism has threatened to run away

I haven't had the energy to talk about this but it's become a significant problem and it's something we are struggling with. Elliott has struggled with anxiety for as long as we can remember. It's one of his comorbid diagnoses to go along with Autism and ADHD. Elliott worries about everything and having Autism has made that much more impactful. Like many kids on the Autism Spectrum, Elliott perseverates. That basically means that his brain puts thoughts on repeat and he literally can't stop thinking about whatever that is. He's always been this way. The truly unfortunate thing is that when those thoughts on repeat are about things that terrify him, like say, having bloodwork done or getting a shot, it's simply too much for him to handle. We've been…

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November 15, 2017
Read more about the article Gavin’s driving me crazy
Autism Parenting Struggles / Gavin / My thoughts

Gavin’s driving me crazy

It's no secret that I'm worried about Gavin for a great many reasons. I love this kid to death and will continue to do whatever I can to help him live the best life he possibly can. At the same time, I'm a human being and have limits to what I can deal with. Having said that, Gavin is driving me absolutely crazy. I'm stressed out enough with everything going on around me and that puts a serious strain on the limited resources in which I use to cope with life. Gavin has spent the bulk of his life as an incessant talker and unfortunately, that's something that seems to be getting ever more incessant. I don't know what you call a significantly increased level of incessant talking but it's…

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November 14, 2017
Read more about the article Gavin’s labs have come back
Gavin / My thoughts

Gavin’s labs have come back

Gavin's labs have finally come in and it's better than bad news. His Absolute Neutrophil is up to 2.8 from 2.4 last week. This is good news because the numbers are moving in the right direction. At the same time, we still have no idea what's going on. We're still waiting to get into Hematology because this is the best chance we have to identify what's going on and how we can address it. I feel a sense of relief at he moment because his members are good right now and will probably be good for the next couple of days. I can't let my guard down because we have learned over time, that with Gavin, what goes up must come down. It's like we're waiting for the proverbial other…

4 Comments
November 14, 2017