Nothing worked because everything hurt

Sensory processing disorder has gotten the best of us today. Mr. Emmett woke up after a night filled with nightmares, completely overwhelmed. In his nightmares, he's being eaten alive and can't wake up. Emmett's daily life is often dictated by his sensory issues. Today was particularly bad because he woke up, already overloaded, and not standing a chance. More often than not, Emmett will struggle with his clothes in the morning, but we can work through it. On these days, Emmett has enough resources in his coping bank account to help him through. Unfortunately, there are some mornings where this coping bank account is already overdrawn. He was very clearly overdrawn this morning, and he wasn't able to tolerate wearing a shirt. We worked to help him through this from…

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Tuesday night therapy

The boys and I are going to therapy without Lizze. She had a rough day in class and had a major panic attack. She's at home resting in bed. Hopefully, she'll be feeling better in a little while.  In the course of my life, I've only ever had one or two major panic attacks, and from what I remember, they were exhausting.  I feel for Lizze, because I know how tough those were for me, and I don't have any serious anxiety issues like she does. I hope she finds some peace while she's resting and we can get in with our day. If not, I'll help her any way that I can. ♥ 

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Tales of #Autism and really awkward conversations 

One of the things that many Autism parents are all too familiar with is awkward conversations. When it comes to awkward conversations in our house, Gavin is King. 😁  We spent a couple hours with my grandpa this afternoon. Rather than Gavin going straight to the TV, I had him sit in the living room with us and hang out.  That was an experience... ☺  Gavin has never avoided conversations with people, and that's a good thing. The problem is that he's not gifted in the ways of two-way conversations.. More often than not, Gavin will only want to talk about his video games, and will simply change the subject from whatever is being discussed.  He didn't do that too much today, and I'm proud of him.  What he did…

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Jamming pencils in my ears

I try to provide insight and inspiration to my readers, by sharing my thoughts and experiences. Sometimes though, the best I can do is share what I'm feeling after a long day of being an Autism and Special Needs parent.  We weren't without our struggles yesterday, but it was a good day.  One of the things I struggled with was Gavin's behaviors. There wasn't anything violent or majorly inappropriate, but that doesn't make it any less exhausting.  If you have ever spent any time with Gavin, you will very quickly learn that he loves playing games on his tablet. You would learn this quickly because it's all he will talk about.  I have listened to him talk about his games to the point I want to jam pencils in my…

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Here’s how the morning has been so far

The boys made it off to school today. Emmett struggled a bit this morning because he's nervous about returning to school after so long. He's also stressed out over his make-up work. We've been working on it while he was home but he still has quite a bit to do.  The good news is that he's at school right now, and so is Elliott.  The good news continues because Gavin and I finally made it back to the track. He was able to do 1.5 miles, at a decent enough pace. It felt real good to be back at it. ☺  Our goal is to take in the track a few days a week and the off days, I'll use the treadmill.  Sadly, I can see Gavin struggling more and…

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I’m so close to getting the boys to school

I'm thinking that I'll be able to get both boys to school today. I'm being met with some resistance from Emmett, but it's more anxiety related. He hasn't been back to school in well over a week, and he's nervous about going back.  Unfortunately, their clothes didn't dry and we're having to wait on the dryer before leaving.  Lizze is already at class for the day, so Gavin and I are on our own. I think we will be walking the track and then visiting my grandfather around lunchtime.  I'm hoping to get some writing done and then maybe some house work.  I really, really need to get our routine back on track. It's been thrown off since Emmett began his latest flare. Even neurotypical Dad's need routine.. ☺ 

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How the Vivint Smart Home app works

I want to take a minute and share a video I put together to show how I use the Vivint Smart Home app to manage my home. Please understand that I have limited resources in which to make this video with, so forgive me there.   It's also important to understand that while this will work for any family out there, I'm directing this more to the Autism community.   As Autism parents, we need to take advantage of any tools available to help us raise our kids and keep them safe. Life is always going to be tough, but at least we can leverage technology to help us make some areas more manageable. Perhaps even gain some peace of mind.   The video below shows how the Vivint Smart…

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Good News – Painful News

Both boys are home from school today, but they are doing better. I'm feeling pretty optimistic that they will be returning to school tomorrow.  Emmett been working in his makeup work and Elliott has been resting.  Gavin is doing good and currently sleeping off his morning meds. The only thing on the agenda today is getting Gavin's bloodwork done. We decided to wait until this afternoon, because Lizze needs bloodwork done as well and this way, we can kill two birds with one stone.  As for me, I'm feeling much better. My only real limitation today is my back. I just have slept funny or something because my back is out. For the Lost part, I'm okay if I'm standing perfectly straight. Sitting or lying down really hurts. Trying to…

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