Thankful...

I left this post a little late to write.

I come to this post after having a great meal with a great group of people.  And I thought this would be a great time to write this post.  Unfortunately, it went down hill very quickly.

We did have a fabulous meal with part of our homegroup.  We had some great conversation and just a generally awesome time being with friends.  Our children, all 8 of them, we together having a good time...things were going wonderfully!  It was time to eat and Wesley came to his daddy and said "Time to eat."  This is huge.  Wesley has a handful of things that he will eat, some of this being the McDonald's the we fed him on the way over because we knew he wouldn't eat anything while there.  I got him a plate and he picked out mashed potatoes, a piece of turkey and a roll.  I didn't really expect him to eat any of it, but I was optimistic that he would at least take a bite of the mashed potatoes.  Instead, he took his plate and went and sat down with the rest of the children.  With tears in my eyes, I watched him look like the other children...except he wasn't eating.  :-)  I really think he just wanted to do the same as they were doing.  I was so happy at this!  This is a huge thing for a child with autism.

What I missed was the fact that he was zoned out for most of the meal, staring at the fish tank.  This should have sent me a red flag, that things were overwhelming him and that I needed to watch for a good and easy transition to leave.  I was too excited about the progress that I saw.  Instead, I enjoyed myself and let him get really into playing Mario on the Wii...it's the latest obsession, anything to do with Mario.  Then, I sprung it on him..."Time to go!"

"No go! I no go!"

I let him play one more level...that usually helps...and we got sock on pretty well, but that's where he was drawing the line.  No shoes.

Our homegroup is a great bunch of people and they know that we deal with Wesley's autism...they've just never seen a full blown meltdown.   Until tonight.

At this point, this post is exactly what I need.  I need to remember all the little things that I am thankful for.  So, here goes.

my Savior

my husband and how much he loves me

my children

my parents

the fact that I can be a stay at home mom

having such great friends

my church

my bed

Wesley being diagnosed early

Nick being such a gifted child

Rich doing what he loves

the food that we eat

living in such a beautiful state

tea

the therapists and teachers that love my son

the fact that he can say "I love you"

Rich's friends that can give him someplace to go away from the craziness

coffee and coffee goo

awesome tv shows that I zone out on at night

my blog and its readers

Coke Zero

chocolate

the smiles on my kids' faces when I walk into a room

Nick's love of reading

McDonald's

the hugs and kisses from my kids

I could go on...but this post has been successful.  Yes, there was not a great ending to the evening, but my life is so much fuller than what happened tonight.  There are so many things I have to be thankful for.  Thank you for coming by to read this.  You have no idea how much I appreciate it!  :-)

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf

Twitter is a fabulous thing...I will go so far as to say that social media is a wonderful thing!

I have a great autism family near me.  We even have a support group set up, but we don't see each other nearly as often as I would like.  Our lives are so busy with our children and just plain living that we don't get near enough time together.  This is where social media comes in.  It's there when we have a second to grab for ourselves.  There are other moms out there that are dealing with the same things, every day. And Twitter and Facebook makes it so much easier to come together.

This is why I was pretty excited when I stumbled upon the "you might be an autism parent if" hashtag on Twitter.  I stayed up late watching and participating, I have had several people follow me because of it.  I was up this morning and greeted to 432 new tweets for the hashtag.  Every one of these people understand!

Here are a few of my favorites:

JoAshline Jo Ashline 

#youmightbeanautismparentif You have more compassion, patience, love, tolerance, hope, resilience & stamina than u ever thought possible

CalliCoop Christa 

#youmightbeanautismparentif your child goes hungry until the right food is served. Yes, children CAN starve themselves to death.

myautisticson Eric 

#youmightbeanautismparentif you have learned to love your child for who they are, rather who they should be. Best lesson ever!

jillsmo Jill 

#youmightbeanautismparentif you have to live forever. No, I'm serious. This isn't optional.

helenhamill helen hamill 

#youmightbeanautismparentif you wouldn't change your child for the world- but want often to change the World for your child!

spectrummymummy Spectrummy Mummy 

#youmightbeanautismparentif the first thing you'll do after you win the lottery is take your kid to a Swarovski shop and let her loose.

Lostlodger1 claire howett 

#youmightbeanautismparentif tweeting and following this hash tag has been the best therapy, EVER! :)

antitheistangie ajackson 

#youmightbeanautismparentif you think it'd be cruel to throw your child a traditional birthday party full of stimulation.

xtremeparnthood Sunday Stilwell 

#youmightbeanautismparentif the term "IEP" instantly conjures up the theme song to "ROCKY" in your head

sugrNspiceLife Christine Zorn 

#youmightbeanautismparentif you've burst into tears in front of a therapist or teacher....more than once

Fave Movie - 30 Day Blog Challenge

Your favorite Movie

I know, I know.  This is not supposed to be a favorite movie, but I guess you could count this as a guilty pleasure too.  :-)  (As if!)

I'd guess I was about 16 when I went to see Wayne's World alone, by myself, at the theater.  See, I was supposed to be going with a friend, but she bailed for a guy, so I went alone.  I loved the movie so much that I took another friend to see it again.  We learned this movie from start to finish and for months afterwards, that's all you would hear us spout!  I am still known to spew Wayne's World quotes from time to time!

Here are some of my favorite scenes.

Stacy: (walking up to table, holding big wrapped gift) Happy anniversary, Wayne.
Wayne: Stacy, we broke up two months ago.
Stacy: Well, that doesn't mean we can't still go out.
Wayne: Well, it does, actually. That's what breaking up is....
Stacy: Well, don't you want to open your present?
Wayne: If it's a severed head I'm going to be very upset.
Stacy: Open it.
Opens present.
Wayne: What is it?
Stacy: It's a gun rack.
Wayne: A gun rack... a gun rack. Shyeah, Right! I don't even own A gun, let alone many guns that would necessitate an entire rack. What am I gonna do... with a gun rack?
Stacy: You don't like it? Fine. (takes gun rack and starts to walk away; turns) You know Wayne, if you're not careful, you're going to lose me.
Wayne: I lost you two months ago. We broke up. Are you mental? Get the net!
__________________________

Inventor Ron Paxton demonstrates the "Suck Kut", a vacuum/haircutting device, on Garth. Garth cries out in pain over the roaring of the device as it sucks up his hair.
Ron Paxton: As you can see, it sucks as it cuts.
Wayne Campbell: It certainly does suck.
Garth Algar: (in agony) AAHHH! TURN IT OFF MAN, TURN IT OFF! IT'S SUCKING MY WILL TO LIVE! OH, THE HUMANITY!


Then, of course, there is the reason that I absolutely LOVE Bohemian Rhapsody!




I hope you enjoyed strolling down memory lane with me.  Now, what is your favorite movie?  I love finding new things, so please share!


Here's my original post on the 30 Day Blog Challenge if you want to read what else I have to say.  I'd love for you to come along for the ride! :-)

Food Friday!

Ok, another one not actually about food.  This time it is COFFEE!

Now, Rich and I have never been coffee drinkers.  I would drink the occasional cup, but he would only drink it is he was fighting to stay awake and simply for the caffeine jolt.  One day, I have no idea what got into him, he ordered a cup while we were eating at Cracker Barrel because I had.  I think this was the first time I have ever seen him order coffee while we were out to eat...it wasn't for the caffeine either, it was decaf!  Well, this was pretty yummy coffee.  There were a few more instances of coffee being ordered and I was really beginning to question my sanity.  Who was this guy?  

Anyway, it was almost my birthday and Rich started talking about how he needed to go get my present (it was the day before my birthday), so I talked him into letting me go with him to help pick it out...little did I know that there wasn't too much "picking it out" to be done.  :-)  Well, that is if I don't count the actual coffee.  He got me the french press, a coffee grinder, and 2 bags of beans.  Since we are new to this whole thing, we aren't sure what we will like yet, so we have to do some experimenting!  Fun!  We get to experiment with different beans and coffee goo!  Earlier this week, I hit upon a winning combination.  Hazelnut beans with chocolate caramel coffee goo...YUM!  This combo will stick around for a while!

This thing is perfect for 2 travel mugs of coffee...one for each of us.  And we have had at least one cup every day since he got it for me.  I am happy to say that my house is a coffee drinking house!  :-)  

My friend, Alise, has raved for years about her french press and how much better coffee is when made in it.  We finally got one. 


Share some of your faves with me!  I am loving this experimenting stuff!

Dancing Machine!

We were at the church waiting for the helpers to come in when someone turned on the radio.  Wesley loved it! He's always loved music, but I think this is the first time I have seem him really dance on his own.  Love it!  BTW, there is a mirror that he's watching himself in.  I love the spins!

Guilty Pleasures - 30 Day Blog Challenge

Your guilty pleasures

Guilty pleasures are those little things that people aren't supposed to like, but secretly do anyway.  One of mine is Ferrero Rochers.  How delightful this little balls of heaven are!  A whole hazelnut wrapped in gooey nutella with a crispy chocolate blanket.  Who wouldn't like these things!  Yum!

Ok, that one was a safe "guilty pleasure."  Here's one that is has a little more guilt for you.

Harliquin romance books.  I can't even really call them novels because they are just books.  They are quite simply my guilty pleasure.  I love to read and this is an escape.  While I am reading these, all is right with the world.  The good guy always gets the girl and everything works out the way it's supposed to.  Much like life doesn't.  

Ok, I fessed up.  Let's hear some of your guilty pleasures!  Chances are, I have enjoyed as well!  :-)

Here's my original post on the 30 Day Blog Challenge if you want to read what else I have to say.  I'd love for you to come along for the ride!  :-)

Pet Peeves - 30 Day Blog

Top 5 Pet Peeves

1. Receiving a phone call and hearing, "Who's this?" Didn't YOU just call me??

2. Those girls you see out wearing next to nothing and it's only 20 degrees outside. Then they want to complain that they are cold! Put on some clothes!

3. Txt talk. (It even irritates me that there is a name for it!) Especially when it's used on Facebook or emails when there is no space limitation. Using u instead of you...it's only 2 more letters! Seriously, you can't take the second longer to type the whole word? It would take me longer to figure out how to abbreviate some of these words than it would to just type the thing!

4. Absolutes. Argh! My husband loves to use these. As in, "I always call when I am on my way home"...no, sir, you do not ALWAYS do so. If you don't do it just ONCE, you can no longer say that you ALWAYS! In fact, we have had arguments because of this. He will never let me live it down, but I once started to say, "I ALWAYS rail against absolutes!" LOL. I did catch myself, but enough was said that he will NEVER (snicker) let me live it down.

5. Misspelling certain words. Example...There for their, its for it's. The Oatmeal has a fantastic guide on this very subject...read it, you won't be sorry! Then take this spelling test from the Oatmeal...once again, fantastic!

You know you thought of 12 different pet peeves...I want to hear them!




Here's my original post on the 30 Day Blog Challenge if you want to read what else I have to say.  I'd love for you to come along for the ride! :-)