• life lessons

    The hard

    Christopher and I were lounging in the pool over the weekend and I realized it was time for his Vimpat, one of his seizure medications. I asked my husband if he would go inside to grab me his syringe I had packed and a water flush. We floated over to the pool steps, I administered his medication and flush, and then we pushed off. Alexander was sitting on the edge of the pool and said “taking care of Christopher is hard.” Sometimes he says these things just as observations and no other reason. The older he gets the more and more he realizes what needs to be done to care…

  • just for fun

    Favorite things. For me.

    As promised. A list of my favorite things! I’m going to do my best and try not to have every single thing related to coffee, but I can’t make any promises. šŸ˜‰ I have to tell you that one thing that has changed for me during this quarantine is that I have started to care a little bit more about me. I have tried to practice self care, even though days are crazy long and I’m exhausted. Aren’t we all? It’s been a helluva time trying to be all the things to all of the little people in the house. School teacher. Therapist. Assistant. Nurse. Playmate. House manager. Chef. And…

  • just for fun

    Favorite things

    We’ve been self isolating since March. I recently looked at my Target app and the last time I was in the store was March 13. (insert me wiping my tears here) Ok, kidding. Maybe. It’s so crazy to think that we have basically gone nowhere for the last three months. No school. No therapy. No friends. We’ve survived, and kept busy. I put together a short list of our favorite things we’ve used for the boys these last few months. Items that we were so grateful to have, use, and not get bored of. 1. This Ikea kids table has kept everyone busy at one point or another! Once you…

  • life lessons

    Patience

    It’s a virtue. Right? My entire life I have been a patient person, never getting upset in traffic or tapping my feet when the customer in front of me is telling the barista her life story after the order has been taken. OK, maybe I get a little impatient but definitely not enough to write about. I am able to put my “desires on hold for a time.” I can relax and not dwell on the situation that I have no control over. Being a mom of a child who is medically complex and severely developmentally delayed requires so much. It requires a lot more than learning medical terminology and…

  • just for fun

    Sensory Bins Made Easy

    If you follow us on Instagram you’ll know that I have a love for sensory bins. I absolutely love putting them together and sometimes, ahhhhh well, all the times, I even enjoy getting my hands in there and playing. I like messy play. Don’t hate me. But I really don’t mind the paint everywhere or the ooey gooey chia seed “slime.” I can’t remember if I was always that way as a mom, but one thing is for sure, Christopher has changed the “ohmygoshthatsabigdeal” feelings in my life. A little extra clean up is really no big deal to me. I’ve had BIG deals. We live a big deal. So,…

  • life lessons

    The good ones

    I don’t know how you do it. I don’t think I could.Ā  When someone says these words to me I almost immediately want to respond with you could. But then I remember what the nurse in the hospital said to my husband and I when we had our 3 month old son. She looked at us and said your boys are so blessed to have you, you are some of the good ones. She went on to tell us how there are many times as a nurse she is afraid to send a newborn home with their parents. So this got me thinking… I know quite a few of the…

  • just for fun

    Teeny tiny self care tips

    Self care isnā€™t exactly something on the top of my list. I know itā€™s important and people are always reminding me to remember to ā€œtake time to yourself.ā€ If you are anything like me this can be extremely hard to do. I usually make sure everyone around me has all that they need before I think of what I may need. I am the opposite of high maintenance. I pretty much am just maintaining. šŸ˜‰ I know that so many of us donā€™t have the time to get out for hours without any kids, and even if you have the time there so many other reasons why you canā€™t! Finances…

  • life lessons

    The waiting

    Minutes after our newest addition was born I held him in my arms and I started looking him over. I started searching for symptoms of the genetic condition our 4 year old has. I felt like I would just know if he was affected or not. As my husband looked at me and asked about his eyes, I said to him ā€œhe doesnā€™t have inverted nipples.ā€ The nurses in the room were listening and looked at us a little peculiar. Iā€™m sure they wondered why we were picking our beautiful boy apart looking for something ā€œwrongā€ with him. I told them that we were looking for clues as to if…

  • Uncategorized

    On mandarin-orange chicken day

    Our son recently started using a communication device, his ā€œtalkerā€, to communicate with us. As many of you know, heā€™s medically complex with special needs and he is nonverbal. Heā€™s getting quite good at telling us heā€™s ā€œall doneā€ or if he wants ā€œmoreā€ of an activity. We were with family the other day and we were using his talker; Ā I was asking him if he wanted more books. Upon asking him this and presenting him his communication device a family member said ā€œhow does he know what more means?ā€ I had to take a deep breath. I had to think of an appropriate response, to be honest, I was…

  • Uncategorized

    I think…

    I would be lying if I said I wasnā€™t a little bit scared. A little bit nervous, okay, maybe a lot. To be honest, not thinking about it is easier than thinking about it. Isnā€™t that a strange way to talk about a pregnancy? Let me explain. I know I have a beautiful wonderful child inside of me who is already loved beyond measure. I can feel his flutters and kicks; an amazing gift of the life Iā€™m growing. I can see my belly growing and I lose count of the daily trips to use the restroom. Heā€™s happy and thriving. Inside. But outside, thatā€™s where my thoughts always drift…