Our Every Day

Grayson has struggled quite a bit with head-banging. It's something that escalated when we moved into our new house and it has lasted for nearly two years now. It's something he does when he is upset  or during a meltdown. He completely destroyed his bedroom walls and the walls in our upstairs hallway and stairwell. Despite critical behavioral intervention, having a helmet that he was specifically measured for, anxiety medication, re-directing him, having to physically restrain him...he still managed to cause major damage. Other areas of our home have dented walls, but not to the degree of his bedroom. We talked for months about how to fix it. We had social workers from the county come in and look at it - and some contractors as well. It stumped just about everyone we talked to. We got an estimate, and the cost was astronomical. So Mike decided to take the bull by the horns and do it himself with help of a friend and his dad. He saved us several thousands of dollars, and i...

On Christmas Eve 2012, when Grayson was just on the cusp of turning one month old, I sat with him in his nursery, rocking him in my arms, trying to soothe his fussy cries. It was midnight. I was tired, probably hormonal, feeling very overwhelmed by this motherhood business and realizing that in a blink of an eye he would grow up - and that scared me somehow. I remember this evening so well - it's etched into my memory forever, I think. I know that night I was picturing what life might look like, but I never thought it would be like this. That was long before autism entered our story, before it altered everything about our life. On Christmas Eve 2019, I am sitting downstairs as I type this, watching him via camera as he struggles to fall asleep. His sleeping medication has been in his system for nearly three hours, but the lack of activity of today - despite playing most of the day outside - isn't enough to completely tire him out like it does during a school day. He ...

Lately I have noticed a theme in the podcasts I have been listening to as a means to block out the noise of my children while I work around the house. That theme is: the importance of being seen by your people. I was listening the other day to a podcast about Christmas gifts that make you feel seen and important by your friends and family. Items mentioned were a journal where the husband wrote down a number of things he loved about his wife, a watch that friends all pitched in for, etc. I actually got so irritated listening to it, that I took out my earbuds and turned the podcast off. Were they bragging? Or just sharing? I don't know. What does being seen even mean? Is it even a thing? I don't feel seen or important to my people about 99.9% of the time as I clean up awful messes usually including bodily fluids, change a ridiculous amount of diapers and put 10K miles on my car in the last six months because we are going to therapies out of town, and as I lay awake at 3 a...

So many inflatables. Some back story on the inflatables. Easton is obsessed with them. We aren't sure when his love for them came to be - but was probably sparked by something he saw while watching Youtube! He is ecstatic about them - watching the same videos over and over, memorizing the scripts, talking about them constantly, asking to go to Lowe's, Menards and Home Depot. He wants to go for drives where he can see the inflatables. Even the other day a friend of ours took our kids for a drive so Mike and I could attend a meeting, and Easton gave her turn by turn directions on how to see the best inflatables in town. It makes him SO happy. But like too much of a good thing, it can leave him miserable, obsessive and inconsolable. Thanks a lot, autism. *sigh* So with that being said, it's been very difficult to strike that delicate balance of what makes him happy and what puts him over the edge. This year, we probably crossed that line about six times too many. This...

I started to decorate for Christmas early this year. I don't know why - maybe because it's such a short amount of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. I have been kind of working on it for weeks it seems - but I will be ready to put it all away the day after Christmas! The quicker we get through Christmas the quicker we are headed to warm weather - right? RIGHT. :) Someday soon I will write a post about Easton's obsession with inflatables. Especially Christmas inflatables. At the time that I am writing this, we currently have five in the house. Three in his bedroom and two downstairs. And their fans sound like jet motors. And I cannot stand it. Ha! Jovie's room has a rainbow tree complete with paper stars my mom made!  Me making a super weird face, but Jovie looks so cute! In front of the Christmas tree :)  Mike found my nativity scene - I haven't seen it in three years. I bought this from a neighbor for like a dollar! Well she wasn'...

Grayson lost his first tooth on Friday. On the school bus. On the way home. And he swallowed it. He got the bus aide's attention and brought her hand up to his mouth - acting like he wanted to spit. She told him to but at that point it was already gone. When I picked him up from the bus stop, she said, "Did he have a loose tooth?? Because I think he just lost it." I checked - and it was gone! He doesn't even have much of a gap because the adult tooth had grown in behind it. He was fit to be tied on the way home - he did not like that feeling of the missing tooth! He guzzled and swished water around all the way home! Because he doesn't understand the concept of the Tooth Fairy - it's much too abstract for him - we settled on the French Fry fairy instead to celebrate such a milestone :)

Right before Thanksgiving, our Graybee turned SEVEN! We had a small party for him - just his grandparents and his one-on-one aide from school who is practically family. It was a nice little get together to celebrate our favorite seven year old :) Mike made him a chocolate poke cake, and then blew up about 100 balloons - that I just finished popping last week! It was a fun touch to the party, and Grayson loved it. For his birthday, we purchased him a basketball - he's quite good with dribbling! But I hadn't realized just how LOUD a basketball would be on our floors. Yikes. I make him take it down to the basement now because I can't stand the noise! On his actual birthday, he started Autism Caregiver Training. It's been intense - but really good - and really coming at just the right time. I am so thankful for the opportunity to attend it. Grayson is an incredible exceptional child. He is a big words of affirmation type of kid, so when he is praised and told how lo...