Thrive As You

Special thanks and shout out to Andy and Leigh Gibbs for teaching me how to make my blog look good! =) Sometimes, I'm just in the mood for a little JT . OK in reality, I'm ALWAYS in the mood for some JT . But today, I need to get my "sexy back" or in this case, my "A" game. The thing about being a parent is that you need to have your "A" game on at all times. *Sigh* (I sigh a lot in my blogs, don't I?) I mean you never get a day off or a moment off or a minute to yourself ever again. Suddenly everyone is watching YOU waiting to see how YOU will react. Which is really fun when all you want to do is scream, or cry, or sob, or break down. But, you don't get to do that. Because if Mommy loses it, then EVERYONE is going to lose it, which............ only makes it WORSE for Mommy. And the last thing we ever want to do, is make things worse for Mommy. So Mommy puts on a brave face and smiles, even though sometimes she wants to die inside. So...

And yes, I have Whitney Houston playing on my blog. Because I'm cheeky that way. No really, it's a joke. So much can change in the course of one day. Even one moment. Today my bestest friend got on offer for representation. I’m not sure if that’s the right terminology but I do know that’s a really big deal. This is Myra’s dream coming true. She quit her job and everything she was doing and said, “that’s it, I’m going to write a book.” And write she did. Today that dream became a reality. I’m so thankful I got to be a part of this journey with her, one of the lucky few she let read even the really ugly early copies (according to her, not me, I always loved it). And today I got to be there when she got the news. It was a great moment. One that I will never forget. Funny how life can change so fast. Yesterday she was “someone who wrote a book,” and today is she is a breath away from, “author.” When I was pregnant with both of my boys, my biggest fear was coming home from the hospi...

Author’s note: I know, I know my other background was way cute but it took awhile to load and was sorta….busy. I’ve been trying to make my blog somewhat witty, all the time “me,” and mostly, interesting to read. But when it’s 4:30 in the morning and I have a headache, it might just be ranting. I think that was my idea of fair warning. I can’t stop thinking of this woman I spoke with the other day, you know the one from my last post who wanted her son to hang with “normal” kids? Well, that was when the conversation started to get really interesting. Disclaimer: names have been changed to protect the innocent. Or, not so innocent. We’ll call the mom Susan and her son Billy for the sake of the story, OK? I do a ton of work with Autism Speaks, mostly for the Walk Now for Autism. So, I was making phone calls to previous team members and trying to bring them back into the fold for this year. (I felt I needed to explain why I was even calling random people I don’t know) So I call Susan and sh...

The subject of "normal" has been coming up a lot in my life lately. Someone said to me awhile ago, "I'm really thankful that my kids are normal." Hmmmm. Doesn't take much to get my feathers ruffled but ...*sigh.* That's the mama bear in me. Today a woman with an autistic son on the road to recovery said to me, "I don't want Billy hanging around other children that aren't normal. He needs to see kids who are acting normal so he knows how to behave." This is a family blog people. I can't even tell you what I was thinking after that one. Then a few days ago, Jared asked me, "Mom, do you consider yourself normal?" (Insert insane amounts of laughter here) We proceeded to have a conversation about what "normal" means. He was referring to the fact that he wasn't "normal" because he was born with a congenital heart defect. And Luke isn't "normal" because he has autism. And Daddy isn't ...

So. Jenny Mc Carthy just signed a “big deal” with Oprah. A radio show, a tv show, her own line of dog food, a perfume, etc. Ok I’m kidding. Sort of. I struggle with how I feel about all of this. As I’ve mentioned before, I give Jenny Mc all of the props in the world. She’s used her celebrity to bring autism to the forefront of the media. I can honestly say that Jenny is single-handedly responsible for waking up the eyes of millions of people to what is going on with autism. She put her balls out there ~ she took a huge risk in pissing people off with her anti/green-vaccine campaign. (How I feel about vaccines is a whole ‘nother post my friends) I read Jenny’s first book on the recommendation of so many. I finished and was still hungry. As Simon Cowell so aptly said on AI this week, “it’s like having ice for lunch, you haven’t REALLY eaten anything.” Jenny talked about Evan and his struggles, but more in a “day of the life” type of deal. Kind of like……a blog. I didn’t act...

For someone who never liked blogging to begin with, I find myself thinking about this blog and what I'm going to say next quite a bit more than I should. The problem is, I have SO MUCH to say on the topic of autism and our journey with it, that I could write a book. And it would be better than Jenny Mc Carthy's. Except she has those boobs that really help her market her, um....wares. But I digress, as usual. And don't get me wrong, I give Jenny Mc all the props in the world for bringing autism to the forefront of the media. I just don't like her books. So I think today's topic will be just shaving a sliver of ice off the berg that is ~ feeling helpless when it comes to your child. ESPECIALLY but not limited to, your special needs child. Just over a month ago, Luke was in the hospital with some WICKED flu. He could not even keep a tablespoon of water down. Until this time, Luke had never even thrown up in his life. So again, probably not something the typical parent ...