Spring break 2011

Spring break in this house is a lil different. Most families look forward to the break from routine. They look forward to vacations. They look forward to not having to pick kids up from school. Well, not the case in this house. Maybe cuz when we are off our routine it just causes meltdowns for everyone. Its only thursday and we still have today, tomorrow AND the weekend to get through with NO school. We can make it, right? Well, mostly I mean I can make it, right?!

Mom!

I am happy to report that after 7 long years Kyle now says "mom"! And I have to say it's pretty darn cute! :) I am so proud of him! His communication is improving everyday, it is so cool to watch him grow! His accomplishments and milestones mean so much! I love my boy!!!!

I DO!!!!

So, I am back and lots has happened while I was on my blogging break! The biggest and best thing is I got married...and gained 2 more kids! I am now a mother of 4...yes 4! I will definitely have to blog about that very soon!

James and I said I do in a very small ceremony in the very backyard I grew up in! It was absolutely perfect in everyway! Jen and I planned and executed the whole thing and turned out beautifully! I wouldn't have changed a thing. My brother Chris was able tto marry us in a short but very sweet ceremony and then my brother Jason was the DJ...which I might add if he ever decides to quit accounting I think he definitely has a job in DJing! :) After the ceremony we ate and danced and had cupcakes! It was freezing so the party didnt last long but it was great none the less! Everyone who came meant a great deal to us!

Here's a few pics from that great day!

I spy my little eye.........

There was about a half hour til Cody and I had to go pick Kyle up from school. We decided to eat at Subway. While eating at the table Cody wanted to play "I spy"...It was his turn and he was struggling to find something to "spy"...He finally sees an older man with grey hair passing us and he says "I spy my little eye I see a Grandpa!!!" Awww to be 4 and oh so innocent again! :)

Why I love Kyle....

There are so many reasons I love my little boy but this is not one of the reasons....

Smooth Cody!

The other day at preschool Leah got out of the car all dressed up in festive Valentine-y clothes (just like her mama:)! She immediately ran over to Code and asked him if he liked her skirt, which was a shimmerey silver color. He looked her up and down then said, "Ya, I like it. It looks like my blankie". I couldn't stop laughing! Those 2 crack me up! :) The skirt did in deed look like his blankie!

writer's block

Ok so I have sat down to my computer too many times this past month with the intent to blog....and have even started a few! But I get half way through it and re read it....They are boring and not funny, and I feel like I am not boring and kinda funny. So I delete the unfinished post and usually head over to facebook. Tonight I decided I am going to post a blog no matter what so it might not be funny and even boring but bare with me!! (I just read this over and ALMOST deleted this post)

I have lots of things I wanna blog about like how I took Kyle to the dentist for the 1st time. Yep I did it! It wasn't even that bad. There is even a semi funny story that goes along with it...maybe Ill blog about that soon! My car has been in and outta the shop now for 7 months. I want someone to steal it (and even had someone offer to help me at work...but I'm too honest or scared but I like to go with honest)! I even wrote a 4 page letter to GM about it...maybe that will be a blog in the near future too! In the meantime...here's a sweet story or 2!

The other day Code and I took our weekly trip to Target. He asked me if we could just LOOK at the toys (ya right)! He promised up and down that he was just gonna look. So the nice mom that I am (or mom who didn't wanna argue with her 4 yr old) started down the toy isle. He immediately said "Mooooom not this one these toys are for babies....and Kyle!" I laughed and off we went to the train isle!

Last night Cody was taking a bath upstairs while I was downstairs picking up and about to vacuum (for the 4th time that day). Let me preface this by stating that from the moment Cody wakes up in the morning until the kid goes to bed he is talking! So he yells down to me (for the 2nd or 3rd time) "mommmmmmy?" I say in an exhausted tone "yes Cody?" He then says in the sweetest voice...."I love you mommy" It's moments like that, that make long days so worth it! :)

My sweet Cody....

Lately Cody has been trying my already low patience. He is the king of negotiating and trying to change the subject when he is getting into trouble. I tell him to eat 2 chicken nuggets before he can play outside and he rebuttles back with how about 1?

So the other day I was scolding him for something and he looked at me with a very puzzled look and right in the middle of me yelling at him says "Wait a second mom, did you change your hair?!" All I could do was laugh. The funniest part might be that I did indeed color my hair that day!!!!

crappy day!

I wasn't sure if i was gonna blog about this horrible event that happened today but decided to after my brother requested that I do. So here it goes....

Jen and I painted Kyle's room last week with all 4 of our kids plus my nephew here. They played so good outside. We had little interruptions. We felt so awesome. So today we decided to tackle Cody's room, this time with only the younger 2 kids. Little cute Cody and Leah. We thought it was a great idea...if we could do this with 5 kids we could definitely bust this out with 2 kids!!!

The cute lil ones went outside and were playing on the trampoline. We went upstairs and started this project looking out the upstairs window to check on them periodically. We yelled out the window to make sure they were still alive and well. They responded so we went back to painting. Well, it was time for me to go pick Kyle up so I left. Not even 5 minutes later does my cell phone ring only to hear Jen on the other end say this, "you are never gonna believe what they did!"

Naturally my mind went straight to the paint...did they get into the paint? did they spill the paint? Oh no. Worse. Way worse. She began to explain to me what she stumbled upon when she went outside to check on our most adorable 4 year olds.

The kids were in the playhouse. Jen walked up and started sniffing, it smelled like poop. So she began to ask questions. Then she saw their hands. Then she saw their clothes. Poop was all over them. Leah immediately threw Cody under the bus. Cody decided to poop outside. Then had the really bright idea to bury the poop. Only while burying this poop they got it all over themselves.

I am hearing this on the phone and I think I may have thrown up in my mouth at least 3x. Gross. Why? What possessed my cute little Code do such a thing? When I got home I wanted to kill him (i didn't tho). We cleaned both kids up and explained to them that this is not ok. Cody kept telling me it was an accident and he was so sorry. I mean...why?

Today was a day, I'm not gonna lie, I was not so grateful that I was Cody's mom. I am so hoping my day is far less crappy tomorrow.

I mean....

Kyle has the freakin life!

Cody turned what?! 4?!

My baby is not a baby anymore! Cody turned 4. The kids stayed at Mikes for a week and came home on the his birthday morning. Cody walked in and I had balloons all over and a big Happy Birthday sign! He immediately asked what it was all for with a big smile...I told him it was for him and he said in the sweetest most excited voice "Thanks Mom!!!!" It was so sweet. We had a few people over and he got some fun stuff. Our dear friends the Parks decided to give us a pet. A hermit crab. Thats a whole other blog! Heres some pics from the party!

Cody and his cool Thomas the Train cake!


Nathaniel, Bryce, Code and Leah


Get ready.....


Meet Crabby

MMMmmm good!

Kyle eats Tomato soup now!! I know, I can hardly believe it!!! I am beyond excited. For those of you who don't know, my 6 year old has the diet of...well he lacks a diet! He will eat very few things and its been HELL trying to get him to try new foods! We have been working on new foods for months and finally have stumbled upon this and he eats it (well drinks it from a straw but who cares, my son eats something other than chips!). Woo hoo, Go Kyle!

Brotherly Love

After a busy weekend, being lazy and stayin in jammies sounded really good this mornin! I decided to load the kids up and drive to Mc Donalds for some really healthy breakfast ;) Well, I got down the street and realized I forgot my purse. I quickly turned around and Kyle began to cry. He was told where we were going and I threw him off by turning around to go back home!! He was quite upset!

Cody softly said to his older brother, "KYle it's ok, mom just forgot her purse. Don't cry." It was so sweet. I kinda got teary eyed. I immediately told Cody how nice he was and what a good brother he was being. I have had to explain to Code several times that Kyle's brain works differently than his and that Kyle doesn't always understand things. So Cody says back to me "Kyle's brain is different than mine, mom. Maybe I could give him some of my brain so he can talk and so he won't cry." What a great moment!

I started to think how lucky Cody is to have Kyle as a big brother. He teaches Cody so much. It's not like what most older brothers teach their younger brothers, it's so much more! :) I love my boys!

Happy Birthday Kyle!

I decided, with much pushing and shoving from Jen, to have a birthday party for Kyle this year. I am so glad I did! He loved all of it!! We opened presents and he did so good thanking everyone for his gifts. Then we sang Happy Birthday and he even blew his candles out!! It was really cute. We all had a great time, and I'm so glad we could celebrate with a few friends and family this special day! Happy 6th Birthday buddy!


Kyle enjoying all the attention!

Bus ticket?!

Kyle has gone through 4 bus drivers since the beginning of this year! Yes I said it 4! Well the latest one is a small Hispanic woman who is very soft spoken. Kyle has been absolutely AWFUL since she started. He throws himself on the ground, it takes both her and I to get him into the seat. While kyle is throwing this really nice tantrum the other 5 or so kids on the bus start to get agitated. Last week one of them tried to escape while this poor lady is trying to buckle my screaming kid! Today there was a rather large African American girl who was sitting in the front seat and started hitting a rather small African American girl. I told her to stop because the bus driver was dealing with my kid. Well the larger girl proceeded to take her seat belt off and climb over seats. The bus driver looked at this obviously mentally disabled girl and said "That's it your getting a bus ticket!"

Now, I'm not an extremely intelligent person but, I'm pretty sure not one of those kids knows, much less cares what a bus ticket is. I think these bus drivers need a lil more than how to drive a bus training. Maybe how to deal with a bunch of autistic kids training, eh?! A bus ticket ain't gonna do much bus driver!




(This before when kyle "liked" the bus...miss those days.)

Cody the future barber...NOPE!

Today I spent the morning at Jen's working on our 10 year class reunion. The kids were playing well together for the most part. Cody and Leah were in the other room playing with paper and markers. At some point they got scissors and were cutting paper (or so we thought thats what they were cutting. We didnt pay much attention because they were letting us accomplish a lot. Huge mistake on our part. A little while later we wer having them clean up some candy mess they made and Cody proudly said to Jen, "and here's Leah's hair." We both gasped and immediately Jen went to leah's hair and we found where the missing chunk belonged. It didn't seem too bad, and looked like it would blend pretty well. After Jen scolded her and explained that we don't cut our own hair she did what every kid would...ratted Cody out! She said, "well Cody cut his hair too!" I looked at Cody and sure enough saw a huge chunk missing from the top of his hair! What the heck guys?!It wasn't until about 30 minutes later that I discovered he had gone to town with the scissors! He had bald spots all over the side of his head.

Fragile X

I watched a really good program on Fragile X (which is Kyle's main diagnosis) and felt so good afterward. At the end of the program this was read and it brought me to tears!


I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

by Emily Perl Kingsley


I love Kyle, and have said this many times before and Ill say it again, I wouldn't trade him in for anything. He has taught me more than I could ever imagine a 5 year old could. I am so lucky to have him call me mom (well someday call me mom :)

Pee Pee in the Potty!

Potty Training. Each month Kyle's team of therapist including me come up with programs and goals for him to meet. Last month when we met the "team leader" (the PC) was very insistant on getting Kyle potty trained. I honestly didn't care and didn't think he was ready (thats always my excuse :) He put it into Kyle's program. Once a week they take a full session and dedicate it to JUST potty training. Which means for 3 hours every 5-10 minutes we are struggling to get my giant autistic 5 year old on the pot!! Then the last hour of each session we are doing potty training. I hate this. I dread this. It is long and tiring. And ususally it results in NOTHING in the toliet.

I have been meaning to write about this for a while now....About a 2 weeks ago, Emily and I were doing potty training and had been struggling to get him on the the stinkin toliet then get him to STAY on the toliet. Finally we resorted to turning the TV on and angling it so he could see it. Not even 5 minutes on the toliet and I feel my leg getting wet!!!! Oh my gosh! He peed! More of it was on me than in the toliet but who cares, right?! My autistic son just got the concept after weeks of pure hell! So, 10 minutes later we got him on again...and he peed again! Holy crap! Emily and I were so excited jumping up and down! So the next day we thought piece of cake. Wrong.

So it's been two weeks of fighting and stuggling and me wanting to give up and the oh so patient therapist routing me and Kyle on as they set the timer, and nothing. Til yesterday. Des and I were both not too excited about potty training day but we did it anyway and the last time we put him on the potty...he went potty!!!! YAY! We high fived him, eachother, even Cody was excited!!

I have read a million and one articles on potty traing an autistic child and they all say the same thing...patience! So, that is what I am gonna TRY and have is patience. He has come a long way from being terrified of sitting on the toliet to now going potty in it so I am proud of him and will continue this hard work, cuz I know the reward is worth it!! So wish me (and Kyle..and Des..and Emily) Happy Potty Training! :)

All Aboard!!!!

Cody LOVES trains. Love may not be a strong enough word to describe how this kid feels about trains. He can hear a train before anyone. He can spot a train before anyone. Trains are a part of Cody's being! :) My mom has been promising Cody that she would take him for a ride on the metrolink for a while now and he got to cash in last week! We took a ride to Santa Clarita (about a 45 minute ride) and back home. He was in heaven.


Cody with his train ticket!



Cody and Leah! Arent they so cute?


Cody and Grandma!


Cody and Leah sayin goodbye to the train!

Kids say the dardest things!

It's so funny the things kids pick up.....

The other day Cody was trying to get my attention. He wanted to show me something. He said, "Babe, look at the fan!" My 3 1/2 year old called me Babe!

This morning Cody asked who I was talking to on the phone. I answered "Jenny." and his reply was "Why do you talk to her so much?" haha little does he know, talking to her keeps me sane!