The last days.....

Today is the last full day of summer for me :( I travel to Eugene tomorrow and then have a meeting all day Friday and back to the grind on Monday. After the day we have had, I am not to sad. Kate had art camp today and loved it. Andrew on the other hand was up before me (around 4:30 am) and was a stinker all morning. Everything I said he argued with me and fought me on. Finally, when we sat down to watch a movie for quiet time, he fell asleep. It has been a stressful day and one that I will be happy to put to bed tonight! I have done more yelling and less loving than I like today. I hate days like this and am always happy when they are done. Hopefully the last part of the day will improve after the nap! We plan to take in some pool time and finish up getting ready to go to Eugene. On the plus side, I will get to buy some new duck gear and sleep all night by myself in a room! The little things, oh, and shoes are coming in the mail today!

Name Game....

"Kate, just ride through the curve". This weekend I was working with Kate on riding her bike. Yep, parents of the year, she just got her first bike at the ripe old age of 6. In typical Kate fashion (she is afraid of everything!) she has been very apprehensive about the whole experience of riding her bike. She has training wheels, but is still scared. This weekend we rode around our neighborhood and the neighborhood next to us. She did great until it came to the curves in the road. After lots of, "pedal faster, and don't stop!!!" I cam up with "ride through the curve". She got it and wasn't scared anymore. It was a glorious feeling as a parent. I have been tossing around writing a book for some time, but never could think of what to call it. There are lots of books written by parents who have kids with Autism, and I didn't want mine to be just another book. The first part was thinking, what are we going to call it????? I wanted it to be meaningful and something that would stand out. Hence, ride through the curve, because that is what we are doing. Sometimes life is scary and unpredictable, but if we always put our feet down and be fearful, we don't see the fun in things. I have realized that this summer so much. Being an educator, parent, mom, etc. and having a son with a significant disability is not always fun. But if I just remind myself to ride through the scary parts, things go soooo much better. That is what this blog is about, the fun, scary, exciting, and boring parts of our life. I want to document them in a more formal spot, then someday put it into a book as a reminder and inspiration to others. This is our journey.........

First....

Today is the first of many things.... sending my little princess to princess camp. She was so excited and a little scared :) trying to not be the perfect mom, but realizing that I make mistakes and sometimes I just want to veg. (like today!) watching Super Why with my little boy at 10:00 in the morning and falling asleep to him shouting out the letters. Having Andrew tell me, "I miss the kids" and when I ask him who he misses, he tells me Kate and Ashlyn. really stopping and watching my babies grow up around me. It is my new promise to myself and them. I want to remember these times and I want them to remember me. My first blog post to start our book. Ways to remember where we have been and where we need to go. Reminding myself to ride through the curve. Sometimes I want to put my feet down to stop how fast life is going, but remembering that it won't stop. And when I let go of my fears it is actually a lot of fun!