Tobey Jude and the new OT...

Tobey Jude went to his first appointment with his new OT in Plymouth yesterday....for those uncool parents without special needs children (haha), OT is short for Occupational Therapist. Now, I have no idea why they call it Occupational... that makes it sound like I want him trained to go get a job and start paying rent. I told him that I won't make him get a job until he was either 9 or toilet trained whichever comes first (again, joking).

If you don't know Tobey he can have boundless energy, even with medication. And yesterday was one of those days. The poor therapist had no idea that Tornado Tobey was coming into her office. First she couldn't get over his cuteness....which you know she is human and he is such a little stud! But I noticed her asking some open ended questions, and I then realized they didn't even tell this poor woman that the dude doesn't talk! So, after giving our lengthy Autism history and her getting over the shock of us having 7 kids we came up with some goals. For one, they are going to work on helping Tobey use utensils...that would be awesome! The second thing is they are going to help him to start dressing himself, which would be so great. She is also interested in having us start doing brushing therapy. I do not know enough about this therapy, except that you use these special brushes on his arms every 2 hours, and then he could start having some bad behaviors for 4-6 weeks and then we could end up with language...maybe? I have no idea! But, I will start studying up on it, and if it could help the boy to talk....I will try!

And then we discussed some other things that could help him out.... We discussed a crash pad. This is like a huge bean bag that has a washable cover and he can jump on it and kids like him have a tendency to sleep on them! That means that the boy may not be sleeping with his Dad and me when he's 16. And then we talked about the chewy tubes he uses, and he needs some with more input. I have no idea how to phrase this but they vibrate! Now I understand that I need to get this to help Tobey, I have even got used to the whole chewy tube thing. But this one is going to take some getting used to, I mean really? And then the last thing she suggested is a swing to help calm him down. Not a normal swing....no, not for kids like him. This thing is huge! Like we are going to need a bigger house some day to be able to put all of his equipment in. Unfortunately, I do not have millions of dollars....so we will have to do what we can, when we can.

We have had to start messing around with Edwin's dosage for his new meds already, I knew this would happen but I guess I thought or hoped in the back of my mind that this little pill would fix him...there is no such thing. The past few days he has been feeling kinda yucky, achy all over his body. The first thing I thought was maybe it was a side effect of the meds, but the Dr. says maybe he is just getting sick. Hopefully he is back to his self on Friday when he gets to see Building 429!

The 15 year old, has been dare I say...pleasant? I know! I have no idea what happened! She just got done reading The Boy In The Striped Pajamas and now I am reading it and then we are going to go on a girlie date and discuss the book! Lena also got to be one of the millions of people that seen The Hunger Games on opening night...so she has had a good week!

I think that is all for today, I am sorry about the lack of blogging...I will put it on my to do list next week and attempt to do better! Have a great one!

Lena is turning 15? What?!?!?!?

That doesn't even look right? I mean really, how the heck does that happen? Them growing right in front of your eyes. But she is so I suppose I have to throw her some kind of celebration....

She actually decided that she doesn't want a party, even though we are having a little one on Saturday night complete with The Muppets Movie and some cupcakes and popcorn. But she wants to got to Chicago for the day and go as a family to the Museum of Science and Industry and downtown for dinner. We are taking her in 2 weeks because there is a robot exhibit coming, and she has a thing for robots....she can be a nerd like that. Her Dad likes Star Wars, I blame him!!!

Eddie is also taking her out to a nice restaurant for a commitment dinner. If you don't know what that is, Eddie will talk to her about how a man should treat a woman, and how in our faith she needs to commit herself to being pure until marriage. And then Eddie will giver her a ring so she will never forget the commitment she has made to God. I apologize now for sounding like the Duggars, 'cause you know that sounds exactly like something they would do....

The house is officially Strep free, holy cow that simply sucked! Everyone is still on antibiotics, but not feeling like crud anymore...Score! That was honestly the first time that we had that many sick at the same time....how in the world do the Duggars handle that? I have not seen that episode yet!

Ok, so here is an update on Edwin.... He is doing pretty good on the new prescription, and the aggression has come down some. He has been threatening, but nothing that we haven't been able to talk him out of lately. We check his room pretty often to make sure that he isn't making anything odd in there or hiding anything. One thing we have noticed that is new to him is he is being more vocal about complaining, which is good. I think one problem that he has is he doesn't have the right words at times to express his feelings. Like if he got mad at you, he would say he wants to kill you, when you would tell him that is not appropriate he would escalate to a point of no return and then become that kid we didn't know. Now that he is medically calmed down, and receiving therapy he can say appropriate words...and keep him from going postal on us. Last week he complained to me about having to go to therapy and while he still had to go and was unhappy about it....he dealt with it.

Alison was on the front page of the paper Saturday! Her school is one of the top 4 schools out of 2,000 in Indiana and was called "A School to watch". She was one of the kids holding the banner and they even put her name in it! She was giddy with excitement!

Melody did the cutest thing yesterday....At Church she got mad at me because I made her stand on a lily pad (ok, it's a green circle....) and she crossed her arms looked at the floor and refused to sing. But, then I looked at her legs and they were wanting to dance! So, she tried to hold her legs to keep them from moving....didn't work! Then she turned around to me and very angrily said that her legs want to dance, but she didn't want them too! How cute is that?

Well, it is time for me to go and pick up the Tiny Dancer from Preschool, have a good one!

Well, Hello again CVS.....

The kids and hubby have been sick!!!! Holy Cow! So far we have Alison, Emily, Melody, Tobey and Olivia come down with Strep, not fun!I have been to CVS 3 times in 2 days, we have even gotten to the point where we can just call the Dr. to tell them we need scripts...no need to come in now.

Besides that we have had therapies and eye Dr. appointments coming out the wazoo! Melody had her first speech therapy today and she did great. She just likes having things to do. I don't think that it will be a long term therapy for her...she does pretty well with speech. OT may be another story.

Lena and Olivia had their eyes checked yesterday and Lena is getting new glasses, they are so cool I want a pair! The last time we took her she was not honest with the Dr (because he was hot, really hot) so this time I made sure the Dr. didn't look like he came out of GQ magazine. And she had a good exam this time!

Eddie had to go an entire day without talking, I thought he was going to die! But, today he is making up for it. Needless to say I have not minded all the errand running by myself today (just kidding dear).

Speaking of Eddie...the big guy and I have started therapy. Now don't get the idea that we are ready to kill each other or on the brink of divorce...that is NOT the case. But we feel that with the divorce rate being 80% for parents of special needs and then the fact that we hit the Autism jackpot (ding, ding, ding) we are on borrowed time (haha). So we felt like we should be pro-active and get a little tune up. Well, within 5 minutes of the therapy I found out something about Eddie. The dude didn't talk until he was 3! For one, he does not ever stop talking now....for two, how is this the first time that I have ever heard this? I was shocked....but now I know where the Autism came from....EDDIE!!!

Another thing I found out is that I need to find a new identity, mom of 7 and queen of Autistic children is not enough....that is hard! We were supposed to fill out our hobbies and well, I don't have any! So, now I am off to find a new identity.... I will get right on that after the kids are raised and Autism has been cured. Or, maybe I will try and read a book or something that is not about cooking or special needs. Brick by brick my citizens, brick by brick.

Tonight Lena is having an ice cream soc ail for her School of Inquiry and Olivia has her Spring Program....thank God they are in the same school or I would not be able to attend both of them. Olivia has 3 lines to say, she is very nervous! Emily saw the dress rehearsal and said Olivia was a star, so I am sure she will do great! Lena came home from school wearing her School of Inquiry shirt and on the back it said 2016! I am not sure how to feel about that, you mean she is going to graduate and leave the house? That doesn't seem fair, I mean that should be around the same time that we are over this crappy teenager, I know it all phase!

Well, I think that is all for today....have a good one!!!!

Getting back to "normal" and Dr. Seuss' Birthday.....

Last night was tough, I would like to say that I handled things with maturity and grace.....but, I ate KFC's mashed potatoes and chocolate, watched tv and took a sleeping pill. The hubby seized the opportunity to order pizza, again. And I didn't put up a fight.

I took Edwin and Melody out to eat at Bob Evan's after his appointment and 2 people came up to us and could not get over how well behaved my kids were, and then when Edwin said his prayer ( at top volume), I saw a lady tear up a little. How can this be the same boy that tries to hurt us? How is this the kid who gets so angry that I don't recognize him? Mental illness makes no sense, and there are times I hate it. But even now, if that is the only way I can have those boys...I will take them.

He started his new meds last night and we had a conversation with his teacher about what to watch for. We asked about a girl that Edwin has talked to named Olive, and he claims he wants to marry. The teacher informed up that Olive is in her 20's and works in the cafeteria, Lord only knows how many Valentines she received from the boy!

So, onto other things because beleive it or not the other 6 kids insist on still having a life....Emily has had to do things everyday this week for Dr. Seuss's Birthday. She had to have mis-matched socks one day, another day she made a top hat, etc. So tonight we are having cupcakes to celebrate the day of his birth (I have never celebrated Christopher Columbus, but we are doing this?) and watching The Cat In The Hat. I am sure Emily is going to want more of a party atmosphere, but this is all she is getting.

We got a note from Tobey's teacher and she is noticing him getting tearful a lot lately and a regression in speech. So, we are going to make sure that this isn't just a weather change thing and then make another appointment for the boy....and continue to wait on the list for speech therapy.

Melody has become obsessed with Adele lately, her favorite song is Someone Like You. She belts that song out with her whole soul, cutest thing ever.

I will blog tomorrow and give more info on the Edwin! Talk at you later!

Edwin's Appointment.....

There are a lot of times as a parent you just want some educated, loving person to swoop in and make all the decisions that you don't feel qualified for. Today was one of those days. I feel like I am an idiot when it comes to this stuff, and you are the one who makes the decisions. And how are you the one? Because you are the parent, and you have to.

I have been dreading today to be honest, I had this fear of them saying we are going to have to put him away for a long time....like that white van that you used to see in those movies (complete with straight jackets). I had this fear that they were going to tell me that it was my fault, because it is ALWAYS the Mother's fault.

But, they pretty much told me that this is somewhat normal (WHAT!?!?!?!?) behavior for kids like this. Excuse my language coming up here.... How the Hell is this normal? For a kid to have fantasies to kill, to try and cause an accident and become so disconnected that he doesn't know who I am, let alone himself?

I felt alone for weeks, and come to find out this is just part of raising kids like this. Because I guess astronomical bills and seeing their therapists more that your husband is not enough. Out of every Autism book I have read not one tells me that your son is going to make himself so mad that he will hit himself in the nuts, or give you bloody noses. And then an hour later not understand why the kids don't want to share with him.

For, the record I know that this blog is probably going to come across very ranty (not a real word) and not as one of those Yeah for Autism and isn't Tobey cute blogs.... just not there today. Because today Autism is pissing me off, and I don't see the humor today.

So here are our options, we may have to put him in a hospital, unfortunately the closest one that will take kids like him is in Indy....I am terrified to send him away that far, to strangers and knowing what I have seen happens at those places. Our next is drugs, we are starting him on something tonight, and after the Doctor consults with the other Dr's at the practice, we will put him on some stronger stuff. We are also going to bring a new Psychiatrist into the mix and see what they can come up with. And of course watch him like a hawk and record everything..

So, that's it for now, off to clean the house.