the end and the beginning

Another term has come to an end for me, Wesley is comfortably enjoying the first grade, and Damien and I are left at home with quiet time to ourselves for the next couple of weeks until he heads to school as well. Oh what ever will I do with the time to myself? I think I have to say that this has been one of my favorite terms so far. I got 2 good teachers, both knew what they were talking about, and also explained things to the class well enough that we all pretty much understood what we were doing. Although I was slammed with having to write 2 essays on completely different subjects, it was still good because I really learned a lot about both. I have to say that I really will miss my classmates ans teachers this term, for they they were all a wonderful support system for me. I hope I am this lucky next term when I tackle pharmacology and diseases of the human body. Those 2 classes together scare me to death! I wish all of my classmates luck in their future courses and careers ans hope to see them and the teachers at graduation. Thank you for helping me get through the term, you will all be dearly missed! I will try to keep up on my blog..maybe not weekly, but periodically. One last photo for you. We cut ALL of Damien's hair off.

A little less than a week, and school starts for my little ones. I just can not wait. Yesterday we went to the school to meet Wesley's first grade teacher, Mrs. White. She seemed nice and assured me that her classroom is very structured. After we turned his his school supplies and talked with her for a while we headed to the library where we saw a table where you can sign up for cub scouts. That's right everyone. Wesley is officially a cub scout! He is so excited about this he can hardly contain himself. He is gearing up to sell popcorn in order to earn his uniform. The week has been interesting. Lots of up and downs with him, but all in all I can't complain. I am just ready for school to start so maybe I can have some peace and quiet again. I still have 3 more weeks until Damien heads to head start, then I will have an entire morning of no kids. Whatever will I do with myself? I am sure that I will find plenty to do =). Have a great week everyone!

Sleepless in Oregon

Hello everyone, I hope that everyone has had a good week. I have been very tired. My 6 year old, Wesley has decided that sleep in not needed in our house, therefore has been keeping us awake for a good part of every night. He wakes up usually every 2 hours until 6 am when he is awake for good. I am going to talk to his doctor about this because I certainly can't continue down this path. I have too much on my plate, and need to be well rested in order to get it all done. On a good note, a week and a half until school starts for both kids, and then I will have 4 hours to my self 3 days a week. What will I do with that time?? Maybe go back to bed for a couple more hours of uninterrupted sleep. =) Have a great week!! Term is almost over, and so far I am holding strong with a 4.0 in both classes. Hopefully it will stay that way. Good luck to everyone.

A new autism cite for youto check out

OK. It has been a decent week, Kids are not acting up too bad. I went to the Van's warped tour over the weekend and got to meet the lead singer of Everclear and also the whole band "Reel Big Fish" I got pictures taken with both of them, and let's just say I left that concert very happy. Today there is a pot roast in the crock, and I am getting ready to bake homemade cinnamon rolls for desert. Can't complain about weeks like this really, they don't come around often, so I enjoy them when they do. If you are wanting to learn more about autism and what it is, here is a great cite for you to visit. Have a great week everyone!

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/facts.html

Well, we took Damien to the doctor the other day and he agrees that he may be autistic. Now the fun part is the wait until we can get him in to the specialists. That could be a 6 month wait. Wish me luck on getting in soon! So far I have been productive today. House is clean, AP2 outline done and turned in, and my rough draft for college comp is done and ready to turn in. Guess I better get cracking on that post draft outline! I will probably have more to say later, so keep checking in. I can't wait until you all can read the final product of my autism paper. I have really learned a lot and am excited to share it with you all!

a link about dog therapy

Last week I posted that we got Wesley a dog for therapy purposes. His therapist says that she is a strong believer in this method of therapy, and really thinks that it will help. We are in the midst of training our cute little black lab baby, and she has already become and important member of our family. If you have any more questions about the use of therapy dogs with autistic children, here is a great link that I found when I was researching the subject. Have a great week, and I will post again very soon!

http://hubpages.com/hub/Dogs-and-Autism-is-it-possible-Your-reference-source-to-Dog-therapy-and-Autism

Potato soup recipe

For those of you who wanted me to post the recipe, here it is.....

6 large potatoes
5 cups water
1/2 c flour
1/2 cup butter
3 chicken boullion cubes
1 cap evaporated milk
parsley flakes, salt, pepper to taste

peel and cut potatoes into cubes, add to the rest of ingresiants into a crockpot. Cook on low hear for 6-8 hours. You can top it with cheese to make it extra yummy. You could also put bacon or ham in the soupto make it meaty. Enjoy

Dogs as Therapy

So Wesley's therpaist has suggested that we get him a dog to use a therapy. He will be his best freind, and Wesley will be able to confide in her and tell her things that he doesn't want to tell us. She is also there to calm him down in a meltdown, and help him rela. Also she said that she will be a good distraction to him when he is trying to meltdown. Instead of getting upset he can do something for her, or play with her. I thought it sounded like a good idea, so we added a member to our family. A cute little black lab girl. Her picture is posted at the bottom of the blog!

One smart boy!

Okay, I leaned something form my 6 year old this morning. He watches a show on PBS called Sid the science Kid. This show talks about science, which is something that Wesley loves! So he told me that he learned that if you make banana bread then you can not make it back into bananas and that is called irreversible change, but that you can make water into ice, and ice into what and so on, and this is called reversible change. What 6 year old knows about that stuff? I have such a smart boy!

Hello everyone,
So today I was productive. I made homemade potato soup in the crock pot, and even made some homemade Irish soda bread to go with it. Thank goodness I decided to that earlier, cause the kids are going crazy right now, and there is no way I would get any cooking done. I have been doing a lot of research for my college comp paper about autism, and am finding some great information. I will share some of it with you all in a later post. Things have defiantly been better the last few days than they have been in the past. Nothing outrageous to report today but that may change by tomorrow! Have a great night everyone!

What does autism look like?

Does autism have a look? I was in the store the other day with Wesley, and he had a bit of a tantrum because I wouldn't let him buys something that he wanted. I had a man stare at me and give me a dirty look, so just like I often do, I said to him "He is autistic." Then the man says "He doesn't look autistic." If I had not been busy trying to control the meltdown, I would have asked it what exactly autism looks like, because I didn't know that it had a "look".
We have a had a rough last couple of days, but we have also had some good times in between. Wesley has been attending summer school and enjoys the fact that he gets to eat both breakfast and lunch at school, it is the bees knees to him, and of course Damien is enjoying his mommy time again without "bubba". This is just the norm around here. Lots of time spent in time out, but still lots of fun, dancing and laughing. we cuddle, tickle, and tease just like normal families, we just have to watch that we don't overstimulate them, or else the melt downs will be bad. I hope that everyone is having a great summer, and that they are enjoying their time with their families. Have a good night!

Listen to Brandis Playlist

Okay, Today is one of those bad days that you hear about autistic children having. This past weekend out family was involved with the relay for Life in our county. We spent all day there on Saturday which was a lot of over stimulation for the boys. Apparently last nights sleep was not enough for the to recover, because ever since they woke up they have both been very touchy and moody. This morning, I needed some things from the store, and Wesley wanted to come with me,so I took him with eon the condition that he would behave himself. Yeah right! We started getting things into our cart, and then he started to act up. So I simply left the card where it was and picked up and half carried, half dragged him out f the store, but let me tell you, the kid is 62 pounds. So it basically took me a good 15 minutes to get him outside. Meanwhile he is screaming and flailing his arms and legs. I am used to this, because it happens a lot. What I am still not used to is the staring people. They stare at us and shake their heads at me. They make rude comments about Some parents! This is the part that I don;t think that I will ever get used to. For the people who just suit there and stare I will say"He is autistic, any questions?" Then they will stop, or make another comment. Some will even apologize. Sometimes, I wish that I could just put some kind of sign on him that says"I'm autistic" so that when things like this happen, people will just know. But would that really solve things? Or will people still think that this is all just my fault, and bad parenting?

Okay here it goes. For those of you that don't know anything about autism, and would like to learn more about what to look for or what the parents of an autistic child go through on a daily basis, I found a great link that you can get all of the information. I will post of your you to read at your earliest convenience. I myself have been dealing with it today. My 3 year old rocks and bangs his head on the wall, it is a way for him to calm himself down when he is upset, tired, or just bored. He is also very specific about how his toys should be lined up, and if you be move them out of place, May god be with you! LOL. Although at times I find my temper flair up, and I get frustrated to no end with my children. I could never trade them for any "normal" child in the world, because they are mine, and I love them. I hope that you enjoy the website, and I will be posting more in the future.
Here is the link:
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/asd.cfm

Welcome to my World!

Hello, My name is Brandi. I am 28 years old from Oregon, and a stay at home mom of 2 crazy boys. Wesley is 6 and he is autistic. He keeps me on my toes, ans and tests my limits daily, but I wouldn't trade him for any normal kid in the world. I love him so much that I am willing to deal with his disability, and also help him to deal with it so that later in life he will be ready to join the real world with the knowledge and confidence that it takes to be successful in life.
Damien is 3, and he also likes to test the waters, and see how far he will get away with things. I do have some concerns with him, and thing he may also be autistic, but I have yet to have him tested at this point.
My husband's name is Karl, and he is my best friend and soul mate. We were best friends before we dated, or got married, and that is why we have been very happily married for 61/2 years!
In this blog, I will of course talk about my children, both good and bad. I may vent on the bad days and brag on the good days, I may even post the occasional recipe that I have found to be favorites of my family and would like to share with yours. And to those parents who also have autistic children, or people who would just like to learn more about it, I will post tidbits about the condition, and maybe helpful ways to deal. I will even post some links that you can follow for more information. Thank you for visiting, and I hope that you enjoy my roller coaster blog. Buckle up it may be a bumpy ride!!