Living & Loving, Autism & Deafness
Our Journey with our loved ones and our lives
Originally uploaded by criscollrj.
because we didn’t have enough snow? Did I say that?
30 inches now in the past 3 weeks. Still below normal, but doing our best to make it to our 60″ normal winter…
Snow day for kiddoes today 🙂
And this is the world’s biggest icicle!
(2020 – dead link deleted, certainly not current anymore anyway!!)
I was blogless for a week and boy was that rough! Now to copy over my themes, look up new ones, and figure out how to get my header, footer, and sidebar settings back —
Ryan was diagnosed today with ADHD and also suspected PDD (pervasive developmental disorder, the umbrella term of autism that is most mild). He went ahead and gave the PDD diagnosis [which he suspected but didn’t know how much of the behaviors could be from his hearing loss] to enable him to have the most schooling and therapy. He should be able to go to all day school next year now for kindergarten in an autism class. I’m relieved about that in one way because I know he really needs the structure. On the other hand it breaks our hearts to have three children on the autism spectrum though, again, Ryan’s diagnosis could change as he gets older and more verbal and maybe it’ll change to Asperger’s like his sister who is just about typical with some vague shadow syndromes.
His ADHD seems rather severe and although he is only 4 he’s been prescribed medication – FocalinXR. I need to do some research on it. I’m afraid to give it so young- Colleen didn’t start on Ritalin and then Concerta until she was about 9, but she was never as hyperactive. He actually does very dangerous things – he has run into the street before and just yesterday he plugged in a waffle iron in the living room while I wasn’t looking for a minute and just left it heating. He didn’t ask me about it, just went, got it and plugged it in. He has become extremely hard to handle and even though he’s only 50 pounds it’s exhausting. 50 pounds is still 50 pounds. and on a day when 200-pound Chris is pulling me around – watch out.
They have always prescribed new meds for Chris that again I’m afraid to try. we think we’re going to try and hospitalize him to enable the med change – his last med change he had a psychotic reaction in 2004 (I think that’s the right word?) similar to tardive diskenysia (sp?) and it was horrible. I have to make an ASAP appt. for him Monday.
Thanks for prayers for us!
Prayers also appreciated for our financial situation – we’re doing okay but we got so behind both when Rog was laid off and I was on the one working, and then when he was working but I took a break due to the severe situation of the kids, that we are pretty behind. I’m about to put all our back bills on credit cards just to start with a clean slate because I don’t want any shutoffs. But you hate to do that too…
In the “small potatoes” category I really want to get my house cleaned up WELL by Tuesday afternoon for my weekly assignment wed. with RT. I worked a lot this last month with two unexpected large assignments (YAY!) from individuals (direct pay) and it was very worth it!! But I had never even caught up from Christmas [still have a Christmas tree up in the basement family room] and just need some time now to breathe and try and clean all the rooms well. I’m tired of tripping over things! To keep our sanity we just need to get our surroundings organized and I’d appreciate prayer that we could do that and keep it that way with everyone’s help in the home.
I also have temporarily (I hope only temporarily) lost my autism/deafness family picture blog due to moving servers (the new server so far has been unable to access my old servers files) and we’ve been unable to load the database even though it looks on paper simple as pie. This is 3 years of work (including old journals from another web site) and I had a lot of friends comments on there and some people who had asked for help with autism/deafness whose contacts will be lost if this blog is lost. I had just made it onto google and was getting some comments [though small and far between[ and now they’re getting a blank page. And i”m not sure whether to leave it blank and as is for the techs to work on or to make a new blank blog – not sure how to proceed. I know it’s a small thing but was so important to me – prayers on that appreciated!
And I have a bad headache today – had aches and pains yesterday half the day – and 3 people in my family have had a bad cold or flu and I’m surely hoping I’m not catching it.
I’m glad you are all here and that I still have this journal 🙂
(2020 as I’ll probably see noted in here later I did find all those blogs — they are pretty much merged in here now!!)
Does anyone else immediately start moving or planning to move large items of furniture when you clean a room? I always do this. I can’t just clean – I have to rearrange. And it doesn’t matter what else is happening, if I don’t really have time, or whatever, it’s like a driving force – I MUST MOVE FURNITURE. I try and restrain myself much of the time, but I don’t always succeed.
Right now, my house is needing a good pickup ALL OVER but I’m obsessed with the fact that I want to move my kitchen table again – WHY? I don’t know. I think my kitchen is just too small and it’s hard to find a way to make it work, so I change it. Like every three months. And yes, it’s been over 3 months since I changed it, so the bug is back. CHANGE ME! Ha ha. It’s just it involved moving THREE pieces of furniture, not one – the table, the sideboard buffet, and another little cabinet. Like a Rubik’s cube, how will this all fit together?
Well, I’d better get at some kind of cleaning anyway…..
d
(2020, still true, though usually now with the living room.)
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There’s something about me making a decision, that means I will immediately second guess myself. It’s cold (we narrowly missed several more inches of snow with a lake effect snow warning being canceled); it’s probably still windy; Ryan has an ear infection, and was very crabby, crying, and irritable; and Chris is being ornery in his own way today [doesn’t want to move to do anything, won’t take his meds this morning, and who knows if I’d have got him out the door?]. So I decided to keep them home from the Saturday camp (twice a month, they go and swim and play and have crafts at a center in our area). So as soon as I make the decision, Ryan immediately acts more healthy. I say to myself, did I make the right decision? I gave up their playtime, and my quiet time, to keep them both home because I’m worried about Ryan’s health, and then he acts fine?
Yes, it’s a conspiracy to make me second guess my decisions. Should I have sent them? I’d have had my SHOWER then, and some quiet time. And they’d have had fun fun fun! But then of course, if I HAD sent them, I’d be second guessing myself again. (Is Ryan coughing more again? Did his fever come back (hasn’t had one since Monday), is he sneezing all over everyone, and are they behaving themselves or causing a big ruckus?
Ahh well. The fun of parenthood.
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(2020, had to add — with COVID-19 parents can never second-guess themselves again — what a world we are NOW living in!!)
and once again I’m getting addicted to transcription!
User: dori
Comments: copied update with some additions at the bottom as I’ve been too busy to post anywhere – hope everyone is well – I’m TIRED! but happy, mostly ;}
Hello! been working on all sorts of things, Trying to send from gmail again – we’ll see if it works. I reconfigured it. I found out today I wasn’t getting mail from a manager out at Rapid Text as well – I emailed them about it (I read about the emails on my board) and never heard back, so just called them and she found my emails in her spam folder! So I’m definitely hoping this gmail works as something seems goofy with sbcglobal!
Continue reading “the keyboard calls again —”
We haven’t left our decs up until Jan. 7 in years, but we are this year– but how neat to read about the orthodox holiday that it represents. But tomorrow I must start putting them away!
Having trouble letting go of the season this year.
I am sure you may have already heard about it but it’s the mom who’s 3 year old ran into traffic. Just one of hundreds of stories http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=5891420. I’ve read 1-2 of her kids are possibly autistic, that she is pregnant, that she’s suffering from depression, that she is on her 6th child (pregnancy), and that there was poop in her house. She is being slammed, and her myspace:
(2020 – empty space at this point as is the story, above) not always a good testimony for her (let’s say it’s really not at all a good testimony) but I just feel this woman needs some prayers.
Thanks — dori
(2020 – God knows who she is and still hears our prayers!!! Her kids are probably grown now, and Lord knows in what situation – with family? Group home? Grown to be more independent somehow and living on their own? God knows! Indeed. And prayers to them and all of us.)
I stayed up too late working on backgrounds — this site is very cool! http://ljlayouts.org/ I tried to do this one: http://ljlayouts.org/layouts.php?location=generator5 (the wishing and hoping one) and got as far as getting the images and everything on there but they were repeating all over the page! Oh well, will keep playing. I just don’t know how to get the image to not be over the top of the words, but at least figured out how to make the right margin over so my text isn’t off the page. (2020 – not sure why I bothered to “link-code” those sites – figured they wouldn’t work, and they didn’t — livejournal layouts must be completely “out” at this point — gotta love 2006—miss it somewhat!!! 😉 )
Now, to bed! Thanks Angela for all your prior help on this! I may need you again when I’m ready to try the hoping and praying images….