Author: criscollrj

surveys

quizzes, and thoughts

criscollrj

I keep looking for quizzes for us moms – not a lot out there!!!! But this one is kind of cute!

You are June Cleaver!
June Cleaver: You are June Cleaver from Leave it
to Beaver. You might not wear pearls while you
do your housework, but you probably like the
idea of being a traditional type of mom who
bakes special treats for your kids when they
come home from school and who sits down to
dinner with them at night. You think of
thoughtful ways to show your kids you care
like making elaborate Halloween costumes or
whipping up chicken noodle soup for sore
throats and you work hard to stay involved in
their lives.

Of course, you teach your children right from wrong
and always hold them to strict standards,
though you may prefer that someone else in the
household do the actual disciplining. That’s
just because you are so devoted to your little
ones, you can’t stand the thought of missing
out on any time with them behind angry doors or
pouting faces.

Which TV Mom are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

lately I just keep thinking I want to do something else besides what I’m doing – not INSTEAD of what i’m doing but in ADDITION. I just don’t have time. But there’s so many things I want to pursue – writing, drawing, guitar playing, writing songs, oh, it goes on and on. I just trust eventually I will get the chance. I LOVE being home with my kids. I am so glad I’m not working. But someday in the future, I want to pick 1-2-3 of these hobbies and just go with them for a while…..

photos, reflections, travel

Thoughts on Summer 04

criscollrj

TEN Things You Did
01. Obtained necessary psych. hospitalization for our son through God’s help.
02. Finally slept second half of the summer after being up all night most night’s first half of the summer while Chris’s meds were so off.
03. Went to Port Clinton/Put-in-Bay on vacation for first time ever!
04. Camped in a cabin for first time ever.
05. Stayed up all night in cabin first night with son who wouldn’t sleep (strange place!).
06. Attended 2 “95.5 the fish” functions (radio) that were so cool with great bands and fun people!
07. Went 8+ weeks (still going) with NO money except bare minimum due to job stoppages for hubby (Luckily had saved $300 before that for Put-in-Bay).
08. Lost 15 pounds (hubby did too!) on South Beach Diet!
09. Collected unemployment all summer but never found a job even though I diligently looked for good job with benefits.  (Actually been looking since Jan.)
10. Grew tomatoes and peppers for first time in 3-4 years!

NINE Favorite Bands/Singers Of The Summer
01. Third Day
02. Chris Tomlin (U2’s Where the Streets have no Name!)
03. Sarah Groves (cool concert!)
04. Rebecca St. James
05. The Newsboys
06. Selah (You Raise me Up)
07. Amy Grant (has been favorite since 1979!)
08. just to be eclectic, we love hearing that one song by The Darkness when it comes on 😉  http://www.thedarknessrock.com/media/audio/ (I believe in a thing called love, just had to DOWNLOAD IT NOW!) though it’s just a sample ;
09. AND we loved 98 FM’s WNCX’s pretend Woodstock the other week when they played endless old progressive and other rock tunes INCLUDING IN THE CAGE BY GENESIS!  Yeah!

EIGHT Places You Ate At
01. Outback Steak House
02. New York Deli
03. East of Chicago Pizza
04. Walmart
05. KMart
06. Dairy Queen
07. McDonald’s
08. Burger King

SEVEN Inside Jokes
01. None that I know of?
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
07.

SIX Things You Bought
01. Rented vacation cabin at Port Clinton!
02. Food
03. New earrings (Avon demos)
04. Dirt for our yard (boy it’s looking spiffy!)
05. Microsoft Money 2004
06.

FIVE Things You Accomplished
01. Well, technically after school started, BUT finally got my dailies going again where I straighten whole house every day.
02. The Lord accomplished getting Chris’s meds regulated so he’ll SLEEP…
03. Lost 15 pounds.
04. Cleaned out entire 3 drawer legal size filing cabinet.
05.

FOUR Movies You Saw
01. Just Married
02. Freaky Friday
03. Cheaper by the Dozen
04. The Lion King (again for Ryan, first saw in 94 with Baby Colleen)

THREE Things You Wish You Did
01. Got on an exercise program (but I AM walking 2 miles a day taking Colleen to/from school)
02. Been able to buy or win tickets to Third Day concert.
03. Read Bible every day (I need to START a devotional quiet time!)

TWO Rules You Broke
01. Cheated on my diet whole vacation time and like a week before and 3 weeks after!
02.

ONE Thing You LOVED About This Summer
01. sleeping WELL the second half of the summer and seeing Chris so much more healthy in the meantime.

That was a fun survey.  This summer was not bad.  The beginning and middle were horrible but the greatness of the end really made up for it!!  It was wonderful to go on a vacation with our friends to an area we’d never been to before.  We are lucky here in NE Ohio to have the lakes and rivers all around us – I know we take it for granted.  Here Mosquito Lake, Mecca, Ohio


is a picture of another State Park area where we went picnicking Labor day.  Far away you can see Chris splashing and Colleen playing.  Many times I do want to live in North Carolina near the mountains, but we are blessed here with a nice place to live as well.  We are blessed.

asperger's, autism, Ryan, sleep, speech delay, weight, work

Sunny Sunday

criscollrj

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=F39pFlpQ&id=8AA97F55C9DDA85C1DA73230FDFD595806D9A9D2&thid=OIP.F39pFlpQ41zRa-Edn8XDBwHaJT&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fimg4.wikia.nocookie.net%2f__cb20111217143120%2fdegrassi%2fimages%2fd%2fdc%2fManny123z.png&exph=392&expw=312&q=manny+degrassi+image&simid=608025956886450056&selectedIndex=4&ajaxhist=0

You’re Manny! (Manuela) You are clingy, yet cute.
Childish, yet can have some amazing pearls of
wisdom. You are the Sam to Emma’s Frodo. Cheer
up about Craig, dear. There are plenty more
boys who dig it when you call your stuffed
animals weird names!

Which Degrassi Girl are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I love Degrassi – can’t wait for new season!  (watch on the “N” on our new digital cable which I don’t want to get rid of with our “broke-ness” now….)

Doing great, though I feel bad I missed church.  Chris fell asleep just moments before we left!  He is doing very well – naps every day still (a little earlier than expected today – usually he’s nodding off a bit at church which is a GOOD thing).  So next week I’ll give him the pill a little later.

Continue reading “Sunny Sunday” →

autism, medications, Pans/Pandas, sleep

Monday and much better!

criscollrj

I can’t write too much today but wanted to update any readers that Christopher is doing MUCH better!  We are so grateful. He was hospitalized in a child psychiatric center a month ago and they regulated him on meds that are causing him to be much mellower and to SLEEP!  He sleeps about 6-8 hours a night and even often naps 2 hours a day now.  Boy what a difference!  He still has some challenging behaviors, but with sleep it is doable!

I will update more later, thanks for prayers!

2020

this was the beginning of the difference for Chris that lasted quite a while.  Ryan also got better in 2019 with a significant med addition.  Whether the cause was Pans/Pandas or something else we don’t know. 

2024 

Ryan had issues causing meltdowns again in summer of 23 going into Fall, which were finally narrowed down to severe constipation.  Daily and weekly meds were started and changed and adjusted and he still will have bouts of trouble, but after 2-3 severe bouts lasting into Spring of 2024, he seems to be again stable.

dori

surveys

another survey

criscollrj
You’re wearing: short overalls, striped shirt, underwear, bra, gold earrings
You can see: monitor, stuffed animals, speakers, disks, phone
You can hear: Arthur on PBS, air conditioning, typing fingers, daughter opening ice cream bar,
Favorite colors: blue, purple, green, mauve, sea green
Favorite songs: He reigns, You raise me up, Amazing Grace, Heart of Worship, new Evannescence song
Favorite movies: Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, Dirty Dancing, Pretty Woman, Just Married
Favorite stores: Kohls, Walmart, ToysRUs, Target, Aldi’s
Favorite people: Husband, son, daughter, son, friends
People you love: My family, best friends
People you hate: No one
That get on your nerves: Crashing computers (this one), not enough time, not enough money, things not going according to plan, lack of sleep
That you did today: Went to Y with kids, reformatting computer, backing up photos, made breakfast and lunch
That you’ll do tomorrow: Taking RJ to speech therapy, cleaning, taking Colleen to VBS, visiting with friends, cooking
People you miss/haven’t seen in 6+ months: Vicki, Lisa, Jeannine, Grandma, Grandpa
People you have dated/”gone out” with: DH!, Andy C, Andy A, Chuck, Ray

5 Things brought to you by BZOINK!

 

autism, Pans/Pandas, residency, writing

poem

criscollrj

2020 – it has been heartbreaking to re-read all this.  One of the hardest times of our lives — 2003-2004, as well as 93-94, 97-98, 2010, 2016-2019.  Autism, deafness, and this possible Pans/Pandas disorder…. so much heartbreak.  So grateful Chris (and Ryan) are doing better now.  Here Chris had to wear a helmet as he was hitting his head on all surfaces….  that lasted a few months.  

2024 – we had more heartbreak in 2024 with Ryan.  Haven’t even written in here yet, but things are a lot better now, but it seems the pendulum just has to swing around every so often… how strong are we supposed to be?

Comments: a poem about Chris, it’s been a while.

Felt good to write something. I think I got a lot out this way.

to say goodbye to you would be so sad
the child of my youth
all my life I dreamt of your arrival
it made my heart so glad

we waited years for you
you were born and we clung to you so tight
checked you in the night, looking for your breath
we were so careful to do everything just right

our firstborn son, you began to slip away
we didn’t notice at first, just thought you were shy
or quiet or the deep intelligent type
when you ceased your speech at 2 I thought I’d die.

to see you hurt yourself, the precious skin and self
that formed inside of me, then was born
is catastrophic and deadening, the greatest tragedy
of our lives, the event we always mourn

more than autism itself, the pain, the violence
that you would be in such pain,
the sound of fear is perhaps worse than just the silence
that we would hear if you were just happy but quiet, playing in the rain

like you used to do out in the pool, when you were five
the rain beat down but you were happy with your symphony
of bubbles that rose above you like a crown.
you always loved the pool, the bath, the river, more than any pony

that any other boy would like
we were sad at your difference at times but loved to watch you smile
and now to hear your laugh instead of your cry
would answer our prayers, at least for a while.

The whole family needs to be kept safe and strong
whatever it takes to help you all grow
and to also keep the girl and little boy growing up in health
I pray an answer comes soon, that we will know.

It wouldn’t really be goodbye, if it comes to a new home
it would be a place that could help you thrive
in your own way, in your own time
if that is the decision that is to arrive.

We would still see you often and love you so much
though of course we hope the answer is that you stay
whatever happens I know that the Lord is with us
And will give us strength to face each day.

@dh 7/5/04

autism, college, medications, music, Pans/Pandas, residency, sleep, waiver placement lists, waivers, weight

another old copied post…. things are not good :(

criscollrj

 

User: dori

Comments: feel like the straw that broke the camel’s back just happened – my aide just called and asked if I thought Chris would hit her today how do i know… – I said I didn’t know, he’s mostly hitting himself, but that he had hit me some especially on Saturday. She said she’s not coming today and that she’s going to call her office and explain how much he’s hitting her (he did hit her a lot on Thursday – she had a sore arm from it) and whether they still want her to come back – what do you think will happen?

2020 – yet another pans/pandas note… is that what this aggression was from??

I told Rog if I don’t have an aide I think we will have to have him go live somewhere else. We may do it this week. I’m so depressed. I can’t do this with no help. My mom did help me yesterday but he was hitting her and pushing her and she’s only 5’4″ and about 105 pounds so she can’t take too much -she’s also 61. My MIL isn’t even coming around to watch him anymore really – she’s pretty sick right now.

Continue reading “another old copied post…. things are not good :(“ →

autism, college, organizing, sleep, surveys, writing

Something’s missing, don’t know what. Some cool surveys, though.

criscollrj

I just want to do something different but don’t know what. I’m happy, but… oh, I don’t know. I love my kids, my husband. I love being a stay at home mom. But my dreams of school seem to be on hold again. It’s so hard. I know my kids come first. Here’s some postings from my moms group which just say more about all that

User: dori

Comments: I’m going to try and STOP talking about my decision stuff SO much after this because I think you’re all getting sick of it. But I need to just reply a bit more to stuff from the past few days. THEN I’LL STOP so you don’t kill me :P. So I’ll try and keep it short and first will just update you on the present.

Continue reading “Something’s missing, don’t know what. Some cool surveys, though.” →