Louder than Words

Last night I read "Louder Than Words" by Jenny McCarthy. It is about her son's struggle with Autism and her journey pulling him out of it. Vicki recommended the book to me. Her 4 year old son, Andrew has autism. She has been using many of the methods that Jenny talks about in her book and has had great results. Not as astounding as Jenny's son, but amazing and wonderful none-the-less. I encourage everyone to read this short book. It is not even 200 pp. and a very quick read. Please do not be offended by some of the bad language. If you take it in the context, you will understand her feelings, and it goes away after the beginning of the book. If you know someone with a child or grandchild or sibling or relation or friend with autism, this book will touch you. It should touch you. Even if you have an aquaintance with a child with autism this book is important for you to read. Not for all of the stuff she did to get him out of it. Not to hear what she believes caused it. Because I know it is very controversial and I am not asking anyone to buy into that theory. (Even though, after my own research, I do.) But just to gt a tiny glimmer of what it is to be a mom of a child with autism. So that you will do everything in your power to help that friend when she needs help. It is a devastingly lonely process to go through. At the beginning of the book it says that when your child is diagnosed with cancer people come to your house with caseroles but when your child is diagnosed with autism, people try to stay away from you in the grocery store and wonder why you can't control your child. Please don't be one of those people in the grocery store. I have been so touched by what my friend, Vicki does for her son. She dedicates all of her time, all of her energy, all of their money, to finding a way to help Andrew. I could only hope to be one-tenth the mother she is. I could only hope to be one-tenth the mother any of these women are that care for special needs children. And you say, but it is their job! They are the mom! You are right. But I have seen mom's who have had it. And just can't take it any more and give up. So help out a mom today. Even if it is just a phone call to pat them on the back, or a minute to let them cry on your shoulder.

I'll take cream and sugar, please

Today is a quiet day. Lorelai is napping right now. I have a rare chance to get on the computer without having to hold her in my arms and there is nothing to talk about. I have no witty stories to relate. I have no spirtitual experiences to express. I should go pluck my eyebrows and fold the whites that have been sitting in the laundry basket. I should read a book since I have neglected my reading for months. I was reading a book a couple of weeks ago but I am in a reading slump. I just am not motivated enough to do it. I would rather sit in front of the boob tube and veg for a while. Especially since I find it difficult to hold a baby and a book at the same time. I am a wimp, I know... OH! I know what I can tell you about. You are going to be shocked when you hear this! Or maybe it was just me... Justin and I picked up Hilton from school on Friday and he said that his teacher gave him coffee. We were a little confused. Surely he was mistaken. It must have been something else. Maybe they were playing house and pretended to drink coffee. No, he was adamant that he had had coffee. He said they have a drink of coffee and it was yucky and then they had coffee with sugar and it was yummy. Justin asked what they were learning about and he said the five senses and they were doing taste. Well, on Monday I made Justin go pick up Hilton because he had off. I wanted him to talk to the teacher because apparently sometimes I am not very diplomatic when I get upset about something. (Whatever) So sure enough, they had given the children coffee! It was "diluted" coffee, but it was indeed coffee. Justin then proceeded to tell the teacher that we do not partake of coffee in any shape or form, diluted or no. And also tea. The teacher apologized and said it wasn't in Hilton's file so they didn't know. I am sorry, I didn't know I had to put that in Hilton's file. I guess I will have to send a note in saying that we don't drink alcohol or smoke or do any recreational drugs too so they can "put it in his file." (Is that what is meant by not being diplomatic?)

My birthday

It was my birthday yesterday! Thank you to all of you who participated in the last 34 years of my life. a special thanks to those of you who remembered how important birthdays are to me... you know who you are... Just kidding! Thanks for the well-wishes on my b-day and for the cards and gifts. It was great. Justin got my grandmother's ring sized for me. It is gorgeous and I will always wear it. She and I share the same birthday! I thought of her all day yesterday. This is my first birthday I have had without her. Anyway, Justin got a nice pie and I had a small slice. And the kids gave me a card and they all sang happy birthday. The kids were so excited! I was hoping for a whole night's sleep as a gift from Lorelai but I think she forgot my birthday. I will be awaiting a belated gift from her. I got many phone calls. My sister, my brother, Rich, my mom, my mom-in-law and my good friend, Erin! It was great to talk to her. She misses me. It is nice to be missed. Especially when I am missing my dear Rexburg friends too. My best bud, Vicki and I went to Tinsel and Treasures on Friday night. Her treat! It is basically like a huge craft fair that sells tons of stuff way out of my price range that I could only dream of owning. But you know me and shopping! it doesn't even matter if I can't buy anything! Then we went out to dinner afterward. That is one of the great things about Lafayette. There is no shortage of great places to eat. Rexburg, the big news on the culinary front was Applebee's. And that was HUGE news! So tomorrow, Vicki is watching the 2 big kids and Justin and I (And my appendage, Lorelai) are going out to eat. I am not sure where yet. But it is going to be somewhere really good because it is back to salads for me after that. I think I have cancer. Maybe a brain tumor. It could be something worse than cancer, although I am not sure what that would be. But right now I am ready to get back on track and start feeling better again. It is probably largely due to the fact that I am not getting as much sleep as I should. But I will truck along. Poor me... my life is so difficult! Please, feel sorry for me! I may have cancer! Or, or anorexia!!! That is it! I am sure that is what I have! I am so skinny, I can almost see the outline of the bones, in my fingers... ok, not really. Anyway, I am sure I just need to eat better, sleep more and exercise more. So I will do that. It is now in writing. Dang it! How do I erase this? Also, if any of you have been watching Jenny McCarthy on the talk show circuit talking about her son with autism, I hope you are paying attention. I have been and I am getting the message loud and clear. Please, if you are having a baby or have a young child who you are thinking about innoculating, please do your research. 1 out of every 94 boys is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. One out of every 150 children is diagnosed. This is a HUGE problem. Sermon complete...

Lorelai content and not content... which do you prefer?

Don't Call It a Comeback!

This is a silly L.L. Cool J reference. Many, if not all of you, will not get it... but sometimes I do things to make myself giggle...

Diabetes Stinks

I have had a rough week. It started Tues night when I went to a Girl Scout meeting. I got all shaky and I was sweating like crazy even though the air conditioning was like 50 degrees, I felt like I was going to throw up and I could hardly fill out the papers because I was shaking so badly. I left early because I just couldn't handle it anymore. I did not have my little sugar tablets, just a piece of gum, that luckily had sugar in it, or else I would not have been able to drive home. I got home and had a sandwich and I haven't felt right ever since. Of course, I am afraid to test my blood sugar and I am totally infuriated since I had no problems at all while I was pregnant. I thought that maybe I was getting over the whole diabetes thing. Maybe I never even had it! Maybe the doctor had been mistaken! But no... No I have to find a new doctor and go to him. I need to start watching my diet a lot closer again, and I should be checking my blood sugar twice a day again. I haven't checked it in forever. Stupid Diabetes. It is so dumb. I do not have time for this challenge. Oh, we decided against girl scouts since she is going to be starting activity days soon. It would be too much stuff. As it is she doesn't get home from school until almost 4:00 and then has jut enough time for homework. And heaven forbid she miss Hannah Montana!

Bates Musical

Last night was a rough night. Lorelai was very unsettled. She would not go to bed until midnight and she woke up twice until finally waking for good at 6:00. The other children woke up a few times too, which kept Justin on his toes. He takes care of the big kids when they wake in the middle of the night, and I take the baby. No questions asked. It is actually a very good deal. Caroline said she had a drea, that Lorelai was a dog and she was allergic, so she was allergic to her own sister. Caroline has a very active imagination. Both children were acting out High School Musical for us yesterday. They get so bored on Sundays. We are mean and don't let them do much being the sabbath. Anyway, Caroline was being Sharpei and Hilton was being Ryan. In case you are unfamiliar with the phenomenon called High School Musical, these are the two antagonists of the movie. They are snotty rich twins who are very talented in the musical theater genre. They sing a song and dance. The kids have the words and moves down perfectly. It opens with Ryan saying..."Mucho Gusto!" and the girl says "Arriba!" Then they go into a sort of Latin dance. Well, it goes without saying that this is so hilarious when Hilton is doing this. He is so cute, and he just can't contain himself. I just don't know where these kids get it...

Great kid book

I know a lot of you have children that are my kid's age and so I am going to tell you about a seris of books she likes. They are "Franny K. Stein" by Jim Benton. Caroline loves them. There are only about 6 of them, but it is wnough to keep most kids busy for a couple of weeks. They seem pretty easy. I think they are for ages 7-10. When Caroline asked the librarian for them she tought they would be out of her league. But she quickly learned that they were not. Not to brag (okay, to brag...) but Caroline is at the highest reading level in her class. They are not sure what grade level she is at because she has exceeded all of the tests so far! Yea! I would like to take credit, but the credit goes exclusively to reading the scriptures. Plus Caroline really loves reading so she does it a lot. That is what the key is, I imagine. Math, however is another story entirely. Don't get me started. You might as well be teaching the kid Swahili.

No Hurricane

The baby is in her bed crying right now. She slept for a little while and is awake. But I have things I would like to get doen. I just cannot be picking her up and holding her all of the time! I went to take her to the doc today for a well-baby visit and I had forgotten her insurance card, so they wouldn't see her. And the pediatrician is way out in the middle of nowhere! It takes 30 minutes to get there... Thanks HMO... so I had to reschedule for next week. It is raining today. We are all fine in case you are worried about Humberto getting us. It is not going to come near us. We will just get a lot of rain. Our lawn looks like a lake again. I hate when it rains here because it takes twice as long to get places.

Baby Stats

FYI Lorelai was weighed and measured today. She was 10 lbs 11 oz (double her birth weight) and 21 inches long. She will be 12 weeks old on Thursday! The nurse at WIC said that she is probably going through a growth spurt and that is why she is waking up so much at night. She said this is the typical 3 month old spurt. Last night she woke up 3 times! She is usually only up once. This makes me sad. But she is just hungry. I feed her and she eats like I have never fed her before! So I guess she will get past it. At least, I hope so!