Autism Awareness videos

If you read my blog regularly, you might already have seen these 2 videos I made about my son. 

 If you don't read my blog regularly....well, what's wrong with you?!?!?!?! Just kidding. 

If you don't know it yet, I'm the proud mom of a young man on the spectrum and I love him so much!

 These videos were made about him to raise awareness about Autism.  

  

 Autism is a developments disability that affects several areas such communication, learning and social interaction. 

When most people think about Autism, they picture in their head a person that doesn't talk, makes noises and flaps their hands. 

While this is true, there are also lighter forms of Autism that can go hidden for a long time. 

Looking at my son, it will take you a while to see that he's "different", but nonetheless he's affected by this disability. Plus he was diagnoses with ADD and Tourette Syndrome. 

I, myself, have a light form of Asperger. I fake through things most of the times so people won't see it too well, but it's there. 

 Learn about Autism. 

While we can be prepared for "typical" people, the world still needs to be prepared about us. 

Please.

Autism Awareness month.

Welcome to April, Autism awareness month. 

As the picture above says, in our house is Autism Awareness every day, not only this month. 

That said, during this month you'll probably see lots of posts pertaining Autism from me. 

Please, spread the word and help me raise awareness. 

To start, some numbers for you to think on:

  

Are you aware yet?

 

Gabriel's birthday

Yesterday was my baby boy birthday!! 

I don't know when it happened, but he dared turning 9 years old while I wasn't looking LOL And as you can see from the picture he's quite proud of himself! 

I'm really happy to say that this year things are so very different from the dark period we had last year and I couldn't ask for a better way to celebrate the happenings. 

Today Gabriel is a very happy boy that shows social progress daily, works hard at school regardless of his disability. 

 He still loves Spiderman and his new interest is the Skylander video game. 

 Looking back I realized that I changed a lot too during this year, for the better to be exact and finally in a position to think that thing can only can better an forward from there. 

 A lesson that I couldn't have learned without this amazing child and the challenges around him in my life :)

Help Henry!!!

This hits pretty close to home because as some of you know, we went through it recently with signing up my son Gabriel to the local public school. 

You might remember my rant from a while back..... 

Please help Henry by signing this petition. 

Please help me STOP AUTISM DISCRIMINATION!!!

Speaking of Autism......

Since I was prepping for the 5k, I was inspired to make this videos about my kids and of course Autism. 

I know that it's not Autism awareness month yet, but I thought I will go ahead and make them up so I'd have them ready for April. 

Nonetheless, I hope you all will enjoy them 

Please stop saying that!

Note: The following post regards a controversial issue. If you're easily offended by fool language, skip this post and come back tomorrow. 

Remember the 1st Amendment and love and peace to every one.

Dear 50 cents and Joe Scarborough, 

please stop saying that! 

Stop talking about things you don't know about. 

Some of you might have read in the news about these 2 celebrities that recently got under fire for their infamous comments about Autism. 

That's what happened with the rapper 50 cents. One day, someone sent him this tweet:{Quoting} "Release the album or get shot again." The rapper allegedly tweeted back, "yeah just saw your picture fool you look autistic." And, he didn't stop there. "I dont want no special ed kids on my time line follow some body else," he posted later. 

You can read the whole article HERE 

Alright then, let's see. How do I and my son look like? We have 2 eyes, 2 ears, 1 nose, 1 mouth, hair on our heads and teeth on our gums. Oh wait, wait! We miss the scars from a bullet due to someone shooting us. That's you sir, not us, my bad!! Go search "Autism" on Google and inform yourself, maybe you have a symptom or two. Don't give me wrong, I'm not saying that the person that tweeted him to get shot is any better, but I don't think it's because he/she is autistic.

Here it is, what Joe Scarborough said in his show: {Quoting}  

"As soon as I hear about this shooting (referring to the mass kill in Aurora, CO), I knew who it was. I knew it was a young, white male, probably from an affluent neighborhood, disconnected from society -- it happens time and time again," said Scarborough. "Most of it has to do with mental health; you have these people that are somewhere, I believe, on the autism scale. I don't know if that's the case here, but it happens more often than not." 

 Nice uh? Basically since I'm autistic, I'm so messed up and crazy that one day I will wake up and go off and shoot everybody in sight. NOT!! As an autistic person, I never have, and never will think of hurting anyone. I know it's wrong, you know? I'm not crazy, I'm only autistic. 

 Of course, this statement moved the read of other people with autism like me and their relatives, to the pint that Mr. Joe Scarborough had to take 5 minutes out of his busy day for an half-assed apology: {quoting}  

"During a debate regarding the recent Colorado shootings, I suggested that the Aurora tragedy should make Americans focus more on mental health in this country. I also stated that my own experiences raising a son with Aspergers made me keenly aware of how important strong support systems are to those who might otherwise be isolated. The growing Autism epidemic is a tremendous burden for children, parents and loved ones to endure. My call for increased funding and awareness for Autism and other mental health conditions was meant to support the efforts of those who work every day to improve the lives of Americans impacted. Those suggesting that I was linking all violent behavior to Autism missed my larger point and overlooked the fact that I have a wonderful, loving son with Aspergers. Perhaps I could have made my point more eloquently. I look forward to continuing my work with wonderful organizations like Autism Speaks to provide badly needed support to millions of Americans who struggle with Autism every day." 

You can read the whole article HERE 

  Hmmmm. No sir. You get brownie points for trying to cover your ass because, seriously, in your position it's all you can do, but don't piss on me without even bothering to call it rain, ok? 

1. Next time you want to bring awareness on the autism cause, please, please, please, do not put the word autism and mass kill in the same sentence, because they are NOT related to each other. 

2. As for you kid......I feel for him. He looks up to you to know that he can and to learn how he ca function in this society, and you just called his conditions "a tremendous burden for children, parents and loved ones to endure". Nicely done. 

3. And Autism Speaks???? Really??? Sir, you have to go and search on Google for Autism Speaks and inform yourself of the facts, about how much money the organization makes and how much of that money really reach people who can give these kids a chance. 

Please, inform yourself before farting stuff like that from your mouth, learn a thing of two about the "issue" that you're so strongly trying to bring awareness too. So strongly, that you used the attention that this horrible tragedy is getting to speak your shit in public. 

No sir, please stop trying to help the autism community because if this is the "help" you can give me that I don't want anything from you, please. 

Let's stop being disrespectful and remember the victim of this crazy act appropriately, without having to put a dump on it by the crap that comes from your mouth, please. 

The animal that did kill of these people, might be autistic or might be not, but this is not why he killed: obviously he's so deeply troubled that anyone can begin to understand. Enough said. 

These happenings struck a nerve to me. You won't believe how many times I hear people saying: "That kid....he has problems, issues, you know it's retarded or crazy....how do they call them??? Oh yeah, autistic, that's it!! His/her mom did drugs and was parting when she was pregnant, so what do you expect???" 

 It hurts and I tell you why. 

My mom didn't do any drugs while she was expecting me, or my brother or my sister. And yet, here I'm. I'm on the "autism scale" somewhere, so what? I'm quirky and weird, totally antisocial if I get my way and sorely socially awards when I don't. I can't be that bad, because I have a husband (almost 10 years!) and I have friends and coworkers. They seem able to tolerate me! So how bad can I be? 

When I had my son I was 21. I was healthy, exercised every day, watched my diet, hold down 2 jobs to pay tuition for college (In Biology and Nutrition, mind you!) and of course I had a little fun with the guy that became my husband. Healthy young sex with one partner, what a party girl!!! 

Hubby was 22, enrolled in the Navy for 4 years. 

We had little money, a broken car, bills to pay and a kid on the way. No way to pay for drugs or even cigarettes or buz. Let alone parting! 

As a matter of fact, I never saw my hubby drink, even at our wedding, he couldn't stand 1 inch of champagne, just the smell....go figure. 

But even so?? 

 People that do drugs, of sleep around or drink don't get babies with autism. 

Mothers who drink get babies with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, not Autism. 

 Mothers who do drugs during pregnancies, make babies with drug addictions or drug withdrawal, no autism. 

Mothers who sleep around get STDs that can be dangerous for babies, not autism. 

What I don't need is the judgements of people, more so of famous people, that without be informed make ignorant statements potentially dangerous for people like me and my son. 

Please, inform you self about what AUTISM really is and stop saying THAT!

Some thank yous.

This is another emotional post, but this time it's not a rant, but filled with (mostly) positive things.

Do you see the picture above? I know it blurry, dark and probably the worse quality picture I've ever took in my life, but it's extremely important to me. It shows Gabriel receiving the Outstanding Effort Award at this school.

A little recap: Gabriel has ASD (Autism Spectrum disorder) and 2 years ago we had to pull him out of the public school and enroll him in a private school specialized for autistic children, the Emerald Coast Autism Center. After a year in this school and with intensive ABA therapy, Gabriel was able to graduate from the center last December and was ready to get back in the public school system. The joy of such major accomplishment was soon drained by the sense of dread that we received by dealing with the Okaloosa County school district. No matter how we asked and to whom we talked too, it was decided that my son was "not ready" and "unfit" to go to his home school and was instead sent to a school in another town (the same school we had so many problems with that we ended up pulling him out and go to the private one) for a "90 school days probation time" to prove that he was indeed ready to get back to his home school.

I don't have enough words to describe how that felt to us. A slap in the face? A blow in the groin? Doesn't really cover the feeling.
I personally felt like I failed my boy while once again we were bullied in sending me in a school where he didn't want to be.

But May 29th 2012 something magical happened. Gabriel receiving the award was just the beginning of it. In a new IEP meeting was finally decided that Gabriel showed some major improvements and progress and he is finally allowed to go to his home school next fall.

So here are my thank yous, and I hope I don't forget anybody. I probably said them already in person, but I thought to put them in writing as well.

• To the Emerald Coast Autism Center staff: without your therapies and the love from everyone, this story will never be written.
• To my neighbors, Aggie and Eva, for entertaining my on Friday evenings, let me vent, bringing me out of the house and giving me laugh when all I wanted to do was hide under the bed and cry. 
• My fierce and unstoppable friend, Brandi Marino, for showering me with her strength and all the legal tools I needed to fight this battle. Thanks to you, I can now inform other parents about the things I learned, the gift that keeps on giving. 
• All the POMs (pissed off Moms): all the meetings with you on Wednesday mornings are things that I looked (and still do) forward too. Talking with people with my same struggles that don't open their eyes big with judgement at the things I say, it's a blessing that I count every day. Jodi Vetter in particular, I fell so close to you as our experience are so painfully similar. I wish that you can see the end of it, as I am today. 
• From CARD, the sweet and classy Debbie Gunter that stood beside me at IEP meetings while everybody was telling me "NO", squeezing my hand to change that to a "YES": we did it! 
• To my daughter teacher, the friends and school personnel that I have at my daughter school and the parents that heard of my predicament and gathered around me, giving me words of love and encouraging me to keep my chin up. 
• To Mrs. Hart, the teacher that welcomed Gabriel is her classroom and loved him for what he is, showed him better ways and giving him the confidence that he can accomplish things. 
• To Miss Dana, the bus driver that every morning for 4 years now? Blessed both my children with her smile and easy going attitude.
• To Mrs. Cadena, the staffing specialist of Lewis school that heard my complaints and concerns and helped me reach the solution I wanted and that my son deserved. 
• And to the nay sayers, the people that looked at me and told me that it's wasn't possible, it's wasn't doable and put obstacles on this journey rather that listen to my words. I thank you too, because with your closed minded stubbornness you taught me and my son the amazing lesson that no matter how difficult something is, it can be archived if you put your back into it. Thanks to you, the taste of this victory is sweeter, the proud in our hearts is 10 times more over whelming and we stand a little taller of our believes. 
• To you, that for months read my words, offering hugs and prayers, enduring my sufferings as they were your own. 
• And finally, to Gabriel: you did it, son. You put a goal in your mind and you archive it. Don't you ever forget, that no matter what everyone says, you CAN DO whatever you want to do. I hope you can use this lesson in the future wisely and don't get too cocky, please :)

No soup for you!

Attention my readers: this post is a bit different that the ones I usually publish, it's not my usual positive and warm-and-fuzzy-kinda of post, it's more of an ugly rant. If you already are dealing with your owns issue and can't stand foul language, skip this one, I'll see you tomorrow. 

 I have to take something off my chest, it's been sitting there for a while like a burden that I've learned to carry on with my in my daily activities. But there is a limit to what I can take on me and still keep my head up on a smile, then there come a point when things start to pile up and pile up and pile up....and all hell break loose.

This post is about discrimination that my son (and me with him) is suffering because of his autism. And I'm not even sure he's aware of it, or of his condition for the matter. But I am. And while somethings sting, some others just plain hurt.

Last episode was hurtful, but mostly was unjust, unnecessary and could have turned in something every dangerous for my son's health. I need to share all this, so that it doesn't keep floating in my head, giving headache and affecting the way I see the world.

 Last week, Gabriel had a male issue. I'm his main care giver, but on this one I was a bit at loss. So I goggled the symptoms and decided that a visit to the doctor was in order. I would usually bring him to our local family doctor that knows him from years, but unfortunately he retired. Having to pick a new doc, I decided that probably was best to get a pediatrician for this one, so off I went to the closest pediatric studio to see if I can get an app ASAP. The lady at the reception was very helpful, listened to my concerns, took a very nice medical history and gave me an appointment first thing for the morning: I was very impressed. But it didn't last long. Upon arriving to the office for my appointment, I was informed that the doctor was running late and he wasn't sure he could keep the appointment. In the meanwhile, Gabriel had starting having a light bleeding on top of his symptoms, so I stress the importance to see a doctor immediately. The lady then proceed to call the doc on the phone and then tells me that he can't take our case on after all because of my son Autism as he isn't an expert on the matter. I tried to make a few funny jokes explaining the woman to tell the doctor that I wasn't asking him to check my son "real" brain, but was still a no go, the doctor wouldn't see us but suggested we'd go to the emergency room if thing worsen. At this point I became very alarmed, if it was such a serious matter that required the ER, I really needed the doc to check it out. Still he refused, but the best part was when they tried to change me for the "visit" than never happen. That's when I finally took my shit up and left the office telling them "Try to bill me!!"

My mom educated me very good, too good, because this is a situation when I really hope I could get the balls to say what I really think and what I think it should be said.

Anyway, I did get the help I needed for my son issue and he's on a treatment that is working and he will be just fine. Thank goodness for that. I'm grateful, I really am, the people that ended up helping us were awesome with me and him, I can't thank them enough.

But I'm also pissed off with the ones that didn't help, I'm hurt, I'm fed up with this shit and I'm not gonna take it any more. I'm not gonna be "the good guy" anymore just because mommy taught me so. Being good isn't gonna cut it to get my son the help he needs WHEN he needs it and I'm sorry mom, but you're not gonna read this anyway and if you do, you won't understand English anyway. Translate it with Google and if I upset you, I'm sorry, I'm trying to be a good mom, just like you are to me.

So, here is the thing: I'm gonna tell you the name of the doctor that turned us away.
Actually, I have a list of "bad guys" that are screwing with Gabriel business and have for a long time. I'm gonna publish their names and you can go ahead and call them and let them know that I did. I don't care. Actually, I do want you to go ahead and call them, and let them know that what their are doing to us is bull shit and they can kiss my ass.

The doctor that turned us away is Luis Gomez, from ABC pediatric here in my hole in Niceville. Have a child that is autistic and he's bleeding? Don't go there, he won't take you. Doesn't matter if the bleeding is on a foot, hand or whatever, he won't take you as he's not an expert in Autism. No Pediatrician for you because you have Autism.

Wanna know the name of the school that is rejecting students that have Autism? Bluewater elementary school, here in the "nice" Niceville. In particular, I want to thank the Guidance Counselor, Pat Licursi, for saying that sending Gabriel to a typical classroom will cause his to feel ridicule and we were bad parents for wanting to try, the staffing specialist Pat Dombrowsky to tell us that we have no clue to what it takes to teach a child with autism (I've only been doing it for 8 years after all!) and that if I didn't like the way the Okaloosa county was handling our situation I could go to private schools, and the county staffing specialist, Penny Mclean, that when I went to her to ask for help in my situation, did absolutely nothing, earning hard her salary (our tax $$$$). No school for you because you have Autism (you can only go to the closest school were the county decided that all the children with autism have to go!)

There, it's done, feeling so much better.......

Al last.....

I'm sure most of my readers are wondering why I'm not writing anymore. The reason is the the past few months have been a little bit of a roller coaster with so many things happening one after another that was difficult for me to absorb them all and put them down in writing.
But now I really need to get some of it now.

It's barely 7 am here and I've been up from 1 hour already. Why?
Gabriel started at his new school today. And nope, it's not the school where my daughter is going, the one that he wanted in so badly. They decided he wasn't good enough for them. Instead the county sent him 30 miles away. I guess for the Okaloosa County is perfectly fine for a disabled child to have to wake up before 6 to be sent to a school far away to get some "services" that the local school seems to think they don't need to provide. It sucks and it's wrong. They are wrong by thinking that I'm just going to accept that.

So after fighting from September, hiring a lawyer and threatening legal action, my son still didn't get in the school he wanted. Maybe I'm old, but when I was school age I picked my own school and my parents had a say so if they deemed that inappropriate for any reason. For the Okaloosa county the students opinion is nothing and parents are just tax payers fools. Nice.

I'm so worried for my boy today and I know that I'm more scared than he is.
It's 7.20 now and I imagine he just made it to school and somebody is directing him to his classroom. I can only hope that he remembers me telling him to listen to what people say and pay attention so he will get in the right classroom. You see, for people with Autism like me and him every new thing seems out of place for a while and can be very scary. This morning for him all it's new and although I know we showed him the way to cope with all that and he has been doing wonderfully, part of me still fears. But of course I do, is the Autism making me talk this way.

This will be a very loooooooooooooong day I can tell.....

Is it Monday yet?

I know I've been very sporadic. This week has been very tough for me.
Lots of meetings with school personnel, phone calls, letters and so on. All in preparation of an IEP meeting for Gabriel that will take place Monday, January 9th (also is 8th birthday).
Big decision ahead: meaning I'm crying a lot and I'm sleeping close to nothing.

From one side there is this big desire to believe that Gabriel can handle going to a public school with little or no help. On the other, the biggest fear that it will not work out. Don't give me wrong, I do not expect to go smoothly and I know whatever happen I can always fix it. It's one of those situations where I wish I could go ahead of time, like 6 months from now, to see how it plays out and choose accordingly. Of course, life doesn't work this way.

To sum the situation up for who don't know: Gabriel graduated from a private Autism Center last month after being there of a little bit less than 1 year (HERE) and it's getting ready to go back into the public system.

Should I mention that I also have a daughter in kindergarten going in the school across the street. This school won't enroll Gabriel. Initially they told me that he didn't qualify for his test results were too low (talk about discrimination), then when we tested him again and he scored ok, they told me that they were afraid his behavior might disrupt the classroom. After fighting to have him in a classroom for 2 hours this week and see what his behavior looks like (was totally acceptable), they are telling me that he requires too much work to get him up to speed with the other children, they even complained of him yawning too much. WHAT THE HELL????

The school district is trying to "bully" me into sending him in another school, 20-25 minutes away from here where they claim are available some "extra" services for my son should he have any troubles. The only trouble he has is that he already frequented that school and he was miserable and thus doesn't wish to get back there, not in a million years.

So what to do, what to do? They are playing on my mommy fears to get all this "extra" help and send him to this particular school, but mommy's heart is telling me that I should listen my son and at least give him a chance in the school he wants to go (where I can keep an eye on him since it's only 1 minute and 30 seconds away) and then IF and only WHEN it doesn't work out, thinking of another solution.

I think it's time to get my little bird out of the nest and see if he flies or fall....what do you think?

All will be discussed and hopefully decided on Monday (did I mention that I'm at it from September???)
I hope I will be up to the task: to listen without getting emotional, to ask the right questions, to keep my cool and make the best of it.

Wish me good luck and.....I will let you know on Monday!

You did it, Gabriel!

Where have I been??? To celebrate Gabriel graduation of course.
December 15th, 2011 will be date that my family will never forget, an important milestone in Gabriel's life and reason of pride in the family.

Some of you are readers here from years and now all about the tales, my worries, my frustration, the progress about Gabriel condition. But some of you are probably here for the first time, so I want to share our journey with you, as briefly as I can.

When Gabriel was born I was a college student and my husband was serving in the Navy. As any parent, we read all the books about parenting and children. We wanted to give Gabriel all the love, warmth and happiness that we could give. With time tho, we found out that it wasn't enough. Something was amiss but we could not put our finger on it.

By the time Gabriel was 3, his sister Michelle came along and we moved away from Italy and established ourselves in the United States of America. Gabriel lack of verbal communication was at the point very noticeable. I had a 6 months baby girl that called me "Mommy" more times in a day that Gabriel ever did in 3 years.

While the ghost of Autism was slowly but surely appearing in our life, we started seeking help from doctors, specialist and professionals. All of them kept telling us that Gabriel "seemed just a little slow" but generally fine, dismissing the possibility of him being autistic altogether.

At 4, Gabriel was tested by the Child Find. His IQ was only 85, had down probably 50 words total and was slipping away from us socially and emotionally. Those tests qualified him for PreKD in the public school, a free preschool program for kids with special needs that seemed to slightly help.

During the summer before he starts Kindergarten sorry goes terribly wrong. Tho he has always been a very picky eater, he stopped eating altogether and when he tried, the food won't stay down. He's loosing weight, sitting idle all day in the living room. No physical grow = No developmental grow. I think was the scariest time of my life and the doctors were useless. I sat down with him everyday, kept a diary with the food that he ingested, what he could keep down, what made him sick and finally understand: Gluten and dairy are a not go.

On September 2008, we started are gluten-free and dairy free diet and Gabriel health and his development made a 180 degree turn. His weight was going up, his smile was back, he was learning in school and at the end of the Kindergarten school year was even able to perform in the school recital, dancing and singing with all the other kindergartens. The road was still long, but progresses were made, his vocabulary was about 200 words now, 4 times the number where he started from.

On August 2009, Gabriel started First Grade and things went down hill fast. The school wasn't providing the services that Gabriel needed and the helped him so much during the past year. No speech therapy, no occupational therapy, his classroom doesn't have a teacher for a long time and when they finally get one, she's totally unprepared and not qualified to deal with Gabriel. Trouble started at 5.30 in the morning with my son crying and begging me not to send him to school 'cause everyone is mean to him. few hours later in the morning, the teacher calls hysterically to come and get Gabriel because "once again he yelled at me, doesn't listen to me and I don't know how to deal with him!"
Every time my son comes back from school it's always a new bruise, a new cut, a complaint from the teacher. His health take a turn for the worse after a visit from the police officer at the school that explain that bad people goes to jail. As his teacher always tells him that he's bad, Gabriel starts loosing sleeps over this.

After my countless attempts to communicate with school personnel without success, it's clear to me that I've done all I can and I need to find Gabriel another school. We had to seek help in the private sector and in January 2010, Gabriel is enrolled in ECAC
Stacy Berryman and her wonderful staff worked with Gabriel for a little less than a year and simply made a miracle. My boy is BACK.

Sempterber 2011, Staci informed me that Gabriel will be able to graduate from the school soon, so I started to look around for the best school for him. Since my daughter is now in Kindergarten, he expresses the desire to go in her same school, so I start from there and the result is a fight that is still today going on.

December 15th 2011, Gabriel is ready to graduate from ECAC. His behavioral problems are almost all gone, in the past 3 months he was tested again, this time scoring a perfect IQ.....no more special Education classrooms!!!!!! Although the fight with the school is still going and I'm preparing for a big match on January, nobody can convince me that this boy cannot accomplish anything he puts his mind to and no wonder....he takes after me!!!

I love you Gabriel and your smile means a lot more that any score test, but you did it dude!!!! You've shown every body that is possible if you believe!!!!

Enjoy a little video everyone, I proudly show you MY charming, silly, funny and autistic SON :)

It's coming.....

....Gabriel's graduation that is! Just few days, it's so close!!
And even tho we have hoped pried and waited for this day to come, it's seems just yesterday that he started this journey and how much growing he did!!
More picture of the event to come, stay tuned :)

Is Santa Real?

This is a little conversation that went on between my and Gabriel (my 7yo son) few days ago.

Gabe: "Mom, is Santa Real" (His way to ask if Santa really exist I think"
Me (sweating profusely): "Well, what do you think? Is he real?"
Gabe: "I think he is if I believe it"
Me (sigh of relief): "Very well then, I think you have a clear picture of that!"
Gabe (now leaving to go play): "I think I do."

I was just grateful that I didn't give it away. I really don't want him to stop believe in Santa maybe for a couple of more years.....too much???

Why the stone? Found it while I browsed to put this collection together :)

On the rocks, ple...

Curated By: Crochetedlitt...

ArtFire.com

Handmade Jewelry

What's going on?

For months now my posts have been very sporadic, impersonal and now come down to barely nothing.

I know you all that used to read me are wondering, what's going on and what happened to me, so today I'm gonna asnwer those questions.

A lot it's going on.

♥ Michelle started Kindergarten this year and I thought that would give me a lot of time for my self....Boy, was I wrong. Between meeting, field trips, school activities, homework and volunteer, sometimes I barely have time to breath.

♥ Gabriel is about to graduate from the Emerald Coast Autism Center. This coming December 15th to be exact. It's huge, it's all we ever wished for, that the therapies he was receiving there would work and make him better. They did. Along with this fantastic news, a fight started with the public school system that want for Gabriel to go back in the same school he was before, where he was mistreated, neglected and regressed so badly. All he wants is to walk to school with Michelle in the morning *sigh
This fight is literally consuming all my energy, I had to study countless law books, local laws, schools policies and county policies....well, you can imagine. The fight is not even half way over and I'm still in my position making phone calls, pleading his case, coordinating teachers, social workers and attorneys.....fun fun fun NOT!

♥ Thanksgiving is here. I don't know how that happened. Was Halloween just yesterday, no? I guess not. At least this year I have all my shopping done, all I have to think about is the cooking and today is the last day of the week of having any kind of obligations. Then I'm gonna hibernate in my kitchen and come out on Friday.

♥ My shops are doing ok but not as well as I wish they would. Normal consequence of being so all over the place lately and not being able to promote. But I'm still here, alive and crocheting.

Just wanted you all to know. Better things are coming :)

Soccer season 2011

After 2 years of red, this year Gabriel is in the blue team. I was really impressed on how it handled being on a different team. Considering that red is his favorite color I thought he was gonna trow a fit or be upset, but....nope. Here he is, with his best buddy

And with the coach, throwing the ball back in the field

Still really hot here, so he has to take frequent breaks and keep hydrate.

That was a good kick.....

....too bad didn't score!

Parents night out!

Gabriel's school is hosting another parents night out tonight. The therapists will watch the kids enrolled in the school and their siblings, so the parents can have a 3 hours date worry free!! Me and hubby haven't decided what to do in 3 hours yet, but if will sure include a meal somewhere without the requirement of a playground or coloring menus to entertain the children lol

We already had one and was back in January....as much as we enjoyed, was with much horror that we come home from it and found the eviction note in our mail. So call me paranoid, as much as I'm happy to go out tonight, I'm very worried about what I will wake up to tomorrow.

But I try to keep it positive.

And on that positive note, I thought it would be nice to share some progresses that Big G (as we call Gabriel now) had made in the past weeks:
♥ He was telling me a story about a book he read at school. I didn't know that story, but he saying made perfect sense. When I brought him to school, he runs to pick up the book to show it to me and starts reading to me. Now his reading and comprehension it's nothing really new, but he's ability to memorize and summarize a story and being able to explain it in a way that made sense to another human being totally is. His growing interest in something that is not a video game is also very encouraging.
♥ He accepted bacon, turkey bacon and a little bit of steak introduced in his diet. He even tried (all by himself) celery and accepted to eat strawberries with his sister.
♥ He made the most cute ceramic tile for my husband for Father's day (I will be sure to make a post about it).
♥ Yesterday when our neighbor nephew stopped by to play with him and offered him a lollipop, he smiling accepted it without retrieving and making a disgusted face. He enjoyed the candy and then engaged appropriately in a hide-and-seek game involving Michelle too.
♥ Picking him up from school, he made me a small red paper heart and wrote "I love you mommy" that simply melted my heart.
♥ He also accepted to get back to soccer games even after the ball in the face he took last fall.

Time for a personal post

I realized it's been a while since I did an overall personal post, so I thought today might be a good time. It's raining and gray outside, weather like time brings me to sit and think about things.
I think I'm pretty much on a sweet spot right now (well, craft show failure aside lol)
My birthday is coming up Sunday, and that will make me 29 years old.
I have a new job, 2 wonderful children, a husband that loves me, a business that is growing (thank you all so much for that!), moved in a better place and got to know lots of new people. Some of them even think I'm awesome (they don't know any better lol)

Gabriel's recovery is still going forward and strong. Yesterday he surprised me with prepping the table for dinner and clean it up afterward.....I didn't even ask!
And again this morning he announced to me that he's too old to be walked in school by mommy, he wants to do it himself.
The teachers explained to be that these behaviors are normal for a "typical" 7yo (one without autism that is), so basically Gabriel conquered some new milestones and put his foot a little be more forward his recovery.

Michelle is growing taller and beautifully sweet! She will go to kindergarten in August and I still can't believe she's old enough for that.
She's growing a love for Barbies, so watch out for crocheted Barbie's clothes on here soon, 'cause I'm sure she will ask some customized one! She has a lots of fantasy and I'm sure she will come up with some wonderful suggestions for me.

And I actually have to run to crochet now. My dream of waking up with nothing else to do other than crochet is being a reality lately and I'm loving it any minute of it. So if you see me blogging less, it's just because I'm crocheting, without a worry in my head for once....