Splish Splash Fun and College Again

I took my daughter, her friend and three year old son to a family birthday party this weekend. Dad kept the other three kiddos at home. All I had to do was hold an occasional towel and stalk the kids with a camera. I had so much fun taking pictures at they played for hours on this inflatable water slide mecca that the birthday kids' grandparents own. I got a great one of my daughter's friend squirting my girl right in the butt! That's all you see is a girl with a water cannon, my daughter trying to escape and water hitting her disappearing backside. Priceless! Then my daughter climbed a tree in bare feet and a bikini. I took pictures but don't want to share because she looks too grown up. I am still in denial that she will be a young lady in the not distant enough future. I am still collecting guns to have my husband clean when all those obnoxious teenage boys come over to kidnap my daughter and take her on a date. The nerve! I refuse to think about that for a while. We will just focus on getting though first grade right now.

I started College again on Monday. I didn't do it for Obama. He is not my savior, but don't get me started. I am so close to finishing my Associate's Degree that I decided to just get it done. It will probably take three semesters at 2 classes each, but it will happen sooner rather than never that way. With student financial aid, it is like being paid to be a student and I don't have to clean the restrooms. I was having to do that almost every night at my retail job. I am now enemployed and enrolled. Nice work if you can get it. I am taking my second required English class and a P.E. class. I am paying to get in shape. If that doesn't motivate me, than nothing will. Progress is good!

Sitting on Kids at the Dentist

After the kids were happily released to the school bus drivers, I busied myself trying to catch up on laundry, cleaning, childcare, etc. I didn't even make a dent. Then it was time for my three year old's first dental appointment. He didn't go when his other siblings went because he was running a fever, so he went today without the positive peer pressure of his siblings. Okay, Benjamin had given the dentist a little bit of hell by not letting him in his mouth and had to be sat on by me and his hands held by his Behavioral Therapist. Then because we had hoped his medicine would help him be calm and cooperative, he proved us right... and wrong... by taking a nap on the examining table. But his other two sibblings would have been a good influence. So once again, I sat on a child in the Dentist's office. His next visit involves a sedative and another new toy as a bribe.

At least no one got hurt and I got cute pictures. Isn't amazing how pictures never show how stressed, sleep deprived and irritated the people are, just a glimpse of something seemingly normal. Ah, to live in a photograph, would be so boring, wouldn't it?

I Made it to the Light

My son has been on summer vacation since May 30-ish. It has been an excruciatingly LooooooooooNG summer. Today, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel and was awash with its life-giving warmth. Yes, ladies and gentleman, I have seen salvation and it is long and yellow and has nice people on it who take your children away for hours at a time...a school bus.

Okay, so it didn't happen quite that poetically. After getting my #4 and 5 kids to sleep at 11:00 P.M.(which included falling asleep sitting up in the rocking chair and waking later with a numb and tingling arm), I was awake at 4:20 A.M. with my autistic son Benjamin. I gave him his regular meds with the happy addition of Melatonin in applesauce to help him get back to sleep. We call this delicacy "Happy sauce." I got a little more snooze in an armchair from 5:30 A.M. until 6:00P.M. My oldest son and only daughter started school a week ago and made it to the bus just fine. Benj was still sacked out when his bus came and went. I finally got him up & showered. I have him eat breakfast in his underwear because he doesn't distinguish between a napkin and an outfit. He dumped both breakfast choices in the sink without even so much as a sampling. He spun and broke another drinking glass, and we were on our way!

After I did a drop and ditch, with love of course, my two little ones and I went to Party! I didn't do cleaning. We went to a store for donuts and a park to play. Later, we took a nap. It was a good day.

The Spinning. Stop the spinning!

I am a survivor. I am a mother of five children, four boys and a girl snuck into the middle. They average about 30 to 36 months apart. We don't believe in popping out babies as fast as possible. It is nice to get one out of diapers shortly after the next on comes along. Every one of our children has their own unique personality with the most prevalent similarities being lots of energy and advanced drama. That is where being a survivor comes into play. Did I mention that I have a 120lbs. low-functioning autistic son to also add extra spice to my life. Yes, we are done reproducing. I know my limits. Nervous breakdowns have been known to happen in my family and I don't want to add to that statistic, nor do I want to have to be medicated unless absolutely necessary.

I am blogging after having slept from 1:00 A.M. until 6:00 A.M. while nursing a baby and switching him to the other side twice. Luckily, I had a three hour desperation nap yesterday which refreshed and messed me up. I stayed up to process plums from one of our seven fruit trees because the fruit flies were taking over my kitchen.

Spinning? Oh yes, the spinning. My son Benjamin doesn't spin himself like a lot of Autistic kids do, he spins everything else! He prefers breakable dishes and glasses. Our dish supply has suffered significantly lately, but our broom has steady employment. I know that this is a phase just like coloring on all our walls, "organic muralism," wearing seven pairs of socks at the same time, eating apples twelve times a day, slamming doors,...sorry, I got carried away. So, I will survive another day with a sleepy smile on my face and hope in my heart.

Autism House

Welcome to our home! The first thing that you will notice as we welcome you to our Autism House is that everything locks. That's right! The front door, all the bedrooms, the pantry, the laundry room, cupboards, cabinet for movies/DVD player, etc. Why,you ask? Once you have spent any length of time in our unique household, you'll understand. It's insane!

P.S. No children were harmed in the making of this Blog.