Five Things You Might Not Know About Our Household

Some people don't understand much about living with Autism, while others have seen a lot. But living with it daily & in our case in double amounts, there are every day things you may not realize.
Things that most all of us take for granted and may not realize the struggle it poses at our house. Obviously Autism is different for every person & each caregiver handles it different ways. This is just some of the stuff that goes on here at our house & how we handle it.

1. My kids don't blow their noses. You can try to explain the process over & over, and son#1 tries, but no dice. It'd sure help them tremendously if they could. The amount of sneezes they produce & the ferocity with which they sneeze...you'd be amazed. No one goes to college not knowing how to tie their shoes, but I really hope we can blow our nose by then.

2. Son #2 is not potty trained & after dinner is his "business" time. He sometimes even plays in it like a toddler. (Carrie didn't you have a story to tell me about this?) That's never fun to clean up on an 8 year old or the things around him. And we're in the biggest pull-ups they make. But it's very hard to reason and explain the digestive process to someone that doesn't speak and shows no interest. When son#1 potty trained, he watched the commercial for pull-ups & just wanted to be "a big kid now. Just like talking, late to the game, but when he did it, he just did it.

3. It took EIGHT years into our marriage before we got to sleep through the night on a regular basis. I guess it wasn't that terrible when you're right out of college and you're used to no sleep. But once I hit 30, I started to notice. We were so thankful that son#3 slept through the night from the get go. We felt we earned that one.

4. Son#2 loves food. He likes to watch me cook it, and eating is his favorite sport. This poses a problem after dinner. We barely get set down to eat ourselves, and he's almost done eating. As soon as dinner is over, we have to clean up--IMMEDIATELY. Any food left in pots/pans or on plates, all have to be cleaned up immediately or son#2 plays in it, strings it around the house or eats it. No pans soaking in our sinks or he plays in the water. At the end of the day after making dinner, the last thing I want to do is jump up & clean the entire kitchen. But we pay for it if we don't.

5. Our kids don't swallow medicine. They WILL throw up. So we have been fortunate enough to find a doctor that calls in almost anything to the compounding pharamcy so that we can have it topical form. It comes in a syringe without a needle, and is like lotion. In fact, son #1 still calls it "lotion medicine". We have Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and Phenegren for throwing up. If they just made one for the runs, we'd be set!

Side Effects

Well, we've had some side effects pop up for son#2. We were confused for awhile about where the cause of the effects were coming from. Was it the old meds he was on for three years or was it the new meds meeting some of the old in his body & having a reaction. He's ticing his head to the side & rolling his neck so violently & so often, that there was a point where we were worried he'd have convulsions or a seizure. Easter weekend it was happening every 2 seconds literally. Poor kid was smart enough to figure out if he laid down in bed, the gravity would hold his head back. He didn't even sit at the dinner table, his favorite place. When he would sit there for 5 minutes, he'd hold his head in his hand. It was horrible to watch as a parent & nto be able to help.We couldn't even demonstrate it to someone without getting dizzy after a couple of throws of the head. And we weren't doing it nearly as hard. Not to mention I'm sure he had a headache but couldn't tell us. We were afraid to leave him alone in a room or give him a bath or shower, in case he fell & hurt himself.

After seeing the doctor yesterday, she is afraid he has Dystonia Movement Disorder. We are to see a psychiatrist because they are more familiar with seeing this and can tell the difference between that & just tics. It really isn't too promising considering that it's a vicious cycle. If son#2 doesn't take the meds, he hurts himself. When he takes the meds, he ticcing and that could lead to permanent ticcing or paralysis in the neck.

We are trying to be patient & wait but as a parent, that's not what I want to do, nor is it what's the easiest thing to do. He is making tons of strides at school and is really maturing in many ways. The ticcing has lessened, but he walks around with his arm over his head, holding his head still. As the doctor said, "Like the poor kid needs one more thing to work through." Hopefully we'll have answers soon, but in the meantime, we wait.

Autism & Bare Minerals Make-Up--Help Us Raise $$!

Since April is Autism Awareness month, what better time to release a fund raising opportunity for the cause! Below was posted on my Bare Escentuals Addicts (BEA) bulletin board a couple of weeks ago.* Click anything that has a different color to purchase or read more about.

I was so pleased to be given such a fun and enjoyable opportunity to help raise money for Autism. Please feel free to buy more than one for teacher gifts, Mother's Day, Christmas or birthday presents or just to help raise money. They are $13. ~Julie


The BE Cares team at Bare Escentuals, are thrilled to tell you that the Spring 2009 BEAUTY Cares Campaign is ready to launch.

This campaign will raise funds for Autism Awareness with a donation to Autism Research International through the sale of a specially created color called "Puzzle". Puzzle was created by Julie Swaim, a long-time member of BE Addicts and the mom of two autistic boys, Jackson and Carson.

Jules worked with BE to provide lots of input into the creation of a color which describes all the many, many aspects of the autism spectrum. The result is a gorgeous, shimmery, ever-changing kaleidoscope of sparklies in a base of creamy lavender-pink. As with our other BEAUTY Cares colors, Puzzle is versatile. You can wear it dry for a more subdued neutral look, but if you want to really show it off and unearth its full spectrum of characteristics, foil it with a damp brush.

We hope you'll love Puzzle as much as we do and that you'll pull out all the stops to help put this charity color over the top, just like you've done each and every time. Please click this link to purchase the eye color. Puzzle will be available in all BE Boutiques until the end of the charity campaign or stock is exhausted, whichever comes first.

Feel free to link to this message on other people who will want to participate in our fund raiser. We want to create a hugely fantastic donation for Autism Research Institute and make sure we have a sell-out of the color.

Thanks for your support!
The BE Cares team

* I've deleted some names as well as the info that is now irrelevant.

Ten Things Tuesday

1. Hubbo brought me 3 magazines, including a knitting one & a word search book from the store Sunday.

2. My friend Tammy brought us homemade pot roast Saturday night with carrots & potatoes. Rolls, grapes & some iced brownies that Hubbo LOVED. Thanks Tammy!

3. I can put more pressure on my foot now, just not much at a time.

4. I got to go scrapbook Friday night with my friends. My husband was kind enough to drop me off & my friend Terry & her husband Max were nice enough to take me home. I didn't get a huge amount done, but boy was it nice to get out.

5. Hubbo's still getting kids ready in the mornings & on the bus. Which is a good thing. It takes me FOREVER to wake up after taking a pain pill at night. I'm yawning as I write this.

6. Today is Mr. Johnny's birthday. Mr. Johnny is the janitor at son#1's school. He wears overalls & is very soft spoken but so good with the kids. And son#1 has taken a special liking to him. Mr Johnny even sent son#1 a coloring book & crayons when he was home after having his tonsils out. And on his birthday one year sent him a card with 8 crisp one dollar bills. (son#1's favorite number) Today the kids are dressing in overalls & flannel shirts & bringing birthday cards. Since it's son#1's last year there, the teacher will take a picture for me. We've been very lucky & blessed to have such great people at our sons' schools. Even the janitors care!

7. Hubbo brought another surprise from the store the other day, to eat after the kids went to bed.8. The church we attend has hired a new preacher & they have an Autistic son who has some issues with staying in services. I believe he is 16 years old. This is very encouraging because I think they intend to make a room for him to be should be not want to be in the auditorium for services. Son#2 can't go because he is too loud & obviously is too big for the nursery so there's been no where to take him. If they follow through on this, our whole family may get to go to church together as a family which hasn't happened in years.

9. BE Cares campaign with Autism is allowing me to share my sons stories of Autism & how it's touched our lives & bring more people to use Bare Escentuals mineral makeup. (more to come)

10. The "baby", son#3, is saying "mommy" this week. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One out of three ain't bad!