Autism Awareness

April is Autism Awareness Month in case you didn't know. We as a community hope that throughout April people will become more aware of not only the signs and symptoms to look out for but also to just become more aware of the special people living around you. Autism is nothing to be feared and a little education on everyone's part will go a long way in making sure each Autistic person in the US and around the world reaches their full and true potential. Autistic kids are just as awesome (if not more so in Zilla's case) than any other child they just need a little extra. So if you do the responsible thing and get educated because you may not think you know anyone with Autism but I'd bet your wrong!

What has the US come to?

Guess you can't trust even Sears anymore. My mom (Mena) was recently in charge of some recent renovation going on at her workplace and it required some clean-up so she went looking for a place to do the work. Mena was all excited because she had found a good deal with Sears to clean the carpet at her work today. As it turns out they did a VERY crappy job! The office is 5 rooms and apparently they "cleaned" the carpets in those five rooms in about 30 minutes - um yeah it takes longer to do the carpet in just our living room at the house! So I told her I'd let everyone (all 2 of you) who reads my blog that they should probably overlook Sears when they are thinking of getting anything - at least outside of the store! So I've done my daughter duty lol.

I'm Gonna Conquer Mashed Potato Hill!!

That title might confuse a few people but it's my new goal, well one of the many, to work on. I took an online session through my local CARD (Center for Autism and Related Disabilities) location tonight entitled "The Battle of Mashed Potato Hill" and it was all about food related difficulties that some of our kids have. The lady that did the presentation was AWESOME and gave me lots of things to consider and ideas that will (hopefully) help me get Zilla to expand his food horizon. If you haven't taken this session (and you have access to it obviously) then you should! Mashed Potato Hill is gonna be a treacherous and probably a battle of epic proportions considering the kid involved but I'm strong and he's only had 5 years to hone his stubbornness whereas I've had almost 30 years (wow it's almost my birthday) so he hasn't seen anything cause I can totes outlast him! Anyone have any stories to share about their battles? Is anyone even reading this? lol

Why Does the World Weigh So Much?

I'm sure that every mom has moments *or years* where she feels like the world is one heavy mofo just resting on her shoulders. I am no exception to this and often wish I could just dump all of my worries to the ground and never think of them again. But alas I'm not my ex so I can't just forget about everything and since it's just me and Zilla the buck stops here and I get the awesome *cough cough* job of taking on everything alone. I am in no way missing about my marriage but I really do miss having someone else to share the burden. There are so many things you must figure out and decide on when you have an Autistic child and each one is utterly important. I try to remember that I'm not going to "ruin" my kid if I don't put him the 'right' school next year but the truth of the matter is that while I won't ruin him it is completely important and could make his (and mine and the schools) year difficult if I don't choose correctly. I just wish the world didn't weigh so darn much! Okay I guess I'm done being so woe-is-me for today!

Six Word Saturday

*Going to an ESE conference today*

Today the County we live in is hosting an ESE conference where I will hopefully learn something great that will help me with Zilla's future education. They are doing different presentations throughout the day in addition to complimentary breakfast and lunch. I enjoy going to these types of events (there were several held by different organizations last year) because you just never know what you'll walk away with. I also enjoy meeting with other special needs parents because having a good support system is vital. I hope your Saturday is a good one!

Welcome to the Land of DIY Stuff

This morning I was loving introduced to the Land of Inexpensive DIY Stuff (aka Ikea) and it was nice. We've had an Ikea for awhile but I just never really had a reason to go (you know since my storage unit is already furnished) but a friend mentioned it and we spent the day just looking around. They have seriously TONS of stuff there! I really liked that they had little (and I do mean literally little in some cases) rooms staged. I found lots of stuff that I really liked and a bunch of things that I can't figure out why anyone would own them. We had lunch there and it was pretty good and nice to be able to eat in between shopping without having to leave - smart of them! I had hoped that the kid section would be bigger/better since I am a mom and the world revolves around Zilla LOL. I have a feeling that in the future if I need some lamps or kitchen cabinets I will at least give them a chance.

Such a boy!

MomZilla}Okay baby we're here grab your stuff.
Zilla} NOOO Mama close your door don't get out!!!!
MomZilla} Um what? Just get out of the car
Zilla} Oh Man I wanted to be the winner. Well I'll just beat you to the door, don't move.

Umm What? Gotta love it he seems to think that he's got to "win" at everything including getting out of the car! He literally runs to the door everyday just so that he can win but only after either telling me to stay there or just plain cheating by starting "before" me! 

Something on Sunday

I think on Sundays instead of the fanfiction I'm going to post something maybe a Bible Verse or a random thought or quote and my thoughts on it. Who knows what it will be but here goes:

I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD. —Hosea 2:19-20

God has given us something wonderful and in return we should not only acknowledge him but in turn give him the respect and devotion that he reflects upon us. Thanks Lord for everything you've put into my life and I can only hope that I have the time to truly appreciate them.

Six Word Saturday

*Still got almost 45 minutes left*

Almost missed six word Saturday but I managed it by almost 45 minutes! I meant to do it this morning but I had to take Zilla to meet his grandparents cause they are keeping him for the long weekend. They are really doing their best to stay in his life and be there for him unlike their spawn who has pretty much fallen off the Earth. Guess out of sight, out of mind applies to his kid - I'm not sure how he could possibly do that to Zilla but guess you just never know about some people.

How did they even get air time?

Ok I just finished watching a show called Pop Shop on HGTV (love me some HGTV) and I have to say it left me wondering what on earth would possess anyone to hire these guys to decorate their home. In this episode They wanted to "bring the outside in" so they proceeded to bring in AstroTurf to cover up their awesome hardwood that they spent $500+ on by the way and a wooden swing that say in the middle of their living room! Did I mention that they had a child that just was learning to walk! Don't get me wrong Zilla would LOVE a swing inside but I can't say I'd share that opinion and I wouldn't want anyone spending MY money to install one and it wasn't even a nice looking swing it looked like a random piece of wood from Home Depot. Oh I forgot their "inspiration" was a merry-go-round horse that they hollowed out to install a light in it and hung over the dining room table! Yep you read that correctly they actually hung an ugly chipped paint horse over their table! I just can't get past the horse and the AstroTurf.

Finding a School

I'm pretty positive that I have thought more about Zilla's school and school programs in the last six months than I EVER did for myself and that includes my college! I guess I had always just assumed that Zilla would go to public school and I'd really only have to worry about his post High School plans but um I was totally WRONG. Having a child with specail needs comes with a multitude of different worries and that includes their schooling.

Now don't get me wrong I would have been an "involved" parent regardless but believe me when I tell you that report cards, parent/teacher meetings and PTA are not even close to the kind of involvement I currently have. I can't say that I would want my kid to be any different than he is but wow it would be super nice to have even one thing to not worry about. Wow that sounds a little selfish but I can't take it back because it's true and I feel like I never really to be selfish so I guess a personal thought (yeah I'm sharing with you but you know what I mean) isn't so bad in the grand scheme of things.

I'm in the process of trying to figure out if I will be keeping Zilla in his current school next year or possibly moving him to a V.E. (varying exceptionalities - slightly more contained with better teacher/student ratio for kids with ASD) or maybe even to a private school. I am gonna have to map them all out with pros and cons and what match them up to what I need. It's just SO much to process and think about. Zilla doesn't do well at all with change so I have to weigh carefully and really make the right choice for him.

Holiday Break

Zilla started his holiday break yesterday and so far so good. Yesterday we relaxed home and just enjoyed a day without any craziness. Today Zilla decided he would really enjoy a day to run around our Science Center. We got a family pass a couple months ago and it was totally worth the money he just LOVES this place and since parkings free and they have free wifi and AC I love it too! He is currently 'burying' his Thomas the Train with some dinosour bones. Everything always comes back to thomas! I was hoping to download the blogger app on my phone so that I could start posting more but apparently the blogger app isn't up to par with the other google apps and won't allow me to sign-in so much for that thought. Oh well have a happy holiday break!

I was never really a fan of Statistics in school

Well as you can see from the title I've never been a fan of statistics but unfortunately you don't have to like them for them to impact your life.

Right after the Christmas holidays Zilla's Pre-K director pulled me aside to talk. Well lets just say that it's funny how one 10 minute conversation can change your perception of life as you know it. She explained to me in that little chat that Zilla wasn't developmentally on the same page as his classmates in addition to some "different" things he was doing (or not doing) like not being able to sustain eye contact with anyone, his total inability to answer "wh" questions like who, where, why, he couldn't seem to go into any real detail about anything, the "one-sided" conversations, his huge problem transitioning between activities and the Thomas obsession that we already knew about. These of course were things that once pointed out to me I could clearly see were not typical for the 4-5 year old kids in his class but I had dismissed them because they could easily be overlooked individually. I then started to REALLY notice a difference when I ate lunch with his class and could see how the other children were readily able to converse with me. So I took him to his Ped and then to a neuropsycologist and LONG story short he was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome (AS) which is under the Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) umbrella aka the Autism Spectrum. AS is most notable for the lack of "social graces" but there is a wide range of issues that AS individuals must learn to cope. Nothing has changed with Zilla we just now can explain some of his more 'interesting' characteristics. I'm not really wanting this to be a huge long post since it's my first once since I took a break to deal with first my divorce (which was finalized on our 9th Wedding Anniversary!!) and then all of the fun since then so I'll be posting more on this topic soon.

I'm glad I'm back - it will be nice to be able to talk about this.

Six Word Saturday

YAY My Class Is Finally Done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We made out like bandits!!!

We went to a couple yard sales this weekend and while we were looking for one we came acress a sale that had some Thomas stuff and of course we stopped because Zilla is a Thomas freak. I wasn't interested in the train table but they sold us all of the rest for $40! It was certainly A LOT of stuff but once we got home and laid it all out I just realized how great of a deal we actually got! We got a cranky, a fire house, a ski mountain, a train station, the mine shaft, a windmill, the roundhouse, and a TON of tracks and trains!!! Heres a pic of Zilla with all his new stuff!

Six Word Saturday

September 11th - will NEVER be forgotten!!

Fun With Friends!

Zilla had such a blast when we went to Bama for a visit so I thought I'd share some pictures of that with you all! I really wish we lived closer to our friends or rather family really ;)
Feeding the crazy Ducks

Two against one almost made it even LOL

He did SOOOO good on the balance beam!

In the jeep

Movie Time #1

In the last couple weeks I've seen quite a few new (to me) movies and I'd thought I'd offer up some reviews in a little series. So here are two for today!

Elizabethtown - Starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst. It's a movie about a guy whos life is in shambles when his father passes away. On the way to take care of the details for his dads funeral he meets Kirsten Dunst's character who is just the girl to get him back on track in life.

I can only say that this movie is a huge FAIL!!! Seriously I kept asking myself why I was watching it while it was on but I just kept wanting something good to happen with that cast. I was completely dissappointed. Don't waste your time.

The Notebook - The story of Allie and Noah and their epic love. What great love doesn't face challanges?

I'm just gonna take a guess and say that I loved this just as much as every other girl on the planet. Who can't see the greatness that comes from a true pure love? I just loved Gena Rowlands she was so awesome. The ending is what I think we all want for ourselves - that kind of true love can't be overcome no matter what! Um see it if you haven't!

My Baby Growed Up!

Yep today Zilla started Pre-K and I have to report aht he had a great tiem and seems excited to go back tomorrow. There were no tears at drop off and I think thats both a good thing and a bad for a mom cause it's a little nice to know you'll be missed. Zilla was only concerned with playing with the toys in the room so he barely spared me a glance as I left. He made some friends that he can't remember their names but he said he had fun. It's only half days for now and so far so good. Here's some pictures of my sweet angel face at school:

He even carried in his own bag of stuff!

Here he is in Circle time with the other kids:


Oh below is what I found when I was pulling out of the school this morning:

In case you can't see it's a multitude of fire trucks, cops and EMS people because right in front of the school someone lost control I guess of their SUV and flipped it across several lanes of traffic - it looked pretty nasty and caused a huge traffic jam on the other side of the road.

Sunday Reads!

Ok it's Sunday again so here are a few things to keep you busy!

Beyond The Past - Jasper and Bella have been together since the beginning. She is like a daughter to him in the way that he feels connected and protective of her. On a fateful day he meets the woman of his dreams and she leads them to their future family. But as Bella and Jasper begin to find true love and their soul mates and evil from their past surfaces to destroy them and all they have build. (All Vampire) This was an interesting story because Bella is much older than Edward and comes into the story with Jasper. The entire Cullen Family is thrown into a whole ordeal when Jasper and Bella's past comes back to get them.

Answering Bell Edward gave up his dream when his family needed him and Bella is finding hers after heartbreak. Neither may be ready to start a relationship, but can the undeniable attraction be ignored? Should it? I loved this story - The chemistry between Edward and Bella is amazing and instant. They are intense and therefore end up making mistakes that force their hands but it's just a great story!