2023 has been the year of “Less is more.” I decided in the summer that I wouldn’t be participating in anything additional and, in fact, our family would be making deep cuts to our activity schedule. It was hard because it meant less time with other families and risking feeling left out of fun things. I stepped out of a leadership position in a scouting organization that I had been in for three...
Survival and recovery
We survived the holidays. Lots of boundaries. Lots of intentional time together, including enjoying new games of coarse. Limiting outside activities, which meant lots of saying “no” to possibly fun activities so we could say “yes” to peace. Oh, and a new kitten. His name is Chase and he is the fuzzy, warm balm to my weary soul. He’s primarily Ms. A’s kitten, and she is doing a fabulous job...
when in doubt, shrink it
Mr. B has been struggling. Hard. We had two months of traveling and birthdays, which are major anxiety triggers for my intense child. Mr. B is diagnosed with level 1 Austism Spectrum Disorder, which is the new categorization of what used to be called Aspberger’s syndrome or “high-functioning” autism. His flavor of autism comes with lots of “scripts” that he runs in...
Sensory-Friendly gift ideas
Need gift ideas for your neuro-diverse kiddos? Here are some of my favorites.
Steps and Journeys: Baby update
God is so good. Those are the first words that came to mind when I started to write this post. I think it is because that must be at the forefront of everything, otherwise it all collapses and sinks into despair. Nothing makes sense without that one truth. That being said, life is so full of changes right now. The babies are getting so big. They aren’t babies any more, they are toddlers...
Happy Birthday, Bitty Girl!
Dearest baby girl of mine, Today is your first birthday. One year ago today, a little girl was born, unbeknownst to us. Two weeks later she would be in our arms, changing our lives forever. You’ve come a long way, Bitty Girl, from that tiny, sick baby. You light up a room with your presence, your smiles, and feisty giggles. You are talking so much now, and you copy all kinds of words and...
And then you came.
It was winter. We were mourning over babies lost, and babies never had, And then, in a dream, God told me your name. He told me to get ready for you. And then the phone rang, and there was a baby who was very sick who needed a mommy and daddy who knew how to take care of sick babies. And then we said yes, because God had already told us you were coming. And then you came. And you were so tiny...
And so go my days
Note: I started this post June 25, and was interrupted by a call from our worker asking us to take an emergency placement of two girls, thus the interruption of time. 🙂 Also, things are even more intense and chaotic right now, but we are getting it figured out. I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to introduce you to Busy Boy as well as let you in to the complexity that is life in...
Twists, Turns, and New Starts: Part 2
As I said in the last post, we knew that God knew what He was doing, and that even if the sib placement didn’t work out, that He had a reason that He was preparing us. Finally, two weeks after we got the initial referral for the sibling group, our agency gave us a call to tell us that the variance for other family had been approved, so we would not be getting the 4-pack, but before she even...
You guessed it! More transitions.
I’m not going to do a post summarizing 2011. Not going to do it. Why? Oh, because 2011 SUCKED! Right up to the end. And I wouldn’t be able to share very much about why it sucked, so it’s just not worth it. 2012 has started out with slightly less trauma, because we only had to say goodbye to Bright Eyes (Baby E’s new name, cuz’ the whole initial thing was getting too...