Mixed Emotions

I'm all mixed up inside like guacamole. This morning I went and signed up Belle and turned in all her enrollment papers with "rent" (tuition check) for preschool for the fall. She got "accepted" into the preschool lottery program which is run by our local school district. She'll be in an 'integrated" classroom where she will be blended in a class with special needs children (most will have Autism and related spectrum disorders). It is a win-win situation for all of the kids and I am so glad she got into the program. Belle doesn't know any different when it comes to special needs kids being the little sister of Alex - she just knows him as Alex, not for his Autism. I love that about her :). The program is every weekday for 2 hours. No transportation is provided so I will have to drive her each day - but I figure I can go to Shop Rite or get my butt back to the gym where I have a membership that is seriously underutilized. For the first time in years I will have time every day with no kids - 2 hours all to myself. For that I'm excited. But, my baby girl is going to school - she's a big girl now. The days of breastfeeding and diapers are all gone :( She's a big girl now.

I'm jealous of my kids (not really)

I feel that I have one thing seriously lacking in my life. And that one thing is...
SLEEP
.......My kids on the other hand, they can sleep anywhere and anyhow.

passed out on the sofa after a long day

and this one takes the cake....

While eating chocolate ice cream after a late night at the boardwalk

Fruits and Veggies - Oh yay!

I recently joined a local Food Co-Op call Purple Dragon where I can get organic fruits and vegetables on a regular basis. I'm hoping to accomplish the following:

1. Cut down on having to pay ridiculous prices at the local grocery chains.
2. Save on gas since I won't be having to drive all the way to Whole Foods and Wegmans which are like 15-20 miles away from me.
3. Have lots of healthy fruits available for the kids since they eat fruit like candy.
4. Eating Organic is really a good choice for Alex, especially with his gluten free & casein free diet.
5. Try and get my husband to venture out of the meat & potatoes, and caffeine food groups.

We just got home from where we pick up (about twice a month) in Toms River. I put the address into my GPS as Food Coop (forgot the dash) so Alex thought we were going to a chicken coop. I think he was sad when we pulled up to a residential neighborhood & driveway instead. I got lots of good stuff - lettuce, yellow squash, eggplants, tomatoes, carrots, corn, nectarines & peaches (which I now have a wazoo of), a mango, blueberries, bananas, 2 types of melons, green beans.. I can't remember what else but it is a ton of great stuff.

Autistic Crocs

You take a kid to a beach party where there's a giant roped off beach area complete with sand toys galore - buckets, shovels, rakes, Pinwheels, Craft tables with coloring and Puzzle crafts, Crayons & Markers, yummy food - hot dogs, burgers, corn on the cob, ketchup, tons of other kids to play with and adults to boss around... and what do they want to play with?

Shoes.

Crocs to be exact.

Meet Logan.
Logan is Alex's friend from school - they've been together for the past 3 years or so and get along quite nicely. Logan located 4 pairs of crocs from the giant shoe pile at the Sandy Daycare. Now mind you there was probably around 30 or so kids in the Sandy Daycare which means a lot of shoes and around here.. a lot of crocs. Logan located his shoes, his brother's shoes, and 2 of his classmate's shoes. He started out with 3 pair and then ran from the table, over through the caution tape into the daycare and back - he returned with the 4th pair - Alex's black/red Mickey Crocs. He then was pretty content to line the crocs up (by size & color) and put them on the table.

Take a kid to the beach and they play with crocs.

Autism Sass - Hairbow

Being the neurotypical sister of an Autistic sibling can be tough..

Being fashionable in the name of Autism somehow makes it better.

I got this great Korker bow on ebay during April (Autism Awareness month). Anytime I put it in Belle's hair it always gets tons of compliments. She loves it because it is super-poofy and so colorful too. The korkers are curly just like her crazy curly hair!!!

Our Autism Quilt Block for Jersey Shore Autism Walk

Today while Alex was in school Belle and I made this special quilt block for our Alex's Army team for the Jersey Shore Walk Now For Autism.

We decorated our square with camo ribbon, a puzzle piece awareness ribbon, a pink awareness ribbon (Belle wanted this one on there, she doesn't know what the pink ribbon means but she loves pink), happy face buttons and frog buttons. We finished it off with iron on camo letter's spelling out the team name and a recent picture of the king himself, Alex. Here's a picture of the finished product. I was really proud of how it came out considering I'm not the most crafty of people and I actually had to sew for this (and got wounded by the darn needle too!).

Once we got to the Kick-off BBQ I turned over our square where they assembled it with ribbons to connect the squares together and make a quilt. It really is touching to see the squares that people have made and dedicated to their children and who they are walking for.

Here's the Alex's Army square in the "in progress" of assembly - quilt.

Last year we just had a simple square with a photo of Alex on it and his Age & hometown. I found it in the quilt, here it is!

Alex's friend who lives down the street also made a square for the two of them. He is neuro-typical and has taken Alex under his wing in a lot of ways. His square was really touching, he made puzzle pieces and then drew a line connecting them all. He told his mother "I'm connecting all the pieces because they will solve the puzzle and find a cure". Last year Andrew walked with us and went out on on his own and raised several hundred dollars. He is a really amazing child for being only 9 years old.

And here is a picture of the quilt assembled!!! Pretty amazing, isn't it????

New Jersey Shore Autism Walk - 2008

Tonite is the kick-off party for the New Jersey Shore Walk Now for Autism. This is a picture of Alex taken at last years walk.

This years walk will take place in Point Pleasant, NJ on September 28th, 2008

We are walking again under our team name.. Alex's Army. We go by Alex's Army because we are fighting for Alex and all of the other "1 in 150" kids like him who are affected by Autism.

Please visit my Walk Page to join our team or Sponsor us.

Reviewing Gluten Free & Casein Free Food

After we returned home from Disney in October 2007, my son Alex who has Autism went fully onto the GFCF (gluten free & casein free) diet. It has made a world of difference for him in many areas.

1. We notice an immediate decrease in temper tantrums and tantrum like behavior.
2. Alex is sleeping better
3. Not to be gross or anything but the #2 department of the bathroom - POOP is way better. Before things were either constipated or the runs... wicked nasty runs. Now, he is way more regular
4. Trying new foods! Yay to that. Before Alex would pretty much only eat the same things over and over (chicken nuggets, fries, chocolate milk)

Speaking of chicken nuggets - looking for gluten free & casein free chicken nuggets... GO HERE

I've started writing some product reviews over at Epinions.com on gluten free foods that you can buy off the shelf. More reviews to come, but so far here's what I've reviewed.

The Good:

• Pamela's Luscious Chocolate Cake Mix
• Pamela's Incredible Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix
• Pamela's Irresistable Chocolate Brownie Mix
• Glutino Pizza Crusts
• EnviroKidz Organic Gluten Free Peanut Butter Panda Puffs Cereal
• EnviroKidz Organic Gorilla Munch Gluten Free Cereal
• Glutino Pretzel Twists
• Glutino Pretzel Sticks
• Ancient Harvest Quinoa Elbow Macaroni
• Tinkyada Brown Rice Spaghetti
• Real Foods Organic Corn Thins Flax & Soy - Gluten Free
• Orgran Outback Chocolate Animal Cookies
• Glutino Brown Rice Macaroni
• Vance's DariFree Chocolate
• Enjoy Life Foods - "No Oats" Oatmeal Cookies
• Glutino Cinnamon & Raisin Bread
• Nana's Lemon Dreams Cookie Bites

The bad:

• Ener-G Foods Brown Rice Yeast Free, Wheat Free, Gluten Free Bread
• Glutino Chocolate Breakfast Bars
• Glutano Pasta Animal Shapes

The Just OK:

• CherryBrook Kitchen Wheat Free/Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix
• Glutino Apple Breakfast Bars
• Enjoy Life Snack Bar Caramel Apple - gluten free & nut free
• Envirokidz Gluten Free Vanilla Animal Cookies

Many Many More to come - I will come back and update this blog post with new reviews as I publish them!

The quest for edible & affordable gf/cf chicken nuggets

Belle and the Giant Peach

After raining all day yesterday I wasn't sure what we would do today. But, the weather cleared up and so we headed out for some Peach and Nectarine picking at a local (well 30 minutes or so) Pick-Your-Own, Battleview Orchards. Belle loved trying to help carry the big heavy bucket and filled it about half full with some nectarines and some really great looking peaches. Yum!

One thing is for certain, I absolutely cherish our "time" that we have together just the 2 of us while Alex is in school. She'll be starting preschool in the fall and so I'll be even more of a taxi-driver. Gotta cherish these gorgeous moments while we can...

Life as it is.. and Most Excellent news

Well, things should be back to the grind for us. We are all feeling better. Alex is off on the bus to school and this afternoon has a therapy evaluation. This morning Belle has her dance class, of course per usual she is sleeping in on dance day - always happens that way.

Last evening Alex finally lost tooth #5.. of course, this is only the 2nd one that we have managed to keep because he has swallowed the rest somehow. It came out when he was Wii Bowling (which the kid is PRO by the way) and he franticly announced that his tooth was broken and he held out his hand. Then he said "Let's go to the dentist and fix it". We took him to the mirror and showed him the gap while he pointed out that he has another loose one (on the other side too). Then my husband made fun of me for putting the tooth into the ziploc bag that I have with his other tooth that I managed to save. What does he expect me to do - put it in the garbage? Alex doesn't seem to know or understand the concept of tooth fairy so we didn't make a big deal about it.

But.. that isn't the Most Excellent News that this blog is posted for.

Last week Alex lost his glasses, of which I was pretty upset about. Of course, it is the expensive pair that got lost. Well - Good news is that this morning when the bus pulled up the bus aide held up his glasses case and asked if those were his (mind you they have his name inside, she could have seen that). I'm so happy they are recovered. So what if yesterday I finally caved in and ordered him another set of spares from Zenni... that is the story of my life!

The day only gets better

So, I started feeling better around 3 am but apparently that is when the bug left me and the kids got it.

Belle threw up this morning in our bed (always happens like that). Alex threw up on the school bus so I had to go pick him up from school. Both kids are miserable and have continued to be sick all morning.

Lost the last 24 hours

I have literally spent the last 24 hours in one place.


Sleeping
Taking a bath as hot as possible
Worshipping the porcelein goddess


I'd like to say that I was sick for a good reason (recovering from partying or preggie).. but Nope.. Just sick and it has been absolutely dreadful.

The worst part is that I feel as if I totally lost a day with my family and got nothing done around the house. The kids ate hot dogs and dad-o-cuisine for an entire day but I'm sure they'll live.

Steppin Out...

Belle moved up into the next level at dance class and is now adding tap to her repertoire. Here she is in her pretty BLACK leotard and brand new tap shoes in the kitchen getting ready for class.

And since I was slacking on doing this before.. Here's a picture taken of her very first dance recital on June 8th, 2008 in Jackson NJ. They danced to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in the pinkest foofiest outfit... It was "Totally Belle"! When it was all done she got flowers, a medal and gifts from her grandparents. We were so proud of her for dancing the routine and not falling off the stage or crying (that would have been my luck!). Alex was at a friends house that day.. another parent of a child in his class who has 2 autistic children. There was no way in hell he could have handled 2+ hours of clapping, loud music, and talking over the loudspeaker. It just worked out better that way though Belle did ask why her brother wasn't watching her dance :( Some day she will understand.

Glasses Fiasco

On June 5, 2008 - Alex got glasses. Oh what an adventure it has been...

First, to find an eye doctor who is willing and capable to test a child with Autism was way more difficult than I imagined. Considering the Autism rate in NJ is 1 in 94, I really didn't anticipate I would have trouble finding a capable eye doc. I finally found one in Dr. Turtell - however, had to pay out of pocket since he was not on my husbands health insurance plan.

ChaChing $$$ Cha Ching$$

At the recommendation of several friends with kids who have glasses we got him a pair of the titanium glasses that can be bent in every direction and are mostly unbreakable and use a sports strap to hold it onto his face. Since his good glasses were relatively expensive I turned online to order him spares and some prescription sunglasses.

I found everything I needed to know in ordering glasses online at the Glassy Eyes Blog. I ordered him some spare glasses from Zenni Optical and also a pair of Sunglasses from Goggles 4 U(read my Goggles4u review here). Unfortunately his first pair of G4U sunglasses got broken at while he was at Camp. So, I ordered a second pair of sunglasses - this time titanium ones from Zenni that are doing quite well. Yesterday his pricey glasses (pictured above) didn't come home from school and after exchanging notes with the teacher and talking to the bus driver - they have gone missing in action. So he has to wear his spares from Zenni until hopefully the "good" ones resurface. I'm irritated that they got lost at school, and of course - it had to be the expensive ones that went missing.

More Happy Autism Surfing Pictures

The local Autism charity, POAC, hosted along with Brick Challenger and a couple other groups - a surfing event for Autistic children. Of course, I signed Alex up for this since she loves the beach and has been keen on surfing in the past. This event was a bit different... they didn't actually take the kids way far deep and ride them in the way that Surfer's Healing does. Instead they gave the kids a lesson in surfing on the sand. Like this:

Then they lead him out into the water and half a dozen hunky guys held onto the board while he got to stand and ride the waves as they broke in... Like this...

All in all a very happy day for my little surfer dude!