Spring has finally Sprung

This past month has been filled with sickness here at our house.  Mister Fister's immune system is not the best and as such with the weather getting warm and then cold and then warm and then cold again, it is horrible on his system.  He has been dealing with one viral infection after another, either that or one really extended infection.  But so far this week, he's been as healthy as anyone.

Other happenings this month.  I opened an Etsy shop for weighted blankets and other sensory items, as per the push of some really great friends.  I only have a few items listed, but that will be growing as I take time to take pictures of everything I've made for the boys.  This has been a new experience for me as I never really like to pedal my wares because I make them for the fun of it.  But we will see what the future brings for it I guess.

This week in the Cup of Autism Household:

It is finally 70 degrees here in the Pacific Northwest and it finally feels like winter is behind us.  I love spring time, there is so much that you can do without being cooped up in the house.  I love being outside, the fresh air and sun are my friends.  As for the boys, they love it too!  This past week when they come home from school we go for a bike ride, (well they bike, I run) then they get to play in the back yard until it is time for dinner, bath and bed.  And boy to they pass out.  I have never had both of them sleep so well, it's been a treat.

We've been looking into what our next project for the boys is going to be and have decided on two things.  We are going to make them new lofted beds.  This is partly because they need bed frames that fit their mattresses, and we just feel like making them.  But mostly its because it will give them more play space in their rooms as they've grown.  But first we are going to make them a new playhouse.  Right now they have a playhouse fashioned out of the two cardboard boxes that our couch came in.

We have made plans for a new two room playhouse out of PVC pipe (yes, we like to use PVC whenever we can because it's sturdy and cheap) and fabric walls, complete with doors and windows.  The wall dividing the rooms is going to be made from lycra, so the boys can push on it for resistance, or just so they can see who can push farther into the other's side.  

I cannot wait to get started on these projects, I can see how much fun they are going to be.  Now just to save up for them...  

Other thoughts we have been having involve what we are going to do over the summer with the boys.  We plan to get membership passes to the zoo and spend most of our time there or at the beach.  That will be both educational and sensory input for the boys (and myself, I love the beach!).  But we want to work on academics as well and still have school.  

Since we plan on possibly homeschooling Mister Taterbutt next year (it all depends on what happens at his end of year IEP meeting), we have been looking into what curriculum we will be using.  We plan to slowly introduce both Mister Taterbutt and Mister Fister to it over the summer.  This is where their loft beds will come in handy, we plan on building a desk into the underneath side for their school time.  

A Parting Warning

We have also learned to keep track of the moon's phases over the past few months.  It seems every time our boys act out of sorts for extended periods of time, it is either right before, right after, or during a full moon.  So now my home screen on my phone is a widget showing the phase of the moon, that way I can never be taken by surprise again.  Or at least that is the hope, I guess we will see how it works out with tomorrow being a full moon and the first lunar eclipse of the year.  Hope everyone is ready for it and enjoys the warming weather.

The Controversy War

I was scrolling through my facebook feed when I started seeing a lot of people bringing up some never-ending controversies: breast feeding vs formula feeding and vaccination vs natural immunity are the two I have seen most often.

I was curious and started reading all the comments and some of these people are educated on only one side.  Now I normally do not like bringing up controversy, I normally just keep my mouth shut because I do not feel adequately educated about all aspects of these controversies to have much of a public opinion on them.

So why am I bringing them up now? Good question, maybe I just cannot keep quiet any longer, I do not know; but some of the comments got under my skin.

On breast vs formula:
I see both sides of this argument.  Breast feeding does strengthen the bond between mama and baby, as well as helps to pass certain immunities to the baby.  Formula does help to give some nutrients, yes they might be chemically made but they are nutrients none the less, to the baby that might be lacking in the mother's milk or diet.  When I had Mister Taterbutt, I fully planned to breast feed, I went out and got all the nice cute little milk storage containers, an amazing pump, and all the bells and whistles for it.  I was going to breast feed my baby.  Two weeks after he was born, he was getting sick on my milk and had lost quite a bit of weight.  The doctor told me that my milk was making him sick, so I had to switch to formula.  Yes, I was devastated, but I knew in my heart that that was the only thing I could do to make him better.  So I switched him to formula and I watched our savings account go down quickly because formula is not cheap.  After months of trying to find the right formula for him, it is much harder than just going and picking out the first one you see, we had to give him the preemie non-allergenic formula.  It was the only one that he could keep down, but he quickly started gaining weight and was a healthy little boy.  Fast forward to when I had Mister Fister, I chose not to breast feed him from the get go.  I decided that the trouble we had with his brother, I was not going to put him through the same thing.  I am glad I made that decision because as it turned out, he could only have the lactose free formula, so he would not have been able to have my milk anyways.  So all this b****ing about which is better, neither is better, it is a personal decision, and a tough one at that, for the mother to make.  No one knows exactly what goes into that decision for the mother as it is different for each person and situation.  I just think that some of these overly opinionated women, and some men, need to get off their high horse about breast feeding, because it is not always the best choice, and sometimes is not even a choice, for the baby and they need to stop chastising anyone who uses formula.  There is no point to the bickering and it only makes that mother feel even worse about one of the toughest decisions she has had to make.

On vaccinating vs not:
Again, I can see both sides to this controversy and I really do not see the point in all the bickering going on around it.  It is a personal decision that the family makes.  Yes, some vaccines have been found to have harmful effects, and yes some do not even prevent the disease they are vaccinated against.  That is a gamble that all families who do vaccinate take, but one that happens fairly seldom and usually there are other reasons behind the harmful effects.  But I see the reason behind wanting a child to grow his or her own immunity.  That is the healthy way, but when doing so, the parents must keep a close eye on any symptoms, as measles and mumps are treatable diseases if caught early, but yes, they can cause death if not treated in a timely manner.  But the only people who will be hurt are those who chose not to vaccinate and I am sure they understand that risk; so they do not need that thrown in their faces by the pro-vaccinators.  I have chosen to vaccinate my children, well Mister Taterbutt anyways.  He can have the vaccines, and has never had a reaction to them, so he is going to get vaccinated.  I was vaccinated when I was a child and I turned out just fine, so why shouldn't he?  As for Mister Fister, well he has been vaccinated all the way up to his 2 year vaccines.  He had a horrible reaction to one of the vaccines, his leg swelled up and he could not move it.  He was in so much pain for the three days it was like that.  After that we decided that since the doctor's office did not keep on file which shots he got in what leg to pin point the cause, we are not vaccinating him any more.  Luckily, this past fall we found out what was probably the cause, Scott is allergic to eggs.  Several of the vaccines, including the flu vaccine and the MMR vaccine, which were two of the vaccines he received the day he had that horrible reaction.  Mister Fister is our allergy kiddo, we are still continuing to find more and more items that he is allergic to and so we have decided to not vaccinate him.  So we have one child who is getting vaccines, and another who is not; where do we fit into this controversy?  Sure we could continue to give Mister Fister the vaccines that do not contain any of his known allergies, but we have decided to not do that as he already has several health issues. He is pumped full of medications on a daily basis, he gets two to three breathing treatments daily, sometimes more if it is a bad day; he gets Benedryl and Claritin on a daily basis as well as if he goes into anaphylaxis he gets his epi pen; and because of his nebulizer treatments causing him to bounce off the walls, we have to give him melatonin at night just so he gets the little bit of sleep that he gets, normally 6-8 hours, which is very little for a four year old.  This is not to mention the times when he is sick and he is on several different antibiotics.  We have to carry around a miniature doctors bag anytime we go out with Mister Fister because we have to carry just about everything mentioned above, plus we have to take his pulse ox periodically throughout the day.  Because of all these chemicals that are being put in his body, we have decided to not put any more in by vaccinating him, not because we think it causes autism, Mister Taterbutt was diagnosed before he got the one vaccine that is thought to have caused it; but because he has enough going on we do not need to stress him any more.  Plus we take every precaution the doctor tells us to so if he gets sick with one of these preventable diseases, well we'll catch it early enough for treatment anyways.  So I see both sides of the argument and I do not see the point behind all this vaccines cause this, vaccines hurt the children more than they help, or non vaccinators are hurting their child by making them susceptible to diseases.

Both of these controversies are incredibly intimate decisions that a family makes on their own.  It is their personal decision and one they make for themselves and no one can make it for them.  I do not see the point behind all the name calling and forcing of opinions on others.  There is no point to it all other than making each other feel horrible about nothing that will make a difference.  Breast feeding is not any better than formula feeding, and vice versa. Vaccination is a personal decision and one that a parent makes because they do what they feel is best for their child and again, vice versa for those who choose not to vaccinate.  To me it makes no difference; I am not going to stop my friends from coming over because they are breast feeding their children and I do not want to see that, or because they are formula feeding and I do not agree with them, that's ridiculous.  And again on the vaccinations, I have one child who is and one who is not, and I am not going to stop my friends and ask them if their child is or is not vaccinated before I let them hang out with us.  I think this whole public shaming of one decision or the other is complete buttocks.  To each their own decision, and let it be at that.

The New Year

I know I said I would update this a little more regularly, and I apologize (yet again) for slacking on that front.  Life just sometimes gets ahead of you and you feel like you are drowning trying to catch up.
School is back in full swing now, which is great.  The boys are doing great.
Scott's therapists are starting to hang back and let him be more independent, which is fabulous.  I love that my little guy is able to participate in the social groups with little guidance now (he still has to have help staying focused from time to time).  He has started to officially rock climb at OT, which is great and he loves it.  I want to get him to go to some climbing classes this spring, I think it will be a great outlet for him.  Also, Scott has been talking a lot more lately.  He's always surprising me with new phrases, or incredibly long sentences.  It's amazing to see just how much he picks up on (he knows more about anatomy than I do, as he has been helping me with my homework this past week).

Scott climbing away during OT.

Aiden's doing great as well.  He started speech therapy again.  We just got done with all the evaluations this past week, so Tuesday I will sit down and talk with the therapist to find a plan of attack to help my big man out with social situations.  So far the therapist has said that Aiden has all the higher level thinking and intelligence, but he just seems to have issues organizing his thoughts.  This makes perfect sense because most of his conversations are jumbled around.  He has all the working mechanisms and what not, he just needs help with organizing them so he can have a fluid conversation.  This is why when he gets really excited about something, he starts flicking his fingers and he'll either get stuck on one part of it, or he'll start talking about five different parts of it.  But when he has the particular item or picture, or whatever he is talking about, in front of him, man can he tell you every detail about it.  So we are moving to have visuals for every thing.  We have started to have a visual schedule for him again, it has helped him with a little bit of his anger and frustration.  We also put up a visual "House Rules" poster, which will hopefully help with keeping Aiden from beating up on Scott.  But I am excited to see what other thoughts the speech therapist has to help him out.  I want everyone to see how amazing my big guy is.

Aiden being the stud he is and taking a selfie.

Last weekend we were able to take part in the pilot program for Wings For Autism here at SEATAC through the ARC of King County.  It was an amazing experience.  I truly loved every part of it.  The boys had fun and really did not have too many upsets (at least not as many as I was prepared for).  Scott still had an anxiety attack when walking up to the plane's door, but the first officer coaxed him on by letting him talk on the intercom.  Then the pilot was allowing the kids to go up to the flight deck and push buttons, Aiden made a couple of alarms go off.  Then we were "flew" around the runways for about 30 minutes to allow all the kiddos to hear what the engines sound like and everything.  It was one of the best experiences I have had.  I truly hope they are able to do this more often as I know several families will benefit from it.  I wish we were able to stay for the reception after we "landed" back at the gate, but Scott accidentally had some cookies that had egg in them, so we had to go get him to some benedryl before he had a full on reaction.

 Oh no! Aiden's flying!

 This was them eating the dreadful cookies with eggs (mommy didn't check the packaging :/)

 Learning about all the pretty buttons.

 Scott was playing with the visor with daddy.

 This is the man who coaxed Scott on the plane, I am very grateful for that.

 The boys were hushing each other.

This was them waiting patiently for time to board the plane.

This was soon after we realized those cookies had egg in them, can you see the bright red cheeks?

Fast forward to this past week, which has been a busy one.  The boys and I made some baked cotton balls that we had some fun smashing up all over the kitchen.  Then our beloved Mister Pinkerton got sick.  We found out that because our schedule has become increasingly busy and we are not home as much as we used to be, Pinkerton has become depressed.  Sphynx's are a very sociable breed, they love people and playing, they do not like being alone.  I thought Mister Boots would be enough, but it seems that old age is catching up to the poor pup and he has become rather cranky toward Pinkerton.  So we have started researching and contacting breeders, we are going to adopt another Sphynx!  Why another hairless cat? Because with Scott's allergies and lung issues, we do not want the cat fur to cause any issues, so another hairless kitty to the rescue for our very loved and pampered Mister Pinkerton.

Now you might be asking what does getting another cat have to do with sensory or autism.  Well it doesn't really, other than Pinkerton being Scott's best friend and the reason Scott does pretty much as well as he does.  Pinkerton is who helps Scott calm down when he has an anxiety attack or when he is scared because he's sick or coughing a lot.  Granted, Pinkerton does not always do this by choice, sometimes it Scott who grabs Pinkerton off the counter or the PS4 (Pinkerton's favorite heating pad), but he deals with it, no fuss no muss.  He is the best thing that has happened to Scott, and I will do whatever it takes to keep him a happy meowing little fella.

Pounding out some baked cotton balls.

See, best friends :)

DIY Climbing Wall

I thought I would add in how we made the climbing wall as a separate post.
The climbing wall is a success.  The boys love it!
We did not have any plans for it, we just kind of winged it.  Well I say we, we had a little bit of help in the form of the boys' Gigi and Popo supplying the grips and gift cards that supplied the rest (those were meant for us to us for us, but of course we used them on the boys) and a friend of ours helping Eric hand saw and put together the frame.

This is the finished project. What is shown is a 4'X8' sheet of plywood, we thought our ceilings were 8' tall but they are more like 7-1/2'.  I'm okay with that because now it can be slanted really easily for the boys and Aiden cannot knocked it down on himself of others.  The frame behind this front piece of plywood is four 2"X4"s and a 2"X6".  Eric cut the 2"X4"s to have a box behind the plywood.  He has three running the length of the plywood, two on the edges and one down the middle.  Then he cut the remaining 2"X4"to fit on the shorter edges.  The 2"X6" is on the back of this at the top and bottom along the shorter 2"X4"s.  We had planned to use these to attach the climbing wall to the wall, but ended up not needing them.  The grips are bolted on the plywood in a random array, we did not look up any route plans for them or anything.  Then we decided the other half of the climbing wall could use a rope, so that's what it got.  We had some smaller rope that we braided and knotted so the boys can climb.  The boys needed something to help them grip when they climbed up the rope, so we thought we would add some wooden slats for their feet.  We ended up having some in the shed that worked great, so we added those.  Now behind all of the grips and the slats we have some rubber anti-slip mats that are for carpets, but it helps with little toes on smooth plywood, too.  Oh and we have some bells at the top in the middle, one of Scott's ABA therapists made that suggestion, and its great, they love ringing them.

 Scott climbs all the way up to the top to ring the bells, and then he slides down and does it again.

Aiden, or as he is calling himself today, Ballerina loves climbing, but he is a little more unsure of the heights.  I'm sure he'll be tackling this wall in no time and then maybe we'll look into some climbing gym memberships for these guys.

And yes the boys are not the only ones enjoying the climbing wall.  Mister Pinkerton sure loves the height of it (and the fact he can escape the dog).

Holiday Fun!!!

I hope everyone's holidays were enjoyable!
We had a good time this holiday season.  This is the first year we actually celebrated Christmas.  Eric usually worked on the holidays so we always did something on a different day.  The boys also did not like wrapping paper so we would always unwrap all their gifts from others the night before and just have them sitting under the tree for them to play with the next morning.  But this year, Aiden started to talk about Santa and Eric had Christmas Eve and Christmas day off.  So we thought we would actually do Christmas this year.

This was what the boys woke up to in the morning!

The problem was that the boys slept in until 10am.

Eric and I were extremely excited, but the boys slept in and we kept getting anxious.  

When the boys did wake, Aiden was excited.  He had huge eyes when we told him Santa came and could not wait to open gifts. Scott on the other hand kept saying "no."  I unwrapped all his gifts and he finally started saying something other than "no," and played with his new toys.   

Both boys loved the climbing wall we made, with the help from Gigi and Popo (who bought the grips and supplied us with the gift cards to get the rest).  

All in all our holiday was a success, not nearly as nerve wracking as I had thought it would be.  The boys have even handled the break from school and normal schedules really well. 

I hope everyone else's holidays were a success as well, I know these breaks and times can be incredibly stressful, but we all do the best we can.  I would be lying if I said we did not have moments were we were pushed past our breaking points, we just try to focus on what is the best for the boys and us as a family and we make it through.

Chicken Chicken Duck

I really need to set alarms for updating this.  Life kind of happens and I forget to write about it.

The ball pit has been going really great for the boys.  And on the plus side, its been holding up, I have not needed to redo any part of it, yay!!!

So what has been going on since the fun of making the ball pit?  Quite a bit; we found out that Scott is allergic to blueberries, eggs, and chicken; Aiden has had a little bit of cardiac drama; and we have been looking into private schools for the boys.

Allergies are no fun for anyone, let alone a 4 year old who breaks out in hives when he eats his favorite breakfast food, scrambled eggs.  Did you know that allergies and allergic reactions can be acquired.  I mean you can become allergic to something that you have been eating every day.  I did not know that, but one day while Scott was eating his breakfast of scrambled eggs, he broke out into hives.  Luckily, Eric was there and immediately gave him some benedryl so the reaction was kept to a minimum.  We tried him tentatively on some chicken, because we were unsure how he would react to that, I mean the eggs do turn into chicken, right?  Well he broke out in a rash with that as well.  So Scott cannot have chicken or eggs, which are two of his favorite foods. We also found out that Scott cannot have blueberries, by him eating a few thinking they were grapes and again breaking out into hives.
After talking to Scott's doctor we made an appointment at an allergy clinic to get him officially tested, as well as to talk to the allergist about anything else we should maybe keep an eye out for. They tested him for the basics: nuts, wheat, soy, dairy, eggs, etc.  He had a 3 out of 4 reaction to eggs, so definitely highly allergic to these little things.  He cannot eat anything that has any eggs in them and we have to carry eli pens with us just in case he has a reaction.  Problem is, eggs are in everything, and even if I make our own food at home I have to find substitutes for them.  I have tried flax seeds and tofu, but the flax seeds make anything I bake flat and the tofu, well good luck trying to get Scott to eat anything with that in there.  I felt horrible for Scott, he could not have his two favorite foods anymore (eggs and chicken nuggets)  and we were having to change a lot of what he did eat.  I mean I had to change his cereal, his granola bars, his crackers, his raviolis; like I said eggs are in everything. So Eric and I began researching other eggs and if they are conducive to people with egg allergies.  We found a place here in Tacoma that we can get duck eggs from, although they are a bit on the pricey side, but I am willing to try anything and everything I can to help make this adjustment better for the little guy.  I talked to the allergist and since Scott is not allergic to duck and they are from two different animals, he said we could try Scott on duck eggs.
Let me tell you, I was skeptical at first.  I thought duck eggs would taste differently, I mean chicken and duck taste completely different.  But to my surprise, they taste just about the same when scrambled, duck eggs are just a bit creamier.  Now when baking with them, duck eggs are a bit firmer, which is fine, most of the time my recipes need that.  The problem is that duck eggs come in different sizes.  In one dozen we can have some that are almost triple the size of a regular egg or some that are right at the same size, so I have to measure them out, I use 1/4 cup equalling one egg in a recipe.  Once we figured all this out, we were golden, Scott can have his scrambled eggs or waffles in the morning again, and I can bake muffins, cookies, pasta, etc for his lunch and suppers.  We have been doing this for about a month now and things are great.  Scott almost does not miss his chicken nuggets, I still need to find a substitute for these when he asks.

Now on to Aiden.  About a month ago we were called from his teacher saying that Aiden had a seizure at school.  This was odd as he had just been discharged from his neurologist in August for having no seizure activity.  We made an appointment with her anyways to get it checked out as what the teacher and nurse described was unlike any of the seizures Aiden has had in the past.  They said that he all of a sudden started saying he was tired and cold during lunch and then he started of flopping around for about 30 seconds and then took a bite of his lunch and was fine.  They took his temperature and it was normal so it was not a febrile type episode, we just did not know what it was.  He ended up sleeping for 4 hours afterwards and had the hiccups for about 48 hours afterwards as well.
When we met with the neurologist the very next day, she looked at him and then took our account of everything.  She was certain it was not a seizure, thankfully, but that she thought it was a cardiac episode.  Okay, so we went from what's going on with Aiden's brain to his brain is fine, but there's something wrong with his heart in about 24 hours.  It made this Mama very anxious and worried.  We made an appointment with a cardiologist as soon as we could.  They did an EKG and it turned out his heart was fine, but that the cardiologist said it did sound like it was a cardiac episode.  She mentioned that we could do more tests, a longer EKG (Aiden had barely tolerated the five minute one they had already done) or an echo.  She also mentioned that the episode could very well be an anomaly and might never happen again.  We decided that we already subjected him to enough and that if the cardiologist did not think it was worth stressing Aiden out over more tests, then we were not going to do them.  I still wish we knew what happened that day, but at the same time am thankful that Aiden is healthy on all other accounts and I hope it will never happen again.

Shortly after all of this, we had the boys' birthdays.  We decided to have some friends over this year to celebrate.  I was incredibly nervous, I have never held a party before so I was afraid that it was going to end up being boring for everyone or something like that.  I mean its not like we have a ball pit or anything that kids would love playing in, right?  I think it ended going pretty well.  The boys had a blast, as did all our friends.  When we asked the boys what they wanted Scott said no, he's in that stage at the moment, but Aiden said he wanted a blue tutu.

He gets to pick a dress up outfit to wear when he goes potty at school, he teacher sent a picture of his favorite one home, it happens to be a pink tutu.

Aiden also says that he is a ballerina and will twirl around the house, it is really cute.  I did make him his very own blue tutu, and he wears it everyday when he has been good.  Next month we are also looking at signing him up for ballet classes at the Tacoma City Ballet School.  I think we did good for his birthday.  Scott got a Captain America shield blanket I made, I made one for Aiden as well (a big stop sign).

Scott also got a brand new lycra swing/hammock that he plays trapeze artist on all day everyday.  We are also looking into sending our little monkey (AKA Scott) to climbing school at one of the rock gyms in the area.

Now for the private schools.  We all hear of the kids on the spectrum getting lost in the public school system, or of the kids that are placed in a special education program who just get left there and no one actually teaches them, we are afraid of this happening to both boys.  I think every parent is.  Aiden is so advanced academically for his age, I mean he reads encyclopedias for fun, and Scott is reading already and so smart, it takes him two weeks to learn any think that we throw at him.  They are both incredibly intelligent, and Aiden's teacher knows that and is wonderful with him, but even she has mentioned her fear of him getting placed in the special ed kindergarten next year after his first behavior issue in the gen ed kinder.  Then Scott, who's teacher had a little bit of an issue with him wearing his under armor to school and I do not feel is challenging Scott.  I feel next year Scott will be bored and either act out, which is definitely not him, or will regress because he is not getting challenged.  So we have been searching out private schools in the area, and I think we have found the two that the boys will go to next year.  Yes, I said two.  Aiden and Scott have completely different learning styles and needs, they need two different learning environments, therefore, two different schools for them.  Now in terms of affording them, tuition assistance is the only way.  Some of the schools we had looked at charge $20-40 thousand a year for tuition, for their kindergarten classes, let alone for the remaining 12 years of school.  Wow, we do not even make that in a year, so we are definitely looking into financial aid and anything that can help us afford these schools next year.

So the past few months have been quite the whirlwind of emotions and stress.  I promise to try and keep up with this so my next posts will not be quite as long.

Oh the boys made some thankful placemats at school for Thanksgiving.  To brighten everyone's day up, here is Scott's:

It's of course not Mommy or Daddy, its his favorite naked cat:

I have to admit, these two are attached to one another.

Ball Pit Fun!!!!

This weekend has been a blast, we made a ball pit for the boys and it helped Aiden calm down quite a bit.  Aiden for the past few weeks has been overly emotional about anything and everything.  We are pretty sure it was due to the stress of not having much of a routine over the summer, seeing family and then having to say goodbye to them, and then school starting back up.  It's been a crazy last month for him, so I do not really blame him for being emotional.  But he had been asking for a ball pit, we used to have one, but took it down a while ago.  I thought, maybe he's trying to tell us what he needs, so a ball pit might be just what the doctor ordered.
So we thought we would go ahead and make a decent size one for them. Our previous ball pit was made with their old pack-n-play, but we decided now that they needed a proper ball pit, after all they are big boys now and it only seemed right they had a ball pit to fit their needs (sensory that is).
All this past week we worked on drawing up plans, we had decided to use PVC pipe as an exoskeleton and netting for the containment of the balls.  We had several sizes that we went through before deciding upon 4ft X 4ft X 2ft for the frame.

Here are the plans we used.

We decided it would just be easier to have the pipe cut all to the same length, it made for much easier figuring on our part anyways.  We then tried to figure out how many balls we needed and decided that 2300 seemed like a good enough number.  

This past Saturday we decided was the day to go ahead and make it.  

Eric worked on cutting the PVC while I worked on sewing the netting to fit.  My first attempt worked out well in terms of going together and containing the balls, however we didn't use a high enough quality netting and Scott ripped it.  So I ended up having to go back to Joann's and get some high pressure cargo netting, which so far has not ripped (fingers crossed).  What I did for this was I cut a piece that was a 4ft square and then four pieces that were 2ft by 4 ft for the sides.  I then attached the sides to the bottom and then to each other to form the fabric box.  I then made eight tabs for each side out of some scrap denim I had, I made those 4in wide by 5.25in (so the PVC will fit through them).  Then once I had those all attached to the sides I slide it on the PVC and we dumped all the balls back into to.  We also decided to make a ladder for the boys to get in and out of the ball pit all by them selves.  

And viola, ball pit fun!

Having Some Fun

My parents and younger brother came to visit us this past week.  It was really sad to see them go, the boys and I had so much fun with them here.  We went shopping (a lot), to the zoo, to the beach, and all in all had a good time.  My little brother had his 21st birthday while they were here.  Dad and Eric took him out to properly celebrate it, and they did (with video evidence and all).  I just hope they all have safe travels on the flight back and they had just as much fun as we did.

Here are some pictures (I stole them from my mom's camera) of our trip to the zoo:

We were petting the baby stingrays (which are amazingly slimy).

He loved seeing the birds with Gigi and Popo.

They both had fun playing in the sprinklers and getting soaked.

This is how we role.

Oh before I forget to, I should update everyone on Aiden's neurology appointment.  We saw his neurologist the Wednesday my family flew in.  His EEG came back showing some slowing of normal activity, which is consistent with him being on the spectrum.  There was no seizure activity that they found, so his brain is normal for him being autistic.  That's good news!!! Yay, no more seizure meds!!!! But she looked again at his arms and legs (for over 9 months now he has had no reflexes and has been complaining of his arms and legs hurting).  She determined that he has hypotonia and hyperflexia, in lay man's terms, he has no muscle tone, in fact she said he has the muscle mass of an infant, and he is super flexible, he can bend his thumb all the way down to touch his elbow of the same arm and twist his legs into positions that they should never twist into.  Because of that we have to now go back and see his regular pediatrician and have tests run because she said this could be caused by something in his bones, joints, muscles, or nerves.  So we are kind of back at square one, but we have a good team of doctors and we are very proactive about getting things done, so hopefully we will have answers in no time.  

Now for some pictures from the beach (again, I stole these off of my mom's camera)

Aiden did not want to get in the water for the longest time while we were there.

Scott on the other hand is a little fishy, just like his mama.

He kept running into the water (which was ice cold) and having a blast.

I helped him doggy paddle for a little bit, he's going to be an amazing swimmer.

Aiden had some Gigi time playing in the rocks.

But he did eventually make it out to the water.

Eric did not get to do too much with us as he had to work overnights, even though he asked for some time off.  But it is what it is, they needed him on the ward so thats where he had to be.  

We did get to be silly a lot of the time too.

Getting kisses from my Tater Butt!

And from my Mister Fister!

We could not take serious pictures, it was making Mom mad.

All in all, this was the funnest week we have had in a long time.  It has worn us all out, but in a good way.  Tomorrow we get to go back to non-stop running around like chickens with our heads cut off.  

Summer Time Fun

So again I need to apologize for waiting too long to update everyone.

Honestly not much has changed in our little world these past few months.  Just a bunch of regular appointments and tests for the boys.  Tonight, I am with Aiden at Seattle Children's for his 24-hour EEG.  So far he has done amazing and the staff here is truly wonderful with him.  So far he has not had an episode :( but hopefully since he is now asleep, they can still get some good information for what they need/want.

Aiden's legs have been causing him pain in the past few weeks.  We really do not know what is going on there, but we plan on talking to his neurologist at his appointment next month about it.  We truly do not know what has happened, he just starts saying they hurt and does not want to walk or do anything where he has to stand in the afternoons on most days.

Both boys are handling summer really well.  We try to keep them as busy as possible, which probably helps.  Scott now knows all the planets in order and how many moons they have, Mercury is his favorite by the way.  Aiden is learning the bones of the body. They are going to be so smart when they start PreK again in the fall.

We are going tomorrow, when we get home from the hospital, to sign Scott up for CYSS and then for fall soccer on base.  This will be great for him, he needs something to help with his extra energy and he has been showing increasing interest in soccer.  This makes this Mama proud, soccer's by far my favorite sport.  I love doing drills with Scott in the back yard, he may be tiny but he is one fast little guy.

In a little under a month my Mom, Dad, and little brother (who is actually much taller than me) are coming to visit us.  I really cannot wait, I have missed all of my family so this will be so nice to see them.  We are taking time off from everything for the week they are here so we can actually spend time with them and so they can actually feel like they are on vacation and not just being pushed around all the boys' appointments and stuff.

Eric has switched to days at the hospital so he is now actually home a little bit more, if that makes any sense.  He works the same hours, of course, but when he has his days off, they can actually be days off with the boys and I, rather than him spending them sleeping still.  It has been really nice because now the boys are able to spend quality time with Dada.

My classes are going by so fast, I have five more and then I get my Bachelor's in February.  I cannot wait!  Then I have to decide if I am going to continue on with my Master's in Psychology online or physically attend college (my preferred way of learning).  I have also been tossing around the idea of doing a dual Master's program with Psychology and Speech Language Pathology, but I have not fully decided yet.  I guess I need to make a decision so I can make all the arrangements, February really is not that far away.

Well until next time, and I promise I will try to update sooner rather than later :)

Ramblings of a mad woman

So I just realized that October was the last time I updated the blog, oops sorry guys.

Things have been pretty busy since the move: Aiden switched schools; Scott started school; we switched ABA companies; the boys' yearly and 6 month appointments with all their specialists; Aiden having 12 ear infections now, four of which have perforated his ears; allergy testing, hearing testing, and ENT appointments for Aiden; new asthma diagnosis for Scott along with a nebulizer regimen daily; sleep study, opthalmology, and 24 hour EEG for Aiden to determine his seizures and whether or not he has a neuromuscular disorder.

That right there is a lot of changes and stuff going on, and it's enough to make my head swim just thinking about it all.  We are almost done with it all now, hopefully, unless doctor's order new tests after all of these.

The results:

Aiden switched schools and his new teacher is great and is great with him.  We are currently talking to her about him switching to Kindergarten next year, we are positive he is academically ready for is.  He is currently reading at a 1st grade level, not on demand, but by himself.  He is also doing addition and subtraction.  Aiden's newest thing is talking to us all about kinetic energy; where in the world did he learn about that, I do not know but he sure has an amazing grasp of it and the concept of potential energy.  He is one smart cookie and I, along with his therapists, am afraid that if he stays in PreK next year for the third year, as his birthday is late, then he will start to regress out of boredom.  Plus if he does go to kindergarten next year, he will be following about half of his class there and so he will have some friends already there to help with the social piece of it.

Scott is doing amazing in school.  He did switch teachers in February, but he new teacher is just as great as his previous one.  Scott does things there that I still cannot get him to do here.  But the main thing is he has fun, everyday when he sees the bus he beats me to the door and is already up the steps and on the bus before I can get Aiden out the door.  He is such a happy little guy and I am glad that he enjoys school.

ABA, in December we took a little bit of a hiatus from our previous ABA company.  Nothing was wrong with that company, they are great people, we just did not feel it was working for the boys anymore, as they kind of started to level things off and were no longer progressing at the time.  So we took about a month off from therapy and searched other companies.   We found the company we currently are getting services through and they are amazing.  They do a hybrid clinic, part in home therapy, part in clinic therapy to help carry over skills and add in some extra social pieces.  They both have two therapist and all of them are perfect for the boys.  They no longer try to shut the door on their therapists when they come over and they get excited when we go to the clinic.  It is great and the boys picked up where they left off and are mastering programs daily.

Aiden has been having a hard couple of months with his ears now.  His tubes fell out about 6 or 7 months ago and since then his ear infections have started coming back and coming more and more frequently.  By February he had had 8 ear infections, and then he started to have them where they would perforate his ear drum.  He has had two double ear infections that perforated both ear drums, and then just two weeks ago he had one that perfed his left ear drum and now he has one that perfed his right ear drum.  We have already seen his ENT in March about them all, he ordered the allergy testing, hearing testing, and sleep study to determine if it is sinus pressure, allergies, or something else that is causing them that we could control.  The allergy testing told us that Aiden is allergic to all types of grass and to most chemically made preservatives.  But this does not account for the mass of ear infections, however, it does answer some of his GI and behavior issues.  We have started all of us on a natural/organic preservative free diet and so far it seems to be helping with his GI problems, but we have not even been on it a full week until tomorrow.  Aiden's hearing test showed that he has some hearing loss in both his ears and that he has a constant clear fluid behind his left ear drum that does not allow it to move and his right ear drum is sunken in and is not functioning correctly.  The audiologist believes that putting ear tubes back in might help to resolve his hearing loss, but that he will likely need to continue to have ear tubes in place his whole life.  This I can deal with.  But then there's the thought of if the tubes do not help the hearing loss, then we will I guess look at alternatives, I have to remind myself to take it one step at a time and not get ahead of myself with worry.  Tonight is Aiden's sleep study, so we shall see how that goes.  Then tomorrow, we see the ENT again for the check up after all the testing to, hopefully, get the referral for his ear tubes and maybe get the surgery date.  I just want my little Tater Bug to feel better and not have constant ear pain.

Scott's asthma has not been getting better.  We have been asking his pulmonologist for a nebulizer because Scott is deathly afraid of his inhaler, I mean more than just screaming while we put the mask on him.  Scott screams bloody murder and will claw, bite, do whatever it takes to get as far away from the inhaler as he can, and then when we do get ahold of him, usually Eric holds him down while I have to place the mask over his face all the while we get to see the terror in his eyes.  Yeah we did that a grand total of twice before we just decided we did not want to terrorize our child.  His pulmonologist gave us a chewable medication for Scott's controller med, but said we should still work with Scott on becoming okay with the inhaler for emergencies.  I get that he will always need an emergency inhaler, and we do try, but we cannot traumatize him anymore over it.  Well his controller med does not do squat, which I get he's not inhaling it so it is not going to be as effective.  Scott started having bad coughing fits, when he gets a cold, most of the time when the first cough starts within 24 hours Scott has a full blown URI or bronchitis and sometimes it will even be pneumonia by the time we get in to see the doc the next day.  So we took him in and saw a brand new doc, and thankfully it was still just a head cold at the time, but the doc looked at his history and asked why we don't use inhaler meds for his controller med anymore.  Needless to say, I had brought his inhaler with me so I just took it out and showed the doc Scott's reaction, which was scream bloody murder, run to the door to the exam room, and continue to claw at the door until his fingers bleed; and that was just by me barely lifting it out of the backpack and putting it right back in.  It took all of 20 mins to calm him down so I could talk to the doc again.  The doc then prescribed us the nebulizer commenting that it should have been prescribed much earlier and changed Scott's diagnosis from asthma to reactive airway disease.  All in all, we got what Scott needed and he currently rocks his breathing treatments now, which are twice a day and he does not have nearly as many problems throughout the day any more.

Aiden saw his new neurologist in February, we switched because his old one did not want to change his seizure medications because even though it kept him asleep 20 hours out of the day, it took care of his seizures.  My thing was, was the doc really sure it took care of the seizures or was Aiden just sleeping through them, as they are only absence seizures?  Any who, I like his new neurologist, she is very thorough.  She is concerned about Aiden though because he has floppy feet and no reflexes.  I know those are not necessarily things to be concerned about, but the doc is worried about a neuromuscular disorder when combining those with his seizures and his overly huge head.  So we get to go to a ophthalmologist who specializes in looking at the part of the brain behind the eyes, and another 24 hour EEG.  Those appointments are not until June and May, respectively, so we have a little bit of time to prepare Aiden for them.

That is a lot of information to update everyone on at once and I apologize.

In the meantime, we have been taking the boys to the Museum or Flight here in Seattle.  They love it!  Their new obsessions are now airplanes and I have no problem feeding that either.  I know that sounds horrible, but at least airplanes are age appropriate for well any age.  Both boys also have their own taste in airplanes: Aiden's loves the military jets, his two favorites are the B2 Bomber and the SR71 Blackbird; Scott loves the prop planes and commercial jets, he has even began to venture into the world of space shuttles.  I am learning so much about planes just from walking around the museum with the boys, it is amazing.  We have also become members at the Seattle Aquarium and the boys, and Eric, love watching the otters there.  Plus they have small tide pools there with sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and star fish that you are more than welcome to reach in and touch and play with, the boys are not quite so sure about those, but over time I'm sure they will become okay with it.

This all keeps us pretty busy and lately I have been feeling pretty lonely with all of this going on.  You would ask how can I be lonely with all of this to keep me busy?  I do not have many friends and the ones I do have don't really text/call all that much.  Which is partly my fault, communication does go both ways.  But I always feel there is something going on with us and that everyone else thinks we're just drama queens or something like that and I am not the best model of social skills, so I choose to let them communicate when they want. Which leaves me with no adult communication most days except for therapist and doctors for my sons.  Heck I feel like my sons' doctors know me better than most people as we are in the office more than not.  I think what brought all that on was the fact that Eric's brother is getting married this summer and only Eric is able to go.  This is due to a few of Aiden's specialty appointments that are scheduled during that time, and those appointments can only be moved if we want to wait another 3-6 months for them.  I just hate that we can't be there as Matt is by far one of the boys' favorite uncles, my big brother is the other one.   My parents and little brother are coming for a visit in August, which I am completely excited about.  I miss them, I miss all of our family.  Now comes the planning to try to make them want to move out here and stay with us...

As for Eric, he is staying really busy at work.  They still have him working overnights at the hospital, which is good because that does leave the car open for me to take the boys to and from all of their appointments; but at the same time it stinks because half the time the boys are still asleep when Eric comes home from work and are in bed by the time Eric wakes up to go back to work.  I believe we are getting into a better routine with it all though, and we are doing fun things on the days Eric has off which make it ever better.  Eric has also started going back to school to obtain his bachelor's in health care administration, which I am so proud of him he is making better grades than I am.  It funny, when we both get some down time without the boys, we are both usually doing our homework, we resemble classmates instead of husband and wife on those times.