Two Good Things

The first one is just good because I'm a Mommy and a sucker for such thing.s


That was just Mommy good stuff.

But I have something better to show you. Yes, something better than a little girl just being cute.

How about a little boy who doesn't talk, talking?

To Bobby Meaux, Five Years Later

I didn't really have anything better to say than this one.

But it's football season man. The Colts are gonna kick some ass. I wish you were here to sign up for fantasy football. Because I would SO whup your ass.

Like always.

Ah an edit, I liked these pics so much I added them.

Divide and Conquer

It's no big secret that the twins are very different. As are, oh, about 99.9999% of all twins on the planet. It's a great secret, but despite being the same in the way that siblings are, most people seem to think that all twins - even fraternals, are "the same".

At our house, it's not only a difference in their physical appearance but a difference in their autism.

While one boy can and does speak ALL THE TIME, although generally not TO you, the other struggles to make words and be understood. They are very very different and their challenges are so different it's hard to believe they have the same thing.

But you see the older of the two of them, the one who popped through 20 minutes earlier, working his way into language faster. Yesterday when I came home from work, he ran to me and said "I want hug."

Not the first time he ever said that, but one of the first he ever tossed it out as a greeting.

Today though, after I washed his hands and gave him a peck on the cheek he pulled me close and said "I luff you". And my eyes flew open wide, and hugged him hard and repeated "I love YOU!"

And he giggled, hugged and kissed me and said it again.

That was the first time in six years my son ever said that to me.

They are evaluating him to move him from a severe autism class to a moderate one. Because of his language progress. I had trepidation. I didn't want them separated. I felt like the little boy (who is actually the bigger boy now) would suffer without him.

But in the past two days...I'm seeing him pushing forward.

So we'll keep moving forward. And maybe someday both of my baby boys will talk to me like their older brother does.

It's a dream of mine.

The Return Of Mothra

Where we used to live there was once a giant moth by our door - we lovingly called it Mothra. Ok, we actually called it Mothra because the thing was scary as hell.



It looks nothing like this one - but equi-scary. Actually, this one might be scarier - as it was FURRY.

THE BODY IS FURRY. I AM NOT LYING. *shudder*

Outside of being under siege by Mothra, we went to Kennesaw to the train museum (Officialy the Rail and Civil War Museum) to see an exhibit and take a look at THE GENERAL.

The General was part of the GREAT TRAIN CHASE and it's always kinda fun to wander through the museum and see all the artifacts. The first time we were there, they had General Custer's Civil War uniform - and I didn't get a proper pic of it. So of course after that it was gone.

They were also having the Pigs and Peaches festival - for to eat both of them. We were ALL FOR THAT. However it started pouring rain.

But we still kinda had fun. I want to go back next year. Without the storm.

There Was Art

We went to the local big fancy art museum yesterday, to get some culture. Specifically to see the Dali exhibit which we skipped because it's going on forever, in favor of a Euro Decorative Design exhibit.



Of course since this was a fancy temporary exhibit I couldn't take pictures in there. What I could take pictures of was a bunch of random stuff in other places in the museum. Which I did. But I have to confess, I really only took pictures of stuff that made me laugh for one reason or another.



Like this one

You can go ahead and consign me to hell. I'm not going into the details but I'm gonna say I SAW this one wrong. And that's all. My only thought was "OMG WHAT IS GOING ON HERE???"

So you know, I had to take a pic.

And who could resist this one?

That one just reminds me to go to the gym.

Here is the problem with the Euro Design exhibit we saw. They had my toaster. While I appreciate industrial design and functional design and the fact that the CHANGE of every day objects originates somewhere - usually when someone designs a NEW and radically different "concept" version of it.

But...

they had my toaster.

In a museum.

It looks like this.

REALLY? My TOASTER?
/FAIL Euro design.

AMERICA'S FAVORITE NEW GAME SHOW

We just played it. It's Called WHO POOPED IN THE TUB!!!!


If we'd had typical children all around, we might be done playing that, at least until the baby gets bigger. However with two autistic children - every once in a while we get a crazy surprise.


Like today.


I shoulda known something was going wrong - when one of them kept shrieking like he was getting stuck with a knife. However, that particular child screams and makes noise of some sort ALMOST all the time. It wasn't until he looked DOWN that I followed his eyes and found the brown gift at the bottom of the tub.


At least I win the game. I KNOW WHO IT WAS!!!!


It was this guy.........



At least he never did it in the pool.



One awesome thing from this weekend............we went HERE and got Pralines!

Pralines make living in the South worth it.

So what's new with you? I've gotta run, got toys to rinse the poison poop germs off of.....

Oh We Have To Get Up So Early

Oh the morning. It is EARLY for the littlest boys.


It is sort of a sick joke, that they have to get on the bus almost an hour before their big brother. And for Mommy, uh. EARLY IS UGLY. I am such a bitter morning person. I disguise it with a sing-songy voice and coffee.

Luckily, for Miles - morning is as cute as any other time of the day.

They are in First Grade. The oldest boy is in 2nd.

And I have no idea how they got this big.

Sit N Spin To Depeche Mode

Seriously. Explain This to me.



Because it reminds me an awful lot of this.........

Ok I'm REALLY Going To Do A Better Job Of Blogging

So GOD what is wrong with me? I really think of like 20 things to talk about. I think about sports stuff for DDS. I think about fashion stuff. I think about MOM stuff. And then I sit down at the computer and it goes POOF.

It's both annoying and weird.

So while my brain percolates and tries to get back on board with the fact that I love this blog and I LIKE to post here, I thought I'd catch you up on something I mentioned a long time ago.

We're in a study with an experimental autism treatment right now.


Every few weeks, we load up the entire crew and drive over to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We see a nice team of people who we've come to know pretty well and they give us medicine for my littlest boy, and we take them POOP SAMPLES! That's right, the husband collects a whole buttload of poop and we take it over with us. EVERY TIME!


Cool eh?

Plus, not to leave you out of the good times, every time the littlest boy poops - we have to categorize it and write it in this book. Above are all the categories of human poop. LOVELY isn't it?

We get a lot of fives. I'm just saying.

We make the seven hour journey over, stay at a hotel partially subsidized by the Ronald McDonald House (OMG SUPPORT THEM!) and then we have our visit. Then we make the seven hour journey home. It's mind numbing.

But our littlest boy is happier on this drug, he's a joyful child when he used to have so much rage. And the other twin is now in a different study -one without medication - but that helps us cover the costs of the trip better and might possibly help other parents with autistic children also as it covers many of the parenting pieces.

They asked me, how does having autistic children change your life?

I told them I couldn't really quantify it. It defines our life. I don't remember what life was like before, except that it was quieter.

So you're caught up. Everyone goes back to school tomorrow and maybe I'll get back in here more often like I should. I need my brain to ungel.

What's new with YOU anyway?

The One Where I Am On A Team

So I've been going to a gym for a while. I haven't mentioned it because I'm trying not to be one of those OMG I JOINED A GYM AND NAO I AM A FITNESS FIEND people.
Except that, the people at the gym all are.

And they've got these teams.

OMG they are doing some contest for August. Each time you come in, each rep you do, however many minutes you do XZY.......plus today for bonus points..........SQUATS.

Are you shitting me?

And of course the're all "OH WE NEED YOU FOR OUR TEAM ON NIGHTS! PLEASE BE ON OUR TEAM!" I didn't even ask what we win. I mean a team indicates winning.

I'd like to win some candy or deep fried foods personally. I think I deserve it for those squats those witches guilted me into today.

Baked Beans And Potato Chips

So I have a weird thing about baked beans. I don't eat them with utensils. I use potato chips like a spoon.
It's quite good. It's that fantastic combination of salty chips and brown sugar sweet beans that soothes the PMS beast.
But that isn't why I started eating them like that.
I actually started eating them like that because my parents had these friends who were jerks.
Ok they weren't terrible jerks,but the mom was kinda absent minded. And we'd cook out at their house,and time after time the kids wouldn't get utensils. Which was no big whup for the hot dogs or hamburgers and chips etc........but usually there would be baked beans.
And I LIKE baked beans.
So I'd to what any kid does, I'd improvise - and started using the chips to scoop up the beans and eat them.
I'm 41 and I really don't even WANT baked beans without chips these days. I had forgotten until recently why I eat them that way.
I should send them a thank you for denying me utensils. I discovered one of my favorite food treats because of it.
This blog post has no real point. But, I had baked beans with potato chips last night.
And it made me really happy.