I am BACK!!

Finally...So after a very long break I hope and pray that I can start blogging again. It is such a nice way to get my thoughts out and a great way to document all that goes on in this "full" life of ours. Sometimes it feels like a crazy life, but one day will come and my days will be less full and then I will surely miss them! So here is to, TODAY!

Today my boy is now going on 5 years old. Today, I worry about him less, but still worry. Today I still have the same hopes and dreams for him that I had the day he was born. Today I still strive to be the best Mommy I can be. Some days it is harder then others.

I am going to turn this blog into our family blog. I started when I needed a place to write about my boy. Now a days we don't do anything out of the ordinary for him. No special therapies, vitamins, or exercises. He is just our typical boy with 3 sister :) So now I will be writing about all of the children in the hopes that one day we will have lots of memories to look back on!

Bia, Sophia, Gregory, and Alexandra I love you so very much!! Enjoy!

Is it Aspergers?

We have gotten to a good point but I am feeling there is more work to be done. I spend so many hours a day wondering if things are just right or not. I love my little guy with all of my heart and I love the little person he has become, but I wonder if all of his little quirks won't be something bigger someday that will make life hard for him. The subtle rocking, the fleeting eye contact, the subtle tactile sensitivities, and the need to chew and suck. They are very obvious to me but to others I am not so sure. His teachers say he is doing amazing. The thing is he has so many good things going for him so maybe those other things are overlooked. I am afraid if I don't start getting more help for him now all of the quirks that unsettle my stomach will become big issues for him to deal with later.

We have spent all of our savings to help Gregory, we have nothing left. The only way I can continue to help him with OT and RDI is if we get a diagnosis for him. Will a diagnostician see what I see and listen to my concerns? That is my worry. Do I spend more money for someone to tell me he is smart? I need to find someone who looks at his development through RDI eyes. Finding that person is the challange. I sure hope I can figure this out soon because I can't stand feeling that I am not doing enough for this precious child.

Signs of Autism

Gregory was about 6 weeks when I started typing those words into my search engine on this computer. In the wee hours of the morning with knots in my belly and the feeling of a brick in my head I would type it over and over to see if I couldn't possibly find something to give me a hint of what was going on with my baby boy. Wow I have learned so much over the past 3 years! Well almost 3 years. He will be 3 on March 4. Thinking about his first year of life brings back memories of pain, great fear and lots of sadness. I was scared, scared out of my mind and most of the reason was because there was no information, no resources, and nobody really new what to tell me. Finally I found some wonderful people who believed me and saw Gregory struggling with me but still at the end of the day I felt alone! It was my job. He was my baby. I was in charge. I needed to do the remediating and healing. I felt like the world was on my shoulders. As I am sure most parents feel. It can be overwhelming. I wish I could get rid of all of those feelings. I want to think of his infancy as cuddly and warm, but I don't.

He is pretty amazing these days. We are at a good place right now. I am guiding thanks to RDI (relationship development intervention) and I am nurturing his sense of self thanks to The Nurtured Heart Approach. These 2 parenting styles in combination are amazing. RDI is hands on. Being in an interaction with a child and helping them grow and stretch their self to be more competent in relationship. Nurtured Heart Approach helps the child feel good about themselves. It helps them strive for greatness because they can see it in themselve. I spotlight to my kids when they are showing greatness which is many many times a day.

Could you imagine being a young child and being told how great you are many times a day. And not just that you are great but why you are so great. I love this!!!

Happy New Year!

Gregory and his cousin Ava dancing on New Years Eve.

Finished HBOT

Well we finished up our last session of hbot for a little while. We completed only 30 sessions this time around. I felt I saw a lot of gains with it at around 10-15 sessions but don't feel I saw anything since so I decided to take a little break and then maybe try it again. It takes up a lot of our time bc the center is a 45 minute drive and then we are usually there for about 1.5 hours and then we have our drive home. I am looking forward to this week where we can spend our mornings working on RDI. I have been using RDI theory and lots of guided participation but not as much as I would like. I am glad we did HBOT. I definitly think it has helped little G. He amazes me everyday. He won the hearts of many people at the hbot center. He made a good friend with one lady inparticular. Her husband was having treatments and when Gregory got out of the "tubey" he would run out to the waiting area and sit up in the chair and talk with her. When we left yesterday she said to him, "Gregory it was my pleasure to meet you, you are a special little boy, your smile has been such a gift to me and one day we will see eachother again and I will remember you." She was really sweet to him.
We are so thankful for all of the blessings in our life...

Worms

It has been raining for a couple of days. Finally this morning it stopped and we headed outside. When we opened the garage we found tons of little friends at the edge of the garage and all over the driveway. The kids and I decided to save the worms. We broke twigs off of the tree and scooped up the worms and placed them gently in the grass so they could find their way home. This is really not one of my favorite things but it was a great RDI activity. Gregory had a hard time scooping them up so I was the scooper and her was the placer. He placed them in the grass very gently. It was fun. A lot of emotion sharing. They were a bit wiggly so we laughed a lot!

We finished our 20th hbot session on Friday. Yeah, half way! He is doing so great with it! He loves going and he loves the staff there. His personality is coming out more and more. It is amazing. He is such a sweet sensitive little guy. We were watching a movie in the chamber the other day and in the movie there were puppie snatchers. Gregory started crying when the "mean guys" got the puppies. We love HBOT, it has helped him so much!