Touchy Subjects

Vaccinations

It is such a hot button topic right now, what with all the measles outbreaks that is happening. Closest one to us right now is about a 30min drive away.

But I want to say one thing. Vaccines do not cause autism!

I will say this again VACCINES DO NOT CAUSE AUTISM!

There is no research out there to my knowledge that has found the root of what causes autism, and so therefore parents that have children with autism need to find blame somewhere. They need to be able to pin point the root of the cause of it. But they can't. You can't. I can't. And the person to blame for all this misinformation is a doctor. Well he is no longer a doctor, but was. Andrew Wakefield. Thanks buddy!

My children both of them are fully vaccinated up to their age. And my five year old son has autism.

He was born with it. Diagnosed at the age of 3, shortly before he was to start school. Being a first time mom I really didn't know anything about autism. And therefore was not looking for any of the indicators of it. Until it was very noticeable with his speech and his eating.

Do I blame anyone or anything for his autism? Nope. And to a stranger you would have no idea that he has autism. He is high functioning and has great social skills, and after starting school his speech took off! He still struggles with his eating and in other areas, but you would never think autism.

I hate that this doctor made this false connection with vaccines, because it is one of the go to pieces of information that some anti-vaxxers use and it just plainly pisses me off. It says to me that me as a mother chose to vaccinate my child and therefore I am the one to blame for his autism.

I am the one to blame? No I am the mother that is giving my child a vaccine for a preventable illness. A vaccine that some other children are not able to get because they are too young, immune compromised or simply an allergy. I am choosing to protect my child and those others that are unable to get the vaccine.

I love my son just the way he is. He has a neurological difference that makes him unique. My child was going to have autism whether I  vaccinated him or not. And it just makes me cringe every single time I hear this excuse of autism and vaccines.

I will not blame medicine for the fact that my son is autistic. I will sit here and say thanks to modern medicine we are able to protect our children better.

The year gone by

January 1st 2015, wow 2015!

There were days this past year where I thought I would never make it to 2015. There were many ups and downs and lots of wonderful memories made.

There was birthdays and lots of trips to the park. We even enjoyed a few wonderful days camping (with a severe thunderstorm thrown in there as well!) We visited friends and family and enjoyed endless summer days outside.

We survived meltdowns and temper tantrums. The good days and the bad. Sleepless nights and early mornings. Lots of sickness and bumps and bruises.

Logan moved from junior kindergarten to senior kindergarten. Brynleigh turned two and Logan turned five. He enjoyed his first birthday with friends from school and had a blast!

There was easy days and tough days. Days filled with tears and days filled with laughter. We trudged through rain on Halloween to collect some candy. We came together on Thanksgiving to spend time as a family. We counted down to Santa's arrival and tore open gifts on Christmas morning.

We gave to the less fortunate and learned to share. Made about 100 candy cane reindeer for school and work!

2014 is behind us and we have so many great memories to take forward with us in 2015. And this year is waiting for us to fill with memories and more great times. There might be some tears along the way, a few bruises and maybe some scrapes, but the fun memories and adventures ahead will keep us moving forward.

This year I am determined that we are not only going to just exist and just try to get from day to day, but to really live our lives. To take each day as a gift to be together with one another. We only live once so we need to start seizing the days and take advantage of every minute, every second we have with one another.

From our family to yours, all the best in 2015!

One Day

One day there will come a time when my son realizes that he is a little bit different.

One day he will realize that writing his name is a little bit more difficult for him.

One day he will see that he isn't able to read as well as his friends.

One day he will see that he is the only one during lunch time that isn't eating a sandwich.

One day I may have to explain to him why he is a little bit different, and I dread that day.

He doesn't notice any of these things right now. He loves being with his friends and he will talk your ear off about a drawing that he did. He can see the whole picture there, but to others just looks like a bunch of scribbles. When your five nothing seems impossible. Everyone is the same and everyone plays with everyone else.

He has this girl in his class that admires him for how fast he can run. She was really excited to introduce him to her mom and tell her all about him. I fear one day that it will turn the opposite and the girl in his class will only tell her mom about how different he is.

When he talks to adults I stand there silently and watch him and look at the parent wondering if they know. Can they tell that he isn't like the rest of them? Are they going to be ok with their child being friends with an Autistic child?

I fear that one day he will lose some of friends because of his need to always come in first, to always be the winner. And although other children may understand that its ok to take turns with winning, Logan is not able to understand this.

He is a smart boy. He knows his way around a smartphone, and tablets. He mastered his DS within hours.

I don't know what the future looks like. How he will do from day to day. How much things will change for him once he is in grade one, because sitting in a chair for long periods of time is not going to be his strong suit, but I will be there to help him succeed with it as much as possible.

The day will come when he does ask, and I am trying to prepare myself for it. I'm not sure what exactly I will say, but I'm working on it.

~ Life will knock you down more times then you can imagine, don't knock yourself down ~

Paying it forward

We have all heard of paying it forward. In big ways and little.

Sometimes it can change a persons life forever and sometimes it can change their day.

I always think, wow there is still compassion in the world today and how lucky those people are to receive such a gift from a complete stranger.

I never thought it would happen to me, until this morning.

I had just dropped my son off at school and decided to make the regular run to Tim Horton's. I pulled into the parking lot and saw the daunting long line of the drive thru. I had my daughter with me and I decided that I didn't really want to wrangle with the car seat straps again and, hey it wasn't like I was in a huge rush or anything so we waited. Inch by inch we got closer and I always notice the congestion in the parking lot from cars trying to pull in the other way, so I decided to let the lady across go in front of me, it clears up the congestion and she probably has somewhere to be, and like I said I wasn't in a hurry.

I pulled up and placed my order of just a coffee. My juice to keep me going in the morning! I pulled up to the window to pay and the lady says to me "and this morning this is absolutely free, the lady in front paid for your order." In that moment in that second I was touched. A complete stranger that I didn't know, have never met and will probably never meet decided to do something so nice for another stranger. She changed my morning.

Some mornings are not as easy as others. Someone is playing with someone else's toy, they don't want to get a shower, Logan doesn't want to wear a jacket even though its only nine degrees outside! But this morning a simple gesture from a stranger made my morning completely different.

I just want to say thank you to the lady in the blue car in front of me. Thank you for showing me that it can happen to anyone. Thank you for buying me my coffee this morning. It was something small but it means a lot to me. Its the little things in life that matter.

In a way it was another secret life lesson.

And now it is my turn to pay it forward.

Sticky fingers

All through my life she has helped me. Been there when I needed her most. She has been a friend, a shoulder to cry on and in her best moments has been that stern voice that every child needs.

She always gives and hardly ever takes.

And yet someone took from her. They took away her way of living. They took away her ability to make memories. They took something that belonged to her.

A stranger decided on a certain day to have sticky fingers. The temptation was just too great for them. And they just couldn't walk away from it.

On the last wedding that my Mom was taking pictures at someone stole her camera body.

She has searched high and low for it the following day. She thought that maybe she had just misplaced it. Put it down somewhere that she didn't remember. She went through the days events time and time again trying to figure out where she had put it. She really didn't want to believe that someone had took it. But unfortunately that is what had happened.

She has always been there to capture the memories. She had been there for my son's birth and
captured the first moments of his life. Has been there when someone proposed. Has been there for countless weddings. Pictures of extended family visiting from far away. taken pictures of a friends dog before crossing over the rainbow bridge. And just simply everyday life pictures.

I know the pictures from the recent wedding are irreplaceable, but I would love to be able to help her make new pictures.

The expense is too great for myself to take on, so I am asking for help. Any amount would help. Nothing is too small.

http://www.gofundme.com/d22zy4

Last day of school

We are about to embark on the last day of Logan's first year of school.

Logan's top banana day!

I remember taking him the very first day. Standing there amongst the crowd of parents with their children. I was nervous for him. I wasn't sure exactly how he would do. How he would be being away from me for long periods of time everyday Monday to Friday, because he was never in daycare.

Logan learning patterns

And yet he surprised me.

His first day of school came and went very quickly. I arrived to pick him up that day and he was all smiles. He loved it! He loved it so much that he didn't even want to leave. He cried the whole walk home. I had to keep telling him over and over again that he would go back tomorrow. Eventually the transition became easier and easier.

Now I find myself telling him again and again that tomorrow is his last day of school for two months to get him prepared for the fact that come Monday he won't be going to school.



Learning to spell his name

Logan has made many strides in school this year. Before starting school Logan was very difficult to understand and within a month of being in school his speech had made leaps and bounds! I couldn't really believe it myself. And sometimes he surprises me with some of his comments that he makes. It makes me laugh a lot of the times.

I can't believe how quickly the year has gone by! We have had a few snow days, lots of sick days and many many falls, but we have come out the other side alive.

I really love it when we leave school and all his friends are yelling his name and saying goodbye. He is a very friendly little guy and I think anyone is lucky to have him as a friend. He really cares about others and makes everyone feel included. (Well with the exception of his sister sometimes!)



Logan's first day of school 2014

Logan's first day of school 2014

I know that come September he will love the day that he gets to go back to school and get to see everyone again, but for now we will enjoy the summer together. (And maybe get asked for the first couple of weeks if it's his school day today!)



Rear-ended

I never thought I would see the day that it would actually happen to me.

Getting hit by another car.

Thankfully it wasn't that bad of a hit. My vehicle isn't demolished and we are all in one piece.

I was coming back home from a short outing to the store with my daughter. Who is currently 2 years old. Taking the road that we drive on a daily basis. Nothing out of the ordinary. That is until we got to a main intersection. I was sitting there at the red light when I heard this big crunch. All I thought at first was, "What the heck was that." And then I knew. It wasn't a massive hit, but I was still shook by it. I look back at my daughter to make sure she is ok. I see her safely strapped in her car seat just looking back at me like "Hey mom, what's up?!"

I get out of my vehicle and walk back to take a look. The other driver gets out of his vehicle and the first thing out of my mouth was "You didn't feel like stopping?" It took everything in me not to yell at him. He seemed a little displaced and not sure what was going on. I said to him "You hit me." Nothing, it just didn't seem to register. I was getting frusturated by the minute. So I called up my husband and said to him with tears streaming down my face "I just got hit." He couldn't believe it. He said he was on his way over. In the meantime I decided to call my Mother, I have never been in an accident and didn't really know what I should be doing. I called her up and with tears streaming down my face again the conversation went a little like this:

Me: "Someone just hit me"
Mom: "What? Where are you?"
Me: "I am at Veterans and Essa Road right by the Starbucks."
Mom: "Oh well we are in the Starbucks right now"
Me: Thinking to myself, of course she is in the Starbucks where else would she be!
Mom: "I will be right out"

Thankfully she came to my rescue and got his information and off to the Police station we went. Of course the other driver never did show up, that's ok we got his address and phone number and to my surprise he is with the same insurance company as I am!

Everything got sorted out and we are scheduled in for a repair in the beginning of July, it's only about $550 in damage, but I am very thankful it wasn't worse.

I tell people everyday I put good money into car seats because you can't control other people's driving, but you can control the safety of the children in your car. Thankfully our insurance company is also covering the cost for a new car seat for Brynleigh.

I know that Brynleigh will have no memory of this accident, but I will. The last couple of days for me has revolved around the insurance company and getting things looked at and replacing a car seat. It's surprising how someone else's mistake can take over another person's life and that our actions really do impact others around us.

I am just glad that my Mother's addiction to Starbucks came in handy that day and that she was close by to help me out!