Thursday, May 31, 2012

End of a Chapter

I haven't posted in a little while, we've been so busy with end of school year activities.  It's been a whirlwind.  Today was the last day for Brenna at her school.  Next year she will be attending a new school in a completely different district.  I've dealt with district changes and teacher changes and school changes but this time it's a little harder.  Who am I kidding, it's a lot harder.  She has had her teachers for two years in a row in her PPCD class.  Next year she will be going into Life Skills.  It's a whole different ballgame.  I've teared up all week but today I couldn't see to drive home.  I cried on the way there, in the classroom, out in the hallway, in the parking lot, on the way home, in my mother in law's office, back to the house.  I have removed my contacts and put my eye glasses on.  So, now that we have established that I'm a big blubbering baby I'll move on to why.  These teachers, are nothing short of amazing.  I've dealt with many teachers in my life with my other three so I have many to compare them to.  The connection she has, the connection I have, the love and the compassion they have are insurmountable.  I owe them all of my gratitude.  I hope they know how much I appreciate them.  

Now, I am scared.  I'm scared of the new school and Brenna's future.  I'm scared of new people who have no clue as to how she "operates".  The new school has ginormous shoes to fill and you can bet I'm going to be my daughter's champion and hero to make sure it happens.  I have two months to prepare for this and to prepare for MY new chapter.  A mother of four kids in school full time.

I foresee a higher occurrence of blog posts come end of August.

Janie, Val, Kristi, and Pennie.  Thank you for treating my daughter with respect, love, compassion, and like she was your own.  In her eyes, even though she can't verbalize it, you are her heroes.



Saturday, May 12, 2012

Just DANCE!!!


Kaylee and I
Today was Kaylee's recital.  Seeing her on stage with that huge smile on her face was worth the extreme amount of money, stress, arguments, and finagling of schedules to make dance class every week except one this past year.  This was her first year and we couldn't have asked for a better experience.  She needs something just for her.  It's sometimes, well, who am I kidding...It's ALL THE TIME hard on my other three kiddos to be a sibling to an Autistic child.  They need their 
outlets, their quiet time, their one on one with mom and dad.  They need a break too.  So today we celebrated Kaylee in all of her dancing glory.  She had her best friend in her class this year too.  How lucky she is!  They did such a wonderful job and I'm extremely proud of her and Hailey aka the Ayley's.
                                                  

Hailey H (her bestie), Hailey C, and Kaylee
I'm also proud of Brenna who sat through half of the recital.  She made a lot of noise and was pretty disruptive BUT she didn't have a meltdown.  It was the first time we publicly subjected her to a confined indoor area with a bunch of people in a dark setting.  Maybe next year she can sit through the whole thing!

Kaylee Danielle, I love you and I am proud of you.  I cannot wait until next year to see you evolve more as a dancer.  




Not Born With It

A video of our sweet Brenna.

Brenna, not born with it.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Awareness Overload

Autism awareness month is over.  I'm kind of relieved, to be honest.  Now we go into Lupus Awareness month.  Okay...next!  I don't really care about my lupus which is probably going to bite me in the butt later but I'm sorry, I don't have time.  We also have children's mental health awareness day on May 9.  You still following me?  I have a proposal.  Let's all be more aware of everyone around us and be less judgmental, more helpful, understanding, and compassionate 365 days out of the year.  Do we really need days to be reminded to be better people towards those with serious life issues and hurdles?  With 6 people in my family, we hit a lot of the awareness days and months for different things.  Being "aware" is no longer the issue.  Being proactive in finding help, cures, and assistance for things is the problem.  I think awareness is great but thus far, raising it(awareness) hasn't really helped a whole lot of people.  Or maybe it has.  I don't know.  Maybe I'm just burned out on standing on the soapbox to get someone to hear me.  Maybe I want action instead of words and sympathy.  Or maybe I just need to use the awareness days as a reminder to teach my family, especially my kids, that they need to be more compassionate and understanding and all of that jazz.  Yeah, let's go with that.

Be aware!!!!

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