by Sarah | May 14, 2013 | All About Family, All About Molly, All of Us, Autism, Special Needs
Sometimes it’s a thought in the back of our heads.
Most days we try not to imagine that it might happen that way.
Our vision of ‘perfect’ for our kids was always, as most parents is, that they grow up and out, have their own lives, their own loves.
For the most part, we haven’t redefined that vision, that dream.
Some days, though…we worry about this one.
What if her quirks hold her back?
Her misunderstanding of emotion leaves her alone?
Most of the time we ignore the fears. We focus on her growth, her excellent development socially, listen to her dreams of being a model.
Until the day one of our myriad of doctors says, “That one may never leave the nest.”
It puts a rock solid lump in your belly to hear it from a professional.
I guess it’s a good thing my trust for doctors is in the toilet.
Because I refuse to believe it.
At least for today.
And for the future.
Until proven otherwise.
by Sarah | Apr 16, 2013 | A to Z Challenge, All About Denver, All About Kennedy, All About Me, All About Molly, All of Us
He started it.
Growing up he had many cute saying, turns of phrases.
“I don’t like your shirt.” When he was mad (because he wasn’t allowed to say he didn’t like a person.)
“Fizzers” for feathers…because, of course.
But by far the favorite.
The one he no longer says, even if we do…
An expression of love.
More than “I love you.”
More than “I love you forever.”
No, he took it all the way.
“I love you forever and never be done.”
Never be done.
He doesn’t say it that way anymore.
Rolls his eyes if we say it.
But Molly says it now.
And I hope she keeps saying it for a long time.
Because we will never be done loving any of the three of them.
*~*~*
The A-Z Challenge has over 1900 participants, all blogging from A to Z this month. Check them out and see if you can’t find a few new favorites!!
by Sarah | Apr 8, 2013 | A to Z Challenge, All About Family, All About Home, All About Kennedy, All About Molly, All of Us
In a house of girls, many favorites pass through these halls.
Stuffed animals galore go from favorite, to well worn, to out the door.
One of the oldest and still most cherished are two identical animals.
So old, the glitter that once adorned them is worn off.
The fuzzies are no longer fuzzy.
The ‘hair’. is matted and ripped off, and what’s left is knotted.
But in this house, these animals aren’t called unicorns.
Oh no.
It’s the unigoat.
*~*~*The A-Z Challenge has over 1900 participants, all blogging from A to Z this month. Check them out and see if you can’t find a few new favorites!!
by Sarah | Mar 22, 2013 | All About Molly, All of Us, Failure to Thrive (FTT), Special Needs
[flickr id=”8579444004″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”true” size=”medium” group=”” align=”left”]Last week Kennedy got it. That nasty bug that spiked her fever and gave her some time over a bucket, and then in the bathroom. It lasted about 4 days, during which she was mostly “okay”…able to eat crackers and keep down Gatorade.
She went back to school on Tuesday, and no one else showed signs of sickness. I thought for certain we’d avoided the curse of the “traveling” virus that would go from family to family.
Then, first thing yesterday. 6:30AM in the morning.
It struck Molly.
Hard.
So much harder than it hit Kennedy.
For over 12 hours she couldn’t keep anything down.
Nothing.
Not even sips of fluid.
By about 7PM I was really worried. I checked her weight.
Molly is about 50″ tall and is about 48lbs – already severely skinny from her FTT.
At 7PM last night she weighed a measly 42.5 lbs.
Dark sunken eyes, bad color…she almost looked like a skeleton. She could walk to the bathroom, but barely. She asked for help getting back in bed.
Not sure of the next step I called a local 24hr nurse service and they confirmed my worries and we headed to the ER.
After an hours weight in a packed ER we finally got a room (the room reserved for psych cases that had no amenities like TV or phone, and whose chairs were weighted down and almost impossible to move.).
A lovely doctor stopped in the room before we even had her on the bed. Talked with us for a few seconds and ordered an IV drip and Zofran. The IV tech was in the room about 1 minute later. It took a little work to find a vein, but find one they did.
Molly? Took her first IV like a champ. There was a little whimpering, of course, but over all she was amazing.
A couple hours later, our Molly was back. Sparkling personality and all.
Amazing what anti-nausea meds and a liter of fluids can do for a girl.
by Sarah | Feb 26, 2013 | All About Molly, Tuesday Twenty
I started with 20 for me last week…I thought Tuesdays would turn into a good day of the week to continue them. Considering I’ve spent the past few days (& will continue for another few days) to obsess over Kennedy and her tests…I’d take a moment and a day to focus on Molly.
So without further ado…20 things about Molly.
- She is obsessed with her unicorn, Sparkle. The unicorn is placed under my ‘protection’ every day when she leaves for school.
- While she is undeniably brilliant, and we’ve known for years, she does not test well.
- When she was 11 months old she had a unique talent. You could lay out 10 puzzles in front of her, hand her one piece and she’d place it in under 15 seconds.
- Instead of loud freakouts – her meltdowns are silent and internal.
- She dreams of being a model.
- She hates red meat.
- And pork.
- And chicken.
- In case you couldn’t tell, she’s a super-picky eater, practically vegetarian.
- She likes to believe she’s capable of great manipulation – unfortunately for her, it’s not true.
- She likes to be in control of every situation.
- Which also means she hates things like being held upside down in play.
- And also that she is very bossy.
- For four years we wondered if we would ever know her. From the time we lost her (a week of intense GERD pain made her retreat into herself), until the age of four/five, we wondered if we would ever get to know her.
- Once her personality came out, it came out in spades.
- As long as you don’t ask her direct questions, she is sweet and talkative.
- If left to her own devices she could read for hours on end.
- Her favorite books are the “Bad Kitty” books.
- Her favorite movie is Madagascar 3 (sooooo many times we’ve watched it).
- She’s a Momma’s girl….which is a switch from when she was a baby…I imagine it’ll switch again before long.
More Twenty lists next Tuesday.
by Sarah | Feb 19, 2013 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Family, All About Kennedy, All About Me, All About Molly, All of Us
Time is moving fast these days.
When I would like to sit back and breathe it in.
There are great things happening.
There are frightening things happening.
There are moments I want to hide away and pretend the world doesn’t exist.
And moments I want to just sit and enjoy.
When I was growing up I wished I was older. I wished I could do things I was too young for. I wished to be grown up.
Now I just wish for time to slow. For the days to not rush by in a whirlwind of activity and necessity.
Just yesterday I had a six year old son and was realizing that I might just be pregnant with Molly.
Now my son is a teenager, my daughters are almost 8 & 7. My marriage is ten years old. This blog is seven (really?).
We’ve gone from one neurotypical son to three special needs children.
They’ve grown up and are declaring independence and having dreams of their own (A doctor! A model! A teacher! Oh my.).
My husband has had his struggles and we’ve had ours together.
What I wouldn’t give for a chance to take my family outside of the home equation and give us time away. It isn’t in the cards this year, it never seems to be..and we’re running out of time.
Time that is moving way too fast.
Because soon, Denver will be in college. The girls in high school.
And we’ll blink and they’ll have their own lives.
Can we slow it down?
Just for a few days?
Sometimes it’s a thought in the back of our heads.
