Its always something!

Well another therapist bites the dust! Just when I think we have all of Gage's therapy hours covered someone quits. The girl was very sweet and nice but she really was getting no where with Gage. This was her first job out of college and I don't think working with autistic kids is her calling. So now we once again go looking for another therapist when there aren't any.
I tell ya! Getting services for an autistic child is a full time job in itself. It seems I'm always on the phone setting up evaluations, appointments, or I'm going to meetings or taking him to therapy. Or I have to call someone to light a fire under thier ass because something isn't being done. It's no wonder I'm overweight, overtired, and overwhelmed. But being all of those things does nothing to help my son. So I pick my self up, brush myself off and drive forword.
Now you'll have to excuse me I have a fire to light.

The Lightbulb scare

Well we have been doing our best to save money. One of the steps we have taken is to replace all of our incandescent bulbs with the high efficiency bulbs. (except in our dimmers) They last longer and are supposed to use less energy. My biggest concern with these bulbs is the fact that they contain mercury. The last thing this family needs is to be exposed to mercury! But after reading the package I thought "as long as it doesn't break we're fine" Well now I am not so sure.
Last night I was swinging Gage in the basement. One of these high efficiency lights had burnt out but there are two lights so I hadn't changed it yet. While I'm down there I hear a "POP!" then the light comes on. I thought "oh its not really blown!" Then the thing starts to smoke terrible and has this awful smell. I immediately turned the light off and then took it out of the socket. I was a little freaked out. First I did not know what we were exposed to. Gage had been sleeping just under where the light was. Second...what if I had not been down there??? Could our house have burned down? I wasn't sure if it was the bulb or the socket, so I put a regular bulb in the socket and no problems.
I did a little research on the Internet and found out that this is evidently NOT an isolated incident. I was able to find about 12 other accounts of the same thing happening with the same GE bulb. I am going to write GE a letter, along with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. I do believe I will also write my congressmen because in the recently passed Energy Bill, it is written in there that by 2012 regular incandescent bulbs will be illegal to sell and they are pushing the energy efficient bulbs. I don't like not having a choice. And I'm not convinced that these bulb are not with our issues either.
I just wanted to warn all the readers of this blog. Do not leave your high efficiency bulbs on if you are not in the room.

My Favorite Tradition

The annual trip to the tree farm is by far my favorite family tradition. We started going Makinna's first Christmas and return to the same place every year.

Its not a fancy place, just a tree farm up in the mountain, and they have the most beautiful Frazier furs.

Every year we pile in the car with Aunt B and Uncle Cody and follow Grandma and Pappy Wolf up to the tree farm. Grandma, Pappy, Aunt B and Uncle Cody pick out their tree and we pick out ours. Mostly Makinna and I. Gage is usually running up and down the rows chasing after KJ the dog.

This year there was still snow on the ground from an earlier snow fall. It just adds to the festive mood. I even got some great pictures of the kids. The family picture is not so great...don't we all look so happy?

The experience is always so much fun. Often Wes has a snow ball fight with his brother and sister. And I love watching Daddy and Pappy cut down and drag the trees to the truck like manly men. I know these are traditions the the kids will remember into adulthood.

Boys will be Boys

.....and that's not such a bad thing. Gage is ALL boy. He loves to play rough, sometimes too rough. He often gets the best of his older sister and other kids he plays with. He does a move I call "the take down" where he comes up behind someone, grabs them around the waist and falls backward. I swear he has a future in professional wrestling!
But I realized something the other day.....Gage has only girls to play with. He has a sister, the neighbor across the street has girls, my best friend has 3 girls!! So over Thanksgiving we went to my sisters house. My two nephews were there. They are 7 and 9 years old and I mean they are all rough and tumble boys! They run, jump, yell and carry on like testosterone filled little boys do, and let me tell you Gage had a blast playing with them. It was so joyous for me to watch him wrestle with them and they didn't cry, they ran, they laughed they wrestled and Gage got to do his signature "take down" move and the boys loved it. They thought he was sooooo cool because he played rough. We still had some trouble with Gage biting, but he bit one of the boys and they just said "ouch!" pushed him away and kept playing chase. There was no major melt down, no screaming, they just shrugged it off. My two young nephews have two older brothers so they learned early to be tough, so Gage is no big deal for them.
After watching them I began to think, maybe Gage is not that bad maybe he just needs some rough little boys to play with!

More pics

I just wanted to post these cute pics of the kids in thier festive Halloween shirts, courtesy of Grammy and Grandfather. I couldn't find my cameral when it came time for trick or treat. So my good friend is going to email me some of hers so I have some pictures of the kids in thier costumes. Hopefully I will be able to post them soon.

Sick Sick Sick

I'm just writing today to complain. We have been having a time with everyone being sick. Last week Gage ran a fever for 7 days strait. I finally managed to get his antibiotics in him with much screaming and then yogurt (which he should NOT be having) but you gotta do what you gotta do. Gage finished his last dose on Thursday then Friday Makinna starts with fever. Guess what??? Strep throat!!! Ugh! At least I don't have any trouble getting her meds in her. I can't wait until everyone is well and happy again.

Makinna's Victory over the Worry Bugs!

Makinna has worry bugs. That is to say she has anxiety. She has and always has had fear of loud noises and the machines that make them. She worries when she sees a motorcycle in the parking lot that is will start up and make loud noises, she worries when I get the vacuum cleaner out. But recently on a trip to my brother house Makinna told her worry bugs to "get lost!"
My brother is the king of toys. Now he like to buy the toys but my sister in law likes to play with them! One of her favorite being their dune buggies. On our last trip down there she took me and then Wes for a ride in one. And let me tell you the girl can drive it! Of course Gage had no trouble getting in and going for a ride, after all if it has a motor and wheels it is his friend! In fact Gage came back from his ride and got out. Then it was Daddy's turn. So Daddy walked away from the dune buggy to get his goggles and when he turned around there was Gage sitting in his seat with the belt buckled, ready to go again. Gage was not happy about getting out.
Anyway, I asked Makinna if she wanted to go. She did but when it was her turn she said no. I could see that she really did want to go for a ride but her "worry bugs" were getting the best of her. So Aunt Debbie stepped in. Now Aunt Debbie knows a thing or two about anxiety, so I think she can relate to Makinna in a way that her daddy and I can't. I don't know what she said or did but in the afternoon Makinna went for a very slow ride on the dune buggy with Aunt Debbie. When they got back Makinna was beaming. She was so proud that she went and her daddy and I were were incredibly proud of her going despite her worries. Later that night I asked her if she was nervous when she went for her ride. She said "No, I just told those worry bugs to 'get lost'"