Nan's Blog

I had hoped to have some cute pictures from the Lifeskills Autism Run and Family Fun Walk to share today, but since it was so cold and damp outside, I was afraid to take the boys out for any length of time. Matthew's been too sick to take a chance of getting sick again. Since it is obviously an outdoor event, we would have been in the cool air and what fun would it have been if we didn't stay long enough to let the boys jump in the inflatables and do the other fun activities that were planned?? So, I will just use my blog to, AGAIN, make my spiel for autism awareness. I can only speak for myself and my feelings of having a child with autism...as sure as each child with autism is different, so are the feelings of the parents, siblings and other caregivers. Some days are definitely easier than others, but I just pray for patience and understanding to be the best mom to Matthew (and Jacob) that I can be. I want to do all that I am meant to do to help Matthew along his way. It is much easier to walk our journey when the cares of life are much less stressful and here lately I must say I've had more on my mind than I care to have. There are things that happen in life that we can't help and I've been trying more than ever to just focus on all the blessings that I've been given. My boys are truly that. There are a lot of families who are effected by autism, and other disabilities, and I just ask you to remember them. Never take for granted the ability to walk, talk, smile and laugh! There are times that my heart is sad, and not on my account. I am sometimes saddened to think of all the things that Matthew may never be able to do and how other people take their abilities, or their child's abilities, for granted. Why would anyone try to make life harder on the families of these children? Oh well, enough of all that.

On Thursday, I took Matthew to WKU, where he did wonderfully again at both speech and KAP. I went to Kyrock's parent-teacher conference and got Jacob's awesome report card and a great report from his teacher....so proud of both of my smart boys!! We went to Ollie church for visitation for Bro. Roy Sanders and I wanted to take the boys with us. Matthew doesn't do well at funeral homes/visitation because, well, he laughs at the deceased. :/ Not that he thinks it's funny that they are dead, but he has always thought that people who were sleeping were funny, and he just doesn't understand the difference. So, on that account, we usually go without the boys. Jacob has really only been to the funeral home once before, when Jason's grandmother passed away, so I felt like he is coming to the age that he needed to go to help him understand a little better about death. On the way we had a little talk to help him prepare for what he would see, and boy did that prompt some questions. Now, I am very serious to give him the best answers on what we believe, but it was hard to not smile at some of his ideas on death and Heaven. I let Matthew sit with one of our friends while we went up to view the body, and took Jacob with me. He made it into the altar, but when I was going to go closer, he wouldn't budge. I told Jason later that I believe if someone had said "boo" he would have either burst out crying or hit the door running.

lllllllllllllllllllllllll (That's Matthew's typing...he's been sitting in my lap!)

Last night we went to my brother's house to have dinner for Dad's birthday. Jeromy made homemade lasagna and we had salad with Olive Garden's yummy dressing! I ate more salad than anything else! I made one of Dad's favorites, Italian Cream cake from scratch...with double the cream cheese icing :) I'm pretty sure Matthew ate the entire time we were there and Jacob LOVES playing with Ellie! (Ashlee's dog)

So far this morning, BOTH boys helped me make muffins for breakfast! Jacob asked if he could help since that was his choice for breakfast, but he had a tough time tearing himself away from the almighty Sponge Bob. He did help pour in one of the packs of mix, poured in the milk and helped spoon one bowl into the muffin tin. Matthew helped spoon in one bowl of mix into the tin, then he poured the next mix into the bowl, poured in the milk and put the measuring cup in the sink (after he put it in the garbage first :) and then he KNEW they went in the oven and helped open the door (while I assisted to keep him from touching anything hot.) To beat it all, he didn't even want to eat one...he was just trying to bribe his way into a hot dog!! (It worked!) Since it's such a blah and cold day outside, I think we'll just stick around the house today...gonna work on the house a tad and then we'll probably watch a movie or two...sounds like a good way to spend the day to me :)