btw: i am elsew2ere

missing letters thanks to the girl.

but i am blogging elsewhere privately.

you can email me at misformichelle at gmail dot com

and we are all doing fab. <3

xoxo, m

Only posting to tell spammers...

To go fuck themselves.

That is all.

Tired of stupid fucking spam comments at least once a day.

Dude that's more than I get on my current blog. LMFAO LAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMME.

And thus concludes this lame post as well. If you stumbled on this somehow and didn't manage to make it to the brave new world with me? Go look at the post below and shoot me a line. You're not missing much. But it's better than just spammer comments all the time!

~M

I'm officially transplanted

If I haven't got you the info...re email me at misformichelle at gmail dot com

Then I'll pass it on.

Consider this blog put to rest.

~M

New home!

I've got a new home.

Stay tuned. Email me. Whatever.

I think I've found THE PLACE.

For writing. I'm still stuck in this shithole 2 bedroom apartment.

But at least I can write again.

And yes, you're all invited along. I'm just not posting the new address here. Duh. ;)

~M

send me your ideas...

Alright.

I need to blog.

But I need a name.

No creativity.

Email me your ideas.

And yes, everyone who has asked thus far is SO invited to come along. I just need a LITTLE more animosity. No. Not animosity. LMAO. I think I have enough strong feelings of dislike. How about we try anonymousness.

So you all know me well enough now. You all are smarter and more creative. EMAIL ME your ideas! Since I'm running away and hiding leaving a post here would be a suckass idea.

And email me if you want to follow with an obvious title so I don't delete you if you end up in spam. And I'll even have you email the address I actually check.

misformichelle at gmail dot com

Come on. Help me. I'm NEEDING to blog.

Besides Kim had a very sad moment knowing she wasn't featured after our fabulous evening tonight because I'm silencing this blog. We dont' want Kim sad. ;) We did have fun. And there was even Liz there. And all of our small people. And husband folk! And I had 4 sips of beverages with alcohol.

Cod I miss the flavor of rum. mmmmmm.

I also miss getting enough sleep. Liam has slept in his bed every night for the last week and he knows he has to go in there to lay down. And three of the last 5 nights? He's slept THROUGH the night 8p-6a fully in his bed. Cod life's good in that department.

Don't ask about Lily. Her sleeping in her own bed success is far less substantial than her brother but hey. One kid (especially the bed hog) in his own bed? Is huge.

Also huge? My desire to eat the damn pasta salad Liz made. Oh dear hell.

Oh yeah. And Liam is eating ridiculous fucking food.

See what happens when i dont' blog? You miss great pictures and things like "Liam has eaten a sub sandwich, banana, pizza, chicken nuggets, and much much more" this week.

Sleep. I need it.

Email me. Pretty pretty please. Need. New. Blog. Address. Ideas. Desperately.

~M

Going private or going quiet

I'm thinking of either evacuating this blog...or going private. There's just too much going on that I don't care to share with EVERYONE who could potentially read this. It's too stressful to censor myself and too stressful to be so vulnerable to people who would use against me or judge me or be non supportive. I'm feeling less than trusting right now mostly because I'm so sensitive right now to people. Too many people being too difficult or non supportive or fake or just looking and reading into things. I don't have the energy for it.

So should you want to follow or be let in depending on how I go about this let me know. I think this time it's for real.

xoxo, M

Too much not enough everything in between

Man I'm tired.

I feel WAY off kilter. Thinking it may be the weather. Perhaps early PMS as well. It's not going well for me.

I'm exhausted. The last few days have been really draining and really trying. Miss Lil scared the shit out of us Friday night. Still not sure what happened. And being a crappy mother I still haven't bothered to email her pediatrician for further advice. Short answer is that we ended up at the children's hospital er worried she'd ingested something. Turns out didn't happen and no good reason for her symptoms. The only possible answer is a possible seizure. Which is not a great answer but better for me than the other options. Considering the type of seizure they were discussing are relatively common in children and generally not harmful I'm not too worried. Need to keep an eye on her and such but sounds like everything was handled right after talking with another mom at Lil's school today who had the same thing (almost to a t) happen with one of her sons.

The weekend was a busy one with lots going on and too much time spent out in the sun. Too much laundry. And putting together of beds for the kids.

Lily slept in her bed two nights ago until 430a. Last night only until midnight. Liam had yet to sleep at all in his bed though he did lie down many times however he's been in there an hour now and is ZONKED. We'll see!

I'm trying to feel less stressed and finally getting more sleep.

I'm trying to finish this damn ass blog and getting distracted.

All I know is Liam's asleep in his bed. Lil just got put into her bed. And I'm about to take pics. Will update once they're both asleep. In their still messy half storage area room but has two fabulous beds in there with two fabulous sleeping peeps.

xoxo, M

realtime pics...





My babies? Are really behaving like grown ups right now. I guess we'll see how long it lasts and if it continues past tonight.

Cod it's so bittersweet. We've always coslept! (the exception being when I was pregnant and sleeping on the couch but Lily was still WITH me if we want to be official.) I'm sure they'll be in later on but still! Right now? My babies are in their own room. Together! <3 <3 and more <3

What's up?

So. I still need to update on the last day of my conference last week. It was fab.

I have about 100 other things to update but Liam thinks he should help me type at all times and sit in my lap pushing buttons. Which is adorable but a total pain in the ass.

Not too much drama these days. I've been sleeping like shit but today I managed to sleep 8 hours (broken as hell but 8 hours nonetheless!) My son is obsessed with my rings and keeps taking off with them.

Liam is also becoming potty familiar and having REALLY great results. He likes to announce "mama on the POTTY!" when I'm in there. And I've been having him sit at least once a day. Surprisingly having more poop successes than pee successes. And he's totally into sitting on the big potty on a small insert!

Lily could care less and shrieks and has a hissy if you even make her look at a potty. Shocker. Little Miss Opinionated and Do It Herself is NOT interested. No biggie.

Okay my son? Knows WAY too many songs. We've sang twinkle twinkle, row row row your boat, pat-a-cake and the abc's since I started writing this. The things I don't even KNOW about him!

My father in law was up over the weekend. Has totally fucked up Liam's normalcy which really is a bummer. We're going to start a schedule book at home so Liam is able to handle things like that better. I dont' know that it would've helped too much with Josh's dad being up but it is important to start nonetheless around the house. The scheduling is fabulous. It's not having to pick out every little bit of his day however it does show the basics to give him a visual on what his day will look like and how to expect what is going on.

SIDENOTE: The Pacific Northwest has one of the highest vasectomy rates in the US. One vasectomy dr says it's because the men are progressive and the women assertive. That just made me laugh my ass off. Yeah for shooting blanks intentionally!

Back to reality. My auntie had an 'incident' which sent her to the ER earlier this week. Really sobering. Hoping she'll take better care of herself. They sent her off with "maybe vertigo whatever" dx which annoyed the shit out of me because they REALLY didn't listen to her and as a 64 year old woman with diabetes and a previous mild heart attack blowing her off sucks. She has followed up with her dr but *sigh* It still worries me and bugs me because I'd like her to stay alive.

The good news it got us and my cousin talking again which is nice.

We're planning to go to my mom's for the 4th of July. I have really mixed feelings on that but for the most part I'm excited. And exhausted already. lol. It's been a long time since we've been down there so it'll be a nice change. And we've been promised a bedroom since my peeps, ya know, actually SLEEP unlike my sister's monsters. lol.

We've been busy with playdates which I really feel have been making things progress even better for Lily whose expressive language has exploded. Receptive still is lacking and behavior is 2 year old on crack and defiance is huuuuuge. If I hear her scream "HELP ME HELP ME" one more time while we're out in public I'm going to lose my mind.

Looking forward to another beautiful weekend. Farmer's market is up and running again and better than ever. That makes weekends even more enjoyable than usual.

For now off to shower and stick Liam on the potty while Lily is still asleep. Here's hoping for some pee on the potty weeeeeee.

~M

am i really married to this one?

there is something seriously wrong with this man. singing simply red even.

So what was yesterday like?

Not bad. Not bad at all. I got a GREAT night's sleep. We had some bumps in the road in the AM regarding transportation and a dead battery in Jena's car but I ended up driving and we made it there no problemo.

I took the following classes. Here's my thoughts on them...

A1 Effective Services for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Blending Approaches to Meet Individual Needs,
Presented by Ilene Schwartz, Ph.D., University of Washington

The purpose of this class is to provide participants with an overview of autism and pervasive developmental delay, and strategies that are effective with young children with these diagnoses. An emphasis of this class will be to blend the strengths of different evidence-based approaches to create programs that are effective and appropriate for young children. Issues that will be addressed in this class include: functional assessment and evaluation strategies; curricular issues, instructional strategies, The role of typical peers in programs for children with autism, and strategies to program for the generalization of behavior change.

This class was great. The presenter was interesting and amusing. Unfortunately the class beside us was a circle time class so they were (literally) hooting, hollering, howling, fake laughing. And I got church giggles BIGTIME.

I ended up taking 3 pages of notes plus additional notes on my handout. Really reiterated my personal beliefs and gave interesting things to think about. Went very fast and I was never waiting for it to end. Can't wait to go back over my notes and really re look at the things I found important because that much info over a day some of it goes zoooooom away (especially when you wake up at 430 like I did today. Oh, yeah, neat! wahooo!)


B12 Sibling Play and Young Children with Autism
Presented by Ling Tsao, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of Idaho

Many families may expect typically developing siblings to interact with the child with autism at home either by requiring the children spend time together (or other ways). Sibling-mediated social-play intervention offers family members a more
systematic technique for prompting social interactions between the child with autism and the typical siblings in natural environments. This presentation will demonstrate how to teach siblings play and help siblings to socially interact with their
brother/sister with autism. Giving children with autism more chances to gradually learn appropriate social skills from their typically developing siblings is the final goal of the intervention.

I walked out of this class. I was SO EXCITED about this because, really? There's very little going on about siblings not on the spectrum and how to handle that and harbor good relationships.

Unfortunately? The presenter killed the topic for me.

She starts out talking at the podeum. Then stops talking there and walks out. Then asks if it's okay if she doesn't use the mic. We ALL say no. She has a quiet voice. Talks fast. Has a very distinct accent. (She later explains English is her 3rd language. She? Obviously brilliant. However I? Am not brilliant and have a hard time understanding accents which are familiar to me let alone accents that are highly mixed up.) She then decides to not use the mic anyways. Um. Okay. Thanks lady.

Then she starts talking in 3rd person. But not 3rd person. Talking from the point of a sibling. Going on and on about how this imaginary sibling has life so bad because the parents always pay attention to the ASD kid and they do nothing with the typical kid. Um...waaaaaaaaaaaaaay to put off parents. Those of us with multiple kids? Know it's difficult to make all your children feel equally loved and wanted and fairly split. Those of us with a special needs kiddo? Are ACUTELY aware. Though some parents either over focus on their special needs kid or on the flip shove off their special needs kid to focus on their typical kid the majority of us? Make an even MORE conscious effort to make sure the more typical child feels just as important as the sibling with all the extra people in their life (therapists etc).

What finally sent me out was her flat out telling us not to take notes. That this wasn't the place to take notes. Listen and absorb no writing. WHAT THE FUCK?! Um...first off I'm an incredibly visual learner. Also? If I don't write it down it doesn't go into my mind permanently. And this was shit I wanted to put in permanently. And at a conference mostly full of professionals in the field? Um...since when do they NOT take notes??!! Are you whacko?! She reiterated this point more than once.

When I left? I'd already seen at least a dozen people leave before me. I made it through maybe 20 minutes of her 90 minute speech. I was SO disappointed. And made it quite clear on my exit form exactly what I thought of her.

Later on I met up with some of those who'd left the class and they all agreed with me. I then met up with one of the therapists from Lil's center (who was Joseph's old teacher at the center) who was in the class and she told me how irritated she was with the no note thing but she'd seen the woman before and was used to her way of talking so could follow along and whatnot. She's sending the info onto Lil's teacher who promises to send the info onto me. Which is good. Because I'm so turned off by this presenter I could just twitch. Obviously. I'm still ranting about it!


C10 Living with Autism, A Triumphant Journey
Presented by Nikki McMurtry, MA, Mt. Vernon School District with Karla Jacks, parent of CJ

Travel with CJ’s parent and teacher as they share his inspirational story of success in school and the community. His story is a testament of how working together and believing in possibilities can make a difference in the lives of children, and bring real hope to their families.


This? Made up for everything else. oh my helling hell. I stayed an extra 30 minutes after class talking with the presenter. And a copresenter intentionally left off for shock value? The kiddo they were talking about. A gorgeous sophomore in high school with an incredible ability to speak so honest and true and openly to a room full of people.

This class still has me swirling and twirling. Listening to how they JUST DID THE BASICS but worked their ass off. The mother? Reminds me so much of myself especially as I talked more with her after class. Myself times a million and what I only hope I am being and doing and behaving like.

She was so no nonsense. She was so open about the struggles with her kids and with CJ to begin with. So open about her own childhood and life experiences and parenting.

I cried multiple times. And smiled so big my cheeks hurt. It was so inspiring and uplifting and a great reminder of what autism really IS if you work hard enough and you find the right people to work with your child and you never give up. CJ's not an exceptional child with autism. He is DEFINITELY an exceptional child (young man I suppose!) but not because of his autism. But because of HIS ability to share his story. To show people that autism isn't the box everyone wants to put people into.

He's motivated and articulate and oooh! Liam's ST would be thrilled this kid has eye contact that's so typical it hurts. He's into sports and school and art and finds his brothers to be obnoxious but is so matter of fact about relating to them and understanding them that it made me cry. He's an awesome brother.

Also nice was her saying that autism? IS PART OF HER CHILD! He needs to be ALLOWED to have autism! He can't be expected to behave typically 24 hours a day! We don't act 'on' 24 hours a day! That autism has given him lots of good along with lots of struggles.

Of course in the middle of this as she's talking about the struggles to keep him mainstreamed in kindergarten I go off texting Liam's teacher all sobby strobby freaky deaky asking how many of her kids get mainstreamed and approximately what % of kids like Liam are mainstreamed and I know it's not a guarantee but I just wonder and blahblahblah.

She called and left me a message (which I didn't listen to yet. OMFG I have to start listening to them sooner rather than later!)

I called her on my way home and she told me I'm not allowed to go to conferences anymore. That Liam is FINE and will be FINE and he's kicking so much ass. She's not worried about him. She's got plans for him and he works with those plans and goes with those plans and I am doing my thing. That I'm not allowed to be worried because there's nothing to worry about.

I sure hope she's right. And I'm pretty sure she is. I do know that Liam? Is on track for LIAM and that's the most important thing.

Now I need to figure out if I'm going to go to my first class or ditch and try to sleep. I'm so not tired. But I dunno if I can manage to get through everything today without sleep. Fucky fucky fuck fuck fuck. Oh well. Hubby's up. Will brainstorm with him.

Wish I could do caffeine but anxiety says nooooooo.

~M