“What you are going through is hard. I think what you are dealing with right now is realizing that it (Autism) is never going to go away.”
Month: February 2018
Friday Memes
Brought to you by the children of “An Ordinary Mom”.
Sleep
I come from a long line of people who have no problems sleeping. There are a few recorded episodes within my family of narcolepsy, and the joke has always been in my family that my Dad’s eyelids were connected to his behind as he would sit down and immediately go to sleep.
Sleep issues for my son were a complete surprise to me. What came as an even bigger surprise was the sleep issues I have developed.
All mothers go through a through a period of at least a few years where their children don’t sleep at night and they are very sleep deprived. Eventually, most children learn to sleep through the night. But my issues started LONG before children.
My sleepless nights started when my husband deployed to Iraq for the first time. There was a bit of a time difference there between us, coupled with the fact that phones were not very accessible, and depending on when he was on duty or not, largely dictated when he could call which was usually about 3 am. But he was in a war zone, and I was just happy to talk to him. But when I hadn’t heard from him in awhile I would either be kept awake worrying or wake up suddenly expecting a call. Let’s just say that didn’t make the greatest sleep for 16 months.
We didn’t have any kids at the time thankfully. Those came a couple years later and my daughter was born during his second deployment to Iraq when again I was waiting for phone calls.
Later when D was about 3 1/2 he started waking between 2-4am for the day. That was pretty much impossible for me to handle. It was what propelled me to start finding out what was going on with him. Here we are, many years later and sleep is still an issue for him.
Suddenly I am having really bad bouts of insomnia that can literally keep me awake all night. I really think at this point it has been trained into my body from the last 14 years or so. I don’t function well at all on no sleep. I pretty much can’t function. So I should be able to chalk up any bad decisions I’ve made recently to chronic lack of sleep right? I mean there has to some good side?
This is a very common occurrence for parents of children with Special Needs and for spouses of Military personnel who are deployed. This is the life I’ve chosen and I live. Here’s hoping I can find the right supplements to knock me out at night.
Friday Memes
My daughter’s prayer when she was 4…
Brought to you by the children of “An Ordinary Mom”.
Facebook Is My Kids Baby Book and Other True Confessions
My kids don’t have Baby Books. (Gasp!) How could I not do this integral part of Motherhood? (I definitely should have as I have a child with Special Needs and every form I fill out wants to know when he walked, talked, or climbed.)
I had zero interest in my Baby Book information and didn’t think my kids would either. But just in case… Facebook is my kids Baby Book. I figured that I was already posting all the cute pictures and cute things they had done (or not so cute things, like the time I went into another room for just a minute and they had shaving cream all over their hair and each other…). 
Why should I make things harder for myself? There are companies out there that will take my Facebook account and print it all out in book form for me.
Facebook is also my kid’s Scrapbooks…All those art projects that no one has room for? All those school performances that we sat through that no one would choose to sit through unless they were related to the child? They are nicely preserved for any family member to see at any time on my Facebook account. Bonus! As soon as my children get Facebook accounts of their own, I can tag all the embarrassing pictures of them so their friends can see them too. This Mama has plans!
Facebook is also my Journal and Family Photo Album. All those fun family events, quotes, and stories I love or thought were hilarious are all nicely preserved there. My opinions on Politics, Education, Childrearing, and all other important subjects are there for better or worse for my posterity to view. Although it is not my Diary- That kind of venting and information is reserved for Private Messaging to my nearest and dearest friends. Thank you nearest and dearest friends!
I haven’t written and actually sent out a Christmas letter in…….? many years. Facebook is my Christmas letter. So I hope family and friends you are following me on Facebook as that is where you will find out about what we are or are not up to. And I’m not one of those people who will only post picture-perfect kids or vacations. I’m just as likely to preserve a terrible day or a terrible haircut so you can rest assured you are always getting the real us.
Why does it happen this way? I’m a Mom. I have a million things to do when I get up every day. Chronicling my life and that of my children/family happens on the fly. Whenever I feel like taking a picture (which honestly isn’t nearly enough, or crystal clear for that matter), spouting off my latest opinions, making sure I have pictures to remember that trip of a lifetime. If it doesn’t make it to Facebook… It never happened as far as history is concerned in my case. This is how I make sure that my posterity will know who I am, what I’ve done, what I’ve thought and felt. And I’m not going to feel guilty about it. Yes, my child doesn’t have a beautifully embossed baby book, and I might have to fudge some of those answers on the Child Development Questions. But what my kids do know is that I’m right here for them when they need me, I’m doing my best to keep us all alive and functioning, and I love them fiercely.
You can also view a video version of this post on YouTube.
