Flu...Day 3

Every year at Nick's job he has a time in April where he works about 18 days straight.  It's horrid every year on him, on the kids, on the family, but then it's over and we're fine.

Well, this year it is going on now. We are about half way through it now.  We have one week left actually.

Last week Nick got sick.  Sick, sick.  As in, he left work to go to Urgent Care...on his own.  No harping from me needed.

At first it was just him...until last Friday.  When Emma slept in until 10 am and then woke with a high fever.

We've pretty much been down hill since then.

Saturday Cal and I woke up sick too and since then, well, here it is Monday morning and we are all still sick.  

Anyway, I've been too sick to do anything let alone blog and before that I was cleaning up after other people who were sick.  I'll get back to it when I can.  Right now we are in survival mode here with tissues, medicine, and plenty of ice water.

Pray for us :)

My Autism Meltdown Today

I haven't spoken about Cal's autism for quite a while.  The reason being that things had been going so well.  Last year we decided to put Cal on Prozac.  We were very hesitant to but in the end we felt it was the best option for us.
It had amazing results.  So much so that when he was on the Prozac no one could really tell he had Autism.  He was just a normal little boy...able to talk and tell us things.  it has been nothing short of miraculous!

But lately the Prozac has stopped working.  And I don't know if it's because he's older or because things were so good for so long, but now he seems to be worse than ever before.

It is just so frustrating.  And daunting and horrid.

It is a really hard thing to explain unless you have been on this boat of Autism.  It is so unpredicatable.  Some times are good, others are horrid.  And yes I hate the horrid times but I think the thing that makes me so worn down, so tired and lonesome is the unknown of everything.  Will cutting his sandwich in half make him lose it?  Will he be able to handle not being in the same class as his sister?  

Everything is up in the air...all of the time.  And it gets hard and wears on me that this is my every day.  This is the life the Lord has trusted me to.  And try as I do to not complain there are times like today when I just have to lock myself in the bathroom, turn the water on so no one can hear, and just sob.  Sob at what I'm not quite sure...the phone calls I've had with the Developmental Pediatrician's office for the millionth time?  The books on my nightstand containing lofty information that might contain some glimmer of hope in a treatment we haven't tried?  The fact that he still can't tell me things I desperately want to know?

Somehow on certain days the cards I've stacked into a house all come tumbling down and the normal I have seems not normal enough.

It's just hard.  I realize I am rambling but the hard thing is having a hard life in the parenting department and not having anyone really know it or understand.  And there are no "sorry Autism is sucking the joy out of life" cards in the store.  At least none that I've been sent :)

One of the things that has made it harder is that Cal is getting older.  I'm watching him be rejected on playgrounds because of his behavior.  I'm having to sweet talk soccer coaches to get him on a team.  I'm having to do the walk of a desperate mom who just wants her little boy to be treated like a normal little boy. I wonder how much he notices.  How much hurts him.  Does any of it hurt him?  What is my place as his mother?  What does he hide behind those eyes that look like pools of Dr. Pepper?

This afternoon I googled devotions for autism moms and while I didn't find anything I came across this article about why Autism Moms Rock.  The thing that really hit home with me was discussed under #2.  It talks about how we never know who directly or indirectly will try to hurt us or our children. Here's the quote I understand:

  " Like a battle-worn soldier, we throw up our emotional walls to protect us from the hurt. We wear our armor never knowing what enemy could strike in a day."

This really struck a chord with me and helped me to explain things.  See when I have one easy thing to do in a day, say go to the supermarket, I stress over it and dread it.  It hangs over my head like an ominous cloud.  But this quote kind of helped me to solve it all...I think that it is because of the unknown regarding Cal's behavior.  And the unknown of people around me.  I do put my emotional walls up to make sure we are protected.  

So tonight as I have a sob fest for myself I guess I can just look at that as me having to prepare myself again for another day of battle.  Some days this gets so hard to fight but fight I will.  I have a 5 year old Prince that needs me to fight for him.  And no matter how tired and beaten down I get, I will still wake up in the morning, put on my armor, and head out to fight anyone who gets in our way. 

That is, unless I'm in the bathroom crying :)  

Part 5: Disney World! : 1900 Park Fare and The Grand Floridian

So after our nap after experiencing Magic Kingdom we suited up to head to dinner.  We surprised the kids with dinner at 1900 Park Fare, a Character Meal at The Grand Floridian.  They have a few different types of character meals; we attended Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner.    If you have never been to the Grand Floridian, let me tell ya, it is gorgeous!!!  Gorgeous!  When I was inside I felt like I was on the Titanic or something...it was so beautiful.  

 Here is the menu board

 Detailing on the floor

 Everything is just gorgeous.  Here's the inside of the hotel.  There are several buildings and this is the main one.  I would love to stay here sometime.  We were able to explore a little while we waited to be seated.  

 The hotel ceiling

 There's a full band that plays...it was amazing! 

 Here's Cal checking out the band

 Here's Emma going upstairs...I love how she grabs her dress to walk up stairs :)

 Here's one of the only pictures of myself that I like

 Our beautiful princess and brave knight

 We went upstairs to the gift shop where if you are lucky like me your husband will try on obnoxious hats :)

 Emma and I shopping for bath salts and soaps at Basin which is a neat bath store to go to...highly recommended if you want to splurge and treat yourself :)

 At last we were seated.  The food at 1900 Park Fare is buffet but it was really good.  Not blah buffet but yeah buffet :)  I love the kid plates in Mickey shapes.  If you are a Disney veteran these are nothing special to you, but to me who was totally new to all of this I thought they were the cutest things...it's the little things in life, right?

 This is the part of the evening that I have to just gush and gush about.  Throughout the entire planning of Disney Cal talked about nothing but meeting Prince Charming.  He was so excited to talk about slaying dragons and saving princesses and the like.  But when he got there he completely clammed up.  Prince Charming would have thought Cal had no interest in him.  I was able to pull him to the side and explain Cal had Autism and that he is such a hero to Cal.  

The Prince then really went out of his way to come back to the table after Cal had met him to try again.  He talked at length with Cal about how to save a princess or protect a castle.  The photo above is the prince inspecting Cal's sword and talking about how nice it was.  It was the most special thing about our trip to Cal and I was so grateful to him for doing it.  I was crying it meant to much to me!

And that's just one example of how great Disney is...they really do go out of their way to make you feel special.  

 Another neat thing they do is that Cinderella and her prince dance together...so cute!  They then have the kids dance with them...it was so cute!

 Here are Emma and Cal with Cinderella!  Emma was in heaven!!!  And Cal kept talking about Cinderella, his girlfriend!

 Not only were the Prince and Cinderella there but the whole Cinderella family...the wicked step mother!

 About this time, Cal started feeling really warm...(not to give away the end of the story but it was all down hill here from here!)

 And the wicked stepsisters of course!   They were so funny!!!  

 By the end of the night Cal was passed out and we walked to the car in a dream.  We had to hurry though before our carriage turned into a pumpkin!  

All in all it was an amazing evening and I highly recommend 1900 Park Fare.  It was good food, it was on our meal plan and the children got to meet oodles of characters...all around a win, win!

Part 4 Disney World!: Magic Kingdom

Anyway as mentioned earlier when we arrived at Magic Kingdom it was raining.  After a potty break at the bathrooms next to City Hall and getting checked in (which is not necessary unless you have special circumstances), we made our way to the Castle for pictures. By the time we got there the rain had started to break to a drizzle so wanted to get our pictures in.  I think I must tell you this was one of my biggest mistake ever. Ever I tell you!  Ever!!!

We had JUST gotten to Disney and the kids wanted to just kind of roam around and check things out, not be wrangled to stand like this, do this, smile.  Plus we were soaked; clothes stuck to us, soaked.  Emma changed from her Crocs into her nice red satin shoes that matched her dress just for pictures.  Also the kids were starving, Nick and I were hungry, but I didn't want to risk food stains on their outfits.  All around it was a bad idea.

Our pictures came out nice enough.  But the kids don't have big smiles of happiness but forced ones.  I feel bad I did that to them.  I wish I had just waited until later in the day and taken them then.  Some of you may be wondering why we didn't just try to take more later, and let me tell you, we tried.  But by then the kids remembered the first picture time so there was no way they were going to cooperate with us again.  And Nick was just getting plain fed up with me (he paid thousands for his kids to have fun, not me force them into pictures again!!!)

So I didn't win. Boo.  But it's my own darn fault.

Afterwards we grabbed lunch at Cosmic Ray's in Tomorrowland.  We went in September and snagged the free meal plan deal.  We upgraded to the Deluxe Dining plan for I think an extra $400.00!  I must tell you, I think the upgrade to the Deluxe plan was totally worth it!  I had oodles of friends warning me against this saying "all you'll do is wait to eat" but we really didn't.  Plus we are major foodies so getting to eat at some really fancy places was super exciting for us!  We ate at Cosmic Ray's which was a Quick Service meal.  Our meal was $65.00 and it tasted like horrible cafeteria food.  After that I was so glad we had upgraded to Deluxe meals.  *I highly recommend a meal plan!  It made it feel so much like a vacation.  All we did was give them our card and everything was taken care of.  Voila!  I didn't have to plan meals to take, or pack, or worry about finding meals to fit out budget, or even tip!  It all was on the card!

Oh and by the way, to explain: Quick Service Meals are basically where you go up to a counter and order.  Think burgers, wraps, etc. Sit down service is a restaurant either with a menu or a buffet.  On the deluxe meal plan we could order from anywhere.  It was so nice!

*A tip is to stay away from Cosmic Rays (or any quick service restaurant I'm guessing) at all cost during high traffic meal times.  There were so many people we literally could not get out of the restaurant.  It was a jam packed nightmare.  I'm not sure if it was because it was raining and people just ducked in or what.  It was our only experience with a quick service and it was so crowded.  Yeesh.

*Another tip: you can bring your own food in to Disney Parks.  I am uber cheap.  I mean tight wad extraordinaire but this trip I brought nothing.  But you can totally pack your own snacks or meals and bring them in.  If you're not on a meal plan I think this would definitely be the way to go.  Cosmic Rays (as I mentioned, the only quick service meal we had) was over $65.00 for the 4 of us to eat!  Nothing fancy: a couple of burgers, sodas, and kids meals.  It was quite a shock!

After that we were amped up, Mom had gotten the dumb pictures out of the way, our tummys were full, so now it was time to Disney it up!  We stopped at Merida's place where we could have a meet and greet with her and get her autograph.  Do you get Autographs?  Autographs are so fun!  I'll write about that in a later post. I wonder how many times I can fit autographs in here in this paragraph?  Autograph.  Ha!

Next it was time for some rides!  We decided to ride on the Iconic teacups and it was fabulous.  We had so much fun!  The children loved it and so did we.  Well, I did.  And Nick loved seeing the kiddos enjoying themselves.  But after the ride he felt sick.  That's right ladies and gentlemen...my 34 year old husband got sick on the teacups!  Ha!

For the rest of the day he couldn't tolerate anything. He almost tossed his cookies on the train.  That's right folks, the scenic train that goes around the park at an alarming slow snail's pace was too much for him.  Oh Lord, help us all!  Geesh! 

 We managed to cram a lot into the day...the Dumbo ride, the Swiss Family Robinson house, the Aladdin ride...we tried to experience a lot.

By late afternoon though we ended up with these kind of kids...

So we headed back to the hotel for naptime before we had more fun.

*Mom tip...get your kids to nap!  Your schedule will not be the same as at home, just know that going into it.  You may be up until midnight some nights (the horror, I know!) so if your kids need to crash and burn at 5 for an hour, let them.  They are having so much fun, just make sure they get rest during the day.  It was nice for Nick and I to get off our feet and just relax in the hotel room while the kids either played quietly or slept.  And honestly (not making this stuff up!) they sometimes begged to go back to the hotel to have play time or to sleep.  It was hot, they were sticky and very sensory overloaded!

It's a Fun and Silly Time We're Having Here

Well I've been posting my blog series about Disney but haven't blogged lately about our day to day life.  Here's just a peek at what's been going on around here...

 What can be more exciting than Sonic's happy hour?  Not much according to these little guys.  They love strawberry slushes...I love Dr. Pepper with Vanilla added.  Yummy!

 This guy has been over the moon lately about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!  He went to a Birthday party where he got this headband which he wears ALL of the time.  The other day his Lego magazine arrived and was so excited that it had the Turtles on it!  Turtle Power!

 The other day Emma was hanging out on her bed and I was tossing her clothes for her outfit of the day.  As you can see, this is what happened....poor dear :)

And so of course when Daddy came home she had to tell him about it.  As a result, they both thought at bedtime it would be hilarious to put unders on their heads.  They came downstairs for story time looking like this, singing a song they made up called "we love underwear".

Oh dear.  I love these two so much.  So cute!

Hope you have a Happy Weekend!

Part 3: Disney World! : Arriving at Magic Kingdom

Well being the meanest Mommy ever we settled into our room before hitting up the actual Disney part of Disney.  I had to get everything unpacked and ready to go.  I also had special little outfits that my friend who owns a business made for us.  I was able to send her a picture of a pair of matching outfits I spotted on Pinterest and she was able to recreate them.  And I loved them!  So we got ready to go and set out for the shuttle stop right outside of our hotel room.

And then the ominous clouds rolled in. * If you've never been to Florida just know, it rains almost every afternoon!  Be prepared!  Rain ponchos are a must!  I bought a ton of them from the Dollar Tree to take because who in the world would want to reuse a poncho??  I don't even know how you could?  It's all wet and you have to try to fold it back up?  For the birds!  Just consider buying them as one time use only!  They come two to the pack for a buck.  They were also useful for throwing all of our stuff in the stroller and then putting one over the stroller.

Anyway, the shuttle came and away we went.  I don't think I've ever been so excited in my life!  Is that pathetic of what????  I'm going with not pathetic, cool!  I kept squeezing Nick's hand in excitement!

As we were riding there big, thick drops started to wet the windows and by the time we got there a Monsoon had ensued.  Thunder, lightening, the works.  As the weather had warned us the week before, we were in for not the normal Florida showers here and there but rain all week, every day.  And not just rain, storms.  I have no beef with rain.  I do have beef with lightening as I'm holding an umbrella and pushing an aluminum stroller carrying my child.  That seems to logically pose a threat in my mind somehow.

So we waited at the station where the shuttle drops off.  And we waited, and we waited, and we waited.  Ugh.  Probably about 45 minutes later we decided it just wasn't going to stop.   So we made a run for it.  Magic Kingdom was right there and we were just holding it at an arm's length from our children.  Poor little dears.

So we went.  We ponchoed up, we ran.  We laughed.  In the end we made a memory and had fun.  And the mom part of me is still a little ticked that it rained.  Their little custom ordered outfits were a bust, Emma's shoes were ruined and everything was just blah and wet.  But I think that's just to me.  To the children they had a wonderful time and were in Disney!!!  And that is all that matters :)  I just need to remind my memory bank of that occasionally, lol =)

 Can you see the rain falling?  This is the first area you see in Disney...so cute!  I just kept squealing (in my mind, of course!) We're here!!!  We're finally here!!!  Eeek!

 Poncho clad kids...so cute!  See Cal's? We had to tie it behind him it was so big on him!  Getting mad that mom and dad are trying to wait out the storm...grrr.  It was comforting to know that all of the flags on buildings there are actually lightening rods in disguise!  They've thought of everything!

 I hate being wet.  Nick knew I was sucking at enjoying this time.  So he started taking my picture.  Going to kill him!  This is my I'm appeasing you at the same time I'm plotting your death smile.

Welcome to Disney!  It's raining!  But we finally made it!!!

Here's our little rain soaked little boy.  I dragged him into the City Hall and he was freezing! Isn't he adorable???  

As we've talked about before, Cal is Autistic.  This did make me a little worried because there are so many things that he has a really hard time dealing with.  Put all of those things together away from home with tiredness and hunger factored in and well, we could very well end up in a very bad situation.  

Cal's doctor was EXTREMELY helpful with this.  She gave us helpful situations.  She prescribed a fast acting anxiety medication for him.  And she wrote a doctor's note for Disney explaining his condition.  So here comes my tip...

*If you need special arrangements or accommodations made go to City Hall at Magic Kingdom first (you may be able to start at any of the parks but I had read that getting a special accommodation at, say Animal Kingdom would not necessarily be valid at any of the other parks.  But if you get it first from Magic Kingdom you are in like Flinn at all of the other parks...hope that makes sense).   You do not need a Doctor's note (they wouldn't even think of looking at mine) and the person you are getting accommodations for needs to be there (so little Jacky can't go ride teacups while you get it for him, just an fyi). 

Anywho, Disney was very understanding.  They gave us a special pass for our stroller that allowed us to use it somewhat as a wheelchair.  That if he was freaking out and we needed to keep him in the stroller, we could wheel it on in to rides and things when strollers usually are not allowed.  *TIP: if they offer something, take it!  I thought, he doesn't really use a stroller so we don't need that. But the lady encouraged me to take it "just in case" and I am so thankful because by the end of the trip he was pulling the shade over him in the stroller and refusing to come out he was so overwhelmed.  Eek.  

Also, they gave us a pass which could basically be used as a Fast Pass.  I will say that Calvin is not severely Autistic.  We are very blessed.  So when we got these things I felt almost silly, he was such a sweet boy just having fun.  But crowds and small spaces cause him to freak, so when he started stimming and yelling, we would pull out the card and be able to use it.  It was so nice to use when we had to and a comfort to know we had it if we should need it but we thankfully didn't need to use it the entire time.  By the end of the week though we were having to use it a lot more but again, it was so, so nice to have when we needed it.  It truly made our vacation magical in times it could have become absolutely horrific.  (Seriously sometime when Cal stims he chokes me and that's just not fun folks!) 

Sorry this is taking so long, but it's my blog and I want to write every dab nabit thing down!  Did I say that right?  This may take months :)

Here are this posts blogged in a nutshell:
* Know it rains...a lot (I think.  Everytime I've been to Florida it's rained in the afternoon)
*Buy rain ponchos at Dollar Tree.  I bought enough to have four per person.
*If you need special accommodations on rides and things just ask what can be done.  City Hall at Magic Kingdom is a great place to start.

I'll continue with my blog series next week...stay tuned!

Part 2: Disney World! :Pirate Room at Caribbean Beach

As I mentioned in my first post, we stayed at Disney in the Resort, the Caribbean Beach.  There they have Standard Rooms as well as Pirate Rooms.  We opted for the Pirate Room in hopes that it would keep the kiddos occupied while we were.  Although it wasn't considered a suite, it was a nice upgrade from a standard room for not a lot of money.  We opted for a Pirate theme because Emma loves Ariel the Mermaid and Cal likes pirates so we thought it would be a good compromise. And it was.  There was so much girly stuff Cal had to endure that it was nice he got this.  And Emma likes to pretend she was on Eric's ship :)  And she likes to play pirates too!  Those two are just precious!!!

When we first got there, I ran ahead of the kids and Nick to "find the room" but secretly I was running like a mad woman to get to the room first so I could throw their personalized Mouse Ears on their bed as a surprise!  Above they had just discovered them and they really did think that the hotel had made them and left them for them.  It was so cute! I tried to do a lot of little things that didn't cost a lot of money to personalize the trip for them!  My secret wish is that they will go to Disney one day with their families and realize that all of that fun stuff that showed up was actually their old mom working behind the scenes to surprise them :)  

Anyway, check out their pirate bed!  How fun, right?  About two weeks before we left I was researching our room since my OCDness dictates apparently that I try to find out how  many hangers are in the room and how many washcloths there are, etc, etc.  Yes I am crazy.  Anywho, I was researching and found a kajillion blogs that explained that the pirate beds have specially made prison-like mattresses that are the most ungodly uncomfortable things ever.  Ever.  Like can't get out of bed because your back is in so much pain uncomfortable.  I was kind of freaked after that.  I kept calling Nick, debating if we should try to change rooms or if we even could so late in the game.  In the end we decided that we would just stick with the pirate rooms because the kids would love it.  In the end I am glad that we did.  Yes the beds were uncomfortable but we were so exhausted by the end of the day that it didn't really matter. And they weren't that uncomfortable...it was bearable. Which leads me to my next tip:

*Try not to let the research get the best of you.  I am a researcher and I know a ton of moms who are too so I know I am not the only one.  Don't let a lot of nit-picky people's opinions steal the joy of your vacation.   Remember that a lot of people nag things to death and so take everything with a grain of salt.  Also remember that this is the happiest place on earth so they aren't going to try to kill  you with the mattresses (I don't think, ha!) 

Here's Kazoo trying on her ears. She's checking her ears out in the mirror?  Isn't she just a doll?   Isn't she cute?  

Here's a good view of our room.  Everything is pirate-ish.  And I can't find pictures of it but our room came with a fridge that was hidden in a keg and our dresser looked like a stack of cargo...super cute!  The carpet even looked like planks of wood to give it that authentic pirate feel :)

 Here's Captain Calvin setting sail on our bed.  How cute is this little mate?  I so love that we were able to give them this trip and all of these memories.

 This was carved on the wall of our shower.  It was neat and everything is Pirate themed.  Seriously, everything!

 I will say that this was probably about the only thing with our room I didn't like.  This skull was on a large curtain that separated the sink area from the bedroom.  When the vanity lights were on the skull appeared to "glow".  The kids were freaked out by it and especially as they were trying to fall asleep with that looming over them in the room.  With the curtain opened it wasn't an issue so it really wasn't a big deal.  And what was behind that you might ask??

Ta-da!  Behind Curtain Number 1...

In the door to the right was the bathroom of the toilet and shower but the sinks were outside.  This is what was behind the creepy, scary skill.  Behind Nick in this photo was a closet area with a safe, closet rod, and long shelf.  It was a really, really nice set up.  With the curtain you could dress behind it away from the kiddos, I could get ready at the sink without waking everyone and someone else could be taking a shower or going potty.  Loved the layout!  I also loved that the closet was right there and there was tile in that area because I could hang wet suits, put my makeup on the shelf over the clothes; it was just plain convenient.

So there's a little tiny tour of our room.  Hope that helps answer some questions regarding the Pirate Rooms if you are considering them for your trip! Please let me know if you have any questions...I'd love to try to help :)