Will it ever settle down?

Received Shea's OT Eval in the mail today. Also went to our Autism class last night. Right now I am just feeling very overwhelmed and sleep deprived. Definitely not easy to meet everyone's needs. And scheduling is a nightmare, the OT eval wants OT twice a week and the person we have speech with works the one day a week the other place does not schedule appointments on! YIKES! I am hoping to get all the services under one place BUT it probably won't be the place I want them at. Figures. But I cannot be driving to Maple Grove, 25 minutes away with 3 kids 3 times a week AND get Cody to Kindergarten on time every day! Calgon take me away!

Okay now I will take a breath and just remind myself things WILL get better! And all this is necessary for Shea's improvement. At the meeting last night some of the parents (they are the volunteers that run the classes) were telling us of challenges they have encountered and what they have done to overcome them. All I could think was about how I don't want to have to do all that! Plus I just hope things are quite as difficult for us as they have been for others.

On a positive note if I need a new career path that has a need I have certainly found one!

Another Busy Day

Cody is going to start his gold belt classes today in Karate. This is a big deal since it means moving from the little kids program into the big kids program. I was going to start him tomorrow but Matt and I have a class and I want to take him to his first gold belt class. His belt graduation last Thursday was awesome. He did the moves well and it was a lot of fun. Friday night I went to a friends house and had a blast showing off the video footage I had on the camera. Maybe G-Pop will take him to Karate tomorrow also, we will see. He also wants to do the Karate tournament next month but he will definitely be at a disadvantage as he will be competing against kids who have been gold belt for months and he has just earned his. This happened for the last tournament also, frustrating!

I am also toying with the idea of talking with Cody's school teacher and Karate instructor about his situation at home with a new baby and a brother with Autism. Maybe they can give him a bit more attention and be more understanding when Cody does things for attention. I feel bad that I can't give him more and he does have to deal with his brother's issues. I try to get him involved when I am working with Shea, like bouncing a ball back and forth and making the cars go. But it is hard to do things like read Cody a book with Cody on my lap. Shea will attempt to push him off and have a fit.

So today Shea had his Occupational Therapy Evaluation (OT). Let me tell you there is very little more depressing then having someone point out all the things your child cannot do that he should be able to. We won't even go into the fact of the new insurance Matt's work has is not nearly as good as it was. At least soon Shea will be qualified for supplemental insurance that will pick up all the extra pieces and make things much easier. Anyways the therapist figures he will qualify and get us a copy of the report in a couple of weeks, then we will start going to OT twice every week. Not sure how I am going to pull that one off. I think I may need to pull all the therapies into one place so as to only take him to appointments twice a week and not three. Sounds like they will also be sensitive to his needs for a break and the OT before speech may actually help with the speech. We will see. All the therapists seem fine but I can't say that I have found one that I absolutely love. Which is frustrating. This includes his early intervention teacher through the school district.

But one cool thing was the Therapist did a thing called brushing. OTs use soft plastic brushes and brush firmly so as to not tickle. She brushed Shea's legs, arms and back. Then you press his joints together so you push on his foot while you hold his knee, then push his legs into his hips, his wrists into his elbows and arms into the shoulders. Apparently it helps calm people with sensory issues and center them. When she mentioned brushing I was thinking "Lady What are you talking about, sounds nutty but a long as it doesn't hurt him let's see what it is all about." So we go into this dressing room while she preforms this and low and behold he really did settle down. So now I/we are to do this every couple of hours. Hopefully it will help him to sleep also. She also let him bit on this early tooth brush thing and then massaged the top of his mouth. He started drooling, which since he is not a drooly kid was odd. But as he is an oral kid (meaning he puts lots of things in his mouth and that probably sooths him) this may help also.

Life really is NOT only about Shea

Cody now has enough stripes for his gold belt. He will be joining the big kids starting next week! I hope that this can be some nice alone time for Cody and either Matt or myself depending on who brings him. The classes are later so Matt will be home and the other kids don't have to go.

Little Missy will not let me put her down in the afternoons. Making it very difficult to get ANYTHING done! And here we have a family gathering on Saturday. The house is going to be a wreck, although everyone coming is used to that LOL.

Matthew's baseball tournement was rescheduled to this Sunday. Noon at the Zachary fields they will play until they lose. If this team is like many of his others they will do well now and were terrible during the season. Go figure.

Matt and I went on a Pub Mosey for a couple hours on Sunday. Poor Matt I was supposed to drive, unfortunately I took some migraine medication and after 1.5 lite beers knew there was NO WAY I was going to be driving. Better safe then sorry, even if it wasn't fair to him.

All About Shea and Autism

Seems like I really need to update this but at the same time am unsure of what to post. Tomorrow night Matt and I start a class that meets every Tuesday in October about Autism for 3 hours each week. It is hosted through the Autism Society of MN which is affiliated with the Autism Society of America or some such thing. Should be interesting. Currently on a holding pattern for so many things. On Sat I am going to go check out an Autism support group. Matt can come if he would like as there is child care, we will see if he wants to or just wants me to check it out the first time. I will also be letting a friend know how it went as she is having her son evaluated for Autism the end of this month.

Waiting to hear back from the county, should hear back this week. Will also be sending in the application for supplemental insurance for Shea, that will pay for personal care assistance. Not sure how many hours a week.

Shea started his private speech therapy through Children's Clinics in Maple Grove on Friday. He is still getting used to the speech pathologist, although he did hand her something which is very impressive. Took months before he handed his special ed teacher anything.

Next Monday we have our Occupational Therapy Evaluation but this one will be through North Memorial as they can get us in before Children's can. They are also in Maple Grove however they are NOT in the new hospital.