It's my party . . . . .

My birthday is on the 16th.

My last year in my 20s.
:(
We already did a little celebrating at my Grandparent's house.
I was surprised with some fun gifts.

My parents gave me one of my great grandmother's rings.


It is stunning and a real treasure to me.
One of those possessions that truly truly mean something.
I own very few things that mean something so wonderful. My family history.
I love it.

My baby sister (who works at Olive Garden) brought me a to die for piece of lemon cream cake.


Doesn't that look heavenly?
Well, it was. Believe me.


We decided to give our own little present at the party.
We pretended the gift was from Davin.
I pulled this out of the box :

(thank you to my brother Rob for the pictures)

It was fun to see the reactions. Especially because my baby brother and his wife are also having a baby in July. Double the fun.
We are very excited for our family to grow again.
What a happy birthday it has been.

Wishing . . . .

There is a lot of wishing going on at our house.
This year Christopher is planning out his Christmas and birthday (his birthday is on the 21st) lists with precision.
Every detail must be perfect.
Andy (whose birthday is right after Christmas) . . . . . . . not so much.

Me: Christopher, what do you want for Christmas and birthday?
Christopher : (mysteriously disappears upstairs and comes back with paper) Here Mommy, write this down, okay.
Me: Uhhh. Okay.
Christopher : For me, I want legos, etc. etc. etc (this went on and on).
Me: Wow. Okay that's a big list.
Christopher: For my zhu zhu pet, . . .
Me: For your zhu zhu pet???!
Christopher: Yeah Mommy, he needs stuff too.

Oh, boy.

Me: Andy, what do you want for Christmas?
Andy: Cars.
Me: What else would you like?
Andy: Uhmmm cars.
Me: What else besides cars?
Andy: Well, maybe soooommme cars?
Me: Just cars?
Andy: Yep. Cars.

Can you guess who will be the easy one this year?

What are your kids wanting for Christmas?

The Good, The Bad, and The Christmas Party . . .

We had a Christmas party at our church a couple days ago.

I love our church.
I love the people at our church.
I love Christmas parties.
I DO NOT love taking my poor boy to a crowded party.

Christopher is a boy of opposites.
He is a social butterfly with no inhibitions, yet becomes incredibly anxious in large crowds.
We are in the buffet line and the anxiety is already building.
He is afraid that they will run out of food.
He is afraid that they will not have anything he likes.
He is afraid that people will cut in line.
He is afraid that he will drop his plate.
The line is noisy. People are grabbing around each other. People accidentally touching.
He starts to meltdown. We are trying to get through the line fast, all while holding on to two children and 4 plates of food.
He is crying and getting angry.
People notice and try to calm him down . . . . .with teasing. Ugh.
(A little info : autistic kids can have a wonderful sense of humor. However, when stressed, they may take things you say as very very literal.)
He grabs for some chocolate pudding telling me the whole time "There is not going to be enough! I'm not going to get any!"
A man next to us says jokingly "You can't have that! Chocolate for dinner! Better put it back!"
Christopher's eyes get as big as saucers and he looks at me horrified.
This makes things worse.
What do I say to this nice man who is only trying to help?
It is a dilemma you run into EVERY day when you have a child with autism.
Do I tell him to stop teasing and hope that he takes it the right way?
Do I tell him my child has autism and wait for the look of I totally don't get what that has to do with me teasing him about pudding?
Nope. I decide on the try to nicely ignore him approach. I hope he thinks that I am too preoccupied and didn't hear him.
We made it through the line and are searching for a seat when that familiar, nasty, ugly thought creeps into my brain. We are not normal.

I try hard to push the thought from my mind, but some days it seems so impossible.
Then, I hear the announcement that Santa Claus has arrived!
Christopher immediately jumps up and runs to see.
I'm worried. Will he be okay in that room full of crazy kids?
Will he meltdown waiting in a line for Santa?

I give him a few minutes to see how he will do on his own and then head over to peek in on the situation.
What I saw made my heart sing.


He sat with the other kids with big bright eyes.
Totally enthralled with the magic of it all.
Then, for that moment we are normal.
He is just a kid enjoying the magic of Christmas.



We couldn't convince Andy to see Santa.
He just quietly snuck by to get his ornament off the Santa tree.


Love that boy.

The rest of the night went smoothly.
He participated in the Christmas program as a shepherd with his best buddy Abby (the angel)

We left tired, but satisfied that we had given our child a chance to be a normal boy.
And, If you really knew my boy you would know that he is better than normal.