Ramblings of the sleep deprived

So, I suppose I should give a little introduction before just diving right into things. I'm Carol, I'm a young Mother of 3 and married to the old Father of 3 Tim, ha ha. . OK, he's not old, though he thinks he is. We have Carter who is going to be 4 this Saturday, Sammy who is 19 months and Lily our newest addition, she's 12 weeks :) Carter is our autistic blessing. Though our hands are full and everyday is filled with chaos, I wouldn't change a thing!

We're still "new" to the Autism I suppose. We've known for over 1 year now. We're still working with different interventions and I spend most of my time studying new therapies and approaches. A lot of my time is spent worrying. Sound familiar to anyone else? I constantly worry about Carter and his future. Lately, I've been studying my other two kiddos as well. Sam is 19 months and is progressing just fine, but there is always that fear in the back of my mind. He has severe eczema and is ALWAYS sick it seems. . which is the opposite of Carter. No skin issues for him and the boy has been sick maybe once since he's been born, super immune system he has. Lily. . my little girl, well she's given us issues since before she was born. We went through all kinds of pre-natal testing to rule out issues that would arise after an ultra sound. Thankfully the Doctor's were all wrong and so far she's okay. . other than catching all the nasty germ bugs from her older brothers. At what point will this constant worry over the younger two go away? Past the 2 year mark? I spend all my free time studying the "causes" of Autism, making sure I'm doing the best to protect my younger two. I was a very young, first time Mother with Carter and had never heard of Autism. But, this time, it's different, I know it all too well.

Carter is actually pretty high functioning. He is very verbal. He's always saying something -though it may not always make sense- He's just mostly delayed, but making progress everyday. After reading so much online, books etc., I believe he falls under Aspergers with Sensory Processing Disorder. . He's a sensory seeker, BIG TIME! Anyone else have a child who constantly drums and sings? Carter is a mini musician, absolutely talented. He can sort of play the guitar and he can drum out the beat of any song and it's recognizable. Though, I'm amazed by his talent, I will say I'm beyond sick of the Bob The Builder theme song. I think that's why I decided to blog. A mission to find other Mother's who are fed up, sick and tired of that darn Bobby Builder! Does Bob have a last name? (Should I care?) I actually decided to join the crowd and create a blog to connect with other Mommies out there who go through my daily issues. I live in a terribly small town and have yet to really connect with any other parent of an Autistic child. When I hop on this wonderful thing called the Internet (thank you Al Gore, ha ha) and read other posts from Autism Mom's, I feel hope and a sense of relief, I'm definitely and sadly not the only one. So, I hope maybe I can offer that feeling to someone else. Another Mom or Dad perhaps who reads my rambles and can think "Wow, I've been there" and I certainly won't complain if some tips and advice come flowing my way as well.

So, here it is. . my first set of ramblings, I hope to have more coherent thoughts in the days to come. My sickly children have been keeping me awake more hours than I can count. They finally all go to sleep at the same time and here I am. . blogging!Ha! I'm actually waiting for Hubby to return home. He works full-time and is a full-time college student. I have to wait up for him, otherwise I would NEVER see him. Some days. . I don't even know how we do it. . but we're making it so far and fingers crossed in 50 years, he'll be waiting up for me, while I'm out playing BINGO with the gals, ha ha! Oh well. . until next time though.. . :)