…”Here’s the thing. This is going to sound like I’m whining and complaining about my son making progress. This is not the case. This is me, being terrified, worried, and anxious about what my family’s future is going to look like. This is real. And, as you’ve seen in my writing before, there is a constant mix of emotions when you’re in a situation like mine…”
“Have you heard?! We’ve moved yet again, and are just finishing up our first month here in the nation’s capital, Washington, DC. To be clear, we don’t move annually for then fun of it — I hope our move back to New Orleans next fall will be the last for a long time…”
“The truth is, life is always complicated. Sometimes more so, sometimes less so. We can not control the fact that there are so many layers to life. That joy coexists with grief, loss, and suffering. That three steps forward can also mean ten steps back. That you won’t always get help when you need it, that you won’t always feel strong, and that you will inevitably feel exhausted. I think, if we can accept these facts, and learn how we cope with these moments — then we can make our lives less messy, less complicated than before…”
“Until recently, I’ve been hesitant to refer to myself as a “caregiver” — I mean, aren’t all parents “caregivers”? The short, more obvious answer is — yes, of course, we all care for our children. But, in all honestly, I’m more and more aware of the difference between “parent” and “caregiver” as each day passes…”
“…Unfortunately, I’ve had to witness most of Oscar’s milestones through videos or FaceTime for the past nine months, as I’ve been working in Wyoming, 1,400 miles away from Oscar and Cristina…”
“Sometimes I hate you, sometimes I love you. But when I hate you, it’s cause I love you…”
Adventures in learning how to walk.
“…It made me think of all the humor that can be found in the realm of medically driven lives. And it’s not just me, I’ve met many people in life who deal with medical crisis with humor — or at least can still find the strength to laugh…”
“…Raising a child is exhausting and stressful. When that child is disabled, medically complex, or has special needs, everything is exponentially more difficult. It’s taken me a while to gin up the courage to write this guest post, so I hope it helps friends, family, and others understand what parents of special needs kids go through…”
“Remember that class you had in college, where there were no right or wrong answers, only "best" answers? Scenario after infuriating scenario was presented, and you had to make your case for how you would get the best possible outcome, only to never actually get validation that your answer was "correct." Ethics. My entire life is now an ethics course…”
“…Two years into being a stay at home mom, it's dawned on me that I don't think I am stay at home mom material. I love my son more than anything in the world, and his appointments used to keep us extremely busy. But now, things are slowing down (knock on wood), he spends two full days at school every week, and - don't get me wrong, I love all the snuggles, but he needs more and so do I…”
A year in review.
“Its been said that my son’s sense of time is just like mine. I’m the “early is on time, on time is late” kind of gal and when Oscar made his debut 5 weeks ahead of time, my friends made it a point to say how he got it from me...”
"I don’t think it’s nice to talk badly about people behind their backs. Which is why I’ve asked my husband for his blessing to publish this article. Here’s the thing, I’ve gotten so many comments and messages about how strong we are as a family, and I can only imagine it looks that way in the one or two pictures we have on social media together as a couple..."
