Add a pinch of Autism to the mix.

I created this blog about one year ago.  As you can tell, a year later, this is my first blog entry.  Here is the story to my blog; Add a pinch of Autism to the mix.

Happy birthday to my sweet son Seth.  June 16, 2006 we welcomed our son with open arms and lots of love.   When he entered into our space we were overjoyed to hear his first cry.  If we had only known that there would be many, upon many cries, whining, tantrums and rages that would come along with God's precious gift perhaps a pair of ear plugs would have been a practical "welcome to the world" gift. : )  All kidding aside, I was overjoyed with happiness holding my son for the first time and scared to death about motherhood.

Somewhere between 6 and 13 months old I "just knew" that something was "off" or "different" about Seth.  I made my concerns known to his pediatrician who at the time just dismissed each and every one of them.  Hey, what did I know? I was a newbie mom at the ripe age of 30.  

After several attempts of being ignored by the ped, I took matters into my own hands. For reasons unbeknownst to me,  I did not understand why the pediatrician thought that it was normal for a 12 - 16 month old to not to take notice to a baby/kid friendly television show, hardly babbling,  scratching himself, hitting himself, banging his head into the wall, throwing/kicking objects when he would get frustrated.   By the age of 2 not interested in block play, coloring, toys, books and other kids.  Come to find out, it wasn't the norm.  

Here we go.  Please buckle your seat belt, keep all extremities inside the compartment and don't forget your ear plugs!

First stop, pediatric psychiatrist.  Came home with a bag of alphabet soup.  PDD-NOS, ADHD, ODD and mood disorder.  Second stop, pediatric psychiatrist, second opinion. Departed with the same bag of alphabet soup.  There it was, all these letters that was suppose to mean something to me and I must admit, I had not a clue of what Autism and Autism Spectrum was all about.  Honestly, I wasn't really on a search to find out "what was wrong with him" but rather, I wanted to learn how to help him and learn how to help him help himself.  All these diagnoses at the tender age of 3.  My heart sunk but mentally I was alive and hopeful because now we had the "what was wrong" with him figured out.  Or so I thought.  This was just the beginning of the journey. 

Since then our bag of alphabet soup has gotten bigger with speech therapy, occupational therapy, counseling and behavioral therapy.  Seth has come a long way with his understanding of other peoples emotions and empathy, humor, verbalizing his wants and needs, ok with being touched and held at times, finding his imagination and fine tuning motor skills.  We are still working on his LOUDNESS.  Still not sure he understands the term whisper and when he tries, well, it is LOUD.  Everyday brings on new challenges and many frustrations but in all our fog, there is always a glimpse of the rainbow.  Sometimes I need to look really hard and even when I cant see it, I must believe it is there.       

Here we are today, 3 years later.  Happily remarried I am to a wonderful Godly man, husband, father and step father.  Shane treats Seth as his own.  We have an amazing daughter, Keana who is two and she is Seth's half sister and I have a wonderful stepson, Kai who is almost 8 years of age, he is Seth's stepbrother.  Fabulous family of five we are with a pinch of Autism in the mix.  

Seth almost 2 years of age

Seth 3 years of age

Our "Rocky" Seth.  5 years old

Keana 2 (Seth's half sister) and Seth 6

My tripod. Kai, Keana and Seth

Amazing hubby, father and step dad; Shane with Seth who was 3 at the time.

Me and my children. Keana, 2 and Seth, 6