Busy, busy life!

Life has gotten the best of us and we have been going non-stop! It feels like there is just no free time. 

Brendan is doing great in his school. He is having more good days than hard days at school, and he is starting to have more good days at his pre-school as well. We have more appointments with Inland Regional coming up next month, so hopefully we will be able to get him some more services soon! 

Liam has been busy reading! The boys both got library cards a month ago and Liam is loving checking out and reading books. He struggles with spelling in his school work, so we are hoping that all this reading he is doing will help develop his spelling. School work has been busy for Liam too. Homework is starting to take over most of our nights. We cannot wait until summer time! 

We added a new member to our family a few weeks ago. She is super cute and so much fun! The boys have been asking for a dog for a while, but the right opportunity has just not come along, until now. A co-worker of mine had 4 puppies that they were fostering and trying to find homes for. All 4 puppies went to people at my work. I fell in love with our little girl the first time I saw her picture. She has brought a lot of fun and chaos to our family. The boys really love her and you can tell that she loves them so much too! She is growing so much, and even got her first hair cut this past week. 

We've got a lot planned over the next few months! We are so excited to see where God leads us over these few busy months. 

Update on Brendan

I want to say thank you to everyone that has been praying for our family through this new adventure that we are on. Brendan has now been at his new school for 3 weeks, or 6 days. He only goes Monday-Wednesday, but the school as been closed a few days during those weeks. His first two days at school were a little rough, and a lot like how he behaved at his other pre-school. He was testing the teachers to see how much he could get away with. He wasn't interested in doing the activities and cried when he was forced to do something he didn't want to. The next week, he was a totally different kid. He did everything the teachers asked him to and was engaged in the activities. He only needed help to get started, but did the rest of the work on his own. This alone is a HUGE improvement. Previously, he would just wander around the classroom while circle time, or another activity was being done. He had no interest in joining in, and the teachers never made him participate.


There have been some improvements at home too. While they are small improvements, they make a huge difference in our day-to-day life. We are so excited to see how much he grows. I got to speak with his teacher this week and she again told me how great he is doing and how surprised she is that he was able to improve so quickly.


Today when I picked him up from his regular pre-school, the teacher let me know that he was engaged in a circle time activity and made the activity all by himself. She let me know that he has been more involved in group activities than he has been previously. This makes my heart so happy. Previously he could care less to interact with other classmates, let alone color or make crafts. And here, 3 weeks into his special classes, he is making strides in these areas of concern.


We are working on making things more structured at home to help with his behavior improvement. We have already started a visual calendar so he knows where he is going during the week, and this has been very helpful already. He loves taking the little bus, and does get very sad on the days that he does not go. But, we talk about it, and are able to reason with him about the situation much more than we used to be.


God is definitely in this situation and has really shown us how this road that we have taken is the right one for Brendan and our family. All the right people have been put into place to help us get our son the help that he needs to succeed. Please continue to lift our family in prayer.

Liam is 7!!

We are now the proud parents of a seven-year-old. Is that right?! Did he really just turn 7? It's still crazy to think we have a seven-year-old. Liam is growing up so fast. We celebrated his birthday at Knott's Berry Farm this year and had lots of fun.

The boys had so much fun on all the rides. Auntie Brittany and her boyfriend, Shamir, took Liam on some "big boy rides" while Brendan and I rode some milder attractions. Liam even ride Montezumas revenge with us! 

A Bundle of Nerves

The time is here. Brendan is finally starting his services with our school district tomorrow. To say that I'm nervous is an understatement. I feel so so so anxious. I have been nervous for about a week, and today is the worst. We were able to visit the school and teacher today so Brendan could get an idea of where he'll be going. He is going to be taking a bus to and from school, so now he will have a familiar face and place when he gets off the bus.

Most of my nervousness comes from the fact that I am not going to be the one dropping him off or picking him up two of the three days that he is going. It has become such a routine for both of us for me to be the main person doing things, but routines are changing. I know that everything will be fine. Deron and my sister will be making sure Brendan is taken care of when I'm not there. 

Change is inevitable. It needs to happens in order for Brendan and us, to get the help that's needed. God has a plan for us, and I know he will have His hand in all that is happening. A verse that I have really been reminding myself of is Phillipians 4:6-7:

God has really spoken to us through this process. Life has been very hard lately, but there is an explanation and we are on the road to progress. We ask for your continued prayer for our family and specifically Brendan as he faces these new challenges in his life.

Christmas

We hope everyone had a great Christmas! We enjoyed all the family time that we had, as well as remembering what Christmas is really about! 

This year was definitely harder than other years. Deron was working on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so there was one less parent in the mix. Also, Brendan's behavior is quickly becoming more difficult to manage. As he is getting older and understanding more, he is acting out more. Going places, like church, restaurants and even other peoples houses, is becoming more difficult. 

We spent Christmas Eve with my family. We went to church, then out to eat, then home for present and happy birthday Jesus cake! Both boys were very excited about all that was going on! 

Liam got a crazy horse head from my sister. He loves it, but it is a little scary! 😳 Brendan really likes the flipeez that he got too! 

That night we went home and the boys opened their present of Christmas Jammie's, a Christmas movie, popcorn and hot chocolate. I tried taking a picture of them by the tree, but this is what I got... 

Brendan was extremely tired that night, as he did not take a nap, but he at least took one more picture for me...

The next day we opened presents while daddy was still at home. The boys had so much fun and both got what they wanted! 

Afterwards we headed back to my parents for brunch with my grandma. 

Later in the afternoon we headed over to my sister-in-laws house for dinner with Deron's family. Deron was able to meet us there and enjoy a Christmas dinner. 

We are so grateful for everything that God has given to us. This was truly a year to remember. Hopefully this next year won't go by so fast!!! 

Unknown Territory

Since confirming that Brendan does have characteristics of Autism, we have been on a hunt for things that will help us help him. We cannot believe how much information there is regarding Autism. It is actually overwhelming at times because there is so much. Instead of trying to figure everything out all at once, we decided to just take things one day at a time and learn from Brendan what works best for him. We have already changed the way that we discuss things with him and are seeing a big improvement in his behavior when he has to do something that he may not want to do.


Over the last few weeks, however, there has been a behavior that has developed that has been difficult to deal with. Since the assessments, where Brendan started hitting me, he know finds it amusing to tell me often that he wants to hit me. He rarely acts on it, but he may tell me about 20-30 times in one day that he is going to hit me. It has been hard to discuss this with him because he thinks that it's funny. He laughs while he is telling me and laughs throughout our correction of him. About  six weeks ago, when we had barely found out that he may be autistic, I had purchased a few books through Liam's book order that I thought may help Brendan with his behaviors. One of them is titled, "Hands Are Not for Hitting" by Mortine Agassi. We read this book the day that Liam brought his books home and we were amazed at how well Brendan has seemed to understand the message that this book discussed. It was very interactive and repeated the message of hands are not for hitting a lot throughout the book. Brendan retained almost everything about the book and still talks about it. When he does mention anything about hitting, we always ask him, "what are hands for?" He always replies with, "not for hitting." He has drastically minimized how much he talks about hitting me and we may go days without him saying it at all.

This resource seemed to be given to us at just the right time. Rather, God put it on my heart to order this book, because he knew that we would need it to help us and Brendan. We have been blessed with many friends as well that are very willing to help wherever they can with information, resources, ideas, etc. God truly has put the right resources and people in our lives to help us get through all this and help Brendan succeed.


Brendan starts his classes with the school district after the New Year. We are excited to see how much these classes help him, and us. He will be taking a bus to and from school, which is what he is most excited about. He will start having homework (mostly practicing lines, circles, letters, etc.) and will begin getting his speech therapy, sign language and behavior modification help that is so important. For now, we wait until January and enjoy this wonderful time of year. Brendan will be turning 4 next week and is soooooooo very excited about his birthday party. He tells us daily that his birthday is coming up!


Please continue praying for us as we move forward. Any information and resources that anyone has is always welcomed. We are learning as we go, and this is all unknown territory.

Autism

Over the last couple of months, Brendan and I have been making trips to our school district to do assessments with student services. For a while we have had concerns about a few things, ie: eye contact, behavior, speech, social development. He has been struggling at pre-school as well with some of these concerns.

 After 6 assessments with a child psychologist, speech pathologist and an autism specialist, we had our IEP meeting today and it was decided that he has characteristics of Autism. I was told about a month or so ago that this is what they were feeling, but had to wait until the IEP was done to have a final report. I cried when I was told, but I feel it was more because I was relieved that we could move forward and help Brendan. 

There were lots of struggles that came during the assessments, such as, his behavior intensified and he became much more temperamental as he was being forced to do things he didn't want to do. He also became physical with me when I would have to restrain him. He starting hitting me in the face and wouldn't stop until he was able to knock my glasses of my face. This was very difficult for me to deal with and I would often break down because of it. It was a struggle for me to actually have my child hitting me. Through this I have realized that he doesn't know any better and this is how he is communicating. It is still a struggle for me though. 

Today was hard for Deron and I because we know what the struggles are, but to see it in writing and to see that these specialists are identifying the exact same things we are, made it that much more real. I think that we both came away from the meeting today feelig better and knowing that there is a lot of people that want to help him. 

Now, we are working on getting him into the services that the school district provides. There are lots of resources available for him at the school district, but the services they offer are at times that are difficult for us because of our work schedules. Lots of praying is going on over here to find what works best for him and our busy lives. God has truly pointed us in the right direction to help our little guy succeed in this life. Thank you to everyone that has been praying for us. Please continue to pray as we move into this next chapter and get Brendan that support that he needs!