Save a Seat for Mental Illness

    As a parent, a child's birthday is such a bittersweet time. Celebrating their special day with family and friends is always nice. Yet, there seems to be a part of us that wishes our children could stay a certain age forever. For us however, planning these big days is so much more.

    Typically, planning a big day means finding a venue. Do you have it at home, or at the park, maybe at a place designed for kids? (Of course money is usually a factor here.) Then, it's letting your child pick their theme for plates and all the other fun stuff that goes with their special day. So exciting right?

Not for us.

    I mean, it is, but it isn't. You see, Liam isn't just Autistic. Oh no. Apparently that alone wasn't enough of a challenge. He has many other comorbids, but the hardest is the Bipolar Disorder. This happens to remind us every year around his birthday that it's here, and it's in charge. As he gets older, it seems to become worse.

   His eighth birthday was spent in the Emergency Room, because his new med cocktail included Risperdal. He had severe reactions to it, including Dyskinesia, swelling throat, Parkinson's like tics, abnormal muscle movements and more. Thankfully we caught it quick enough that they were able to administer some counteracting medications and in a few hours we were headed home.

   His ninth birthday was terrible as well. He was in such a deep depressive cycle that he wasn't even really "there." We skipped having a party and took him to his favorite swimming hole for the day. We thought the fresh air, and nature fun would help. It was super hot that day, but all the swimming, fishing and catching critters did nothing to help. It was like celebrating with a zombie. I have two pictures from that birthday, and I can't even look at them. I can see the pain in his face and my heart just aches.

    So while many families work to plan a perfect celebration of their child's birth, our planning process involves so much more. We need to have a plan in place to cancel the event if need be. Which for us, means letting our guests know that the party could be canceled last minute. (This is especially important as a few of his friends and cousin are Autistic too, and we know how last minute isn't great for auties.)

    If he insists on having a celebration any way (which is fine because why let the BP win,) we have to prepare guests for how he may be. That means letting them now he may not speak. He won't smile. Usually hyper and energetic, Liam will be withdrawn and sluggish instead. When you look at him, he won't "look" like he's there. He will open his gifts with definite lackluster, but not because he doesn't appreciate them, but because at the moment, his mind WON'T LET HIM.  It's daunting to say the least, and important that our friends and family prepare their kids.

    Please understand, I'm not writing or sharing this post for attention. I don't want people to think we want sympathy. I promise you, we don't. What we do want is to educate others about mental illness and children. It's real. It's tangible. It's hell. But we not only survive, we thrive. We just do it differently than everyone else. 

The Autism Life

Sometimes the Autism life is harder on me, than it is him.

When we got home from grocery shopping Liam couldn't wait to get back outside and "find friends." So much so, that he dumped the litter pan, and forgot to bring it in, because he saw "friends" walking by.

He came flying in, vibrating with excitement he yelled, "Momma, J and his cousin J are walking around. Can I go with them?" (they are 11 and 16, so I feel safe when Liam is with them.) I told him yes, and he beamed. He flew into his classroom/toy room, grabbed an old Halloween mask, slapped it on his face, kissed my cheek (twice as always) and flew out the front door.

I smiled to myself. Today seemed to be a good day. Though he was stimmy, talking a mile a minute, and ready to cry at the drop of a hat, the kids were accepting him. That makes it a great day.

Not 5 minutes later, Liam comes back in. Mask in hand, he yells, "Is A here?"  I reply, "No. Why?" He said, "Because J told me A was here for me, and I should come play with him. So I came home!"

I stopped putting away the canned goods and walked into the living room. I could feel my face turning red. My ears were on fire. Apparently J and J didn't want Liam and his silly mask walking with them, so they told him A was here looking for him. To get rid of him.

I said, "Liam, you saw A up the road helping the neighbors, so you knew he wasn't here. Did they not want to walk with you?"

My heart is racing, my anger is rising....

Liam, nonchalantly says, "well, maybe," and goes back to looking at his Magic cards.

I paused for a few moments. I was choking back my tears. Why can't kids accept that he is different? Why can't they accept that different is OKAY.

My voice wavering I say to Liam, "well, when J comes over later to play Magic cards with you, tell him to go play with someone else." (I am tired of my son being jilted, and only good enough when these kids are bored.)

Liam looks at me puzzled and says, "No, Momma!"

I reply, "well, then, what will you say?"

Liam says with a big grin, "I will say, LET'S PLAY J!"

The innocence crushes my heart. I choke on my anger.

You see, I am the one bothered by Liam being turned away. It didn't bother him. He didn't care. He is just happy when a kid seeks him out. That is how kind, and how gentle his heart is.

I AM BLIGHTING MY CHILD!!!!

I am trying to harden his heart to this cruel world, and it's not right.

In an effort to keep him from being hurt, I am intervening with what is right for me, NOT for him. He ISN'T a "typical" kid, and sometimes I lose sight of that.

We all make mistakes. None of us are perfect. We all only want what is best for our kiddos. Sometimes we don't always know what that is. Sometimes, we are wrong.

 <3 <3 <3 <3

My Messy Beautiful Life....

  When I got the email invite from Momastery about this project, I knew I had to take part. I knew I would fight my brain, and figure out a way to get my words out, come Hell or high water!!!! You see, a very large part of my messy beautiful life is that I live with chronic illnesses. A lot of them....

 The Fibromyalgia causes horrible brain fog and memory problems to boot! I can't tell you what I ate yesterday, but I can tell you EVERY single teacher I had since kindergarten. (Useless info is what PITA calls it.) I also have chronic fatigue syndrome, Hashimotos disease, Endometriosis, Hemorrhagic Ovarian Cysts, and more.... I don't want to bore you with the details.

 The chronic pain can be debilitating some days, but I push on. I have to. I am a mom. Not just a "normal" mom, I'm an Autism mom!






 My son Liam (whom is the reason I started to blog in the first place) will be 8 in May, and he is autistic. He has taught me a lot in 8 years. I have grown in ways I never would have imagined. (especially in clothing sizes!) I have learned that no love compares to the love between a parent and a child. I have learned that I am a lot stronger than I thought I was. Even on my worsT days, when I can't seem to get off my chair, I am still an ass kicking momma!!!

 I have learned that public schools really aren't for everyone. I have learned that I make a pretty damn good special needs teacher. (There is no feeling like hearing your child read, and knowing that it was YOU that taught him that.) I have learned that I am a force to be reckoned with. (Just asK NEB.... that school really despises me, because of my advocating for my son.)

 I have learned that I don't care.

Now before anyone decides to go sanctimommy on that sentence, let me explain. I don't care what you, or you over there... or you hiding behind your computer, think of me. I have lost "friends" because I talk about Autism and how it impacts our life, a LOT. My world revolves around my son, and if people don't like that, it's their loss.  It doesn't matter to me.


What matters is what my son thinks of me. What matters is what I think of me.



  I have learned that even though this world is chock full of asshats.... that there is still a TON of AUSOME people left in the world. A lot of these people follow us on A Legion for Liam. A lot of these people I now call friends. I have never really "met" them. I don't need to. I KNOW them. They are good shit! And even though I don't like social functions, if some of these ladies wanted to get together, I would jump and scream at the chance! (I'm talking about you Housewives!!!) I have learned that family doesn't mean you are blood related! I have gained 6 sisters in the last year and I love them all!

 I have learned that my family is even more amazing than I thought they were. They have rallied around Liam since his diagnosis in 2010. They have supported, and learned, and understand Liam and Autism. It's amazing. They have also rallied around me. They support me, and my decisions about our life. They offer me guidance when I feel like hope is lost. In general, they ROCK!!!

 So I guess what I am getting at is this. Your life may be "messy." It may be difficult. It may royally suck sometimes. But bottom line, someone ALWAYS has it worse. So be thankful. Be glad that you have a "messy, beautiful life!"

For more #CarryOnWarrior posts, click  HERE.