Ellie

I've been trying to gather my thoughts lately, to give an update on Ellie, and all things Autism.

This month of April comes around every year, and with it all the awareness talk of this complex disorder she deals with. We deal with.

So how is Ellie?

Ellie is Ellie. She's an incredible girl, with many amazing traits, and many mind boggling problems.

Autism is hard. It's hard for her, hard for us, hard for her teachers. It's impossible to define. It's all encompassing for all of us. It makes her life awesome, and it makes her life awful. It gives her amazing abilities in some areas, and makes her life more stressful than anyone can imagine in other ways. I am continuously floored by this disorder.

Ellie is twelve now. On the brink of the teenage years, and junior high. She is in a regular education class, as she always has been, but she gets a lot of additional supports and therapies at school. We attempted private school at the beginning of this year, and only lasted a month. There were a lot of factors that went into our decision to try the private school, and a lot of factors that brought her back to her public school. Long story short, she cannot function without the extra support that her public school provides. It was an eye opener for me.

We see the best in our kids, even when we see the worst. I see her amazing brain at work daily. I also see her struggle with things that my first grader doesn't. Ellie still does not understand how to socialize with her peers. It's a foreign concept to her. She is single mindedly focused on some tasks, but cannot even begin to focus on things that don't interest her. She is getting better at expressing her needs and concerns in an acceptable way, but she has a long way to go. I see great progress from her, but also see how much she still can't do.

I see her make it through a long dinner at a restaurant...amazing. But I also see that to make it through that dinner, I had to do a lot of prep work before we arrived, find her a chair that was "comfortable", and talk her out of her tree when the unknowing waiter adjusted the umbrella near our table and the sun shown into her eyes.

I get word from her teacher that she got very upset and ran away from her classroom. Yikes. But I also see that she didn't scream or say mean things, and she when she ran away, she ran to her safe place, her SPED class.

So there's the bad and there's the good. It's a constantly moving roller coaster that we are somewhat familiar with, and somewhat shocked by, every day.

Truly, no one can understand what her life is like, or what our lives are like, except for possibly another Autism family. It's exhausting. It's heartbreaking. It's beyond stressful. It brings out the best and worst of us.

I put on my brave face most days, and do what I have to do for all of us. I pray for her future and plan for her present. I push the "why" thoughts away, try to help her through the worst times, and celebrate the good times.

As for awareness...I'm glad it's getting there. It needs to. Autism is on the rise, there's no doubt about that. My afternoon preschool class is full of sweet 5 year olds, all with Autism. I love them. I love their quirks, their eccentricities. I love working with people who understand more about this disorder than I do. It's been good for me.

One foot in front of the other. One hour, one minute at a time. We'll make it.

Til next April...

Shelley

The Christmas Post

Traditions. I love traditions. This year's included Polar Express celebrating Grandaddy's bday, the Adoration Parade, Christmas with the Knipple's, Aunt Denise's, Papa Kenny's, and Christmas morning at home. We missed SDC this year, and we missed Laney again, but we're thrilled that baby Parker was born 2 days before Christmas! We had a great Christmas with lots of fun family time!



































Merry Christmas 2013!!!

Snowy days

We got a BIG snow this year in early December. 10 inches of beautiful white snow blanketed our world and gave us 4 days of no school! It was welcomed by all of us! Poor Ellie (and Austin and daddy at the end) was pretty sick for most of it, but we made the best of it. She was happy to rest and take it all in, and Annie and Austin were very good to let her rest. Daddy even closed the shop for a day, Unheard of! I think it's the biggest snow we've had in several years!

There has been lots of fun, and time to get all those Christmassy things in we don't always have time for. We baked Christmas cookies, played in the snow, made a gingerbread house, watched Christmas movies, played Monopoly, listened to Christmas music, worked on our advent calendar, did a Christmas bible study, wrapped presents, did online shopping, and rested a lot!

It's been a blessing to have this unexpected break in the midst of such a busy season. I feel mentally rested and ready to really enjoy the rest of the month. As my friend Alana said, maybe we should pray for a few snow days every December! :)

Christmas photos

We took our own Christmas pics again this year. It went pretty well, and we got some cute shots!

Shoot!

The couple that shoots together, stays together!

OK

Grammie and I took the girls and made a quick trip to OK for Lane's baby shower and Christians 2nd bday! We had to work some shopping in, of course, so we spent a day at the mall in Tulsa on our way home! Fun!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. Nana and Papa brought Aunt Bev and Henry and the doggies over for a delicious breakfast. We really enjoyed our visit. Later we went to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving dinner, where I forgot to take a single picture! Guess I was too busy eating and relaxing! We had a great time there too though, with Gma, Dean and Denise, and my parents!

First grade field trip!

On our way to the Discovery Center!

Polar take 2!

Polar express elves of 2013!

When I grow up...

When I grow up...

I wanted to be a Mommy.

I wanted to be an Interior Designer.

I wanted to be an Actress.

I wanted to be a Singer.

I wanted to be a Missionary.

I wanted to be an Artist.

I wanted to work in Advertising...

Then I grew up. And didn't have a clue what I wanted to be.

I struggled through 4 years of college, changing my major several times, and ultimately quitting without a degree. Then I did the one thing I was sure of, and married Jason. We started a life together, and soon I was a Mommy.

Being a mommy is wonderful, exhausting, all-consuming, and thrilling. I love it. For 12 years I have been a Mommy. Last year my last baby started school full-time, and then the question came back...

What do I want to be when I grow up?

I love so many things, but am not really qualified for any of them as a career. I finally settled on subbing as a way to earn some money, and have some control over my time. I didn't think I would love it, but I thought it would be okay. I soon found that my favorite places to sub in, involved children with special needs. These kids are cool. I love their quirks, their sweet spirits, their sense of humor.

This year I signed on to sub again, and began the first day of school filling in for a Para in a SPED room on maternity leave. For six weeks I worked with, loved on, and helped teach a group of sweet and special kiddos. My heart is still with them. The next few weeks I moved over to a different school in our district, filling in for an injured coworker, also in a SPED room. As the weeks ticked by, and I worked full time as a sub, I finally realized that this is what I want to do. I prayed that God would open the door if it was the right thing for me, especially since I was still unsure about working full time. Soon He gave me my answer, and I accepted a position as a full time Para working with ECSE (Early Childhood Special Education).

My life has gone down many paths that I did not expect. I certainly never thought about working with special needs kids as a possible career when I was in college. Special Ed wasn't even on my radar. But having Ellie, and then Austin, has changed all that. I have sat through countless hours of OT, Autism therapy, and IEP meetings. I have researched Autism and ADHD online, into the wee hours of the morning, night after night. I have read books, magazines articles, and listened to podcasts about parenting children with special needs. All to the end that I feel I have earned my life degree in Special Education. I am SO excited to use my life experience and knowledge to help these sweet preschoolers!

I finally have the answer. When I grow up, I want to work in Special Education. And it only took me 36 years to figure it out. :)

Ellie and Darby

Halloween 2013

Shepherd of the Hills

The long running show at Shepherd of the Hills closed this year. Our good friends, and owners of the property, invited us to see the last show. It was bittersweet for me to take my kids to the show for the first, and last time. I remember seeing it several times as a child, and always loving it. It will be greatly missed.

Just Horsin' around!

A new adventure! A horse costume contest! Ellie dressed Francesca the horse up as a beautiful pink poodle! It was quite fun making a costume for a horse! :) Ellie dressed like a 1950's girl to walk alongside her horse for the costume parade. Fun times!

Pumpkin Patch 2013

Fall at the Farm

Blakely, our wonderful riding instructor, invited us to her farm for a wonderful day of Fall fun! Hay ride, ponies, and s'mores...perfect!

7!

Austin is 7! He wanted his favorite pizza arcade for his birthday party, and we happily obliged! Including his special request of the Cummings family to come too! :) Can't believe my baby is seven!

First day!

It's that time again! First day of school...for most of us! Annie and Austin started, and so did mommy! I started this year subbing full time in the same building with them! Ellie started school a week later at a private school, but ended up coming back to Branson a month later. And I didn't get a pic! #mommyfail :(

Yeti's!

A local family put a shaved ice stand in just down the road from our house this summer. Yeti's quickly became our favorite summer treat!

Brave

My brave boy. Another ear surgery. This one was much more in depth. What was supposed to be a reconstruction of the middle ear bones, so our boy could hear well again, turned into more. Once inside his ear, the surgeon found a large mass growing, a cholesteotoma. It was a mess, even growing into the mastoid bone. The surgery took almost 3 hours, but was overall successful. The surgeon was able to do all the work inside the ear, and avoid cutting outside. Time will tell if he got it all. If he didn't, it will start growing back. The reconstruction is postponed until his ear is healed and we're sure the cholesteotoma is completely gone. It was a shocking turn of events, but we are thankful our boy was in good hands. He was so brave, and recovered extremely well with the help of new Lego's! :)