Marley's Magical Mind

At her IEP meeting back in March the child study team let me know that they wanted to mainstream Marley in the fourth grade. At first I wasn't too sure about her being mainstreamed, but after I thought about it I realize that she needed to move on. While the program is phenomenal in our school district, I feel that at times it hinders her maturity. I understand that a child with special needs has to have certain opportunities be made a little more easily available, but at the same time it also makes her think that she's entitled to other things. She thinks everyone is going to cater to her.   Marley is on the spectrum so while she may have developmental delays she has no cognitive delays. She is, for all intents and purposes, a nine-year-old girl. I think mainstreaming her in a regular classroom, with a lot of support, is a very good idea for her.   We tried to give her a heads up as much as possible. But how much can you explain to a nine-year-old that things are going to chan

Yup. It's true.  She was reinfected with Lyme. Since the middle of May she had been sleeping a lot. She was taking naps during the day and would spend most of the weekend inside the house. I was suspicious that something was wrong and asked my husband to take her to the doctor. This was the middle of June, after school finished for the summer. He is a teacher so he had the same vacation as her.  The blood was drawn without a problem. Sure enough, she tested positive again. The doctor explained the results to me but it wasn't too clear for me. The way she was describing the results sounded like this was 'acute' all over again. Which means it just started and is new.  Great!!!  Use your bug spray!!! These little suckers are dangerous!!! I'll be back soon!!!  ❤️ Vanessa

I wanted to jump on real quick to give an update.  Marley and I have both been undergoing treatment for Lyme disease.  I am happy to say that Marley kicked it's butt !!!! It took two rounds of antibiotics, but she is now feeling much better.  I also was able to defeat Lyme, but the parasite, Babesia, decided to stick around a little longer.  I have been on antibiotics, antimalarial and antiprotozoal medications.  I have been exhausted, to say the least.  The past few weeks have been a little better with the exhaustion but I still have the stomach issues associated with this disease and also the medicines.   I am grateful that my family and I have the means to be able to treat this and live the rest of our lives happy and healthy! I appreciate all the support my family and friends have extended out to us. Sometimes just being able to vent about how awful I felt was enough to alleviate any discomfort I had.   Love to all, Vanessa

I haven't posted in 3 months.  I was too tired. I had brain fog. Body aches and pains.  Thought I was lazy and unmotivated.  On June 22, 2015, Marley had a fever. Nothing tangible, no sore throat or any skin eruptions. Lasted 3 days.  Doctor couldn't figure it out either.  Figured it was just her body fighting something off. Fever broke on June 25th. No biggie.  But on June 28 we were at a friends birthday BBQ and it suddenly came back for two days!!! And went away again! Weird......but, ok, her body is fighting off a stomach thing. So I thought.  On July 3 Marley woke up covered in a strange looking rash. They looked like bullseye's!!! She was covered in them. She looked like a giraffe!!!!!!! Just one side of her arm On one side of her back I  told hubby to take her to the doctor, but everyone thought I was over reacting.  NEVER TELL AN AUTISM MOM SHE IS OVER REACTING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I was also brutally tired and thought maybe I was being over sensitive. Af

5 months old Can't handle the cuteness !!! Kids with autism usually are very particular about what they eat. Most of the time I feel it's because of sensory issues in their mouth, and because of this some of them do limit what they eat, sometimes so severely, that it could result in nutritional deficiencies. When my daughter was born she was never a hungry child. I remember when Marley was few weeks old she fell asleep for five hours and did not wake up to eat. I actually had to wake her up to eat. Being that she is my first child I thought it was normal, but I soon discovered that it was not.  At this age children usually wake up every 2 to 3 hours to feed, and they are very hungry.   She never finished the appropriate amount of formula for her particular age. I tried breast-feeding but she would not latch on. I later found out, through Marley's neurodevelopmental pediatrician,  that children with autism have difficulty latching onto breast-feeding. What I was

Well, I'm back. Thanks to a friend of mine that I've known since third grade. He's the one that gave me the kick in the pants.  Thanks Jay!!!! I haven't blogged in a few months. Sometimes life gets in the way!!! As you may have already noticed, I've done some updating and I changed the name of my blog. I feel the new name gives my blog more definition. My daughters mind is the most magical place I've ever witnessed.   Not much has really happened since my last post. Routine in my house is so strict that I get into autopilot. In some ways it's good because I always know what's going to happen next.  But in other ways it gets a bit stifling. And when things get monotonous the brain shuts down!  I did get laid off in the beginning of the year and we got a dog. A lab mix named Luna Belle. Those are pretty major changes for a family that has an autistic member.  The lay off really didn't affect her very much because I was always home by the time she