Marley's Magical Mind

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

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-fee...

Following is an article from March of Dimes that I found interesting and wanted to share. It's from 2012 but it does have some basic information Autism Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is a group of conditions that affect how a child functions in several areas, including speech, social skills and behavior. Symptoms of these disorders vary greatly and range from mild to severe. There are three main types of ASDs (1):  Autistic disorder (also called classic autism): Affected individuals often have severe speech, social and behavioral problems. Sometimes individuals also have intellectual disability.  Asperger syndrome: Affected individuals have milder social and behavioral problems than individuals with autistic disorder. They usually have normal speech and intellectual abilities.  Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (also called atypical autism): Affected individuals have some symptoms, often including speech and social problems, but not...