Freedom!

I think few people understand, truly, how isolating autism can be to an entire family.

It's not just that no one understands autism - it's that, literally, leaving your house is a nightmare.

JT would freak out anywhere we went. Grocery stores. Restaurants. Doctors offices.

We're talking, full-on meltdown, screaming, kicking, biting, fight-or-flight mode type stuff. Long gone, inconsolable stuff. People staring at you and whispering stuff. People outright saying things about my parenting, about how awful my son was (yes, I had, on more than one occasion, people out loud refer to my son as 'bad' or worse).

It broke me eventually.

It was hard enough getting him out, let alone braving the people who were so cruel.

Lately, though, a shift in JT - a HUGE shift - made me get back up and try again.

Guess what?

JT is awesome, that's what.

He goes shopping with me, no fits. He goes to the zoo, no fits. He goes to restaurants, no fits.

Not perfect behavior, but oh my goodness MANAGEABLE.

We can go out - as a family! - and have a great time.

I've signed up for those cute little Lowe's and Home Depot classes. We're planning family weekends.

I've never known what it feels like to do family things and just enjoy them... It's fantastic.

iPad

The Hubs received an iPad for Christmas... possibly the best gift ever.

Our entire family is slightly obsessed with the it.

So far, our favorite game (overall) is Angry Birds.

Audrey also likes two of the Barbie games, JT likes letter games and the SpongeBob game, and The Hubs and JT both like the Shark Attack game. I love everything...

Summertime

Wow... it has been WAY too long since I've posted!

Summer is a very busy (aka hectic) time around here. Between no school and visitors, we've been really busy!

My mom and her roommate came and stayed several days with us in mid-July (right around Miss Audrey's birthday).

Then, my dad and stepmom flew in last Friday and didn't leave until today.

We are going to be very lonely around here now... with no planned visits anytime soon :(

School starts for Audrey next Wednesday (1st grade!) and JT the following Thursday (it's his last year of preschool). They are growing up WAY too fast!

Virginia Beach

The Duzan family had a wonderful time at the beach... even if JT preferred looking out from the 11th floor balcony to sitting on the beach while Miss Audrey practically turned into a dolphin!

Here are a couple of pics from our awesome adventure:

Happy New Year!!

The Duzan family wishes everyone a happy, healthy and fabulous 2010!

Here's to a new year, and a new decade!

Happy Halloween!!!

Well, we had a good time in the end (haha).

It started with the mall trick or treating... JT was fine with the monkey costume (he loves it, that's why he wore it again). But when we got inside and started, it was just too much. Y'know, he's almost 4, people kind of expect (and wait) for him to say "trick or treat"... And he won't. Plus, people all in his face telling him he's a cute monkey, kids and other people bumping him and getting in his space, WAITING IN LINES (major meltdown starter there)... We hit 4 stores and we had to leave... Carrying a monkey that sounded like a velociraptor. Ugh.

We came home, JT and I stayed in to hand out candy while Audrey and The Hubs went out in our neighborhood. JT had an awesome time, he giggled, played with me, watched Alvin and ate our candy... He just doesn't like Halloween. Fine with me...

He said "cahkey" (candy), "poh-wee" (pony - he loves Audrey's costume of a princess on a pony), "twihtwee" (trick or treat) and "hee haw" (yee haw - as he was riding the pony). I'm impressed!

Audrey of course LOADED UP. She was the cutest Cinderella EVER, and she charmed all the folks handing out candy... One guy asked her what she had for HIM as he was giving her candy, and she promptly dug through her bag to pull out a piece for him. He told The Hubs he had an extremely sweet little girl, and explained to Audrey he was just kidding and could keep every bit of her candy (and I think they gave her more ;) ).

So, Halloween was a success in the end.

Nothing to report out of the ordinary family-wise. If you want to see more specific updates on the kids, they each have their own page... there's a feed on the sidebar for them. I have my blog under the blog list, just in case you ever wonder about my personal opinions or issues... I'm trying to streamline this blog into family updates/important info, so that everyone knows important stuff about fun family times!!!

Visitors!

We had a very, very fun week with Nanny (my mom) and Great Gran (her mom) this week. They arrived Wednesday and didn't leave until today.

We played, shopped and just basically played with the kiddos. We all had a great time...

We will miss them... but hope they will come back soon!


A very entertaining moment during their trip:
My mom accidentally scraped Audrey with her fingernail - Audrey was laying on her and my mom's fingernail got the back of her shirt (not even any skin). I should also mention Audrey was beyond tired at this point...
Anyway, Audrey is hysterically crying, like she's been mauled. She comes and lays down with me, calms down, and my mom comes in and apologizes to Audrey. She also asks, "Audrey, you're not mad at Nanny, are you?"
Audrey replies, "No, Nanny, I'm not mad at you. Just a little upset."
As my mom and I are cracking up, Audrey rolls over and goes to sleep.

She is a piece of work, that one ;)

Monkey Joe's

Yesterday we decided to try out Monkey Joe's. Monkey Joe's is an indoor playground with nothing but inflatables. This place had 3 obstacle courses (one was two-story), one bounce house/slide, one HUGE slide, one plain bouncy castle and a toddler bounce for smaller kiddos.

The kids had SO MUCH FUN. JT eventually just shuffled to the door and pointed outside. Audrey was crying, but exhausted when we left. We spent 3 whole hours there, and they went from one to the other the whole time.

I was kind of surprised JT liked it. He is terrified of vaccuums, so I really thought the noise from the inflatable pumps would scare him. It did not! His favorite was the ginormous slide... and he wasn't scared at all. He even did the rock walls!!! (Audrey, of course, did everything just fine, and made a friend named Maya).

Here are the kids having a blast:

Happy Birthday America!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July!

We're celebrating with hamburgers and fireworks... BBQ and explosions... Can't get any better than that.

As a side note, our nephew is in the hospital after getting a pretty bad staph infection. Apparently he had to have surgery and has to have IV antibiotics for a few days. He's only 4... If you get a chance, pray for the little cutie.

Stay safe, and have fun!

Church :-)

We all went today, and we all had a great time - including JT (no joke!). Amazing!

My doctor appointment went okay... She said she believes my 'non-stop' headache is a tension headache... She felt my base of my head (apparently where your muscles come together? I have a horrible memory about some things...) and noted it's severely tight there... My stabby pains in my cheek/jaw/face are neuralgia - the trigeminal nerve. What I hadn't posted on here yet was that my left foot is going numb again like it did a few years back (when MS came up the first time).

From there, she did a few tests, and of course, did my reflex test. Of course, she noted that my reflexes are crazy... And the 'MS' discussion came up again (without me mentioning that it had ever been mentioned before)...

So, she's booking me with a neurologist at Vanderbilt as soon as possible in June (hopefully June 1st). She is recommending a MRI and lumbar puncture to test for MS.

We don't think this is remotely connected to Bob. She felt Bob, and didn't say anything... I told her I don't feel him or even look at him anymore - there's no point... Nothing I can do if he is changing anyway, right? ;-) I prefer to be modestly ignorant.

Anyway... JT was in bed last night, and I asked him for a hug. He then GAVE ME A HUG!!! Then The Hubs came in and handed him his juice, and clear as a bell, JT said 'Tha you'. Mass hysteria in the form of kissing, hugging and yelling 'yay JTmy' ensued (by The Hubs, me and Audrey). Funny the things you take for granted (at least we did with Audrey... We would have never partied like that for a little thank you from her, lol).

Audrey got to go to her friend Ainsley's birthday party at the bowling alley yesterday. I discovered a few things about Audrey... First, she is VERY competitive. Second, she is a pretty good bowler (surprisingly). Sounds like her daddy... She is JUST like The Hubs, actually. Social, funny and LOVES games.

Then there was a tornado in Leiper's Fork. We were driving home, and as we passed under the Natchez Trace, I noticed cars pulled under the overpass... I thought, weirdos... Then I looked up and noticed the beautiful, blue sky in contrast to the horrible, black clouds... That looked like the edge was cut by a razor it was such a perfect line... Yeah, wall cloud. We made it home, and it didn't do anything at our house... One of those crazy moments where you realize it could have gone either way, though.

I do have to share this funny story... We were at the Disney store Friday. This lady was in there with her son, and the Little Mermaid was on the big tv. Her son was fascinated. 'Under the Sea' was blaring, and her son started dancing. She laughs, and goes, 'great song, awful movie'. I looked at the cashier, and we both kind of exchanged this look like, wtf? The cashier (braver than I am) asked her, 'What's so bad about it?'... Get this... She replies, 'Well, it just promotes the woman just give up everything and change everything about herself for the man.' Lest you think it ends there... 'I mean, she had it all great in mermaid-world, and now she's picking up some guy's underwear on land.'

I almost fell over... What?!?!

Plus, anyone who's watched the movie knows Ariel wanted to have legs WAAAAY before Eric!

Giving Thanks

Because tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I thought I'd share my list of things I am thankful for.

My kids. Up until I got pregnant with Audrey I had docs telling me I might not be able to have kids, my body wasn't meant to carry children, etc. Not only did I have one miracle baby, but two! My poor uterus has given up, so it has to go. But I am thankful for it sticking around and proving everyone wrong - twice!

My husband. He is awesome. Sometimes he drives me batty, but I know the feeling is mutual. He is seriously the nicest, funniest, sweetest, cutest, best daddy ever.

My family. All of em. Yep. Lotsa people. They are all so very important to me.

The Hubs's family. Lots of them, too! I love his family, they remind me of my own (haha)!

Friends. Old friends, new friends, best friends, friends that help with JT, friends that I talk to daily, friends that I only talk to once a month... I love them all.

Jobs. The Hubs and I both have work. In our economy, I know that we are really lucky.

Sometimes it's so easy to forget everything you have going for you. I definitely know - lately I've been so stressed about this surgery... But really, that's a minor detail in an otherwise blessed life. The surgery will be over and I'll be recovered quickly, and that will be another thing I can add to my list next year.

I hope that everyone has plenty to be thankful for this year.

Love, KD

Pre-Op DONE!

I forgot to post after Thursday's insanity...

I am pre-admitted to the hospital for my surgery. They used my EKG from last time (heck, it WAS only 3 weeks ago!), and just had to do a blood draw. I got 'counsel' concerning the chain of events from check-in to post-op.

I am really getting nervous now... The Hubs's mom is coming in town, but she's not getting here until well after I go into surgery. I have to be at the hospital 12/4 at 7am, but her plane doesn't land until 10:45am (my surgery is scheduled to begin at 9:30am, so I probably won't even be out when she lands...). I am dealing with nerves and trying to figure out what's going to happen that morning. The Hubs has worked out a deal for someone to pick his mom up, but we don't know anyone crazy enough to be up and coherent enough to watch our children at 6am so we can head to the hospital... It's looking like he will be dropping me off alone. While that's scary, I just can't imagine my kids having to go through watching me in pre-op and being at the hospital through all of that... It's not reasonable. So, I'm terrified and will be alone. I keep telling myself 'That which does not kill me, only makes me stronger...' - as my life is a testament to that! - but being alone and going under with no one to get updates or even be at the hospital... It's kind of depressing and scary.

Anyway, that's what we get for moving away from our family and friends. How I miss having help, even if we didn't get it often. It was there when we needed it. :(

I hope everyone is doing well, and hopefully time will pass quickly. These are just pre-op nerves, and the surgery needs to get here and get over with so I can get on with my life.

Thank You, Nana Banana!

Nana Banana (aka The Hubs's mom) is flying here the day of my surgery, and flying back to Delaware a week later.

I am so thankful to have someone here to help, and she is SO much fun. We all love having her around, and it's so sweet of her to come help out.

So, thank you Nana Banana/Mom/Denise!!!

Back on Track

Mom's been feeling under the weather for the past few weeks. But, now that the appendix is gone (along with 2 abdominal adhesions), things are looking up!

Thanks to nanny and great big nanny for coming to stay with us while mom was down and out.

The surgery was quick and relatively pain free. I had it Wednesday, and it's Sunday and there's zero pain. All in all a giant success :-)

If they could have taken it sooner, that would have been great. It was chronic appendicitis, which turns into acute but takes its time. Finally, after 11 doctor visits and 2 trips to the ER (and a lot of crying on mom's part, which is not normal), the surgeon decided it had to go. Not a minute too soon!

JT has been making huge progress! He knows 17 letters of the alphabet, and he was singing the song yesterday! He also counts to 4. He's using tons of words. I guess this is our 'explosion'. I show him a letter, and say 'what letter is this?' and he responds correctly! He has said 'more juice', 'yeah', 'uh-uh' (as in no), 'sissy', and many, many more! Yay JTmer!

We celebrated Halloween by heading over to Erin and Danny's house. Their little girl is just a little older than Audrey, and Audrey loves Ainsley. So, Audrey (the princess on the pony) had fun. Surprisingly, JT LOVED his costume. He was a monkey. I made sure to get a hoodie costume since last year the seperate hat did not go over well.

Just trying to get everything back on track now... JT's therapy schedule has been well, nonexistent (but he's making progress, so yay), so now we're going to have to start that up again.

The Hubs's still loving his job and his coworkers. I've been getting more projects and was surprised to find I'm 'google famous' (okay, so maybe I made that term up, but really!). I can google my name and my work stuff comes up - and takes up more than one google page of results ;-)

Well, we're off to hike or something... Time change is messing me up - I'm already hungry for lunch.

Hiking off the Natchez Trace

Today we went on another family hike, and we had fun. It's the trail that I used to run on - but it was the first time The Hubs and the kids had been there.

Here are some pics of our trip:

Back from Vacation!

The Duzan family has returned from Delaware!

We spent 5 days (2 of them driving - it's 13 hours!) away, and even though we had tons of fun, we were ready to get back to our own beds.

I finally got to meet The Hubs's mom's family. They were all SO sweet. We did some really cool things, like going to the Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey, and to the beach about 20 minutes from Ocean City. It was really fun, the weather was gorgeous, and we enjoyed spending time with everyone. We wished we could have stayed longer (and shipped our beds in).

Here are some pics from our trip:

Me and Audrey at the Aquarium

The kids and me... The background is Philadelphia, right across from Camden, New Jersey (where we went to the Aquarium)

The Hubs and JT at the Beach

Possibly my favorite picture ever... Audrey teaching JT how to drink from a water fountain (he did it!!!)

We returned to our house to discover our air conditioning is not working, which really sucks! The internet was down, too, but luckily I got that fixed... Can't survive without that.


I got a sort of 'promotion' with Demand Studios, which rocks... I have 2 new kinds of articles I am approved to do, and I can claim more articles at a time.

All good on the home front... Back to the daily grind. JT starts 'school' this week at WAVES. He'll be going every week on Thursday from 9-11am.

Hope everyone is doing fabulous! Love ya!

Pinkerton Park/Fort Granger

Yesterday we had a family outing to Pinkerton Park/Fort Granger. It is absolutely awesome... The playground for the kids is cool. There's a big sandbox that Audrey plays in. And there's so much nature. There's also a hiking trail (unpaved) up to Fort Granger, and you can see forever from up there.

We had so much fun hiking especially! The kids were troopers, and we made it all the way to the top with no problems. The Hubs and Audrey had an 'animal search' going, and they found 5 different types of animals.

About half way down, JT got really tired, and had to catch a ride from dad...

All in all, a beautiful and wonderful adventure! We decided we're going to make hiking a weekly event (weather permitting).

Visitors Coming!

We are so excited!

First, my 'two moms' are coming next weekend (September 13). They're going to stay here the whole weekend, which is awesome. My mom has been here a few times, but Mimi has yet to come due to all these procedures they're doing to fix her heart (she's getting shocked again this morning, ugh). But, she's finally feeling up to the 6 hour drive, so here they come! Yay!!!

Then, my dad and my other mom (stepmom) are coming the first week of October. My dad is doing the MS150 - the ride I would be doing if my ankle wasn't screwed. They're going to be here for about a week I think... We haven't seen our Papa or Ginny in SO long, and we all (especially Audrey!) miss them bunches.

I am so excited to see everyone... And I love how my kiddos light up around all their grandparents. It's awesome.

As for today, we've got speech therapy, and then we're done for the week (thank goodness). It's been a rough one, but the little man seems to be doing better. The Hubs and Audrey had a 'date' at the library yesterday, and JT and I had some one on one time and did some grocery shopping (and toy shopping, I'm a sucker). He was SO cute last night... I was marching in circles, and he was following me marching, too. Then I was jumping, and he started doing it, too. Maybe all he needed was some mommy time. Last night he let me rock him to sleep (by let I mean demanded, but I love it because he snuggles up so close).

We're rooting for the Razorbacks tomorrow... Woo pig sooie!!! (Side note: we better improve this week, or LA-Monroe is going to beat us, and Texas will eat us alive next week... Perk up hoggies!)

YAY FOR FOOTBALL SEASON!!!!

Still Here

Well, last week started off rough.

We were all snuggling in bed when JT got mad at me. He wanted to put his juice under the covers, but it was COLD, so we put it on the table. He threw a fit, and fell off the end of the bed. He popped back up with a salad stoneware plate over his head, and threw it... Directly at my head. The plate center hit my ear, so my jawbone was (and is) really bruised.

So, we started our timeout chair. I was so worried he was going to be in it all the time, but I was wrong. He only had to go in it 3 times that day, and hasn't been in it since. So, he stopped hitting, kicking, biting, throwing... Awesome!

We started our behavioral class at Vanderbilt Tuesday night. It was great. The teachers are actual therapists and one of the faculty members of the department there. They were amazing. It was really wonderful to meet the other 11 families there. All had boys with autism, between 20 months and 4-5 years old. Finally, other people who understand and sympathize (but don't pity!) our situation.

A good week overall! Therapies all went VERY well, and JT's behavior is getting better day by day.

YAY~

Go!

We have made two trips to a 'beach' about an hour away at J Percy Priest Lake. Last weekend we went with my friend Beth and her family and had an awesome time! Here are a few pics of the little ones:

That's pretty much what they do the whole time there... Audrey swims like a fish in her arm floaties, and JT tries to throw all the sand into the water. Hilarious!

Today we had our first speech therapy session. JT loves his new friend, Lisa. She is really sweet, and I am glad to have a new ally in this! Our behavioral therapist, Laura, comes Monday, and the developmental therapist will be coming next week - although we haven't set a date yet. Mr. Rob, the occupational therapist, will be here either next week or the week after - I can't remember when he said he would be back from vacation. Definitely starting to get busy around here!!!

Evie is still improving, slowly but surely. She is less yellow, and is eating and drinking on her own. Of course, I have to 'trick' her into drinking by giving her tuna with water... But the point is, I'm not shoving anything down her throat or sticking her with needles anymore! Yay, Evie! She is now begging for food... Soft kitty food or people food (turkey or tuna). Every time I go in the kitchen she follows me yelling... Which is awesome!

Audrey is reading! She decided to start all on her own. Our funny story about that is she was reading a package in the car the other day... "Ta-ta-ta....Ih....Guh, guh...Er..." - "Tigger!" "and..." "Puh...OOO...Hah"... "Tigger and Poo-ha?"... "Momma, they spelleded 'Pooh' wrong... It's not Poo-ha!"... So, she's reading correctly... And the makers of Pooh DID spell Pooh with an unnecessary H at the end. She can also sound out almost any word now. We're currently working on CH and SH and their respective 'noises'. She has figured those out pretty much, she learns SO fast!

I sprained my ankle. Doing a workout video. Jillian Michael's 30-day Shred. In case you're wondering, the video rocks. If you're looking for a hard workout DVD, buy it. It's VERY tough, but an awesome workout. Anyway, Audrey likes to do it with me. And it requires hand weights. Well, after much arguing about her not being able to use MY weights, she decided to use blocks for her weights. Well, she left her block out after we progressed to cardio, and during high knees, it reached out and grabbed my foot. Okay, so I landed on it, and in the most un-Audreyful way possible, fell on my backside, completely flipping my foot upside-down and hearing a loud 'POP' in the process. Now, it's odd, because my foot ONLY hurts when I try to twist it, but walking, running, etc is fine. It's swollen and bruised, but only slightly.

The Hubs is enjoying his job still. Crazy court dates for employee theft, and very busy days. But, he's good at what he does. He has also dropped about 30 pounds since starting at the stores, so it's an added benefit!

That's about it for the Duzan family... Just truckin along!