Check Out Our 52 Seconds of Video...

OK this is a hoot I took the kids to the zoo and NOAH (I say that b/c I am yelling, can't yell at him so I will yell writing about him) drove me CRAZY!!  I want to go back to Vanderbilt, WE NEED THAT MEDICINE AHHHHHHH!!  Anyway they had one of those photo booths you know $5 and get the strip of pictures COOL RIGHT!  wrong!! Noah went in an refused to come out until he had a picture made PERIOD end of discussion.  I did all the "mom" things, I tried being really sweet which usually works, not today; then I tried bribery, with candy NO LUCK; so I tried to be stern.  Needless to say we are the proud owner of new photo booth pictures of me & the kids. I feel like I got a bargain, we got 2 picture strips and you can view the video "behind the scenes" of our pictures it's really cool.  Here's the link, Savannah tried to tell me it was a video too, but I wasn't listening!! Imagine that!  Wonder how many times I tell Noah to "look here" in 52 seconds??LOL
Video of Savannah, Noah & Mom a Zoo

Picture strip of us at zoo!!!

A Moment I wanted to Last Forever

In my case as an autism mom I don't have many moments that I want to "last forever" unless it's the fact that he is sleeping!!  Had one yesterday WOO HOO!!  Noah & I went to the zoo yesterday, it was free afternoon at the Memphis zoo and it was packed, the weather has been unseasonably warm here.  So we go look at animals we went into the Creatures of the Night, I didn't think we were ever going to leave....you know how the get obsessed with things, well it was BATS, yes flying rodents GROSS, we watched those bats for at LEAST 30 minutes Noah was fascinated with them.

So the zoo got new playground equipment, YEAH!!  Noah wanted to go to the crowded playground so we did.  He made a friend, did you get that HE MADE A FRIEND!!!   Noah was just running and jumping, I am standing there on "pins & needles" just waiting to have to explain that he has autism to another parent that is usually giving us the eye in disapprovement, you know the parents I'm talking about.  I didn't have to do that yesterday.  A boy named Levi befriended Noah, and it was perfect.  That little boy didn't notice that there was something "wrong" or he just didn't care either way Noah had such a GREAT time, Levi had a younger sister and they played tag and chase and follow the leader.  I sat down on a bench and began to tear up; for a few moments in time it was like he was a "typical" child.  I never wanted to leave yesterday I wanted to preserve this moment for as long as I could.  It was beautiful=)

So far so good....

Well we, Noah & Mom, went to the store for only a few things, we have had a MAJOR role change in our home the past couple of months; dad used to be a stay at home dad until mom's fibromyalgia left her unable to work a couple of years ago.  Dad had a job then lost it when the economy took the downward, dad did all the shopping and cooking, now dad has a job for about a month now and mom is having to do some of this stuff and she is not used to it (Especially cooking) 

We have speech in a little while and then its off to the Memphis Zoo for a little while (hope it doesn't start to rain).  With dad working we only have one car, so we try to just keep the car one day a week for fuel conservation purposes!!!  It should be a full day for us.

Update on the Vanderbilt visit, we are still on the "placebo/medicine" until our next visit in Feb. then it's the coming off period.  YEAH we are on it for another month (too many GREAT changes not be on the medicine)  It is really difficult to try to make any plans for the next couple of months because we don't know how Noah is going to be, will the old behaviors come back (aggression, spitting, hitting, biting etc.)  There is a Autism Works Conference in St Louis in March I want to attend but will be unable too, since we committed to the clinical trial, we are not going to try to do anything else right now.

Noah was PERFECT at his visit they had to do a blood draw he didn't even flinch but he did tell them, "Hey your stealing my blood"  We all died laughing!!!  We ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant again and he was great.  He ate EVERYTHING (like the Alaskan Bullworm in Spongebob)  4 sausage patties, bowl of cereal, 6 pieces of bacon, biscuit with jelly I had to quit feeding him, I thought he might explode!!  All is well for now, how quickly things change though....