The Baby is here!

December 30,2008. Baby Zane arrived screaming!! He weighed in at 7lb 12oz and 20in long. Gabe is doing rather well with the baby. He still calls him Spaceship and gets upset if we call him Zane. Gabe is having a hard time with the crying...but doing better then I would have ever thought. Zane is adjusting to everything well. When I have more free time I will update.

Christmas is near

And so is the birth of Gabe's little brother. We are all very excited. I have a scheduled c-section for December 30th. I am very nervous about having a c-section but I know I can get through it. We keep doing social stories with Gabe about the birth of his baby brother. I let him pick out some pacifiers for the baby and he helped pick a bottle brush. Matt and I are hoping this little baby doesn't rock Gabe's world too much. We are expecting some set backs, but hoping not too many. My biggest fear is he will regress in the potty area. He is doing pretty good with the potty and I don't want to see that go backwards.

Gabe's behvior has been a little rocky the past few weeks. But I am sure I have been snappy with him too. The whole house has been sick off and on. Poor Gabe has been sick the longest. We might even need a trip to the Dr. to get him some antibiotics. So, I am cutting him some slack in the behavior dept. But only a little slack :-)

Gabe recently learned how to count to 20. He skips a few numbers here and there and not all the numbers are understandable to the unfamiliar ear, but it is a big step for him. He wanted nothing to do with counting past 3 for a long time. And would only count 1,2,3,3,2,1 and would get mad if you made him count higher.

He is becoming more flexable. Although, he is still very ridgid in most things. Transitioning is often hell on earth. He has managed to memorize a lot more of the TV shows he watches. So now we hear..."It's puzzle time" and "no more no less" and the moon sand song. (Thanks for that one B!!!)

Turkey Day is upon us

I can't believe tomorrow is Turkey day. I am so excited. Mostly because it means I am closer to having this little baby. I love being pregnany but this time I am so tired. Chasing Gabe and not sleeping are wearing me out. I don't sleep more then 2 hours at a time. It is horrible. I pray every night before I go to bed that I will sleep and every night I wake up all night long. It is making me a miserable "B" and I know it. I wish I wasn't feeling that way.

Gabe is doing pretty good. He actually did some pretend play last night. It was so cool. I don't get to see pretend play very often. We have been doing social stories about the baby coming. We started about a week ago. I tell him the same story about the day the baby is born in hopes that it won't rock his little world too much.

As far as Gabe behavior...it is something to be desired right now. He is having a really hard time transitioning and he keeps leaving his room at preschool. He also won't sit and eat dinner and he won't sit still for his preschool teacher either. We are looking into getting him a special seat coushin to help with some of his sensory issues. Hopefully it will work. I am also thinking a weighted vest might do him some good.

Gabe hasn't had OT since the idiot we saw before. I do have the name of an OT but with the baby and everything I have put off calling her. I should do put a call in before the baby is born...just incase there is a waiting list.

Potty training

Well I think we did it!! Yay! Gabe has been wearing nothing but big boys for the whole week now. He had two accidents over the weekend. But that's okay. I am so excited...I'm not going to have two kids in diapers.

Sounds....

Gabe has always been a little sensetive to sound. But nothing that really worried me. Here lately he is having a miserable time dealing with noise. Even little noises are bothering him. Today I was reading the newspaper and Gabe was covering his ears and crying that the noise was loud. When my mom and I are talking in my car he sits in the back seat and screams "no noisey" I have taught him to cover his ears but this only helps for a few minutes. Yet loud bangs don't even seem to phase him.

I sure hope this doesn't last long. I wish Gabe would keep a headphones on...or earplugs in.

so busy...

Things have been busy at our house. We decorated for fall, started the potty training process, continue 3 days a week of therapy, and work. Gabe is doing pretty good with the potty training. I refuse to go back to diapers. He still has accidents everyday but we just remind him that it's okay to have accidents. He isn't stressed at all and honestly Matt and I aren't either.

The baby is really starting to get strong. I can really feel him moving around now. The other night I swore he was going to jump out of my tummy. I can't believe we are going to be adding another little boy to our family. I am so excited.

Gabe decided that he wanted to be spiderman for halloween. This is the first year that he picked his costume. I wanted him to be a monkey, but it's a no go. He insists on Spiderman. That's okay. As long as he has fun. We are planning on having a small Halloween party for the young kids in our family. I can't wait.

Gabe is starting to talk more. He is starting to form natural conversational speech. Though it is still choppy and he gets very confused with statements that we say back to him. We here a lot of huh? His processing time seems to be slow. Hopefully that catches up.

Everyday is a new day...

He is....he isn't....he is....??? Does anyone know?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Is there an easy answer to all of this? I am so tired of hearing one therapist say...yes, Gabe is autistic...then hear another one say...no way...then we get a dx from the neuro. But no direction on where to go. Then the school starts their eval and says...no Gabe isn't autistic...but the neuro at the next appt says...yes he is...

So, I do have a request in for an eval with the child psych at hershey...I am calling to see where he is on the list.

In the mean time I started Gabe in OT for some sensory stuff...now the OT doesn't want to work with him...because she says it isn't sensory it is behavior and OCD and ODD and some ADHD...but she see no autism...FINE....don't work with him...but how can I tell if he is acting a certain way because his little senses don't know how to process what is going on....or if it is straight behavior. Some things are no brainer...smart mouth...behavior...other things are not so easy...like running around the grocery store shaking his head back and forth...and spinning in circles....he isn't being bad then...just not really listening that he needs to stay with me...is it behavior or sensory...are the people bothering him? Are the lights and sounds bothering him? How come he wasn't doing acting that way before the store. How come the rest of his day was shot after going to the store? WHY?

She told me she doesn't know how to help him....yet his private ST says OT would be good for him...I just can't stand this....Here I am with this kid who has an autism dx...who can't sit still to play one game of candy land but can sit for hours and watch the TV or play a video game....I don't know who to go to for help....what I should be doing to help him...other then what I am already doing....and if he can't sit to do work now...how the hell is he going to do it in school? I know he is only 3.6 years old and sitting to do work isn't really important yet...but he will sit and do puzzles with me...and play video games...and anything that is Gabe guided...but as soon as I or anyone else for that matter says we are doing this and Gabe doesn't like that idea...all hell breaks loose....

I am tired of all of this...where is my freaking autism manual? And why do some people say Gabe is autistic....and other people say no way...."they" all tell me not to compare my kid to other kids....yet they are doing just that when it comes to autism...

I can't wait to go see the child psych at hershey....so my kid with a pinch of autism, a dab of OCD, a speck of ODD, and a dash of ADHD can be evaluated. Oh, and lets not forget the dx of apraxia of speech and expressive language disorder...If Gabe's dx's were credentials his name would look like this

Gabriel C. ASD,OCD,ADHD,ODD,CAS,SID,ELD

and me...after surviving all of this silliness I want my name to be

Jessie. Phd....