Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Pleasant Grove Strawberry Days

This last weekend we decided to take Cora to her very first carnival, and she had a blast! Ben and I had a really good time watching how much fun she was having (although watching her on all of the rides made me extremely dizzy)! It was a perfect day.


We wanted to take her on the ferris wheel, but it cost $6 a person, and that was just not going to happen, especially because we didn't know how well she would handle being up so high.

This was Cora's very first carnival ride. She is so tall that she got to go on all of the kid rides, and she was so excited about it!

Cora's very first time on the carousel. She has quite the obession with horses, so she was so excited the we let her ride them. This was her favorite of all the rides and she rode it several times. I just love this picture of her and Ben!

Look at that smile on her face!


After all of Cora's carnival excitement, she got to go play with Grandma and Grandpa while Ben and I went to the rodeo, which I failed to get any pictures of.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

A Bit About Autism

One of the most common things people say to me when I mention that Cora is (most likely) autistic: "I would have never guessed. She's way too smart to be autistic." Yeah, that's what I thought too, before I became educated on what autism is and it's symptoms.

I'll be the first to admit that before I was made aware of Cora's condition, I had heard of autism, but never really knew what it was. I thought I had a general idea, but really I had no idea. In fact, at Cora's 18 month appointment when her doctor first mentioned that he saw some red flags, I thought to myself, "There is no way Cora is autistic. She would look autistic if she was, right?" Seriously!

Anyway, at Cora's 18 month visit, I pretty much dismissed our doctor's concern, figuring that Cora was just a late talker. It was after that 18 month check-up that we decided to get Cora enrolled in early intervention and speech therapy to help aide her in talking. She started speech therapy in November, and come her 24 month appointment in March, she still had not improved. By this time, I was finally starting to get concerned about Cora's development, and even brought it up with her Early Intervention Developmental Coordinator. Her coordinator reasurred me that she had dealt with several kids with autism, and Cora certainly did not have autism.

At Cora's 24 month appointment, her doctor expressed deeper concern in Cora's development (her doctor also has a daughter with autism and is fairly knowlegeble about it) and requested that she get evaluated. Soon after, we had a meeting with the autism specialist at Kids on the Move. Within half an hour of visiting with her, she told me that she was almost positive that Cora was on the "spectrum". Since that time, we have seen a few other doctors to get a 2nd opinion, and they all believe that Cora will be diagonosed with autism. When I first heard the news, I hoped and prayed that they were all wrong. At that point we signed up to have Cora evaluated for an official diagnosis. The four month waiting period has seemed like an eternity, but as we have waited, and as I have become more educated, I can't wait to finally know for sure.

I can't wait to finally be able to explain why Cora has frequent melt downs over seemingly small things (like when she doesn't like the shoes I picked out for her to wear). Why she doesn't usually respond to her name, or acts like she ignores everything. I can't wait to explain why she is OVERLY shy and doesn't want anything to do with strangers. Why she likes sleeping in dog beds. Why she is obsessed with certain inanimate objects. Why she screeches super load when she wants your attention. Why she only eats about ten different foods and won't even try anything else. Why she has to have her schedule. Why she doesn't talk.

It's alway frustrating to me when all people think about when they think about autism is disability, because autistic kids have so many great things about them. One thing that I love about Cora is that you can show her something once and she remembers. For example, every time we go to Costco, the people that check your reciept always offer to draw a smilely face on her hand. Everytime we leave Costco, before we get to the doors she always sticks out her hand awaiting her smiley face. She does not do this at any other store. Its the cutest thing! Cora also loves to put things in order. She's really good at cleaning up because she doesn't like when things are out of order or messy.

The greatest thing is when Cora learns a new word, or learns something for the first time. I feel like we are super aware, because it is a big thing when she learns something new, after much practice and repitition.

Please take the time to become educated about autism by visiting autismspeaks.org.



Friday, June 22, 2012

June 22, 2012

Do you see my fresh new page layout ? Yeah, I needed some motivation to blog as I have been a COMPLETE slacker the last few several months. I am probably talking to myself because who continues to follow a blog thats been on a 6 month hiatus? Seriously, I haven't blogged since Christmas. What the heck, you would think I was busy or something...at least that's my excuse. Needless to say, a lot has been going on in our family since Christmas time. In January I started working full-time for my cousins company. I was really loving my part-time gig I had before, coming and going whenever I pleased, but it was really nice having a full-time pay check. Plus, I got to take Cora to work with me everyday which was a major bonus!

Ben also started going to school part time in January at UVU. He did great in his classes for Winter term, and he is right back at it for the Summer semester. From here on out the plan is for him to go to school year round, as that is the only way that he will get done an any sort of timely fashion. I am so proud of him, though, as I know it is not easy to manage school, a full-time job, a wife, and a two year old. So far he is juggling things great. He has even settled on a degree, computer science (if only I could force him to go and change his major for what I hope is the last time!)

In March we celebrated Cora's 2nd birthday. I am not sure how I feel about this two-year-old business. It seems like the moment she turned two, she turned in to a complete monster. She definitely keeps us on our toes, thats for sure. At her two year check up, her doctor expressed some concerns, because Cora still does not talk, and was behind in several other learning benchmarks. We had her seen by a few other doctors, all who agree that she has high functioning autism. Since that time, Cora has been involved in intensive therapies (occupational, speech, and developmental) to hopefully help teach her some of the skills that she is lacking. We haven't made too much progress on that front, but we are hopeful for the future. In three weeks Cora has the official testing for an autism diagnosis (we've been on a 4-month long waiting list).

Also in March, I was offered a job opportunity that was too good to turn down, so for March, April and May, I worked full time for my cousins and then would come home and work several hours each night for my new part-time job. In May, my part-time job turned into a full-time job offer, one that paid double what I was previously making. Plus, I got to work from home. I know it seems like an offer I couldn't turn down, but it was actually a very tough decision for me. Luckily I have a very supportive husband who told me that it was my decision to make and he would be happy as long as I was. Ultimately I chose to take up the new job offer and I am loving it! It keeps me busy and I feel like I am learning new stuff everyday which is great.

I am sure there have been other updates for our family the last several months, but really, I am finding it hard to remember what happened yesterday (thus the reason I really need to keep up on this blog). Hopefully I will have more pictures and exciting things to share in the near future!