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.

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!

Christmas.

I usually love this time of year (aside from the snow, I think I could honestly never see snow again and be perfectly content). This year is a little bit different though. I feel like I have about a bijillion things that I need to do and just about zero time to get them done. Yesterday Ben and I spent all day Christmas shopping and I think we are about done, at least I hope. I love that our family seems to be growing every year but man, with so many people to buy for, Christmas is EXPENSIVE!  I planned on making most of the gifts this year but with my increasing work schedule and my unrelenting migraines, it just hasn't seemed to happen. And Christmas cards, well I have just about given up on that front. Maybe you all should just expect New Year's card (heck, I probably won't even have them ready by then).







I hope that sometime between all of this business that I am able to sit back and ponder on the true meaning of Christmas. I am really excited this year that Cora will be able to be a more active participant and look forward to teaching her as much as an almost-two-year-old can know about what Christmas is really all about.

Santa.

It has been many years since Santa has visited my house. My youngest sibling is only 17 months younger than me and we both pretty much figured out Santa wasn't real (sorry for the spoiler if you are reading this and haven't already gotten the memo about Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, etc.) when we were about 8.

I guess I need to learn up on Santa. This year all of the presents are already under the tree, labeled from mommy and daddy. Luckily for us Cora is not old enough to know about Santa yet and we have got about a year to figure out how this whole thing works.

How do kids find out about Santa anyway?

I'm in desperate need of some advice on how to play Santa.

I used to blog...

until I found Pinterest. When I have a minute for myself (when I am free of mommy duties, work, and migraines consecutively) I would much rather peruse Pinterest than blog.

Anyway life for this Spalding has been B-U-S-Y. Just when we think life is as busy as its going to get, we seem to some how get busier. I have recently taken on more responsibilities at work (which also come with a pay raise!) which means Ben is busier too. Now instead of just his hectic, already stressful enough job he gets to have lots of one-on-one time with Cora. He comes straight from work to my office and picks up Cora. This is great for me because I am able to get a few hours of uninterrupted work done; truly a miracle! I am not sure how this is going to work out when Ben starts school in January. In January I am set to assume even more responsibility at work. Ben will be busy playing college student. I am worried Cora is going to be stuck in the middle of two busy parents. This would not be so bad if she had siblings (which we are not planning on for a while longer) so I we are really going to have to work to make sure Cora has all of her needs met.

Cora is getting bigger and smarter everyday. Seriously I don't know how it is possible that she gets more and more fun as the days go by (I am not sure if this trend will hold true through the teenage years...). This isn't to say that everything is always fun and games. I have been having a hard time lately with Cora. She has a real problem communicating and she gets really frustrated because she knows what she wants but cant communicate it (can you blame her?). Luckily for us she is starting speech therapy next week and we have heard nothing about good things from the program she is starting. Needless to say, I am hopeful.

Also I can tell that Cora is getting close to being two:
1. Although she doesn't talk much she does know how to say NO!
2. She's a super picky eater (Ben blames this on me, but I don't believe it).
3. She likes to ignore.
4. She gets called a boy all the time because she has no hair (even when she is dressed very girl-y). 

Ok, maybe that last one has nothing to do with being a terrible two...except the bigger she gets, the more people seem to assume she is a boy. It doesn't help that she will not wear a single bow/headband/hat/ponytail/anything to save her life.

Cora still sleeps through the night. Hallelujah. Life is good!

UVU

GOOD NEWS! We {finally} got Ben signed up for school again! This time it should be much more relaxed (I hope). Ben will be returning to school at Utah Valley University in January...assuming we get all of the little kinks figured out including deciding what he wants to study, schedules, financial aid, and whatever else. I am really excited for Ben to go back to school and finish his degree, but at the same time I am a little bit intimidated. I know all of the ins and outs of BYU but with UVU I don't even know where to start (and I will be the one figuring out most of the details as that is not one of Ben's priorities!). Luckily, finding classes that don't conflict with Ben's work schedule should be a breeze (fingers-crossed) and UVU should be a lot more laid back and less stressful for Ben.





Pros of leaving BYU:
*Flexible classes including night, weekend, and online courses (I know BYU has these too but not even close to the extent of UVU)
*Less stressful classes for Ben
*UVU is super close to Ben's work!
*No more jumping through hoops and dealing with the academic advisement center (hallelujah for me)

Cons of leaving BYU
*NO MORE HALF TUITION! :(
* I have no idea how UVU works

If anyone has any helpful advice about UVU, we would appreciate any input! At this point we are just trying to find something that Ben can graduate in relatively quickly (he has tons of credit, but not really in one specific area of study).

Here's to our new adventure of juggling two full time jobs, Cora, and college!

Paci-broken.

We've done the {seemingly} impossible. Cora is officially paci-broken (yeah I may have just made that term up). Can I just say that I am pretty freaking excited about this? After only a few days of screaming *torture* we can finally leave the house without a pacifer. Unless you have had a paci-addict, you cannot understand how great this is, so just trust me on this one. What a relief it is!

*Also, I now see why people let their 3 and 4 year old children continue to use binkies! What a hard habit to break!

Up next...POTTY TRAINING (soon I hope)!