Autism Awareness!

Many if not all know that Autism is apart of our daily lives. It's not something I set out to learn all about or ever thought I would know so much about, but I do now! Many would never know Cody has Autism unless something is said. This is the reason I am starting a team for the Walk for Autism the end of May! Becuase of the wonderful people and services we had from the very beginning, Cody is a whole new kid today. I can't say things are normal or pefect, but he is a completely different kid!




It is hard for people to understand that didn't know us when Cody was 15 months old and screaming all day. To see him now you would never know he lined up every shoe or hot wheel car down the hallway. The days of drinking only milk from the same blue and green color combo playtex sippy cup are gone. And the once common "Cody guessing game" is now played very rarely thanks to his improving vocabulary and speech! He now sleeps in a bed, not the couch, and I can even tuck him in fully awake (as long as Tyler and Ryan are in bed as well becuase he doesn't like to be alone), say goodnight and there is no more screaming or me having to sit by his bed for an hour while he falls asleep. Dinners are still not pleasant so don't be offended if we don't invite you over, but at least he is eating more than Ritz crackers. We can go out in public and ignore the stares and whispers of strangers when Cody is throwing his unpredictable fits. Outings have gotten much better and I judge this by the fact I can go to the commisary and not have someone bribe him with a sucker or quarter to be quiet or have someone advise me that shopping is best left for AFTER nap time. He still has his struggles and prefers mom to do EVERYTHING, but I couldn't be more pleased with the progress he's made.

Not every family has this experience or even knows where to start. Not every parent can accept that thier child is a little different and will get services provided they give him the label of "Autism". There are many that feel Autism is not real and it's just an excuse for bad parenting. No child chooses to have Autism, but EVERY child wants a chance to be successful in life!

Help me support Autism awareness!

In the Hersey News!

I was looking through pictures trying to keep it all organized and found these! I had forgotten all about them. At the end of the Hershey Story museum you can put yourself in the news! Cody had done something similar to this at a museum he went to on a field trip so he wanted to do it again. Ryan did one as well, but Tyler didn't want to.

Nana and Bapa (my parents) recap

It was so much fun to have my parents come visit. The last time they have been able to come see us was when Cody was born so it's been a while! And we never came back to the states the three years we were in Germany so a visit was way overdue! We had fun sightseeing, but New York was more special to me. My mom lived there for around 2 years before she met my dad. She was a flight attendant and then worked for a law firm. I had heard stories as I grew up, but being able to go to New York with her was a fun experience. She has not been back since she lived there so things were really different! My dad has never been at all to my knowledge so hopefully they both had fun. Cody is not always the best traveller, but overall he did pretty good and only caused a few scenes!

The Railroad museum in Baltimore was something I would not necessarily have taken the boys to if my dad wasn't with us. He loves trains and to have my boys go with him made it a lot more fun. Cody has seen bapa's trains in his basement so was very excited and asked lots of questions. And we also found out that A Day Out with Thomas is happening in April! Cody would love that! So trains are something I reserve for my dad. Because we don't get to see family often I like to have special things to help the boys bond so bapa gets the trains!






It was also fun to paint the house and do some organizing and decorating. Zach and I have talked about it, but just needed that push to go for it! Paint is a tricky thing and had my parents not counseled me on colors and all I am sure I would have made a horrible choice on my own! I love the blue we chose. The decorating above my shelves wasn't that hard, but again I have never been good at things like that so when I saw my mom's house in February I knew she would be the one to help me. I made my first silk flower arrangement! Again that is not as easy as it looks so had I done it on my own I am not sure it would have looked so nice. I am thinking I might take it down and use it as a center piece for easter dinner and other nice meals. Zach really needed help with the garage and my dad is king of that area! He has moved in and out of so many garages that he had some cool ideas for getting Zach more organized!

We were sad for the visit to end. After so many years of it being just us you would think we would be used to it, but we still wish we were closer to family. For now we are looking forward to our visit this July and hope that family can come out to see us in the future.

Random pictures of NYC

Zach had the camera and didn't take pictures of the buildings like I asked, but we can always go back again and get some. Here are some random pictures of our day.

Statue of Liberty

We didn't make it to the actual island since I didn't see on the internet that the last ferry left at 3:30, but we took the Staten Island ferry to get a good view. I really wasn't all the impressed, but maybe if I went to the island I would have been. It just seemed rather small. Next time we will be more prepared!

Intrepid Air and Space Museum

 

There is an aircraft carrier/museum in New York City that we decided to stop at first. We took the train in to Penn Station then hopped on a subway to 50th like the lady at information told us. After walking a few blocks we finally saw the big ship! It was a gorgeous day thankfully! Here are some random pictures from the day. Zach had the camera so there were lots of pictures of planes. There is also a submarine there named the Growler and that was fun to go down in. So this was our first stop in the big apple!

Fort McHenry

To make the day historically correct we had to come in the pouring rain right? well no a nice day would have been more ideal, but can't control mother nature! Fort McHenry is where the Star Spangled Banner was written. It's not a big fort and I still can't believe that the 80 men that were in it managed to scare the British off! Nevertheless they did and the famous song was written and then later became our national anthem.

B&O Railroad Museum

 

Another rainy day activity was driving to Baltimore to see the B&O Railroad museum. My dad knows all about trains and even has a huge train table set up in his basement! The roundhouse that the museum is in actually had a roof collapse in 2003, but they restored it back to how it was before. They did put in some modern features like the ability to open the windows way up high without having to send someone up there to do that for them! There was also a turn table demo. This turn table was manual so that means a hatch was opened and a man jumped in and pushed the table with the train on it. In the past they would actually take a train off the table and put another on, but this time they didn't since the engine on the table was there for a special reason. It was heavily damaged in the roof collapse and was finally restored! They discovered some interesting historical things while restoring it and this was the big unveiling. It was a fun rainy day adventure!

Chocolate! Hershey, PA

 

The first few days my parents were here it rained so we tried to find indoor things to do. So the first day we drove out to Hershey, PA to learn all about chocolate! We got to make chocolate tulips in a class and take a ride to see what it would look like to go through a factory. It was a lot of fun!

It takes someone visiting to put a picture up?

We are so excited that my parents are coming to see us in Jersey! About a week ago Zach said "We need to get pictures on the wall!" The reason we haven't is we have been trying to decide whether or not to paint and we know this house is temporary (yes 2 years is temproary for me!) so I really don't know if I want to spend a lot of time decorating. And we haven't had family pictures in a long time so I really want to get new ones so they can be put on the walls. Then I realized his real motivation.....my parents visit! Honestly they don't care if there are pictures on the wall, but for some reason it bugs Zach. He also got his peg board made for the garage so my dad would see how organized he was! Again my dad loves tools, and stuff, but does he care......no. So I guess I need lots of visitors so Zach will get all the projects done!