The cold, hard truth...

[I LOVE this comic strip!! I read it on Yahoo comics. The artist mimics her life in the strip. I mainly read it because one of her children is autistic, and sometimes she adds that into her comic. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who gets stares and glares!]

Braden's Party

On Friday Braden had his 5th birthday party. It is the first party he has had that wasn't just family members. I decided to throw it at the Jungle Jym. We invited a few close friends and family. I was really worried about the weather since it was outside, but everything went smoothly. Braden did really well with everyone being there. We were afraid he would have a meltdown since it was a new situation. We kept it really casual and I think everyone had a great time!!Braden's cake. Joy Tubb made it. She is the sweetest!!

This is a picture of us singing "Happy Birthday" to Braden. He didn't blow out his candle. Maybe next year!! This is one of Braden' gifts. The toothbrush plays music. It plays for 2 minutes, which is how long you are supposed to brush. I guess I don't brush my teeth that long, cause it seemed like it played forever!!

This is Logan and Lucy on the playground. He wasn't too happy having his picture taken.

Braden playing with a wheel on the playground.

My MIL, Joy, Abby and Trad.

Melinda and Chris (who just graduated high school-we are so proud of him!)


Kaylee digging into the cake.

It just started to rain right as we got everything packed up. He is hiding from the rain.

School's out??

Does your child's room look like this??

How about this??

THIS??

This is Braden's classroom. His NEW classroom. Seems that the school system decided that it couldn't wait the FOUR days until school was out to move their classroom!! They gave the teacher today to move her whole classroom-with her kids there. There was subs to help, but the children had to stay outside on the playground, with no academic instruction at all.

When I picked Braden up today I received a note saying that today was their last day of school. Now, officially they can't make us keep Braden home, but if he goes to school, this is his classroom. There will be no instruction from the teachers because they will be busy trying to get the room ready for next year. I mean, it's only 2 and a half months away (she says sarcastically). Now, don't get me wrong, I do not blame this on Braden's teachers at all. They are doing their best, considering the other teachers at the school pretty much pushed them out of their room. They put all of their things in the hall for them to deal with. I am very disappointed with the school right now.

I am writing a letter to the principal, the director and special ed, and the school board. This is unacceptable. My child has every right to be educated as many days as all the "typical" students in the school. I am beginning to see that the world sees people with special needs as not special but a burden on society.


On that note, I saw on Channel 2 News today that somewhere (not in TN) there is a Catholic church that has put a restraining order on a 13 year old boy because he is AUTISTIC!!! Isn't that something??!! I personally don't believe that anyone has the right to tell anyone that they can or cannot attend church somewhere. I am so appalled and disgusted.

Pizza Party

On Friday, Trad and I took pizza and cupcakes to Braden's class. There are only 10 children in the class, and only 8 of them were there. They are all boys and they are so sweet!! This pic of the boys getting ready for cupcakes.

This is them waiting on their pizza.


Braden and his cheese pizza.

(He LOVES cheese pizza. It's one of his 4 basic food groups.)

I was suprised when Braden chose this cupcake over a chocolate one. He pretty much only eats the icing anyway.

Braden did so well during the party. He was much better than last year when we brought cupcakes. He is making such great strides both at school and at home. I am excited to see how much more he develops over this summer.

Happy 5th Birthday Braden!!

Happy Birthday Braden!!

I can't believe I have been your Mommy for 5 years!!

I love you so much!!

Three more weeks...

Five years ago today I was at home. I had the day off from my job at the car lot. I stayed pretty tired, but loved working at my job. I busied myself that day by cleaning and organizing. I wasn't in a terrible hurry though. The next day, which was a Friday, I would be 37 weeks pregnant. That meant I had three weeks left of carrying my first baby. Or so I thought.

Trad was working 2nd shift at WalMart. He got home a little after ten. There was an eclipse, or partial eclipse or something going on with the moon. I can't remember exactly what. We went outside on the back deck and watched it then we headed to bed. I had traded days with Manda and I had to work the next day.

I woke up about 1 am with some pain. It wasn't terribly bad, but I went ahead and got out of bed so I wouldn't disturb Trad. It came and went, but wasn't regular. I was sure it was Braxton Hicks contractions. After all, I still had 3 weeks left. Nothing I did eased the discomfort I was feeling.

I finally woke Trad up around 3am. He called MTMC around 4am and spoke to a nurse in labor and delivery. She told him that as long as the contractions weren't regular I wasn't in labor. Her advice was for me to get a shower and try to relax. By this time I was in quite a bit more pain and didn't have the faintest want for a shower. I told him he probably should start packing a bag. I hadn't got it packed yet because I still had 3 weeks left.

We left our house a little before 6am. On a normal day, it was an hour drive to Murfreesboro from where we lived. I was steadily in more pain as time was passing, but my contractions were still not regular and I was sure that we were going to make the trip for nothing.

My water broke in Centertown. I was in much more pain after that. That is probably around the time that I made it clear that Trad was going to have to drive as fast as he possibly could. I am not sure how many times he told me not to push, or how many times I did push. Not pushing was a whole lot harder than pushing at this point.

We made it to the hospital in about 45 minutes. He dropped me off at the front door, which we were told would be open at 6am, then he went to park. It was not open and I had to walk all the way around to the emergency room entrance. I had one contraction halfway there. I got some stares for it, but I really didn't care. He found a wheelchair outside the ER and wheeled me in. The ladies at the desk called up to labor and delivery to let them know I was there. I had another contraction while I was sitting there. No one was coming to get me. When I had my second contraction sitting there about 2 minutes later, the nurse grabbed my wheelchair and started running with me.

It was at this point that I had gotten scared. I thought to myself, something is very wrong or she wouldn't be running with me. The thought had never crossed my mind that I was in actual labor. Even after my water had broke, it didn't register with me. After all, I still had 3 freakin weeks left!!

She got me up to labor and delivery where everyone was just standing around talking. They got me in a room and about 10 nurses were in there with me. They couldn't find my chart where I had pre-registered, so they had to ask me a gazillion questions. Some of them were ripping off my clothes. They got me on a bed and a dr appeared. Amazingly enough, my dr was in the hospital and was on his way up. I heard one ask about an i.v. and another one say there was no time. The dr I didn't know that was just the stand-in was holding back my baby's head while my dr was getting his gear on. He pretty much just sat down and caught him. All this happened in the space of 10 minutes.

I gave birth to my first son, Braden Trad, on May 16, 2003 at 7:04 am. He weighed 6 lb 15 oz and was 19 inches long. He was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen. Now, 5 years later, we have been through so much with him-3 operations, and autism diagnosis, school, speech and ot and countless doctor's visits. He is a very special child and I am a very lucky mother to have him as my son.

The Zoo Crew

Today I went on a field trip with Braden and his class to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere. He got to ride the bus [which he LOVES!!] and a bunch of us moms drove behind. Unfortunately, the bus is why he had his first meltdown of the day. He did not want to get off!!

His second meltdown happened not too long after, when everyone decided to go into the building where the snakes are. They didn't allow strollers in, and he wasn't calm enough to get him out yet. He was upset that everyone left him! I was beginning to think that I made a horrible mistake by bringing him.

After that meltdown, we got moving a little faster, and started seeing the animals. He calmed down, for the most part, and seemed to have fun. I was very proud of him and how he acted. Everyone got really tired and fell asleep on the way home.

Here are some pics of the trip [not in the right order] I LOVE giraffes!! This little guy was pretty close to the fence, so we got a good look at him.

The elephants were really beautiful.

This is Braden and his teacher Ms. Jamie.

Braden and Thomas having a drink.

Lunch time!!

Some kind of monkey-like creature. :)

The class made their shirts. Braden's is his handprint-turned-elephant.

He is so stinkin' cute!!

I'm not sure what this face is.

Braden and Jordan going for a ride.

We had a great time. [I am just glad that I finally had something to blog about!!]

Recap

Where oh where have I been??? Time has really gotten away with me, so I am going to post a recap of the last little bit just to get ya'll up to speed...

1. I have been sick. I mean SICK!! I don't think I have ever felt so bad for so long. I had a stomach virus off and on for 2 weeks!! I think I am finally, completely over it though. {hallelujah!!}
2. We planted a garden on Friday. It's the first one that we have ever done. {As adults, on our own.} It's not a huge garden, but it's a start!!
3. The kids got a new super-cool swing set. I have had it on layaway forever! It has 2 slides, 2 swings, a rock wall, and a sand box underneath. They are so excited about it and I am excited that they are. :-)
4. Abby is crawling around everywhere. She is getting more adventurous every day. She also said a new word. "Goo-bah". Which I think is goodbye, but Trad is convinced that she is saying goober. Men!!
5. Braden has his IEP for kindergarten tomorrow. He is not going to be mainstreamed like we had hoped. I guess we will try for 1st grade.
6. Braden's 5th birthday is coming up on the 16th. Graduation is also on that day, so we are going to celebrate his birthday on the 23rd. He is going to have his first ever birthday party at the jungle jym. I am nervous about it, but I'm sure it will go fine!!

That's pretty much it for now. I am going to try and get back into the swing of things soon!!