How Do You Measure Success?

Being the mother of a child with Autism has completely changed me as a person. I will never be able to take anything for granted again. I have learned the value of the tiniest victories. Every day matters more than ever. When Patrick was born the girls were 9 and 12 (a month from 13). He was diagnosed a year and a half later. They were old enough to grasp the reality of it. Now that we are a couple weeks form Patrick's 6th birthday and the girls are now 15 and almost 18 they can say that they are who they are in part because of Patrick and his diagnosis. They have learned the value of hard word and to appreciate the struggle toward accomplishing a goal. I couldn't be more proud of these young women if I tried. They have been right beside me the whole journey and work with their brother just as much as I do. I tell you all of this to set up what we see as a HUGE victory for Patrick.

Back story....

Patrick attends pre-k at a local public school and is in an autistic class. He has the most amazing teacher. When he started school last school year he was basically at ground zero. He is still non verbal but back then he couldn't even pull up his own pants, eat with a spoon/fork, or drink from a regular cup. He made some progress during the first part of last year. After the Christmas holiday Patrick had a pretty big regression and lost a lot of skills. Many skills he never regained.

This school year started and Patrick seemed to take flight. He can now undress himself, put dirty clothes in the hamper when he takes them off, eats with spoon/fork, drinks from a big cup, and clears his dish from the table when he is done eating.

I was so worried about what would happen over the Christmas break this year. Would he regress again? How can I keep him engaged and at least stay where he is?

School took in and the first day back I got a note from his teacher that said.....

             "Happy New Year! Patrick had a fantastic  day back! WOW! He was on task, attentive to everything we did, participated and imitated in our group activities, followed directions, etc. This is a remarkable difference from last year's break!"

Yesterday I got this note....

             "Patrick is doing so well! Yesterday he correctly pointed to January, Thursday, 2013, 1, 2, and sunny in random order. Today he id'd red 4 out of 5 times and blue 3 out of 5 times."

This is HUGE!!! Not only no regression but he is making huge progress. i have known for a while that Patrick can read. The problem was that he only did it when it was something he wanted. He can scroll through the cable guide and search through 300 channels for his cartoons. Now he is doing it when he is asked. He has done it for 2 weeks straight. Holy wow! I can't wait to see what he will accomplish by the end of the school year.

His little personality is really blossoming and he is engaging with us so much. My heart is so full. I am so happy for Patrick.

I leave you with a video of Mr. Patrick. He and I were playing around and I decided to create a song for him about him. He is such a smarty that he knows which one he is. Just be patient until the third verse.

Back to Our Regular Programming

Last week the kids went back to school. Holiday break was ok. Everyone had a great Christmas. I cannot believe that all the kids loved everything they got. I managed to surprise the girls with some things they never thought to ask for and they adored them. Even Miss Picky (Elizabeth) had no complaints at all. It was a Christmas miracle lol.

Then, Patrick and Miranda got sick. Not a fun way to spend vacation but much better to be sick on vacation than while in school. They both had strep. Miranda also had an upper respiratory infection and Patrick had a double ear infection. My poor babies were miserable.

I was so nervous when school started back up. Last year, Patrick had a major regression and never got caught back up. I knew he had made positive steps at home but that doesn't always transition to school. This year it did! His teacher wrote me every day last week to marvel at the amount of progress he had made. Not only was he paying attention, he was attending to all tasks, imitating, initiating play with others, and basically doing everything we always hoped he would. Now, we just have to get him talking.

Next week is a big big week for Miranda. She is switching to a new dr before she transitions to an Internist for adults. Adults???? Yup in a couple months my baby will be an adult. I need a time machine so that I can go back to a time when she was a little baby in my arms. I will let her grow up but not until I've had this time to smother her with love and affection.

Also, Miranda is having her food challenge at the Allergist. As of next Thursday we will know for sure if she can eat shellfish or not. Cross your fingers that this baby can have crawfish for her 18th birthday.

Big things are happening. This week we will start boxing things up and getting ready for our move to a bigger apartment. I cannot wait!

Hope you all are having better weather than we are. Two weeks of dreary rainy weather. Spring is around the corner.

DramaFever

Hi! My name is Stacey and I am a Kdrama addict.

It all started a year ago. Miranda was watching this Korean drama called Boys Over Flowers. ICK! What a crazy name for a show. I would catch glimpses of it over her shoulder. Even though she had earphones on I could see what was being said because of the English subtitles. I never laughed so hard. All the boys looked like girls and the plot was asinine. Then one day something shocking happened. I started to watch over her shoulder once so that I could torture her again but I ended up getting involved in the story. Like the sweet child she is, she stopped where she was and waited for me to start from the first episode and catch up. I was hooked instantly. I have never experienced anything like this with American tv shows.

Let me tell you some of the best things about Korean dramas.
1) There are no seasons. Each series is between 15 to 25 episodes long. 
2) The story is told from beginning to end.
3) There is a genre for everyone
4) The emotion

There are so many other reasons but honestly they are just a full out escape. Have you every gotten lost in a book? There you are knowing you should go to bed but you just got to a good part? Next thing you know it's 3 AM and you don't know how you ended up staying awake so late. That's what happens with Kdramas. You say to yourself that you will only watch one or two episodes then go to bed. Next thing you know it's 3 AM and you say to yourself that you have time to watch one more episode before you have to get up to get the kids ready for school then you can take a nap. I have never laughed so hard or cried so intensely over any show on American tv as I do for almost every Kdrama I watch.

Follow the link below to try it for yourself. Let me know what kind of shows you like and I will try to recommend something for you. We have watched around 30 shows over the last year and are eagerly awaiting all of the ones coming out this year.



Stacey Bigner invites you to join DramaFever!: DramaFever brings you the best of Asian primetime TV for free. The latest hits and classic favorites available uncut, subtitled, and in high quality streaming video. Go to http://dfvr.co/i/3zB to sign up and get one week of our premium service FREE!

New Year...New Blog...New Goals

Happy New Year!!! Welcome to 2013!

Here I sit trying to understand why my blog is blank. Did we not do anything last year? Did we do so much that there was no time to write about it? Nope. The answer is simply that I didn't put my blog as a priority for myself. I would think about how I should blog about this or that as it happened but I just never got around to it. Things are about to change. I don't care if I ever get followers or if my posts are boring. I am going to do this for myself. A place where I can share our life and my thoughts. 

I plan to share more than updates about our family and activities. I will post reviews of products we try. I will post some recipes. I will tell you about recipes from other blogs that I try and whether I failed or succeeded and how the family liked them. I plan to vlog along the way. I may even be able to persuade Miranda to vlog with me. She has the best makeup skills. Miranda did Elizabeth's makeup for Spirit Week. Everyone stopped her and told her how amazing her makeup was. 

Our tastes have changed over this past year. We will be sharing this with you as well. Look out for our reviews of Kdramas we are watching or have watched. I hope to talk the girls into doing some kpop reaction videos. I think they are so much fun and I know that we have some pretty funny reactions to videos.

I promise to share as much as possible and to give you all an honest look into Life As We Know It.  I hope you enjoy the view.

***Quick Update***
Miranda is now 17 years old. She is currently in 11th grade through Louisiana Connections Academy (We plan to share a lot about this incredible program). Miranda was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when she was 15. She and I will share a lot about her journey as we go.

Elizabeth is 15 and in 9th grade.

Patrick is 5 and attends Pre-K. Patrick was diagnosed with Autism at 18 months old. I plan to share our journey as we go.

Whew!

What a crazy few months around here. School started for everyone and it has been nonstop. My Lizzie just turned 14. She is such an awesome kid and is really doing great in 8th grade. Miranda is enrolled in Connections Academy. It's an online virtual public school. It has been tough but it is amazing. She is really doing great. She has been homeschooled since 7th grade and we were worried about ow she would do in this setting. So far she is thriving. Lizzie and I went to an open house for a local magnet high school last week. I can't believe that next year I will have 2 high school kids. Where has the time gone? Patrick has made so much progress since he started school this year. He is eating with a fork some. That is a huge step since before school he wouldn't even let a spoon or fork near his face. His teacher says that he is coming out of his shell and really making strides daily.

Around the home front things have been interesting like always. A lot has happened that has brought peace and closure over certain issues. There are still some things that are still being juggled but they will fall into place soon enough.

We have a new puppy. Her name is Lucy Anna Belle (Louisiana Belle). She is half Shih Tzu and half daschund. She is frisky and playful for sure. She is so different from our Nina (she passed away in May). Nina was a teacup Chihuahua but was the most docile and sweet baby. She was spoiled and she like it that way.

I am about to start an adventure into cooking more homemade foods and trying to stretch our budget. I plan to document how this goes as well as updates on all my babies.


Patrick showing off his new skill

 Me and Lizzie at the Duran Duran concert a couple weeks ago

 All of my babies

 Miranda after one of her experimental hair and makeup sessions

Miranda at the 25th Anniversary of Phantom of the Opera...we cried....a lot

Our new addition to the family.... Lucy

Nice to Meet You

I want to begin this by introducing you to our family and letting you know what to expect from us. My name is Stacey and I am a single mother of 3 awesome kids. Miranda is 16, Elizabeth is 13 and Patrick is 4. Miranda has mild Asperger's Syndrome and Patrick has Autism. Elizabeth is just stuck in the middle. I adore my children. We are not your typical family. You never know what you are going to get from us. We are random and off the cuff. We have a wide variety of interests and many different adventures. We may try new recipes that flop or become a new fave. We are pretty opinionated politically and religiously. My girls always say they are so lucky to have a mother that is so different from their friend's parents. I do believe in being their friend but they also know that I will hold them accountable for their actions. They do not question if a punishment will happen so they rarely push things. We consider ourselves to be Republican though we support gay rights and are anti religion. Strange mix, huh? So I am going to stop my rambling so I can get on with this blog. Tomorrow I plan to start posting updates about each of the kids school progress (they are each in different styles of school setting), updates on our diet, and any random thoughts or rants that come up along the way.