Ok so this entery might be a little long, as I have a lot to talk about. First of all I want to talk about Jacobs bday! We had such a fun day. We didnt really do much because really, he doesnt care so why do a lot of stuff. We went to Peter Piper Pizza for lunch. Tom was able to get a few hours off of work to come and my mom was also there. We did our presents and ate and let him and Tyler play. While we were there, there was a ton of target employees. And they were all playing games. A lot of them just gave Jacob their tickets and tokens. So we ended up with 460 tickets! Jacob was sooo excited to be able to get a big toy. Although, most of it was candy that he got. Then we went home and went to make a cake. I let Jacob help me with that because he loves to help cook. The cake didnt turn out at all!! Thats why I never bother to make birthday cake...just buy it. But it was still fun trying to make it, and we did eat the mess afterwards haha. He got lots of fun presents and was so excited to get them all. Here are a few pictures of the fun. My batteries died at PPP so I didnt get very many pictures. Dont mind my messy house in the back...haha. It was his bday I tried to spend as much time with him as I could and kind of neglected my house.

He is enjoying the cake batter


Tyler had to get in on the fun

Stiring it like a big guy




Tyler and daddy playing basketball





Jake kept playing this dancing game...he loved it
Ok, so then yesterday I went and took Jake into the doc to get his allergies tested. His psych said that sometimes kids with Autism/ADHD have allergies and thats what makes their behaviors bad. So I made an appt to get them tested to see if he was allergic to anything. Plus he is always having runny noses and sneezing so I figured he was allergic to something. They do the test and come back 20 min later and the nurse said...wow this is a good one. I looked and he was allergic to EVERYTHING they tested him for! It was only respitory allergies and not food ones. So he is allergic to...feathers, mold, trees, plants, weeds, grass, dust, cat hair, dog hair, and some others I cant remember. So now I have to give him this med that I squirt under his tounge. But the doc said I have to give it to him every other day for 2-3 years and hopefully they should be gone by then.

Happy Birthday Jacob!!! I cant believe my sweet Jacob is 5 yrs old already!! Here are a few pictures of the past 5 years

So I got a new calling at church. I was called to teach the little sunbeams (the 4 yr olds) in primary! I am actually kinda excited. Next Sunday should be interesting being in there with them but I cant wait! Tyler will be in there in 2 years and now I get to be in singing time with Jacob and keep an eye on him.

Speaking of Jacob...we have been having the worst time at school. He has been hitting, and not paying attention, and just not being a very good kid =( I now have to sign a conduct chart and the teacher will put a red dot for having a bad day and a green dot for a good day. I am trying to not dwell on it, but its hard not to. I know when he is a good boy we have to do something extra good so that he knows that he was a good boy and that he understands that you always need to be good. He doesnt understand that hes being bad when he hits...and his teacher just needs to realize that.

Oh, and his bday is tomorrow! I cant believe im going to have a 5 yr old!!! I feel so old! We were going to do a big ol thing at peter piper pizza but we were all sick this past week and I didnt get anything ready...and he really doesnt care as long as he has presents and cake. So we will just have something with our little family here tomorrow and he will be just as happy.

Hope everyone is having a good monday!

Jacob has been going to LIFE which is the therapy place he gets his ABA and therapys at. The past 3 weeks he has been getting evaluated with Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy. The PT just called me that has been working with Jacob to tell me that he was not going to be having PT today because she has to type up the report and submit it to our Support Coordinator (SC) and then our SC has to see if we have enough hours and space for this therapy (which we do). So I asked her if that means Jacob was qualified for PT. She told me that she was pretty sure he was but she had to tally up the points and then she will know for sure. But she basically told me that he did. So its kinda sad but happy at the same time. I was sad because I didnt think that he was bad enough to need therapy but happy because he will finally get some muscle in his body! Just looking at him, you can see that he has no muscle tone at all. One of his MANY diagnoses include a diagnosis called Hypotonia which is low muscle tone. So wish us luck for Occupational Therapy which is next to find out if he has qualified or not for it. I really hope he does because that is the big one that I really want. I am kinda iffy about him qualifying for it because the school already did their own evaluation and he did not qualify for it. But they didnt go over sensory issues that he definintly has. I will find out about that one on Wednesday because that is our OT day.

I met a new couple in our ward who has a child with Autism. He is 3, I think is what they said. I am so excited to be able to get to know them and to share all the info that we both know. They have had the diagnosis a year more than we have so im sure she can help me so much!

Oh what a fun weekend we had!!! Ok, so that was said really sarcastically, since you cant tell. It all started Thursday night when I started feeling SO SICK! I had my first bladder infection. Well lucky for me, I was going to the doc for something else the next day. So when I got there I told him I had a bladder infection, I thought, so come to find out I did. I got meds, and all is good...so I thought. I thought that taking meds the first day should take away the pain...HAHA I was so wrong! Friday night I was in so much pain! I couldn't stand it. And fun for me, my husband was gone on scout camp so I was alone with my kids. I did, go to my parents house to stay the night, even though they were gone. My kids entertain themselves so well there so I got to lay on the couch and try to feel better. Well it never happened and I didn't get any sleep because I was in so much pain. So Saturday morning comes and I start to feel a little better. I take my meds and for some reason it made things 20 times worse!! So I was back on the couch trying to feel better. I finally felt better later in the afternoon. I was excited because I had a fun girls night out with my friend Sharon. And I didn't really want to miss that because I really needed to get out. So the night comes and Sharon and I do our fun stuff. I didn't get home till 1am and then I was up at 5am with the kids. So im sitting at church and all of a sudden this pain comes back!! AHHH when will it end??? This sucks for my first bladder infection...I guess I should of gotten it checked out a month ago when it started...haha. I'm just thankful to Uristat...that's my best friend these past few days!! Not sure how bad the pain would be without it!!

Its amazing how much more time I have to do stuff for me, when Jacob is at school. Tyler is such a good kid, he just plays all by himself and never makes a sound. I just can hear the toys banging together in the playroom.

Jacob's bday is coming up in a few weeks YAY!! He is going to be 5! I cant believe im going to have a 5 yr old. I can remember being pregnant with him...and all the crap I went through with his delivery...haha. He hasnt had a birthday party yet. Partly because he really didnt know what a birthday was. But this year he is so into birthdays and loves them. So we want to give him a really good bday party this year!! We will probably do it at Peter Piper Pizza because thats his favorite place to be! We are going to have it on Sept. 1st probably at the PPP on Baseline and Elsworth. I know there are quite a few people with kids (boys or girls...it doesnt matter) who read my blog so I want to extend the invite out to everyone!! Just email me (jakentysmom@cox.net) and let me know if you want to come. Even if I have not seen you in a LONG time, I would love to have a lot of kids there for Jacob!!

So Jakes first few days of school went pretty good I guess. The teacher called me Friday after school just to tell me how must time Jacob takes up of his...haha oops. But then again, we tried telling him that he is like that but no one would listen to us. So they are getting an aid for Jacob so that he doesnt have to take the teachers time away. Then we decided just to keep him half day. I will take him out before or after lunch every day. All this week ill pick him up at 11:30 just because he has therapy at 12:30 in Queen Creek and it takes a while to get there. Oh, speaking of therapy...we went to this evaluation thing Friday night. Its for the habilitator that is going to be working with Jacob. We had to do a series of tests to see what kind of goals we will have for him. A lot of things he could do, but only with verbal ques or she had to do it forst and then he followed after her. They video tapped it and then said that I would get a call back soon after they watched the video and got the goals from that. I hope they call soon because I really want to get him into this therapy! A girl in our ward is going to be doing it so I am excited about the chance im going to get to get to know her better! She was placed in my life for a reason..Heavenly Father knew what he was doing when he put us in this ward....and everything we have experienced has been great!!

Hope everyone is having a great Monday!!

So the bus FINALLY came for Jacob yesterday! YAY! I guess when the bus dropped him off thursday afternoon, the bus driver said that he was just put on her bus. She didnt have him on her list or anything. So she said that she would just come take him to school and take him home every day. So yesterday morning she came and got him! I was so happy and excited, and so was he! He loves riding the bus so it was fun for him.


Thursday night, I was in my room, watching tv. I didnt even think that it was past the boys bedtime. So I went out in the front room because it was really quiet, to find this! I had to wake them up to put the jammies on and put them back in their bed, but this picture was too funny not to take.

Also, yesterday was haircut day! Tyler got a haircut FINALLY! We went to a place called Lolilocks or something like that and that place is awesome!! It is totally kid frendly and the lady who cut tylers hair was really good with him and cut his hair fast so that he wouldnt cry too much. Of course, he cried almost the whole time but I didnt care because thats what this place is used to since its all for kids. Here are some pictures of his cute new hair!

So, yesterday was the first day of school for us..YAY Jacob was gonna be gone all day and I couldnt wait!! Like any other parent, I took some pictures of him before his bus came. Since hes "special needs" he gets to ride the short bus...hehe. And it comes to our house and picks him up...which I love.

So here he is about to go wait for his bus

Tyler had to get in on the picture action too

Here is Jacob waiting for the bus to come get him

Here he is...10 min later...STILL waiting for the bus to come get him

So yeah, the bus NEVER came and got him yesterday! I was furious! I have had issue after issue with this school...and this was not making it any better. I had Tom call the school because I was so upset and the school psych called and really didnt make me feel any better. He just said tomorrow will be a better day...lets just see how it goes tomorrow. Well fine...im sure it would be a better day. So today...I treat it as his first day again. The bus is gonna come get him...hes staying all day at school and its going to be a great day!! So here are the pictures from this morning

Ok here is Jake and Tyler again

Here is Jacob waiting for his bus...

and once again...STILL WAITING!!!!

Can you believe they forgot to pick him up...AGAIN?!?!?!?!?! I took him to school this time and I went in there and told them that the bus problems are not being taken care of obviously, and I want him switched out of this school. I dont care if I have to put him in the autism room...or in normal K with an aid...he will NOT go to this school!!! So the school psych said that he would talk to the principal and call me back! So I already called our home school and im going to talk to the principal there as soon as she calls me back to see what we can do for Jake in this other school where we had NO problems last year!!

Ok, I have a few welcomes to post. The first one is of my new nephew Finnegan James Malone. My brother Trent and his wife, Jackie, had a baby boy Aug 4th. And from what I heard it was the best labor and delivery ever!! Jackie, you are so lucky!! Here is a little scrapbook page they made for him.







And then welcome to two new bloggers. My husband made a blog!! I am so excited and everyone should read it. Its really funny and im sure he will make you laugh. Thats one reason I love the guy!! He is always ready to make people laugh. His link is http://tompriestley.blogspot.com/

And then, my brother Mike and his wife Debbie. They made a blog!! So welcome into the very adicting blogging world. If you guys know Mike, and want to read their blog and see whats going on in their lives their blog is http://michaelanddebbiemalone.blogspot.com/

I have been having a very hard time lately dealing with Jacob...and his autism and just knowing that its going to be here for a while. I was just looking through the internet kinda looking for answers....looking for something that would help me understand just what hes going through. I came to this guy's web page. His name is Jamie Manning and he has a son who has autism. He writes songs about autism and families dealing with autism in their family. I listened to this song and I just couldnt stop crying...I felt like this is what I needed to hear. Here are the lyrics to the song and here is the link to where you can hear a little bit of the song http://www.autismsongs.com/welcomehere.php

You are welcome here

Go ahead and take your time my boy, I can wait

There’s no need to run so fast, you’re not late

You walk on a different road, that’s alright

Do not fear the shadows, just keep looking for the light

And if that road should make you lonely

There’s no darkness you should fear

You will always find a light in my window at night

You are welcome here

You have such an open heart, free from all the stain

A smile that shines like sunlight through the thunder and the rain

The warmest hand, the truest eyes that I have ever known

And though you may walk slowly, you will never walk alone

And if you need some understanding

When the answers disappear

You will always have a place you can run to

You are welcome here
I can’t tell you that the world is kind

Nor can I tell you that it’s fair

But if you ever need a hand to hold

Mine will always be there

BREAK/SOLO

I can’t tell you that the world is kind

Nor can I tell you that it’s fair

But should you ever need a hand to hold

Mine will always be there
So when you walk down that long road

There’s no darkness you need to fear

You will always find a light in my window at night

You are welcome here

If that long road makes you lonely

And you need somebody near

You will always find me here where you left me

My child. You are welcome here

(Edit)

I cant beleive I forgot this in the post...One of the BEST things happend yesterday!! A lot of people take hugs from their kids for granted...NOT ME, only because Jacob does not give hugs. For some reason autistic kids do not like to be touched, im not sure the reason, but he doesnt give hugs and if you try he will cry. But yesterday ALL DAY he gave me about 10 hugs!! I was SO HAPPY!! I cried almost every time I got a hug from him. Then we went to my parents house and he gave my dad 2 big hugs which is VERY unusual. My dad was very happy as well and kept telling Jake how proud he was of him =) We are so happy for Jake and hope that it doesnt stop. I love getting hugs from my little guy.

Yesterday Jacob started his first day of therapy! He had ABA which is a behavior therapy type thing. He goes Monday-Wednesday and has ABA for an hour and a half a day, and then has music therapy, occupational therapy, or physical therapy for an hour after each ABA session. Then yesterday, we also got hab and respite approved. I have a lady coming over from where we are doing Hab today so that we can fill out forms for the girl to start. She is going to be working wtih Jake 3 hours a day on the off days of ABA so thursday and friday and maybe some saturdays. She is actually in my ward and loves Jake. She has been coming over on her own time just to kinda work with him and observe him. So we are excited to get her to start with us and to get paid!! The place where I have Jake for therapy is called L.I.F.E. Center. They are brand new...just opened up yesterday actually. They have the best equiptment around and I am so excited for us to be going there. Everything is going so smooth there is no doubt in my mind this is where we are supposed to be...and this is what we are supposed to be doing for Jacob.

We are having such a hard time with his behaviors. I started writing down everything he does to Tyler or another child so that I can show the doc that he is really bad. Not very many people believe me on how aggressive he is because its mostly done at home. When we go out, he is very quiet and shy because he doesnt like meeting new people. But once he knows you are a good person, he will not be shy anymore, and show his real self...haha. Lately he has been obsessed with numbers. He is constantly asking me what time it is...or he will tell me what time it is. He knows almost every channel on the TV just if you tell him to turn it to a channel you dont even have to tell him what number it is, he already knows and will turn it there. Its not because we watch a lot of tv he will just flip through the channels for hours if I let him. Its a little anoying at times, but these are the things I just have to learn to deal with.

Well I better go get this house clean for the ladies who are coming over...I really dont want to get up and do that...haha. I just wish it would clean itself...that would be nice.

So I sit down at my computer, and im about to blog about the wonderful monsoon season we are having. I go to turn on the TV and it is on channel 3 and of course they are showing the memorial for the guys who died in the plane crash. For those who havent heard...that dont live in AZ, on Friday there was a car chase in down town Phx. Channel 3 and Channel 15 helicopters collided and killed everyone in the copters. It was a camera guy, and the guy flying in both helicopters. SO sad! I love watching channel 3 news so it was really shocking to me to see these guys die. So I turn on the TV to see this memorial and I am just bawling....its so sad to see everyone crying...even the tough police officers that are there...there is not a dry eye, its a very touching memorial and even though you really don't know these people in person, you got to know them through the TV and its almost like losing a friend.

So anyways...why I came on here to begin with...ha ha. I love the monsoon season!! We have been having some good storms. They said on the news last night that here in Gilbert we got an inch and a half and in Mesa they got an 1.75 inches! Its been a long time since we have had rain like that. I even took pictures because its just so cool to get some good rain!! We always love it here and its always welcome. As long as im not driving in it. I get bad anxiety if I have to drive in the rain! Here are the pictures I took yesterday from my front door!!

Thursday, July 19th, was my birthday! It was a lot of fun this year. I have to say, this is probably my fav bday so far since I was a kid. My sister Stacy was in town from Texas, so she got to celebrate with us too. On wednesday, I was at my moms house, and she told us to come over for dinner since stacy was making something yummy to eat. So we show up at 630. Tom is freaking out because he had to go to scouts in a half hour and didnt think we would have enough time to eat and for him to get to scouts on time. So we are sitting there and the door bell rings. Its a lady from our ward. I didnt really think much of it since my mom is on the compassionate service commitee but then she started talking about babysitting kids. I was like ok, stacy must be going somewhere. Then my mom goes...suprise! We are going out to dinner!! I was very shocked and happy because dinner sounded so good. We went to Olive Garden which made it even better. Oh, and Tom was on the suprise the whole time! He was just making it look like nothing was going on so I didnt lead on to the suprise. And then we came back home and had cake and Ice cream.

When I walked into my moms house on Wednesday, I saw this...

She had gotten me roses...25 since I was turning 25. I also got a frying pan and a new dish set...oh and the best of all...a new mini van!! Well, its new to us anyways. Its my sister Shelly's old van. They have outgrown it and had to move to a suburban so we took over the payments on it and we love it!! We had a little Plymouth neon for 5 years so its nice to have space. Expecially for my husband who is 6'5. And the kids love it...although, Jake is having a hard time with it being OUR car now. He still thinks is his cousins car. Then on thursday, my actual bday, we we to peter piper pizza and let the kids play and then I Had a drs appt for Jacob (which ill blog about later) and then we came home and my mom watched both boys and Tom and I went out to dinner. Here is a random pic of stacy's kids, my brother mikes daughter, and Jacob

Ok, I know this whole tagging thing is going around and I didn't think I would get tagged...but I guess I did, so here I go. My 7 random things about me...its gonna be hard because I have NO idea what to say...

#1 Sometimes I wonder why I was chosen to have the kids I do...there are times where I don't think I have the patience for them....but usually I get over it and realize that I have more than I think I do

#2 We lived in Texas for 2 years...it sucked and that's why we are back home. It was an interesting experience but we are glad to be back home in Az

#3 I have really bad insomnia. Sometimes I cant get to bed until 2 or 3 am and then I'm up at 5 with Tom to get his stuff ready for work

#4 Ok this goes onto #3, I do WAY to much for my husband that he could do for himself but I would rather do it myself so that it gets done.

#5 I love sign language!! Both of my kids know it and I love teaching it to them. Jacob is such a sponge when it comes to Sign Language and he wants to learn everything.

#6 I have no friends....ok that sounds sad, but when I moved to Texas none of them stayed in contact with me so when we came back...they just had other things to do, and a lot of people don't like my kids so its hard to be friends with people once they are around my kids. But I'm ok with that...I love my family and we have a great time together!

#7 I love the rain and I hope we have a really good monsoon season (or summer thunderstorm season...whatever they are calling it now)

Ok, there is a little peak into my boring life. Now I tag anyone who reads this that hasn't done it to their blog. And if you do, post a comment saying you are so I know who does it or not. But I know most of the people I blog stalk have done it already.

We finally hit a good milestone in the autism stuff. We got qualified for ALTCS. Its what we have to go through in Arizona to get services for Jacob. I was really worried that we wouldn't qualify because Jacob isn't very severe but we did and I'm so happy!! Now we can get him all the therapy's that he needs, and get respite and hab and get him to learn to live with his autism and try to get him better. I started this process when Jacob was diagnosed on 2-2-07 and we finally were approved 7-10-07. The lady that came over said that someone should be contacting me on the services we get and then I can start with them. But Jacob will be in school in a month, and so we wont have a lot of time for them like we did during the summer. So our days are going to be full in the afternoon when he gets home from school. We will have hab, respite, Speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and music therapy. Here are some cute pictures that I have taken. Oh, and yes, I got a new camera...YAY so now every post will have a picture or 2 or 10...he he.

We are potty training Tyler right now...and he loves it! He likes to sit on the toilet but doesn't like to go in it...ha ha. He will go about 2-3 times a day but that's it. Hopefully soon he will be fully potty trained!!




No one ever believes me how mean Jacob is to Tyler. I got this picture right as he pushed Tyler off of the couch...now I have proof he he. Gotta love boys and being rough and mean. I don't think Jacob is doing it to be mean hes just trying to play with Tyler and Tyler doesn't like it.

We are back from camping. We have actually been home for almost a week...haha. But I'm now just getting to posting about it. Well for one, we came home 2 days early. So you know it really didn't go as planned. It was really hot and everyone was cranky and my boys were wild, and those things just never go well together. So we just left. I was ready to come home the day we got there! So it was nice to be home when we got here. Here are some pictures of our few days up in the Mtns.

When I turned on my camera to get the pictures...this is what I saw. Obviously the boys thought it would be fun to take pictures of themselves.

The first night we were there, I went in to the tent after playing a few games and saw this. This shows my boys do not stay still when they sleep!!




Tyler was walking around the fire pit and decided to play in it. He was filthy. This picture does not do it justice.



It was so hot that one day we had to take the pants off of Tyler because he was sweating so bad. So we let him run around in his diaper. Pure white trash!!


This is the only picture I got of both boys. They were finishing up their breakfast

Here is Tyler just being cute!








Jacob LOVED the fire. We had to try so hard to keep him away from it. But every time it was lit he was right there by it.

Here is grandad relaxing in the hammock with the boys. They loved that thing and kept going in it.

So these are just about the only pictures I took of Jacob. I just realized most of them were of Tyler. Jacob wouldn't stand still enough for me to take any pictures of him, I guess.

Well...tomorrow morning we are leaving for a week. I am going camping with my parents, my brother mike-his wife and daughter, my sister in law's sister, a girl from my ward (that the sister is friends with) and another family from our ward. This was supposed to be our big family trip this year but most everyone couldnt make it =( so we had to invite other people to come with us. Tom isnt going to be with us because he had scout camp this week and he comes home saturday and we are leaving friday. Plus he couldnt take another week off work to go. So im going to brave this with my boys alone!!! Pray for me that I will come back sane! I am already going crazy this week without tom being here. Its been a bad week for us...and I cant wait until tom is back here with us.

Autistic kids have a tendancy to wander. Jacob is huge in that. He will leave the house and I wont even know and he would be down the street, or at the park, and I would have no idea. If we go to the mall and hes not in the stroller he will just wander off. Well yesterday we went to walmart and usually Jake rides in the cart but he screamed and screamed until I took him out. I didnt want to make a scene so I just let him out of the cart. I turned to get something off a shelf and Jacob was gone!!! We spent 10 min looking for him and couldnt find him anywhere. We even had 2 employees looking for him. Finally one of the employees found him. And then we left right then and I went to put the groceries in the cart and I turn around and Jacob is gone again! I was so freaked out and frustrated at all of this. But today has been a better day and I have so much to do, but am I doing any of it? NOPE!! I am looking at blogs and *thinking* of the things I have to do tonight haha.

Hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th of July!!!

My sister posted this on her blog and tagged everyone so im going to do the same.

1. When was the last time you ran? Just a few min ago I ran to get Jake from being outside

2. Do your jeans have rips, tears and holes in them? No, I cant stand holes in my jeans

3. Do you get the full 8 hours of sleep a night? No I have bad insomnia

4. If you had someone "stop by" without you knowing what would your house look like? is actually pretty clean right now but usually a mess

5. Do you eat raw cookie dough? yep!

6. Have you ever kicked a vending machine? YES!! I actually did it today when my water was stuck

7.How do you eat an Oreo? dipped in milk

8. Have you ever stayed online for a very long time waiting for someone? not that I can remember but im sure I have

9. Could you live without a computer? I could but I really dont want to. I love my computer

10. Do you wear shoes in the house? haha no, I never wear shoes period

11. At what age did you find out Santa wasn't real? Who knows

12. How many phones, house and cell phones are in your house? 2

13. Who would you call first if you won the lottery? im with Shelly on this answer...I dont think I would want to admit that I actually played the lottery

14. Last time you saw your best friend? lol well I guess Tom is my only best friend so that would have to be 2 days ago =( Hes on a scout campout for a week

15. What jewelry are you wearing right now? both of my wedding rings

16. What is the first thing you do when you get on-line? check my email and then check blogs

17. Do you watch 'Grey's Anatomy'? Nope

18. How do most people spell your name? Brittany

19. When was the last time you left your house? about 8 am this morning went to walmart

20. Do you return your shopping cart? neever...unless im right next to it.

21. What noise do you hear right now? Tyler crying because Jake is trying to play mommy and put him to bed...haha

22. Who is the youngest in your family? I am

23. Who does the dishes at your house? I do most of it and Jacob puts away the silverware

24. If all of your friends were going on a road trip, who would be most likely to over pack? And, who would most likely be driving? I would definintly overpack and Tom would do the driving...

25.Do your siblings ever pay for stuff for you? sometimes

26. Do you know anyone with the same name as you? sure, Britney Spears

7. When was the last time you cleaned your toilets? yesterday

28. Do you watch movies with your parents? I havent in a long time

29. Do you get your hair cut every month? hahaha im lucky if I get it cut once a year

30. What was the last thing you purchased? groceries

You know the drill, copy, paste, fill it out.

I am at the end of my rope with Jacob I am not sure if this is an autism thing, ADHD thing, or just because hes a *bad* kid. But his behaviors have become VERY severe and VERY bad! I am no sure what to do with him and his behaviors anymore. We cant punish him because he just doesnt care. I try taking toys away and that doesnt bother him. He doesnt play with toys or anything else so taking something away doesnt work. When he is in time out he will come right back out...ive tried everything to make time out work and it doesnt work. Ive tried yelling and spaking and he just laughed at me. Ive tried the loving approach and that didnt work either, it just made him do more. We have him on meds for ADHD and ever since we put him on those its like these behaviors have become way worse.

Its 7 am and ill tell you what he has already done in the hour we have been awake. He took a blanket and tried to choke his brother, he was throwing a shoe at the wall and every time I told him to stop he would keep doing it, he turned on the water outside and threw his brother in it, he got markers and colored himself and his shirt. I am not sure what to do anymore and I hate feeling like he has defeted me. Like I am nothing to him because he just wont listen to me...or his dad.

I know there are a few people who read this so I thought I would post on here. I am doing an online tupperware party through one of my friends. I know you guys are probably thinking, what is she doing?!??!?!?! But I really like doing these kinds of things. So if you have any interest in any tupperware stuff, check out the website and see if there is anything you would like to buy. I would appriciate anything that you can buy!! This is going for 14 days so there is still a little bit of time left. If you know someone who would be insteresting in buying just send me their email and ill send them a link to go shopping. This is all online so when you buy stuff it will go right to you. Thanks for your help everyone!!!

Here is the link http://order.tupperware.com/coe/app/home

We are in my parents ward. I love being in this ward and being able to sit with my mom every week in church is a lot of fun. My brother Mike and his wife are also in our ward. My dad is 1st Councilor and so I kinda told him the callings I want and didn't want when we first moved in. He knows pretty much what I like and what I don't like. Well one of those callings I said I would never do, is be in the nursery. The 2 hours I get without kids on Sundays are great!! I love being able to have time without my own kids...or any other little kids. I really don't mind if I get called into the primary, but not the nursery. My dad is over the whole primary and so a few weeks ago I was at their house on a Saturday night. The primary Pres called and said they will be 2 teachers short tomorrow for church. SO he asked if I would help out because I was there and he knows I would say yes. So the next day, we all woke up SICK!!! So, I couldn't go in and help. Well the next Sunday they still needed help and so I went in since I told him I would go last week and didn't go to church. It was a mess!!! There were now 4 teachers gone! NO one knew where they were and why no one called. We have 3 nursery's and 2 teachers at each class plus one singing girl. We had 14 kids in our class and 2 teachers. It was nuts and I came home so stressed out because I was just going crazy the whole time. Then something very tragic happened earlier this week. The lady who is over the whole nursery gave birth to a still baby =( it is one of the saddest things and so of course now she will be gone for a while. They just had to release a couple who was working in the nursery because they moved suddenly. So once again, I am back to helping out. My dad asked me if I would help out for at least another month until they can get some more people in. Well I told him, I hope this isn't a perm thing because I really don't like being in there. He kinda looked at me like...oh no!! So, I was pretty sure they were going to call me in there. But I feel so bad that I really don't want to be in the nursery. I just don't have enough patience to deal with that AND my own kids!!!

Tomorrow morning we are having this lady come from the Department of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) to meet Jacob and I. She is our new support coordinator and so she just wants to come over and talk for a bit and get to know us and let us know what all we qualify for and stuff. I already know that we don't qualify for anything because DDD has little funding and its basically already being used up. So we have to go and aply for Arizona Long Term Care Services(ALTCS) and that has a lot more funding and thats how we can get our therapies and meds covered. We did apply for it once , and got denied. They didn't even come to our house and meet us and evaluate him. They just sent a letter saying that we did not qualify. Our new SC said that we need to appeal that and get another application in. So that's what we are doing now!! I hope that they approve us because Jacob really needs these therapies. Its 1041 and he just fell asleep about 10 min ago and had been screaming for the past 3 hours. Not sure why...but he does this at least 3 times a week. I don't know if its the meds that hes taking or what but he just is uncontrollable when he goes through these.

So if there is one thing I cant stand its throw up!! I know, as a mom, I should be used to it, but my kids NEVER throw up. I think they have thrown up maybe 3 times...both of them combined. Usually every morning I take Tom to work so that we can have the car. And as I was driving home Jake threw up EVERYWHERE!!!! It was so gross. And then he just layed there and his eyes kinda rolled back in his head and he wouldnt talk to me. It was so scary. So (for those of you in Arizona) I was on the 60 at Mesa Dr when it happend and I was going almost 90 all the way to Higley where we get off because I just wanted to get him out of the car and in to bed. I had no idea what was going on with him. It was so scary because I thought he was gonna have a seizer or something. I am so paranoid that my kids are going to have seizers like I did when I was a little kid. But as soon as we got home I caried him inside and took off his clothes, stuck him in the bath tub, and now hes laying on the couch watching dora. Its really cute and funny because Tyler is laying down acting like hes sick now too...haha. Maybe I will get a good, laid back day! That would be nice! But sad that Jake is sick. He never gets sick so I always worry about him. His cousins are coming today too from Texas so I hope he isnt sick for too long. My sister stacy and her family are coming down for a week to visit.

What a great weekend I had!!! It was fathers and sons this past weekend and my husband took BOTH boys with him! So I had the night to myself!! As soon as they left, my mom and I caught an early dinner since she was also alone since my dad was also at the camp. Then we went back to her house to watch the suns game. I left at half time because it didnt look good and I was tired. So I finished up the suns game and it was so depressing I just went to bed. And then I woke up saturday morning at 10AM!!!!! I dont remember the last time I woke up that late! A few min after I woke up, Tom called to say they were on their way home. So I didnt get to do the things I wanted to whle they were gone, but I got to sleep and have some quiet time and thats all that I needed. Here are some pictures of their fun time.

So in Jacobs preschool class they made the moms a little gift. It was a little picture frame with a picture of them in it. They also filled out this little questioneer about their moms. I thought it was so funny so I wanted to blog it.

My mothers name is Britney

She is 44 years old

She weighs 5 lbs

Her shoe size is 12

She has purple eyes

She has brown hair (at least he got that one right)

Her favorite food is Macaroni and Cheese (I think we eat that too much!!!)

Her favorite color is Blue and Pink (He also got that one right)

Her favorite TV show is the movie cars (no, I think thats his)

Her favorite hobby is Making dinner (HA!! I wouldnt call it a hobby)

Her biggest wish is to eat ice cream (haha that one is funny because the night before I was trying to convince tom to take us out for ice cream)

Her best friend is Tom (aww now thats sweet)

Happy Mothers Day to everyone reading this that is a mother!! I had a great day today. My husband really isnt the best gift giving guy, and ive learned to accept that. So instead of a gift I just wanted a day to do nothing. And he was so good with it. He took care of the kids, got them ready for church, got them breakfast and lunch, and even put them to bed!!! I hope you all had just as good as a mothers day as I did.

So im sure everyone has heard of the movie Cars. Since Jake has been taking his meds and he can concentrate more and sit still he has been watching movies and realizes that he loves them. So we watch cars at least 5 times a day! I am starting to get sick of this movie but if I turn it off we have another meltdown! So I just leave it on and he will fall asleep to watching it. We have to get a new movie that he wants instead of this one. I never bought kids movies because he couldnt watch them so I didnt want to spend my money on them. But I might go buy a few now.

We just had Jacobs drs appt at the Melmed Center a few days ago. The Melmed center is a place that has pych and developmental pediatritions there. Basically for kids who have brain issues...lol and develpmental problems. We go here once ever 3 months for Jakes "therapy" for his autism and ADHD. Well when we went we finally got the official diagnosis for severe ADHD. She told us that he is as bad as they get...he cant get any worse than what he is. It was pretty hard to hear because I really didnt think he was that bad. So we decided to put him on meds. Hes only 4 and we really didnt want to do it but she said that its the only thing thats going to help him. And if we dont put him on meds then he wont get any better and we will just hurt him more than putting him on meds. She told me of the side effects and I felt like that was a good decision. The first day that we had him on them, I have noticed a BIG difference. It is making him very sleepy. Which is fine by me, but I dont think he likes being on them. When he comes off of it he gets very cranky and will usually just cry for about 45 min while hes coming off of them. And then he will get REALLY hyper. I can usually tell when hes coming off of them. I think its too strong for him and so we are supposed to go back in 4 weeks for the follow up and I am going to see if she has anything different we can try him on.

When we had Jacobs K transition meeting, we decided to put him in the intergraded kindergarden. Its kinda like normal K but they dont sit at tables...they do centers and learn like that. I had requested to go in and observe the class that is going on now just to make sure that is the class I want him to be in. I know that he can not be in normal K even with his meds. He just cant sit and concentrate that much right now so we had to figure something else out. Plus he is going to have speech and OT during school time and its easier if he is in a class where everyone needs it as well. We had to choose between the Autism class or this IK class. We didnt go with the Autism one because most of the kids that are in that class are severe and we dont want him to start to model those behaviors that the more severe kids do. But with the IK class we can have what he needs to help his autism. Like he will have his own picture schedule for the whole day. We use that at home and he also uses that at school right now and that has helped so much! He has to be on a schedule and he does very well with pictures since he can see what it is instead of trying to read it. Also we will have his therapys. I am going to try to get Physical Therapy to start at school too that way we dont have to do any therapy at home and after school. Well I go and observe the class on Thursday! I am excited to go and see what he is going to be doing next year. i am getting kinda sad about him going to all day kindergarden. I am sure he will do fine but its going to be a big adjustment for him. Its probably going to be a rough few days as he adjusts to it but im sure in the long run it will be the best for us.

I made a group for an LDS moms playgroup!! If you are interested just follow this link to it and join!

Click here to check out
The LDS Stay At Home Moms Meetup Group!

Being sick sucks!!! I have been sick since Friday night and nothing I do makes me feel any better. So im just going to have to sit here and deal with it. Last night we went to my parents house to get something and my dad said he was sick. We both have the same thing and got sick at the same time. So someone in the family must of given it to us somehow. I dont remember anyone being sick.

So a few nights ago I took out my contacts and there was a big chunk missing. There was also a little tare. So yesterday morning I call the eye place to see if I can get some contacts ordered. The girl that I talked to was obviously new. She had to put me on hold every time I asked a question so that she could ask the question to the lady sitting next to her. Well she had to call me back 3 times because she kept forgetting to get info from me. Well 5 min had passed and the phone rang again from that place. I answer it and it was another lady and she was like you "just called here ordering contacts right? I said yes and she goes well you were in here in August getting new contacts and you were supposed to come back in sept for a follow up visit." Well no one told me that I had to go back...so I had no idea. And she goes " The contacts we gave you were a 30 day trial pair. What happend to them?" Well...ive been wearing them since August because again, no one told me they only last 30 days. I am not used to soft contacts because ive always had hard ones. And then she says " We have 2 boxes of paid contacts sitting here waiting for you to have your follow up appt...can you come in today for that?" Sooo thats where I went yesterday. And I had to take the boys with me because it was such short notice I didnt find anyone to watch them. So I packed up backpacks for them both of fun things to do so they wouldnt be running around everywhere. They still did that, but it made them a little bit easier to manage. Since we were going over there at lunch time I decided that we would go to peter piper pizza for lunch. We only had a half hour to eat and play before my appt started. I was just sitting there and though...I need to get Tyler to come eat, he hasnt had anything to eat yet. So I go and look for him and hes not in his usual spot. So I walk all over the store and I still cant find him anywhere. Its about 10 min passed and I am about to start freaking out until Jacob goes...mommy I go in bathroom. So I said, good idea lets go look in the bathroom. So I had him go in the boys to see if he was in there, and he wasnt. So I went into the womens bathroom and right when I was about to walk in there I hear him crying. I open the door to see him in there just sitting down. He had gotten in there somehow and didnt know how to get out. It was so sad and im glad that he was ok. I was so scared that something had happend to him!!!

There is lots to post about today! But the best one of all is Tyler went potty TWICE!! YAY Tyler!! Lets hope that it stays and he can be potty trained. I would love to have no kids in diapers!

So American Idol last night....it was interesting. Of course it was sad and I cried almost the entire show but I dont like when tv shows do stuff like that. Its like lets take pitty on those who are in a whole lot worse conditons we are in and make people donate money. It worked...I wanted to give everything we had to these kids in Africa. I didnt send any money but if I had more than what I have now, I definintly would! I think its really cool that they didnt boot anyone off either. I was in suspense when Jordin almost got kicked off. I dont think she is going to win it all but she sure has some great talent. And of course shes from Arizona so I have to root for her. But Tom is obsessed with her....haha. He thinks that she has to win it all and if she doesnt he wont watch anymore. I think she has some great talent but the other 2 girls on there are a little better...I think. Plus shes only 16 yrs old!! She will have a great carreer no matter what happends to her!!

So last night we were asleep like most people and the phone rings! I shoot right up and go to answer the phone. I was scared to death that it was something important. I looked at the clock and it was 1:43 am. Well when I got to the phone it was too late and already kicked back to the answering maching. So I wait a min to see if they leave a message and they dont. I looked at the caller ID and it said unavailable so I started to get a little concerned. So I go back to bed and the next thing I know, the phone is ringing again!! So I go run to get the phone and again, I miss it. I look at the clock and it was now 1:52 am. So I take the phone with me because im sure they will call again. I go back to bed and Tom was like well who was it? I told him I didnt know and that the next time the phone rings hes answering it. And like 2 min later the phone rings again but stops after 1 ring. So we go back to bed and about a half hour later it rings again. So we finally answer it...AND ITS THE WRONG NUMBER!!! I was so mad and Tom was like...quit calling us!!! And they stopped. But I freaked out because I thought it was someone that was trying to break into our house or something...haha. I am so paranoid that something like that is going to happen. I guess its all the scary movies that I watch.

Ive got a shout out for this website that I just found. Its called www.mormonchic.com it is one of the coolest websites out there!!! Its not only for mormons but it has some churchy things in it. You will spend hours just looking through everything in this website. They have this recipe part that has some really fun recipes. Even a section for kid frendly recipes. They have a section for birthday cakes that give you some pretty good ideas. I am going to make Jacobs birthday cake this year...well im going to attempt it anyways. So I will take some ideas off of that probably. They also have frugal camping! We are planning on going camping this weekend or next so I am going to use some of those ideas also! I hope you enjoy the website!!

Well Tom came home Friday night! And ever since then we have had a non stop weekend!! Friday night we had this silent auction and bbq at church! I won 3 babysitting sessions for 4 hours each!! WOOHOOO not sure what we will do for those 4 hours but im s ure we can figure out something. I also won a yard job by one of the young men. Then I went to pick up Tom at the airport. I got really lost when I went to find the underground parking. Then when I got there I couldnt find him anywhere. I finally did and he said he had been waiting there for an hour because his plane got in early. So we went to find his luggage and we could only find 1 of them. Finally we found both and we went out to get the car...and of course we cant find that either!!! So it took us like a half hour to find the car. Finally we were off to go home. Then Saturday I helped my parents paint their old house for a few hours and then we went to IKEA. That is always a bad idea to go there...haha. Now I want to re do my whole house!

I love Sundays! They are one of my favorite days because I get to just sit and relax and hang out with the family. Usually on Sundays we will bake cookies or something and play some games and color or go on a family walk...stuff like that. But one thing I dont do is clean! I think this is the day to relax and make sure that my family is happy. But WHY does everyone insist on coming over on sundays?? We had our home teachers come over this afternoon and I felt so bad because my house was a wreck. But he comes over on sundays every time!! One day he will learn that if he comes on a regular day, my house will be cleaner and we will all be happy. Except today was a nice visit. Both boys were asleep so we got to listen to the lesson actually!!

So Tyler is 2 1/2 and I had this idea that I was going to start to potty train him. Jacob had already potty trained himself by now so I figured now is a good time. He is showing lots of signs and seems like hes ready!! Boy was I wrong! I think we will wait for a while. He pooped all over our tile and peed on our carpet. So I am done until he can potty train himself...haha.

Today has been another busy day! But a very fun day. Jacob had school today so we all woke up around 7 and then got him breakfast and ready for school. While he was at school Tyler and I didnt do much of anything. When Jacob got home from school we went off to go eat lunch with Grandma (my mom). When we got there she was not home so we waited for a little bit and played with toys while we waited for grandma. Then when she got home we left. We went to the bookstore so my mom could get a few things and the boys got some books. We needed new books for church and so we got Jacob a bible quiet book and Tyler got the Bible ABC's and they both share a spiderman coloring book. Then we went to dinner at My Big Fat Greek Resturaunt. I love that place its so good!!! THe kids really like it as well. And then when we left there we went to Toy-R-Us and Jacob got a new leapster game and Tyler got a little truck set that has horses with it. Then we came home and played with our new toys. So not much has happend today but it has been a great day. Both boys have been angels and we have had no meltdowns today! YAY!!! I love when we have great days like that. Daddy gets home tomorrow so we are excited about that. So we have lots to do tonight before he gets home.

Oh, what a day!!! We have been busy and thats a good thing. Jacob did not have school today and so those days are usually very hectic. I like to be out of the house when he doesnt have school because it helps him not be so crazy!!

This morning I was making waffles. As I was getting the waffles cooked I set out the butter and syrup. Well, I turn my back to the kids and go back to the waffles and I hear the kids outside. I was just thinking of how good they were playing together and how much fun they were having when I hear tyler screaming. So I go out there to see Jacob with the bottle of syrup and him and tyler were covered from head to toe in syrup!!! The whole brand new bottle was empty! I was so mad!!! I put Jacob in time out and then threw the kids in the bath tub. It took them about 20 min to get the stickyness off of their bodies.


We are in an awesome playgroup. I have searched and searched to find a good one and I am so excited to of found a great one. These ladies are so wonderful and so understanding to Jacobs needs and they are great with him. Well every month they have this birthday celebration type thing for all of the kids and adults bdays that happend in that month. Well today was the bday celebration for April. It was a lot of fun and Jacob did really good there. I sometimes have a hard time with him because he is so much bigger than all of the other kids. He usually takes away toys from the kids because thats just part of the autism thing, I guess. He doesnt understand that the kids are playing with the toys and that he just cant take it out of their hands. We had a little bit of that but it wasnt too bad...I was so proud of him and how he acted today. Then after that we went to goodwill. I love that store because you can get clothes for kids so cheap there. My kids are very rough on their clothes so they stain them and get holes in them almost every day! Well while we were there Jacob had a meltdown because I was going to make him ride in the cart and he did not want to. So after his meltdown was over I let him walk. Well that was a big mistake because as I was looking through some clothes he had wandered off. Thats a big autism thing, is wandering. And I know that and he has a big wandering problem but I didnt know that it would be that bad since he was standing next to me. Well I look all over the store and he is pulling off every single shirt off of the hangers where the womens clothes were!!! I just wish there was one day that we go somewhere and he acts perfectly fine!!! I am getting so stressed out with Tom being gone. I have to be with these kids 24/7 and its really tiring sometimes! I am going to need a big break when he gets home!

AHHHH it never ends...as im writing this Jacob just ripped Tylers backpack off of his back and then pushed tyler down. Why does he do this stuff? I guess thats just something im going to have to research on kids with autism...who knows if its that or just Jacob being mean.

Please pray that our night goes ok and that they sleep!! They havent slept since daddy left on Saturday morning. I am very tired and I just want a full nights sleep!

I started this blog a while ago. Tyler was going through MANY genetic testing and so I wanted something to just put my feelings out there and give me some therapy. Well...now we are going through some rough things with my oldest, Jacob. I think I am going to start this blog for him and his journey instead of Tyler's since we are at a pause with Tyler and his testing. Here is a little bit about my big guy Jacob...

Jacob is 4 he will be 5 in august. When he was born he was always moving around. He crawled early, and walked early! We just thought that he was going to be early at everything. I am fluent in sign language and so I always wanted my kids to know and love sign language like me. When Jake was a year old I started teaching him sign language. He was getting pretty good and knew a lot of signs and used that for everything. When he was around 2 1/2 I noticed that he wasnt talking and that it seemed pretty weird. He was my first so I just figured that he would catch up soon. I started to blame myself because I thought it was because I taught him sign language and had him use that instead of his words. He was also very active. I hated taking him to other peoples houses because he was always running around and getting into all of their stuff. He would turn on and off lights and shut all the doors...it was just emberassing. Again, I knew that was a little strange, but I never thought anything of it. We lived in Texas at the time and 2 months after Jacob turned 3 we moved back to Arizona. My sister was visiting and telling me that Jacob really doesnt have good speech and that we should get him tested to see if he can go to the preschool program that the public school has. So we got him tested and he passed with flying colors! So we got him in and he started to prgress amazingly!!! IN a year he went from NO words to 2 word sentances. We were so happy that he was talking and we were starting to understand him more. Lets fastforward to December '06. He is still very hyper and his speech is starting to get so much better. But now he has weird behaviors...he is very viloent to himself and to other people. He wont look into your eyes when you talk to him and he wanders off and will dart in front of cars without even knowing what he is doing. I go in to a meeting with his teacher and she tells me that she is concerned with Jacob and his behaviors. She told me that he is the worst kid that she has seen in the hyperness and not being able to focus on anything. So she said it would be wise to take him into his ped and see what he thought. So we did and immidiatly he told us that he would like us to go to a developmental pediatrition and see what they think. So Feb 2nd comes and we go to our appt. Within 30 min of being there she already knew that he had autism. I kinda prepared myself for that going in because I was 90% sure thats what he had. But I thought he had a form called Aspergers. I didnt know that he was worse than I thought. She diagnosed him with Severe ADHD, High Functioning Moderate Autism, Developmental delay, and a speech delay. I was so overwhelmed when she told me that I just broke down! I was a mess, and I still am. We are still getting used to the autism diagnosis and every day I find something different that he does that makes me say...hmm yep I see the autism in him. I am going to start this blog to put down my thoughts and feelings of the day into writing because it does help to get it all out. I have such a hard time with this and I am so excited to be able to have some kind of outlet to get it all out.