Our Journey ~ Life After an Autism Diagnosis...: Just keep swimming

So the past few weeks have been a bit crazy since starting building blocks.. We're up to 19 hours of therapy, and will be adding another hour of PT. I was nervous about how Joel was going to respond to adding so much therapy.. especially since ABA is more strict then early intervention. The first week wasn't that bad since one of his ABA therapist called out all week, so it was actually a nice transition for us. But this past week, Joel and I completed all 19 hours of therapy and it was exhausting to say the least.. especially Thursdays.. Thursdays he has aba at our house from 9-11, then he has OT at the center from 1130-1230. We go home, eat lunch, then go back to the center for music therapy group from 130-230. Rush back home for ABA from 3-5! needless to say by the end of the day Joel and I were both exhausted. heres what Joels new schedule looks like (and that's not including PT were adding next week)

Im so happy that I decided to keep Fridays open! It's so nice to "sleep in" (i.e. not get up rush food into my babies and hurry to get them dressed, and get the house picked up or rush to the center) Plus my mom has Fridays off, so its a time where I can drop the kids off and go do an errand without the kids. Or its good to have a week day open to book dr. appointments and not have to worry about re scheduling anything! So I highly recommend this if your starting your journey.
Back to Joel.. He has made AMAZING progress. He's talking up a storm, and now putting a few words together, and following 1 and 2 step commands. His imitation is amazing! This kid literally amazes me every single day. No matter what is thrown at him he takes it in and just goes with it. Also new this week, my daughter Angie started crawling!! Which has made Joels therapies at the house a little more challenging! She wants to be right there playing with him. We're so lucky that we have awesome therapist that all seem to love both my kids. Angie will actually be starting services herself this week. She started banging her head when in her high chair, and having a paused blink, as well as arching her back.. specifically when I would try and snuggle her.. So I decided to be proactive and have her evaluated. She actually did great, and the only area that technically qualified her for services was speech. (lol, for a 9 month old) but I guess she should be making more sounds/noises for her age. Its fine, it will only benefit her. Joel didn't show any signs of autism till around 15 months. At least that's when I really started noticing that he was behind. But up until that point his development was pretty much spot on. So I worry that the same regression could happen with Angie. I don't know if I said this at any point thus far, but I'm a photographer but have had to pretty much put my business on hold with everything going on.. Between having my daughter, and Joels diagnosis, time to work is something I really don't have. But I realized shortly after his diagnosis that I needed an outlet for myself and I was really missing my photography. So I decided to team up with online boutiques and photograph my kids in their items. (I get to keep the stuff, they get to use the photos to sell their products) I'm so happy that I found an outlet for myself and something that I enjoy doing. (plus my kids get amazing stuff!) Its been a win win for everyone! That's another suggestion I have for anyone going through this.. find an outlet. Something that you truely enjoy. Being a parent to a child with autism is stressful. We have good days and bad days.. For me one of the most stressful parts actually has nothing to do with Joel. It has to do with my family constantly trying to argue with me that Joel doesn't have autism. UGH, it drives me crazy. There is a reason that I brought him to children's hospital in boston to get his evaluation done. They are one of the best hospitals in the country. Its so frustrating trying to share something with my family that's anything autism related and its instantly turned into a debate. THE LAST THING ON THIS PLANET I WANT TO BE DOING IS DEBATING THAT MY SON IS AUTISTIC. ughhhhh. Its frustrating to say the least. and there are days where I just stay up at night and cry.. I allow myself a pity party here and there.. I'm not sure if it helps, but I do feel its necessary. I just feel so alone in all this. I don't have time for friends, not that they'd understand anyway.. Its kinda depressing every Friday and Saturday night seeing all my old friends going out, doing fun things.. My social life no consists of the internet. My every day life is consumed in my babies. Not that I'm complaining.. after 5 years of infertility, I treasure every minute I have with them. They are what keeps me going, they are my joy, they are the light that guides me through the dark. Anyway, enough ho humming... time to cheer up.. heres some recent boutique modeling photos! :o)