A birthday surprise

On the eve of my 31st birthday,  I heard a tiny knock on my bedroom door, followed by excited giggles.
"Come in", I said.
Slowly the door turned and in popped my youngest followed by his brothers, they're faces full of excitement.
Behind them was a surprise for me.

 Their Step-father had taken them to the store and let each of them pick a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me. No hints. No suggestions. Simply, 'whatever flowers you think would be pretty for mommy' was the instructions given.

 

"I love you mommy" my youngest said as he handed me his choice. 

They were beautiful Pink Roses.
 He had told his Step-daddy,"I want to get mommy pretty pink flowers. "
Their sweet scent was wonderful and filled the air.

 ...And they looked beautiful sitting on my piano as I gazed at them daily.

My 2nd oldest quietly chose a Country bouquet. He said they were the prettiest.

Mom would have to agree. They were very beautiful. 

And they cheered her up every morning during breakfast.

" Mother, I love you so so much!" He followed the statement with a big hug and a kiss.

My eldest picked the tulips.

  When questioned, he just kept grabbing them and ignoring all the other flowers.

 "Here. They are tulips", he said to me with a smile. He was very proud.

 So was I.

A sweet highlight in my life and a wonderful way to start another year. 

10 years I had waited and wondered if I would ever experience this sweet moment with my children. I thank my husband for helping make the rare and special gift possible.

What a beautiful way to spend my birthday.

Timeout mommy!

Once upon a time there was a mommy who had 3 little boys. Each one had extra needs that the other little boys didn't have. This made the mommy much busier then she thought she ever would be. Daily she had to make phone calls to set, confirm,cancel and/or reschedule appointments, fire and/or hire new respite and hab. workers and prep everything in the home for the families daily routine so she'd be ready to keep everyone on task when school would be over and especially after the workers arrived. Once the prepping was finished and ready...she could then start on the house work but only if there weren't any appointments during the day for her boys to be kept or errands to be run.
One day, the mommy was very tired. Everything hurt, even her heart and spirit. Not only was it hard physically but also emotionally on her to help her little boys fight their battle of autism.
However, this mommy was lucky. She had a lot of support from a wonderful husband, amazing family and help from the state to ensure everything was being done that could be. She also had learned a wonderful secret from her mommy that every mommy should know and do- *Sometimes mommies need to be put in "timeout". It's important for her to take time for herself, take a break and if the dishes don't get done, oh well.*
So, when evening came and she went to pick up her husband from work, he could tell that she needed to be in "timeout". She wasn't sure if it was the droop of her shoulders or the crazed look in her eyes that gave it away.

Since the boys were out to dinner with their daddy that night, the mommy's treat would be to go out to eat too. There would be NO dinner making for her. Besides, she didn't think she'd be able to pull enough brain power to cook anyways.
Just across the street was her favorite pizza place, Magpies. PERFECT! Some say the mommy was bouncing in her seat and clapping her hands in anticipation. Others say she was impatiently eyeing the traffic that was blocking their car from crossing the intersection and urging her husband to just drive right on top of the cars stating that "it would only tickle a little bit and everyone would understand it was all done for a good cause".
She claims she sat calmly and patiently waited with great anticipation.
If you've ever been to Magpies then you'd understand what the excitement was all about. If you haven't well then, get out your bucket list, dust it off and write, Destination- Tucson.  What- Magpies Pizza.

 Handmade dough that's chewy and melts in your mouth

 Every ingredient is fresh, not canned or frozen (excepting the black olives of course)

 The Marinara sauce is just the right balance of thick and savory. It's so good we love to eat it on it's own with the crust.

 And when we've run out of sauce, we eat the crust by itself. Yes, it's so good that eating the crust is a pleasure.

The mommy happily ate and enjoyed her break. Now feeling rejuvenated and refreshed,  she headed off home to tuck her little ones into bed.

The end

Why mommies love sick days with the sniffles.

Doctors orders: Ben was to stay home for 24 hours due to his ear infection and fever. Although it made me sad that my little boys was sick,I was also excited!Why you ask?

Why mommies loves a sick day with the sniffles...
Reason 1:
It's hard to get quality one on one time with my kids. I spend a LOT of time with them yes- singing songs while riding in the car, hours of hab ( everything we do from chores to running errands is turned into self-help learning sessions for the boys), respite, O.T. ,Speech, Library, play time outside, reading books, watching movies, baking, etc. However, it's rarely one on one time. 

Fortunately, that morning I didn't have anything that couldn't wait to be done until the next day. So, we started out with a nice snuggle session in mommy's bed- a RARE treat. Ben and I watched his favorite cartoon, Iron Man. After a few hours of resting, Ben decided he was feeling better...

Well enough to sit in his new ball tent (something we will use for the boys' sensory integration) and read.

Snuggled on a bean bag with his blankie.

 What ya reading Ben?

Ben shows his dinosaur book.

Reason 2:  He quietly sat there for about an hour. We actually got to finish several books together! A rare feat for someone with ADHD.

Reason 3: When you're sick, there's nothing like hot soup and crackers to bring the warm fuzzies. MmmMmm!

 Veggie and Pasta soup with crackers

My little Ben was so good to sit at the table, even though he wasn't feeling 100%.

My sweet little boy, munching on his soup n crackers.

 In the head of a 5 year old who has Autism, rules are rules. It's a fight to persuade them otherwise. It's for the best however, because it's also "dangerous" to let them have a one time occasion since it literally shakes them up. Also, like I said, to them rules are rules so if you try and change things just once, that new routine becomes the law. So you have to be very careful when those "once in a while times" will be allowed and how they will be introduced. In this case, there is a rule that when you're sick, you can eat in bed. However, Ben insisted he was well enough to eat at the table. Stubborn and oh so sweet, isn't he?
We also have another rule that I had to use recently cause apparently, I wasn't the only one that thinks sick days can be fun.
All 3 boys tried something like this lately...
 "Cough Cough...Moooom, I'm so sick. Look, I cougheded...Cough cough"
 I answer, " Ok, if you need to stay home, you can BUT... that means, NO movies, NO video games, NO snacks. You will have to stay in bed all day. Sick people stay in bed and sleep. Are you sick or are you going to go to school?"
After a few minutes pause... "Ummm I think I'm all better. I'll go to school."
With a grin I reply, "Uh-huh. That's what I thought".

And that's why I love "The sick with sniffles" days.