"Light it up Blue"

April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day. It is a cause that is VERY dear to my heart. You can read this post from last year. It was interesting for me to go back and read how I felt a year ago. There are many things from that post that are still the same. I still have the "why me" moments. They are few and far between now but they are still there all the same. I have found that they are usually related to certain events. A few weeks ago I had a tough few days. It was Kindergarten round up and I "should" have been signing Ronan up for Kindergarten. But I wasn't. The pity party started, after the pity party comes the feelings of guilt. The guilt for wishing that he was different, that he didn't have Autism. I wouldn't trade Ronan for anything in the world and without all of his little quirks he wouldn't be my Ronan, however there are still times when I wish that I could "make it all better". When I wish that simple, everyday tasks didn't have to be so hard for him. Not for me, for him! There are days when my heart just breaks as I watch him struggle to communicate his needs and feelings.
Ronan has come such a long way in the past year. He is able to communicate now. He is getting better at being able to express his wants, needs and feelings. The meltdowns are less frequent. The behaviours are better. He is such a blessing to our family. I love to hear his sweet laugh. To see him playing with his brothers and sister in a way he never has before. Most of all I love to hear his sweet voice. To hear him say "I love you Mom" or call his brothers name makes my heart just burst with pride. He is such a determined little boy and I know that determination will take him a long way.
Living with a child or family member with Autism isn't easy. Just ask anyone who is blessed to do so. One of the hardest things for me personally, is the misunderstanding and judgement of others. There are many times that I am told by people that Ronan doesn't "look like he has Autism". Because of that I am often judged as an incompetent mother who gives in to her child's every whim and Ronan is judged as a naughty child who just needs a spanking. I actually had a lady in Walmart say to me "Give me an hour with that child and after a good spanking I would have him straightened out."
People with Autism don't want sympathy, they just want understanding. I don't want people to feel sorry for my Ronan, I just want them to accept him and understand that occasionally he may have a meltdown or scream, but it is mostly beyond his control. He isn't trying to be naughty or cause a scene. He is over-whelmed, over stimulated and doesn't have any other means to express his feelings.
Autism Speaks is running a campaign this month to increase awareness. So many people have no idea what Autism really is. To help raise awareness, the Empire State building, the Sears tower, Fenway Park and many other prominent buildings and places will be lit up blue on the night of April 1st. My family, along with many others, will be wearing blue and changing our outside lights to blue light bulbs. Autism now affects 1 in 110 children, 1 in 70 boys. The odds are rising. With odds like that, surely everyone is lucky enough to be loved by someone with Autism.



In our house that unconditional love comes from a sweet brown eyed boy. We love you Ronan.

Better late than never!!

I know I haven't blogged in forever! Life is crazy busy but we are all doing well. The kids are growing up way too fast and it is going to be summer before we know it. Because I want to one day have this blog made into a book I am going to do a quick recap of the holidays from the past few months and throw in a few photos.

Christmas was fun, the kids were all old enough to realise what it was about this year. Liam gave his binky (may-may) to Santa on Christmas Eve in return for a puppy. He did really well going to bed that night and only mentioned it a couple of times after that.



Ronan and Kian got a lot of similar toys this year. Kian was most excited about his PSP and transformer game.





Niamh got a lot of cool stuff but she loves her Pixos and High School Musical game for her DS.



On New Years Day we built an awesome snowman. It was so much fun to be outside as a family. The kids had a blast and enjoyed Mr. Snowman for a few months.



In the middle of January we were able to get out of town for a fun weekend at a friends cabin. We had so much fun playing in the snow, sledding, eating and hanging out. We survived 4 days in a cabin with 9 kids under the age of 8. It was an awesome weekend. Liam LOVED riding the snowmobile with his Daddy.



We are so lucky to have fabulous neighbours. April hosted a Valentine's party at her house and the kids had so much fun playing together and making sugar cookies and homemade lip balm.

Playing catch-up.

Life has been so crazy lately that it has taken me forever to catch up on blogging. I did 4 posts, so be sure to scroll all the way down to read about Liam's birthday back in September!

Kian "singing".

Kian has recently discovered singing. He used to hate it but all of a sudden he sings all day long. This is his most recent style of singing. He is such a funny little boy. He even has the hand gestures....haha.

(Make sure you pause the music player at the bottom of the page)

Halloween 2009

Halloween was so much fun this year. It was CRAZY busy but the kids got plenty of wear out of their costumes and had a great time.

We started on the Wednesday night by carving our pumpkins. Poor Scott always ends up doing 90% of the work but the kids love the finished product. Kian HATES having to touch the pumpkin guts. He screams and makes faces the whole time.



Niamh on the other hand, loves it!



Our finished pumpkins looked awesome. (L-R, Kian's, Ronan's, Liam's and Niamh's)



Thursday night the kids had a school fundraiser that they got to wear their costumes to. Friday night we went to a Halloween party, Saturday afternoon we went to our neighbourhood halloween party and then after we went to the trunk or treat at church. They loved dressing up and Ronan and Liam really grasped the idea of trick or treating this year.

Niamh was a Cheerleader from High School Musical, Kian was a Storm Trooper, Ronan was Iron Man and Liam was a scarecrow. This was the best picture we could get of all 4 of them.












This was their haul!! Yes, I took all the candy away that night when they went to bed. I know I am a big mean Mam!!

Kian's 6th Birthday

Kian's birthday was October 30th. As always for about 3 weeks before his birthday he asked EVERY day if it was going to be his birthday tomorrow. That poor boy really doesn't have any patience! On the morning of his birthday he was up bright and early and was soo excited with his presents.



He really wanted to have a bowling party this year and luckily his birthday fell on a Friday when the kids didn't have school. So we invited his "best friend" Nicholas, Paisley, Alexis, Caleb and a couple of boys in his class and headed over to the bowling alley. The kids had a blast!! It was so much fun watching them enjoy themselves and cheer for each other. Even Ronan joined in the fun and had a blast!

I didn't make Kian's cake this year. I asked him earlier in the week if he wanted me to make him one and his reply was "Erm....not really, can we just buy a transformer one instead?" So....that is exactly what he got, a transformer cake that he LOVED, courtesy of Wal-Mart!



He had an awesome birthday and loved all of his presents.



Kian, you are such a special part of our family. You keep us laughing daily and bring so much joy to our home. You have such an amazing sense of humour and come out with some of the funniest things I have ever heard. You are one of the kindest people I have ever met. You are so tender-hearted and often I will find you crying at something on TV or the words to a song on the radio. You have such a special spirit and I can't wait to watch you grow up and develop that sweet side. I love you buddy and I am so honoured that you chose me to be you Mam xxx

Liam's 2nd Birthday

I know, I know. I am soooo far behind. Poor Liam's birthday was back in September and I am just blogging about it now.
Liam turned 2 on September 21st. I am still having a hard time believing that my sweet baby boy is two. Until he throws a temper tantrum and reminds me that he is sooooo two!!!

We had a pretty low key birthday for Liam. Scott was still coaching football and had practice, it was a school night and Liam didn't really know the difference anyway. He still had a fun day. Scott and I took him out for lunch while the other kids were all at school. He loved going in "Daddy's tar" (Daddy's car), instead of the truck and having some "ey-ceem" (ice-cream) all to himself.



Once the kids got home we sang Happy Birthday and had him blow out his candles. He LOVED his cake. I had made it that afternoon while he was napping and he thought it was so cool. He loves "bu-ball" (football). He runs around the house with a whistle around his neck and a ball tucked under his arm yelling "Hu, Hu, Tu-down" (Hut, hut, touchdown). It is sooo cute. I was very pleased that when we showed him his cake he knew it was a "bu-ball". That's all that counts, right?





Liam we are so blessed to have you in our family. You are such a special boy and have been such a blessing to us. You were a little bit of a surprise but we couldn't imagine life without you. You are such a sweetheart and have the most amazing sense of humour already. I love you sweet boy xx

New Moon Countdown

I am soooooo excited!!!

First day(s) of school.

Niamh and Kian started school on August 24th. I have to say I now totally understand why my Mam always used to tell me how beautiful I looked on the first day of school. My kids looked so beautiful in their new clothes and backpacks. I love my kids but I have to say I was VERY happy and VERY ready for school to start. I actually have 2.5 hours every day where the 3 big kids are in school and I only have Liam. It has been so nice to spend that one on one time with him. We are having so much fun.

Niamh is in 2nd grade and has Mrs Croft. She was so excited for school to start and I know she will have a great year. She loves school and is so academic.





Kian started Kindergarten this year and his teacher is Miss Walker. I can't believe how big he is getting. He was a little nervous but once we got to school he was fine. He has already made tons of friends.





Ronan started school on August 26th. He is going to the same place as last year but he has a new teacher this year. The school district received funding to open up an Autism classroom at the preschool level and we are blessed to be able to have Ro attend 5 days a week. His teacher is Wendy Wilson, she is awesome and Ronan loves her! He did NOT want his picture taken on his first day though so this is the best I could get.

Last trip of the summer.

We decided to have one last trip to Utah before the kids started school. We headed down Friday 14th and stayed till Sunday 16th. We had so much fun spending time together as a family and really enjoyed visiting with our awesome cousins. We took the kids to the Aquarium in Sandy on the Saturday morning. They loved it! It was worth every penny. We were there for about 2 hours and the kids loved seeing all the different fish.





The jellyfish and the stingray were their favourites.






After the aquarium we headed out to visit Jeff & Carrie and their cute kiddos. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins. We went to dinner at The Mayan and the kids were amazed by the cliff jumpers. This was the cool statue outside the restaurant that they just HAD to climb on and have their pictures taken on. The waterfall and cliffs are inside of the restaurant and every 30 minutes the divers come out and do tricks and jump into the pool. Ronan loved it and would have jumped right in with them if we would have let him.







On the Sunday we decided to drive around and visit some of the Temples in the area. We went to some of the new ones that we hadn't visited yet and got some pictures. We went to the Mount Timpanogus, Oquirrh Mountain, Draper, Jordan River and Salt Lake Temples.





Then we went on a tour of the conference Center. This picture was taken in front of the fountain on the roof.

Niamh's 1st black eye.

Niamh and Kian were playing football out in the backyard with Scott when Kian decided to "tackle" his sister. Poor girl, she was sooooo sad and had a huge bruised and swollen eye for about 2 weeks. These pics were taken about 20 minutes after it happened, it was a LOT worse than this the next day.

I love to see the Temple.

On Sunday afternoon, Scott and I decided to take the kids for a walk around the river. It was a beautiful summer day and we had so much fun. We managed to get some amazing pictures of the Temple too. It made me realise how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful area and how much I take it for granted. I really need to be better at appreciating the beauty around me and sharing it with my children.



Our attempt at a family pic didn't turn out too well, but at least we were all looking in the same direction.





I love this picture of Niamh, I can't believe how grown up she is getting.