Quote to Note

"Never, for the sake of peace and quiet, deny your own experience or convictions" ~Dag Hammarskjold 

UN Secretary General 1953-1961

Dag Hammarskjold image by www.daghammarskjold.se via google images

Just A Little News Flash..

Hello, all y'all! I know, I know. I haven't been writing. But I just had to swing by for a quick minute to give a little shout to the good folks at KwikMed, because those sillies put this little bitty site... you know.. the one you are reading RIGHT NOW.. on their 22 of the Very Best Autism Blogs list, with a lovely little paragraph about my blog.

Now seriously. I just had to spread the word! So.. here's what we need to do. Go and visit them on facebook,  twitter,  and check out all the other truly amazing bloggers that were listed with us. Be all excited, and share share share SHARE! Leave a little comment love on other blogs, on this blog (hinty hint hint), on facebook, and twitter if it strikes your fancy, because we all know that comments are the bombdiggity!

I'm planning a few different things and will tell all soon. Hope all is well with you and yours!

Watching Miracles

Yesterday, I spent most of my time on facebook watching miracles happen. I am so overcome with emotion because of this, I simply had to share. No matter how many times I will be allowed to see something like this, the wonder and the awe will never, ever go away. Ever.

Here's how it went down. Yesterday morning. I went to a particular fb group of ASD parents I belong to, to beg for help on behalf of the St. Aubin family, for a mail flurry. Don't know what I'm talking about? Haven't got the foggiest? I can help you out with that. Click here for the skinny. (No, I do not need to know how the previous sentence shows my age. Let's move on.) Okay. Is everyone up to date now? Good. This is the fun part!

Suddenly, all over the facebook was this status update, that people copied and pasted on their personal pages, their blog pages, just... everywhere! It showed up on well known blogger pages. It showed up on pages of people I have never met, but who wanted to help. It generated a LOT of interest. And seriously? The weather report for the Post Office in Littleton, Colorado is now "100% chance of flurries" until further notice. Dress accordingly, postal workers! Also... put in for some overtime. Because love for the St.Aubin family is going to begin to manifest itself through the US Mail. Eat yer Wheaties. Get some rest this weekend. I'm just sayin'.

While I was all giddy and entertained watching this happen, other things started to happen, too! Bloggers started posting for the St.Aubin family. Check out this awesome post over at Seven Yuckmouths and Autism! And it doesn't stop there!

An artist (who was a childhood friend of mine) saw my post on my personal fb wall. Sorry, Jackson's Momma.. you were excluded from seeing that post, on purpose. Some things in life should be surprises!! Because she has epilepsy herself, Jackson's story touched her deeply. She is creating a triple canvas masterpiece custom made for Jackson, with a train and a rainbow. She is enormously talented, and I can only imagine the love and good wishes that will be put into such a gift with each stroke of the brush. The image above is the rough sketch. This is a rough sketch?!?! I'm intimidated by people who can successfully draw stick figures, and this is way more better than a stick figure. Can't WAIT to see the finished product on canvas!

Y'all have really come through.. again.. but I expected nothing less from all the amazing people we call family within our special needs community. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you for coming together to show the St. Aubin family how very much we all care about them. I know for a fact that they are touched beyond measure. But don't stop now!!! We're just getting started!

If YOU would like to help with the mail flurry by sending a card, picture, care package, or letter, or have other ideas for ways to help, please email me at frazzledmomma@livingwithlogan.com, connect with me on facebook, or tweet me! I'll be happy to connect with you.

Miracles quote by Google images, via everyday-miracles.net

Train image via Amber Tilley

Jackson's Journey

Good morning, Monster House addicts! I have updates for you about Jackson St. Aubin and his upcoming hemispherectomy surgery. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read all about it here. Okay. Now that everyone's on the same page, here are the updates! Jackson's surgery date has been set for June 27 at 830am. That's not very far away, and there is a lot of preparation to be done. Because so many wonderful, fabulous, awesome, and incredible people love the St. Aubin family (what's not to love? They're phenomenal!) and have expressed their desire to stay in the loop as time goes on, Gina has been working with her web designer fast and furious to get a site up and running with all the pertinent info. This site will remain active throughout  preparation, during surgery, throughout the recovery process, and beyond. You can take a peek at their brand new site, and sign up for email updates to Jackson's Journey by clicking here. Gina will be updating throughout, so you'll have access to all the most current happenings.

In the right sidebar of the Jackson's Journey site, there are ways to help the family. If you are in the Denver area, a Meal Train calendar has been established. However, if you are NOT in Denver, but still want to provide a dinner, a gas card, or send a care package, you can do that too. A page of resources for gas cards, restaurant gift cards, likes of the children in the family, and other important info has been attached to the site and will be updated with Jackson's room number in the hospital when he is out of ICU.

Having the privilege of being Gina's good friend, I get to talk to her late at night about all kinds of things when we're both online and our little monsters are sleeping. During one of these calls, I asked her what she needed most from me~ really, what she needed most from anyone. I loved her two part response.

Firstly, and most importantly, they need a mail flurry. By that, she means they need a flurry of cards and letters for Jackson. Drawings in crayon from other children. Cards with brightly colored pictures. Links to YouTube videos of people wishing Jackson well. There's a reason for this. For the first while after surgery, Jackson will be allowed no sensory stimulation at all. His room will be dimly lit, and there will be no colors or loud sounds. This is necessary for the first little while. Once he is able to be moved to a room out of ICU, his brain will NEED colors, and words, and pictures. Already Gina, being the amazing mother she is, is making videos of his favorite things in preparation of this need. I think we, as the St.Aubin's online family, need to step up to make sure his hospital room is wallpapered in cards, drawings, pictures, and letters. Think of this as therapy for his brain. Because that's really what it is. Gina would love to see mail from all over the country, and even from all over the world, to share with Jackson as he recovers.  Here's where the mail flurry should be sent:

Cards/care packages/ letters:
Special Happens / St. Aubin Family

 9609 S. University Blvd., #630303

 Littleton, CO 80163

Secondly, the family has decided this is the time for a Fun Raiser. In the days before surgery, they are going to have fun doing all the things Jackson loves, such as taking day trips and riding trains... and things the family loves to do as a whole. So, we're fundraising for their Fun Raiser. Donations are being collected through rally.org and can be made by visiting this link. Donations made to this fund will be used for the Fun Raiser, as well as other expenses. This is what is known as a "disposable dollars" fund for things such as gas for trips to the hospital, housecleaning services, babysitting fees for the other 2 amazingly gorgeous St.Aubin monsters, yard care, meals at the hospital, etc.... all those expenses that you never really think about, but which add up fast. By donating, we're making sure that the focus is where it should be ~ on family time prior to surgery, then Jackson's surgery and recovery and proper care for his siblings during that time~ rather than on worry about all the little things that need done and paid for.

If you are a blogger, and would like to help pass the word about the St. Aubins, surgery, the Fun Raiser or  the mail flurry, please DO!! And, we have a nifty neat-o button for you to put on your site just for that purpose! Check it out!




<a href="http://JacksonsJourney.SpecialHappens.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://specialhappens.com/custom_images/JacksonsJourney150x150.png" alt="Jackson's Journey" width="150" height="150" /></a> Okay. I know this is a lot of information all in one place, and I have a couple more things, but I promise to make it as painless as possible. To connect online, visit Jackson's Journey on facebook , connect on twitter @GinaStAubin, or email JacksonsJourney@SpecialHappens.com

Spread the love, addicts! Spread it far and wide! We have 19 Fun Raising days left. Let's raise the roof! I would absolutely be on cloud nine if there were sacks of mail and piles of YouTube links waiting for Jackson before his surgery. The clock starts now. As of today, we have 20 days until surgery. Let's get this done. And let's do it in the way we have shown before. Big, and loud, and POWERFUL!! 

Open Call For Guest Posting

Because of the diversity of the Special Needs community, I'm announcing an open call for guest writers for my blog. This open call is for everyone within our community, whether you have a blog or not, whether you are a professional writer, or have never written a piece before. If you are a parent, teacher, therapist, sibling, or friend of a child with special needs, or if you have special needs yourself, you qualify!

I am not giving out topics, except to say that I would like to stay away from topics which cause heated debate,such as vaccines vs. genetics as a cause of autism. All special needs topics are otherwise acceptable, from autism to epilepsy to cerebral palsy to Down's Syndrome to SPD.. it truly is an endless list of possibilities. You could talk about schools, specialists, therapy, medications, communication or the lack thereof, lack of sleep, picky eaters... you see how this could go on and on.

If you are interested, and have a topic in mind, please email me at: frazzledmomma@livingwithlogan.com 

Don't be afraid to try, don't be afraid to let your voice be heard. Take advantage of the opportunity, and embrace the possibility that there might be someone else out there just like you, just waiting for the chance to read what you have to say. And I would be honored to assist in that.

image in this post from the Google

Have We Lost Our Credibility?

I have a confession. There are days when I feel like I have lost my credibility as a Special Needs Parent. So much so, in fact, that it's a big reason for why I stopped posting. It took several good friends to kick me in the butt to make me realize that what I have to say is okay.

I have been afraid to post because... Logan is doing great! He's not had a seizure in almost a year. He hasn't had an allergic reaction in a long time. He is doing phenomenally academically. We're reintroducing gluten without a hitch, though we're keeping him off casein until the end of time. And this makes me wonder if I really have anything to offer to parents of special needs children who are not doing phenomenally. Have I lost my voice? My credibility, because there has not been a trauma with Logan in recent weeks? And because of that, what can I truly say? What is there to write about? I've felt all dried up, a failure as a writer, for months now.

I have so much more to share, apart from crisis surrounding PDD, SPD, food allergies, and IEPs. But there's still that little part of me that wonders if I'm a fraud. I can write about the monsters all day long. I can talk endlessly about how laundry makes me angry. But the closeness I feel with the special needs community is near and dear to my heart. I feel a special bond with friends I have made in this community, and in some cases, love them as I love family. And I empathize. I feel their frustration when there are no answers, when there are weeks of non sleep cycles, sickness, infusions, seizures, problems with school and IEPs, lack of services... the whole shebang.

Don't get me wrong. In no way am I shouting "Logan is CURED!" from the rooftops. Partially because I don't believe autism is a disease, or that it has a "cure", and partially because I know there will be regression, because Logan doesn't retain well when routines are interrupted. I know that summer vacation will be hard on him academically, and we'll be back at square one or lower next year.

I'm NOT saying goodbye. This blog is alive and well. But I think in order to be true to myself, there will be lots more posting about all the other monsters, and life in our family. Because after all, there is a LOT of it! First and foremost, I am the Momma. Being a writer is secondary to that. So, welcome to our family (again). Brace yourselves. I may write about preteen drama queen. Or my senior in high school. Or my teenage boys that make the need for a garbage disposal obsolete. Or Logan, who insists now that his name is Mrs. Hoggenmuller. (thanks for that, Nick Jr.)

But before I go on... I need to know. Have I lost my credibility? Is that ever possible? Let me hear it, people.

Images from the google~ Specifically, the google found Mrs.Hogenmuller from nickjr.com

Take A Break or Tough It Out?

Over the last few months I have cut back on the amount of blogging I have been doing. It wasn't a really conscience effort on my part so much as large amounts of life getting in the way. I'm strangely okay with this. It used to be that I would stress out to the point of ulcers if I didn't post every. single. day. except Sacred Family Saturday, with an original yet witty cartoon every Sunday. to be honest, I'm over it.  I can even tell you the exact moment I got over it.

During BlogHer last August, I sat in on a session for a while that was intended for bloggers with communities. And I don't mean "communities" like mine. I mean, COMMUNITIES.  But as I sat there and listened to the speakers ~the big bad, totally cool kids~ and heard what they had to say about managing their communities, I was impressed. They spoke about the measures it took to get their desired page rank, Alexa score, interaction, not having to babysit their community (and at the time I was hungrily thinking, I wanna babysit a community!!). And then, the non-Hollywood Julia Roberts (who, along with other amazing, buckets of awesome bloggers made the special needs mini con happen) said something I will never forget. I'm paraphrasing, but her statement boiled down to this: I appreciate my community, I love them gaboodles, and I tell them I love and appreciate them all the time. But I also respect that they have a life and they won't be living it on my site. And, I need my following to respect that I have a life too. I have a job, I'm a mother, and I run the site, among other things, and I'm not going to be there all the time.

The question bloggers have, at least the ones in my circles, that I speak, text, email, and message with on a regular basis is this : Am I going to lose the results of all my hard work if I take a break? What if it all disappears overnight? Do I take a break, or tough it out and post when I have the flu, or the kids are all projectile vomiting, or the family dog has had an emergency vet visit after being hit by a car and we love him because we've had him for 12 years, or there's a death in the family, or *horror of horrors* I just can't think of anything to write because I'm so stressed out I can't gather my thoughts?

It won't all disappear overnight. I promise. I will not guarantee that some will leave. But more will come. It is not so much the quantity of content that people appreciate. It's the quality. So you tweet a few times a week to let people know you're still alive and have a sense of humor but you just can't manage more than 140 characters at the moment. You post articles you may have read to your blog page on facebook. You make a call to a dear friend in California, and ask her to use her admin function for your page on facebook and be brilliant a couple times a week until further notice. And you do the same for her.

And so, I'll pose the question to you. But I've got the voice of Carrie Bradshaw in my head at the moment, so we'll pretend she's reading the question as I type, a la Sex and The City.

"When it comes to blogging, is it better to take a break or put on those gloves and tough it out?"

Images in this post by Google images. I love it!