Pure Sweetness!

So our little Ruby just LOVES animals! Her babysitter Jen has the cutest little doggie named Tucker. When we pull into Jen's driveway in the morning,  Ruby will often start calling out his name before we even get in the door! It sounds more like "Tut-er" but hey, with a name like Tucker it could be worse!

I am so glad Tucker loves her right back, because Ruby is often rejected by our two cats, Ruthie and Marmie...although they are slowly coming around. They are just so busy you know, lying around and sleeping all day to have time to play!

Here are some pictures Jen sent me that are just way too cute not to share!

And my personal favorite....

Perhaps a dog is in our future??


Ok, must finish Christmas wrapping. Luckily my angel in laws ( that is what I am going to start to call them ) took the kids for the night last night so we are just about ready!

Merry Christmas Everyone:)
xo

Written in the Sand!

It has been weeks since my last post...we have been up to our elbows in poop around here. We think that Porter either had a virus or was adjusting to the new probiotics..or maybe a bit of both. It went on for just about two weeks...anyway, I hate to say it in case I jinx it, but I think it's over....

And really, after the events of this past week I checked myself again.

We are here.

Bless the people of Newtown, Connecticut.

___________________________________________________________________________________

And today we had two great moments.

The day started with a semi-solid poop. Woo hoooo!

Then when I went to pick up Porter from school I couldn't find him. Now before you think he was lost..nope, he wasn't lost at all. He was there, sitting at the sand centre, playing with a friend. She said to me " I'm playing with Porter". " Yes, you are" I said as my heart filled with pure love.

The Results Are In!

This is my biggest fear! Because it is totally possible , I deal with a lot of poop on a daily basis... I obsessively wash my hands, but sometimes I feel like I can still smell it. Anyway, when I saw this I just had to share !

So speaking of poop....remember how we sent Porter's to Chicago to get analyzed? Well, we got the results last week and I thought I'd share, I know how you must be just dying to hear all about it :)

It was being tested for yeast and bacteria levels. The results showed that his yeast levels are fine. Now, most people would probably be happy to hear that, but I'll admit I was a little disappointed. Why? Well, I have been reading about how many kids with autism have a whack of yeast in their bodies and when it is treated the results can be amazing! So to be honest, we were hoping he was full of it!

Now having said that, his bacteria levels are definitely off. I didn't quite follow all of the biology lingo, but basically there is a mixture of good and bad bacteria in all of us, but most of us have the proper amounts of each. Porter does not. He has too much bad stuff and not enough of the good stuff. His numbers were supposed to be 3 or 4 and many of his good bacteria levels were at a 1.

So next step, stronger probiotics! Then after a month we have another phone visit to see how things are progressing and we will go from there.

Chat soon!

Photo Shoot!

So last month was Ruby's 1st Birthday so we decided to honor the occasion by getting some family photos done! We also invited Mark's parents to join us. Getting pictures done with the grandparents is something I had planned on for some time but just never got around to it for various reasons. After my Dad passed it was one of my biggest regrets. So if you are thinking about having special family photos taken but have been putting it off , take my advice and don't wait! We did bring did my Dad's RUBY birthstone ring as our little way of having him there with us...although I'm sure he was there with us along with my mom.

Here are a few of my favorites taken by the very talented and very patient..Barb Hickey!

Now, if I could just keep Porter from removing all the pictures off the walls, I could put these up! 

 

The Autism Revolution

I am late getting to this but better late than never...

Last month Mark and I were able to attend The Autism Canada Conference in Moncton. I was pretty pumped about it being so close, most things I read about are happening all over the world so when I saw Moncton, I was like...Moncton, we can go there! Thanks again to Auntie Carol who stayed the entire day with our little mess-makers. You can read more about the conference here.

We had high hopes for the conference but it wasn't quite what we expected... a lot of theory and not enough practical information. But the highlight of the day was definitely listening to Dr. Martha Herbert speak. When I saw that she was presenting I kept thinking..where have I heard this name before? And then it hit me, she was the author of a book my mother in law had bought that I was in the middle of reading! How cool is that?

Here is a link where you can read more about her and the book "The Autism Revolution".

http://www.autismrevolution.org/

She is a brilliant woman, I mean the lady is a pediatric neurologist and a brain development researcher at Harvard! Basically she views autism as a medical condition that can be treated. Otherwise we wouldn't be hearing about all these amazing stories of recovery...it made a lot of sense and made me even more excited about an appt. we had made for Porter with Dr. Bryan Rade.

Dr. Rade is the only DAN doctor in the Maritimes. DAN stands for Defeat Autism Now and the DAN physician approach to autism is biomedical, meaning that it views ASD as a condition characterized by biochemical abnormalities that can be addressed through appropriate treatment, leading to changes in clinical presentation. ( I took that directly from his website here )

The appt was set for Oct 30th. We were already heading to Halifax for Ruby's 1 year visit to the IWK. For anyone who may not know, Ruby is part of a research study for siblings of children with autism. There is a 1 in 5 chance that siblings will also have autism and this study is designed to give early interventions to any siblings who are showing signs. Miss Ruby did wonderful and she couldn't have been happier with all the attention! We will be getting an official report in the mail in the next few weeks so I will share more of their observations at that time. 

So we decided to book Porter's appt with Dr. Rade  for the same day seeing as we would be there anyway. It made for a long day, but it was worth it. This guy was awesome. He said many people view our children with autism as the new "canaries in the coal mines". Apparently years ago they used to send canaries into coal mines before the miners to see if the toxic levels were too high to survive. Our children with autism are our warning signs that something is going on in our environment, but are we listening?  Have I ever shared the latest statistics? 1 in 88. In the 1980's it was 1 in 10, 000. That simply cannot be explained by better diagnostic tools alone. It just can't. But back to our visit...

We left feeling very hopeful. Our first step - magnesium. "The Department of Family Medicine, Pomeranian Medical Academy, states that magnesium deficiency can result in disruptive behaviors. When dealing with autism spectrum and other neurological disorders in children it is important to know the signs of low magnesium: restless, can’t keep still, body rocking, grinding teeth, hiccups, noise sensitive, poor attention span, poor concentration, irritable, aggressive, ready to explode, easily stressed." Hmmm..yep, that sounds about right.

We also sent some poop to Chigaco! Yes, that's right poop. Fed Ex will deliver ANYTHING! There it will be tested for yeast and bacteria levels. I am anxiously awaiting the results! Once we get those, we will go from there. But basically we are going to get Porter's body working to the best of it's ability step by step. And how many times have you heard..healthy body - healthy mind? It makes a lot of sense when you think about it.

 He also said we should continue the gluten free- casien free diet and cut out as much refined sugar as possible. He said that putting him on the GFCF diet will definitely help but every time we put sugar   into his body, it's kind of like we are squirting gasoline on the "fire".  A lot of kids with autism also have a "leaky gut" which basically means that there are holes in their intestinal walls which allow toxins , bacteria and other nasties to be absorbed . Did you know that almost 80 % of our immune system is in the gut? I truly believe that if we can heal Porter's belly, we will see a huge improvement in his language and behavior.

So we are doing our best to get rid of refined sugar, but it's a challenge. It's pretty much in everything! And it's good. I shouldn't tell this story but I will...last week I had to take out my winter jacket because the temperature has seriously dropped around here and I found a half a bag of skittles in there from last winter. So of course I ate them. And you know what's scary, they tasted perfectly fine. Delicious even! But even as the fruit flavors were exploding in my mouth, I felt guilt for eating pure garbage. I mean anything that tastes the same after being opened for a year is not food! But yet, I ate it? I am such a work in progress, but that's a whole other post, actually, that's a whole other blog!

Chat soon!

I. B. Happy!

Sooo, it's official. I have been waiting to see it in writing before I announced it....

They have filled the autism consultant positions and that means that our boy will get IBI! ( Intensive Behavioral Intervention ) And that is exactly what it sounds like...20 hours a week of therapy that is specifically designed to focus on Porter's needs.

It's what we have been waiting for. It feels a bit like Christmas in October!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Firework!

 
Prepare to be touched. This video brought me to tears. And I don't mean the soft, trickle down tears...I mean the sobbing , hold your breath because if you let it out you'll emit a sound that will scare the kids kind.

Tune in Sunday night on The Comedy Network as Jon Stewart hosts " The Night of Too Many Stars". Here is a preview of what you will see..


http://now.msn.com/jodi-dipiazza-an-autistic-girl-who-plays-piano-sings-with-katy-perry




I have heard that song so many times before and have often thought of our boy ....listen to the lyrics.

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag,
Drifting through the wind
Wanting to start again?
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards,
One blow from caving in?

Do you ever feel already buried deep?
6 feet under screams but no one seems to hear a thing
Do you know that there's still a chance for you
'Cause there's a spark in you

You just gotta ignite the light, and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

'Cause baby you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colours burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
You're gonna leave 'em all in "awe, awe, awe"

You don't have to feel like a wasted space
You're original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe your reason why all the doors are closed
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road
Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow
And when it's time, you'll know

You just gotta ignite the light, and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

'Cause baby you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colours burst
Make 'em go "Oh, Oh, Oh"
You're gonna leave 'em all in "awe, awe, awe"

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
It's always been inside of you, you, you
And now it's time to let it through-ough-ough

'Cause baby you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "Oh, Oh, Oh"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colours burst
Make 'em go "Oh, Oh, Oh"
You're gonna leave 'em all in "awe, awe, awe"

Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon
Boom, boom, boom
Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon


Porter, you ARE my little firework. I love your magnificent colours ...and you will never have to show me what you are worth. I already know. xo