We took Jackson to Disney World in December. It was a dream I had for such a long time, but I was unsure if we could make it work. Having a child with special needs means you don't always get to do the things typical families do. But oh how I wanted Jackson to experience the Happiest Place on Earth. I made it my goal to raise enough money through my photography business to pay for our trip. We decided it would be his birthday/Christmas gift! We drove to Orlando (because my kid is the BEST car Continue Reading
Five Things PCIT Taught Me
This post is LONG overdo! Last February I wrote about some of the challenges we were facing and our decision to start Parent Child Interaction Therapy. You can read that post here. Well, we completed PCIT months ago and I have yet to write a post about our experience. Oops! When we decided to start PCIT we were at a loss on how to best handle some of Jackson's behaviors. Honestly, I felt like I was failing as a mom. My husband, who's a neuropsychologist, had seen first-hand how successful Continue Reading
Why Special Needs Mamas Must Savor the Sacred Moments
God has been teaching me a lot about savoring the hard moments. Whether the hard moments happen on our special needs journey, in my faith or as a mother. I wrote about savoring the hard moments here. But there's another area God is reminding me to savor - the small moments! I've learned it's many small moments that lead to the miracle! It's so important for special needs mamas to savor the small moments that might not seem like that big of a deal to the outside world. We must savor Continue Reading
How Do We Savor The Hard Moments?
How can I possibly savor the hard moments? This is the question I was asking myself as I stared at the ceiling at 2:30 this morning. I was completely irritated and Jackson was wide awake. This scenario is common at our house thanks to ADHD. Falling asleep is hard and he often wakes up in the middle of the night fully awake and ready to start his day. I am not a middle of the night person. I need my sleep. The newborn phase almost killed me! I drug myself out of bed at 6:30 Continue Reading
Five Minute Friday {Motivate}
I grew up wanting to be a teacher, but when the time came for me to teach Jackson I was intimidated. Having a child with special needs means he will likely learn differently than I did. Since Jackson only goes to Kindergarten half-day, it's my job to make sure he stays on track academically. We do school at home - lots of sight word practice, handwriting and a little math, too. I finally began to find my groove at the end of last year. As we roll into 2018 I feel extremely Continue Reading