a little background

hi, my name is mandy and I have two amazing little boys. My oldest son, Ty, has been diagnosed with autism (which is what you will read most about in this blog); I also have Tripp, who is an amazing little brother to Ty (who you will also hear alot about). I was encouraged to start this blog to document our journey through life and life with autism... my world has been rocked in last few years and i have responded in good ways and bad ... but Jesus has gotten me through all of it...





i hope i can be an encouragement to you, and for the friends and family that will read this - maybe this will keep you posted indepth on what Ty is learning! :) and the adventures of Tripp too





thank you for reading, and if you have any questions, comments or smart remarks; feel free to post them.



Tuesday, December 29, 2015

change

So it's been a crazy few months and I haven't had the time or the energy to make a post but I think it's time to...
Ty is doing pretty good - we are trying to figure out his medication and lots of trial and error right now but bottom line - he's still not sleeping through the night and is having some panic attacks here and there and seems to be anxious a lot of the time. He has been pretty defiant at times both at home and in the classroom. We are hoping to start using an AAC device for communication once school starts back in January. We have been using a laminated sheet with the words and "buttons" on it that mimic the screen for the AAC device to practice at home and they use it at school. He has done really well with this and we are hoping the device will just further his communication skills!
The trip to TN was lots of fun, the boys and I broke the drive up into two days just because I wasn't sure how well they would do traveling for 9 hours. They slept all the way to the hotel the first night and then Ty slept most of the way to Pigeon forge and we hit the ground running. I only had a day and half to spend with them because our Christmas Cantata was that Sunday and I had to get back but we packed in as much as we could in that time. We ate at the Apple Barn, shopped, shopped, shopped and shopped. Then we hit up a go-kart track and once the rest of the family made it to TN we met them at the cabin around 8 or 9 that night. The next morning we went to the go-kart tracks again at Tripp's request. He rode his little heart out with uncle Matt and uncle Josh and we played some video games at the arcade. Ty loved the arcade, there were a few games that he really liked. One was a giant fruit ninja game where you slice the fruit on a giant touch screen and get points and tickets for high scores. Then he loved the games where you drop your tokens in and watch them spin round and round but his favorite was probably skeeball. He didn't play by the rules but he kept coming back to it and pointing at the coin slot for us to pay and play lol. We also got to go to the Wonderworks indoor park which was really fun. Ty loved playing on the giant light bright board and the giant video game you get to stomp on the characters (kind of like wac-a-mole) those were probably his favorites... he did try and steel the basketballs from the basketball shoot but we were able to redirect and keep moving. All in all he had an awesome day and I was real impressed with how well he handled all the hustle and bustle of the road trip and then hopping from one thing to the next in town. Maybe I'll be brave enough to try a bigger theme park soon? Who knows? Tripp was an awesome little brother as always and I think if he could have rode go-karts all day he would have! He loved getting up and hitting the town, shopping, and just going ... he never wanted to stop.
Sam came up Saturday and finished out the trip with the boys and they got into all kinds of things and then on the ride home Ty didn't do so well... he had a rough time but they made it home safe and sound! And now for Christmas!






So I'm sure this won't go over well with some and others may have seen it coming and some of you just might not care - so feel free to stop reading here lol ...


Life in our home is about to change, Sam and I are getting a divorce and trying to keep things as normal as we can for the boys in the process. No need for details here on why and what happened ... and really it doesn't matter... bottom line is things just didn't work out. But my hope and main concern are these two boys and to keep them happy and healthy even in the midst of something like this. How does that work? I don't really know? Prayers and more prayers would probably be the best thing I could ask for. We plan to keep the boys in North Pike and at our church ... will things be awkward?? ... yeah I'm sure... but we are pretty used to awkward... this isn't something I ever thought I'd do and it was most definitely on my list of things "I won't do" but it's crazy how things change and you can't really say what you will and won't do and you sure can't judge someone for decisions they make because you don't know what they went through or may be going through that brought them to that point. So another life lesson learned and I'm just praying we can be better parents for the boys and still show them the love and grace of Jesus in the middle of the madness... So why say that here on Ty's blog? Well because it's a part of our life and our journey and it probably has something to do with his behavior issues and we just need prayer: prayers for wisdom and guidance and communication even when it's hard because at the end of the day it's not about me or sam and to just love us through this transition time and finding our new normal ... I love ya'll ... and thanks for reading.

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