Our Version of Normal

Otto is over 13 and has been a frisbee dog since he was 6 months old.  He is a pro.  We always used to say he should perform at a half time show during some sporting event.  He was that good.  In the last year or so, we've noticed it gets harder for him to catch the frisbee midair and land well.  His eyesight is poor and his hearing is gone.  He even had a malignant tumor removed in March from his left leg, but when it comes to his favorite activity he still thinks he's 5 and will leap into the air to grab the frisbee no matter how much we try to throw it softer, lower and closer.  Today, we took the camera out because I wanted to test some issues I'd been having with it and we happened to find his frisbee on the dog house roof (go figure). Otto most days now plays with his big blue squeaky (used to squeak at least) ball.  Of course, the minute he saw his frisbee, he dropped his blue ball and danced and pranced in excited anticipation. ...

I have a thing for ginger (a.k.a. orange or red) cats.  I had a kitty named Lionel when I was in college who was my all time favorite cat.  He was a big boy topping the scales at 25 lbs. in his prime.  He wasn't so much fat as he was tall.  When he died quite suddenly, I dealt with my grief by driving to my family's business which is a nursery (trees not babies) and brought home Mojo (above). His mom was a stray (one of many at the nursery), who'd delivered her litter in the bagged fertilizer building 6 weeks prior.  Mojo was born right in the middle of some pretty strong chemicals and so we've always said he's a bit on the nutty side from the exposure, but he is quite the lovebug and loves to snuggle every chance he gets. He especially adores visitors with an open lap to leap onto and will quickly curl up for a snooze. Four months later, Mojo's mother gave birth to another litter.  This time they finally caught her and contained her in a back ...

picture credit Last night, I went to the Mexican Restaurant where Matt (my hubby for anyone new here) performs every Friday.  I often take Riley and Reagan there to see Matt play live and to eat their addictive (calorie laden) food. Kaelan prefers to stay home and fills in as babysitter.  Well last night, I took Reagan and Leo because Leo had such a long late nap and wasn't ready to go to bed yet. It was nicely crowded and Matt even had the bar crowd dancing and doing an impromptu conga line.  :) On the way home, we were listening to Sirius-XM.  Reagan and I were battling it out as to which station we were going to listen to (he prefers rap or first wave 80's) and we landed on the 70's channel.  A Frankie Valli song ended and Tony Orlando's "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" came on the radio. Reagan quickly tried to change the channel, but I stopped him.  I told him how my dad and mom (Grumpa and Moogie to my kids) used to sing that...

I am Catholic.  I was raised Catholic by my mom and she took us to church every Sunday.  I also went to Sunday School for years (known as CCD back then, but now called Religious Ed). My dad was raised (quite pathetically) Methodist and as far as I know never went to a Methodist church except for maybe weddings and funerals.  He grudgingly attended Catholic events like baptisms, first communions, weddings and funerals, but preferred to stay as far away from church as possible.  Every Sunday, my mom would drag us out of bed, make sure we were dressed and fed before racing (literally) to church.  We were usually late and of course everyone noticed.  It's kinda hard to be inconspicuous with at first four and then eventually six kids entering a quiet church.  I rebelled a bit in high school and refused to go to church even with all the Catholic and mom guilt laid on me.  I just didn't care.   My first year at IU (Indiana University), I felt an...

Most of my kids go or have gone to Occupational, Physical and Speech therapy.  Usually these therapists have amazingly cool toys and equipment to help improve a child's gross and fine motor skills as well as decrease their  sensory processing issues. Obviously, we all can't run out and buy every piece of equipment the therapists own because they are so expensive.  So, over the years, we've bought some toys that we felt were necessary for our kids and within our price range. Most are toys the kids can use on their own especially as they get older.  The youngest four still need help with the Airwalker swing because they are too short to get in it and they also need us to push and/or spin them.   Airwalker swing :   We bought this swing years ago for Reagan & Kaelan.  It is a 360° spinning & swinging toy.  You can cocoon yourself in it's dark spandex and spin to your hearts content or lay down like the picture shows and have your head and...

July 12, 1990.  The day Matt asked me to marry him.

I'm been asked over and over what signs Reagan (15), Kaelan (15) & Leo (2 1/2) showed as toddlers that led to their diagnosis of autism.  Since early intervention has been proven to be one of the biggest advantages for children with autism, I wanted to share early signs we experienced with our boys to possibly help facilitate others to seek help sooner than later.   For us, it wasn't until all 3 were a year or older when the signs became apparent. Their first year, aside from the premature birth of Reagan & Kaelan was pretty typical. They smiled, made eye contact and met cognitive and physical milestones for the most part on time.  When Reagan & Kaelan were around 16 months old, I thought something was going on because they were so different from Riley at that age. I attributed the differences due to them being born 5 weeks early. I also thought maybe we'd neglected to entertain them as much as we had Riley with silly songs, patty cakes, peek-a-boos, read...

Do you ever get the feeling like you have a giant booger on your face or maybe forgot to put pants on before leaving the house? I do. I catch people staring or even gawking at us every. single. day. I'm not talking about short little covert glances, but big wide eyed "OMG, would you look at that family!" stares. There are days that I feel like we are the accident in the road and everyone is rubbernecking to get a peek at the gore. Sometimes, it's for the sheer size of our family (which by Dugger's standards, we are kinda small). Other times, it's the "Down's" element. Many times, it's because one or more of the boys are doing something obnoxious, fighting with each other or being disrespectful to us (have you ever tried to rationalize with someone on the spectrum?). And wait, we can't forget Leo's pepperoni sized birthmark on his head because it definitely gets it's fair share of horrified looks. Some think I'm be...