Lorenzo update

Well after I picked Lorenzo up from school yesterday I was hoping that he had had a better day, I was wrong! He ended up crying for over an hour in the morning and then at Lunch again and he was crying when I picked him up. I talked with the teacher and she does not know what to do. Everyone seems to be out sick this week so she was sending him to the office. I understand that you can't have him disrupting the rest of the class but there is supposed to be someone there to help him when he gets that way. I came home and called his doctor after that and he wanted to see Lorenzo this morning, so we went there at 9:00 and Lorenzo was having a lot of anxiety about school and the doctor noticed it right away. He also had lost a couple of pounds and I told the doctor that he has not eating very well and his snack I send him to school with is coming home every day. lorenzo has been complaining that his tummy hurts all the time the last week and I am pretty sure it is the stress and anxiety, we have been through this before. Well to make a long story short, we are going to add celexa back into his medicine regime but at a very low dose. This was the medicine that helped so much a little over a year ago but then Lorenzo started having more of the outbursts, rages, and Meltdowns that lasted days so we are going to take it slow and see if it helps. The nice thing if it works is that we will gradually take him off the other anxiety med.'s he is on now.

I think part of me is still in denial about this whole thing. I know something is not right, I have know basically since he was born but there is also a part of me that thinks no, he is normal he is going to snap out of this. If we have a few days or weeks that go well I think, OK, he is better things are going to be ok. But we always seem to end up back here. We have been spiraling downward for the last couple of weeks, but part of me just does not want to deal with it. I am seeing more of the highs and lows lately and it just breaks my heart. He has also been doing other strange things like when he eats it is like he goes into a trance. He closes his eyes and gets this glazed over strange look. i do not even know how to explain it.

There have been a lot of shown on tv lately about autism. I do not watch a lot of tv and I missed the one on oprah but a friend of mine told me about it and i was able to read about it online. I was able, however, to catch a similar program on Larry king Live a couple of weeks ago and it alarmed me how many similar characteristics Lorenzo had with the kids they were talking about. The only thing is Lorenzo is vocal and is not detached. In fact that is just opposite. But the way they play and the repetitiveness. The rocking back and forth and strange body movements. The problems with bowles and digestive systems. it makes me think that maybe the Autism spectrum is a whole lot bigger then people are giving credit. I wonder if that spectrum will open up to include more of the mental disorders or vise versa.

Carl Fontana - Jazz Trombone

I was up late sewing and listening to music and I forgot how MUCH I LOVE music!!! It has been so lond since I have been able to listen to something of my choice, the boys have controll over the ipod, that I just plain forgot how much I enjoy music. Now if I could just find time to practice! Here is a good one from one of the Jazz Great's!!

Lorenzo

Lorenzo has been having a hard couple of days. I think it is because they were off of school last week, and like always, is having a hard time transitioning. He was crying today and said he wanted to stay home from school because he is sick and if he goes to school he will get sent to the office. I asked him if he was sent to the office yesterday and he said yes that he had been there the last 2 days. I asked him why and if it was because he is sick and he said no it was because he was crying. Well, Jeremy took him to school today and went in to ask the teacher what was going on. I have been up there the last 2 days and she has said nothing to me. All she told Jeremy was that he has been sad and that she has sent him to the back of the class to wash his face and try to calm down and when he does not she has sent him to the office. I am a little upset because he feels he is being punished, who would'nt. He cant help his anxiety and he is supposed to have help there as stated in his IEP when he is having trouble. needless to say I am going down there to talk with her and the special ed coordinator today. I told jeremy I feel bad, if this was Riley I would have kept him home because of the cold but as it is Lorenzo he could be sick for the rest of the month and If I keep him home one day it is going to be next to impossible to get him to go back. I feel bad for the little guy!

Conference Weekend

I Love conference weekend. Not only is it a weekend that Jeremy is home, I like staying in my p.j.'s and laying on the sofa with the kids hearing the uplifting talks. it get's me motivated to be better! I guess I am a slacker, but I need to hear these things over and over again to keep myself close to the Spirit. One thing I have really enjoyed is the motab. I have never liked choir very much and the organ is my least favorite instrument. I remember sitting through an organ recital at USU by Dr. Drake and trying really really hard to just stay awake. At any rate, I have really enjoyed the Choir and the organ these past 2 days. I guess I must be growing up. The kids have been good and have been doing their conference workbooks thanks to a friend from RI and we have just been having an enjoyable weekend!

The only down side to our weekend is that Lorenzo is sick AGAIN. I think the longest we have ever gone with him not having something is about 2 months and that was only once in his entire 5 and a half years! I know that stress and anxiety can weaken your immune system but I just do not know if there is more going on. I have tried to find a link to bipolar and poor health but nothing so far. I guess I should not be to worried they are usually just colds but when he gets a cold they are bad. We have to pull out the nebulizer and he just gets really sick. We can all have the same cold here but Lorenzo will be 10 times worse then the rest of us. And it is that way with every little illness. I wish I could figure it out. I think I might take him back to the allergist and see if we should still pursue looking into food allergies even though we have already been that route before. Oh well, maybe eventually I'll know more.

Big Bugs

Ok, any of you that know me know that I hate bugs. I have tried not to make a big deal about it in front of the kids because I do not want them to grow up with the same fear. Hawaii has some big bugs. Big scary bugs. We have not had to many problems since we moved here 2 years ago but they have been doing some construction type work and cutting trees in our neighborhood this last week and we officially have a problem now! We have been going to bed and waking up in the morning to huge mouse size cockroaches and great big centipedes in various places around the house. Two mornings ago jeremy was in the Shower and Riley said there was a centipede on the ceiling in front of our bedroom door. He jumped out and in a towel was able to get it and take it outside and dispose of it (still in the bath towel) Then Lorenzo walked out of the other bathroom and said"Dad, I thought you said you found a centipede? It's a cockroach!" There was a great big cockroach on the bathroom wall. There was also one in Liam's toy farm, Lorenzo's play clothes, my dresser, Jeremy's suitcase, one crawled out of the bathroom sink last night and again another centipede downstairs this morning. And this is just the last 2 days. I feel like I am in a horror movie! They can't spray until October 2 so I am off to home depot this morning to see what I can find to get rid of them!

I guess it happens to everyone?

Well, I had quite a scare yesterday. I was up at one of the community centers registering the boys for a couple of classes yesterday and we lost liam!! There were a ton of people there not only for the registration but for soccer too (I think there were about 6 different games going on) The park is huge and as i was waiting in line the boys were off to the side playing on the playground. When it was my turn to go in I told Riley to watch liam for 2 min. while I turned in their papers. Riley is usually pretty responsible but I guess he got distracted. in the min and a half that I was inside Riley and Lorenzo came walking in asking if I had seen Liam. I just dropped everything, left the stroller there blocking everyone and ran out to look for him. I did not have to look far because when I got a few feet outside a nice lady was holding his hand as he was walking and shouting Ma Ma Ma. He saw me and just gave me a big smile and said MA!!! He was not fazed by it in the least. I was scared out of my mind on the other hand. I know it could not have been more then 30 second from the time I knew he was missing to the time we found him but I had all sorts of things running through me head. I kept thinking just call the police there is no way you are going to find him with all these people, and at the same time was just praying asking the Lord to help me find him. Someone has been watching over us.

I thought I was doing pretty well while Jeremy has been gone. (He has been in Malaysia the last 2 weeks) but I guess not. I have never had to worry about the kids wandering off. Riley and lorenzo were both quite clingy and were always attached to me. Liam however is from a different mold. I am just glad he is ok!

Update

We were able to spend most of July in Utah and it was so much fun seeing everyone! The kids and I had not been back for over 2 years. Almost all of Jeremy's family was there including his brother who has been stationed in Japan. The kids had so much fun getting to know their cousins better, they really wanted to stay longer!

Well the trip back home was fun but that is not to say that it did not go off without a hitch. The night we left Jeremy and Lorenzo were in the emergency room because lorenzo had an ear infection. They had to leave before they even saw the Doctor so we did not miss our flight. As soon as we got to Utah I was on the phone trying to get him some medicine. Luckily Cara has a friend that was able to write us a prescription without having to spend all day in the ER again. A few days later Liam came down with some kind of eye infection but again we were lucky enough to be at my sisters and her husband was able to write us a prescription. The Sunday before we left we were at the Wards and all the family was there except one of Jeremy's Brothers and his family but there were a ton of people and kids everywhere. Riley was down stars playing with some of his cousins when Grandpas deer head that was on the wall fell and hit him in the head. One ER visit and a few stitches later he was back home and back to playing. We were glad to go home back to Hawaii, although we miss everyone, it is good to be back!

The Kids started school August 1st and they are doing well! Riley has his teacher from 1st grade and Lorenzo got the new kindergarten teacher. We are so relived that lorenzo likes her and is doing well! He has not even needed the special ed minutes they have allotted him. I hope this lasts!!!! Meanwhile Liam turned two! It has gone by so fast!!! He has missed his brothers now that they are at school but we are enjoying our time at home together and are having fun at home! it is so quiet but I have to say that it is a nice break.