The joys and pains of parenthood.

When I was 8 months pregnant with our youngest our son was on his first day of kindergarten. We were all thrilled. Day two however was a different matter. I was sitting in my cubical at about 10 in the morning, in a corporate office building with a mountain of paper work and emails taunting me when my phone rang. Not unusual since my phone seemed to ring all day long :) starting at 7am. It was not one of my vendors or superintendents on the other end however. It was my sons teacher. She felt the need to call me and discuss her concerns. Our son, she said, showed classic symptoms of having Autism.

I cried. None of his doctors had ever expressed any concern over any of his slightly unusual behaviors. As a first time parent (who had no siblings) I had no base for reference. As far as I knew everything he was doing was fine. Yeah, so he acted a little different than some of his cousins that were around the same age. So what, he's unique. Okay, so he tore Toilet paper into long little strips and waved them through the air and called them tails. He's imaginative. No, he doesn't speak as well as other 5 year olds. His ENT says it's because he's had so many ear infections.

But Autism? Really? I asked her what I should do and she suggested calling a specialist. Upon getting off the phone with her I began to scour the net and found some phone numbers of local support for Autism. I called and asked them what to do. I was given the name of a few well known Pediatric Neurologists in the area but warned that they often had to schedule 6 months out due to full case loads. I didn't have 6 months. I needed to know what was going on....NOW.

I was lucky that the first office I called had a cancellation and they could get me in in 2 days. Grateful, I hung up and cried some more. I had no idea what it meant to be the parent of a child with special needs. Here I was a full-time working mom and wife who put in at least 50 hours a week with a 2 hour commute each day. I left home at 6:15am and returned at 6:30pm every night. Hubby also worked full-time and his hours tended to be more jacked up than mine.

On Thursday morning I took my little man and with my huge pregnant belly, we trekked an hour to the doctors office. Diagnosis? High functioning autism.

What did that mean? My son was the same as everyone else but he saw the world differently. Processed it differently. Received it differently.

He still does.

I wish for a single day that I could see the world as he does. Then perhaps I would understand better. In reality? I don't. Lord knows that I try but there are days when we just don't connect and no matter what either of us tries, it's just going to be an off day. We deal. We both know that tomorrow it will be a new day and we will try again.

We have had ups and downs. As a family we have gotten through and made adjustments. We will continue to. As a family we must. It is our love that keeps us storng and united against this odd battle for which we don't know the origin.

I love my son to the tips of my toes and back. To the ends of the Earth and beyond.

My greatest wish? Cure, no doubt. But what would be even better? Tolerance from those who don't understand.

Form the kids in his class, or on the bus. From the family who seems to think that at 10 he should just "be normal". From the other parents at the store when he has a melt-down in the cereal aisle.

He is my son and my gift to the world. But in truth I am the receiver of the great gift. He makes me a better person and a better parent. He is my light. He is my hero.

When is it too much?

In today's economy everyone has to find ways to make a little extra money...especially if you are a stay-at-home mom who writes. Perhaps you have taken up an editor position? Maybe you also do PR and marketing? Did you open a review site? Perhaps you branched out and started your own e-pub?  The fact is Many do more than one :)

Talk about wearing different hats :)

But at what point do you think there is a line? Or do you?

I have seen authors who also run review sites or edit catch flack for "being biased" when preforming the duties of their job. In fact I have seen authors who do not want their books reviewed by sites owned by fellow authors. Or their books published by pubs whose owners dabble in other aspects of the publishing world.

I can see both sides but have to say that personally, I don't mind. Some authors make GREAT editors. Who knows the in's and out's of marketing and PR like an author who has trudged down that road many times? What are authors if not readers first? And as for starting a publishing company? Why not?

But enough about what I think. I want to know about you. What do you think about authors who wear different hats when it comes to the publishing world? Is it okay?

My Journey

I have another blog that I am starting that will go along with a story that I am writing. I hope that you will take a peek :)

http://uglygirlsguide.blogspot.com/

Well.......

I thought that I should let you know that Mr. Postman was the winner of the First Annual Beepie Award :) WOO HOO!!!! In celebration I spent the evening at Amazon.com getting some things for my kiddos for the upcoming holidays.

Thrilled just doesn't even come close to letting you all know how I feel and how much I appreciate all you you who voted :)

As promised I will be having an EASY FACEBOOK contest this weekend to share the news with my FB friends and readers :) Not a FB friend? Better friend me if yo uwant a shot to win a free book or two :)

Dinner

I LOVE to cook! And have to say that I am pretty freaking good at it. Tonight I made a chicken pot pie but had a bit of filling eft over so I did a bit of testing with a new formua :) Added a bit of cream cheese, some sharp cheddar, green onion tops and topped it with a crushed cracker topping. I can't wait to see what it tastes like.

One of my biggest pet peeves is trying to cook in a small kitchen. When you have no place to prep other than the kitchen tabe it sucks. Now, I know I am not the ony home chef with this issue. I went to Ikea and got a ittle portabe butcher block top island thing that I had high hopes for....but in reality I use it for extra storage because my space is so small. Fingers crossed that the next big meal I do I will wheel it out and put it to use :)

What do you do in your small kitchen?

Coming to an End

Today is the last day to vote for the books nominated for the first annual Beepie Awars at Breathless Press. http://voting.breathlesspress.org/forums/125865-nominations There are a bunch of really hot books for you to browse. You will have up to 10 votes to spread around :) Have fun

New Age Bullies

When I was in schoolthe bullies were way different than they are now. Technology has given bullies new ways to be mean and reach a wider audience. Cell phones with texting, Social Networks, Internet chat rooms. OY Where does it end?

What happened to the old days where it was "push me down and take my lunch money"?

Now they create FB pages that spout hate for a single child in particular. They text one or two people...who then send it on to another two, then another and another.

STOP THE MADNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!