5 years ago today...

5 years ago today my life changed forever.  After many years of trying unsuccessfully, praying, and beginning to believe it wasn't meant to be...5 years ago today I became a mom.  5 years ago today my priorities changed, my name changed, and my heart changed.  I had no idea just how much this journey would change me...would change all of us.  For 5 years ago today God blessed me with Cade.

I often think back to those early days when Cade was first born.  Eric was in Iraq doing his 2nd deployment there, I was a new stay-at-home mom thinking I knew at least some of what this new little life would bring.  I remember thinking that I couldn't believe has actually mine...but knowing that he had already taken up so much of my heart in just those first few days.

I should have known even then that something wasn't exactly right.  And I think I probably did.  He didn't have Autism then, but he was so sick as a tiny baby.  Milk made him sick and I can remember taking at least 2 changes of clothes in the car for each of us...he never failed to mess up at least one of them during an outing.  His tummy aches were rough and he couldn't sleep for more than a couple of hours without waking up sick.  But even through all of that he was such a great baby.  He was so happy and interactive, and so eager to do whatever it was that I had planned. 

It is hard to believe that 5 years have passed...and we have been through two major life-changing diagnoses, a whole host of therapies, and many medicines.  And we have watched as we lost our little boy...and we have watched as we found him again.  And we are still watching as Cade keeps finding his way in a world that is often hard for him. 

I sure didn't know just what this journey would be for us.  And I still don't know what the journey will be.  But I know that God made Cade special for a reason.  And I cannot wait to see where He takes Cade...where He takes all of us...through the life of just one special son.

When Eric came home from Iraq we had Cade dedicated at our church.  Eric sang the song "Find Your Wings" to Cade that day.  I never could have imagined just how much meaning that song would have just 5 short years later.  Here is the song and official video:

Happy Birthday, Buddy...I love you!

Potty Training Boys: 101

We have had a rough evening around here and could use a little humor.  So please indulge me as I craft out a little piece that has been rolling around in my head for oh, say about a month...about the time I started potty training Kai.  Now this isn't my first rodeo...Cade was so hard to train and I thought I would die!  So this time around I was sure I had seen it all...after all, how much easier it will be to train a typical little boy after training one with special needs, right?  Ummm, no.  So here's a little something I have deduced about potty training boys...well, at least potty training my boys...

There are basically 10 things that you should know before beginning to potty train your little boy:

1.  Two-year-old boys will do anything for candy.
2.  Said candy will always fall into the toilet.
3.  Said two-year-old boy will always reach into the toilet to collect the fallen candy.
4.  You must be quick to collect the candy from said two-year-old's hand before he gets it to his mouth.
5.  No matter how many times you sing "The Potty Dance" the two-year-old will not use the potty on command.
6.  The tricks to make the two-year-old use the potty, like turning on the water in the sink, will not make the two-year-old use the potty...they will, however, cause you to go running into the other bathroom rather quickly.
7.  Sitting on the potty and reading books for an extended amount of time begins at a very young age...like around two years old...and it never stops.
8.  Flushing the toilet is perhaps one of the most exciting things two-year-old boys will do in the potty...and actually using the potty is not required for this action.
9.  The wonderful sticker chart that you made and the stickers you so carefully picked out for the occasion, though a nice touch, are a novelty that two-year-old boys could do without...refer to #1.
10.  Hand-washing is not a normal part of a two-year-old boy's plan after using the potty...you must remain steady with feet firmly planted while wrestling said two-year-old boy in one hand, managing the small toddler stool designed to help said boy reach the sink while not killing your leg on it, and turn on the faucet/apply soap/dry hands with the other hand.  ALERT:  When said two-year-old boy determines how to do this action alone prepare to fish him out of the sink numerous times throughout the day.

Here's to all the moms who have ever, or who will ever, potty train a little boy..."May the odds be ever in your favor!" (ok, so I stole this from The Hunger Games...but don't you think it's fitting here?)

*I would love to hear your potty training stories...I could use some encouragement, ideas, and just plain comic relief!!*

A sick day in Radiator Springs

I cannot remember a day lately that we haven't had somewhere to go.  Between Cade and Kai going to school on different schedules and therapies it is rare to have a day at home.  Today, though, Cade is home with a nasty ear infection and an even nastier cough, and since Kai is still recovering from an upper respiratory infection from last week...well, I would say THAT constitutes as a sick day.  Which means pajamas and staying home!!!

Cade got the cars from the CARS 2 movie for Christmas...he has developed quite a fascination for wheels and cars and trucks of any kind (which can be very difficult sometimes!), but he especially loves these little cars.  They have now been transported to North Carolina and back, to numerous therapies, and a few have even had the luxury of traveling to PreK in his backpack now and then.  These little cars seem to get around, so we might see them anywhere...it is a bit daunting to look up from the toilet and see a little pair of car eyes staring back at you...

Cade is also pretty possessive of these cars.  It is a rarity that Kai is even allowed to touch them, must less play with them.  Kai is pretty good about this...he is used to dealing with Cade's quirks.  But being at the end of his two-year-old year has proven to be a challenge...I swear he is going through his second round of "Terrible Two's" and his ability to push Cade's buttons has increased ten-fold.  So I have been the referee of more than one boxing match (ok, so not really...but I have threatened to put them in a ring and let them go at it...) over these cars.

Today, though, Radiator Springs found it's way to our living room.  For those of you who don't know, Radiator Springs is the setting of the CARS movie.  It is a little town off of Route 66...one that has long been forgotten but is brought back to life after Lightening McQueen, the famous race car, finds his way accidentally into town.  He meets forever friends there, including Tow Mater, the hilarious country-bumpkin tow truck who becomes his best friend.

Ok, I'll take off my movie reviewer hat (I LOVE the movie almost as much as Cade!) and get back to my story.  As I was doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen...or doing one of the never-ending chores that seem to arise around here...I notice that it has been pretty quiet for a little while in the living room.  That typically spells disaster...so of course I peek around the corner to find out what is going on.  There I see the boys playing on the couch, and they have set up there own little Radiator Springs.  Cade as one car and Kai has another, and the two of them are acting out some play activity that they have come up with.  Then Cade spontaneously erupts into his quite funny rendition of "Life is a Highway" (the theme song from the movie), and the two of them race around the couch with their cars.

Never mind the fact that they really aren't supposed to be playing with the cushions off of the couch (is there a boy ANYWHERE who can actually not take the cushions off??), I am so excited to see them playing together with such imagination.  Cade was so often in his own world for so long that I always catch my breath a little when I see him now interacting so normally with Kai.  It makes me so excited for him, for both of them, and for the future relationship that I hope will continue to strengthen between them as Cade is healed.

So here's to a sick day and to little metal cars with eyes!  And here's to imagination -- we welcome you any time to our house...just pull up a chair and stay a while!