Memories

How about I lighten it up a little ’round these parts this weekend?  I still have plenty of things to keep sharing about my time at the Autism One conference, so stay tuned, but this weekend I’m thinking about memories.  I hope to get off this computer soon and go make some of my own (we finally have some gorgeous weather!).  I think a kiddie pool and a Snoopy machine snow cone is in my future.

Thinking about memories made me realize what I needed to get for my dad and my husband for father’s day.  Not a goofy tie or an iPhone (you wish, hun), but something that would matter.  Something they’d remember next year and the year to come.

I wrote about what I got them over here, so come on over and visit if you’re needing some great gift ideas, and check in with us at Mama Speaks next week for the upcoming Father’s Day Gift Guide awesomeness!

Stirring The Pot

I’m writing about the Autism One conference over at my other blog, Stop Looking At Me here and here. I don’t mean to be stirring the pot , but a lot of the things I believe may or may not be what everyone else believes, and even if these things are controversial, they’re too important to me to keep silent.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I have plenty of friends who have opposite opinions on life than I do. I will still love you even if you think doctors are awesome, think country music is cool and think scrapbooking is the bomb, so I hope you will love me even if I don’t.

A Day That Will Live In Infamy

Today was rough, ya’ll. Can we do that thingy on Men In Black where there’s a flash in my face and it erases memories?  I wonder if it was too traumatizing to forget…like even if I couldn’t remember the details, my heart would still carry the wounds.

I’m too stressed to even go into details, but basically autism kicked my butt today.

Tomorrow is a new day, right?

Overdue: Three Tales of Being Late

Sam at Temporarily Me is overdue with her baby, and Karen Sugarpants has organized us all to tell our own overdue stories in an effort to lessen the agony of having to wait on.more.minute. for Sam’s baby to come out.

All three of my boys came after their due date. My first son put me into labor on Labor Day (he’s so clever) but decided to take a full 43 hours to come out, so he was late and also gets credit for making me slightly lose my mind. My third son was two days late, but since I had been on bed rest for 3 weeks due to a split pelvis, I consider every day after 37 weeks a day into the red. I was using the breast pump regularly to stimulate labor, tried homeopathic remedies and “labor lotion” and even tried castor oil a couple times (which every pregnant mama knows, you don’t GO THERE unless you are really desperate). Baby still was two days late in the end, but came out in just 2 hours, so he kinda wins for the Best Make It Up To My Mama labor.

Then we have my second son. Who was TEN days late. Why he felt the need to take his sweet time while I sweltered away the summer months in Los Angeles, I do not know. Maybe he knew he’d never sleep once he was born and was trying to get in the extra zzz’s. Maybe he was delaying things hoping he’d not have to actually come out–as if we’d just give up and say “fine, let him have his way”. That same just-wait-out-the-old-people-and-you-will-get-your-way mentality persists today. I wish I could say it didn’t work.

In the end, an old wive’s tale of taking jaegermeister during labor (for the valerian in it…yeah that’s it) ended up making it an easy 5 hour labor and he was born at home in a birth pool with nary a whimper. He just came up from the water and looked at me and said “heh.” And I couldn’t agree more.

Go here for more tales of lateness.

In Memorial

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

John 15:13

I hope you are all enjoying time with family today, and remembering the soldiers who put their lives on the line for us every day, whether we remember them or not.  No matter our feelings on this war, today is about the bravery of our soldiers.  Their sacrifice is humbling and admirable.

Beth has a tribute here and Sharon here that are more beautiful than anything I could do, so go ahead and check them out.

Jenny McCarthy: She’s Just Like You And Me

…except not possessed (check out my eyes!), isn’t as pale as the arctic tundra, and actually knows how to pose for photos. Sheesh. In my defense I forgot to put on my false eyelashes yesterday…

If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you know that I’ve been attending the Autism One conference this weekend. Above, I am pictured with Jenny McCarthy, who I was able to talk to about the upcoming Green Our Vaccines rally in Washington DC (June 4th) that she and Jim Carrey are spearheading. I can’t wait to share all the details with you.

I’m attending this conference as an autism parent, but I’m also covering the conference here on my blog and on my NWI Parent magazine blog in order to share the latest in autism research with those of you who could not be here in person. Posts will be up in the next couple days–the conference goes through tomorrow evening–and each day is absolutely packed with sessions upon sessions of information. I wish I had 5 brains to take it all in (and my one brain is not all that good at it anyway), but I’m taking mad notes, I’ve got video up the wazoo (that sounds painful) and I can’t wait to share with you the details of what I have learned.

If you think this information is all good and well but doesn’t affect you–think again. There is new research out there that DOES affect you, even if you don’t have a child with autism. Stick around, I think you’ll be enlightened.

Mommybloggers Unite

Yesterday was a day that included smart women, successful people and chocolates made with alcohol.

Heaven, no?

I was asked by Maria Bailey and her crew to be on a panel of mommybloggers that included Ashlee of Mama’s Nest & Mama Speaks, Jaymi of The Flip Flop Mamma, Amy of Mums The Wurd & Ladybug and Her Blogging Mama, Julie of Mothergoosemouse and Parent Bloggers Network, Jory of BlogHer and Pause, Emily of The Motherhood, Kim of Traveling Mom, and Steph at Adventures in Babywearing.

An incredible lineup, no? You may be asking yourself how I ended up in that group, and to that I say, “Hey!” and also “I know, I have no idea either.”

We were treated wonderfully and fielded questions about mommyblogging that included why we do it, how long we spend on it, will we do it when our kids are older, and even how we include social networking (especially Twitter) in our blogging lives. There was also plenty of discussion surrounding how, when, where and why to pitch mommybloggers. We gave advice on what we do and do not respond to, how to approach the more prickly bloggers, and how we stay objective when obtaining sponsorship (we basically don’t…we just maintain transparency, and only accept sponsorship from companies we feel good about representing).

I hope to attend more events just like this one, because I’m invigorated by successful women, and am incredibly passionate about the mommyblogger movement. We are a “market” to be reckoned with, and working with mommybloggers and companies is something I enjoy immensely.

After the panel, I was able to hang out with some of the bloggers (along with Self Made Mom) to talk more and get to know one another. No matter what our political beliefs, religious leanings, skin color or hobbies, the fact that we blog brings us all together in a way that I’ve never experienced before. The world is noticing that we mommybloggers talk to each other, even when we don’t know each other, and we share our hearts and souls (and product rants and raves) online. Amazing.

The day ended with some roaming, shopping and eating with Steph, and was topped off with a margarita chocolate from Ethel’s.

I want more. More of the captive audience, more of the smart women, more of the chocolate. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

Today Is The Day

My baby is one.  How can this be?  I wrote about it over here.  He’s walking, and kicking his brothers’ booties and taking names.  Little bro is growing up.

A Hot Mess In Headlights

Lately I’ve been discombobulated, but I think that the re-bobulation has commenced, and I don’t feel so out of body and wondering when the next shoe will drop.  I wish that meant that I’m doing better, but the truth is my heart is so heavy.  I feel as though I read story (scroll down for that story) after story of loss and grief and turn into a hot mess that can barely function each day.  Like a deer in headlights, I stare out the window trying to get my brain around all that is happening in this world. We have our share of struggles around here, and I know this is where my heavy heart is originating from.  My barely-scraping-by takes me out at the knees and my coping skills are almost non-existent.  It makes these sad stories even stronger in my heart than normal.  The sadness others experience is suffocating to me, and I’ve not even the person going through what they’re all going through.  Is it possible for empathy to be crippling?

Maybe you are reading this and saying, “doood.  stop reading sad stories!“, and honestly I wish I could.  But until the day that we finally decide to go off grid and embrace the Amish lifestyle, there’s no escaping the sorrow that is happening every day, all around us.  Maybe it’s the tortured artist part of my soul that can’t look away or stop thinking about these things, but I can’t tell if the sad stories have me feeling like a puddle of mush, or if I’m just such a hot mess that I’m gravitating towards people that feed my heavy heart.

Sometimes I feel as though I can sense every inch of my aching brain, like I’m aware of the curves and turns and wish it would just go numb a little.  My heart is at such a heightened state of sensitivity, that when my child is having a hard day I almost feel like the sad energy has my whole body reverberating with the hardship of it.  And the anticipation of it getting worse. And worse.

I read my own words, here, and even I don’t know what I’m talking about.  It’s not like great things aren’t happening in my life, they are raining down.  And that’s what I want to be thinking about, focusing on.

Getting this out in words, no matter how esoteric and nonsensical to 90% of you, does help.  I’m still a hot mess, but at least I’m no longer discombobulated.  That made me itch.

Be Cool

Have you been wanting a new blog design, but didn’t know who to turn to? Are you wanting to start your own blog but tired of the same old templates? Do posts that start out with a lot of questions make you dizzy and feel like running off and changing your blog header? Then this is for you…

My friend Beth from I Should Be Folding Laundry has a brand new gig…Be Design. She and her amiga have started their own blog design business and want to help YOU be one of the cool kids. Check out their site, and one of their first customers, and then get thee to Be Design with your order. If you move super fast and get your order in by THIS Thursday (May 15th) you will get a whopping 50% off your order. So what are you waiting for?