State of July

Keeping up with my blog is a challenge I gladly accept, however it may be more than I should have taken on.  This mommy is feeling a little sad and run down and really shouldn't share it all, yet I blog on.  Visiting other special needs blogs, I find many of them have autistic children who at least feed themselves or regularly scheduled nursing visits to get them through the day or some sleep at night.  There is the occasional blog where the writer/parent is in the most difficult stage of their child's disability and has found this one outlet to vent.

Speaking  of other blogs, here is an honest account of a special needs child finding his smile at Christians Journey. Also, I strongly recommend a video on Youtube that is definitely worth watching and sharing, The Strongest Dad in the World.

Do not mistake me, there are many moments to be grateful for in the past several days.  First on my mind, John and I had some fun together!  Really.  We did.  I think it's been a year since I was out scuba diving last.  Our very precious respite hours were arranged through Partner's In Care (PIC), bringing Miss Debbie to watch over Riley.  Ronan spent the day with a schoolmate.  John loaded up the car and off we went to Venice for a day of fossil diving.  John got me aboard The Shark Tooth Guy's kayak and he swam alongside.  Strangely he was winded long before me:-)  Visibility was dreadful and John searched until discovering that the blocks (an artificial reef area) off Alhambra had at least 1-2 feet of visibility.  I held on to him most of the time but frightened him quite a bit by getting lost at one point.  I was lost, he was worried.  After lecturing me above, he recovered and we had quite a nice day together.  I regrettably supplied lovely fodder for The Shark Tooth Guys facebook page.  My first return into the kayak did not go smoothly, not that I expected it to be graceful.  John coached me on how to maneuver myself back into the kayak after he lifted all my diving equipment back in for me.  I tried to push my weight toward the far side but managed to tip the kayak swiftly into my face and now sport a fat lip.  The triumph was that we didn't lose any equipment into the ocean depths!  Not so bad then.

Here is the weekend's fossil collection.  This is a riot, everything in our lives now includes a burp cloth, one of the many cloth diapers we use to be prepared for Riley.  I leave trails of them everywhere I go and now they are even used for photo backgrounds. 

Fourth of July we stayed home.  The big activities of the day was swimming.  Ronan was determined to have time in the pool with Daddy.  I don't believe he noticed the deluge of rain, but I know John did.

To the other sad and run down special needs parents and caregivers searching for your child's smile wherever you are, I invite you to share your story.  I see you visit silently from all areas of my little widget globe.  No judgment from me.  This is simply a place to paint a portrait of the special needs life.  Send me a comment and we'll work it out.

We are all special... thank you for stopping by, Stacie.

Here is a discussion on inclusion by Galen which all special needs parents debate.
Since I am really into sharing today, a special needs mom shares her heartache on Serendipity.

One more interesting link for you, The Amazing Art of Disabled Artists.