Carnival Cruise to Cozumel 2012: Part 1

Goldfish carrots

As I was making up the boys' baskets tonight, slightly saddened that I will be missing this Easter with them, I remembered that I wanted to add some snacks to the baskets other than candy.

So I made these...

It literally took less than 4 minutes for both and turned out really cute.

All you need to make these are

• piping bags (I always have tons of these)
• some kind of orange filler (Goldfish, Cheeto's, Jellybeans, orange candies)
• green ribbon

I would have loved to make some with jellybeans, but since my boys are obsessed with Goldfish, I already had two bags sitting in my pantry waiting to be used. You could use any kind of ribbon, any shade of green, but since I bought a spool of curling ribbon a year ago, I am using this lime green curling ribbon for EVERYTHING!

There you have it. A fun, quick snack too add a little Spring spirit to Easter!

For a list of the sites I link to, check out the Where I Party tab above! :)

Cruising out of here

Well everyone, this time tomorrow, the hubs and I will be cruising out of here. Tomorrow afternoon we will be boarding the beautiful Carnival Triumph to set sail on a 4 day cruise to the gorgeous island of Cozumel with some of our friends.

We are so very excited. There was a little bit of controversy this weekend when the Triumph came into port. The US Marshalls were waiting for its arrival in order to hold it (I say for ransom) due to a civil litigation...family members of one of the travelers aboard the Costa Concordia who passed away, decided to sue ( why not? In America, we sue everyone...note my extreme sarcasm) and the two companies that owned the CC also owned the Triumph. It was being held at port on $10 million bond.

At first Josh and I were panicking. We hoped that if they were going to cancel the cruise, they would let us know quickly so that we could make reservations somewhere else. We were going on vacation regardless. But they more we thought about it, if the boat stayed in port, we would still be happy. Basically we would board, unpack our things in our "hotel" room and begin eating and participating in all the on-board activities. We would be upset we wouldn't make it to Mexico for all our fun excursions, but the main things was to get away. And as long as we had food, shelter, and entertainment...we were good.

Luckily, they reached an agreement, and this weekend's cruisers set sail only 45 minutes late. The hubs and I intently watched the live port camera just to make sure.

We are packed and ready. We have our children packed for a weekend with their grandparents. We have our dog reservations at a local dog hotel. We have our passport cards. I am ready for a little fun in the sun, and rest and relaxation. I am looking so forward to sleeping in!

April is Autism Awareness Month...

Happy 1st day of Autism Awareness Month!

I wish I was celebrating for any other reason. Much like cancer, I wish there was no need for having an awareness month because it would not be an issue. Boy how I wish Autism did not exist.

My son is a blessing. A difficult, wonderful, annoying, frustrating, loving, blessing. But I will tell you what is more of a blessing....having one child with Autism and one child without Autism. It helps remind me of the "normal" things that we take for granted. Raising children is really difficult. They don't come with manuals, but we hopefully mentally write our own as we go. It is bittersweet to struggle so much with Caleb and for things to be so much easier with Jansen. It makes me search out for those little accomplishments Caleb makes and it makes me enjoy the parenting of a neurotypical child.

It is a blessing when Caleb voluntarily hugs a member of the family, whether he does it because he has learned that it is socially appropriate, or whether he truly feels like hugging someone because he loves them. It is a blessing when Caleb says "If I don't go to the store with you will it hurt your feelings?" because he is registering that his actions have affects on others and he was able to verbalize it. It is a blessing for him to finally be so mad at me that he says "I hate you!" because that means I am parenting him, not just enabling him, and he is using language that typically developing children use. (although it stung in my heart)

It is a blessing that Jansen is such a people pleaser who loves to help out in any way possible. It is a blessing that I can tell Jansen to do something, and he ALWAYS happily does so WITH using his manners. It is a blessing that I can change plans in the middle of the day with him and he doesn't blink an eye.

Our family is affected by Autism, but it doesn't define us. It has changed my life dramatically in ways that I often can't articulate. I will continue to be an advocate for my child and for others who might not have a voice. My son is different, not less, and I love him the best!

Meltdowns...

Well, it has been a good 6 weeks since Caleb's last hysterical meltdowns. That is a blessing. They are spacing out to the point where hopefully, they no longer exist. Maybe that is wishful thinking, but at this point, I choose to be wishful.

Today he is in full force meltdown mode. I saw it coming, and there is a point of no return that he hit yesterday...where nothing anyone can do or say will prevent it. Honestly, it is good to get it over with, because all the pent up frustration, anxiety, and angst needs to be gone so he can feel relieved and start over.

His birthday was this week, which I am sure has contributed to his spiral into hysteria. He had a fun filled weekend, and his week at school was not his typical routine. I saw it on Tuesday. He came home just a little bit out of sorts. He was a little louder, a little easier to anger, and more argumentative. Homework was difficult each day. Thursday, he didn't want to ride his horse, Sunny during horse therapy and actively avoided contact with him after a certain point. He showed all the signs of a meltdown.

This morning he didn't want to go to his friend, Logan's house...which is completely out of character. Once Logan came to our house to spend the night, Caleb was extremely rigid. He wouldn't let anyone play near him, with him, for him, at him...He screamed and yelled. He would only let them play with him in a certain way. His level was minutes away from being reached.

It hit a rule point when he wouldn't let Logan be the Mario character on his Mario racetrack. I pulled him aside to let him know that the rule is: When you have a guest over, the guest gets to choose toys and characters. It was that point where he lost his mind.

He began screaming, spitting, and hissing at me, to which I took him to his room not to return to the living room. I had already explained before the great meltdown what the consequence for his behavior would be, because I knew once he blows, there is no rationalizing with him. He checks out. So, he has been in his room, screaming, throwing toys (and as each toy is thrown, I walk in a quietly remove them from the room), telling me he hates me, blaming me for his grounding, threatening to destroy my belongings, flopping around on the bed and the floor. I popped him when he spit in my face....I draw the line there.

The other two boys have been so wonderfully playing together, and I am now trying to keep Caleb in his room, even though he wants to play. Much like having a seizure, I just have to keep him safe until he is able to calm down and we can talk. We are going on an hour now with the screaming and crying.

It makes me think....I am looking at a 9 year old. Right now, I can wrap him up, squeeze him, and help him calm down. What happens when he is 13, 19, 32? Can I do this as he gets older? Can I wrestle this young adult to the ground to lie on him and compress his joints? Can I teach him how to do this for himself, even when he feels out of control? ***sigh***

The crying has subsided and I am going to venture in to try to talk to him. Wish me luck.

Marble Easter eggs...

It's that time again...time to color Easter eggs....

The boys decided to do a marbeled style egg this year, so it was a multi-step process...

Here are the eggs with the base color...minus the blue egg on the right that fell on the floor and shattered. Yeah....that's how it rolled....

Some of them turned out more marbeled than others, but that is what makes them each beautiful!

My favorite, hot pink and lime green!!!

We won't be in town for Easter this year, so these will be hidden on Thursday before we leave and will be found on Monday when we return :)