And we're off...

Vacation planning:
Called resort to verify height of deadbolts and distance from cabin to river... Check.
Ordered a child tracking device... Check.
Packed plenty of trains, cars, the favorite blanket, and extra Melatonin... Check.
Washed and packed every pair of underwear Waylon owns (and may need to stop at Walmart for more, depending on how many times he craps his pants this week)... Check.

Highs in the 70's this week means Waylon won't look quite so odd in his most favorite outfit to wear- hooded sweatshirts and swimming trunks.

Stopped the car three times before we made it to Pomona, and finally, for the mental health of everyone in the vehicle, Waylon got his first ever mid-afternoon dose of Melatonin.

Hoping for a nice, relaxing vacation... and hoping that Waylon wakes up in a better mood!

Melts My Heart

Forgot to mention in my summer catch-up, probably the most exciting part of our summer so far. Waylon has started spontaneously saying our names.
AMAZING.
Anytime you walk in the room, anytime he wants your attention, anytime he thinks it will cause you to smile and tackle him and smother him with love, his eyes get big and he yells
"THERE'S MOMMY!"
Trav usually responds to the "THERE'S DADDY!" with "That's right! I'm Daddy!" So Waylon echoes, "THAT'S RIGHT! I'M DADDY!"
Sure, it's a little repetitious, but I'll take it.
I'll never forget sneaking my head around the corner of his room to hear the first time Miss Jennifer (a.k.a. Most-Amazing-Speech-Path-Ever) got Waylon to repeat sounds ("Ba Ba Ba"). I'll never forget calling Trav at work months later and putting it on speaker phone while Miss Jennifer coaxed the words "Mommy" and "Daddy" from Waylon's amazing little brain.
And I've written this new oh-so-amazing milestone in the baby book, although I doubt this is something that I will ever forget.
Just melts my heart.

I'd rather be blogging... Part 2

It's been ages since I've posted last. Sorry about that.
I've had such good intentions this summer. I've finished orientation at work, I took the summer off school, and Waylon is only in therapy two days a week now. I should be blogging up a storm, right?
It's just that I've been having way too much fun.

After a semi-stressful spring, where we
     a) Made Waylon's kindergarten plans
     b) Made Waylon's summer therapy plans
     c) Stressed for hours over a and b
     d) Enrolled Rose in pre-school
     e) Signed Caden up for coach-pitch
     f) Started a new job
     g) Started back to school
     h) etc, etc, etc.
I made an epic, life-altering, mind-blowing conclusion.
This is dumb.

I mean, sure, all the experts say kids with autism should have 40 hours of therapy per week. But who cares if they can talk or not if they don't even know which one of these people is their mother? And who cares if I get my Bachelors degree or not if I get committed to the State Hospital and lose my job anyways?
Life is too short.
So, we cut Waylon's hours back to just 2 days a week. We hired a rocking awesome teenager to come to the house and watch the kids while I'm at work. (Every kid should get to sleep in in the summer time, right?) And I took the summer off of school, so I could really enjoy my new job (which I love) and really enjoy my days off, without homework (which has been amazing). We got a plastic pool and a fire pit. We roasted hot dogs and s'mores and blew off fireworks. We are just having fun.
Which brings me to my next point. In approximately 18 hours we are heading on a family road trip/vacay. The house is a mess, nothing is packed, but-
I'd rather be blogging. (This seems to be a trend...)