Just wanted to share with you what I've been up to.  Here some examples of the new bath product line.  Enjoy.

Waffles in honor of Grandma West

I woke up craving waffles and remembered that I now own my Grandmothers General Electric Waffle Iron.  For many years we sat at the kitchen table at my grandma's and ate waffles.  She would place the iron on the corner of the table and make waffles until we couldn't eat anymore.  LOL.  Guess what I plugged that iron in and off I went.  The waffles were crisp and mouth watering.  Do you have similar memories?  Do you recognize this waffle iron?

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Here are the highlights of our Christmas this year.  We had a great year and it was a perfect ending.  Hope you all have a happy and healthy New Year.

Adventures in Autism: Paul Offit: Nothing to Disclose

Adventures in Autism: Paul Offit: Nothing to Disclose: "On Tuesday Nov. 23, the AMA is holding a seminar entitled: 'Immunization: Benefits, Safety, and Perceived Risks' Paul Offit will be speaki..."

He is sooo FUNNY!

You really have to have a sense of humor when living with autism.  We try to always have lots of humor to our day and Ty brought us quite a bit of laughter tonight.  He has still been working on potty training.  He is doing such a great job and we are very proud of him.  He is now over a week accident free.  Yea for Ty. 
Well this evening he was running around the living room patting his own behind.  I asked if he needed to go pee...."nope I don't think so", so I asked did you pee your pants?  "nope no accidents here".  Chris says do you need to poop?????  He turns to us and says "yes".  Off to the bathroom he went.  From inside the bathroom we hear "no accidents here it was just a SNORT!"  OMG I nearly fell off the couch.  He was trying to say SHART and got his words messed up.  I love that kid.  So funny!

Friends are PRICELESS!

Chris, Ty and I had a great night.  Shawn, Tonya and Connor came over for dinner and cards.  We have not gotten together in over a year and it was amazing.  We have been through a very difficult year and broken relationships.  You know true friendships will prevail.  We are very lucky to know such a sweet and caring family.  My heart is full this evening.  I am so glad that we are no longer letting others manipulate our friendship.  Tonight was about just having fun and not about what we have been through.  I love you guys and I knew this day would come.  By the way, I have never seen my son play with another child his own age.  He loved having Connor here.  I guess Connor is familiar to him.  He really engaged play with Connor and in return Connor treated him just like all of his other friends.  We have had lots of company over and Ty's evening always consists of sitting on the computer playing games by himself.  Tonight he was running and chasing Connor.  I'm so excited to get them together again.  We had a victory tonight over autism.  Ty one......autism Zip, Zero Nada!!!!!!  We win!  lol!

Ty's Army!

Here are the beautiful women that bless us with their talents everyday. Miss Sarah, Miss Joy and Miss Ashlee you have a very special place in my heart. I love you girls.

These are the moments I live for.  Ty looked at me and said "ha" "I look funny".  A couple of years ago he was non-verbal and pictures were out of the question.  I am blessed!

December 28, 2010

Good afternooon everyone!  I'm just sitting here on the couch catching up on DVR programs and thinking I'm going to go absolutely out of my mind.  I can't tell you how long its been since I just sat down to do nothing.  I live for these moments of piece and then they come and I don't know what to do with myself.  I've tried building legos for Ty and I can't seem to find all of the parts.  I played Donkey Kong all day yesterday.  Ha ha ha!  Oh and I have been looking up new recipes for bath products.  I also found some beautiful fabric flowers I can't wait to create.  You can put them in your hair or on your clothes etc....  They are amazing.  Oh and I made up some lip balm a couple of days ago and my first batch turned out great.  From all of the research I've done, I guess I was pretty lucky it came out on the first try.  I loved it!  It's very moisturizing.  Who knows I will probably try another batch today and try for and tint.  The scent of the first batch is Lemon Spearmint.  I think todays will be Lime Sage.....hmm but what color?

My life in a nut shell!

I am 40 years old and can finally say, I know who I am. It's a relief to be able to say that. It has been a long journey to get here and I would be lying to say I didn't get here without a lot of scars. The last three years have been the hardest and best years of my life. As the old saying goes, God won't give you more than you can handle. My life changed in the blink of an eye laying in my bathroom floor on December 31, 2005 when I found out that my husband would be deploying within the next 6 months. We spent the next 4 months getting ready for his departure. You have to understand that I had never been alone up til this moment in my life. I had to learn how to take care of myself and this beautiful baby boy. Johnny left in April and Ty stopped babbling and I didn't hear a sound come out of him for three months. I was grieving the loss of my husband and couldn't bear to face the pain that my son was slipping through my hands everyday. I did everything the doctors told me to with vaccines, food intake, fluid intake etc...Yet still everyday he would slip further and further away. Yes in one year I lost my husband and my son.........And I wonder after a year and a half deployment why I finally had to admit defeat and go see a counselor. I found strength I didn't know I had. I found friends I didn't know I had. It is soooo true that when you are in the valley you find out who your true friends are. I had to grow up and become the grown up. Now with life's schedule, I don't beat around the bush I just tell you what I think. I don't waste time on the small stuff. We have too many other very important things in our lives like our children to occupy our time. Communication has become very important to me. I spent so many of my younger years not thinking my opinion was important and now I just fight to be heard. So what if you don't like it. When I was stipped down with this deployment and autism, I FOUND MYSELF again. I forgot how to laugh. I forgot how much fun I used to be. I know that this new and improved Melissa has taken a few people back but if you just open your eyes you'll see that you are finally seeing ME. The true me. I feel happy and content in my own skin. As i type those words I have a smile on my face because I never thought I would ever get here. For those of you out there that don't have a clue what AUTISM is please don't be ignorant as we were. Educate yourselves. This is an epidemic. 1 in 150 children are diagnosed. 1 in 80 boys. We have to find a cure. Please I beg of you before you have your babies, do some research. My son was born with a weakened immune system. It was NOT one thing that put him over the top. It was the fact that his body couldn't handle the same things a typical child could. I hope that through this wild journey that one person hears my cries and changes the outcome for their own children. Please don't watch your child disappear before your very eyes.