That Time I Tried to Catch up on My Blog

Life is busy guys.

I haven’t been posting on much social media lately, so let me see if I can try and catch you up a little 😊 We’ve had A LOT packed into the last few years. I’m sure many of you can relate to that.

Summer of 2021 we had five cross country trips. Only one of them was planned ahead by any length of time lol. Then some other exciting things happened as well.

First, a trip to West VA, then VA to take care of some motor cycle issues.

This was when we still had the big giant van and Bandit had a big comfy seat to lay down in. We saw the sunrise in West Virginia, and had a little bit of downtime in VA before we turned around and made the 18 hour trip home. In the last picture, you can see JJ and Bandit, and looking closely, you can see that they’re tethered together with a leash.

One of the ways Bandit helps us, is by making it harder for JJ to bolt when something scares or upsets him, and making it harder for him to just wander off when something has his attention. On this particular trip, JJ and Bandit were in the yard playing, and JJ thought he saw a spider on Bandit. Panicked, he took off running. Bandit acted as an anchor to slow JJ down so we could get to them. The spider turned out to be dried cut grass. People are afraid of bugs, but JJ’s fear means he doesn’t pay attention to where he’s going. The road and any cars or obstacles on the road aren’t on his radar. Bandit buys us enough time to get to JJ before he can get to the road. That day he did what we needed him to do ❤️

Next up, about a month later, we picked up one of our daughters from an 18 month mission she’d just completed. This was our planned trip lol

He did a great job. Part of what makes autism hard for my two little boys is being out of routine. Doing something different – and that’s all a trip is. Lots of different experiences. Like Bandit acted as a physical anchor on that first road trip, he acts like an emotional anchor for my kiddos when their world is kind of off.

Following that, my husband switched jobs, so we snuck off to visit his dad who was in his 90’s at the time.

We had a nice time and it was so good to see him. We snuck in a visit to see my grandma on this trip, too ❤️

Shortly after that, we got word that my 25yo cousin passed away. We weren’t able to make it to the funeral, and I don’t have any pictures of that time. But this time, Bandit helped me. He’s good at knowing who needs his love and I’m so grateful for that.

Next on the list of fun things we did in the last couple of years, we had a wedding. This was a new experience for us, we’d never had a child get married before. That made it Bandit’s first time, too 😊

Then we were back in the car traveling cross country again. This time for my grandma’s funeral. I’m so thankful we took the time to see her when we were there visiting my father-in-law.

One of Bandit’s jobs is to just relax. He can then share that calm with those around him. Traveling. Funerals. Overwhelming sounds at the luncheon after the funeral are all things Bandit can help us with. As you can see, he did his job perfectly.

While we were here, we took the spend more time with father in law again. We brought pie over and we all enjoyed it together, then it was back on the road to head home.

After that trip we were able to go to UCM in Warrensburg to work with the Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority to raise money for Paws4Autism, the organization Bandit’s with. JJ had fun hanging out with the girls and loved the attention. It also just happened to be right around his birthday so they spoiled him a little. It was a great time and we were able to help raise funds that go back into the program to keep training and adding new pups to the program.

And then we were back on the road. We got word one morning that my father in law passed away. He’d been admitted to the hospital shortly after we’d visited with him at the end of October, but had started doing better. This wasn’t news I was expecting, especially after losing my cousin and grandmother. But we loaded everyone back into the cars and took the 20 hour drive west once again.

With funerals, there’s a lot of high emotion. Grief and feeling overwhelmed are just a few. And for us, add in exhaustion. JJ is like an amplifying sponge. He soaks in all of the emotion and feeling around him because his brain doesn’t filter them out. Then he sends them back out 10-fold. So being able to help him regulate those feelings and calm down is really important. That’s one of the places that Bandit can really help.

For JJ, we know that just touching Bandit regulates his heart rate and that’s a huge help. Another thing that JJ finds helpful sometimes is some deep, but gentle pressure. Here he is with Bandit resting with his legs on JJ’s lap to help with both. Poor JJ hadn’t been smiling a few minutes before because he was getting overwhelmed. Bandit is the fastest, easiest way to accomplish this.

My father in law was a veteran. He received his gun salute and this is the flag they presented his wife. I had a great father in law. I’m grateful for the sacrifice of him and countless other Veterans.

PS: Bandit didn’t like the gun salute…

After the summer and fall we had, it was nice to be able to do some normal, mundane things, like go to the dentist, lol

Dentist visits can make people nervous. JJ is no exception. We take Bandit with us to help keep JJ calm. You can see them working together here with touch and pressure to make the experience better for everyone involved.

Things were relatively ordinary for a little while, but we got to celebrate again mid 2022, and it rounded out the year featured above. A second child got married ❤️

We had a great time celebrating and Bandit was in on the fun, too.

We sure did need those two weddings to help offset the hard stuff that year encompassed.

After this, we started our school year. And this year we’ve been homeschooling both little boys, both with autism, instead of just one. And it’s been an adventure lol Luckily, Bandit is good at helping the boys, which I really appreciate since it can get overwhelming for all of us at times. This is honestly where so much of my time goes and one of the things that makes updating any social media more challenging than it used to be.

And yay! We get to do more normal things, too. Like speech therapy.

Bandit stays close, always within reach in case JJ needs him if he starts getting overwhelmed with therapy. I can remind him to pet his dog, and that usually helps get us back into the flow of things.

And during all of this, I’ve added more things to my learning and fundraising, I just haven’t been able to post them (see above lol). My favorite new thing is sublimation. I must now sublimate all the things lol. I’ll try and add some of that work later. It’s fun 😊

When people ask why a service dog. Or ask how it helps, these are all the things I think about, and more. But often times, it’s hard to put into words. I’ve been fundraising for a dog for JJ, but in reality, Bandit is there for us all. He loves without condition, he’s always excited to see us. He’s there for the good stuff, the bad stuff, and everything in between.

As my kids say, “He is good boy.”

Thanks for stopping by

XOXOXO

To check out the Paws4Autism organization, go here: PAWS

To check out JJ and Bandit’s page, go here: JJ AND BANDIT

If you’d like to make a donation, just scroll to the bottom of JJ and Bandit’s page.

That Time I Made Myself Feel Better With Paper

There’s a lot of sad in the world right now. From world events, to national, to local, and right down to the people in our lives.

And I’m an emotional sponge. I soak in emotions. The easy emotions get released pretty easily. The laughter and smiles, that’s the easy stuff.

The hard ones…those are the emotions I keep in. I hold those close because I don’t WANT to give them to others. I don’t WANT others to feel those same things. So I keep them. I process them. I deal with them.

One of the ways I deal with them is art. But I don’t keep the art. The process and the thought behind the art is where the healing is for me, but that’s not the end of it. The end of that dealing with and healing from comes when I find the person that work belongs to. Sometimes it’s easy, if someone has been on my mind. Sometimes I have to wait and see who comes my way. But every single time I’ve been able to do something like that for someone, that’s really what healed my soul and filled my heart.

My therapist didn’t understand at first when she asked me what I did for ME. The answer is, I make things for someone else. And even if it didn’t fit her idea of what that meant, she realized that it worked for me.

So this last week I spent some time playing with paper because I needed to feel better. And I had a very specific project in mind. I needed the message it created. It didn’t come out exactly like I hoped, but I use the good stuff and once it was in place, that was it, lol.

The design took eight layers of paper to complete. I fell in love with the design right off the bat, and I absolutely love the colors and how they came out. It was tricky trying to get it to look like I wanted it to in the shadow box, but I got it figured out. The only part I’m not too keen on is the wording. I needed to use a lighter color of vinyl, but like I said, this stuff isn’t coming off easily lol.

Anyway, the words say, “You are Always Enough” I just wish I’d done it in white 🙂

Here it is, out of the shadow box, which takes the glare off of it. The designer did a beautiful job and this file was so nice to work with 🙂

Thanks for stopping by! We’re happy to see you 🙂

XOXOXO

Alta

That Time it Worked

This post has a sense of deja vu about it. We went back to church again this week. Again…

Quick refresher brief: along with my little boys being autistic, I have my own set of health issues that necessitate taking medication that suppresses my immune system. This makes it hard for my body to fight things off and hard for it to heal. And I had the fantastic adventure of starting this medication at the beginning of the pandemic. Because of this, there’s a lot of time at home and I have to be thoughtful about where and how I spend my time. Now, back to the post 🙂

So yes, I have written something similar to this post before, last year, when we went back after being out for over a year because of health concerns. But it was short lived. When the Delta variant started picking up speed in our area, we started staying home again. And while we were still fighting that, Omicron came in and my area was fighting two variants that overlapped. But things eventually got better, even if they took longer than we wanted, so we tried again.

Our congregation is quite a bit different than it was even last year. I had the opportunity to sit down with new people and try to figure out how to help the boys slide back into things as easily as possible. It was nice to sit and talk about what they needed to know to help them and to let them ask questions so they could best help my boys.

So this Sunday, we gathered things the day before. We made sure things were packed away in the bags I bring so we wouldn’t be scrambling the next morning. The boys and Bandit were clean and spiffy. We went over the things that needed to happen the next morning so we were on the same page. Everything was set… except…I got the start time wrong 🤦🏻‍♀️

We scrambled, panicked, made back up plans for seating since we weren’t there as early as we wanted to be, and had to remember to breathe. Lots of deep breaths later, we walked through the doors. I don’t know how it happened, but the exact spot we needed was still available and we were able to get settled in easier than I anticipated.

Isaac looked a little shell shocked and unsure at first, but quickly settled in. JJ was tense and careening to the fight, flight, or freeze stage of panic that happens when our routine changes and new things are coming at us. We know to expect this now though, and we’re usually prepared. And this is where Bandit comes in…he regulates JJ because JJ’s not able to regulate himself in these types of situations yet (We’re working on it).

Touching Bandit is all it takes to help J’s heart rate start to even out.

Petting Bandit calms my son even more.

THEN, that’s when JJ is ready to interact with me (or others) and let them help him. We have hugs that are really, really helpful, but if J isn’t at this point we can’t use them.

Bandit made it easier for J to sit in church – and he was actually able to focus on what was being said. I know that, because he shared it at dinner with the people who weren’t able to be at church that day.

I remember helping this little boy try to handle the sensory issues that came his way at church (or anywhere really). It wasn’t easy. And we worked on it for YEARS. But after two+ years of watching church from home, that little champ slid into that church pew like no time had passed.

All because of Bandit.

And it’s reasons like this that we do the hard things.

Thanks for stopping by, and as always, info about our organization will be linked below.

XOXOXO

To visit the Paws 4 Autism page please click here: Cool Stuff

To visit JJ’s fundraising page, click here: Really Cool Stuff

Service Dogs and Shoes

JJ and Bandit ❤️

People ALWAYS ask about our Paws 4 Autism dogs and their shoes.

Our service dogs wear shoes when there’s snow/ice on the ground to protect their feet from the ice melt/salt used to treat sidewalks and roads. They should also wear them when the ground is hot enough to burn their feet.

Bandit wears them EVERY TIME we go out, here’s why:

• To keep us and him in practice. Dogs, like people, keep their skills sharp by using them frequently.
• To protect their feet from things other than heat in the summer and salt in the winter. For example:
  • Sharp rocks
  • Glass shards
  • Chemicals that may be spilled on the ground in places like Home Depot, Lowes, or anywhere else.
• Floors are slippery
  • Poodles have HAIR instead of fur, so it needs to be cut. Dogs have hair on their feet and between the pads of their feet. It grows just like the rest of the hair on their bodies. And it makes hard surface floors slick. It’s like trying to move around in socks – it’s slippery. The shoes give them traction.

Here’s how this played out in real life a couple days ago.

The other night we went out for dinner. After I was done eating, I took Bandit outside so he could sniff around – I found out it’s a calming thing for them and he’d had a long evening. I wanted to stay in front of the restaurant because that’s where the light was. As we walked down the sidewalk, I noticed things sparkling on the ground. Broken glass was everywhere. If Bandit hadn’t been in his shoes, he would have been stepping all over it.

As a special needs mom, when we go out, I’m ALWAYS going through all the possible scenarios of what could go wrong. Then I figure out how to handle it or figure out an “escape route” in case I can’t. Then I play through all the ways to notice if something’s going to go wrong so I can step in before it goes wrong. I do this for both of my little boys (it’s exhausting). I also look around for things that Bandit might encounter that could startle, upset him, or put him in danger.

I will never be able to see all of the possible pit falls, so I prepare the best I can. For my boys, that’s a bag that has different things in it that usually help if they’re getting overwhelmed. For Bandit, it’s things like shoes.

I can’t predict everything, but I can prepare for many things. I’m so glad we took that extra step getting Bandit ready. It saved us a lot of trouble, but more importantly, it saved him from getting hurt.

And because dog shoes are so important, we’re always on the look out for really good ones. Shoes that stay on. Shoes that fit well so they don’t leave hot spots on the pup’s feet. Shoes that hold up since we’re using them all the time. If you have a personal favorite, feel free to let me know in the comments. We’d love to check them out 🙂

To find out more about our dogs and our organization, you can visit us here: Paws 4 Autism

To find out more about JJ and Bandit and our fundraising efforts, you can visit us here: JJ and Bandit

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXOXO

That Time I Made a Few Wedding Invitations

Besides being a mom to some awesome little kids, I’m a mom to some awesome big kids, too ❤️

One of those big kids is getting married next month. It’s a weird place to be. He’s my baby, but he’s not 😔

He was the first little one to call me mom. The first to hold my finger and smile up at me. The first to think I hung the moon.

I really like his soon to be wife. She just fits. So I was very honored to be able to make their invitations. It took some time, there were 150 of them, but every single one of them was made with love and wishes for an amazing future.

I was able to play with wax seals and had an absolute blast coming up with just the right color combinations for the wax.

This is the outside. The band holds everything together and simply slides off to open it.

Once opened, invitations, registry info, rsvp info, and map info can be found inside. And of course, a picture of the sweet couple.

I found the file in the Silhouette design store and cut out the envelope pieces and attached them.

Then I gathered the info, printed it, and cut it out. All of the cutting was done on my Silhouette Cameo. There’s NO way I would have been able to pull this off without that machine. It’s one of the best paper crafting tools I have 😀

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

That Time JJ Had a Panic Attack, but Didn’t

Last night I had the opportunity to speak with someone about Bandit and all the good he does. We also talked about why he’s “dressed” in his vest and shoes, and why we have a good leash. Besides being really attached to these pups, service dogs are NOT cheap and we come to rely on them. We take MANY precautions to make sure they can do their jobs and not be injured or lost.

I looked at her and then at the new to me car we downsized to last week, and then back before saying, “This pup costs more than the car I drive.”

So why put in all the time and energy for fundraising? We’ve been trying to fundraise through out covid, when things are uncertain and topsy turvy. Why sit back and come up with ideas you *hope* will help bring some donations in? Honestly, it can be very overwhelming, and I’d really hoped to be much further along than this.

But then there’s a day like we had this week. And it reaffirms why, and it motivates me to try harder. Because Bandit reaches my son on a level I can only dream of.

JJ has started hyperventilating when he’s upset. And of course asking him to calm and breathe doesn’t work – it doesn’t work for most people I know.

But I asked him to come sit with me – which he did and that’s HUGE for him, he usually shuts down and shuts us out. We did some of the things we’ve found that *may* help him calm, but it’s very hard to focus and concentrate.

But Bandit, that boy was on it. He came to us (he wasn’t far) and INSISTED on attention, lol. At first JJ wasn’t touching him, but Bandit wasn’t deterred, he kept rubbing up against his boy.

I helped my son reach out and start petting Bandit, start running his hands through the hair on top of Bandit’s head. And when JJ put his hand on Bandit’s neck, Bandit moved so JJ’s hand ended up sliding down and back up Bandit’s back.

Very quickly, JJ was able to calm and start actively regulating himself. Then he pet his dog on his own. Once he calmed, we talked and ironed things out and he was no longer upset.

I don’t think I could have done this without Bandit. I’ve always been on the outside. And when JJ can’t regulate, we go for DAYS of him trying to get back on track. And it’s hard and exhausting for everyone.

THIS is why we do the hard things.

I’m so grateful for Bandit and for finding Paws 4 Autism ❤️

As always, here’s a link to JJ’s fundraising page. Because Paws 4 Autism is a not for profit organization, ALL of the money we raise goes directly back into the organization to help provide dogs for other children who need a buddy like Bandit.

Thanks for stopping by, and look for some fun fundraising ideas coming up 😀

XOXOXO

JJ and Bandit ❤️

A Better Person – Our Autism Journey

I’m a better person because of autism; more specifically I’m a better person because of my sons with autism.

I’m more compassionate because of them. More aware of the struggles of the people around me because of them. I’m more understanding of those around me. More willing to acknowledge when people are trying, even if it’s not working.

I’m more caring and less judging.

I’m less worried about what people think and more concerned with how I can help.

I’m more willing to cut my way through the condescending stares of strangers as they judge struggling moms so I can put my arm around this other mom and offer support and help instead of criticism.

I know I am judged. I know I will continue to be. I know that not everyone will understand my life and the challenges we face with autism, and I don’t expect them to.

But if I’m going to be judged no matter what, it will be for doing the right thing. For stepping in and doing the best to love as the Savior did. He walked hard roads alone so that we didn’t have to.

And my autistic sons taught me these things. They’re helping shape me into a person like the ones I admire. Into the person I want to be. Into the person the Lord knew I could become.

Many days with autism can be hard and challenging. But I would not be who I am today without these boys in my life and I’m happy with the woman I’m constantly growing into.

Bump in the Night – JJ and Bandit Service Dog Files

One of the jobs an autism service dog can do is help their person sleep.

My son, like many on the spectrum, has trouble sleeping. Specifically, he has trouble calming and regulating enough to be able to fall asleep. There have been some long nights, and even some nights that didn’t end. There were times when our medications were out of whack and sleep NEVER came.

As a reminder, Bandit is leaning to work with children – that’s how we’re helping as we foster. He sees me as the person to follow, because that’s what he’s used to. But he’s tethered to JJ most of the day and he’s starting to get comfortable with me farther away, which is exactly what we want him to do ❤️

We started a nighttime routine that lets JJ fall asleep with Bandit.

That’s what’s happening right now. I’m sitting on the hardwood floor writing this as those two snooze away lol. The goal is for Bandit to stay in JJ’s room with him throughout the night, but we’re not there yet. Bandit still gets up and leaves the room with me when my back decides it can’t sit on the floor any longer. But the ease of the transition is getting faster. Both boys are settling into this routine and I feel like there are only good places to go from here ❤️

Thanks for stopping by

Xoxo

As always, if you’d like to read more about JJ’s story, you can find it here: help JJ. If you’re interested, you can also donate to our fundraising efforts there ❤️

JJ and Bandit Update: The Service Dog Files and Fundraiser Reminders

JJ and Bandit are doing so great things ❤️

If you’re friends with me on FB, you’ve probably already heard about these things, so I apologize. But for the rest of you, I wanted to share some things 😊

Between ADHD, Autism, Anxiety, and Dyslexia, school can be hard. But this is some of what I saw this week, that I haven’t seen before.

In the above picture, JJ was stressing over the work, I could see it. But before I could intervene, he reached out and pet Bandit, which is exactly what Bandit is there for! This was HUGE for JJ. I honestly didn’t know if JJ would respond to a dog in the beginning. But he has been. Then, I wasn’t sure if he’d reach out to Bandit in times of need. We’ve tried a lot of different fidgets and stress reducers to help him be able to calm down when he needed to, but those haven’t been that successful. But guess who’s been reaching out 🙂 And Bandit is there within easy reach.

In the picture below, I caught some good stuff, too.

I don’t think this looks like a kiddo who’s dreading school lol. We also switched online academies and that’s helped with completing school work, but now I’m worried JJ won’t WANT to go back to public school because this is just way too cool for him lol.

When not working, they’ve been able to work on Settle. Many with autism find deep, gentle pressure calming. Because Paws 4 AUTISM uses standard poodles, they weigh enough to provide that kind of pressure. Many times, you can find JJ resting on Bandit, but sometimes, he needs Bandit to rest on him.

Last but not least, LOVE. Bandit is a service dog, so by nature, he provides service. But he’s so much more than that. He’s quickly becoming JJ’s best friend. And as such, JJ works to make sure Bandit has the things he needs, including belly rubs.

JJ’s smile says everything you need to know about how it’s going.

And this is why we’re fundraising. The two fundraisers we have going right now are Ear Savers and Back to School Signs. You can find info about them below. And as always, JJ’s direct fundraising page if you just want to learn more about his story or donate.

Ear Savers to make wearing masks more comfortable.

Back to School Sign to bring a little smile to your face

Help JJ

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxoxo

Bandit: Service Dog Files

One of the things Bandit is doing for JJ is giving him “something” to do.

JJ struggles to find appropriate things to do on his own. So WE have to make sure he always has something to do to stop him from getting in to trouble. We worked with his therapy team at the beginning of the year to try and figure out how to “keep him out of trouble,” because keeping him out of trouble is proving WAY easier than actually getting him through the consequences of getting himself in trouble.

It’s helped. A LOT.

And now, among the many things Bandit is learning to do for kids on the spectrum, helping provide something for them to do is one of those things. He holds my son’s attention and that’s not always easy.

Good boy Bandit!

For more information about JJ’s story, or Paws 4 Autism, just follow the links.

Thanks for stopping by!

Xoxoxo