Always Keep Your Chin Up: December 2008

About this blog

The road of life can be so many things at so many different times. One minute you're on a smooth straightway, zipping through without a care in the world. The next minute, you are at a crossroads, wondering which road to go on. Then you find yourself climbing up a steep slope wondering if you'll ever make it to the top, only to find that the top is full of nothing but bumps and potholes. You tell yourself, "you can't stop now, you must go on" because soon there is bound to be straight and smooth paths again. You can see the prize at the end, but while you are on the path, you must not forget to..."Keep Your Chin Up."

Ryan & Autism

I started this blog primarily for the subject of autism, but as the years have gone on, it has morphed into other areas. My hope is that by sharing a little about our lives, whatever the topic may be, we will be touching a part of someone esle and telling them that they are not alone.

My 9 year old son, Ryan, has autism. I started this blog as a way for me to have an outlet to connect, express and, hopefully, receive feedback on life as we know it. Raising a child with a disability can be a very isolating experience. The only way to do it, and to stay sane, is to "keep your chin up."

It's also a way for me to be able to spread a little awareness out there by sharing the kind of typical things we go through. I think you'll find we are more like a typical family, than not.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Christmas pics

Our attempt at Gingerbread house. The boys had a lot of fun putting the candies on - almost as they're having now picking them off and eating them.

Nathan insisted that EVERY Reindeer had to have his own carrot, so we ended up putting the whole bag on the plate.

They love the stilts!

Nathan more into opening presents than having a camera in his face!

Their big gift from Santa was a drum set. Now lessons are in order, as well as a soundproof drum cage!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

our first snow

view from our back deck.

I've been so behind in blogging over the holidays - Thanksgiving and getting ready for Christmas has kept me incredibly busy, but I didn't want to neglect to post pics of our first real snowfall this year. It came very early for the Nashville area. If I remember the weatherman correctly, this was the first significant snow for December in the past 8 years. The snow fell on Dec. 11 and was enough snow to cancel school the next day. We're only talking about 2-3 inches, but 2-3 inches in these neck of the woods is a pretty significant snow fall! I love that we are out of the city now and can enjoy a little more snow when it does snow. Even though we are further south from Nashville, we are out of the bowl that Nashville is and can enjoy more weather events.

Nathan was very, very sick the day and day after it snowed, but here he is 2 days later, just before the snow all melted, building a snowman with dad.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

The boys first Preds game

We took the boys to their first Preds hockey game on Tues. I wasn't sure how long they would stay entertained for, but they made it through the whole game. It was so cute watching them clap and get into the rants. Thankfully, Nathan thought everyone was saying "you're stuck" when the "you suck" chants were being screamed! And Ryan asked if he could go skate on the ice when when the players all came out!! Our seats were 6 rows back from the ice so we had great shots of the puck going back and forth as well as up close views of the action packed fights! It turns out popcorn and cotton candy do have times of being a good thing as it helped them sit still a little longer. Poor Nathan was just beginning his leg of being sick and needed to rest his head at times, but he had the best time in spite of not feeling his best. The Preds lost, but still managed to take advantage of one of their power plays. Overall the game was exciting and a great first time experience for the boys.