Sadie Girl

 I know some of you will think this is inappropriate to share. I remember having this same picture as a kid. I guess the summer is wearing out this girl.

Our sweet silly girl. Sadie loves to play with her younger brothers. She is a great big sister and the boys love her.

Emotional Roller Coaster

Sawyer was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder and Pervasive Developmental Delay at the age of 18 months. This places him on the autism spectrum.  When people hear autism I feel like sometimes there is this preconceived notion that he hits himself, throws tantrums, won't look you in the eyes, and has behavioral problems, but this is not true. Sawyer doesn't express these kinds of behaviors. He is a pleasant kid to be around and he loves to play and interact with adults. His eye contact is amazing if you are willing to engage in his play. He loves when people sing to him. 
Things can be extremely overwhelming having this responsibility as a mother. I'm not looking for sympathy here. There are many programs that can benefit Sawyer but the cost is where the problem begins. Early Intervention has been a great asset.  Ben and I want to do everything we can to make sure Sawyer has the best quality of life. Currently I run my own program daily. I do ABA and Floor Time for about 2 hours a day. This is a big sacrifice for my other 2 children, but they seem to handle it well. 

Daily Routine at my house looks like this with Sawyer..
Get him out of his crib. He claps to sign more, because he wants me to sing. So I sing a song while I get him undressed. I hand him his diaper which he hands back to me to put on, brush his legs with his brush. Then he gives me his shoes and socks to put on. Come upstairs hands me a drink picture card and I give him his drink. We eat breakfast. Then do his brain functioning exercises of spinning him in the chair and then have him follow a stripped pattern with his eyes. 
I feed the other children and get them ready. 
Quite often Sawyer has a therapist appointment after breakfast time. He has an occupational therapist that comes twice a month. A Developmental Specialist that comes twice a month and a Physical and Speech therapy that come once a month. On the days that he doesn't have a therapist come in I try my best to get chores done. 
After this we are on to lunch for the kids.
Sawyer's is on a gluten and diary free. So he has a meal separate from the rest of us unless I make something for the whole family that is gluten and diary free. 
After lunch we do the brain functioning exercises.
Then I do 2 hours of combined ABA and Floor Time therapy. He has an hour break and then Abby and Taylor come and work with him. Doing the Picture Exchange Program, Circle time, and more Floor Time therapy. 
Around this time we start to prepare for dad to come home and get dinner ready. Once again after dinner we do brain functioning exercises. The rest of the day is free time for Sawyer to play with dad and have fun interacting with the family.  

On top of our everyday schedule we find time to go see Doctor Nelsen once a month in Heber City.

Recently I have done some research on Syndromes. We will be having Sawyer genetically tested in December. We feel he may have Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome. Hopefully insurance will cover this. 

I guess I'm just writing this more for myself so I can look back and remember what life was like with an autistic toddler. 

In the end I am so grateful for my sweet little boy, Sawyer. He has brought a big piece of Heaven into our home. I would not change a thing about him. I'm grateful for the power of prayer and priesthood blessing. They have given me much strength on this emotional roller coaster. I'm also grateful for my family and friends that have been so supportive and loving in this journey. I'm grateful for my husband who believes in me and supports me in my efforts with Sawyer. I couldn't get through it without the strength of him. Sadie has proven to be an amazing sister and daughter. Always willing to help. She has an unconditional love for life and her family. Spencer has been a great blessing in our family. He is a happy and content baby and we are indeed grateful for that. I know that I was meant to have this family here on earth. This is Heavenly Father's plan for me and my family.

The Season has begun.

Sadie is taking after her dad. She has become an amazing gardener. She planted her own bean plant and made sure she watered it every day. One day dad came home to find her bean plant in a pot. She had watched Ben transplant some tomatoes and thought she would do the same with her bean plant. Needless to say lesson learned by Sadie.

 Our garden. That I can say I have not yet touched this year. I love my sweet husband along with his obsession in gardening.

Blacksmith Property

 Getting ready for bed.

 

Aaron was nice enough to play with all the kids in the creek and help them with the fire hose. 

 

Summer Swimming

 This year I have taken the kids to the pool almost every Thursday. Abby and Taylor have been nice enough to come and help me with all the kids. Sadie is becoming a good swimming and Sawyer has learned to enjoy the water.

Sawyer hanging out with Zoey.

4th of July

 All the cousins having fun!

Would you believe that this little boy won the crawling race! After practicing for a year and a half.

Spencer

 My sweet little boy at 4 months started to roll over.

5 months old and he is full of smiles!

Bear Lake Fun

1st Dance Recital

This is after the dance recital. Hence the dirty tights.

Team Dance

Aunt Mandi came to celebrate!

Sadie Graduation

 Sadie had a Hawaiian themed graduation. She loves singing all the songs she learned at preschool and is really sad that preschool is over for the year.

Mommy and her girl!

Therapy Time

 Hope and Jennica are Sawyer's developmental therapist.

 This is Jolene Sawyer's speech therapist!

Angie is Sawyer's physical therapist.

Mischief

 Sawyer loves to give me the blow dryer and have me turn it on.

 Did you say Comet?

 Toilet is always fun to put things in and splash!

How about that toilet paper?

Spencer 3 months

We love our little Spencer Bean! Spencer is a very happy boy. When Ben feeds him he just looks at him and smiles instead of drinking his milk. Which makes it difficult for Ben to feed him. At least his daddy makes him happy.

Occupational Therapist

 This is Sawyer's occupational therapist. Mike has been working with Sawyer for over a year now. He is amazing at what he does! He has taught us how to regulate Sawyer through sensory input. He also helps us with Sawyer's fine motor skills.

Our little gardener!

Sadie she got her boots and gloves on and headed outside to do yard work. This is her with her wheel barrow Grandma Carr gave her. She took a shovel and dug up dandy lions then put them in her wheel borrow.

 After taking care of the dandy lions she watered her beans. Ben helped her plant her very own beans and labeled them "Sadie's Beans". She looks at them often to see if they are growing.