Swine Flu

Here is some good info about this bird/pig/human combo from the leaders in the homeopathy world.  One of the links goes to a great flu remedy page from HPathy.com.  

Jim Carrey's Response to Campbell Brown

Here's the Huffington Post's article.  I just love this guy!  I recall going insane when I innocently watched Campbell's opinion live.  For a smart chick, boy is her take idiotic.  Must be hormones.  Here I was trying to relax after a long day and woah did it do the opposite!

Recovery Video Piece from NBC

Leo is 10 1/2.  So cool to see another little guy(well, big guy now) ahead of us in living color.Jake is now 13 and continues to inspire so many of us.  Thanks for sacrificing your privacy and becoming a celebrity for all of us.   Thanks to NBC for all that you continue to do.  

From Another Mom Like Me

In response to my post the other day about being a special mom...This mom says...

"Hi.  I just read your blog. I get it....I want to be regular too.

I want to eat a hamburger made in a plant with downed cows, eat a chicken that has been pumped up with hormones and left in a warehouse for 4 months to smell it's own urine and drink milk that is pumped up with HGH. I want to let my son roll down a bright green grass hill full of pesticides and not worry about it. I want to let him run his hands along the playground equipment that is full of pollen and then touch his face and not worry about the welts that will take over his body. I want to eat hot dogs that have nitrates and eat candy loaded with chemicals...but I can't go back now."

Cheerios

I am not-so-secretly bitter that the silly food companies have finally figured out how to make a fake Cheerio.  Rice, corn, sugar, and salt.  Here's my official shout out to Nature's Path Organic Whole O's.  I speculate one can really use these as a replacement with no one the wiser, no social ramifications.   Sure we've seen the crappy weird looking Glutino version and a few others that have come and gone.  I even saw a protein version the other day, Better Balance Gluten Free Honey Almond Protein Cereal.  

As cool and exciting as it may be, too little too late for us.  Our stroller-car seat-keep them occupied days are over where Cheerios is gold.  Barter and bribery to soothe hurt feelings over not being able to have the lovely Cheerios is a dim memory.  

I envy those moms with young kids that can waltz in to a store and buy fake Cheerios, fake donuts, various breads to choose from, frozen pizza, and chicken tenders.  Sadly, it's probably a sign there is enough of a market to make money on them.  I am still grateful for the pretzel STICKS.  My kids had pined for those for years.  Still haven't seen the fake Goldfish.  That'll still be relevant if it happens in my mommy-time.  

More power to moms with little ones - I know they deserve the convenience but I am so envious!

Re-Introduction, Still A Sp. Ed. Mom

Hi, my name is Ashley Morgan. I am a 43 year old mom of two perfect children. I have been married to my DH for 12 years. He is a great man and father. I have struggled on and off with depression, including post partum, and food is my vice along with really bad television. I realize I have come very far in life, a lot of childhood dysfunction to get over. After a lot of hard work and hard lessons I feel that today I am pretty healthy inside. Having a child with an ASD also contributed greatly to me getting real, cleaning house, and knowing what is important.

Currently, my challenges revolve around acceptance of what my life has become, specific to disability #2 that prevails in our house. I am an active student of buddhism, and practice meditation and yoga. These things have helped me with coping skills and perspective. I am happy to have found them, as I realize my skill are lousy, even on a good day.

My son is 10 1/2 and is has recovered from an Autism Spectrum Disorder (PDD-NOS to be exact) about 5 years ago. For those 5 years he's been going to school like a regular kid, no longer disabled by his label. Although Yale diagnosed him at 2 and also took away his diagnosis, I still consider him as a child on the spectrum as there is no cure. There are no real signs of ASD, standardized testing and teacher feedback is age appropriate or higher, his biomedical testing doesn't indicate any typical Autism signs like glutathione deficiency or metal toxicity. He lives stigma-free as we kept his diagnosis from his teachers and peers upon entering kindergarten. He may not hold my hand in parking lots anymore and prefers to talk to his friends on the phone rather than me, but he is still my big boy. He is really into baseball and basketball, and loves practicing his yo-yo skills and acoustic guitar.

My perfect sweet boy has P.A.N.D.A.S., a sensitivity to Strep, and also has Lyme but on a very small/suppressed level. Today Leo's symptoms are facial tics that come and go in severity based on what is bacterial/viral load is. Homeopathy, Rifing, and of course out-of-control Nutrition are my key tools.

On Leo's 10th birthday I had a minor breakdown. Turning 40 didn't bother me, being still overweight didn't bother me, but hey realizing that I've BEEN A MOM for a decade really got to me. I am not in the mood to caveat and talk about all the good things about motherhood. Of course I adore and love my children,. It's that my life's sole purpose has been major disabilities and disease.
Learning.
Fighting
Grieving
Trying to sleep
And repeat
You know the drill!

My daughter Sydney was diagnosed with Lyme Disease and 2 other Lyme related diseases (Bartonella and Babesiosis) this past fall when Leo turned 10. That was hard. Again? That initial craziness, the ramp up. Different disability, but very much the same when it comes to all the categories we Autism moms can relate to. My daughter Sydney is going to be 8 in a few weeks. She asked me if she still will have Lyme disease on her birthday and I can now say YES.

Sydney is amazing. A friendly, open, empathetic soul. Loves animals and nature and can't get enough of her family and friends. She is very academic and is a very school oriented person. She is addicted to Cam Jansen and Junie B. Reads them over and over as her favorite past time. She loves dance and performing, her favorite thing in the world. She also has P.A.N.D.A.S. symptoms on top of her Lyme Diseases.

I'm back to attending health related workshops and here I see my new disability merge with the old. New Lyme friends and my very best of friends (Autism moms) in the same room.

I find myself again struggling with acceptance. I wish I could let go of my desire to be a regular mom with a regular job. I don't want to be a specialist in autism or Lyme or anything else in the health category. I have no choice, this is what it is. Why is it hard for me to accept? I am no longer angry that my daughter lives with chronic 24/7 all-over body pain and has missed half of 2nd grade. The angry phase was no fun. Phew.

I worry about my kids' futures constantly. Leo asks, "Mom will I always have tics?" I say "No" although who knows.

I look around and compare myself to other moms, why do I struggle so much? I am my own worst enemy as it seems most people have figured out how to cope with their own challenges in life.

I want to never read a label again, go back to advertising, and start smoking.