Autism Twitter Day

Bonnie at Autism Family Adventures has set up Autism Twitter Day this coming Tuesday, December 16th.

This is an opportunity for those affected by autism to promote positive awareness and share their experiences by tweeting about autism and sharing links. Join us to share your personal experiences, tips or things that have helped your family, resources, general information about autism, etc.

There will also be a panel discussion and a number of prizes throughout the day.

Panel times
9:00am PST / 12:00pm EST
12:30pm PST / 3:30pm EST
8:00pm PST / 11:00pm EST

How to participate
Sign in to Twitter (sign up for a free account if you're not already on Twitter) to post your tweets, and be sure to include #ASD in your tweets. Follow the #ASD hashtag at http://www.summize.com/.

Click here for more information and to RSVP for Autism Twitter day. Be sure to use your twitter URL (not your blog) on Mr. Linky when you RSVP.

See you there!

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Potty, potty, potty!

Just a quick update on potty-training with Bitty. He's been doing really well with #1 as long as we're home and he can easily get his clothes off. Just like his brothers at that age, he's not cool with just pulling his pants down, they have to come off. At least he doesn't insist on also taking his shirt and socks off (if he has them on to begin with)...

Whenever he has to go, he just takes his pants and underwear off so when we see that we know to ask him if it's potty time. He'll repeat back, "paw-ee tie" and go running for the bathroom. Yay!

One day I was upstairs when "potty time" struck, and he came running to find me. I heard him coming up the stairs saying, "Mama? Mama? Oh nooo!!!" uh-oh, lol. He didn't have an accident, the "oh no" was because he wasn't sure where I was. We made it though!

So that's the good news. The not so good news is that other than that first day, he has shown NO interest whatsoever in doing #2 in the potty. In fact, we can tell when he has to go, because he'll come and ask for a pull-up so he can do his business in that. We try saying no in hopes that he'll eventually go to the potty, but he just holds it (or going in his underwear if he can't hold it anymore, yuck). So for now, if he asks a couple of times we'll go ahead and give him the pull-up. When he's done, we have him go with us to the bathroom to flush it before we throw the pull-up in the trash. We're hoping that will reinforce the idea that poop belongs in the potty, not in the pull-up.

So, we're getting there. Next we'll start working on going potty other places (he surprised me by using the potty at church last Sunday, yay!), staying dry at night, and eventually phasing out the pull-ups altogether.




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I've been tagged (like, forever ago!)

I finally have a few minutes to put some thought into my responses, so here goes.

Elizabeth and Andrea tagged me a while back for a high school meme. I have to apologize in advance because it's sure to be less interesting than some of the others I have read, lol :). I really had to think hard to remember what I was doing in high school!

1. Friday night lights - I went to school in West Texas, where high school football is a religion. I'm not kidding (and it rocked!). Our stadium seated 15,000 and it was usually full or close to it. When we played our cross-town rival, there were people sitting on the grass in both endzones because the bleachers were full. I was in the pep squad for three years (in West Texas, one must be an accomplished gymnast and dancer to be a cheerleader, and if you saw my pathetic coordination, you'd know I am neither, lol). Pep squad was fun - we got to wear the cute cheer outfits, carry big fluffy pom poms, and be loud and silly :). By senior year, my best friend and I decided we were too *ahem* mature for all that, so we quit the pep squad and went to the games as regular students.

2. License to terrorize innocent motorists - remember the lovely station wagon from the movie "Vacation"? We had one kind of like that, only bigger and not *quite* as ugly. (see Mom, I said something nice about your car!) hehe. I had the distinct pleasure of taking my driver's exam in that station wagon, complete with parallel parking. I spent weeks practicing, but it worked - I passed. Much to the dismay of every other driver in town, lol. I was in three wrecks during my high school years - only one was my fault though. The one where the police report described the other vehicle as "airborne." Yep, that one was my fault :(. Bumpy, unfamiliar roads and distracted drivers do not mix. That's my public service announcement for the day.

3. Cruisin' - there wasn't a whole lot to do in our city/town, so somewhere along the way, someone came up with the brilliant idea of going "cruising." For those unfamiliar with this ever-so-cool pastime, it involves driving up and down one of the main streets in the middle of town, over and over, at night on the weekends. Just up and down the street, with designated turning points at Sonic and I don't remember the other one, somewhere on the other end of the street. There would be tons of cars, just driving up and down the street, sometimes stopping at Sonic for some food, sometimes stopping in a parking lot to hang out. I know what you're thinking, and the answer is no, we didn't have anything better to do ;).

4. Romance and intrigue - ha! I had a few boyfriends, mostly short-lived relationships, if you can call them that. The longest was 4 months, until midway through junior year when I got a letter from the guy I'd had a crush on forEVER, asking me out. He was 2 yrs older and in his freshman year at college about an hour and a half away. We had a great first date, started writing back and forth and going out whenever he was home for the weekend, and well, we've been together ever since :).

5. If you were a tree... - how would people have described me back then? Probably "friendly" and "smart" come to mind. People who knew me well would describe me as "goofy" and those who didn't would describe me as "quiet."

6. Music - I can't think of high school without thinking of the song, "Ice, Ice, Baby" by Vanilla Ice. LOL, they played it at every pep rally and it was always blasting from someone's car (oh yeah, that was me). I had fairly eclectic tastes in music back then (kind of like I do now), some of my favorites were Def Leppard, The Cure, Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Nirvana, and Boyz II Men.

7. Entering the workforce - my first job (aside from babysitting) was working at Orange Julius in the mall. We got mall discounts, so that was cool :). My jobs in college were more interesting, but I'll wait for a college meme to tell ya all about it!

8. Sexy lips - haha, I almost forgot about this one. One summer at camp, I found out the hard way that I am allergic to wasp stings. We had outdoor shower stalls, and as I was walking in, a wasp came out of nowhere and stung my lower lip. It swelled up to huge proportions, earning me the nickname "sexy lips."

I am too tired to come up with a list of people to tag, so if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged. Mwahahahaha, it's too late to look away, you are still tagged :). Seriously, I've had a lot of fun reading these so far so if you decide to jump in (or did one already) leave your link in the comments and I'll stop by!





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Crazy 8's

My SIL over at Musings of the Wife of a Pilot tagged me for a fun meme that just happens to involve my favorite number, 8. Why 8, you ask? Well, just look at it, it has a great symmetry to it when you write it as two circles like an "altitude-challenged" (translation: short) snowman. Very cool. Ok, enough nonsense about the number 8, on with it already!

8 Favorite TV Shows: (in no particular order)

-Heroes
-Life
-Fringe
-The 4400
-Stargate Atlantis
-Psych
-Lost
-Fox News (yes, I realize that's more of a channel than a show, but close enough!)

8 Favorite Restaurants: (not like we get to eat out often, but yum!)

-On the Border
-Texas Roadhouse
-County Line BBQ
-El Rey
-Posados
-Ninfa's
-Abuelos
-Outback Steakhouse

8 Things That Happened Yesterday - December 9, 2008

-Cuddlebug and Bearhug both found their missing coats (yay!)
-I went to work (same thing I do every day, Pinky)
-dh met me for lunch and we bought some science books for the boys (for Christmas)
-we didn't have time to actually eat lunch, so I picked something up on my way back to work. I didn't get to eat it until 4:30pm (busy day).
-watched Hannity & Colmes
-wanted to scream every time I heard the word "bailout" (today's scream-word - "car czar" ahhhh!)
-cuddled with Bitty
-It was cold, very cold (where's global warming when you need it?)

8 Things To Look Forward To:

-Christmas!
-our trip to visit family for Christmas
-vacation time
-watching the boys open their Christmas presents
-seeing my family when I get home from work every day
-hugs and kisses at bedtime
-warmer weather (I know it's going to be a while, but I'm still looking forward to it!)
-strawberries & cream frappucino from Starbucks

8 Things I Love About Fall:

-the trees with their vibrant colored leaves
-sweatshirt weather
-football season
-being able to actually spend time outside (without collapsing from heat)
-the start of school
-Halloween
-Thanksgiving
-pumpkin pie
-hot chocolate

8 Places I Want To See Someday:

-the carpet in my sons' room (kidding! sort of)
-FBI headquarters
-Hawaii
-the view of Earth from space (I know, not going to happen)
-Italy
-Niagara Falls
-Alaska
-The Bahamas

8 Things On My Wish List: (some unlikely, but still)

-a congress with an ounce of common sense (is that so much to ask?)
-a self-cleaning litter box (probably more likely than #1)
-a 35mm camera (and a tutorial on how to use all the cool features)
-more kindness and understanding in the world
-more hours in the day
-to hear Bitty say "I love you" (until then, he says it in his own way)
-for my family to always be close to each other and to God
-to be a mind-reader so I know what Bitty wants to eat without the guessing game, or so I know when Cuddlebug or Bearhug have misinterpreted something I said so I can clarify


Feel free to join in, leave a link if you do and I'll stop by to check out your list!




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I like to move it, move it!

I was putting Bitty to bed last night and I overheard Bearhug (who was supposed to be brushing his teeth) singing in the bathroom, "I like to move it, move it! I like to move it, move it!"

ROFL! He was singing it again at the dinner table today, he cracks me up! Here's the song:






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SEW & WW: Shouldn't those be on the tree?

Despite our attempts to "hide" them at the back or near the top of the tree, he still managed to find and reach them... oh well, what fun are train ornaments if you can't play with them just a little bit?




Click here for more Special Exposure Wednesday. Click here or here for more Wordless Wednesday.

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Uh-oh...

Little Bitty won't watch Yo Gabba Gabba anymore. He still sings the songs, but he no longer wants to watch it on tv (time to clear out the 15 or so episodes we have recorded on DVR? maybe not yet). Instead, he says, "es-ahcha noos" (let's watch the news). That's what we get for trying to talk him into watching the news instead of Yo Gabba Gabba (as a joke) when that was all he wanted to watch :).

The only problem with that is, most of his Christmas presents are Yo Gabba Gabba things. A guitar, a little playset with the characters, even a DVD that we were planning to give him early for our upcoming trip. Hmm... it's all wrapped up, hopefully he'll still like them! I'm pretty sure he'll still like the guitar, he LOVES music and always wants to play along when we play Guitar Hero (now he can, lol).

Guess what else - after months of only wanting to wear Thomas clothes, all day every day, this morning he didn't want to wear Thomas and asked me for a shirt with "pamets" (planets). AAAHHHH! I don't have a shirt with planets! And we spent all that money buying Thomas shirts! My mom bought him long-sleeve Thomas shirts for Christmas since he doesn't like to wear his "non-Thomas" long sleeve shirts (although I have on occasion been able to convince him that a red shirt is a "James" shirt, hehe). He even made a stink about wearing his Thomas underwear, and that's the only underwear he has. Here's hoping he was just tired and cranky this morning (well, he was) and that this isn't really the start of a new trend. Sigh.




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Dec 7th is World TTTS Awareness day

Today is World TTTS (Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome) Awareness day, and December is TTTS Awareness month. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you may recall that our twins, Cuddlebug and Bearhug, are TTTS survivors. From what I have read, diagnosis and treatment has improved considerably since I was pregnant with our twins 8 years ago. Still, awareness is crucial to helping women who are pregnant with multiples get the information they need and for their doctors to be on the lookout for possible signs of TTTS. It is a life-threatening condition so the earlier it can be detected and treatment options evaluated, the better.

What is Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome?

TTTS is a disease of the placenta that affects identical twins who share a placenta. It occurs when the shared placenta contains abnormal blood vessels connecting the two babies, and results in one baby (the "recipient") receiving too much blood / nutrients, while the other baby (the "donor") receives too little. Cuddlebug was our "donor" twin and Bearhug was our "recipient," which is why Bearhug was red and bigger at birth, with his heart struggling to pump because his blood was thick like syrup. Cuddlebug was pale, smaller, and anemic, with his body struggling to make its own red blood cells to make up for the shortage. Our boys were not diagnosed with TTTS until delivery, which thankfully was early because I had developed pre-eclampsia. Despite the complications of prematurity, their early delivery saved their lives, because it's unlikely they could have survived much longer in the womb.

A little primer on twinning

In order to better understand how TTTS happens, it helps to understand how twins develop. Fraternal (dizygotic) twins occur when two eggs are fertilized by two sperm. Fraternal twins have two sacs and two placentas.

Identical (monozygotic) twins occur when a single egg is fertilized by a single sperm, and then during early cell division, the embryo splits an extra time to create two genetically identical embryos. If the split occurs before day 4, the twins will have separate sacs and placentas, just like fraternal twins. If the split occurs between days 4 - 8, the twins will share an outer sac and a placenta, but will have separate inner sacs (monochorionic/diamniotic). That was the case with our boys. If the split occurs between days 8 - 12, they will share both an inner and outer sac (monochorionic/monoamniotic) and a placenta. A split occurring after day 12 generally results in conjoined twins.

I heard it explained once as the later the split, the more "connected" the twins will be, and essentially babies are at risk for TTTS when they are "connected" at the placenta.

If you are pregnant

TTTS can happen to anyone. It is essential to have an ultrasound within the first 3 months of pregnancy to determine whether you are carrying multiples and if so, whether they share a placenta and inner/outer sac. That way, extra monitoring can be started early if you are carrying multiples who are at risk for TTTS.

If you are carrying multiples who are at risk, it's important to know that there is hope! Even with a shared placenta, there may not necessarily be uneven distribution of blood and nutrients. Monitoring is critical to help catch any potential problems as early as possible. If signs begin to appear that there may be a problem, there are treatment options available that have been successful for many babies.

For more information

World TTTS Awareness Day
TTTS Foundation
Fetal Hope Foundation
TTTS Awareness Day - News Release
TTTS Foundation - Fact Sheet

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I'm back...

It's been a loooong week at work, lots of hours and not much time for blogging (obviously).

I have some stuff to post, which I will hopefully get caught up on sometime this weekend, but for now here's some of the latest overheard from Little Bitty:

He loves to sing - as his speech is developing, so is his ability to sing. One of his favorite's is the "Train Ride" song from Yo Gabba Gabba.

"Trayah trayah go' nekka trayah, trayah trayah go' nekka trayah... trayaaaahhhh, a tray-ahhhh!" (translation: "train ride, train ride, goin' on a train ride... train ride, a train ride!") with a little "chugga-nugga-chugga-nugga-chugga-nugga-CHOO-CHOO!" in the middle. Sometimes he sings it, sometimes he screams it.

And today, he started singing "no moh muh-kees chutenonna beh" (no more monkeys jumpin' on the bed). I started off another verse for him and he finished up, "mama cahjah dahr anna dahr-seh, no moh muh-kees chutenonna beh" Such a cutie! I'll try to get him on video singing :).

He learned a new body part too, lol. He started pointing to his feet, nose, etc. and waiting for me to repeat it back to him, and then he patted the front of his pull-up and looked at me. Guess he wanted to know what that was, so I told him. As much as intellectually I know we should teach them the technical terms, those just aren't words I really want to hear over and over (and I'm not going to type it b/c I don't want someone googling it to end up here), so I taught him "wee-wee." (plus it's easy to say). I thought the way he asked me was cute :).

He's also repeating back phrases that he hears:

"uh-oh, de-geh-yee-oh" (uh-oh, spaghettios)
"towee awsuh" (totally awesome - dh taught him that, lol)

He's repeating so much now, although I still haven't managed to get him to repeat back, "I love you." We'll get there!




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Mondays in Motion #11: Snowball fight

For the time being, I'm going to change "Mondays in Motion" to the first Monday of each month, rather than weekly. Since today is the first Monday of December, here goes!

With the cold temperatures lately, it seemed like a fun time to share a snowy video. My favorite part is the snowball fight toward the end, lol :).



It's your turn! If you don't make it today, feel free to join in anytime during the week. :)

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