Sunday, July 29, 2007

The Busy Mom Contest

Thanks to a previous commenter we found out about The Busy Mom Contest. I have entered my hardworking wife, Robin. Here is my entry:

"My wife, Robin, is definitely the busiest Mom. Why? She insures that our lives are as 'normal' as possible. You see, she is not only the Mom of six children, but they are all Autistic. We have three boys (aged 13, 8, 3) and three girls (aged 9, 5, 2).

She doesn’t have a typical week. Our home life is a constant ever changing swirling combination of meals, diaper changes, laundry, housework, mopping, wiping, crying, comforting, appointments and so MUCH more.

This past year was an especially busy one. We were just discovering and dealing with the emotions of finding out about our children’s Autism. Then a heavy blow hit our family. When commenting to a social worker about her frustrations and needing a break from the daily disasters in our home, our children were taken from us. At first the state Child Protective Services thought how we dealt with maintaining our home and children was unsafe. When the court realized exactly what we were dealing with, within two weeks the children were returned. The judge ordered my wife to be evaluated. She is borderline clinical depression and generalized anxiety disorder (not surprising). She is taking Zoloft to help her through each day. She maintains a detailed daily journal of people seen, visitors, phone calls and appointments. This takes one to two hours each day.

The three youngest are still in diapers and the 3 and 5 year old are completely non-verbal. We have to put them in backward one piece outfits to keep them from stripping and smearing their poop everywhere. Our 3 year old climbs on, breaks and rips EVERYTHING. We call him “The Destroyer” (like Conan the Destroyer). The two year old has now discovered the ‘joys’ of poop smearing.

I often hear the dryer’s buzz at 3am. The washing machine runs nearly 20 hours a day. After the children are in bed, she’ll dash to the gym.

On top of everything else she has fibromyalgia and is exhausted most of the time. If any Mom NEEDS a break from her busy life, it’s my wife Robin."

Dad

5 comments:

Theresa Key said...

Wow,
Robin is definitely the busiest mom! I have fibromyalgia and I only have 3 kids so I can't imagine:)

One thing that has helped me with fibromyalgia and feeling exhaused (with brain fog) is a juice drink called Monavie. I have been drinking it for a number of weeks now with great results. If you'd like more information or a complementary bottle please let me know.

Email: tastingparty@theresakey.net

What kinds of dietary changes has she made to help cope with fibromyalgia?

Anonymous said...

Ooo an appreciative spouse! That's makes it so much easier just knowing that someone notices!
Cheers

Anonymous said...

I know you are each so busy - and major kudos to Mom. I would love to hear more about the little things both of you do to make it a bit easier (tricks of the trade) so to speak, esp since you have younger ones - my autistic child is 3.

I know this is long, but I just had time to check in after many weeks:
a) can Mom blog more often?
b) does Dad have a portable/ hand held computer that he can type thoughts on and just upload to the blog when he gets home?
c) know that you are doing a great job and many of us are praying for you.

Here's hoping you get some relaxation time soon...

Dadof6Autistickids said...

Thalia,
I do have a Palm pilot that I have 'typed' in during the day, but my time has been very limited lately. I will try to do better.

Unknown said...

I was a runner-up in this contest.

One of our kids has autism as well. There is a huge dietary/biomedical component to autism( and depression sometimes). Both can be linked to gluten intolerance. Please look into it. Contact me if you need some links.

Congrats!
MissSuzy
www.introvertigo.typepad.com/licensetolove/