Happy Birthday!

October seems to be flying by fairly quickly and with that said, I didn't realize how soon Brian's birthday was approaching. I had a week. I scheduled a birthday party for him at a local go-kart place and decided to go ahead and make it a double party with Katheryn's b-day just around the corner. Plus, we really don't know many people here in our new area just yet. Nana and Pop-pop flew in Thursday evening...on Brian's birthday. It was a busy day for all of us. Katheryn finished up with dance at 7pm and Matt got to the house with his parents around 7pm. My parents then joined us for some Chinese and birthday cake. yum. Saturday was the party. It was money well spent. Katheryn had two friends and one of Brian's friends came. They played games in a mini arcade and then had pizza, cake and ice-cream. Afterwards, we all went outside and the kids drove go-karts, bumper boats and bounced in the air filled bouncer. They also played water wars where they launched water balloons at each other. Katheryn had a blast. Brian was able to drive a go-kart for the first time and really had fun. Good thing he can't get his liscense until he's 16!! He then rode a few laps in the double go-kart with pop-pop.

Ethan enjoying the games

Katheryn playing with Megan

Brian (blue)driving passing Katheryn (red)

Brian, Katheryn and Ethan waiting for their water balloons

Megan, Crissy and Matt ready to launch a balloon

Once we got back home, Matt, his dad and I got to work on the patio. It was a lot of work but we finally have it completed...well, 98% that is. We have about 7 pavers yet to cut to shape but other than that, it looks pretty good. I'm just thankful that we were able to get it finished before the weather turned really cold here. On Sunday, nana and pop-pop thought they would be adventurous. They braved all three kids at Chuck-E-Cheese. While they were playing games, Matt and I went to Pier 1 and then to Borders so I could get a book..."Mother Warriors" by Jenny McCarthy. We drove back to Chuck-E-Cheese and then headed to The Olive Garden for dinner. This morning, Matt's parents had to say goodbye to catch their flight home. Katheryn woke up not feeling so well and convinced us she would be better off at home in bed for the day rather than going to school. After some tears, I caved in and said okay. About an hour later, Brian came downstairs to let me know that Katheryn needed a cough drop. I gave him a cough drop and he happily went on his way, back upstairs to Katheryn. About 5 minutes later, I hear the pitter patter of Ethan's feet and he climbs up onto the counter to grab two apples from the fruit basket. He is immediately followed by Brian who tells me that Katheryn wants an apple. I thought something funny was going on so I went upstairs to check on her. When I opened her door, I saw a pile of books, atleast 20, piled at the end of her bed. I saw paper on the floor with pencils and some toys. I asked her what was going on and she told me that the boys did it because earlier I had told her if she was staying home, she would be in bed. So, she was in bed but found a way to get her brothers to get things for her. So I told her to get dressed and I took her to school. I also finished the book this morning which gave me some energy to find alternative ways to healing Brian's autism. I am thankful that I sought this book out. I now have more information to help me help Brian. Ofcourse with reading this new information, it will bring on much more research and reading but hopefully I am on the right path. My journey now begins with trying a gluten free and casein free diet for Brian. It will be a challenge since it is a challenge for me now to find foods that he likes aside from pizza and peanut butter and jelly. I will be trying new ways to prepare the foods that we do eat and hopefully Brian will be able to benefit from that. It doesn't hurt to try.