Parenting | The Official Heather Quarnstrom Blog

5 Minutes for Special Needs

Posted by Heather | Posted in Recommended Resources | Posted on 17-07-2008

Tags: Asperger, Autism, autism spectrum disorder, belirubin, brain damage, child, children, parenting, personal, proud supporter, special needs, web

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Many of you don’t know that I have both a sister and a niece with special needs. My sister suffered brain damage as a result of her belirubin climbing to record heights as an infant. Her functioning level was put at that of a six year old, even though she is 30 years old. She is the sweetest person, but has had a very rough life due to this and other unrelated problems. My niece has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, and I have been learning all I can about this very common Autism Spectrum Disorder.

As a result, I am a proud supporter of sites and causes that promote information and fund raising for different special needs related information. In my travels I have found a great resource for those people that deal on a more first hand basis with special needs individuals that is called 5 Minutes for Special Needs.

Please take a minute to visit this great site, as well as pass it along to everyone you know that may be interested.

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What I’ve learned since becoming a Mom

Posted by Heather | Posted in Articles, Family, Personal Reflections, Writing | Posted on 12-05-2008

Tags: child, children, mom, parenting, Writing

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Here are the top ten that I have found most attitude altering (in no particular order):

1. No matter the love you have felt before, your love for your child will eclipse it.

2. If you’ve just put on clean clothes something will make it necessary to change. (Baby spit up, food, mud, some unnamed substance you really don’t want to know what it really is….) The same is true when children get dressed up to leave the house.

3. Each child is different, and each child is different from moment to moment. (This is especially true of what foods they like. If I had a penny for the number of times I have heard “But I don’t like that!” even if it’s something they couldn’t get enough of the day before.)

4. It doesn’t matter how clean your house is, within 5 minutes of children returning it will look like you haven’t cleaned it in a year.

5. Anytime you sit down to do something for yourself, you are guaranteed to have a life threatening emergency of biblical proportions. (Such as a splinter in a little finger, someone spilled milk, child one accidentally spit while talking and it hit child two, etc.)

6. If you put something in one spot it will be gone in the space of five seconds.

7. It doesn’t matter how many socks go in the dryer, you will always end up with an odd number and at least 5 socks that have no match.

8. If something spills, breaks, disappears, etc and try to find out who is responsible the culprit is always “not me” no matter who you ask. (Personally I think Not Me should start paying rent. I’ll bring that up if I ever find him.)

9. If you schedule a big event that involves you and the special someone in your life (husband, boyfriend, whatever) at least one of your children will come down with a bizarre mystery illness. This illness will include but will not be limited to a fever, vomiting, and/or other unknown symptoms that make it impossible for your intended evening festivities.

10. You can’t sweat the small stuff, more of it keeps cropping up. (And you’ll just go insane if you keep letting it get to you.)