Special Needs

We all have fears and worries when it comes to our children. The first several years of my son Baylor’s life was filled with just that… The constant fear of losing him in a store or crowded area. How would I ever find him when he can’t even speak, much less tell someone his name? Or being upset when he has been pumped about Halloween for weeks and weeks but 5 minutes before leaving, your child does a 180 and suddenly doesn’t want to go. After pulling him aside and talking to him, you realize he doesn’t want to go now because he remembers he can’t say “Trick or Treat” like the other children. Imagine looking out your front...

“Mama? What’s college?” she asked a few months ago as we passed LSU on the interstate after I pointed out where I went to college. I explained in seven-year-old terms that college is where people go to learn how to do their jobs. I went to learn to be a teacher, and her daddy learned to be a nurse. That satisfied her, and I quickly forgot the exchange. Simple things haven’t always come easy to my girl. She hit most major milestones on the late end of the normal range. Her speech wasn’t clear to most people until well into her third year of life. When we expressed concern, it was dismissed time and again, because she sat on the...

Dear Moms of "typical" kids, I'm writing this letter because I want you to know a few things about how it feels to be a special needs mom in what feels like a world of moms with typical kids. I want to clear the air on a few things that I think might be weighing on all of our minds. But mostly, I want you to hear a few things from my heart that I've been thinking for the past year following my son's autism and subsequent diagnoses. Mostly I want you to know that I see you.  I can see you hesitate when you are about to celebrate one of your child's accomplishments in front of me, wondering if it...

What follows is a post by my friend and fellow mom, Kimberly Tatum. In observance of World Clubfoot Day, she recounts her experience when she and her husband realized their baby would be born with clubfoot and the subsequent treatment that would follow. On a personal note, her calming smile helped to keep me sane (and a little less scared) throughout the deliveries for both of my children. I don't know how I would have handled those experiences without her, and I'm glad I'll never have to know. I'm so lucky to call this great mother my friend. ---Kristen   June 3rd is World Clubfoot Day. Clubfoot affects approximately 1 in every 750 births and is twice as common in males as...

April is Autism Awareness Month and, if I am being completely honest, a few years ago I probably felt like it was just another month of the year that we bring attention to some cause or issue that everyone already knows about.  The reality is- lots of people have heard of autism, but very few people actually understand autism. Autism wasn't really on my radar for most of my life. I had heard about autism, but my understanding of it was as limited as having seen the movie Rain Man. Yikes. And then our son was diagnosed with autism and my need to engage with the autism world changed. We adopted our son  in March 2014. He had been in our care...