Happy Hour Friday #2

Otin hosts this Friday game where we're asked to just take a moment to talk about what makes us happy. I figured that I needed a post to offset all the negatives that I let loose yesterday in my Take a Peek Through Our Window post.

Here goes:

- We have a new pumpkin in the family!! I am thrilled to announce that our Pumpkin-Farmer friends back in Ontario, added another little girl to the pumpkin collection. Grace Anne has made Isabella a proud new big sister and has also made three little boys in Calgary very excited to meet their new 'cousin'. In absence of a photo of the newborn, I'll show off her adorable sister instead.



- I got a lot of kind comments following yesterday's post about what a great mom I am and how wonderful I must be and how beautiful and stunning and witty and charming.... okay, so I'm exaggerating a little. But the comments were so sweet. But now I feel guilty about it. Because truly, life isn't that bad to warrant me getting such a pat on the back. I know that there are parents out there who may have children with physical disabilities whose needs FAR surpass my children's. Or people who are caring for their own elderly parents. Or people who have no children of their own, but are caring for other people's. I'm just doing what I do because it's our life and it's the way it is. I hope Otin doesn't mind, but I'd like to share an exchange we had because I think it best describes my feelings about this. He said: "it must kill you to hear people complain about silly things like having to get up early or their days at work!". To which I replied, "No, it doesn't. It's all relative, isn't it? I couldn't live a boring life either, it would make me crazy! I'd probably still choose mine. A single mom with even one child earns my respect. Or someone who works outside all day doing physical labour. As tacky as it sounds, I just think everyone needs to be kinder to each other and appreciate that we all have our own stories and challenges. There's no such thing as perfection." I am happy to have enlightened some of you who may have had no prior knowledge of some of the challenges that families with autism may be going through, because I hope it will give you pause before judging the next parent you see with a tantrumming kid.

- GEEK ALERT!! But I am so excited to have learned this week that there is a new L.M. Montgomery (author of Anne of Green Gables) book that has just been released, entitled "The Blythes Are Quoted".

These comments come from the Publisher: "Adultery, illegitimacy, misogyny, revenge, murder, despair, bitterness, hatred, and death-usually not the first terms associated with L.M. Montgomery. But in The Blythes Are Quoted, completed shortly before her death and never before published in its entirety, Montgomery brought these topics to the forefront in what she intended to be the ninth volume in her bestselling series featuring her beloved heroine Anne." Sounds great to me!

- I am happy for my kids that it's Halloween on Saturday. The twins don't really have an understanding of what's going on, but they do get the routine of going door to door. Unfortunately because of their restricted diets, they don't get a lot of the treats, but I plan to run ahead to every house on Saturday with pieces to a puzzle for Owen and some diet-friendly treats for Will, to ask the neighbours to hand those out instead. Tomorrow Jake and I are headed to his school dance (3rd grade people, can you believe that! AND he asked a girl to go with him and it wasn't me!), then on Saturday our whole family was invited to a Halloween party! I am very, very happy about this, more for Jake, Owen and Will's sake than my own, because we have never been invited to anything before. Usually we get the polite invite that awkwardly suggests only bringing Jake and one parent, unless it's from one of our friends in the autism community. Anyways, we're thrilled to be invited, even if we only last 10 minutes. And when I say I'm happy for my kids, I'm including my husband in that statement. He already has his costume ready and did a little dance in it tonight for our benefit.

- I am happy that my boys are still all healthy (knock wood), despite the fact that H1N1 is in their schools.

- I am happy that a Chinook is rolling in tomorrow, just in time to warm this city up for Halloween.

- I am happy to report that I think we've killed off all those miserable mice!

- I am that I've had some new followers this week and have gotten to meet some really great people in the blogging community. I only wish I could get more organized to find some time to spend on each of their blogs. Eventually, I'll get a rhythm going and get on top of comments and blog browsing.

- Here are all the reasons why you shouldn't feel sorry for us and our circumstances:

* because autism has made us appreciate every single achievement that our kids accomplish, that we may have otherwise taken for granted.
* because autism has taught us to be parents who are not complacent and who realize that action and hard work is the only way you can change your circumstances. Sitting and moaning about your life isn't going to make it any better.
* because autism has brought the five of us closer together and has given us a stronger bond with Jake because of our common challenges with his brothers.
* because autism has introduced us to some amazing people who I would have never met otherwise. It has forced a deeper level of friendship with a handful of friends that may have never happened had it not been for our boys' diagnosis.
* because despite our initial upset, Owen and Will's diagnosis forced us to pack up and move across country to Calgary and we love it here. We could have never foreseen living out West otherwise.
* because my boys don't speak, they show us love in ways that other parents may never experience.
* because autism has taught us tenacity, perseverance, patience, tolerance, acceptance, joy, compassion, passion and understanding. We see beauty in things that others see as ugly. My boys have taught me to find humour in the everyday and to see that intelligence doesn't just mean that you can summarize what you've read in a book.

- I am happy to have Happy Hour Fridays to remind me of all that I am grateful for. I hope you all have a great weekend and Happy Halloween!

Happy Hour Friday

I have a new friend. He doesn't know it yet. But his name is Otin and after only one day of 'knowing' him, I can already tell that we're going to be besties. It's kind of refreshing to have found a blog that so entertains me, that isn't just about parenting, or autism, but just about life and creativity and stuff. Just stuff. He's a really fun writer and it's not contrived, or at least it doesn't seem to be, in an effort to get readers.

Otin hosts this Friday game where we're asked to just take a moment to talk about what makes us happy. I think it times in nicely with our Canadian Thanksgiving. I have a lot to be grateful for so here goes:

I'm happy I found Otin's blog: The Wizard of Otin. This makes me happy.

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My absolutely most rewarding moment of the week was when Owen, his therapists and I went to get his haircut. Not only did he wear the cape. He stayed in the chair for 20 minutes. He let them spray water on his hair. They CUT his hair. They BUZZED HIS HAIR WITH CLIPPERS. Then he laughed and didn't want to leave! This is the kid who used to shake at the entry of the salon and wouldn't take a single step inside. If dragged in, he'd sit in a turtle position and cry and lash out, with his hands over his head. Three years of trial run visits with no hair cuts. Three years of 'desentization programs' at home to get him used to a brush, to a pair of scissors, before they had even touched his head. It all came to this. Six years and we've finally had a successful haircut!!! *I suppose I should have taken a picture to make this announcement more dramatic, but I forgot (story of my life)*

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My super-hero husband caught the mouse that was partying under our bed the other night. I had a night of terror listening to that little rat scurrying, gnawing, scratching and twittering right under my head. I was so happy to hear the SNAP of the trap when we got the little bugger.

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It's blizzarding outside and it's -15 with the wind chill right now. Am I happy about it? No. But this cold means the wood fires are burning again. And I love the smell as it wafts through my family room and I love its cackling sound. It feels homey.

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I don't know about you, but I am very impressed with this year's new shows on tv. Modern Family and Flash Forward have made me VERY happy. Nothing this fall has made me laugh harder than this scene from Modern Family:

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I love when matchmaking works. This week I was lucky enough to pair up my friends at the Knox Pumpkin Farm in Ontario, with an old friend who is a producer at TVO Kids.

TVO Kids spent a full day today at the Farm, filming a tv show and segments for their station. I am so unbelievably homesick for the Farm, particularly in October. But I am really happy to know that I have put my matchmaking skills to work successfully, so that more people will fall in love with my favourite place of the fall.

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I LOVE my slippers. Have you ever heard of Padraig slippers? I had bought a few pairs for some babies, but finally saw them in ladies' sizes last winter. My gram got them for me for Christmas and I wear them all the time. Too often, probably.

They're so soft and cozy, they wash really nice and they let your feet breathe. If you buy them for kids, they stretch with the growth of their feet. They are lovely!

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I am grateful for flat rate long distance plans.

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I am grateful that in a few short days I'll be eating turkey and pumpkin pie.

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I am grateful that pvr's were invented.

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I am grateful that my husband will be home in a little bit from soccer practice, because I hear another frickin' mouse scuttering around in the kitchen.