FAMILY CAFE ARTICLE!

i submitted my article for our local early steps newsletter this morning, and thought i'd share it with y'all, in case you don't know about florida's family cafe!  early steps provided funding for us to be able to take advantage of this conference, and our family resource specialist asked if i could share a little bit about the conference....probably more than she was thinking! 

You’re probably wondering, “what IS The Family Café?”  The Family Café is a conference for families who have a child or other family member who has a disability of any type.  According to their website, www.familycafe.net , “The Family Cafe Annual Conference began with a simple idea. Why not bring together individuals with disabilities and their families with state agencies, non-profit organizations and other service providers, so families could network with each other, learn what services are available to them, and find out the best way to go about accessing those services? The conference would provide a unique environment where families could connect with peers, commercial service providers, and public entities. The Family Cafe has always believed that well-informed people make the best possible decisions for themselves and their loved ones. Our Annual Conference provides the opportunity to put that principle into action.”   THAT’S what The Family Café IS!!!

But personally, how does that benefit you?   There are dozens of breakout sessions covering a multitude of topics that are helpful to families!    Topics range from peer groups of families affected by the same disability, to playgroups for preschoolers, to Medicaid information, to Med Waivers information, to Sensory Processing Disorders helps, etc!  The list goes on from there….too much to include here!    There is also time to relax and enjoy our beautiful Florida weather by the pool, visiting with other Family Café families!

My personal favorites this year were the playgroup that was organized by the Family Resource Specialists from each Early Steps region…including our own Laura Mainor!    They had a conference room full of fun things for the kids to do, as well as terrific ideas for playtime for the parents to implement at home!     Spiderman and Snow White were there as well!    Wyatt and Spiderman became fast friends, they had a blast together, playing “chase,” and Spiderman even read a book to Wyatt!    I was also able to attend the session on Sensory Processing Disorder.  The room was PACKED OUT.  Standing room only!   The professionals who led that session shared lots of information about SPD, which also applies to any sensory processing issues, as well as displayed and shared tons of toys/materials/ideas that are easy and inexpensive to put into practice at home.   

Above all else, Family Café gives you a broadened base of support!   It helps you realize that you are not alone in this journey, whatever your journey might be!  I have connected with, and stayed in contact with, families across the state since my first visit to Family Café.  We are able to share with each other our joys, as well as our difficulties, and also share invaluable lessons we have learned from our own life experiences!    You will not regret the decision to attend Family Café!  

Wordless Wednesday....

two of wyatt's favorite things....
a ball, and a man to play with!

some pictures from "the family cafe" conference that we attended last weekend.....
the early steps staff put together this awesome playtime for our kiddos!  wyatt had a blast with all the other kids!

who doesn't love bubbles?

hey, mom...it's a lion!

                                                                                     a highlight of his day.....spiderman!

and he meets spiderman.....

they became fast friends.....



finally.....napping.....for a very short time!

I AM NOT SUPERMOM....In Case You Were Wondering....

well, my supermom myth is busted.  although i'm sure that i'm the only person who believed that myth!  it's over.  kaput.  done!   why?   because i thought it was a good idea to take the two younger boys (10 and almost 2) to a conference this weekend BY MYSELF!!!   NOT. A. GOOD. PLAN. AT. ALL!!!!!   this is a brutally honest post......

we love ikea!

so how did this happen?   i was blessed to receive funding through early steps, our early intervention program, to pay for the majority of the trip to the "family cafe" conference, which is an annual disabilities conference in the state of florida.  tim and i were able to attend last year, and we received lots of good information, so when the opportunity presented itself, we thought that i should go, even though tim could not join me this year.   mind you, we BOTH thought it was a good idea; that forrest would be a tremendous help, and all would go smoothly.   i was we were wrong!!!!!   

wyatt enjoying ikea!

the drive to orlando was LONG.... VERY long, with wyatt screaming intermittently for an hour of the 7 hours;  he finally napped for about an hour!   but we made it.  the conference is at one of the walt disney resorts, the coronado springs, and i knew the layout of the resort, so i was familiar with what i was facing.   i did not count on being placed on the second floor, with the elevator being basically 2 buildings away.  it was awful trying to get everything (except the kitchen sink!) up to our room that night.   and then getting setttled, giving wyatt a bath.....at which point he POOPED in the tub.  OH MY GOODNESS......now when this happens at home, we have the tag-team approach; one parent takes the boy, the other cleans the tub, before we start the bathing process again.  and of course the lysol cleaning wipes (which i did think to bring!) were the only thing that i had not brought up to the room.  UGH!!!!   needless to say, i was in tears, and ready to go home....except i had decided that i was NEVER going home because i would have to drive that long trip again alone.   i was thinking that we were going to stay in orlando until someone else could come get us....just kidding of course, kind of!   forrest said, "we'll call dad, he'll come down."  but i had to tell him that dad couldn't come down....or he would be with us already!!!!  it was a long night!   we all finally got to sleep around midnight.  

pool time!

forrest loved the slide!

it was just hard being alone in a hotel with two kids, especially with wyatt.  i expected (unrealistically) more from forrest, for him to instinctively do things i needed done.   and those unrealistic expectations led to a "yelling" mama.  it was not pretty.   i used to be more of a "yelling" mama when ethan was our only child and younger, but i finally grew out of it....i learned better.   i do not like that mama.   i do not want to be that mama again.   ever.   so i did a LOT of apologizing for my raised voice with forrest this weekend.   {guilt here}   and i did a lot of praying.  i was way too concerned about things that i did not need to be concerned with (as my wise husband told me!)  my priorities were out of whack.  GOD first.....family second.....gotta keep my relationship with HIM first and foremost, before anything else will fall into place like it shoudl.....something i know, just got things out of order!  working on that....  and i now know that i can't make a trip like that alone!   just can't do it!   and that's OKAY!  


but we did have fun too!  we went to IKEA....which we love to do!  we ate dinner there!!!  we had a great time at the pool!   we had fun with friends that we have met through the past couple of years through facebook and other conferences.  forrest really enjoyed getting to know them better.  we were able to attend a great early steps playtime session with all kinds of fun things for the kiddos to do!  wyatt and forrest both had a great time...and they got to meet SPIDERMAN!!!   wyatt and spiderman played "chase" for a long time.....and spiderman even read a book to wyatt!  that was super fun!   i got some great ideas during that time for things to do with wyatt!   i'm so glad that we were able to enjoy all that the early steps ladies had worked so hard to prepare for our kiddos to do!  

wyatt loved spiderman!

cool dudes!

playing chase!

i'll blog more about other things i learned at the conference soon.....still recovering from the busy weekend!   needless to say, we did make it home, without ANYONE screaming!  yay!  we survived....

Family Cafe Was Great!

my mixed emotions were unfounded! we had a great weekend at the "family cafe" conference this past weekend in orlando. we met so many wonderful new friends. reconnected with a terrific facebook friend of mine, karen. we enjoyed getting to know our friends the walkers better...they live in our area and their baby clayton also has down syndrome. he is 4 months younger than wyatt. we know that they are going to be great friends!

we received lots of great information for wyatt's future needs and planning. tim attended sessions on social security stuff; med waivers, etc. i attended sessions on iep's; family care council; and other stuff. a lot to take in! so much to learn in this new world we've been thrust into!

i saw a lot of parents and caregivers who were eager to take in as much information as they could. everyone is so willing to share what they know with each other to help in any way that they can. i saw parents who sacrifice so much for their kids. i saw many, many tired parents. and as my friend karen said, i learned that down syndrome is "not so bad" when it comes to the vast field of disabilities. there are so many other disabilities out there that require so much more physically of their families. not that down syndrome doesn't, but there are countless parents and caregivers who are exhausted from their resonsibilities, with little or no support.

i am so thankful that God gave us precious wyatt. i am so thankful that He allowed me to see beyond my own little world into a whole other world of needs, hurts, joys....and i am so glad that He is in control! and i'm not......

Mixed Emotions

i'm having mixed emotions. i need to be packing to head to the "family cafe conference" here in florida. it's a conference that is for families whose kids have varying disabilities, from what i understand. it will help us know what services are available for wyatt probably more in the future than now, since we are blessed with such awesome early intervention. i know that i will see kids and adults with various disabilities, and i'm sure it will make me sad to some extent. wondering if it's better to have more exposure and get used to it? hmmmm, not sure! i also know that there will be lots of valuable information that we will attain!

it probably doesn't help that i am going into the trip EXHAUSTED! last week was just really yucky...lots of junk. and this week has been vacation Bible school.....very stressful and busy! but i am praising God for the 13 children who prayed to receive Christ as their Savior at vbs today! yay! that's what it's all about! now i'd really like to just lay down and rest, but i'm off to pack...