Happy It Is Spring

Blogger has been weird today so I will write everything here instead of under each picture. I always have a difficult time moving the pictures so things are going to be out of order too.

I love Spring and how beautiful it has been outside recently. The boys and I spend from about 4 pm to till sometimes 5 everyday just playing and enjoying our backyard (I think for little kids that is a long time). Though I know Arizona's summer is only about 2 weeks or so more till the sweat and the real heat will come I will enjoy what I can - especially with the orange blossoms!

Sometimes Brody just loves to sit and hang on our bed. I think it is because Ryan is trying to get him so I give in and let him have a place to get away without being bothered (I say bothered because that is Brody's reaction to anything relating to Ryan - he does not care for him). I love the pictures of him cause he is so chill and relaxed looking. With his little leg sitting atop the other leg. Like a man who just got home from a long days work, with a drink in hang and wants to kick back and watch something (he is staring at TV in the picture too). The only difference is the sippy cup and the blue bear!!

I decided to move the coffee table out of the play room and bring in the outside kids table because it seems to be more durable and kid-friendly. I spent a long time cleaning it off and making it just right to bring in. There is a built in bench all the way around. Within an hour of the table being in its new place, with the help of the bench, Ryan was able to crawl all over it and already fell off two times. In the picture above I captured his mischievousness and poor Evan's plight. So I am not sure how long that will work out.

Scary moment...

Yesterday there was a family get together at my Uncle and Aunts house. I had a couple aunts and uncles there with my cousins and lots of my cousins kids.

Jake and I thought the boys would love it cause they love to be outside and there is huge backyard with a big trampoline, a volleyball net and some other fences for the dog and such.

When we first got there Brody just darted to the backyard as I expected. He got about 5 or 10 minutes on the trampoline and then just started wandering around.

Like a couple of suckers Jake and I were dealing with Ryan, chatting with relatives and letting our guard down a bit cause we were watching Brody from the patio.

Then Jake and I were getting some food. I looked again for Brody but couldn't see him in the midst of all the the other kids.

I asked my sister if she could see Brody and she pointed to him and said, "Oh he is by the pond in the back of the yard".

I thought, oh crap, there is a pond?!

Brody LOVES water. Whether a bath, pool or even puddles on the sidewalk after it rains.

I knew he'd get right in without hesitation so I asked my youngest sister to run and go get him.

While she started out to get him I saw him walk down into what must have been the pond and then I stopped seeing his head.

I then assumed the worst and that his head was under water so then I put my plate down and ran that direction.

By the time I got to him my sister had already gotten him out of the pond.

Brody was soaked head to toe.

This little boy was not shocked to get into cold, green water and go under all the way

No, he was crying and screaming cause we had apparently wrecked his wonderful time!!

Never once was he startled or scared. As I carried him back to the house to get him new clothes and a diaper all of my relatives were like, "oh, did he fall in?" and I replied many times, "no, he just walked right in"!

I know some people might think to themselves, "kids will be kids".

I think that sort of was the case but the thing is, there were plenty of kids around Brody's age and younger and they were barely wandering away from there parents, let alone trying to get into the pond.

Also, from what I have read, many kids with autism are not aware of danger like other children. Brody wants to climb up high, he will get into any water, he will run off in many public places without regard to cars or other people, usually never once look back for me or Jake.

Once at home and going throughout the rest of our afternoon and evening I just kept thinking (the one thing no parent should think about - the 'what if's')

"What if we hadn't noticed him get into the pond"

"What if my sister hadn't gotten to him in time"

Too many horrible images and thoughts running through my head. Sometimes I just can't believe a child makes it their next birthday - or at least my child!! I was so scared and frazzled that I didn't even let myself cry out of shear frustration with Brody and fear of the moment that could have happened.

It was a scary moment for me, for Jake but unfortunately Brody only cared that we didn't let him play in the water!

Pictures of life and tid-bits of fun

So I am always trying to take pictures of the boys together but since Brody rarely tolerates Ryan being near him it is difficult. They both LOVE playing with the treadmill though. In the picture above (obviously it isn't on) I just happened to snap a picture of them next to each other and in the second that I take the picture Brody starts to move away and Ryan makes his new squinty face that is just SO adorable!
This was taken with Jake's IPhone, Ryan just LOVES to play with the controller

You can't really tell in this picture but Brody had just eaten one of his diary free/gluten free cupcakes and it looks like the frosting just sprayed on him cause there are specks of icing on his cheeks, neck and even hair!!

I know it is strange but I take pictures of my boys in certain outfits. I know that is something a lot of parents do with girls as they are in frilly dresses and what not, but there are some outfits that my boys just look SO extremely adorable in. I have been waiting for Ryan to fit into this 18 month Finding Nemo outfit and I when I finally put it on him (he is still just 13 months) I realized I underestimated the size of my baby boy cause he is pretty much too big for it at this point. But I got a couple pictures!!

A few simple things that have added some great moments of my days:

• Absolutely loving the show Community on NBC Thursdays
• I am almost certain that Ryan will start walking any day now
• Finally found a couple pair of jeans that fit Brody's skinny waist and long legs
• Hungry Howie's $5 pizza is probably the best pizza for such a cheap price (different flavor crust too)!!
• Just got Toy Story 1 and 2 cheap off Ebay (I think I am just as excited as Brody - okay more excited than Brody)

Health insurance sucks!

Lately I am sure everyone most knows about the health care reform Congress and the President are currently working on.

I have heard and read about much debate about the subject. So much disagreement, arguing and in some voting districts people are passionate enough that I am sure, depending on the outcome of the upcoming vote some people in Congress could get voted out office!

The thing I DO NOT understand is, no matter your political, personal or religious reasons there is NO denying health care MUST be reformed. The way to reform it is up for debate but the fact that it must get reformed MUST HAPPEN!!

Now I add a personal story and experience to this newly crowned top of every party political platform - health care reform.

My son has a mental disability. Due to his disability of autism he is on what is called Arizona Long Term Care. It is paid for by the State of Arizona by the Department of Developmental Disabilities (called DDD) it provides medical insurance and is what pays for any therapy and "treatment" for autism.

A couple things have come to my attention and it makes me want to pull out my hair, scream, yell and shout at someone.

Here is some background information so you can all have a taste of my frustrations:

Brody's support coordinator at DDD had to approve more hours of habilitation and respite for Brody for the new year (for him it is every February). (FYI: respite is extra care of children with special needs and habilitation is an extremely important service with a therapist or care provider that works on very important and specific goals with Brody to help him catch up to wear normal-functioning children his age are at). Since Brody was previously approved for hours from just October (that is when those services started) to February he had a pretty good amount of hours with no problem. Not the case now. Brody got about a third of the hours he was getting. To ask for the current hours would be too much we were told. The reasoning is that Brody is still really young and these goals that he is working towards in habilitation could be helped along by his parents. That is true if he were any other child but since he has a disability I don't know how to teach him social skills, to follow directions, talk more, understand more, etc. The person that is his care provider has worked with special needs children for about a decade and has education and training. How can I compare to that?? I have the option to appeal (which I might do). If I want more hours approved, it would have to go all the way to me and Jake making our case to the head of the medical department of DDD!

In November Jake and I put Brody on Jake's health insurance through his work at University of Phoenix which is United Healthcare. Even though he has health insurance through long term care the insurance won't cover for Brody to go to a DAN (Defeat Autism Now) Doctor who practice naturopathic medicine (most health insurance companies won't cover those doctors) and specialize in treating children with autism. Brody has some immune and gastrointestinal issues so he was a great candidate for this type of treatment. The office manager at the doctor's office who processes all the insurance and payments told us that no our insurance wouldn't cover it but other patients there with United Healthcare and other insurances most of the time are able to get reimbursed. The doctor just fills out a receipt with an insurance code not for "autism treatment" but gastrointestinal issues.

The same month Brody was put on the insurance we took him to the new doctor (who we love and he also has a child with autism so it feels great to relate). He is expensive initially and with some of the supplements, lab work and follow ups for new treatments. After each doctors visit I made a copy of the receipt and mailed it in with not a word in response. I mailed all the copies again at the beginning of the new year with a letter asking for at least a response. At this point we have spent hundreds of dollars in just a couple months.

Since we got the news from DDD about Brody getting less habilitation hours I though perhaps some of the hours could just go through his health insurance cause it is seen as "treatment" for autism. My first call to the insurance I got a, "no, there is no coverage for autism". After hanging up I thought it was weird cause in the back of my mind I remembered in my autism research reading about a bill that was passed. I looked it up again on the Internet to know the facts: Arizona House Bill HR2847 requires insurance carriers to provide coverage of evidence-based, medically necessary autism and therapies. So I called the insurance back and throughout a day or two and 3 or 4 different people (cause they wanted to make sure I had the correct answer) found out that because the insurance is purchased through Apollo Group (who owns University of Phoenix), even though we pay Apollo Group for the insurance, the plan we are under doesn't have to follow the government mandate that is HR2847 passed in 2008!!!!!!!!!!! How is that even legal! It is a mandate and somehow there is a loop whole. Yes, that makes me scream.

Oh and while I had them on the phone I asked them about my many claims I mailed the insurance about Brody's treatments at the DAN Dr. I was told the doctor was out of network.

My son is locked in a world of autism. He is just waiting to rescued and longing to talk and tell me what he is thinking. But Brody might not be able to break out of that world as soon as he could because this short window of time, when he is younger and the walls of autism is thinner we, as his parents, at ever turn either don't have enough money to pay this doctor who has already helped or a therapist who has already seen improvement. There is this wonderful thing called insurance that is suppose to help when times get tough and someone doesn't have enough money and since they pay for this insurance every month it shouldn't be a problem right...no, there are enough loop wholes to help these insurance companies get out of certain responsibilities.

I guess the state of our health insurance in this country is okay...if you don't really need to use it!!

Some cute pictures

Here are some cute pictures of the kids. Plus, as you can see from the pictures, we had my sister's dog Layla come stay with us for a couple of days. We are seriously thinking about getting a dog later this year and we thought we'd experiment how our days would be with a dog around the house.

Dogs are very good for some children with autism. Brody LOVES dogs. There are programs to help dogs train to be therapy dogs. It can help with social skills, interaction, eye contact, etc. Layla got worn out quickly so she didn't play with the kids as much but it was nice to see how things might be having a dog around.

P.S. As you can see from the picture of Ryan his two favorite things of late - looking out the window and the Xbox. The obsession is growing. Ryan now can stand up, open the cupboard where the Xbox is, pull down the controller and then he pushes the button to turn it on (I am sure he doesn't know that it turns it on). My bet, in two years or so he will be Jake's video game buddy!!