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You Make Life Better—A Love Letter

Apr 23 2015

Browse archives for April 23, 2015

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Special Needs, Stories

Tagged with gratitude, love letter, special needs

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Forever In Mom Genes

Wham Bam Instagram

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The best people. ❤️

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If you know this girlie today, you see her strength and resilience. It’s hard to imagine how fragile and sick she was as a baby. ⁣⁣
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Like many parents of medically and genetically complex children, we turned to doctors for help. We knew something was wrong, but didn’t know what to do. When the first doctor dismissed our concerns as dramatic postpartum nonsense, we looked to another doctor. I hadn’t thought about her in years. And then I saw her recommended as “an amazing doctor” in a Facebook post. ⁣⁣
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The glowing praise made her sound like the ideal paediatrician. Though if we’d taken her advice I don’t know if our daughter would be here today.⁣⁣
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I wrote about what happened on my blog. The link is in my bio. ⁣⁣
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Bottom line—advocate, question everything, get a second/third/fourth opinion, and always listen to your gut.⁣⁣
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#parenting #familylife #IDD #intellectualordevelopmentaldisability #developmentaldisabilities ⁣⁣
#disability #advocate⁣⁣
#specialneeds #specializedneeds⁣⁣
#disabilitysupport #epilepsy #specialneedsmom #momgenes #unique #inclusion⁣⁣
#chromosomedisorder ⁣⁣
#3Pdeletion #9Pduplication⁣⁣
#foreverinmomgenes

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Three members of the family lobbied to watch the new Star Wars series, “The Mandalorian” on Disney Plus (they downloaded the free trial). I wanted to watch The Crown season 3. I’m eating my words though. It’s so good. The character who makes an appearance at the end of the first episode is adorbs. Disney is smart. We may have to sign up now. Dang.

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My daughter sent this email from school just before lunch. The hot lunch that I totally forgot about and had to run over like a mad woman to get it there, late. Best mom in the world? Um, no. ⁣
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It’s funny how our kids see us though. They love us warts and all. (For the record, I do not have warts, but I wrote a story about them on my blog if you’re interested. Nice aside. LOL!) ⁣
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Anyway, I’ve been beating myself up lately about dropping the parenting ball. Lunches, when I actually remember to make them, haven’t been as creative or nutritious as they should be. As for dinners, there’s been more take-out and pizza than I care to admit. We’ve eaten often in front of the TV instead of together at the table. Family board game night has been replaced by “who wants to watch a movie?” Speech activities I’m supposed to be doing with my daughter have gone untouched for weeks. Same with the math and language exercises I need to do with her. I feel so much guilt about that. ⁣
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The best moms in the world do crafts with their kids after school and practice telling time and tying laces. My daughter still wears shoes that do up with velcro.⁣
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The biggest gut punch was our recent visit to the dentist. Both kids have cavities. I help Avery brush and we haven’t been flossing on the regular and now she has holes in her teeth. I feel sick about that.⁣
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So no, I don’t feel like the best mom in the world. Or even on my street. Ha. ⁣
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I feel pulled in so many directions right now. I’m not even sure why. But this email reminded me that my daughter loves me despite all the dropped balls. ⁣
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I’m not the best mom in the world, but my kids don’t see that. I know I can do better, but I’ll cut myself a bit of slack and try to have a really good weekend. Because “sometimes” we do. 😆 ⁣
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#parenting #momlife #momfail #specialneedsmom #adulting #pizzatonight? #truthbomb #reallife

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To the woman who was a jerk to my daughter and I this afternoon, you clearly didn’t get the memo that today is #worldkindnessday. It’s all over social media. Not sure how you missed it. 😬⁣
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Everyone has a story and all that so we chose to give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe this isn’t your normal behaviour? We all have bad days, so we chose not to add fuel to your miserable fire (though I kinda wanted to...). Instead we chose kindness. Or at the very least, an even tempered response because it’s easy to react with anger. It’s easy to lash out. It’s easy to fight mean with more mean. ⁣
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In an ideal world, everyone would be kind. But the world isn’t ideal at the moment. ⁣
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If you can’t be kind, at least try not to be an outright jerk. It’s a step in the right direction. 😘 ⁣
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Happy Kindness Day everyone! ⁣

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Nothing warms up a -17 degree day like a healthy dose of cougar print!

#bringitgurl #rowar #animalprint #earlywinter #snuggly

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I’ve been at @orangetheory 3 years, today! It’s my triple orangiversary. It happens to be the @otfnorthoakville location’s 2 year anniversary today too!⁣⁣
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To commemorate both anniversaries I thought I’d share a bit from a post I wrote a month into this. ⁣
🍊🧡🍊🧡🍊🧡🍊🧡🍊🧡⁣
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“I need to get back in shape, feel energized, and get my mojo back. I’m still in shape. Well, “a” shape, anyway. Think ‘soft pear.’ My clothes don’t fit and I’m tired all the time. I’m frustrated with myself for letting it get to this point.⁣⁣
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I blame my busy life.⁣⁣
I blame working from home and sitting for hours on end on my rear end. ⁣⁣
I blame my lack of self-control. I bought three boxes of Girl Guide cookies to be a good neighbour. I put them in the freezer to stop myself from eating them. Guess what? Frozen chocolate mint cookies are delicious.⁣⁣
I blame my inability to make myself a priority. Every single thing, big or small, real or imagined, takes priority over exercise. ⁣⁣
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I tried working out at home. When the instructor shouted at me from my computer screen to “really lean into the stretch” I stretched out on the floor and felt something sticky. My floor was filthy. I made a mental note to mop. I just laid there, thinking about how much it would cost to hire a cleaning lady. Then I reached for my phone and texted a friend to ask for the name of her cleaning company. That’s a fun little peek into my attention span.⁣⁣
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I NEED to work out in public. My competitive streak and fear of looking lazy means if there are eyes on me, I’ll stay focused until the end of the workout. When the opportunity to be an OTF Ambassador came up, I was on it like me on a burrito on a Friday night. ⁣
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I’ve been at OTF for nearly a month. Four days of anything is usually how long I last before I quit and move on to something else. Or onto long periods of doing absolutely nothing. ⁣⁣
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The day after my first OTF workout I could barely lower myself onto the toilet. My husband heard me whimper, “It burns...” from the bathroom. He was relieved to hear I was referring to my hamstrings. ⁣⁣
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**Continued in the comments**

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Avery and I were so excited to spend the afternoon at a soirée fundraiser in support of Mimico S.N.A.P.—a supervised day program for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. ⁣⁣
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We met some wonderful new friends, ate delicious food, and Avery’s favourite part—she got to hang out with this handsome horse. 💕 🐴⁣⁣
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Thanks @mimicosnap and @callimeadows for having us!! ⁣⁣
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#mimicosnap2019 #farmfun #fundraiser #community #disability #independence #inclusion #nolimits #unstoppable #callimeadows

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Flashback to when she used to play in the kitchen drawer. 🤣
#adrawerable #fourinadrawer #sortingmyphotos

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I’m inspired every day by the stories and advice other parents share so generously. Parenting a child with atypical challenges can feel overwhelming, so having people who “get your situation” and have your back makes everything seem possible. ❤️⁣⁣
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#parenting #familylife #IDD #intellectualordevelopmentaldisability #developmentaldisabilities ⁣
#disability #advocate⁣
#specialneeds #specializedneeds⁣
#disabilitysupport #epilepsy #specialneedsmom #momgenes ⁣
#unique #speechdelay #inclusion⁣
#chromosomedisorder ⁣
#3Pdeletion #9Pduplication⁣
#foreverinmomgenes

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