Autism- What did we see…

I have had a lot of people ask me what we saw in my daughter that first had us asking questions. Looking back we had issues from day 1 before we ever left the hospital.
There was constant crying that I couldn’t comfort, it almost seemed like she was not comfortable in her own skin. I used that statement to describe Giada for her 1st year of life. It sounds terrible that an infant could not be comfortable in their own skin but that was the best way to describe it.

Probably one of the most common things we hear when we tell people about her autism is “I didn’t think they could diagnose it that young…

Naked Egg

My 3 year old LOVES science! So I try to have different experiments for him to do. I try to do a few each month. It could be something as simple as filling the kitchen sink up with water and letting him go around the house picking items, then he has to guess if it will sink or float.
Or sometimes I like to pick things that take a few days (also teaching him some patience) :-). That’s where the naked egg came into play.

Autism: It’s very real and part of my Family

No parent thinks it can happen to them, to their child… But it happens with no explanation and no warning. It hurts! You will always wonder where or when it happened, was there something you could of done differently??? The answer is, there is no answer. That realization is probably the hardest of them all. Maybe 1 day we will know but right now there are too many variables and theories to pin point.

You can find thousands of studies saying all these different things give you higher risk factors in having a child with autism. Well in our case, with our child, we didn’t fall into those categories.

Hide the Veggie Hamburgers!

I’m sure all kids go through this phase… You hear about it everywhere. The Veggie Stand Off! My son, Nicholas is 3 1/2 years old. I use to never have a problem getting him to eat his veggies but the last few months it has been almost impossible.
I tried everything! I only made his favorites, started making smoothies but nothing really worked.

Then one day I saw something on TV about taking roasted veggies, chopping them up and adding them to a meatloaf. Then it hit me- I could make hamburgers that were gluten and casein free for my daughter and packed full of hidden veggies for my son! It was brilliant!!!

Hand Prints that Touch Your Heart

With Mother’s Day right around the corner and then soon to be Father’s Day, I thought I would share a little craft that you can do with the kids.

Mini Corndog Muffin Bites

Looking for a fun and easy meal for the kids? This goes over great with mine! You can also adjust it for whatever your dietary needs are.

Nicholas’s 1st Kiwi Crate

As part of his Easter gift Nicholas received a Kiwi Crate from my parents. This was perfect for him! The kid loves crafts and projects- he would spend all day long doing them if he could.

Strawberry Brownies- Pinkies!!!

Here is a fun, quick, easy dessert than is sure to please.
My son LOVES to cook and this was perfect for him to help make.

All you need is

What to expect…

Whats the point? The reason(s) I’m here talking for all to see…

I will talk about my kids A LOT! The happy times and stressful times. You’ll get it all.

Cooking- I am Gluten Intolerant and on a Gluten Free diet. My daughter Giada has an intolerance to dairy. For that reason and others I will get into later I have her on a Gluten Free and Casein Free diet. I plan to share favorite recipes and products. With dietary restrictions like this I know there will be times I will try something that doesn’t work. Ill share that too.

Organization- with a busy life, organization is the key. I use to call myself the most unorganized organized person ever but over the years and after the birth of each of my children my type A personality has little by little gone into overdrive. And dare I say it is my OCD side and anal retentive side that keeps my home in 1 piece.

Cleaning- having 2 kids (ages 3.5 and 1.5), a husband and a dog cleaning is an every hour thing.

Being Crafty- since becoming a Stay at Home Mom I have started to try and reach the crafty side of my personality… Making tutus for my daughter, projects for my son, DYI for the house and so on.

Weight loss- I have recently lost a bunch of weight. 51 lbs in the last few months, 60 lbs from my all time high. I will continue to document my weight loss here and Twitter.

And much much more.

Quick Glimpse….

I wanted to start with a quick glimpse into myself and my family and how we got to today…

I was born in Mansfield, OH but say that I grew up in Canton, MI. I moved with my family to MI in the middle of 3rd grade and stayed there until I graduated from Plymouth-Salem High School in 2001. Right after graduating I moved with my family to Philadelphia. I lived in Audubon, PA for a short 6 weeks when I left for college. Youngstown State University was where I decided to study. It was an easy choice because most all of my family lived there so it was home away from home. I was able to move away from my parents and have that “college experience” but call up another family member if I was looking for a home cooked meal or needed anything.
It was at Youngstown State that I would meet the person that would change my life forever.

September 11th 2001- everyone remembers that day and can tell you every detail of how that day played out. For me this was the day I met Brad.

Quickly Brad and I became best friends and on March 1st 2005 he proposed marriage. Now I know most proposals are sweet, romantic and unforgettable. Well this proposal was unforgettable but not for the reasons you would think. After getting off work that night I headed over to the MVR- a restaurant/bar that was close to campus. I had been there dozens of times. I was meeting Brad. Over the past few months I had been bugging Brad about getting engaged. We had been together over 3 years and I wanted to know the relationship was going somewhere. We were getting ready to graduate and I knew I didn’t want to stay in Youngstown but I needed to know if Brad wanted to be part of the decision about what happened next. I would leave pictures of rings around and nag about “where is this going?”. When I walked into the MVR that night Brad had already drank more than his fair share. I decided it would be a good time to nag about where this was going. It was at that point Brad shifted in his bar stool and ended up on the floor. I don’t know if he though “well this will shut her up” or “well I’m already down here” but this was the moment he chose to propose. No ring, no romance, just “had a few too many” Brad on his knee in a bar just having fallen off his stool. Of course I said yes and knew I would never let him live it down.

We graduated in July 2005 and moved to Columbus, Ohio.
Got married October 14th 2006.

We wanted a family right away and when it wasn’t working we turned to fertility treatment. Over 18 months of different treatments, drugs and procedures. Finally we became pregnant! Daily hormone injections and IUI is what got us there.

October 13th 2009 our son was born. Nicholas James- 7lbs 15oz, 19.6in.

A few months after our son turned 1 we surprisingly and delightedly found out I was pregnant again!

September 8th 2011 our daughter was born. Giada Anania- 9lbs 10oz, 20.5in.