Resources- YEA!!

After a relaxing weekend in Carlsbad we are back to some craziness. The appraisal on our house was completed this morning and we hope to close on it by the end of the month. Although we feel very comfortable at our brother and sister-in-law's house, it will be nice to have our own space again and have our Maddie dog back.

I contacted a parent of a student that I had worked with years ago in Mesquite. I was hoping she could be a go to person for help with resources for Andrew. She and I talked for about an hour today and I can say that she is an answer to many prayers. She sent me a list of resources in San Antonio and was very comforting to talk to. She can definitely relate to what we are going through and is pointing me in the right direction of where to start with therapies and doctors. After talking to her and reading lots of info online I am wondering if we are heading towards a diagnosis of Autism. You would think that after all these years of working with children that I would know if Andrew had this disability. It is very different being his Mom and it's even harder to work with him doing speech and non-speech tasks that I would do in therapy. Through one of the resources that Carol gave us I was able to contact Respite Care about possible day care. I'm not sure but I think the center is located downtown so that might not work out best for us but I am feeling more confident that we will find someone or someplace that will watch him while we are at work.

July 20, 2007

Wednesday was our 4 year anniversary. YEA!! Both of us feel like it has been a lot longer. We celebrated by having dinner at the Grey Moss Inn, a quaint little restaurant located in Grey Moss, TX, just outside SA. It is on a scenic drive in the country and the food was very good. Felt said it reminded him of the Cotswald in the UK. If you ever come this way you should definitely check it out. www.grey-moss-inn.com

Some people have asked why we moved to SA and what we are actually doing here. We moved here for family and jobs. Andrew was pretty sick this past year and we knew that we needed help and a support system. Our family has tried to help us out as much as possible in Dallas but it makes it easier with everyone being here. We are enjoying getting to see our nephew- Jackson and spend more time with all the other family and extended family. Felt works for Southwest Research Institute as a research Engineer in the automotive devision and I will be working for Northside ISD as a speech therapist.

With all the traveling and moving this summer we are in for 2 more trips. The first will be this weekend to Carlsbad, NM for a friend's wedding and the second will be later to Red River, NM for family reunion. Well, gotta get packing- I can't forget the Elmo and Baby Einstein DVDs

We're Here

We have been in San Antonio for two weeks and are somewhat adjusting to life here. Our sweet brother and sister-in- law have given us space and time to get ourselves together and find a house. After looking at houses for over a week and letting Felt torment realtors with questions we have an offer on a house close to Sea World and hope to close in a couple of weeks. I am not crazy about the house but I think Felt is in love with it. It has 2600 square feet, a large deck in the backyard with a great view and a hot tub. Yea!!! It has lots of space for us and is in good shape for being a 20 year old home. It is also 10 minutes from both of our jobs! We are really excited about that.

Andrew has been going to series of apointments- therapy, evaluations, new doctors, etc. Lots of fun for him! He loves being the center of attention. We have him scheduled to see a neurologist in August and the earliest we could get him into a developmental pedi was in February- yes, Feb., can you believe that? There is such a need for help with kiddos like Andrew. We still have no answers as to why he has regressed in development. His latest speech eval here in town was definitely a hard one. The SLP (speech therapist) made comments like "he had to have been born with something, some condition" and "You haven't taken him to a neurologist before?" I left there feeling guilty and angry. She said a lot of things that I didn't want to hear but that needed to be said. Felt and I are both having a hard time dealing with all of this and the move. We feel frustrated and just heartbroken for Andrew. Although he is not in any physical pain we want the best for him and we want him to be able to play like other kids his age. It's just a hard time right now and it's hard to explain to other people. Even situations where Andrew gets excited and needs deep pressure and will come to someone grab their arm tightly and clench his teeth- it can be a pain trying to explain to each person why he is doing this.

Please pray for us this week. Pray for good and knowledgeable doctors and therapists to work with him, pray for peace with this situation, pray that the house will go through, and pray that God will provide financially for all of this (especially since insurance only covers 20 speech therapy sessions a year). Although I have not updated this blog since Thanksgiving I plan to be writing a lot more. Stay tuned and thanks for everyone's support.
Brandi