October 22nd-28th Autism Speaks Walk Team Brendan 2013

            I don't even know where to start. This past week has been so heart warming for my family. We want to truly thank every person who walked, donated and reached out to us in some way in support of Team Brendan. Team Brendan had 74 walkers and we raised $3,335. We were the largest independent group walking. We were also in the top 12 groups of money raised. They announced just before walk that they had 20,000 people registered to walk yesterday. It was so crazy, there were so many people there raising autism awareness. Looking and watching our group of Team Brendan shirts all walk together was a feeling that will never leave me. It made me so emotional knowing all the friends and family devoted there morning to raise awareness. Brendan of course had no idea what was going on, he even fell alseep during our 1 mile walk that took us 50 minutes to walk. I can't wait to tell and show Brendan what our first year walking for him was like. We are going to make this a yearly tradition for Team Brendan. I am already excited for what next year will bring us. We also had my amazing family and friends walk in Northern California and Utah in both freezing cold weather. Then my brother who is a fire fighter and had to work during the walk had his station support and they made a banner and also walked for Team Brendan. We finished the walk and headed over to a park and celebrated with a big lunch, candy,cupcakes and the kids made puzzle piece ornaments to remember the walk. Thank you again to everybody who gave us your support. We love you all so much!

       

           Last week Brendan had a follow up appointment with his development doctor at the Melmed Center. The day of the appointment brought me so much anxiety because the last time we were there was when he got his diagnoses. I was terrified at what was going to happen. I came to the appointment with my list of concerns to tell her about. I was afraid I was going to forget everything. She wanted to know how things were going and my answer was,"it's been a crazy roller coaster of up's and downs so far." She wanted to know what my concerns were first. My main concern was him eating all of the things are not food and enjoying them. So I explained to her that it started back on the first of September when he started to eat sand. I first thought he was just being a typical boy and experimenting  and being gross but for the last 2 months every time he is around sand he begins to shovel it in his mouth. When I take it away from him or say no he completely has a melt down. He actually enjoys eating it. I know in my last blog I mentioned how he was eating lost of strange objects and I just thought it was him being a boy but it started to become more frequent. I knew it wasn't normal when he was enjoying the taste of dirt and things like soap. He doesn't do it everyday but I have been so paranoid at what he might eat next that I follow him around every second of the day. This is a big safety issue so I knew his doctor needed to know. She explained to me its a condition called PICA syndrome. It is common in autistic and mentally disabled kids ages 18 months to 5 years old. He is basically doing it as a sensory seeking act. So now we really need to get all of his therapist to help get this under control asap. It just another concern to add to my full plate. But I handled this news pretty good. Then I told hid doctor all the good things he is doing. She pretty much had the same reaction that his therapist are having. Which is he is definitely a very unique little boy. He is progressing out of the norm. He is skipping the basic things kids normally learn first and just skipping to much harder words and activities. But she doesn't care which order he is going in as long as he progressing and not regressing. So overall we had a good appointment. Just a set back with the PICA diagnoses. I have been educating myself on PICA all weekend. I feel much better now knowing more information about it.

This video is of Brendan playing with Barbies. He loves to play cars but he has also been taught by his sister on how to play barbies. The best part of this video is he is playing with them appropriately.

Oct 15th-21st Brendan 17 months

                                                     6 More Days Until The Walk!!!!!!!

            This was a great week. Brendan has learned more words and skills. He has learned to say the number 3. We always count 1,2 & 3 before we swing him so he has learned the number 3 from that. Last friday at therapy he decided he was going to say, "thank you." It was again completely random for him to say. Then he learned to say, "slide." He has been outside playing pretty much anytime its day light out. He just loves to be outside. We have also taught him how to do high fives and then he has learned how to do touch down. It is so amazing to me how he is changing everyday. Therapy is really starting to work. It makes me one happy momma.

Watch Brendan on the,"EiEiO," part 

               I have been busy this week getting ready for our walk and lunch party this weekend. I am overwhelmed with joy with the amount of donations that everyone on Team Brendan has raised and given. We are so lucky to have such amazing family and friends supporting us. We are really looking forward to sharing this huge life experience with everyone.

October 7th-14th Brendan 17 months

This past week for Brendan has been pretty calm. He had all of his normal therapy and did really well everyday. He is still saying all of his words he learned last week. He didn't learn any new ones this week. I think he was so into eating anything and everything that he was to distracted to learn. He is going through the toddler boy stage where he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth. This week I caught him eating dirt, leaves, rocks, bubbles, grass, sand, shower bar soap, dog food, stickers the list goes on. The gross part is all of those things he ate never seemed to bother him. I guess this is what I get to deal with having a boy.

      We found out that Brendan has been accepted into a clinical research project at SARRC. We are so excited because this is a very intense 25 hours of therapy for 5 days. They are on a 6 month waiting list to get into this program. They have been looking for an Infant for this program which now they have Brendan so we will be starting it November 11. The best part is it's free for us. Normally it costs $2,250 for 5 days of therapy. This is exactly why we are raising money for Autism Speaks. Brendan doesn't get the money personally that we are raising however it goes to funding research projects. Now that we are part of a research project raising money for Team Brendan has so much more meaning.
        Team Brendan Walk Now For Autism Speaks Walk is in 13 days. We are so excited because as of now we have 60 people walking on our Team. It is going to be such an amazing event. We are looking forward to it.

October 1st-6th Brendan turns 17 months and say's his first words

   

    I have been so excited to share our week with everyone. Brendan is now 17 months old and getting bigger. This week has been so emotional but for so many good reasons. I first want to start by saying the biggest thank you to everybody who has donated and joined Team Brendan. I am starting to get chocked up as I am typing right now. The emails that I have received this week from my Family and Friends telling me how they are supporting Brendan has exceed anything I could have ever imagined anyone doing for my son. I have friends and family in other states that can't travel to Arizona for the walk so they will be walking at the same time as we are walking with their Team Brendan shirts on! I have friends sharing Brendan's story with all of their face book friends to spread awareness about autism. I have friends trying to raise money for Team Brendan's walk on their own. People buying Team Brendan's shirts from all the United States. The list goes on! I want every single one of you to know that everything you are doing means more than you know to my family. It makes me so emotional to know that we have so much support behind us. I will never give up the fight to cure Autism for my son!
       Last week I shared that Brendan started to try and say the words,"a again." Well he is officially now saying, "a again," and using it in the proper way. Also last weekend he started to say," a snack," which sounds more like, "a tack," but he is consistent and I know exactly what he is trying to say. That all happened within 2 days. I also shared the video of him going in and out of the dog door well lets just say all he wants to do is climb out the dog door to go in the backyard. Every time I pull him back in he throws a full tantrum. His aba therapist was over Tuesday for therapy and I was explaining to her his newest tantrum so I decided just to show her. We took him outside to play for a bit and then made him come in and as he has been doing he flipped out. So while her and I were discussing how to handle these situations he decided to calm down and walk to the back door and say,"outside." The therapist and I looked at each other and in the biggest state of shock both said, "omg he just said outside." That moment brought me to tears. He isn't saying the typical normal easy first words like momma, dadda, dog, up, yes, no but he has decided that he is going to put two words together and then say harder words. From that moment on Tuesday he is now also saying,"all done, I did, I catch, banana, I sit, Einstein's." He has also learned to give me a high five. I have been dreaming of these moments. You just never know if your child with Autism will ever be verbal. The last month of the intense aba therapy we are doing is showing us actual proof that it is working. We have been working so hard with him and he is starting to really respond to this method. Ok sorry I have posted lots of videos of him talking this week. Also don't mind that his face looks like he went to war. He is all boy and climbs and runs on everything so he took some good falls this week.

Orders for Team Brendan Shirts need to be ordered by Monday to get them for the walk

If you would like a shirt for the walk orders and money must be sent to me by Monday.

 The money we raise for the shirts will be donated to Team Brendan Walk Now For Autism Speaks foundation walk. Even if you are not walking or live in another state you can still purchase a shirt and show your support. We have men's, ladies, children and toddler sizes. The adult shirts are $20 and the kids shirts are $15. If you would like to purchase a shirt please email me at Brendanslifewithautism@gmail.com with your size and choice of shirt. If you would like me to ship it to you please include your address. I will send you an invoice with the options of how to pay. All orders must be placed by October 7th, 2013. Thank you for showing your support.

Mens sizes
Small,medium,large,X-large,XX-Large,XXX-large

Womens sizes
X-small, small, medium, large,X-Large
 *ladies if you don't want this fitted ladies shirt you can order the men's shirt

Youth sizes
X-Small(2-4),small(6-8),medium(10-12),large(14-16)

Toddler sizes
2T,3T,4T