Sharing a Joyful Life
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Marathon Livestream 12/8 10am-3pm Eastern
We’re excited!!! We’re doing a marathon livestream this Thursday on YouTube, from 10:00 am until 3:00pm eastern time. We hope you can join us for all or part of it! Come hangout with us!
Fried Okra is Not Slimy. 😄 Every time I make fried okra, I get comments about okra and slime. It’s not slimy. I promise. And it happens to be mine and Jessica’s favorite veggie. #okra #friedokra #family #kitchen #veggies #cook #home #homecooking #simplemeals
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here! We had fun decorating the house!
Guess what else I put on my list? 🎅🏻🎄 😊
TFW It’s time to do laundry. Yes? 😂 What’s your delay tactic? #laundrytime #procrastination #delaytactics #notimeforthis
Jessica’s ears have been stopped up and her hearing has been impacted. I had no idea. She had never mentioned a thing to me about her ears at all.
Jess has always had a strong aversion to her ears being touched. It may be connected to how many ear infections she had as a child. So working on cleaning her ears is always unpleasant.
The clue that something was off was when I said that I was finished cleaning an ear. Jess told me that she ‘still could not hear better’. She wanted me to clean it more. When I did finish a few minutes later, she seemed really surprised at how much more she could hear. She said, “what’s that noise in my ear?” I’m pretty sure she was just hearing the fan in my room along with other random background noises.
Sometimes things change is a quote I have used with Jess for years. It is part of my effort to promote flexibility when things don’t go according to plan. Sometimes, I have to remind myself of the same thing and try to chill out a little. 😄 Do you have a quote or saying that you use for helping you or others adjust to changes?
How Dirty Garbage messes happen around here. Ever wonder about the massive piles of cards on J’s bed? Here is how they start. It may seem random but it’s actually not. She has her own organization system. This is a particular drawer of cards that she’s going to go through, shuffle, sort, and get new bags as needed. Some she tosses straight on the bed. Others she opens first. I’m not sure why, but it’s part of her system.
Do you have a secret system of organization that looks like a mess and is hard to explain? 😄
Chocolate Waffles, girlfriend! Anyone get this excited about chocolate for breakfast? 😂 Jess semi-frequently reminds me that we need to have chocolate waffles soon. This morning I suggested we use a chocolate cake mix we had in the cabinet to make waffles, and to say Jess was happy about it is an understatement. #chocolate #chocolatewaffles #waffles #breakfast #happy #chocolateforbreakfast #chocolatehappiness #breakfastfun
#1 party question… What snacks do they have? But don’t we all want to know? 😂 💕💕 #itsagirl #babyshower #sharingajoyfullife #partysnacks #snackfoods #snacks #itsagirl🎀
A warm and fuzzy day. Our Thanksgiving Day was so nice. Almost all of the family was able to make it. We were blessed with delicious food. I used china from multiple generations representing both my side of the family and baddaddy’s, just because family is so important to me. Having it here at our place was a great decision and worked out so nicely. We hope you all had a wonderful day as well! 🍁🦃🍽 #traditions #family #familygatherings #familylove #motherdaughter #love #votm #blogger #vlogger
Sleeping in. An 8:00 a.m. wakening is pretty late for this household, particularly for Jess.
I recently got Jess a wireless charger for her phone. She has always relied on us to get her phone plugged in to charge overnight. We’re only having partial success with this charger because sometimes it’s hard to get it positioned just right to trigger the charging. We’ll be trying a different kind to see if we can get one that is easier for her.
Dog mama Jess. Jess is an autistic adult with extensive spoken language, but that doesn’t always mean effective communication. Sometimes it’s confusing to know what she’s trying to express or what she needs back from us in terms of a response.
Here’s my interpretation of this conversation. On previous occasions when she’s worn that sweatshirt, she has been told that it has a picture of Zoë on it. When I tell her again that it’s a picture of Zoë, she replies with a question, ‘it’s not her is it’? When I try to answer, I don’t reply with what she is expecting to hear. She’s expecting reassurance that it is indeed Zoë. So, I choose to adjust where I’m going with my answer.
Hide & Seek with Nonnie. 😄 Isn’t my mama the absolute cutest? I love her so much! 💕💕💕
Absentmindedly picking on this Monday morning. Good morning #goodonesfam
I think this is exactly what happens many of the times that Jess picks at her skin. It seems to be an absentminded sensory seeking habit?
How are you all this Monday morning? Busy with Thanksgiving prep yet?
My Bessie is Happy! Jess wanted to show how independent she could be with her breakfast. Other than some verbal guidance, she was independent except for opening the storage container. We can change the way we store leftovers that she might eat to help promote even more independence.
Matching and folding socks is quite the challenge for Jess because of her vision and fine motor impairment. There are simple tricks to making it easier, such as durable plastic rings that hold socks together in the laundry, or even loosely tying them together (which means they come out of the dryer still damp). However, Jess can neither tie socks together nor put them in the plastic rings, meaning she still has to have help with socks. So, basically, we don’t use either of those methods because life is what it is, socks randomly get tossed into the laundry, and Jess has to have help with it anyway.
Do you have suggestions or other methods for keeping socks matched in laundry?
#matchingsocks #finemotorskills #blindsocks #laundry #multipledisabilities #specialneedsvlog
I had a normal pregnancy and normal delivery. Jess was born very near her due date with a beautiful round head, blonde hair, blue eyes, and weighing 7 lbs-9 oz. She was a really good baby.
Jess was my first child, and the first grandchild of the family. In retrospect, maybe we would have noticed signs that things were wrong earlier if she had not been the first. My mom is very perceptive and sharp and was the first one to notice.
Jessica’s eyes were beautiful and looked normal. She seemed to look everywhere – except at the things we wanted her to look at. People would frequently mention how much she must like the patterns on the floor. For some reason, Jess wouldn’t maintain eye contact.
Does anything about this part of our story surprise you? Do you think we would have noticed sooner if she hadn’t been the first?
#progressneverstops I’m always proud of my J. But simple moments like this always make me extra. Jess wasn’t always able to readily answer questions. She couldn’t always make animal sounds. She didn’t always have an interest in farm animals and the sounds they make, or even reading a coloring book about anything. Can you relate to the pride I feel?
Watch Jess think through a create-your-own recipe. To say we were immensely impressed would be an understatement. She had initiative, opinions, ideas, and even named it. Please watch the video through! We can’t wait to try this next week!
