JUST THE FACTS......

I have decided to take a few minutes, out of a very busy day, to set some facts straight about me, my family and my life. What you are about to read is the TRUTH....not the blatant LIES that are thrown out all over the internet about me.

I am the mother of 6 children. 5 of them are on the autism spectrum. My oldest will be 16 tomorrow (OMG) and the youngest will be 6 next month. They are labeled with classic autism. They both fit this label and will remain Autistic the rest of their lives. Caitlin was exactly like Kiernan at his age. She tore clothes out of dresser drawers, like him....she smeared her feces, like him....she did not talk, like him. Caitlin now completely is self-sufficient, yet she needs constant supervision (for safety reasons). She does not smear feces, destroy drawers and she talks. She will answer any question and will tell you what it is like to be autistic. She is an amazing artist and a truly AMAZING person. Kiernan has his moments, but I would not trade him for the world.
Erin, 10 and Patrick, 7 are in the PDD-NOS part of the spectrum. At one time, they were severely autistic. Through maturation and perseverance on their part, the school's part and yes my Husband and myself's part, they got better. NO biomedical, chelation, or B12 shots required. Also, these 2 are now fully inclusioned and are indistinguishable from their same-aged peers (and better behaved, I might add). These 2 used to smear feces, toothpaste, mud, etc. Erin and Patrick would scream for hours. They outgrew this behavior.
Deirdre, 12, was diagnosed with Asperger's when she was 9. This diagnosis was a surprise to us. It did not change who Deirdre was, just explained her quirkiness and her amazing way to describe things in the most accurate detail. She is the smartest person I know. She has social issues and has struggled with this for years. I am happy to say, she has found a lovely group of friends that adore her.....along with her adoring family, what more could a girl need?
Meaghan is our only NT (so to speak). She is far more challenging to me than any of the autistic children. She has all the angst that a little 9 year old girl should have and the attitude to go with it. She has more friends than I can count and they all love her.

Please note, that there is not one of these children I would not have wanted to give birth to. We adore each and every one of these children. When questioned why I had so many children when we had a child with autism, I first say, None of your business....then I explain that I was pregnant with Meaghan (#4) when we found out Erin was autistic. I had Patrick 2 years later, while using a low-dose birth control (the only birth control I could use, because I was still breast feeding a 13 month old Meaghan. ). Patrick was 6 months old when I became pregnant with Kiernan....same birth control.
My children are all wanted and loved.....don't ever question that again.....

Now, there is another story being spewed across the internet. This is that I curse out parent's who do biomedical, chelation, B12 etc. That is a LIE.....show me where I EVER cursed out any person on the internet.
I have never called anyone "trashy", a lazy bugger, psychotic, etc....Sound familiar to any of you out there? If you need your memory refreshed, just ask me, I will let you know who you are.
I have only written that I believe it is very sad that a child of such a young age should be subjected to these kind of procedures. Call them what you want, but it is barbaric to ME....
You can use whatever excuse you want to make you happy for doing this, but I cannot see being a well-adjusted child while undergoing these procedures. My opinion.
See, I did not call names...just stated my opinion.
You guys might want to try this.

There is also someone out there, in lala land, who is writing that my husband has anger-management issues with me. How funny is that? My husband is by far the most patient man I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. He is not as out-spoken as his adoring wife, but he has not one abusive bone in his 6'5" frame. I hope you all have someone in your lives that love you as much as my husband loves me and his children.

Now, about our new house. I cannot mention the interior until the show airs. But, I was not given a GAG ORDER not to blog or go onto message boards. I took that upon myself, because I read some things written by 2 women in particular. I did not need to give them any fodder.
I hope when the show is aired, they watch with an open mind and truly see the beauty, intelligence and stregnth in our children. I hope they look past the fact that we were in financial difficulty and our home was not in stellar condition.
I hope they see how our whole community rallied together to give us this amazing gift and also see the gift that was given to the community in return.

Also, we did not nominate ourselves for this show. Our neighbor, Stan, nominated us. He is like family to us and saw we were in a situation we needed help with. Thank God for him. He is the person I will go to if I ever decide to run for office (just kidding, of course).

I do not have time for any more of the nonsense written about me from people who obviously do not know me. I have plenty of time for the loved ones in my life. The people that I have chosen to surround me and my family. I do not keep negatives in my life. That is bad for my children. I do not HATE anybody or anything. I just know who to keep out of our lives and who to let in.

And on one more note, while I am stating the FACTS, I find it interesting that people who write such negatively things about me on the blogger that Hates Autism so much ( you know the one), finds it necessary to hide behind the ANONYMOUS label. All I can say to that is how ridiculous it is that people believe what is written by someone who is not even brave enough to write their real names. If you want to accuse me of something, have the chutzpah to let me respond to a real person. There are very feeble-minded people out their that really believe the CRAP you write about me and my family. Get some back-bone or leave me out of your comments.

I hope this helps to understand my family better.
We are a "normal" family. My children are not defined by their autism. They are defined as the following:
Beautiful
Smart
Caring
Well-behaved
Quirky
Funny
Huggable
Loud
Respectful
ADORED by all

What more could a Mother and Father ask for?