Wherein Life Throws Many Punches

The past few weeks life has changed around here. A lot. It's been one big change after another for our family. A new diagnosis for M2, a job change for A, opportunities that fell through for me and a new fence (about the only fun one on this list).

To start with, M2 got the diagnosis of mild-moderate autism. We'd been told by her current therapists that we should have her tested. At baby B's checkup, we mentioned to the doctor, who is also M2's doc, that we wanted to get her checked out per the therapists' recommendation. I was amazed when he said there was an appointment the next morning. We'd thought there would be a 6+ month wait.

I took her in for the evaluation since I'm with her most. Having A and B go along would have been more distracting as we'd have to chase B around, too. The developmental pediatrician spent over two hours evaluating her. He picked up things I'd never even realized were related to autism. Anything I said to try to convince him that maybe it's not autism just proved his point more. By the end of the appointment, he was confident in his diagnosis. While it's nice to know exactly what's going on, and that I'm not making it all up in my head, it's also difficult to be told your child is autistic. It's not something she'll just grow out of, we don't know what caused it and it's not something we can just fix. Right now, we're still looking into options for therapy and other avenues to pursue to get her help. The hope is that since she's mild-moderate, over time she'll learn to adapt and it'll seem more like quirks than big issues. Right now, the big tip off that something's going on is her speech. She just has not improved and the usual therapies haven't helped. We know now that it's because it's related to her autism, not one of the usual causes for delays. You can read more about the diagnosis and what that day was like here.

Just after this happened, we found out that A's job is giving him a large pay cut. When things are already pretty tight that's a huge blow to receive. We're still figuring out how to deal with it and what we're going to do. One route was me finding a work-from-home job that's more stable and pays more than my current blogging and freelance. I had a job pop up that I spent all of last week prepping my resume, writing samples and practicing interview techniques for. The company was moving fast so I thought it was a great sign. There were a few "huh?" moments when my contact there said things that made me wonder if she'd even read my resume, but I pushed it off. 

At the interview, I found out I was right. They'd had no intention of hiring me, they were most likely trying to reach a quota so they could hire someone they'd already selected. The interviewer was nothing short of hostile from the start. Seriously, who asks you, "What would the person who hates you MOST in the world say about you?" Umm, that I suck? Nothing good, that's for sure. After all, they hate me. The interviewer was not impressed when I tried to turn it around to be something positive. I've never had an interview like it before. I was seriously in shock the whole time with what was going on.

Ten minutes after the interview had been scheduled to end, after the office had closed, I got a form email telling me they weren't hiring me. My guess is that it was already scheduled to go out after the interview ended. It was another blow, especially since I'd worked so hard and thought I had a good shot. Now, we're back to figuring out where to go from here. There are no real answers and much of it is being based on chance and luck. That's not something I deal well with, I like to be able to work toward a goal and have backup plan. And a back up plan for the backup plan. I work hard to not end up floundering. This time, there isn't much of a choice and any route isn't going to be fun or easy. Right now, I'm going to be upping my freelance work as much as possible. (If you know of someone who needs a writer, editor or proofreader, send them my way!)

On the weight-loss front, I've been back sliding. As you can imagine, there's been a ton of stress, uncertainty and changes. Logically, I know that things could be much worse. Emotionally, it's not a great time for me. I'm an emotional eater and have been eating more than I should while all this has been going on. Not really junk food, but still more than I should and not as healthy as I should. Last week rather than losing, I gained a pound. I'm working on getting back into the portion control and healthy choices. Exercise is happening more often at least. I'm determined to get back on track and keep losing.

The one upside lately has been that our new fence for M2 has finally gone in. Since she's a runner, we haven't been able to let her play outside much. It's simply not safe without the fence. Now, she can run all over the yard and play while I'm outside with her. I'm really looking forward to spending time with her and baby B outside enjoying the warm weather.

On the blog side of life, I have some great posts planned for the coming months. There is going to be the rest of my The "Fat Kid" Tells All series to start with. I'll also be sharing more of our journey with M2 as it progresses.

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Wherein Life Throws Many Punches

The past few weeks life has changed around here. A lot. It's been one big change after another for our family. A new diagnosis for M2, a job change for A, opportunities that fell through for me and a new fence (about the only fun one on this list).

To start with, M2 got the diagnosis of mild-moderate autism. We'd been told by her current therapists that we should have her tested. At baby B's checkup, we mentioned to the doctor, who is also M2's doc, that we wanted to get her checked out per the therapists' recommendation. I was amazed when he said there was an appointment the next morning. We'd thought there would be a 6+ month wait.

I took her in for the evaluation since I'm with her most. Having A and B go along would have been more distracting as we'd have to chase B around, too. The developmental pediatrician spent over two hours evaluating her. He picked up things I'd never even realized were related to autism. Anything I said to try to convince him that maybe it's not autism just proved his point more. By the end of the appointment, he was confident in his diagnosis. While it's nice to know exactly what's going on, and that I'm not making it all up in my head, it's also difficult to be told your child is autistic. It's not something she'll just grow out of, we don't know what caused it and it's not something we can just fix. Right now, we're still looking into options for therapy and other avenues to pursue to get her help. The hope is that since she's mild-moderate, over time she'll learn to adapt and it'll seem more like quirks than big issues. Right now, the big tip off that something's going on is her speech. She just has not improved and the usual therapies haven't helped. We know now that it's because it's related to her autism, not one of the usual causes for delays. You can read more about the diagnosis and what that day was like here.

Just after this happened, we found out that A's job is giving him a large pay cut. When things are already pretty tight that's a huge blow to receive. We're still figuring out how to deal with it and what we're going to do. One route was me finding a work-from-home job that's more stable and pays more than my current blogging and freelance. I had a job pop up that I spent all of last week prepping my resume, writing samples and practicing interview techniques for. The company was moving fast so I thought it was a great sign. There were a few "huh?" moments when my contact there said things that made me wonder if she'd even read my resume, but I pushed it off. 

At the interview, I found out I was right. They'd had no intention of hiring me, they were most likely trying to reach a quota so they could hire someone they'd already selected. The interviewer was nothing short of hostile from the start. Seriously, who asks you, "What would the person who hates you MOST in the world say about you?" Umm, that I suck? Nothing good, that's for sure. After all, they hate me. The interviewer was not impressed when I tried to turn it around to be something positive. I've never had an interview like it before. I was seriously in shock the whole time with what was going on.

Ten minutes after the interview had been scheduled to end, after the office had closed, I got a form email telling me they weren't hiring me. My guess is that it was already scheduled to go out after the interview ended. It was another blow, especially since I'd worked so hard and thought I had a good shot. Now, we're back to figuring out where to go from here. There are no real answers and much of it is being based on chance and luck. That's not something I deal well with, I like to be able to work toward a goal and have backup plan. And a back up plan for the backup plan. I work hard to not end up floundering. This time, there isn't much of a choice and any route isn't going to be fun or easy. Right now, I'm going to be upping my freelance work as much as possible. (If you know of someone who needs a writer, editor or proofreader, send them my way!)

On the weight-loss front, I've been back sliding. As you can imagine, there's been a ton of stress, uncertainty and changes. Logically, I know that things could be much worse. Emotionally, it's not a great time for me. I'm an emotional eater and have been eating more than I should while all this has been going on. Not really junk food, but still more than I should and not as healthy as I should. Last week rather than losing, I gained a pound. I'm working on getting back into the portion control and healthy choices. Exercise is happening more often at least. I'm determined to get back on track and keep losing.

The one upside lately has been that our new fence for M2 has finally gone in. Since she's a runner, we haven't been able to let her play outside much. It's simply not safe without the fence. Now, she can run all over the yard and play while I'm outside with her. I'm really looking forward to spending time with her and baby B outside enjoying the warm weather.

On the blog side of life, I have some great posts planned for the coming months. There is going to be the rest of my The "Fat Kid" Tells All series to start with. I'll also be sharing more of our journey with M2 as it progresses.

Affiliate Links