Living with Speech Problems

Yasser hit every single milestone usually ahead of time. She was always our little over achiever and it made it hard when we had Gill-G. I knew that he would not be like his sister because not every kid is holding their own head up at birth. I am not even joking she got the nickname super baby because of it. It was not until Gill-G was 6 months that we started to worry he could not roll over still but the doctor we had at the time love to tell me they all develop at their own time. At 10 months he got up and walked so I figured I may have been over reacting. At 2 years old I started to really worry, my son still had no voice or sounds even. Yasser was talking by the time she was 18 months. At this point we moved back to New York and we had a new doctor. Someone who heard my concerns and saw that they were real serious, we would start our journey to getting real answers. It would be about 6 months before Gill-G would start making baby noises and by the end of the year we would start to understand a few things. We knew what to look for, so when Hulk man showed signs we knew how to handle it. After a year of doing Speech therapy with both boys and two years for Gill-G part of me still is worrisome because some of the time I still have no clue what they are saying and it frustrates them. Yasser is really good with it but I am deciding it is time for something different. Over the next few months we are going to learn ASL as a family. My goal is for us to sign as we talk so one day the boys feel comfortable. Later today we should be done putting up our flash cards and our new books will be here. ( I will post pictures) Our kids has made our life extremely interesting. Learning to live with strong willed, smart, anxiety, autism, apraxia, sensory processing, dermatographia, and allergies can be tricky. As I figure out how this works and what works for us I will share what we are doing. For more information on Apraxia check out http://www.apraxia-kids.org.

Chive Vinegar

Spring has finally come and is almost gone now. I feel the only two seasons we are promised is winter and summer. My mom's garden is in full bloom and I decided to steal most of her chive buds to make a vinegar. The end resulted with look amazing. You only need 3 things: a glass container that is sterilized, white vinegar, and chive buds. Make sure you wash the buds really well because little bugs like to hide away in the plants. You may not want to persevere them for salads, then again it can be extra protein.

Our supplies 

Mr. Man filling the jars with Hulk watching

In it goes 

Our jar nice and full.

Filling up all 3 now.

Our nice full jar.

Marley and Justin filling the jars with Vinegar

Fill until flowers are covered.

Pretty little jar nice and full. 

Leave the jar in a cool dark place for about a month. Look for salad dressing recipes to use this with, otherwise sub in for white vinegar for an extra bang!!

Gill-G's travel case

Gill- G has high functioning Autism. We never had an issue accepting it because it helps define who he is. We do not feel sorry for ourselves and we do not regret anything. I love him dearly and accepted it long before we knew he was Autistic. Gill-G was going on  27 months before we started testing and it would be another 3 or 4 months with speech therapy before he would even start talking. He would occasionally have melt downs and bite himself until he bleed.  There is a never ending curve of learning because he is learning and developing too.
Just because you know one kid with Autism does not mean you know Autism because Autism has many faces and no two are a like.

But this article is not about living with Autism, it is about living with allergies. Autism just plays a minor part because it affects the way he thinks. 

We have a special baggie in my purse to carry things for Gill-G. 

Inside we have some important thing in case of emergency for when we go out with Gill-G.

This case is easy enough you can get into it but difficult enough that it should slow the children down. 

One side contains an all natural sunscreen because he burns easily and a lotion balm I found on Avon.  The lotion balm is great for the extreme itchy days and we can't get to the lotion or coconut oil and it does not make a huge mess. Normally we also have a small supply of band aids but someone has not replaced it.

The other side contains epi pens and a letter. I also plan on adding Children's Benadryl Liquid Allergy Relief - NEW Larger Size (8 Fl Oz X 2) We had some in there but with allergy season we grabbed it and forgot to refill it. The letter was written for us by our developmental Doctor. This give us the protection if someone hears Gill-G screaming" stop hitting me or you are hurting me" and calls the cops. You would be surprised at the things that can happen. 

It has been way to long...

Things were all over the place for awhile and it got overwhelming but we are back and we are more organized and in a better place. 

                                                     

I want to start with we completed our first year homeschooling with Yasser and it was a long crazy year. We combined first grade with kindergarden because she was comfortable with kindergarden before the year even started. We are starting second grade this year. She is also bridging into Brownies with our girl scout troop. I am very proud of my little lady because she worked hard to earn all of the pins and patches she could. We are also in to works of losing our first two teeth!!! I really have no clue how I feel because it does not feel that long ago she was depending on me for everything.

                                                                        

Gill-G had huge changes in his life. For starters we have the official Autism diagnose but he also has apraxia with anxiety and horrible allergies. The good news to it all we were able to start putting together plans to help him work around stuff. Now we are in a much better place and starting to see the unusual child emerging. It is honestly nice to see. We finally got rid of our gross green blanket and don't spend day and night upset. We are starting Kindergarden this year after catching him doing his sisters school work for her ( he just turned 4 so I didn't want to push but he can do math in his head and basic reading). Lessons were learned and now we are in for a really great year. 

                                                                          

Hulk man well he is just Hulk man with more mysteries than answers but we have either been learning how to accept and deal with more or he is getting better. I really have no clue anymore. But we love him and plan on another great year except this time we with be keeping up with our blog. Even Justin agreed to start typing and writing more. My weekly schedule has a blog typing section blocked off every week :) Thank you everyone for not giving up on me and checking every so often. 

Achieving my goals with Justin

Even dirty I look good

I have been struggling with writing this blog post, this is my third attempt at this. I want to motivate people with my story. I have been struggling with my weight since at least my senior year of high school.

Around 210lbs right when I started working out

 At my heaviest I was around 250lbs and at my lightest 140lbs. When I met my wife Stephanie almost 7 years ago I weighed 180lbs, she loves to bake. One of my biggest issues has been my will power and portion control, so over the years I slowly ate myself into a round man. I made it to 230lbs and I felt like crap.

Me at my heaviest, but I do like pie

 Finally Stephanie stopped baking and cut out a lot of the processed and crap food we ate. It took about a year but I dropped to 205lbs. I was proud of myself, but I slipped, it is the story of my life in regards to weight. I turned 30 about 6 months ago and decided it was time to take my health serious. At the end of February I decided I had to find a challenge and do it.

They tried to cook us

 So I signed up for the Finger Lakes Triathlon and the Hardcore Mudd Run. Both of these I was in no shape to even think about trying. Stephanie had found an app called C25K, no they are not paying me, it is designed to take someone from the couch to a 5K in 2 months.

While Kat was still having fun

 It is set up with 8 weeks of workouts and 3 workouts a week. It uses and interval training method, 60 seconds jogging, 90 seconds walking, the running increases with each week. When I first started working out I had a hard time making through the 60 second runs.

Being fat with electrical cords hanging down is not a good idea

 That is right I am a grown man wanting to run a triathlon and I cannot handle 60 seconds of running. I worked hard and kept going, I am now able to run 4 miles, you read that right, me Justin Kuczma can run 4 miles. 

That was a big hill

This past weekend it was time for my first challenge, the Hardcore Mudd Run. This was 6.5 miles with 13 obstacles up and down a ski resort, I was not prepared. Even though I run this course was more than I planned. 

This is deceiving, it does not take 5 people to get me up a wall

My friend Kat and I took this challenge and gave it hell. We had a lot of help from other teams and they gave me even more inspiration. One of the teams had a guy we called Spiderman, he was wearing a Spiderman shirt, I am not that creative.

Swinging over a mud pit, check that off the bucket list

 This guy scaled the walls with no problem and made these obstacles look easy. I want to be “Spiderman” next year.

35lbs ago would have made this much harder

 I am working hard for my goals, I have dropped from 210lbs down to 194lbs, and I keep running. I am planning on adding core workouts and weight training too.

There is all the weight I have lost in a bag, that I have to carry up hill

 I plan on posting a blog updating you on my status weekly, what I want is your support. In return I will be there for you, if you have a goal, weight loss or not, I will help you obtain your goal.

 If you want to loss weight and get in shape, come join me. If you are above my level push me, if you are not at the same place as me I can help push you. 

This was on a ski slope, a steep slope

I have another post in the works right now based on overcoming fear and doubt, stay tuned for that. 

I can get over an incline wall