Public school after 5 years

Well I am back, again. See how long I can keep this goin this time. Really was hard to post updates and keep up with homescholing life :) after 5 years of homeschooling my Anna we are trying public school again. So far so good. She seems to enjoy going ~ beats me to the door every morning when I say it is time to go. When I pick her up she is smiling and happy. I thought the first few days would be a little rocky, but they went smooth. Anna continues private therapies on Mondays, so she only goes to school Tuesday - Friday. The school worked with me allowing her to go 1/2 day on those days as well. This allows her transition to hopefully be a little easier, as well as gives me time to still work with her on things at home that the school does not. This is just a quick hello again blog, but I am going to try to post at least weekly.

Ok as I read through my old post I realized I never posted at the end of Anna's HBOT / DAN treatments. So I will tell you my feelings on DAN treatment and HBOT. Would I do it again ? Yes I would and I would never discourage others from trying it either. I noticed almost immediate improvement with Anna's belly. Her belly was always really swollen and had really BAD bowl issues as well as reflux. I agree with my DAN doctor's findings of Yeast in Anna's gut, and Bacteria feeding off of yeast. I believe they call this leaky gut. With the treatments given by the doctor her belly swelling went way down and you could tell bowls were getting better within the first month and continued to improve each month. With all the supplements Anna was taking the ones I noticed to show the most improvement were for the leaky gut issues. The food allergy testing done on Anna showed she was allergic to half of the food world. Luckily as a stay at home mom I was able to cut out all of the trigger foods and only give her foods that did not cause Anna problems. We did this for a year, and it was really hard. We could not eat as a family because if Anna saw someone had something she did not it was a big issue. Going out to eat was a nightmare, very few foods that were ok for Anna. So after a year I took her to a Pediatric Nutritionalist and slowly introduced foods back one at a time to find true food allergies. We now know that corn is a big trigger food, as well as eggs. She can tolerate small amount of dairy, but I believe she has the same issue as my husband and oldest daughter of Lactose Intolerance. As far as the HBOT treatment I may have saw some small changes in attention span, focus, and things just seemed to click for Anna that had given her issues for years. The biggest click was potty training, she finally got it. YEAH!!!! I chalk this up to HBOT , and also the repair from the leaky gut I talked about earlier. With her bowl more typical and under control she was able to feel the sensation and get to the bathroom in time. As to date she rarely has an accident and it is usually when she get so engrossed in something she is doing and waits to long (doesn't make it in time) She wears a pull up to sleep ,but does not really need it as she will only occasionally use the bathroom in her sleep (pee) when she has drank a lot before bed. So in conclusion if you can raise the funds to try a DAN I would suggest it.

Fieldtrip with Anna , Scarlet and Scarlet's boyfriend to Congaree National Park Swamp

Fieldtrip with Homeschool Group (Anna is the young lady sitting on wall)

2 years LOST!!!???? Where did they go??

Well where to begin ??? Somehow I left my blog for a few years. I somehow got lost in the world of homeschooling ~ facebook ~ and youtube. But I am now returning to blogging as it is a great way for me to share a small peak into how a families life changes when Autism - Special Needs comes into your world. Also I enjoy blogging and looking back on our life as we grow and change. 

To get back up to speed on my family I am still a mom wearing many hats. I  am a wife, cook, taxi driver, maid, and most of all I am a teacher for my youngest with special needs, and a support system for my typical teen daughter. I am now on my 5th year homeschooling Anna, and my oldest Scarlet is starting to spread her wings and fly. Scarlet now has a drivers license - took my truck and is on the hunt for a summer job. Scarlet's life has been touched by Anna and she has chose to go into the field of Physical Therapy. She has already started classes in High School to work toward this goal.I am so proud of her, and this is a job God has truly prepared her for. She has compassion for others, lots of energy, and genuine thrill to help others.

I will be adding a few pictures from homeschooling over the missed years. Then I will try to make a post at least a couple times a week.

Homeschooling Fun

WOW !!!
Where has time gone. It has been a while since my last blog, so I thought I better put a little update on.
Anna is almost done with HBOT treatments and school is in full swing. We are trying to get use to K12 for Scarlet, and getting Anna back into a routine as much as possible. This is kind of hard with daily treatment in the middle of the day. But Anna is doing ok spreading things out a little before and a little after treatments (some even done in the tank).
We even went on our first field trip for the year today to Harmon Farms after Anna's treatment. On the way Scarlet said wow that is beautiful (Farm with beautiful old house, pond, animals, etc). We both said I would love to live there. Well we changed our mind after a quick reminder at Harmon's. Lots of dust, sandspurs, and biting bugs are not our thing. LOL
We all got at least a couple of mosquito bites, but I think Scarlet recieved the most. She was whining the whole way home. She is a true drama queen. I do love her dearly.
Oh well I will update more on treatments, and homeschooling later. I am tired and need to finish a few more things before I turn in.