As a mother, I will never give up on my child. As a mother of a child who has autism, I will never give up hope.
I look into his eyes and I see all the potential that he has to offer to this beautiful world and I just know that one day the world can see what I see.

Follow my blog as I share my life and my experiences as a person who loves someone with autism.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Blowing bubbles at Walmart

A huge shout out and thank you to our local Walmart Supercenter for letting us set up a table outside their entrance to blow bubbles and sell our bubble blowers! We had so much fun!

Partial proceeds benefited the Canadian Red Cross, a non-profit, humanitarian organization dedicated to improving the situation of the most vulnerable in Canada and throughout the world. Their mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity in Canada and around the world. The Canadian Red Cross provides a wide range of assistance to millions of people in Canada through health services, injury prevention (such as water safety and first aid), violence and abuse prevention, and by responding to and preparing for disasters. They also help the world’s most vulnerable populations, including victims of armed conflict and communities destroyed by devastating disasters, through their international programs.

To learn more about the Canadian Red Cross please visit their website: http://www.redcross.ca

Thanks for reading,
Tanaya

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Organic Acid Profile Test results

Thanks to your donations to the Bubbles Make Him Smile Therapy Fund we were able to raise money for Bryce’s Organic Acid Profile Test. This test provides an accurate evaluation of intestinal yeast and bacteria. Abnormally high levels of these microorganisms can cause or worsen behavior disorders, hyperactivity, movement disorders, fatigue and immune function. It was a test that our naturopathic doctor, Dr. Tasreen Alibhai, highly suggested we get done for Bryce.

The results are in, and believe me when I say, it’s A LOT to take in. Unfortunately we were late for our appointment with Dr. Alibhai to discuss the results in full detail, and had to reschedule that, but I figured I’d share the results anyways, not fully understanding them myself. She mentioned a list of supplements which I’ll go into more details after our rescheduled appointment. She also briefly mentioned a couple more tests she’d like for us to do: a Food Sensitivity test ($300.00) and a Red Blood Count Essential Elements test ($240.00).

I honestly can’t even pronounce half of the jargon used in this test, but Dr. Alibhai did add some notes to bring attention to some of the more important results, like Bryce having a high level of arabinose (yeast), something about a low oxalate diet, scribbles about vitamins, and made note about low protein.

Organic Acids Test – Nutritional and Metabolic Profile
Intestinal Microbial Overgrowth
(Click the graphic to view it in a bigger format)

Organic Acid Profile Test results  

Organic Acids Test – Nutritional and Metabolic Profile
Oxalate Metabolites, Glycolytic Cycle Metabolites, Krebs Cycle Metabolites, Neurotransmitter Metabolites, Pyrimidine Metabolites, Folate Metabolism
(Click the graphic to view it in a bigger format)

Organic Acid Profile Test results  

Organic Acids Test – Nutritional and Metabolic Profile
Ketone and Fatty Acid Oxidation, Nutritional Markers
(Click the graphic to view it in a bigger format)

Organic Acid Profile Test results  

Organic Acids Test – Nutritional and Metabolic Profile
Indicators of Detoxification, Amino Acid Metabolites, Bone Metabolites, Indicator of Fluid Intake
(Click the graphic to view it in a bigger format)

Organic Acid Profile Test results  

Like I said, it’s a lot to take in. I don’t know where to start, and I hope that the rescheduled appointment to discuss the results will clear up a lot of my questions. And it looks like we have a lot more fundraising ahead of us for these next tests our naturopathic doctor is recommending.

Just so we’re all on the same page here, I just wanted to say that we are not trying to cure autism. We are treating it. If there is anything not harmful that I can do to help my son so that he is able to be the best he can and will be and make his life just 0.000001% easier, then I’m going to do whatever it takes to make that possible. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for my son.

Thanks for reading,
Tanaya

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Wrestling themed birthday party

We celebrated Bryce’s birthday this past weekend with a birthday party at Club Aviva. Club Aviva is a gymnastics facility that includes an in-ground foam pit, in-ground trampolines, in-ground 30 feet TumbleTrak, and three above-ground trampolines. They also have all of the traditional gymnastics apparatus including bars, beams, vault, as well as a double-mini trampolines and an 80 feet rod floor for trampoline gymnastics, and a variety of smaller scale equipment for preschool gymnastics. It was the perfect place to host Bryce’s wrestling themed birthday party.

More specifically, the theme was World Wrestling Entertainment since Bryce is really into wrestling and all things related right now. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find an ounce of any WWE decorations at any of the party supplies stores I went to and wasn’t about to pay a hefty shipping fee to find things online. We were only going to be in the party room for an hour just for food, cake, and opening up presents so I didn’t feel like we needed a ton of decorations, so my main focus was just the cake and balloons.

We got Bryce’s wrestling ring cake custom-made at a local bakery. We added three black candles that we got at a dollar store on every corner to make the posts and stringed theme together with red ribbon for the rope.

I got black balloons from a dollar store, a helium tank and Elmer’s Paints paint pens from Walmart and painted the WWE logo on them myself. They turned out really nice and authentic. Just a side note, but the paint is really light, so the possibilities of customizing your own balloons is endless.

Ok, onto the good stuff. Club Aviva’s birthday parties are 2 hours long with 60 minutes being play and 60 minutes designated for food, cake, and opening up presents time. The first hour you spend 20 minutes at 3 different stations. The first area is a gigantic bouncy castle slide apparatus. This thing was insane! The kids were just flying up and down it, and Bryce really enjoyed it too.

Next was Bryce’s favourite part: the trampolines. There’s a huge foam pit where you can swing off a rope or jump from a trampoline to get into. Bryce gave the rope a try, but he wouldn’t let go. It was really cute to see all his friends cheering him on and encouraging him to let go, but he just wasn’t ready for it, but he had a ton of fun on the trampolines.

The last area was free-play with a smaller bouncy slide, a rope swing, some balancing beams, and a gymnastics floor to use as you pleased. I considered it a cool-down, because at this point, all the kids were pooped out, including me!

The last hour is food, cake, and presents in your own personal little dining hall and kitchen. Bryce’s cake looked amazing, and he kept looking at it with a huge smile. It made my day.

We appreciated everyone who took the time out of their busy summer to come celebrate Bryce’s 11th birthday with us. We had a blast and hope you did too!

Thanks for reading,
Tanaya

Monday, July 2, 2012

Happy Birthday, Bryce!

My son turns 11 years old today which makes me 24 now... *cough*

Wow how time flies when you’re having fun-ky diapers to change, bottles to warm, tantrums to calm, milestones to meet, boo-boos to kiss, “just one more” bed time story to read, backpacks to buy, teachers to meet, sitters to bribe, birthday parties to plan, and moments to Kodak.

I love you, Bryce.

You can grow up all you want but you will always be my little baby.

Love mom

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Canada Day at Canada Place 2012

We celebrate Canada Day at Canada Place every year. It’s a family tradition. It’s the best place to celebrate Canada’s birthday! We were going to blow bubbles this year but we wanted to enjoy the performances instead. The last few years we get so caught up in blowing bubbles that we don’t get to walk around and check out the events.

This year was the 25th annual Canada Day at Canada Place presented by Coast Capital Savings. Being as it was a quarter of a century milestone we were expecting headlining performances, great music, and amazing entertainment, however, it really fell flat this year on all aspects. This isn’t going to be a rant about the day, because we made due and worked with what we got, but we were just so completely blown away at how much Canada Day at Canada Place seems to be less about entertainment and more about sponsor tents and ridiculous line ups to spin a wheel and win a pencil or get a sliver of slice of free pizza, and to take pictures with a stuffed polar bear wearing advertisement around it’s neck... Ok, ok, I promised no ranting.

Anyways, the main thing we went to go see (and it really can’t go wrong, thankfully) was the Vancouver 2010 Olympic cauldron as it was relit for the day. Bryce LOVED that part!

Something new this year was this wall of origami maple leafs that you got to write your name on and tape to a wall forming a beautiful collage with everyone else’s maple leafs. I thought that was really nice. Daniel helped Bryce get his origami maple leaf at the very top.

I personally really enjoyed this one station they had set up to draw graffiti. It’s like Paintshop with your fingers that gets projected onto a big screen. Bryce has this thing for big screens and really liked touching it. I ended up playing with the program and drew a little cartoon beaver being all patriotic.

If I had to rate the day, I’d of given it a 4 out of 10, and it would of been a 5 if their wasn’t so many line ups to walk through to get anywhere. I don’t know what’s going on with the event organizers, but it’s not just me noticing the lack of entertainment value as they haven’t won any awards since 2010 for this event, which honestly doesn’t surprise me.

Don’t get me wrong... I love Canada Day at Canada Place. Like I said, it’s a family tradition to go, and we will continue to proudly wear red and white next year and many years to follow. Our fondest memory of the event in the past was when they blocked off the streets and had people literally dancing in them to cover bands playing recent, relevant, and just flat out amazing music.

Depending on the lineup next year, we may just end up blowing bubbles instead of taking in the events. Either way, can’t wait.

Thanks for reading,
Tanaya

Check out our Facebook page for more pictures from Canada Day at Canada Place.