What I am up to

Blanket I made for a boy at Alex's school that has Autism

So, it has been several weeks and the weighted blanket is still working wonders for Alex. He is still off of  Melatonin and he goes to sleep within 10 minutes of laying down at night. My husband has nerve pain in his legs and he even borrows the blanket during the day sometimes to sleep with when his leg pain is keeping him awake and he says it helps him a lot. I did some research and weighted blankets have shown to help not only children on the autism spectrum, but also people suffering from Restless Leg Syndrome, anxiety, depression, or people who were abused. Some nursing homes use light ones on many of their patients with good results. I am definitely a big supporter of the weighted blanket!

Blanket I made for Isabella.

I have decided to spend some of my extra time and resources this summer making weighted blankets for families who might not otherwise be able to have them. I feel it is a very good cause, and I want to do what I can to help every child have the tools he needs. Right now I am working on a blanket for Rick's grandma who has restless legs syndrome. It is over half way done and will be my fourth blanket I have made! If you know of a family who has a child who might need one of these blankets, please contact me!

Privacy Please!

We have a problem in our house. Alex, age 4, has asperger's and does not want anyone to be away from him. Ever. He will shove his hands under the door while you pee, storm into the bedrooms while you are dressing, and he even was shoving a block under the door from the waiting room while Bella tried to talk to her doctor about how she needed more privacy!!! (Ironic much?)

Alex in his sensory swing not harassing anyone...for the moment.

When talking about things that bothered her this week, one very legitimate concern Bella brought up is her lack of alone time. Her brother is always begging her to play with him, asking if they can take turns should she try to use the lap top for her screen time, and following her around crying should she want to read a book or do some other activity that does not include him. The more we try to discourage these actions, the louder the fits got. I plan on bringing this up with his behavioral therapist, so we can work on strategies to put an end to some of these behaviors, but we don't have an appointment for a couple of weeks due to scheduling issues, and I felt we needed a fix to this problem now.

So, I started thinking. I had a book about 1001 great ideas for Autism and it suggested implementing a sibling knock so that the child has to use the special knock and knock before entering the sibling's room. This makes it fun and special as well so that he wouldn't get so upset. Also, Bella had been asking to be allowed to stay up 30 minutes later and we decided to go ahead and allow that so she can have 30 minutes of reading time uninterrupted every evening before bed. The third strategy I came up with was to discuss "quiet areas." I talked to Alex about how there is a quiet area at his school where you cannot bother whoever is in it. He said that he likes that area and goes in it for a little while every day. We gave each kid a door hanger and made a new rule that when one of them has the door hanger on their door their room is now a quiet area and they are wanting to be alone. NO ONE, not even mom or dad, is allowed to bother them for 30 minutes unless it is time to eat or leave for an appointment. We made the 30 minute rule so Bella will still spend time with the family and not be tempted to hide in her room all day every day. Not that she would do that. It has been two days now and so far everyone is happy. Which, when dealing with siblings, is quite the blessing.

What I Did With My Spare Time Today

So, I injured myself so bad in that body shaper class that I can hardly walk. I am currently unable to go to the gym, lift Alex, or even have him sit in my lap without wincing in pain. Now that you are done smugly giggling at my pain. Lets talk about what I CAN do. I CAN use that time to be two days ahead of my homework schedule, have finished reading all of my library books, caught up on all of my tv shows, and now today I finished Bella's quilt top. It kind of looks like it was made just in time for Valentine's day.

 Isn't it a beauty? It is twin sized. She wants her blanket weighted like Alex's so I will have to go buy more beads before I can quilt this one. If anyone has suggestions on cheap places to get those beads, please fill me in! I have done okay so far thanks to coupons, but it isn't a cheap habit. I eventually want to start making weighted blankets and donating them to centers, schools, counselors, or families who might not get them otherwise. They are expensive and not everyone has the skills, tools, or time to make them for themselves. I think that is what I want to spend my time doing this summer. I already have one family at least I have promised to make a blanket for.

Weighted Blanket, Part II

Okay, I worked on this blanket all day yesterday and still did not get the binding on! But other than that I am done, so we will call it successful. 

The first thing I did after having finished the quilt top was smooth out the back I chose on the floor or other large surface.

Now it is time to add the batting. Here is the batting I chose. I also chose to use two layers of batting so that it wouldn't "feel" like there were 6 pounds of beads in there, but this also makes for an even hotter blanket, so I don't know if I will do that for my second blanket or not. 

Spreading the batting out over the backing is the next step. It is very hard because you match the corners up and then you have to try and keep the backing from wrinkling up under the backing. It can be very annoying. 

You then lay your top out over the other two layers (much easier) and pin it down everywhere. You sew three of the four sides, then sew lines up quilt on the seams vertically so that you have 10 long lines going up where your squares were.

Next you measure out your beads. I had 6 pounds or 96 ounces and I had 130 squares in my quilt. This means I need to divide 96 ounces by 130. This gave me about .74 ounces per square. I have a kitchen scale and I just alternated between .7 and .8 ounces in my squares since it doesn't go that precise, using a cup to pour in. I also shoved a broom handle down the holes so it would open them up a bit more.

Once you have beads in all 13 holes you shake them down to the bottom and I would like to suggest using straight pins to try to keep the beads where they belong. You need to sew a line along the entire row, horizontally, where your squares ended on your quilt top. The beads will try to move up on you and I will be honest. I broke 6 sewing machine needles making this quilt, and also my floor is covered in stray ones that kept flying out. It was frustrating.

After you have sewed the horizontal line, pull the pins out, and then repeat filling the next 13 squares, and sewing the horizontal lines, until the entire quilt is full of beads. This will take much longer then you might imagine. I think the pins holding the beads in place will help though. I didn't think to do that until my last row. So much for brain power. The last step is the binding, which I have not done yet because the beads were secure enough and Alex couldn't wait to sleep with his. On the bright side, he took no melatonin last night and was asleep in less than 10 minutes for the first time in several months! 

Even his sister thought it was comfy!! 

Weighted Blanket...Step 1

Today I finished the first step(s) in making the weighted blanket for Alex.
These instructions are for a blanket where the final product will be 40X52 and the weight of the blanket will be 6 pounds.

Today I cut out 130 4 1/2 X 4 1/2 squares and sewed them together, lining up the seams with straight pins. The final product is 10 squares X 13 squares big. The entire process took 3 - 4 hours.

I chose Batman material for the front since Alex is fixated with Batman, and I have chosen to use a solid piece of fabric for the back that is a very soft flannel since he also only likes "soft" blankets. Hopefully I will have time to work on it some more tomorrow.

It Has Begun!

Today I got the stuff to start making Alex's weighted blanket. I used some coupons and ended up spending about $25 on the supplies, I bought the Polly Pellets and Batman fabric, the rest of the fabric is actually leftovers I got out of my storage box in the garage. We are only going to the therapist this week and then we are taking three weeks off so hopefully that gives me some time to get him a weighted blanket and weighted vest made and see how it helps Alex out.

Also, the therapist is recommending we buy a cuddle swing for our home. She tried it with Alex in the office, and it seemed to help some. Before she tried it he was running into walls and stuff, and he calmed down afterwards. Have any of you tried any of these things or do you know someone who has? Any suggestions/advice? We are only a couple of months into our life with Asperger's, so it is all pretty new to us. Here are the swings I am talking about. One is the actual one from his therapist and the other is a similar product from IKEA that is much cheaper, but a bunch of the comments say that it works well for children with autism and sensory needs.

A year of Absence

 I don't even know where to start. It has been a long year without posting. I originally started this blog to talk about the adventures our family had in homeschooling. The  joys of our life, the crafts, fun, games, cooking, and general love our family gets to share. We still have all of those elements. There are still crafts, cooking, love, and even education at home, but I enrolled my children in public school at the beginning of this school year. I am in college full time, they are in activities, and most of the time I feel like I am lucky if I am even treading water, because some days the temptation to just give in, stop moving, and let the water rush over my head is tempting.

My whole life was centered around the fact that I homeschooled, and when we decided not to do it we also moved to a better school district 20 minutes away. I haven't seen any of my former homeschool mama friends in a social way since I made that decision. It has been a long, year. A year where I feel that I have no friends, that no one cares what happens.

Two months ago my son Alex, who is 4 and a half started seeing a behavioral therapist for problems he is having in school. They say they are 99% sure he will receive an Asperger's diagnosis. I spend my days making visual calenders, putting headphones on, asking for eye contact, and googling ways to create my own weighted blankets. I do this with a smile and an air of excitement as though I were preparing for a new baby and not a long road of difficulty with a son who has needs that I often cannot even understand let alone satisfy.

Today I woke up and I felt alone. I have made a couple of new friends, but since all of my relationships are new I feel there is no one I can bother on a day like today. I spent an hour in the shower. I trudged through homework, laundry, dishes. I told myself at least a hundred times today that laying down and pulling a blanket over my head is not an option. It is just one of those days, I will survive, I will soldier on. Tomorrow will be better. 

So now I guess this is a blog about motherhood and being human. Love, cooking, crafts, and the joys and sorrows that come in all forms no matter where your kid goes to school. Nothing ever prepares us for all of the twists and turns we are going to face, and some days all we can do is keep putting one foot in front of the other. Today is one of those days.