Bring in the dumpster (and some exciting news)

I'm got in in my system...the need to purge.
It usually happens this time of year, but not to the severity that it has this year.

I wish I could say I was organized. It's really a goal of mine, but we're not.
We're NOT!
We're 'pilers'. We pile everything and then eventually we've got a grocery shopping bag full of papers that need to be filed etc...

We've got a tiny basement. We live in a tri-level which means 3 half levels of living space and only 1 half level of basement. Add in the laundry area, a finished office for Dave and all of my scrapbooking stuff, it doesn't leave much room for 'stuff'.
So yesterday I decided that I didn't need a LOT of that stuff anymore.
I mean, really, do I need to have exasaucers and bouncy seats and highchairs anymore?
NO! Do I need carton after carton of baby BOY clothes? NO!!!!
IF we are going to adopt, we're not coming home with a baby OR a boy, so what's the point?
My sister is visiting and I filled up the back of the Santa Fe with all sorts of things. She took the exasaucer, but didn't want the bouncy seats. She took half the clothes, the 'cute' ones. She took old curlers that I would NEVER use EVER again. She took old nicknacks, candles, candle holders, vases. She took old holiday decor that has never seen the light of day.

After Dave got home, I loaded up the ENTIRE back of my van full of baby things and pottery and old nicknacks that Jesy didn't want and shoes and coats and ALLLLL kinds of things to take to Good Will.
The only reason I stopped filling up the van is because there was NO MORE ROOM in my van.
I still have 2 huge bags of shoes to take, LOTS more baby clothes to go through, and a million bags of toys I could deliver today. Not to mention clothes that Dave and I don't wear.
The toy thing is the tricky part because it has to be done sans children. Not too easy when you stay at home with your children.

Dave at first was all, "aren't you going to Craig list this stuff? Ebay it?"
But really, we got a tax deduction, so it's all the same, just 1/4 of the work.

I'm just ready to purge and start fresh. Perhaps if I get rid of all the things we will NEVER use anymore, we'll be able to start organizing more.
-----------------
As for the exciting news.
My company (trying not to steer family members here) is included in a gift basket for one pregnant celebrity. This celebrity is expecting the gift basket, so it's not just going out without knowing that she'll even get it. She'll get it! She'll hold my little tees in her hands. Whether she'll like them or have her babies wear them is another story, but I'm a big fan and super excited! It's a gamble, but fun none the less!

Come on Kid!

So, everyone who knows Logan knows that he has to win all games, be correct on everything he talks about, and he always, ALWAYS knows more than you.
Don't question that. Even if you know that you know, he still knows.

Here are some prime examples:

Today, while in the car waiting at the red light...
Light turns green, I go.

"MOM! You just ran a red light!"
"No Logan, that was for the people on the other side."
"Nah-AH! (if you have older kids, you know this mumble) It was for YOU Mom, and you ran it, and now we're going to get a ticket!"
"OK...but you're incorrect...but OK"
"No, you're incorrect"

Pulling out of a 4 way stop, turning left.

"MOM! You just ran a stop sign."
"Logan, that stop sign was for the other side. THEY have to stop there. We already stopped."
"No Mom! That was for US!"
"OK bud...whatever"
"Whatever Mom, but it WAS for us"

Pulling into the parking space at Target was a bit of a maneuver. I pulled in but was a bit crooked. I put it in reverse to straighten myself out and Logan said,

"MOM! This IS a spot. What are you not taking it?"
"Come ON Kid! Can't you let the person who has the drivers license figure out the rules about driving?!?!"

Seriously, what am I going to do when he DOES know more than me!!

My sappy little post

OK, I was done posting until after Christmas, but then I'm sitting here, alone in my quiet house for a few more minutes and thought I'd take an opportunity to make a memory of my feelings right now.
I'm listening to Christmas music at the moment. My favorite songs are songs about Jesus and his birth. I'm not overly religious, but I was as a child. I went to a Lutheran school K-8th grade. We had church daily and we did amazing Christmas programs. This time of year is a favorite of mine.
Unfortunately, we do Christmas Eve with Dave's parents. I've been dying to go see a Christmas program at a church for a couple of years now, and I just haven't made myself skip the family time to go.
2 years ago, when I was big and fully pregnant with Miles during this time, Christmas songs about Jesus' birth made me cry. I felt like I knew a little bit what Mary felt like...in a weird little way.
Very weird way.
But I did.
I felt my baby in my tummy and wondered when he would come. Would he be born on the day Jesus was born? How did Mary travel that far being THIS big?
It was the most emotional Christmas of my life.
Last year, as I was nearing the first anniversary of my birth, otherwise known as Miles 1st birthday, the tears still came.
This year, I hear my new favorite Christmas song, 'Do you hear what I hear?' and again, I feel so emotional.
I'm totally not feeling the Santa part of Christmas this year. One thing that is has been true for me, once I became a mother, the Jesus part of Christmas totally takes over the Santa part.
I just love Christmas, and hope that soon, VERY soon I can take Logan and Miles to a program to witness the REAL miracle of Christmas.

It's been a week filled with baking, shopping and cleaning.
The holidays are finally here...but I'm feeling a bit ba-humbug about it all.
Sometimes, even though I realize that I am lucky, I wish that we lived FAR away from family.
We could do our own celebrations, our own traditions and not have to worry about anyone else.
That leads me to the grouchy feeling I get toward certain extended family members that I see a couple times a year that totally bug the crap out of me.
Heaven knows I can't actually tell my REAL feelings, so I continue on, almost biting a hole in my lip, just to make it though the visit.
Family-can't live with them, can't live without them...or can you?

I think this is the best year yet when it comes to giving. I am positive that everyone will love what they got, and THAT is a good feeling!

I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday!!

When times get overwhelming, take my advice...get a pedicure!
Last night, blogger friend 1, blogger friend 2 and I went out for dinner and manicures/pedicures.
I'll be honest, I thought about canceling right up to the last minute. I thought, I've still got one more present to buy that will cost about $40, and the pedicure is going to cost about $40.
I went back and forth.

I need a nice relaxing night.

I don't need to spend $40 on it.

But I need a nice relaxing night....

Yeah, well, I went for it, and I'm SO glad I did.

This is the 2nd time I've been to this place.
It's not a fancy salon by any stretch.
It's small, with 4 manicure stations and 4 pedicure stations.
It appears to be a family business.
And they work HARD.

Embarrassingly enough, my guy had to work a little harder on my feet than blogger friend 1, but let me tell you, my feet are SOFT!

So, when things are rocky and you just need to relax, schedule yourself a pedicure in a nice little unknown place. They charge $20 less than the fancy ones and probably work 10 times harder to make you happy.

Let me tell you something, in case you ever come across this.
Age 5 is NOT a good age to get a diagnosis...unless you're a 5 yr old in school already.
Can you believe that they are suggesting 20-25 hours per week of intensive therapy in our home.
20-25 hours.
OK, fine...it's federally funded*, highly recommended...we'll look into it.
"Looking into it" resulted in about 2 hrs of the phone giving information on my son.

"What self stimulatory habits does your son have?"
"What does he eat in a typical day?"
"Does he have friends?"
"Does he like to bring things up to you and share his excitement?"
"When he's playing and having a conversation, can he tell the difference between a rock, an animal and a person?"

Um...ok....yep. I think he can tell a rock is a rock and a person is a person.

"Great. We'll seeing your son has a diagnosis, he qualifies for the state Autism waiver. Go ahead and call this number RIGHT AWAY because there is a waiting list of about 8 to 10 months. The quicker you get on the quicker you'll be able to start!"

Doing a little math in my head(well, on my fingers)...Jan-Feb-March-April-May-June-July-August(8)-Sept-October(10)

"Oh, we'll there will be a problem then because Logan will be in Kindergarten in 8-10 months."

"Yes, we recommend that you do one of two things: Either hold him back a year so he can get a full year of therapy or you could have him do half days so he can fit in his therapy seeing it must be done at home"

Thinking in my head, this is INSANE! I'm not going to have my poor boy start Kindergarten when he's almost 7 years old. (He'll turn 6 two months after school starts) and I'm not going to make him that kid that has his own schedule in school. Besides, 20-25 hours a week in ADDITION to school. He's just a little kid here.**

"Well, maybe you're not interested in our intensive therapy. We do have other options here. We have social skills groups (which I DO think would be beneficial for Logan) 2x/week as well as a 4 to 1 ratio class for kids getting ready for school 1 time a week. These classes are run by therapist who can help kids make easier transitions and learn all about taking turns and sharing points of view.
RIGHT up our alley.

"Great!! I'm guessing these aren't free, right?"

"Um, no. The classes are $20 each."

$20 x 3=$60 week x 4 weeks = $240/month add on Logan's preschool we're up to $360/month. Add on the gas and frustration 3 times a week, 40+ minutes each way...we're up to again...INSANE!

OK, so I'm stumped really.
Logan has officially been entered in the school district as part of the special ed program. (that was hard to type)
He'll possibly get some therapy through the school district, but it all depends. You don't always get help, even with a diagnosis. And even if we do qualify, I'm not going to take him out of the preschool he's been going to for 1 1/2 years at the last half of the year. I'm just not.

Oh! And then 2 of the people I was talking with asked if I had applied for freaking Medicaid? Medicare? I don't remember which. No, I haven't.

So, that leaves us scratching our heads. Like I possibly said in my last post, you get this diagnosis, get your options, but then it really is up to you to figure it all out by yourself. People are talking about 'advocates' to help you along. To me it just sounds like one other person to pay, but what do I know?

* it would cost more than $80,000 for one year! again, insane

**Of course, I want the best for my son, but I also feel that being a little kid is important. He'll have forever to be 'working' all day. I want him to come home after school and run around with the neighbor kids...if he wants.

Because I'm sure you're all wondering...

and yes, I'm talking all 4 of you...
How am I feeling about all of this?

There are a few different ways I can look at this, and you can bet that I've looked at them a few different ways already.

First feelings:

Sad. Sad that my little boy who has faced so many obstacles already has to face a lifetime of obstacles. Sad that we as parents have to face more hurdles. Things will never be just 'easy'. Sad that our life plans may to change.

Mad. Mad that criminy, in the last 4 years we've had one thing after another after another thrown at us. I'm SICK of it. I'm angry that we've got another thing that we're staring in the eyes. Mad because I just for once, JUST ONCE want to be the normal one without the problems in my family.

Irritated. Irritated because I'm dealing with family members who don't understand what the big deal is. We're over reacting. He's fine. He's "fine at MY house." So, I have to make a choice right now. Do I sit there and defend what WE as parents see and what PROFESSIONALS see or just let them think they are right and just not talk about it anymore.

In the same token, blessed by other family members who say ever so heartfelt, "let us know what we can do to help." And they truly mean it.

Selfish. My 'in life' friends know that I'm am SO excited that Miles is turning 2 years old. I've got none of the 'awww...I wish he was a baby for just one more day'.
HECK no! The idea of being 29 and having a 5 and a 2 year old is just thrilling to me. I'm excited about the future of having 2 older boys. I'm feeling selfish that this might stand in the way of some of the freedom I was longing for, and longing for my boys to have as well.

Sick. Sick to my stomach. Sick.

Relieved. So there really IS a reason why this last year things have changed so much. So there is a reason why my son won't eat anything other than a few small items of food. There is a reason why my son gets so upset if I accidentally open his door with my key opener instead of Miles when he wanted to open it himself. So really, he's not just crazy when he has to have the water filled up to that little mark on the tub and not a hair below or above. There is a reason why he can't zip his coat or snap his snaps. There is a reason why he can't do art because his hands might get dirty. There is a reason why we have to recite TV shows word to word without making a mistake. There is a reason why my son can recite commercials that he has only heard one time, including the inflections in THEIR voice, not his. There is a reason why we can't joke around with Logan without him getting MAD!
THERE IS A REASON! I almost want to scream it from the roof!

Did I mention sad.

Protective. I wanted to kick the man at the health club today when he gave me the 'look' when Logan decided that he had to "have a few tears" and sit down and take a break when he realized that not everyone was going to play hockey by his rules. FUCK off old man. Really, do you NEED to be blocking your 5 year olds shots in the basketball court just to prove to him that there will always be others better than him. No. You suck.

Afraid. Afraid that Logan will not have any friends. Afraid that he'll be the 'weird one'. The one where some day, when he's older, will get bullied. So very afraid of that. If there were a bubble, I'd take it.

Proud. If you know me, you know that Logan is smart. He's SMART. He's always been smart. Did you know that they suspect Einstein had Asperger's, as well as Bill Gates. There is no telling what my son will do. He really could change the world.

So, let's see...this blog has transformed over the years...

Motherhood, Miscarriage, Secondary infertility, pregnancy, HELLP syndrome, Crabby ass colicky baby, speech delays, Asperger's.

I've got a LOT of feelings to digest, and will make it very clear that this blog will now contain a lot of emotions dealing strictly with autism. I've got to work through this. I've got to blog about bad days (today) and I'm going to blog about good days. I'm going to blog about my experiences with special education searching and the mess that goes along with it. I'm going to blog it all. I'm not going to care one way or another if I lose or gain an audience. (No offense, please!)

So, I hope you'll help me through this journey.

Official Diagnosis

Asperger's

And the good news is...

"almost normal" lab results.
It is a relief, of course. Although really, a pill to make it all go away would have been nice.
He surprised us with a nice dinner last night, so I'm hoping Mr. Man is full of energy today.
Our next steps:
Tomorrow we have our diagnostic assessment for the Asperger's.
Tuesday we have that gastrentologist appt. I looked it up and apparently they do all sorts of things, but one of them is nutritional help. Just what we need.

I spent yesterday baking baking baking.
Here's what I made...
White Cranberry Biscotti
Mint Chocolate Truffle cookies

I'm again hosting a cookie exchange involving 12 women tonight at my home. It will be nice to see everyone and the plus side is getting 12 different kinds of cookies while making only 1 kind. The truffle cookies are for the exchange, the biscotti is a stuffer of the favors I made for them to take home.
Oh, and I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend the biscotti recipe. It is SO good!!

Happy Thursday to you!

So, it went like something like this...

"If we let this go on for 6 more months, he could have organ damage and bone damage or stunting."

After 3 vials of blood were taken, we're waiting patiently for the results.

He will also be going to see a pedi-gastroentologist. (or some big doctor word like that) who will do who knows what.

I'm still thinking it's all in his head, but we'll see what the lab results bring.

Fries with that?

Thank you for the gift ideas. Actually RIGHT after I posted that post I saw a totally cute bag at overstock.com originally $200 on sale for $35!
Can't beat that!

So, this blog went from one that I shared everything to one where I sort of feel the need to NOT share everything.
That stops here, OK?
I realize that for some silly reason, people don't really believe some parents who say their child has issues that may be almost invisible to others. Some blame things on parenting skills or lack there of.
Logan has issues, and they are getting pretty bad.
He's still my sweet, loving, caring, emotional little boy, he's just got some issues that go along with all of those great quirks.

In our house, meal times are awful. Not in the way you think though.
I don't force my children to eat anything they don't want to eat. I don't believe in pressuring your child to try something new until they are ready, and I feel like if you force meal times, you're bound for major food issues.
BUT, what I DID do is decided that I was not going to be the 'short order chef'. I make dinner (usually WAAY more kid friendly then Dave and I would like, but hey, they're young kids)
We eat things like Spaghetti and burgers and pizza with salads. Nothing 'out there'.

When Logan was a baby eating baby food, he ate everything.
When Logan was a toddler, he'd eat up his peas before anything else. He loved fruits and vegetables and would ask for them all day long.
As he got a little older, they were still good as long as they could be dipped in Ketchup. Hey, so he's not gourmet. ;)
Get to about age 4 and everything changed.
He went from loving veggie lasagna and pasta full of good things to never ever touching pasta again. Not just pasta, but anything that had any mixed texture at all.
OK, so we dealt.
We changed our eating habits a bit and grumbled about it under our breath.

Enter 4 1/2 when there were only about 20 things total that he would eat or drink.
OK, kids go through picky stages, right? Just keep offering, he'll try.

Enter almost age 5 when the list had dropped to only about 10 things.
I actually had him help me make a a list:
Mozzarella cheese, waffles, pancakes, corn dogs (but NOT hot dogs), chicken nuggets(only the brand we buy or sometimes McD's. They are NOT something he'll eat anywhere else), ranch dressing, turkey sandwiches (on a bun, not on bread) PBJ (but only at our house because everyone else's bread was different that ours) Fish sticks, fruit snacks (only certain ones), cheesy noodles (certain instant brand), cheesy soup

I mentioned it to his doctor, and I also mentioned it to his neurologist when we met in November. His doctor had no advice. His neurologist, who told us he thinks he has Aspergers told us that he's not doing this to be naughty. He can't help it. Things affect him differently than the rest of the us. Go ahead and cater to his eating needs. He need to grow. He will NOT be one of those kids who fits in the 'they won't starve themselves' profile. If things are not to his liking, he WILL choose to starve himself.

Enter the past 1 1/2 months.
Things are even worse.

Chicken Nuggets-very rarely does he eat these anymore. All because one time he got a plate of 4 nuggets and he started eating one and then realized that the other 3 were a different shade of brown. They looked different from the one he was eating. We showed him the box, and that they all came from the same box. It didn't matter. He's basically done with those unless he's REALLY out of choices.

Cheesy Noodles-nope! All because one day I made them for him and then put them in the freezer for a couple minutes to cool down. I must not have stirred them around too much because there was a cold noodle. That brought on gagging and then deciding that he's completely done with cheese noodles. Great.

Fruit snacks-nope. All because I accidentally bought the gusher kind that has liquid in the middle. Now he's afraid all of them will have liquid in the middle. Gross. (But really, big deal right. They are fruit snacks, glorified candy. The point being, ONE bite of something took the entire thing off the menu)


If we have something that I KNOW he used to like, but decided he doesn't anymore he'll just skip dinner. Not in a typical "Make me something else" type of way, just a "Can I take my dishes over" and then go sit in the living room until we're done. No begging, no "But I'm HUNGRY!!" Just a realization that he's NOT going to eat.

Logan has always been a big boy. We've proudly boasted that our boy was in the 90% in height and weight. (In fact, at about 9 months he was 97% height and over 100% in weight)
He's a tall solid kid.
Wait, he WAS a tall solid kid.
At his 4 year check up, Logan weighed in at 45lbs (95%) and then gradually dropped each appt that he had last year.
95% to 87% to 72% to 50% at age 5.
He's lost even more weight since that appt. I think when I looked on line he was at 46%. They don't like to see you wavering at your % unless you're overweight or underweight to begin with.

Logan has been so tired lately. He'll literally stop playing to rest. We went to the mall and after only 1/4 of a SMALL wing he had to sit down because he was too tired. He is eating only a few bites of food at each meal, and sometimes completely skipping meals. He doesn't drink milk willingly. We have a deal that if he drinks milk ONE time a day (only about 1-2 inches in a cup) that he can have water the rest of the day. He's choosing to not eat his favorites anymore. (Mc D's included...crazy kid!) To Dave and I, who have always seen him as a big strong boy, he looks wilted. He's SKINNY. You can see his bones.

I called his doctor yesterday and the nurse talked to him.
He wants Logan to come in today for another checkup and to also get some lab work done. He thinks Logan might be anemic because of lack of food.
I'm of course going to ask about things like pediasure, and we are going to start religiously give him vitamins. He usually gets a few a week, but the doc wasn't even wanting us to start them at his 5 yr because most children get everything then need from food. Not here.

I'm just worried about him. Man, who knew I'd deal with eating issues with a little boy??

Extermination

We've got a bug in our house.
In the last week, I have done the following:

-Battled the 24 (more like 12) hour mild flu.

-Cleaned crib after crib full of puke.

-Clean BED full of puke and luckily was able to continue to dump buckets of puke. (That's the nice thing about being 5)

-Cleaned up way more than a lifetimes fair share of blowout diapers. One of them actually went up to his neck and down to his socks. Yep. That one was fun.

-Cleaned up BED full after BED full of diarrhea because Logan couldn't make it to the bathroom in time. Yeah, THAT is fun too.

Do you see a pattern...these all happened in the middle of the night.

Finally, after I believed that we were all over it, Dave came home from a 10 day business trip. That was Wednesday.
Last night was his turn, in a huge way. The poor guy was up all night getting sick, which of course gave me another night of almost no sleep. So, in 7 nights, 4 of them were completely the worst sleep ever. (Because I'm all selfish like that and make even someone else's flu about me...right)

But after this leaves his body, literally, I am hoping we get on with life germ free.
I've got my Clorox Anywhere spraying the crap out of everything.

Tonight is my first party, and I'm so excited!! I just hope that I don't crash before hand. I'm going to have to have morning AND evening coffee today!

I have a friend who this year has turned into a wonderful great friend. If I were in middle school had to assign a title, I'd probably assign her the big 'best friend' title. We've known each other for 4 years, but have really taken off in the last year.
We see each other multiple times a week-talk almost every day (she's also a consultant) and really can tell each other anything. Her son is PPD-NOS and has been a big help to me facing a possible Aspergers diagnosis.
She's kind and generous and would do just about anything to help me, even if I never asked.
I'd like to get her a Christmas gift this year. Dumb? Silly?
I just would really like her to know that I appreciate her and all she's done for me in the past year.
If you wanted to spend about $50 on a friend, what would you get?
Nothing candle-beauty or apparel.
What do you think??

Did you switch?

What the heck am I to do about this new blogger beta version?
I'm so not good with change.
What if it screws up my blog?
Then, I can't post on everyone elses blogger blog who DIDN'T upgrade, right?
Why do they do this to me?

Up to my elbows

For those of you with traveling spouses, you know the drill.
Make life as easy as possible while your spouse is gone and all is well.
Easy meals, perhaps more TV than usual, WAY more outings to pass the time.
Sometimes your efforts make time fly, and sometimes it is just long no matter how many outings you put in your calendar.

Well, I've gotten used to the traveling. I've been solo more times that I could probably count. Luckily with Dave's new job, the traveling has subsided by 90%.
We are currently on day 8 of a 10 day outing.
In the 8 days so far, I had a stomach bug which was NO fun when you have a little boy who can not let you ahem..go to the bathroom alone.

I got over it, and then we moved on to Miles having his first ever flu.
Complete with Diarrhea, vomiting and fever.
He threw up 6 times in one sleep which meant I had to change him and his sheets 6 times in one night and continue on being the happy mom the next day even though I had only a couple short hours of sleep.

Last night Logan started throwing up at 2:30am. I went to bed at 11:30pm.
3 hours of sleep.
From 2:30am-current time(9:09am) he has thrown up every 45 minutes.
EVERY 45 MINUTES.

He's sick, so very very sick. He's NEVER had the flu before in his life. He's so sad and after the first 'incident' told me that he didn't want the flu and asked how I was going to make it go away NOW.

The good thing about having the flu when you're 5 vs almost 2 is that you can aim in a bucket. I only had to change the sheets one time for him. The rest of the time was me dumping the bucket, gagging, willing myself not to throw up, and then rinsing it out in the tub..all while hoping and praying Miles wasn't going to wake up with all the commotion.

Logan is usually a mountain of energy.
Right now, he's laying on the floor with his pillow and blanket watching something that Miles likes just so Miles will be quiet.
One thing about Logan is that he doesn't lay anywhere except his bed.
He never lays down to watch TV.
He's sad and sick and I just feel awful for him.

And because I'm the most selfish person in the world, I'm sad for me too because dammit, I'm TIRED! 2 nights in a row with no sleep and no husband to help clean up puke equals one tired cranky mama!!

So, I've been up to my elbows, literally, in puke and puke filled towels, sheets, blankets and jammies.

On the way home from my parents tonight...

"Mom, can I play the X-box when we get home?"

"Logan, I don't like it when all you want to do is play the X-box"

"But mom, I didn't watch hardly ANY TV at Grandma's house"

"Really, cause I think you watched quite a bit"

"Oh"

"oh"

"So, can I?"

"I haven't decided yet"

"Oh"

....30 seconds later....

"So, can I?.....Mrs. Beautiful?"

holding back as much laughter as I could..."Did you call me Mrs. Beautiful just because you thought it would work?"

"yeah"

"thanks..."

"so...can I?"

Yellow

I heard through the grapevine that Greg, the yellow wiggle was not going to be preforming with the wiggles anymore due to a health scare.
I was sad for him, but didn't think much about it.

I got a call from my sister who relayed the message from her fiancé that he was glad to hear that Greg was gone. He's sometimes jerky about kid things. He's not a father, no nieces or nephews (besides my kids-soon to be their uncle) and he's never been around kids.

I got curious and started doing some research.
My research lead me to the wiggles home page.

The Wiggles

I then read yesterdays press release about Greg's decision to leave and exactly what is wrong with him. If it wasn't sad enough, Greg recorded a personal message regarding his decision to leave complete with handing over his yellow 'skivvy'.

I'll admit it. I cried listening to him.
I have a mother with a chronic disease that affects her balance, walking and basically life. It too isn't life threatening, but affects her everyday.

If I could ever say anything to Greg, it might be a little something like this.

At first, the idea of watching the Wiggles was not something I was too keen on. I got the videos for Logan anyway and of course learned all the words and actions by heart.
Logan was hooked. I was hooked. As embarrassing as this is for him, Dave was hooked.
Along came Miles.
Ahhh...Miles.
Mr. Never Content.
I introduced Miles to the wiggles soon after he turned one.
Amazingly enough, when the wiggles were on, he wasn't crying.
Soon, he was doing the motions with the wiggles.
When he was crabby, I'd sing songs that I of course had memorized many years earlier.
It calmed him down like nothing before.
If the TV is on a time out, we'll turn on the wiggles CD.
He stands there, right next to the CD player memorized by the words and music.

To me, the Wiggles are not some band full of flakey men.
They got the 'gay' card thrown at them many times, even when some of them got married and had children.
To me, the wiggles have been my sanity.
Logan is 5 and while he doesn't request to watch them anymore, he'll happily listen to the songs on the radio and even join Miles in watching the video at times.

Greg may be a bit eccentric, but he's the voice of the band.
You know, when you have kids, young kids, you sort of lose a bit of your adult enjoyments.
Sure, I love DMB, but honestly I listen to the wiggles more than I listen to Dave.
You could call me a fan I guess.

I'm sad to hear that Greg is so sick that he couldn't just take time off, but literally passed the torch on to someone else.

I'm sure Sam, the new yellow, will do a great job, but he'll never be the real yellow wiggle.
I wish Greg and his family the best, and I hope that he can find a way to make his symptoms not take control of his life.

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Written while the Wiggles are on my TV right now!
Ahoy there me hardies!