Here are the results from the 2008 RED MOSHANNON RACE, held at Peale, PA on March 29, 2008. These were posted by Tussey Mountain Outfitters. My apologies that there are no town and state names by the competitors, but none were listed on the website.

RED MOSHANNON RACE RESULTS 2008 163 BOATS WATER LEVEL 2.0 FOOT

Names Class Time

TOP DOG

R. Sampson 46.36 OC-2 MIXED

Lisa Bainey/randy Bailey 53:51
Paul Krone/Elizabeth Reimann 55:30 Jeff Meitrott/Autumn Zander 56:26 Howard Pillot/Emily Aubuchon 56:35 Suszanna Dubrovillet/Duarte Morais 56:54 Cathy Shannon/Rob Shannon 57:00 Tony Veneziano/Lindsay Bryon 58:40
Amy Lindman/Rob Lindman 59:27
Dan Kennedy/Gabrielle Kennedy 59:41
Rachel Leitzinger/Tom Leitzinger 1:00:34
Kevin Sheehan/Angel Sheehan 1:04:53
Jay Aubauchon/Kelly Aubauchon 1:07:02

K-1 WOMEN WHITEWATER

Kristan Wyland 59:17
Sara McConnell 59:37
Chaterine Grigor 1:01:24
Jill Wiest 1:03:27
Janet Jastremski 1:04:04
Megan O’Riley 1:07:07
Mary Whitehead 1:07:52
Andrea Muller 1:15:25
OC-1 UNLIMITED

Paul Stanton 56:14
Ben Whiting 57:35
Jim Bryant 59:19

OC-2 MASTER

Debbie Schaffer/Charlie Coates 58:35

OC-1 MASTER

Mike McKenzie 54:07
Tom Bruach 54:50
Don Frew 55:40
Mike Robison 58:52
Greg Liddle 1:10:33
Rodger Weidner 1:26:01
Joe Hage 1:35:07

OC-2 WOMEN

Lee DeWolski/Julia Smith 56:34

K-1 WOMEN WILDWATER

Chara Whittemore 54:39
Chrissey Zettner 55:29
Mackenzie Hatcher 56:46
Sierra O’Brien 57:02

OC-2 OVER/UNDER

Todd Shaffer/Scott Shaffer 57:30
David Evans/Mitchell Evans 58:32
Tom Bell/Graham Bell 59:56
Rich Augenbaugh/Brad Augenbaugh 1:00:18
Ron Matchock/Jacob Matchock 1:00:21
Brad English/Mark English 1:00:52
Dave Mosier/Emma Mosier 1:04:16
Todd Dobson/Gordon Crawford 1:04:39
Doug Swope/Sam Swope 1:08:56
MarkSchantz/AshleySchantz 1:32:40

OC-2 CENTURY

Ken Gerg/Glen Vandewinckel 54:42
Greg Gdula/Mike Burk 55:36
Ron Shaffer/Mark Harris 56:56
Teresa Stoufler/Dan Rodgers 1:03:47
Sam Yost/Pearce Yost 1:04:01
James Brown/Bob Holden 1:05:33 K-1 MEN WILDWATER

Colbey Zebel 46:56
Matt Weldon 47:05
Mike Warren 48:42
Steve Nelson 49:07
Jon Nelson 52:34
Bob Horlacher 53:24

OC-1 WOMEN

Emily Magyar 1:01:14
Jean Anderson 1:10:45
Charlotte Anderson 1:11:39

K-1 WOMEN RECREATIONAL SHORT

Elizabeth simox 1:01:59
Kaitlin Eberhart 2:11:25

K-1 WOMEN RECREATIONAL LONG

Joanne Simpson 57:30

K-1 WOMEN SLALOM

Dawn McCracken 58:03
Lydia Krasilnikova 59:30

K-1 WOMEN TOURING

Linda Volpe 56:48
Brooke Peters 1:03:06

OC-2 SHORT

Bob Horton/Chuck Wendler 54:38
John Koenig/will Koenig 54:50
Colby Crandell/Roman Jarvis 55:06
Bruce Penrod/zac Penrod 55:07
Jeff Yoder/Grant Coates 55:58
Aaron Roos/Kevin Yontosh 56:17
Chris Mason/Matt Johnson 57:51
David Louthain/Mark Coates 58:26
Clark Coates/Kurt Yoder 59:29
Chris Force/Scott Force 1:00:15
Jim Ruth/Brooks Ruth 1:04:38
Tom Gainer/Mark Anthony 1:07:15
Kevin Clark/Curt Beveridge 1:06:06
Howard Klinger/Justin Johnson 1:06:49
Robert Clyke/Adam McGovern 1:11:01
Jeff Bartley/Jullian Taylor 1:14:25
Greg Lilik/Jacob Kaylor 1:16:18
Jeff Husser/Steve Lyle 1:38:59
Matt Hardy/Ben Hardy 1:40:50

K-2 UNLIMITED

Charlie Anderson/Jasper Perry Anderson 1:02:30
Pat Reilly/Son Reilly 1:07:26
Nick barger/Mary Barger 1:12:29

OC-1 MEN

Kasey Kaplan 54:48
Keith Kaplan 57:14
David Yoxtheimer 1:04:02
Alec McCracken 1:08:22
Dan Gallup 1:09:15
Dan Ombalski 1:40:12

OC-2 COMPOSITE RECREATIONAL

Ron Miess/Jason dullen 55:47
James Chase/Terry Williams 58:42
Travis McClintic/Phil Brezina 59:56
Sean Rigole/Erica Kotala 1:06:43
George Kriner/Jim Pompeii 1:37:04

OC-2 UNLIMITED

Zaak Havens/Zane Havens 50:37
Dan Jones/Evan Jones 51:25
Teresa Stout/Steve Martin 51:47

K-1 MEN SLALOM

Kurt Smithgall 54:11
Viadimir Khristov 56:24
Dave Kurtz 56:34
Bill Torretti 56:36

K-1 MEN RECREATIONAL SHORT

John Ralston 58:02
Jason Englehart 59:08
Hunter McClelland 59:39
Rich Veneziano 59:50
Rick Hendrich 1:00:28
Pat Gallagher 1:00:48
Ed McConnell 1:01:05
David Benner 1:02:37
Ken Szostek 1:02:59
Bill Ledford 1:03:07
Scott Dehart 1:03:48
James Yeckley 1:05:38
Carter Hardy 1:27:00
Steve Rainey 1:28:29

K-1 MEN WHITEWATER

Rob Szostek 57:54
Jared Kolet 59:16
Dave Powell 1:01:40
Adam Weber 1:02:33
Dave Yeckley 1:03:49
William Dunlap 1:07:38
John McGregor 1:12:39
Alex Sietins 1:23:50
Jody Youngblood 1:39:32

OC-2 LONG

Keith havens/Ed Sharp 51:33
Quincy Ayscue/Guy Flatley 52:31
Larry Lubbers/Bob Davis 52:50
Matt Anthony/Randy Flament 53:43
Richard Bloom/Brian Bloom 54:55
Josh Benton/Ryan Harmick 58:26
Ryan Fanning/Travis Hall 1:01:52
Adam Carlson/Russel McCloskey 1:12:04
Will Ruth/Greg Kojadinovich 1:12:39
Eric McAtee/Dylon/ Kater 1:27:08

K-1 MEN RECREATIONAL LONG

Joe Knapik 52:24
Dave Shubert 55:30
Irv claar 56:40
Duane Eberhart 57:06
Bill Litz 58:16
Ron Cence 1:00:29

K-1 MEN TOURING

Mike Miller 54:20
Gary Hayes 54:24
Kevin O’Shea 55:10
Randy Stout 55:13
Gerald Knepp 55:19
Arthur Henne 55:23
Ken Damelio 55:30
Tom Workinger 55:32
Randy Jenson 57:07
Dan Jenson 57:16
Andrew Augustine 57:42
Kevin Welch 58:16
Steve Miller 1:06:17

K-1 UNLIMITED

R. Sampson 46:36
Don McConaghy 51:49
Doug Keiper 53:46

Here We Go - Again

Late, yes but better late than never, that's me today. Should have posted these yesterday but it was a busy day. Church, took both the kids up to visit at my son's so Mandy and I both had a chance to see improvements and/or changes he's made to the old house and then, back home to cook supper for everyone. But you've all heard my late excuses before -you'll probably hear them again from time to time too -so let's just get on now with the Bushisms for the week ahead.

Monday, April 7, 2008 - 288 days left

"Part of the facts is understanding we have a problem, and part of the facts is what you're going to do about it."
--Kirkland, Ohio, April 2005

Tuesday, April 8, 2008 - 287 days left
Former majority leader Tom DeLay's birthday, 1947.

"It has never been proven that air toxins are hazardous to people."
--Tom Delay

Wednesday, April 9, 2008 - 286 days left

"And so, in my State of the --my State of the Union--or state -- my speech to the nation, whatever you want to call it, speech to the nation --I asked Americans to give 4,000 years--4,000 hours over the next--the rest of your life --of service to America. That's what I asked --4,000 hours."
--Bridgeport, Connecticut, April 2002

Thursday, April 10, 2008 -- 285 days left

"I want to thank the dozens of welfare to work stories, the actual examples of people who made the firm and solemn commitment to work hard to embetter themselves."
--Washington, D.C., April 2002

Friday, April 11, 2008 --284 days left

"They could still be hidden, like the 50 tons of mustard gas on a turkey farm."
--Washington, D.C., April 2004, speaking about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Saturday and Sundays, April 12/13, 2008 - 283 days left and 282 days left

"This has been tough weeks in that country."
--Washington, D.C., April 13, 2004, primetime press conference regarding Iraq.

And that's it - for another week.

Unwinding

After reading Linda's blog earlier tonight and seeing the video she had posted there -the song "Saturday Night" by the Bay City Rollers, I had commented to her about how she and I must have a whole lot in common -maybe even genetically (LOL) -and I thought about trying to search for a you-tube video with the Saturday Night song that always seemed most fitting to describe my life - "It's Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No Money." I don't even remember now who sang it but needless to say, my overwhelming need for sleep along couple with my lazy factor gene all came together and I slept most of the early evening hours away. (It's just as well though as I never would have stood a chance at doing the research on the internet anyway since first Mandy, then Bill were hogging the computer. Bill finally relinquished it about 1:30 a.m. and I commandeered it after that to finish reading my favorite blogs, those on my reader, etc., etc.)

So, here I am now at almost 4:30 a.m. and writing this little piece.

So, did I get any of the things accomplished yesterday that I had mentioned? Well, I survived the day so that takes care of one of those things on my list. Maya finally settled down and was fairly well behaved from about 11:30 a.m. through until her Mommy got home from work. Kurtis was very well-behaved although by the time he finished supper last night, he was definitely in dire -really dire -need of a good bath to erase all the markings all over his face of every food substance he'd encountered I think. (And we ate an easy supper last night -bacon and pancakes -but evidently little bits of syrup, strategically placed on one's face also seem to pick up any dirt/dust thingies floating in the air and they all congeal there too then. He looked like the proverbial orphan or the dustball character in Peanuts -name eludes me at the moment.)

I DID finish the Jodi Picoult book I was reading too. While I liked this one - "Change of Heart" a lot (I LOVE Jodi Picoult's books), as I told Mandy at supper tonight (she's also a huge Jodi Picoult fan too,) while this book was very good, had a couple characters in it from another of her earlier books too, it doesn't have any place -or often two -within the story that takes and twists your head and mind, almost 360 degrees. Except maybe for the very last paragraphs in the books.

I also managed to crochet one -yes ONE -whole row on the baby blanket before I could feel my eyes beginning to cross on me, my shoulders pinching, starting to clue me in to the fact I was tired, needed a nap and that too, I succeeded in doing.

So while I was reading through numerous blogs from my reader after I woke up about 1 a.m. (got about 5 hours of naptime there folks!) about three quarter of the way through my reading, I got this feeling that I needed something. Maybe some snack, or something to appease my taste buds in some way or another and what did I decide on indulging in?

A "Black Russian."

Why, I really don't know but I was thirsty but didn't want to make a pot of coffee at 3 a.m. I wasn't truly hungry, just sort of iffy about that and all of a sudden it dawned on me that I have the fixings here to make myself a lovely little old Black Russian to relax my mind, eyes, body just a bit more so I can go back to sleep and maybe get enough to be rested adequately to get up about 7:30 and get showered and dressed and go to church.

So here I sit now at this lovely early morning hour, sipping gently on a Black Russian which for some reason or other, doesn't taste quite as good as they usually do to me though. Haven't had on since Christmas so maybe I had forgotten the bitey taste with sweet overtones but while it's enjoyable enough, it's not got the zing to it or not bringing any "zing" maybe to me with those sips.

It is however starting to work to give me ideas that sleep would be a darned good thing to indulge in now too - again!

Oh, and for anyone who may have tried to use the link I put in my post yesterday to the Autism Walk/Race site my kids and I are participating in this coming Saturday - the 12th of April - and found it not working yesterday, I'm happy to report it is up and running again. Here's that link again -just remember our team name is "WE ARE for Kurt and Maya" and can be found near the bottom on page two if you search for us under the header at the bottom of the home page there -"Search for a team." Please stop by and see how well or team has done -thanks to much support from many of my blogger buddies -and if you are interested in supporting us, just click in there to the "support this team" area and it will take you through the donation procedure easy as pie.

http://events.autismspeaks.org/site/c.jvKSL7MTIwG/b.3884743/

And now, I think I shall make my way over the sofa -my lovely bed these days - and crash again. But before I do that, I just remembered a cute little story about Maya that I will throw in here too.

While I was in the kitchen cooking the bacon, she was out there with me -roaming around, jabbering and asking me questions about what I was doing -"Cooking bacon, Maya." And that question came back to me again and again too. Then I noticed she had picked up the white cordless kitchen phone and was "talking" on it. Now, as a general rule, Maya -unlike her mother - is not yet anyway addicted to telephone conversations. But there she was, chatting away. No, she hadn't called anyone, but she was talking -and walking while doing that -very nicely in her imaginary conversation with someone. It was too comical to watch her as her movements were a replication of moves her mother makes while on the phone. Even down to imitating some of Mandy's words she uses frequently in a phone conversation. The one that really cracked me up though was seeing Maya pacing back and forth, chatting, then stopping with a hand on her hip and saying "REALLY? Really." She had the voice inflection of her Mom absolutely down pat on that one and I was trying my very best not to howl laughing at her while she was having her little chat.

Kids do really do and say the darndest things for sure ya know!

A Long Day Ahead!

Oh Brother! It's going to be a long day here -probably filled with a lot of crying, moaning, whining and wailing. Most of it will be coming from Maya but you might find me off, sitting in a corner someplace, pulling my hair out, one strand at a time and whimpering.

Why?

Because Mandy left for work this morning before Maya was up and moving around. That was the game plan as she thought it might work easier for me to manage her that way.

You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men though, don't 'cha? Well, Maya happened to be awake, upstairs, and just happened to see out the window in her room as Mandy's car pulled away from the house and started off up the street on her way to work. I was still half-asleep but I heard her upstairs and the crying had begun.

It took a good hour -close to 90 minutes actually - of her crying, screaming, some kicking was involved too here and there as well as a couple of times when she was hitting at my while I was trying to hold her, get her soothed, calmed down a bit, before she finally quieted and agreed to have some breakfast.

I let her choose her special pink princess cereal bowl, as well as what type of cereal she wanted - "Special K" was the item du jour -and she was very sweet, cooperative -got the milk out of the fridge for me -sat down at the table and chowed all the cereal I'd given her. I asked her when she finished if she'd like a banana and she happily agreed to that too. Peeled it and gave it to her and now, full belly and all ya know, well now, she full of piss and vinegar, chasing Jorge the cat around the house.

The little guy is also awake now - quiet, watching cartoons and commercials on tv for the moment -but shortly I'm sure, he'll realize there's a gnawing in his tummy and will be hollering for some food!

And I'm gonna try to work on the next "autism awareness" installment I have written but haven't done any photo selections for it as yet plus trying to get completely caught up - if I'm lucky -on reading blogs. I'm a little bit behind right now on that job.

And while doing that, I have to try to figure something out to fix for supper, do a little more work on a baby blanket I'm crocheting (have it about half finished now) and maybe, just maybe, I'll even manage to finish reading the new book I got this week - the latest one out by Jodi Picoult - "Change of Heart." Anyone else had a chance to read it yet? I'm within reach of completely it today - only have about 10-15 pages at most left to read. (Terri-Terri - have you read it yet?)

I have a check her too for another person who has agreed to walk with us next Saturday in the Penn State 3K Walk and 5K Race over in State College to benefit Autism Speaks as well as a very nice donation that was dropped off at the house yesterday from a couple who are old school days friends of mine. Our donations have been running very good -we reached our first goal of $500 to qualify us for a matching grant from Thrivent last week -so between our donations and that grant, we actually have a little over $1,900 for our team. Only need another $150 now to match what we accumulated last year and I'd really love to go over that goal between now and next Saturday -if it is at all possible.

If you'd like to help us surpass our goal, here's the link to the website where you can make a donation to our team online -or you can mail it in directly to Autism Speaks too if that works better for you. Just click on the link here below and once that page opens, scroll to the bottom of the page and on the right hand side, click on the link that says "Search for a Team." Go to page 2 on the team listing site and our team -"WE ARE for Kurt and Maya" is the second one from the bottom of that page. Simply click on the word "View" by our team name and it will take you directly to the area where you can make a donation online. Thanks to many of my blogger friends, who have donated to our team, we are as far ahead this year as we are already. It's fantastic, truly it is, to see the support so many of you have given to us! If you'd like to help us more, just spread the word by copying this paragraph and the url and post it to your blog -give us a plug that way -or e-mail it to other friends and family of yours too. Every little bit we get sure will help us now and will help provide funds for research into the cause of autism as well as helping find better ways to enable parents and educators to assist people with autism to acquire the skills and knowledge needed to lead a successful and happy life.

http://events.autismspeaks.org/site/c.jvKSL7MTIwG/b.3884743/

More Maya -to about 18 months

(Maya -at three months (one of my most favorite pictures too!)

From three months to a year, Maya’s growth was very good. She gained weight nicely – not accumulating fat, but rather good gains with muscle tone. In length, her rate of growth was very high and it definitely began to appear that she would be very tall if her height continued at that pace.


She seemed to mark the normal events in good form –smiling about about two months, rolling over, sitting up, then pulling herself to a standing position. The physical things appeared to be fairly well on target.

(Kind of hard to figure which of us was growing more though)

But as she grew, my older daughter and I began to notice little things that just seemed not quite in place –off a notch or two, ya know.

By the time she was 7-8 months, we noticed she rarely would make eye contact with us and definitely would refuse to try to maintain it if you tried to push that issues.

(This caterpillar toy was one of only a few she would play with as a baby)

She wouldn’t reach for us, also never began to give any of the early indicators most babies will show when they want a particular toy, or person or if they want a bottle, even. She never reached for anything, never pointed to anything either.

(Maya's impression of Elton John -just for grins and giggles here)

Talking to her, she often gave the appearance of not hearing us or else, just plain ignoring those around here. In her own little world, as it were.

She did have a couple of stuffed toys that she would occasionally bat around and play with a little bit – a caterpillar that she liked to grab mainly to chew on it though.

The issue of how she would either ignore us or not hear us had me wondering for a while if perhaps she might have a hearing problem. However, I determined on my own one day that her hearing was actually quite good.

She had discovered the tv set fairly early on and once she was able to stand, she would watch it constantly. One night, she was in her playpen and the tv was turned off. Standing a little behind her I turned the tv set on by using the remote and when I hit the on switch, it made a little tiny, barely audible clicking sound. At the time, Maya was sitting in her playpen but she heard that tiny click noise and before the picture and audio came through on the tv, she was standing up and staring directly at the tv screen – waiting for whatever program was playing at that time to begin.

To my way of thinking, that was a darned good piece of proof that there was nothing wrong with her hearing.

But, if she could hear ok, why then was she not doing other things that we consider to be normal parts of a babies’ growth?

Carrie, my older daughter and I cautiously mentioned to Mandy about Maya’s lack of eye contact. We didn’t want to alarm her any more than was absolutely necessary but still, we wanted to let her know as gently as possible that this wasn’t normal development.

(Maya's first birthday -that look was what we were seeing frequently by then)

Then, Maya started trying to walk and finally, when she was thirteen months, she began taking her first tentative steps.

As she picked up on balance she seemed automatically to accrue speed too. Turned out she was not going to be a “walker” but rather a “runner.” And with that came another thing that some times is associated with autism – toe walking. However, because Mandy had been a toe walker and my ex-husband’s mother was also a toe walker – still is to this day and she’s 81 or 82 years old now –I really didn’t get too hyper about the “toe walking” thing.

She did begin somewhere along that time though to begin hand flapping –frequently and a lot of it too. Ok, you can kind of rationalize that too that lots of children, adults as well, when excited, do a bit of that.

When you stop to think about any of the things that are so-called markers for autism though, you can rationalize almost anything then I suppose. And, if you aren’t aware at all –as many parents are in that circumstance too – it’s really easy to miss some of these events – or non-events –as not being very important.

After she started walking though, each time we would take her in for a routine checkup and of course, sometimes this involved vaccines, I would mention some of these aspects to the pediatrician. She asked us if she was talking and I said no but Mandy insisted some of her babbling was meant to be interpreted as “da da” but the only sounds she made were the “D” and “B” sounds –no “M” sounds at all. Then one day when she was about 15-16 months old, that entire day, she kept making the “M” sound. Did that the entire day and did not insert any other babbling sounds though. But, until she actually started to talk when she was about 28 months old, that was the one and only time we heard the “M” sound from her.

Don't forget to check out THIS BLOG too as "SnoopMurph" Linda talks about various autism topics, mostly as they pertain to her little boy, Connor, too.

Early Days - Maya

Over the next couple of weeks, I think I'd best give a fair warning here -if you don't enjoy looking at lots and lots of pictures, then my blog might not be one you want to read all the time.

I've decided I'm going to try to give a run-down, via photos of Maya and Kurt from their earliest days up to the present time. No, I don't intend to post every single photo we've ever taken -or had taken of them - over the past four and a half years. I'd be here till the cows come home trying to post that many and you'd REALLY never ever want to see my post another photo or tell any more of my Maya and Kurtis stories either!
This is me, the very first time I saw and held Maya -one day old. I think I may have mentioned this here before -or someplace anyway -but the very first time I held her, I felt a connection to her unlike any I'd ever had before with any of my own children or my older grandson the first time I held any of them. I can't explain it but when I held her the first time and when she opened her eyes and seemed to be looking at me, it was a feeling that she was telling me she expected me to not just love her but to see to it that she was protected and cared for to the best of my ability. And, I made a promise to her at that time that Grammy was always going to be here for her, to see that she got the very best love and care possible.

This was Maya's very first visit when she was five days old. She's being held here by her great-great-aunt - Anna Mae -but better know to all in my family as "Aunt Mike." Aunt Mike is my Dad's baby sister and is the one who is now in the nursing home. She will be 91 years old on April 22nd so that would have made her 87 then when this photo was taken. She wanted so much to hold Maya but was afraid at the same time that maybe her arms didn't have enough strength to do that either. But Mandy helped get her situated on her sofa and placed Maya in her arms and you can see for yourself then how well she did -and also, how pleased she was to be there to be able to meet her littlest niece.

This is Maya with my son -her Uncle Clate - when she was a week old. He was still living in Gettysburg when she was born so didn't get a chance to get up to meet her until she was a week old. When he first saw her, you could see his eyes filling with tears -love and excitement at being a part of his little niece's life. Mandy asked him if he wanted to hold her and at first, he too was very nervous, afraid, but Mandy convinced him to give it a try and you can see, he adapted quite well to the task. That fear of newborns -so often many men do seem to have that and Clate, in that respect, was much like his dad who was terrified of handling any of our kids when they were newborns. Come to think of it, he wasn't all that keen on holding them until they were more toddler size but it didn't take Clate quite that long to get over his fear of Maya -or of Kurtis either then when he came along. He does do much better with them as they get a little older though too.

This is me again -with Maya when she was about 10 days old. I look at that and think that is how old I was when my Dad saw me -the only time he saw me before he died a week later. He was very sick at the time -cancer -and weak but I have often wondered over the years and especially when I see this picture of Maya and me, what thoughts must have passed through his mind at that one and only meeting. I know each time I have picked her up and held her over the past four years -even to this day - the feelings I have for her are almost overwhelming. Just such a wonder all children are but little did any of us realize just how much of a marvelous little girl this baby would become to all of us here.
This is Maya at two weeks with my next-door neighbor's daughter, Alina. "Lean Bean," as my kids and I often call Alina, was fascinated with the new baby and loved to come over and just hold her any chance she got. Fortunately, from the start, Maya was not a difficult baby to hold and cuddle. Well, most of the time anyway.

This is Maya with "Aunt Cindy." Aunt Cindy isn't really Maya's aunt but she is Maya's oldest sister, Kate's great aunt and a very good family friend too. This was taken on the first "outing" where Maya got to go to lunch with her mommy and me and Aunt Cindy at the restaurant in Phlipsburg that is owned by a good friend of Mandy and Clate's. She was often a very pampered little guest at the Gaslight Cafe as the Jen, the owner and her staff would always make a big fuss over Maya each time we stopped by there.

Here's Maya at about 3 weeks being held by her Pappy - Bill's dad. He lives up the road and on the street that runs parallel to our street, on the hillside behind us and back when Maya was very young, Pappy used to stop in here and visit with her almost daily. His fingers are very crippled so when she was very small he couldn't reach in and pick her up -someone had to do that for him - but he had no qualms and no problems about holding her once someone gathered her up for him.

When Maya was a little over 2 months old, she met her cousin, Lizzie, for the first time. Lizzie is my ex-brother-in-law's granddaughter. Her mother, my niece, Angie, is a year younger than Mandy and the girls have always been very close. Lizzie is four days younger than Maya. On this picture, taken over at Uncle Tom's house are Tom's girlfriend's nephew, Lizzie, Maya and Bobbi, Uncle Tom's girlfriend. My kids -all three of them - are very close to their Dad's brother, Uncle Tom. He's been there for them over the years -frequently more of a father to them than their Dad was -and unlike his brother, Uncle Tom's never exhibited a fear of babies -likes to pick them up, cuddle 'em, play with them too.

Now, I know I've said what a good baby Maya was -and for the most part, that was the truth. But, the first week or two, of having Maya around were a time of a lot of adjustments for everyone and especially for her big sister, Kate. This picture was taken when Maya was about a week old and the look on Kate's face was one of a very tired person. We learned the very first night Maya was home, at about 11 p.m. when Mandy went to take her upstairs and put her in her bed there, that one other thing Maya was -very early on -LOUD, very, very LOUD! Actually, it seemed as soon as Mandy stepped into the bedroom, that Maya instinctively knew she was going to bed and she let out a cry that was more than a cry. It was a very shrill, ear-piercing scream-type cry. Rocked the rafters type of noise if you get my drift!

To be honest, I really think that cry was a sign to us that there was something just a bit different about this baby. She still has the capacity to cry like that. Sometimes now though, she could pass for one of those sirens on emergency vehicles in England or Germany - know what type of sound I mean there? I remember when that happened her first night home, my gut reaction was wondering what on earth is wrong with that baby as I'd never heard an infant with such a shrill shriek cry as she exhibited then. During the day, when she would fuss, it was generally rather low key but when it came time to go to bed, she -and her sounds - took on a whole new personna, or so it seemed. That first night, Kate had gone to bed about two hours earlier and normally, she sleeps like her dad too - very, very soundly. We often joke that an earthquake with an 8.0 on the Richter scale might not phase either Kate or her Dad but that night, that screech -it even woke Kate up!

That's my pictoral today of Maya and roughly her first eight to ten weeks with us.

When I think back to those early days, she often would look at us and it seemed that she had a somewhat puzzled expression on her face. We used to joke about it then too that she would get many of the same expressions as did her Uncle Clate when he was a baby too. We tease him that he still gets the same confused look quite often even today. But in retrospect, I wonder too now if maybe that may have been a very, very early indicator too of the autism that within a couple of months, my older daughter and I both began to suspect might be present.

More on that later.

Down RIver Drivel: April - Autism Awareness Month

Down RIver Drivel: April - Autism Awareness Month

April - Autism Awareness Month

Yes, I know I am late. By all rights, I should have had this post written and up hours ago. By now you must be figuring I am a strong advocate of "better late than never" and yet, normally I do try to be as punctual as possible. It's just that a few other things sort of got in my way today - like that need (again -or is it still?) for sleep! One of these days I swear I am going to get an adequate amount of sleep, each and every day. Yes, I will.

But I am digressing there from the topic of today and for the entire month of April for that matter. It's a subject that as you all know by now, is very, very near and extremely dear to my heart as my two youngest grandchildren, my younger daughter's two little ones, are both now diagnosed as autistic.

Before I go any further in this post, let me tell you this - I am linking my blog to one of my all-time favorite bloggers - Linda of These Are The Days and would ask that you check out her blog, read her posts about her family and how she and her husband, Tom, are pulling together to get the help, treatments, therapy necessary for their little guy, Connor, who by the way is the same age as my grandson, Kurtis, and both these little guys are autistic. Linda, like me, will also be posting this month about autism, about her son, their family and how this has impacted their lives to date. Please, spread the word to your friends too about Linda's site and perhaps take a peek too at other blog sites on my favorites list and read what many other bloggers have to say on this topic and their experiences dealing with autism too.

I will tell you this about others blogs that you might read and their experience with the disorder alongside mine is that each of us may have a very different experience overall with autism and how it has impacted our lives, our entire family's life, but each of us is committed to doing the best we possibly can to ensure our family member gets the help necessary to live a full and enjoyable, enriched life as much as possible. Here then are the blogs I read written by people whose lives have been impacted by this disorder - stop and read them -pass this information on to others too, in order that we can reach many others and make people AWARE of AUTISM and that others can possibly learn the markers, early signs and in doing so, can reach out and get the needed help for more children through Early Intervention.

Casdok,
Dortha,
Sunshine,
Maddie,
29 Marbles,
Autism Bites,
Autism Diva,
Kristina Chew,
Dear Noah,
Jen P,
Hidden Recovery,
Kev,
Miss Nelson
Mom-NOS
LAA in Virginia
Autistic Dad
Joy of Autism
Kyra
Momologue

Now that I've given you directions to some other bloggers who write learn, and love someone -or many more than one someone too -with autism, let me tell you about another website too.
I-Reports
This site has many, many posts by parents, siblings, grandparents (such as myself) as well as by individuals who are autistic, with photos and many, many videos too -all about autism. Go and click and read to your heart's content. It's an excellent learning site from personal view points.

Here too are a couple photos of what you've come to see are my most favorite topics to talk about!
This picture is Maya at one day old -the first time I saw her, the first time I held her. And, I have to tell you too the first time I held her, looked into her face and it seemed then she was searching with her eyes for someone who would be there as her worshipful servant for as long as possible and I told her then, I would do that, be that for her in every way possible. Our own private little bonding as it were, ya know!

She was then, as she is now, just my sweetheart, my beautiful little Princess Maya and she just gets better and better by the day too!

This is Kurtis -the first time I saw him -in the hospital as we were getting ready to bring him home. He was four days old at the time.

Kurtis spent three days of his first four days in the NIC unit at the hospital because during the night of his first night, it appeared he was having some distress, breathing issues, etc. Plus, he also had a touch of jaundice -nothing all that unusual in a newborn -and had to spend some time under a special light too. So although Mandy came home from the hospital when he was two days old, he wasn't discharged for another two days after that. Thankfully, all the issues he had that first day though, dissipated and he's had no repercussions of any of them since. Today, he's almost two years old and is a hale, hearty and healthy little guy who just happens to have Autism.

I'm giving a plug here too -again -for the Penn State Autism 3K Walk and 5K Race to be held on Saturday, April 12th in State College, PA. My family and I -along with several other good friends of ours -will be walking to raise money to go to Autism research and educational aspects. If you live in the central Pennsylvania region and would like to get out, get some fresh air, have a lot of fun and support our team in the process, please do! Come join us. If you can't do that, please consider donating to support our team too. You can do that HERE -online! All you have to do is go to the bottom of that page, click on the line that says "Search for a Team" and then go to Page two (2) where, near the bottom of that page you will see our team name - WE ARE for Kurt and Maya - click on View by our team name and then you can register to walk or simply click on donate to our team - or, if you'd like, you can also click on one of our team members by name and donate to sponsor that person in the walk.

A big thank you too goes out from me, from our team as well to another of my blogger buddies, Keith -out in Arizona -who is also trying to help our team not just through his generous donation but also, by helping us to help others to learn as much as possible, become aware of Autism, what the signs are, what the needs are -just spreading the word! Thanks, Keith! Your efforts, your support, are so very, very much appreciated!

And finally, tonight I'm going to leave you with an excerpt about the early indicators -or markers -in infants and toddlers that can often be indicative of autism. Point these signs out to your child's doctor too then and if the doctor tells you it's nothing to worry about, that this or that will go away or the child will outgrow it, etc., DON'T take no for an answer there! Early intervention with these children is the best way possible -as early as possible -to enable the child to get the best attention and help which will give them the best help possible then to as full and functional l life as possible! (This article is from Parenting.com)

Here, a list of possible warning signs for autism that your doctor may use to determine if your child's development warrants further testing. Remember: Don't panic if your infant exhibits a symptom or two on occasion, but do alert your pediatrician if you notice any of the following:

By 2 to 3 months, your baby isn't making frequent eye contact.
By 3 months, he isn't smiling at you and the sound of your voice.
By 6 months, he doesn't laugh or make other joyful expressions.
Around 8 months, he isn't following your gaze when you look away from him towards something else.
By 9 months, he hasn't begun to babble.
By 1 year, he isn't consistently turning to you when you call his name
By 1 year, he shows a general disregard for vocalizations (ie, lack of response to his name), but has a keen awareness of environmental sounds.
By 1 year, he isn't engaging in back-and-forth vocalizations with you.
By 1 year, he hasn't begun to wave bye-bye.
By 1 year, he isn't "following a point" (looking towards something you point at).
By 16 months, he has no words.
By 18 months, he isn't pointing to things that interest him.
By 24 months, he has no two-word meaningful phrases.
At any time, he shows a loss of any of his previously mastered skills.

For more information, check out our Baby Milestone Checklist.

See you tomorrow with MORE about Autism Awareness Month!

KABOOM!

KABOOM! Crash, bang, rumble and other odd noises along those lines got my attention -big time -here at about 3:45 this morning.

I was sitting at my computer (what else is new? I know,) having almost finished reading all the blogs in my reader. I had hoped to have finished that earlier this evening but by 11:45, my eyes were giving out on me, telling me they were in dire need of sleep. Mandy took over the computer controls then for a while before she went up to bed at about 1:30-2 a.m. or so. And I woke up then, felt rested -at least enough so to finish my reading at any rate.

And then, this huge noise - sounding like an explosion of some type, coming from the basement area of the house. It definitely got my attention - for sure.

I jumped up and hollered "Did you hear THAT, Mandy!???" And then, I headed to the basement door and discovered the cause of that racket.

This is what I saw when I opened the cellar door.

The back wall along the cellar way wasn't supposed to look like THIS. See those three brackets in the center -between the two loaded shelves? Well there was supposed to be a third shelf there. One that was equally well loaded with all kinds of canned goods and such. I didn't think to take pictures of all the canned good laying all over the cellar steps at the time -that idea came to me while I was writing this so I went and took these pictures then.

But, after seeing what was left of my old shelf unit there, I came back to the living room about the same time then as Mandy was stumbling down the steps to find out what had happened. I told her I knew what happened and for her to just go open the cellar door. Needless to say, her first words when looking down the steps were -"OH, SHIT!" A bit milder a comment, I must say, than I had when I viewed the carnage. We won't go into my under the breath mutterings, as I'm sure you can imagine what words were going through my mind!

We were going to go about our business as usual and wait till morning to pick up the cans and such but about then, Bill came downstairs too - rubbing his eyes and asking what happened. Mandy told him to go look in the cellar and without looking, he said "The shelf collapsed, didn't it?" Yep, it sure did! He then went and started picking stuff up a bit mainly because he was concerned that there may have been some glass broken. THere was a little bit of glass -from two packages of light bulbs that got hit as the shelf broke and the cans started rolling.

Here's the added mess to that area of the basement now. This area is where the washer and dryer are located and as usual, Mandy had clothes in the washer, a load in the dryer and several containers sitting near the washer and dryer with MORE clothes to be washed and dried too. So all that, plus the cans still laying on the floor, under the stairs and piled into a box now as well as a big hard plastic serving bowl (picnic type) that Mandy and Bill shoved some of the cans into -well, our basement in this area is not a pretty sight at any time and it really didn't need the added "trim."
Yep! This is what our laundry area in the basement looks like now!

A lovely mess, isn't it?

I'm highly impressed. NOT!!!

But then too, it's my own fault.

Never should have loaded those shelves quite that heavily. I know, I know. Live and learn -a little anyway, don't we?


But now I know what I'll be doing in the morning.

Yeah, trying to find more storage!!

Go get a new shelf.

Get Bill to put it up.

Make sure it is a very heavy duty one too -built to hold oh, maybe let's say a ton of canned goods.

Here's the shelf that broke - what it looks like now.

Maybe we should consider getting cement blocks and bricks along with some wood and do the shelves up right this time?

I just realized too - I think I had a big jug of the clear karo syrup on that shelf and as I was looking through the rubble, I didn't see where it had landed any place. Hmmm. If that puppy is lying broken someplace, that' s really going to add a lot to the clean-up work now, isn't it?

And the little boy -in his playpen, just an arm's length away from me in my chair by the computer? He slept through the whole thing! Didn't flinch, didn't stir, definitely didn't wake the little guy up!

And for that, I am eternally grateful!