| |

The Sadness We Bring To A Diagnosis Should Not Become Our Child’s

I remember the first time Fulton asked me if he would be able to walk when he was an adult. I was getting him ready for bed, when BAM I was hit between the eyes with his innocent question. I remember answering him in a matter of fact way,  “No, you’ll always need a wheelchair.”,…

|

What To Do When Your Child Won’t Stop Staring At A Person In A Wheelchair

It happened every time I took my family out in public; stares, open mouths, finger pointing, awkward conversations and personal questions. And then my fourth, and soon fifth, children added their wheelchairs to the large family traveling circus and things got even worse. I’m hardly an expert in how to properly act around handicap people,…

|

I’m a Special Needs Mom, and This is How I Pray

I know I said I’d be writing about this stuff in August, but, this was a slow week and when inspiration strikes, you gotta go with it. When I get emails from other special needs parents they often mention how alone they feel. Many times, I’m the only other person they know raising a child…

|

Fulton’s First Holy Communion

Saturday morning, we all woke up early and I think the excitement was contagious.   A photo posted by Kelly Mantoan (@kellymantoan) on Apr 30, 2016 at 5:50am PDT Like many second graders this spring, Fulton Ambrose received his First Holy Communion at a morning Mass surrounded by a packed sanctuary of friends and family….

{Simple Homeschool} Another Day In the Life

I love a good day in the life post. It’s been a year since I recorded our homeschool day, and even longer since I did it with more words than photos. When I saw that Simple Homeschool was going to make their recent Day in the LIfe series a Link up, I knew I’d have…

{SMA Awareness Month} A Six Year Journey

I don’t often write too deeply on Spinal Muscular Atrophy around here, but seeing as August is SMA awareness month I thought I would write a bit about my journey since that day, slightly more than six years ago when that acronym first entered our everyday lexicon. This year in particular I’ve reflected more on…

The Week of Awesome #MDAcamp

MDA Camp, how do I love thee, let me count the ways! PHOTO DUMP! All images are from the MDA Philadelphia Facebook page. All campers and volunteers sign waivers to allow their photos to be taken and shared publicly. I invite you to like their page so you can view the rest of the photos from their June…

{SQT} Of Course I Assume It’s a Dead Body

Our first week back to school following our April break and we’ve all lived to tell the tale. ..not that I want to know what kind of tale the kids will be telling but I’m going to share about my sleep deprivation. Because who wants to jump into school every morning after a restful night’s…

|

{SQT} The Respiratory Edition

Happy Easter readers! It was not my intent to take a week off writing. Certainly, I knew celebrating Easter with out-of-town family would delay posting, however, I didn’t expect to spend time at the hospital with Fulton, and as such I’ve been preoccupied.  Thankfully, he’s doing well, but you’ll have to tolerate seven takes all about…