Morning Life

Simply I am the person in the household that makes sure that everyone gets where they need to go at the right time. In the mornings this summer that means that I get my husband out of the house for his 8 a.m. class he teaches during this first session of summer class at the university where he teaches. Waking him us is a task in and of itself because he is a late-night person and who suffers from insomnia. I on the other hand am a morning person and don't do nights.

After getting up and taking a shower I get the dogs out one at a time in a certain order because if you go out of order chaos ensues for the next twenty minutes sometimes more. The order is oldest to youngest (Henry, Snickers, then Sara). I drag the dogs to their dog run via their leashes and the hilarious thing is if gone in order Henry is still going to the bathroom by the time I get to Sara while Snickers is at the water dish. Life is great I would not change my daily workout with them for anything.

If I still feel the need for exercising after getting the dogs out around 6:30 a.m. I will mow the grass, now that my mower is back in business. If the lawn does not need mowing I will go on a walk at the River Park -- within this last week I really have not had to make that choice because the lawn needs work. Yesterday, I finally finished my backyard so now I will start the front because it has been two weeks or more since it was done.

Around 7 a.m. is finally a chance for me to relax and get my coffee, while it is still quiet, and turn on Good Morning America and catch up with my internet friends on Facebook. If I am lucky I get about three hours before I start getting bugged from one or both of my girls proclaiming that they are bored and want to do something or get on the computer. I usually make them wait until noon before I will even fathom getting up and doing anything or at least giving them the computer.

Oh wow, I am an average stay at home mom -- not really having to define myself as a mom with cerebral palsy. My hope here is to show that many of us are like any other adult that does adult things around the house. My mom didn't raise someone who was just going to be a vegetable and need attendants to carry out my daily tasks.

 

Exercising

Whether it be walking or mowing the lawn or any of a number of things I do try and stay as fit as I am able. No, I really never run anymore or even get on roller skates (although I would love to skate again) I do do almost everything I can knowing that three kids can really ruin a woman's body if you let it. Yes, I still have a little of that baby fat but I carry the little I have around as a badge of honor because it is a reminder of something else I overcame as an adult that doctors were not sure my body would be able to handle.

The thing I would like to encourage others here is that having a disability does not immediately mean that you throw in the towel and sit around and accept that you or the child will be a vegetable that you will have to take care of for the rest of their lives. The fact is if a child is encouraged to be independent as possible there are things possible of achieving that they will be able to take with them the rest of their lives. I will add that taking advantage of many or all of the therapies will help the child or yourself out tremendously. I personally took advantage of physical, occupational, and equine (horse) therapies while I was growing up. I also had a dad that was determined to see me walk knowing that being in a wheelchair was a last resort in his opinion. I am convinced without the therapies I would never have been as independent as I am today so my advice to anyone either dealing with cerebral palsy or and other disability is to take advantage of all you are able to get because every little bit helps when it comes to improving your abilities (or you child's). Yes, sometimes the therapy is hard and the therapists love to stretch muscles to far or make you work a little too hard but in the end it is all worth the reward and accomplishment when you realize that you (or your child) do what you can do because of all the hard work done, previously.

Yesterday!

I got my lawnmower back! I felt like a little girl who got her favorite toy back after it had been taken away because I did something bad. I was so happy and really wanted to go straight outside and mow my lawn: I did wait though because the temperature was above 90 degrees with the heat index above 100.

I mowed only a part of my lawn last night as my Black and Decker rechargeable lawnmower was working so hard that it decided that it needed a break for recharging. What this meant was I got my dog pen mowed and a line or two of the rest of the yard. I actually was enjoying myself and again felt I had been reunited with my long lost toy as it had been 5 weeks since I had seen it.

At the rate my mower is working it will be about 4 or more days before I get my whole yard finished and then it will be time to do the front yard that we paid a teenager to do just last week. I will get the lawn mowed and that is the main thing. I love physical exercise and this is just one way I get my exercise in the summer.

The other physical exercise I love is walking around the Fort Smith River Park and National Park. The walk I take is a 2 mile walk that allows me to keep active and know that I have lost no abilities. What I really love is when my middle daughter walks/jogs with me as at least I have company.

 Now that it is summer I really do need to get back to the early morning walks but first I must finish my lawn as that is my top priority.