Brianne lives in Brunswick and has two children with her husband, Dave.
How are you and your family dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic?
We take the pandemic day by day. My husband jokes that our son taught us quarantining before quarantining was cool! It's hard not being able to take the kids places, not only for ease of grocery shopping (now it has to be planned a bit better, we are not a fan of the grocery pick up services and still like to go ourselves). We are sad for the social exposure our kids are missing, but they are resilient and have taught us quite a bit, too.
What do you do to relax?
Read and spend time in parks.
What else would you like to tell us about yourself?
I love to make other people happy and give surprises. It helps relieve stress to see my friends, family, or a stranger smile!
What benefits has Connecting for Kids brought to you and your family?
Connection, knowing we're not alone in our journey. I enjoy being part of the CFK Moderate-to-Severe Disabilities Facebook group and also follow the Connecting for Kids page on Facebook. Over the summer, I loved looking up resources via the Virtual Resource Fair.
Which have been your favorite Connecting for Kids resources?
My favorite was the How to Apply for Grants for Children with Special Needs program in February of this year. It was an amazing wealth of information. Before that program, I didn't know how many resources were available to our kids that weren't just "therapy." Now, with COVID, I love the virtual resources now.
The bad habit I picked up...
Spending too much time on my phone mindlessly scrolling thanks to the time spent in the hospital with our little guy.
I get embarrassed when...
My Gtube dependent kiddo pukes in front of someone who is not myself or my husband!
The best thing about parenting a child who struggles is...
Is seeing him reach milestones in his time! And being able to create the next set of goals, however far developmentally behind he is, we are always looking at his own goals/development, and not a typical toddler's development.
Do you have any recommended resources such as blogs, websites, or books that we can share?
I use Facebook for a lot of my Gtube /blending food questions - Blenderized RN page. I also recently went back to the basics and reached out to my county library looking for ideas to occupy my little guy during tube feeds. The children's librarian responded back right away with a list of available resources/ideas to check out that were extremely helpful!
Is there anything else about your journey that you would like to share with other parents?
It's a long journey and not to forget the memory stops along the way - even the medically fragile deserve the special memory milestones and not just the ones that haunt the parents. Find the joys in each day.
