Mia is my world as We are hers

Mia arrived in 2004. It's hard to believe we started this journey that long ago. Our little baby girl is growing up yet I find myself struggling to think to far ahead. When you have a child with a disability it makes the world a far more scary place. Mia has Aspergers Syndrome. When Mia came into our lives we were 19. Teenagers as Mia now likes to remind us with her funny sense of humour. 'I cant believe you had a baby when you were only a teenager!' she likes to give out to me for that :) .In her mind teenagers are people who wear lots of make up and go out dancing all the time and have no responsibilities.My answer to her is always truthful. 19 is to young Mia to have babies but  God works in mysterious ways and he meant to give you to me.She loves that answer. to me that is the truth. God changed my life at that age. Mia became my reason to live again. To love again. She was perfect.To ease the heart-wrenching sadness we had felt for the year before after loosing my dad. Suddenly there was laughter again, smiles in our house. If god had not given me Mia I dread to think were I would be.Its to painful to go there in my mind. its a place I rarely visit. The first time I held Mia I remember looking at her and saying 'Its me and you Mia against the world'. I had no idea at the time how true that statement would be. With Mia's condition sometimes you feel that is the way. This world is a cruel place at times to children with disabilities. There are no services unless you have the money to pay them. Motherhood has taken over me. its my job, but also my life. I love it, I would never change it but its the hardest job on the planet and one you constantly learn at. you learn as you go on, Mia taught me to be a mother.She turned me into the person I am today. Daniel has a bond with Mia that takes my breath away. His gently nature and loving personality is something I adore about him. Dan has become her knight and shining armour  and mine. He shares this with Ava and Jack to. There isn't a day that goes by that my heart doesn't burst looking at him with our children. For two 19yr olds thrown into a world we knew nothing about I'm proud of us both for the way we have learnt to adjust.We are a team and have been since day one. There is no one I can trust like I do Dan. Hes my best friend since we were 14 and still is, Mia has introduced us to a whole new world we never knew of. Autism is very much her world and now it is our world to. When we first heard that word 'Autism' I genuinely had no idea what that word meant or what it was.  I was not prepared for the feelings I was going to feel, grief, anger, hurt and the most important acceptance. As my husband said to me 'Carrie Mia is still Mia, She is the same little girl who went into that room before we got dropped a bombshell.'  Mia needed us. So we did what we had to do. Ever since that day we have made it our mission to do everything we can for Mia . Name it we have tried it, all kinds of therapies , occupational therapy, play therapy, holistic therapy, Visual schedules, ipads, apps, social skills training, switching schools, home schooling (something I loved for 6 months after she was horrendously bullied) It has been a long hard road but an educational one. Mia was given to us to show us how amazing kids like her are. Anxiety is a huge factor in Mia's life and its heartbreaking to watch it engulf her.  She is the bravest little girl I know. She is so lovable, warm, funny and intelligent. Daily life is very hard at times but there isn't a day goes by that I don't squeeze the life out of my baby girl and tell her how much I love her and how much she teaches me. Mia teaches us  about life daily. she teaches us that we've patience we never thought we had, we've courage, we have fight,we have strength, an unbreakable love, we can run our house united even when we are stretched to the limit emotionally, physically, mentally, and know that we were born to be parents to her and her gorgeous brother and sister. To Mia we are her whole world .To us Mia has shown us her world. That's a gift not everyone gets.  Autism has made us the family we are.
 Ava was our next gorgeous blessing that decided to come our way and she to had her own lessons to teach us!

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