Category: Special Needs

Let me re-introduce myself…

With a four year hiatus in blogging, I have finally found the headspace to open it up again. Now on the slippery slope to 50, with a tween and an adult – the journey continues!

Well, well, well… it’s certainly been a while. Not sure if you remember me, but I’m Linda… and I used to write a blog! I actually did that for three years… and then took a four-year hiatus. The blog, called Tales of a Mother’s Daughter, originally centered around the diagnosis of Autism for my daughter when she has five, her food intolerences at that time and managing her Autism as she got older.

So, what’s been happening since I’ve been gone?

Not much has happened in that time – just a global pandemic lasting a couple of years, a war with Russia, football finally came home, we’ve had several Prime Ministers, and we celebrated our Queen reaching a record 70 years on the throne, only to lose her later in the year. I could go on and on – four years is a long time!

That time for me has also been different. I lost my freelance work thanks to the panic of Covid, launched a new business, nearly closed that business two years later… changed that business to a not-for-profit (CIC) then finally ended up closing it in January this year. There will be plenty of time for reflection on that, but for now, this decision has given me rather a lot of headspace. So much so that I have decided to start blogging again, so if you are reading this… thank you and I hope you stick around.

So, with that in mind, we have had a name change! ‘Mum Running Life’ reflects my love of running along with the fact that I often feel like I’m trying to find ways to run this thing called life effectively – usually without much success. Running has been a big part of my life for the past four years, given that my business was to do with encouraging people to run, so it seemed only fitting to have it in the title somewhere.

So, what will I be blogging about? Well, as I am on the slippery slope to 50, I am always on the look-out for how to feel better, look better, and function better, so there will be posts about the things I am trying – the good, the bad, and the ugly. The last time I blogged, I had a teen and a tween… I now have a teen and an adult! I will be chatting about the challenges that my daughter faces as an adult with Autism and also our journey for ADHD diagnosis – might be waiting a while for that one though!

So, if you’re not there already, you can also find me on Facebook and Instagram, sharing bits and bobs that make me laugh, make me think and keep me sane!

See you there and see you soon!

Much love

Linda x

Going with the flow & not sweating the small stuff at Christmas!

close up of christmas decoration hanging on tree
Photo by Gary Spears on Pexels.com

Excited for Christmas!

Actually, for the first time in a few years, I am excited for Christmas!

Not to sound like a miserable cow, but I must admit, the last couple of years have felt a bit shit without Mum being here. She was my Christmas. So much of how you celebrate the festive period is built around how you spent it as a child.  All the traditions, the smells, the songs, the 80’s brash decorations! I loved all of it!

I certainly don’t want this to be a sad blog just before Christmas, but I know a few people that are experiencing Christmas for the first time this year without one of their parents, or a parent that is incredibly ill, and I just want you to know that you’re in my thoughts.  It doesn’t seem like it now, but I want you to know that it does get just a little bit easier as the years pass.

Crying for Mum… or George Michael? Continue reading “Going with the flow & not sweating the small stuff at Christmas!”

Why are school mornings like Groundhog Day!?

This morning was like every other morning, which is like every morning in households everywhere that children live.  The dreaded school run! Why oh why is it just so hard!?

It doesn’t seem to matter what time I get up, how organised I might be, the result is still the same… shouting that we need to go, teeth still not cleaned, ties suddenly lost and an announcement at two mins to blast off that they need to take something random with them to school! Why do they do that, they’ve had a whole sodding night, but NO, please announce this at 7.55am!! Continue reading “Why are school mornings like Groundhog Day!?”

D-DAY! Diagnosis Day… choices to be made and the surprising grief that followed.

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D-DAY! Diagnosis Day… choices to be made and the surprising grief that followed.

I’m heading back to our Autism journey, back to the summer of 2010.  Since ‘the dark winter’ as I call it, of 2008 we had seen many consultants, registrars, speech & language therapists, other therapists with fancy names, Autism Advisory Teachers and Child Development Practitioners.   Today, we thought was going to be just another appointment with the consultant… the one we finally found that took us seriously, who could see that there was something not right and recognised a link between diet and the brain.

We’d already seen Dr McGreggor several times where she assessed Ellie’s behaviour, how she played and interacted and took a ‘progress report’ from us.  What we weren’t expecting was for her to offer us a diagnosis.  It had been two and a half years since we started this journey and now my heart was galloping at what she was about to say. Continue reading “D-DAY! Diagnosis Day… choices to be made and the surprising grief that followed.”

Digesting the YorkTest!

flat lay photography of vegetable salad on plate
Photo by Ella Olsson on Pexels.com

So yesterday, we got the results back of the YorkTest (re-test) we did for Ellie last week.   We first did this for Ellie some 9-10 years ago when she was two years old and was seriously regressing and we had major concerns about Autism.

Back then the test confirmed what we thought – wheat and dairy were having a huge effect on her brain function and her ability to communicate and understand (see first few blogs for more). Continue reading “Digesting the YorkTest!”

Rice, Rice Baby! What happened when another food becomes a bad guy!

So, lets get back to the story.  If I’m honest, most of the summer of 2008 was a bit of a blur.  We had returned from Florida, which went ok considering how poorly Ellie had been in the previous months.

There’d been doctors appointments (but that’s for another blog). We’d also decided that we wanted to try for another baby.  I remember this news shocking my mum as she felt that now wasn’t the best time to be thinking about trying for another child with everything that was going on with Ellie.   Why would we want to risk having another autistic child? What if Ellie didn’t get better?  I knew that’s what she was thinking. Continue reading “Rice, Rice Baby! What happened when another food becomes a bad guy!”

Mixed Emotions for Little Mix! How we nearly didn’t go to the concert!

Back in May, we surprised the kids with tickets to Little Mix as part of their birthday present (they’re both May babies!).  They were both very excited and for the last few months I’ve heard nothing but how excited they (Ellie) was for the concert.

Fast forward to the night before (Thursday). Ellie had a huge meltdown about how she was going to look rubbish, how she would “look like the donkey” (what!??), how she was going to have her hair – up/down/curly – and which ever way I suggested, it was still going to look rubbish! Continue reading “Mixed Emotions for Little Mix! How we nearly didn’t go to the concert!”

Sports days, exam results and being proud of the progress

So, the end of the school year is nearly here!  To be honest, I don’t know how I feel about the holidays.  I love the fact that there’s no routine, no lunches to prepare, no uniforms to get ready and no PE kits to hunt down!  On the other hand, there is the anxiety of what we are doing for the six week stretch (and that’s just me!).  If I give out a programme of activities to Ellie, I won’t hear the end of it as each situation is super analysed and questions (the same ones) asked over and over again. If I keep information under wraps, there are meltdowns that we aren’t doing anything this summer and its going to be rubbish! We actually had one of these on Sunday with two whole weeks to go! Joy! Continue reading “Sports days, exam results and being proud of the progress”

Kinesiology… Kinesi-what?!!

So, we had already seen a bit of an improvement in Ellie’s symptoms from changing her diet, but we needed to know exactly what was bothering her.   I personally had suffered with episodes of tummy pain in the past (we’re talking 2001 here) and it got sorted out with a practice called Kinesiology.

Kinesi-what?!  It’s one of those ‘alternative therapies’ that you need to have an open mind about. We weren’t even sure if it could be done with two year old… but, it turns out you can!

We visited a practitioner who lived not too far away who saw myself, my Mum and Ellie. Now, this next bit may sound a little mumbo-jumbo to some of you, and to be honest, we weren’t really sure of it ourselves, but we gave it a go.

This is what happened…. Continue reading “Kinesiology… Kinesi-what?!!”

The ‘A’ Word. Are we really talking Autism here?

img_4064The A Word…

I remember clearly – it was Boxing Day 2007 and Ellie, who was normally such a happy and sociable toddler was very upset by the visitors we had that day.  She looked terrible – her eyes had black circles around them, she looked pale and her nose was constantly running.  Over the following days, Ellie seemed to go even further downhill. Simple instructions such as “put your coat on” was met with moans and groans and hand flapping.  Ellie stopped looking at my Nan and my mum, she became very quiet and speech was replaced with groans. Continue reading “The ‘A’ Word. Are we really talking Autism here?”