Hard to get out with Andy

We tried to take Andy and the baby to a party that started at 6pm, knowing that they both go to bed at 7:30pm. It was a bad idea from the start. We had no sitter available, so we decided to all go. It was raining, everything was soaking wet. Someone was blocking the driveway, and there was no where to park. We would have had to park about 20 houses away, so my husband dropped me at the curb with the baby to walk across the soaking wet grass, because someone was blocking the drive completely. My husband squealed off away and was so mad. I called him when I got inside. 

"There's no way for me to even get Andy inside the house, I'm not coming in. Just visit for a bit, I'm going to drive him around, and I'll come back to get you." Andy had been having a very bad day all day at home with crying and moaning and whining. He was enjoying the car ride like he always does. Inside the house, it was super crowded. There were about 50-60 people inside a 1200 square foot house. My baby was clinging to me, and tired. It didn't even seem like a remotely good idea to try to drag all 50 pounds of Andy into the house and shoe horn him onto a couch where he would have to sit there with his headphones on and try to play with a toy to stay happy. I called my husband when the baby finished her bottle and said "Let''s go, I'm ready". 

We sometimes feel like prisoners in our own home. We really cannot go out, and if we do, we have to be divided. Someone stays with Andy, someone gets to go out, but they're worried about how he's doing. No one understands what we must go through to go out, and how it often just keeps us home.

I am thrilled beyond belief that I get to go to Nursing school it gives me a huge break, and I am thrilled that Andy gets to attend school and get out of the house. I think the day we tried to go to that party though, it was quite a smack in the face that we are not like everyone else. We don't get to just go out and do what we'd like to do. Everything has to be so calculated for things to work out for us. We can't just take our kids to the beach and let them play while we fall asleep on a blanket. Or leave our kids home while we head out to a bar or party, which is NOT something we want to do, but our friends and family are doing this now that their kids are teens and they have much more freedom. Andy of course, can and will never be left alone, it is just a comparison of what others are doing and we cannot ever fathom doing. It's also causing us to not be invited out to do things either, because people know how difficult it is to do anything. 

Andy's doctor asked me, "How do you guys get out?"  and I started crying and said "We don't." It's too difficult to even begin to find a place to change Andy's diaper, besides taking him back to the van. Even then you have to worry about someone in the public seeing you, or if its freezing outside, it will take five to ten minutes to warm up the car just to be able to lay him down on the seat and change him. His outbursts are the biggest thing to have to worry about and all the stares we will get from others. I know its natural for someone to look when someone is screaming, but the looks we get say "get that kid outta here" and we don't feel comfortable. He needs to get out of the house too, but unfortunately that will just be school, driving him around in the van, and appointments for now. I'll find a way soon to more with him as a family.