Back in Business!

Hello, to The Five People Who Still Check This Blog!  Many people have been asking me if I'm done with the blogging world.  After such a long absence, I started to wonder myself.  I love blogging and the release it gives me.  It's almost therapuetic for me.  I also love the fact that I can record our life easily, as I'm not all that great in the journaling and scrapbooking departments.  However, lately, I just haven't felt the motiviation to do it.  I think it's a combination of a lot of things, really.  I've been trying to get things squared away with getting services for Cameron (more on that later), I've beeing working on Walk stuff (more on that, too!), and basically I've just had so much going on that I'm still trying to figure out how to balance it all.  I'm not really sure God knew what He was doing when he gave me a special needs child because I am horrible with time management!

I think another reason I haven't blogged is that, as I said before, I often use this blog as my release.  If I write it down, get it all out, I feel better about it.  I've been working through a lot of feelings since Cameron was diagnosed and I've written countless blog posts about it in my my head.  But then I never sit down and actually pound it out because I don't want this to become The Autism Blog.  Autism is a part of our life, but I can't let it consume us.  I still want this to be the place where we share about what's going on in our family.  And yes, that will obviously include stories of autism but I want to be sure I'm sharing other things as well.

So, since I'm already doing so much balancing in life, I decided that trying to balance the blog on top of it was just too much.  So I took a break!  But now I'm back and ready to share all the good, bad, and ugly with you again!  First up will be photos and info from our first Walk Now for Autism Speaks and then we'll take a little trip back and recap the couple of months I was away.  So for the few of you who are left, I hope you'll stick with us.  I think the next year for the Muhses is going to be an awesome one and I can't wait to share it all!

The Storm of the Century

That's what the meteorologist called it last night on the news.  He said we only see a storm like this about every 100 years.  After snowing all day yesterday and most of the night last night, we ended up with at least a foot of snow, maybe more.  Everything from schools, doctor's offices, places of business, churches, malls, and even universities have closed.  Iowa State is closed and I don't think that's happened in the 9 winters we've spent here.  And I think it is even their finals week!

Cody stayed home from work today, thankfully.  Even if he'd wanted to go, I don't think he would have even made it out of our garage!  I'm guessing it's so cold that the door won't even open!  Not to mention the fact that our driveway and road haven't been plowed.

I opened the front door this morning to take some pictures and snow fell in the house!

This is a planter I have on the front porch.  It is pretty tall and you can only see the top of it!

The bushes outside our front door.

This is where our driveway should be!

There was snow piled up against the back door as well, but when I opened it, it all stayed standing!

The grill

The deck stairs piled high with snow.  Poor Murphy has to find his way down them to go out!

The temps are supposed to get even colder, so I don't see this stuff melting anytime soon.  I wish it would though because I hate having to beg my husband not to go out in it!

A Worthy Cause

As many of you already know, a friend of mine from Murphysboro's 2 year old son is battling cancer.  His name is Cole and he was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma in April.  He had to have one eye removed and has been doing rounds of chemo.  I have been following the family's journey through a blog that his mom writes and have been so inspired by the strength of everyone in their family.  It is amazing how much fight children have in them, as well as how much strength a parent somehow musters up when faced with such a serious illness attacking their child.  I am truly in awe of all of them.

When I saw what another one of my friends from college is doing, I just felt compelled to share it with all of you.  My friend, Bill, who is training to be a Chicago Fire Fighter, will be participating in St. Baldrick's on September 25th.  St. Baldrick's is the world's largest volunteer-driven fundraising event for childhood cancer research.  Thousands of volunteers shave their heads as a show of support and unity for children fighting cancer.  In turn, they ask for donations to fund childhood cancer research.  Bill, along with his Chicago Fire Department Academy class, will be shaving his head.  I will be donating in honor of Cole.  If you can, I urge you to visit Bill's donation site and donate to such a worthy cause.  They have nearly reached 50% of their goal, help them get to 100%!

I am happy to report that Cole is nearing the end of his journey with chemo and will hopefully be cancer free when he is done.  Yay for Cole!  Please keep him and his family in your prayers, along with all the many other children who are suffering in the world.  Now go hug your own babies!

We Welcome with Love...

Logan Jay Youngman

born August 5, 2009

7 lbs., 4 oz.

19.5 in. long

Logan is the firstborn of my cousin Matt and his wife, Jessica, whom we lovingly call Uncle Matt and Aunt Jess in our house. Someday the entire family will tell him how much we all wanted him for his mommy and daddy and how excited we all were when they announced they were pregnant with him. And someday, when he's a teenager and driving his mother crazy, she will remind him of how she suffered through 30 hours of labor and, finally, a c-section in order to bring him into this world. Is she a rock star or what?! But for now, we'll just cuddle him and love on him because he's just so darn cute!


Owen is beyond excited to have another new cousin and is anxiously awaiting to meet him. He asks me everyday when that day will happen. If I weren't so damn anxious myself, I might be annoyed with him.

Congrats to Matt and Jess who, before they were ever even parents, proved what rockin' parents they would be. I never thought I'd live to see the day that my big, manly cousin would call me talking to me about breast pumps, breast shields, and nursing holds. And yes, he knew all the correct terminology. Because he's just that awesome of a Daddy.

Logan, though we've yet to meet you, we love you so much and look forward to the day that we can snuggle and kiss you! And Owen can't wait to read to you!

The Power of Suggestion

A few weeks ago I made a suggestion to my brother, a faithful Muhs News follower, that he should start a blog himself. I really didn't ever think he'd do it but I'm happy to say he accepted my challenge! Head on over to The Glodo Life in the STL to read all about the man behind the funny (and often a little weird) annonymous comments you see here on my blog. He's almost as good at this as his little sister. Almost. ;)

Historic Day for Newton, Slight Disappointment for the Muhs Crew

For those of you not in the know, Barack Obama visited Newton yesterday. I really thought this was a huge event for our little town and felt that it was important for my boys and I to be a part of it. I mean, after all, how often is it that the President of the United States visits your town, just a couple of miles away from your house?! Alas, his visit wasn't open to the public. Since it was a nice day out, I decided we would head to the park instead. As we were getting ready we heard a helicopter flying over our house. Owen and I ran out to the deck to see it. He said, "Welcome to Newton, Iowa, Barack Obama!!!" He was so excited. We got loaded up and I figured since I knew where he was landing I might as well just drive in that general direction and see what was going on. I turned onto the road where the plant is that he was going to and this is what I saw:

Naturally, you could not drive up and down this road. However, it just so happened that there was a park right there near the plant! As we were getting out of the car FIVE more helicopters flew right over our heads. I felt compelled to instill in my young son just how momentous this was in his life. Even if we didn't see him, the fact that we saw his helicopter and knew that he was yards away from us was still a big deal to me. I was moved.

"Owen! It's the President! This is such a special day for our town. Not everyone has the President come to their town. This is a historic day for Newton and for us."

"Yeah, cool! I'm going to go on the slide now!!!"

Apparently, though moved, he wasn't nearly as moved as I. Cameron was even more oblivious to the whole ordeal but stayed happy as long as he was shaded and well-stocked with Cheerios:

There was a decent amount of people up the road hanging out on the opposite side of the street hoping to catch a glimpse. I didn't think they'd see much and opted out of the short walk up there. Instead Owen played on the slides and took time out to be cute and entertain his brother:

We did that for a bit until we saw the caravan of cars transporting the POTUS from his helicopter to the entrance to the plant. As people walked back to the park parking lot, I talked to a few of them. I asked one woman if she got to see anything and she told me they could see him waving in the car and she got a great picture of him! Of course, I was bummed that I didn't walk up there so I lured Owen away from the park by telling him that we could go look at these:

We walked around the area for a bit and people were still hanging out waiting for him to come out. Hoping to get a blurry picture of him waving at us through his tinted window, I decided to stick around as well. We walked up and down the road checking stuff out. Like all the news crews in the parking lot:

A nice man was even handing out little flags and gave Owen one. I let him accept it, even though I feared it may be used as a weapon against his brother at some point in the afternoon.

We stood across the street from the plant waiting...and waiting....and waiting. We stared at the entrance checking for any signs of him but mostly saw policemen, drivers, and possibly some Secret Service.

An hour and a half and 3 lbs. of Cheerios, crackers, fruit snacks, and Goldfish crackers later, we were told to stand behind a certain squad car because he would be coming out soon. The obligatory first helicopter took off, which someone in the crowd joked was carrying the First Dog. About 20 minutes later the caravan started making it's way out of the entrance. This was it. This was what I had put off my childrens' lunch and nap for. They were hot, hungry, and tired but, dammit, they were going to see the President of the United States!!! My small moment of history was finally going to happen. I was going to have a cute picture of him to post here and show everyone....

And that was my historical moment. I'm certain he was in one of these two cars, though which one exactly I cannot be sure. Hell, he could have been driving one of them and I wouldn't have been able to see. They zoomed by us so fast and my two children looked up at me like, "That's it? That's what you made us stand here for? Some cars driving by? WHERE IS THE FREAKING PRESIDENT YOU PROMISED US?!?!" Ok, maybe those weren't the exact thoughts on their faces, but I assure you it's close.

We were then told we couldn't move until the helicopters took off.

Not exactly the outcome I had hoped for but we still had a good time. And it was actually pretty interesting to see how everything played out. Oh yeah, and we got to get Burger King on the way home.

Joe Gu

As I mentioned earlier, we made the trek (an otherwise short, 4-hour drive can only be called a trek when you take 2 whiny children and a dog that has to be tranquilized, and even then is still whinier than the children, along with you) to Bolingbrook last weekend. Our main reason for going, other than the usual frantic trips around the suburbs to visit various family members in the short amount of time allotted, was to attend a benefit for our good friend Joey who was badly injured in a car accident last October. Before his accident Joey played bass in a band called Bon Voyage, an AC/DC tribute band. The other members of the band, along with help from the Dickhead Choppers Organization, organized the entire event which ran from 2pm to 12am.

Cody and I were completely amazed by the entire thing. The amount of time and work they all put into the day was unbelieveable and it truly paid off. They had countless raffles and an auction, all with goods that were donated. On top of being an awesome bassist, Joey is also a very talented artist. So they had a silent auction of many of his pieces he had done in the past. I am sorry to say that we did not score one of those but I'm hoping that since we have an "in" we will someday own a JoeGu orginal! They had various bands playing throughout the day, along with all you could eat and drink. Cody and I just couldn't stop talking about how great everything was and how it far exceeded any expectations we had of it.

Joe's band was, of course, the last band to go on. Right before they took the stage they directed our attention to a TV they had perched on top of a speaker. Seconds later we were watching a video of Joey himself introducing his band. He wanted to be there so badly but he is concentrating on his rehab right now and wasn't able to make it. So this video was certainly the next best thing! I can safely say that you would be hard-pressed to find a dry eye in the house as we watched him. It was wonderful to be able to see him and hear him and he looked really great.

Bon Voyage rocked the house and the crowd went crazy with numerous chants of, "Joe Gu, Joe Gu!" which is Joey's nickname (a combo of his first and last name) among friends. My husband is still hoarse 3 days later from all the chanting! The night was full of inspiration and hope and we feel so blessed to have even been a small part of such a great thing. I only wish I had taken my camera with me and captured some of it on film.

My hope is that the next time I see Bon Voyage, Joey will playing right along with them. You can bet that I will definitely capture that moment on film. We love you, Joe! Keep on rockin'!

Grandpa Muhs

It is with a heavy heart that I publish this post. Cody's grandpa, Owen, passed away this morning at home. We knew it was coming, as he has been very sick with cancer. Hospice had been coming in the house and making things as easy as possible for both he and Grandma. We are heading home this weekend for the services.

We are thankful that there is another Owen Muhs in the world to carry on his legacy. We hope he grows up to be as good a man as the first Owen.

Here is a picture taken of them over the 2005 holiday season. Big Owen loved seeing Little Owen. He will be greatly missed.

Lance Armstrong comes to Newton!

The director of RAGBRAI introduces Lance. He rode into Newton yesterday afternoon around 2pm. He didn't do the whole leg, only about the last 12 miles. He actually rode in about 3 blocks from our house! Alas, Owen had just fallen asleep and I was not able to walk over and see him. Our guests got pictures and I have been promised those. Some even got to shake his hand! He rode in, stopped at a lady's house, and sat in her front yard and drank a beer!

I hear he left Newton this morning at around 10:30am and is riding the entire leg today. He stopped in one town, had a piece of pie at a diner, and was on his bike 11 minutes later! Here is some of what he said last night...."So this is RAGBRAI. I wasted all those Julys in France. This is my commitment. Next year, my rear tire is starting in the west and my front tire's ending on the east." We'll see if he lives up to his promise! He also said the he wasn't quite prepared for the humid Iowa weather. They are supposed to "reveal" today sometime where he actually spent the night in Newton.

The boys behind him are part of a baseball team called LIVESTRONG. They have all been affected by cancer.

A slightly blurry Lance addresses the crowd. He talked mostly about cancer and his goal was to have an army of people working together to put oncologists out of business. It was very moving.


Owen and Daddy pose for a quick pic!


Owen and Daddy cruising around the square! He had so much fun walking around for a bit!

RAGBRAI Rolls into Newton!

RAGBRAI stands for Register's (as in the Des Moines Register newspaper) Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. They do it every year and about 10,000 cyclists ride from the west end of the state to the east end. They bike about 70 miles a day for an entire week! They have one or two people who rotate and drive their support vehicles full of all their bags and stuff. They have a different route each year and this year the route came through Newton. At each Pit Stop City, the riders camp or stay in people's houses for the night.

These are the people who stayed in our house. From left to right: Jim (who works with Cody), Sharon, Sheila, Shelly, Arne, Randy, and Judy. They were a great bunch of people who have been doing this for years and we had a great time hosting them.

It was so neat to see such an event in our town. There were tents EVERYWHERE in the city. Our neighbors had about 10 in their yard alone. Maytag Park turned into a small city of it's own for one night. They had events on the square all day long until about midnight last night. We just really enjoyed being a part of it all and wish our new friends well on the rest of their ride!