Caregiver Connections

Good morning, y'all. Happy caregiver Thursday on this chilly, chilly morning. I hope you all are staying warm, especially those of you up north where the weather is even chillier than it is here down in Savannah, Georgia. Maybe you have a nice hot cup of a hug and a mug or whatever, coffee, tea, whatever you're enjoying today. Hot chocolate to warm you up. Anyways, I hope you all are staying warm and toasty out there. Three out of four of us. Good morning. Chris Fortman. Three out of four of us in our household has been.

I've been knocked down with a virus, which is probably the flu, honestly. So we are just kind of in recovery mode over here. Good morning, Jules. Good morning. Speak, Wonder and Marshy. Good to see you guys. So, yeah, we are in recovery mode. So this may be short and sweet today. I'm Stephanie Irwin. I am a mom and caregiver of two. Oh, sorry, guys. Of two kiddos. My daughter has autism and work wise, I work with children with cancer in their families, helping to provide programs for them both in the hospital and out in the community as well.

So caregiving in many different ways. Good morning, Speak, Wonder. Yes. Lots of water, Lots of water. Lots of tea. All, all the things. Anyway, so, you know, I just want to check in with you guys for those of you who listened to my live last week about different areas of your lives that you may want to focus on nourishing. So feel free to share what you chose to focus on and how that went for you. Anybody? What did y'all work on last week? Nourishing? Did you work on nourishing your nutrition? Did you work on nourishing your family life, maybe relationships or community or your sleep?

All of those are good things that we can just try to work on nourishing in our daily lives. So I want to talk to you guys about. So my daughter is an ABA therapy three days a week and they help her focus on positive behaviors and, you know, learning. Learning how to succeed in her daily life and to be successful in years to come. And personally. Oh yeah, Sleep. How'd it go, Jules? Did you get lots of sleep this week or a little more at least? Yeah, that's something we can all work on focusing on, that's for sure.

Yeah. So the ABA therapists have been a godsend to our family personally. And we just appreciate all the work that they have done with Anna Marie and with us and teaching us all new skills to use and tactics. So they focus on a reward system for her and we finally found some rewards that encourage her and motivate her. So that's been great that we found something that finally works. And her aggressive behaviors have made much improvement. So that is great. And we realize it's a marathon, not a sprint, so one day at a time.

But overall, things have gotten so much better, and these rewards have really helped motivate her. Her last reward was getting some play time with one of her therapists, corgis. So she is all about. All about dogs, so that was great for her. So, you know, they could be tangible rewards, social rewards, activity rewards, or like a tokens token system. And we use a lot of these as well in the children that I work with in some of our programs that we do for them for the most part. Yes. Oh, yeah. Fitbit's good at kind of monitoring that focus on staying connected to family.

Awesome, guys. I'm glad y'all. Y'all had a. A focus this week. And something that you feel like you have been able to nourish is so important. So. Yeah. So talking about rewards and, you know, we're rewarding the kids and my daughter through. Through these great systems. Well, what about rewarding us, you guys? We need to reward ourselves as givers. And Luke had a great live the other day, and he talked about making a list. I love a good list. It feels so good to just check it off. I know we've talked about that before.

I like. I have. I have my handy dandy plan planner here that I like to write in and check off and highlight. And then I have. Y'all are gonna think I look really organized, but I'm not as organized as I look. I'm just. I'm trying to be so colored pens, you know, all the things to make my lists and check off. But lately I have tried to reward myself. So by the end of the week, if I get, you know, a big chunk of my to do list done, then I may reward myself with, I don't know, like, a special coffee or a.

Like a pedicure or anything. I mean, you can really reward yourself with anything, and it's a good dopamine boost, and it keeps the wheels turning to just continue motivating you to focus on reach, reaching your goals. So I want you guys to reward yourselves this week because you are doing hard work. Caregiving is hard work. Yeah. Office supply, they're so much fun, aren't they? Yeah, you guys are doing hard work. You're doing hard work, and you know, you're capable and you're worthy, and you guys need to reward yourself for the things that.

That you're doing. I would forget everything if I didn't have list. Yeah, me too. I do forget a lot of things. So I have. I have to write them down. Trying to get better about that in 2025, you know, have my organized planner going, but yeah. So I want y'all to reward yourselves, too, because caregiving, it's not easy. It's hard, and it's. Yes, there are so many parts of it that are beautiful and rewarding, but let's continue taking care of us, too. Find something. You know, if you get through the week or even by the end of the day, reward yourself with something.

Treat yourself and take care of yourself and know that you guys are doing a great job. Caregiving is hard for adults as well. Yeah, absolutely, it is. I mean, caregiving for anybody. Aging parents, family members. Yeah, it's definitely. It's definitely not an easy feat. So I just want you guys to know that you're doing a great job, and I want you to reward yourself this week. Okay? I hope you all have a great Thursday.