Mafe Maria: Personal stories by autism parent mentor, Maria Stultz

Stories from

(29 entries)

Days 6 and 5 »

It’s crazy to realize this, but it seems that some trigger suddenly went off on Kiki’s brain, because over the last two days I’m seeing things that were not there before. Yesterday, towards the end of the day before daddy got home, I was feeling a little tired. In these cases it’s best NOT to […]

Day 7 »

On the countdown to Joaquin’s first birthday, allow me to indulge on a little bit of shameless mommy blogging and document my baby’s last week as a baby (major sniff). Today’s morning was no indication at all of what the afternoon would bring. Joaquin had a terrible time at his Little Gym class. And I […]

As a gift to the public domain… »

After three years of doing this, our e-Christmas Card has become sort of a tradition many of our people have come to expect. I’ve always loved receiving people’s Holiday cards and letters telling us about their year. When we got married, Joey wanted us to join the tradition, but I’ve never thought I’m a very […]

Why am I not surprised? »

Sunday evening Joey finds me making a onesie for Joaquin. I tell him that I’m going to bed early with him. I’m a little bummed. Nobody will buy my stuff at Etsy. Just a couple of people show interest in my hats, and nobody seems to care for the mini wallet. I’m never going to […]

Sticking my patita in etsy »

YES! YES! YES! I finally opened my tiny etsy shop. As I say in my shop’s announcement, I probably should have waited to have more items to sell, but come on!… making two vueltiao hats with the little time I get away from my bollito is no small feat. As the perfectionist business–background person that […]

Still lots to learn from my mother »

At this moment my mom is flying back to Colombia after a 47–day visit in our home. We kept busy and had tons of fun, as evidenced by the lack of updates to this web site since her arrival. My mom has a great sense of humor, cooks deliciously, and has a remarkable, not often […]

Forget You! »

You’ve heard them. You may even be one of them. Without a whole lot of whining you dare to vent a tiny little fact related to how challenging your life has become with your (now seven months old) little bundle of joy, and Super Mom smiles and replies: “But they [children] are worth it”. Personally, […]

That Glorious Day »

This Tuesday — I’ve been told — Joaquin’s nursery mural will be featured in an article on Cookie Magazine. Imagining that they might link to my site (maybe not), I thought it would be cool to have as a welcome mat that Christmas e–card/slideshow template I’ve promised to give away. So I got the template […]

This House »

Almost three years ago we left our beautiful house in Dallas and moved to this house, a house we bought after only a couple of house–hunting trips to Salt Lake City. We didn’t have time to fool around and wait for the house of our dreams. We needed to find a home soon since the […]

Best Compliment Ever »

(At least it would be, if I could take any credit for it.) As I child I was a terrible eater. I distinctly remember a female figure spoon–feeding me and begging me to please swallow. My tiny mouth closed shut with several bites of food still inside, unchewed, stuck in there since the feeding begun. […]

Overheard in the bathroom »

Joaquin is getting more and more mobile, and giving him a bath on your own is becoming more and more difficult: Baby wants to sit up, and he loves to lean to the side to touch and play with the container of fresh water we keep by the bath tub to rinse the soap and […]

In Progress »

This is one of those projects I usually come up with, that sound like a great, relatively easy–to–do idea, and then end up taking a lot of time and work. But that’s why I love it. Probably doesn’t have any etsy potential because the price I’d have to set for it to be worth my […]

A Parenting Meme »

Monsieur Mandarine has tagged me, and what a great prompt for a post. The original meme (started by Litlove) attempts to gather information on cultural differences regarding parenthood. So let’s begin with some introductory facts for those readers not familiar with me: I’m new in the parents club and probably still have that smell of […]

Liquid or solid, but by all means NOW! »

This has been going on for a few days now…Towards the end of the day, nursing the bollo becomes almost more stressing than speaking in public. Why, you ask. Well… It so happens that Don Joaquin recently has decided that he no longer has the patience to suck for longer than 3 seconds to get […]

Trompita tastes bananas »

Don Joaquin has officially started eating solids and I thought his fan club would enjoy seeing him take his first meal of cereal, milk, and bananas. Please notice the face he makes, and how he throws himself and holds on to the chair on the last bite (towards the end of the video)… What a […]

If you believe in reincarnation… »

Silly, I know, but it had never occurred to me how difficult it is to learn to do the things we do so effortlessly with our bodies. It was only several weeks ago, when I saw the expression on Joaquin’s face while he was holding a rattle with his left hand and mom offered another […]

The End of an Era »

Four months ago, when my mom got off that airplane and greeted my 38–weeks–pregnant belly, a new future event was created in time: The day that she would leave and go back to her home. That day is today. Today is a very sad day for me, not because it marks the beginning of real […]

Born Free »

Right between getting a breast ultrasound (no worries, it was just a cyst) and falling prey to a terrible cold with a fever of 102°F, I went to the baby store to shop for some toys for little Joaco. Wasn’t planning on buying anything big, when suddenly this awesome product crossed my path… The Bumbo […]

Endangered Nap »

For the last week or so, putting Joaquin down to sleep his mid-afternoon nap has become mission impossible. Mom and I, the two victims of this new behavior, keep theorizing about what may be “wrong”. We strategize. We experiment. We discuss. We fight. We keep trying to make him sleep. I read that a two-month-old […]

Four Weeks »

Soooo…. It’s been four weeks since Joaquin was born… Those of you who have had babies — specially moms — will probably understand that as much as I’ve wanted to write about my experiences, and share that christmas e-card template I promised, it is really hard to get much done between baby feedings… It takes […]