I have two beautiful boys. Just as I was about to go back to work when they were little, we discovered my oldest is autistic and required intensive intervention.

This was a catch-22. Someone had to be home to get my child to his special school and therapy programs. However, if you think schools and/or medical insurance pays for those therapies, you are fooling yourself. Some of the interventions are covered by no-one. Even common interventions such as speech and occupational therapies become a contention- schools only provide minimal service for children who need far more, yet medical insurance considers it educational intervention and won't help. So we needed my income to help pay for the mounting expenses to care for and provide proper interventions for our child... which means I needed to work... and stay home at the same time.

We have cobbled together a number of part-time opportunities to bring in some of the extra dollars we need. My husband also changed jobs, partly to find better medical insurance to cover some of the medical interventions (that our other insurance was considering educational). We did have to discontinue some interventions because the costs skyrocketed (they started charging more) and we don't qualify for any kind of assistance. (There's a catch-22 for you: I make to much money for assistance, but I am making that money to try to cover what isn't covered by insurance and assistance!!!) So what does a typical day look like at my house? It depends on what jobs I am working that day, and who is in school. I do my best to spend my work time while the little guys are in school or in bed, to take advantage of raising them when they are home with me. This flexibility is the advantage of cobbling.

We have also brought in my mom to help us with raising the kids. Her participation has been crucial to getting both boys the attention they need. It has also saved us from having to put either child into daycare. My younger son does go to preschool three days a week, but not daycare. When I am teaching class at our community college, my younger child gets to have some 1:1 time with grandma, instead of being stuck in a crowd of kids with little attention. Kids grow up whether you raise them or not- a little 1:1 time works wonders.