We have had kids in school for 23 years, yet we have never had a school week quite like the one we are finishing up today. Monday and Tuesday school was 2 hours late because of freezing rain and ice. Wednesday school was on time, however it was a "home room" day so classes did not run on the regular schedule. Yesterday and again today everything is running 2 hours late because of the extreme cold brought about mostly because of some nasty wind blowing from the north.
All of this schedule rearranging makes for lots of chaos with 4 kids who like routine and function best when it is there. They do not understand how to relax and for goodness sakes they could never sleep in, ever. They don`t get time so they are always in a hurry to do everything. Make any little change and you have messed their entire day up. We have had plenty of tears, thrown brushes and shoes, spitting, head banging, screaming, stomping, kicking, and the like. Yesterday Hanna was being extremely oppositional. She just was not going to do anything that she was supposed to be doing. She was angry about the behavior of some 7th grade boys which took place last school year. She was stuck and there was no getting her off that topic. Finally after listening to that nonsense for over an hour we decided that she was just staying home. She spent the better part of the day angry at those boys. Today they all made it out the door and hopefully can keep things together at least until they get home. We are going to hang out at home this weekend and hopefully things will be back on schedule Monday morning. We do not need any more 2 hours late around here. We have had enough drama to last us for a very long time.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
It Is Time To Move On
Since the kids went back to school earlier this month Hanna has been stuck on Martin Luther King`s birthday. They work on a calendar, what comes first, next, weather, holidays, etc.
First it was January 15th is his real birthday, but that is Karre`s birthday and they can not have the same day. We explained that millions of people share the same birthday and that is okay. After we got her off that she could not figure out how come his birthday is being celebrated on the 21st this year and it is celebrated on different days depending on how the Mondays land on the calendar. There was no explaining to get that concept through to her so we pretty much gave up and told her that is just the way it is. After that there was the fact that there was no school here on that day and it was not really because of the holiday, it just happened to be the end of the quarter and that Monday was a teachers work day. We did not even try to bother and explain that to her.
Hanna was supposed to think of things about the holiday or things she might do to celebrate it so she could write them on her calendar page so she comes up with making a snowman, but we do not have any snow. Then there was making hot chocolate (which is chocolate milk with ice cubes in it). There were several others, but the best one was that she was going to make birthday cards for the sick people in the hospital. Now she has something new to be stuck on, since we are trying to explain get well cards, anniversary cards, baby cards, etc.
I don`t know if she has learned anything about Martin Luther King or how holidays work on the calendar or anything else, but she sure has been busy being stuck on it. I am glad it is finally over so we, hopefully can move on to something else.
First it was January 15th is his real birthday, but that is Karre`s birthday and they can not have the same day. We explained that millions of people share the same birthday and that is okay. After we got her off that she could not figure out how come his birthday is being celebrated on the 21st this year and it is celebrated on different days depending on how the Mondays land on the calendar. There was no explaining to get that concept through to her so we pretty much gave up and told her that is just the way it is. After that there was the fact that there was no school here on that day and it was not really because of the holiday, it just happened to be the end of the quarter and that Monday was a teachers work day. We did not even try to bother and explain that to her.
Hanna was supposed to think of things about the holiday or things she might do to celebrate it so she could write them on her calendar page so she comes up with making a snowman, but we do not have any snow. Then there was making hot chocolate (which is chocolate milk with ice cubes in it). There were several others, but the best one was that she was going to make birthday cards for the sick people in the hospital. Now she has something new to be stuck on, since we are trying to explain get well cards, anniversary cards, baby cards, etc.
I don`t know if she has learned anything about Martin Luther King or how holidays work on the calendar or anything else, but she sure has been busy being stuck on it. I am glad it is finally over so we, hopefully can move on to something else.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Superman
It is so nice to have a soon-to-be occupational therapist in the family. There are things for the littles to work on all the time. We work on one or two at a time. Sometimes there is success and then sometimes it just isn`t going to happen no matter what.
We have been crushing pills every single day, at least twice a day since Paul arrived. He will most likely need to be taking medications for all of his life in order to function to the best of his ability. Anyway crushed meds mixed in apple sauce are just part of every day, that is until Rene` got him to swallow his smallest pills uncrushed with the apple sauce. Paul was one very excited little boy when he finally realized that he had done it. After they worked on that for a couple of days he started doing the same thing with the capsiles, and finally the larger chalky ones were added. He did it, yesterday we did not have to crush any meds at all!!! We have been telling him that he is a real Superman because he can do this. Next we have to work on changing from apple sauce to water, but that will come soon enough.
Now if Rene` can get Allen to stop chewing his meds, which gives me the shivers every time he does it, that would be so awesome.
We have been crushing pills every single day, at least twice a day since Paul arrived. He will most likely need to be taking medications for all of his life in order to function to the best of his ability. Anyway crushed meds mixed in apple sauce are just part of every day, that is until Rene` got him to swallow his smallest pills uncrushed with the apple sauce. Paul was one very excited little boy when he finally realized that he had done it. After they worked on that for a couple of days he started doing the same thing with the capsiles, and finally the larger chalky ones were added. He did it, yesterday we did not have to crush any meds at all!!! We have been telling him that he is a real Superman because he can do this. Next we have to work on changing from apple sauce to water, but that will come soon enough.
Now if Rene` can get Allen to stop chewing his meds, which gives me the shivers every time he does it, that would be so awesome.
Friday, January 4, 2013
One Ends Another Begins
It has been awhile since I have had a chance to blog here. We have been busy.
We took a much needed break and found some sunshine, relaxation, and drama free days away from here. While we were gone PCAs held down the fort here just fine.
We came home just in time to celebrate Allen`s birthday. He is so easy to please and appreciates all the little things that life brings his way. We had sandwiches and cookies in the van while we drove around looking at Christmas lights and most of us sang along with the Christmas music on the radio, too. Jared called while we were on our adventure so most of us spent some time talking with him as well.
We had Christmas dinner of roast duck and chicken, vegetables, dinner rolls, and cookies, (menu chosen by Trevor this year). We draw names and Jared had gotten Paul`s name. He had asked Paul what he wanted and he had told Jared that he wanted Army underwear. Jared asked what that meant and I told him I didn`t know. He got Paul a kid sized Army uniform, complete with his name on the jacket and the rank of captain. Paul is adorable in it! He got Kermit D`Frog from his Godfather and the frog is wearing Cars pajamas so Paul thinks he is really cool. Paul didn`t remember that he had actually gotten to "make" the frog a couple of months earlier.
A couple of days after Christmas Paul turned 8. He was so excited to be 8 because "I am crazy like crazy 8". He lost 2 teeth that week as well. He wanted Taco John`s for dinner. (His birthday is the only day of the year I will eat that).
Now we are into the new year and the kids are back in school. Rene` doesn`t start her final internship for another week. She was supposed to start Monday, but that got changed and now she is also unexpectedly getting paid for doing this one so she is happy about that. We are getting some projects done here. I organized and got rid of some of the kids movies. I need to go through their games and books. too. We are going to take one day for ourselves too.
It is full speed ahead as always around here, another year of appointments, paperwork, etc. has begun.
We took a much needed break and found some sunshine, relaxation, and drama free days away from here. While we were gone PCAs held down the fort here just fine.
We came home just in time to celebrate Allen`s birthday. He is so easy to please and appreciates all the little things that life brings his way. We had sandwiches and cookies in the van while we drove around looking at Christmas lights and most of us sang along with the Christmas music on the radio, too. Jared called while we were on our adventure so most of us spent some time talking with him as well.
We had Christmas dinner of roast duck and chicken, vegetables, dinner rolls, and cookies, (menu chosen by Trevor this year). We draw names and Jared had gotten Paul`s name. He had asked Paul what he wanted and he had told Jared that he wanted Army underwear. Jared asked what that meant and I told him I didn`t know. He got Paul a kid sized Army uniform, complete with his name on the jacket and the rank of captain. Paul is adorable in it! He got Kermit D`Frog from his Godfather and the frog is wearing Cars pajamas so Paul thinks he is really cool. Paul didn`t remember that he had actually gotten to "make" the frog a couple of months earlier.
Now we are into the new year and the kids are back in school. Rene` doesn`t start her final internship for another week. She was supposed to start Monday, but that got changed and now she is also unexpectedly getting paid for doing this one so she is happy about that. We are getting some projects done here. I organized and got rid of some of the kids movies. I need to go through their games and books. too. We are going to take one day for ourselves too.
It is full speed ahead as always around here, another year of appointments, paperwork, etc. has begun.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Special Mail
The chore of going through the mail is one that I get done every 2 or 3 days. There are lots of catalogs, offers to give us credit cards of all sorts, things telling us that we have won this or that, and a couple of times a month there is a bill or 2 which needs to be paid. Mail fills up the shredder and recycling bin regularly.
While going through the usual garbage I came across something unusual, a large envelope, decorated with snowflakes, a snowman, and plenty of glitter. When I opened it gift cards fell out of it, (lots of gift cards). The card enclosed with them read in part "spreading joy to people who are special in the lives of adopted kids. All of us are wishing you happiness this season and good things in the coming year" It was signed with "thank you from all of us.
The post mark on the envelope was from this area. We have no idea who sent it, but it feels wonderful to know that there are people out there who appreciate what we do every day of the the year. We very much treasure our adopted kids, yes, even when they are being rather challenging. We are glad that others have taken notice of what we are doing, but we never expect to be thanked for it. Anyway whoever you are THANK YOU! from all of us.
While going through the usual garbage I came across something unusual, a large envelope, decorated with snowflakes, a snowman, and plenty of glitter. When I opened it gift cards fell out of it, (lots of gift cards). The card enclosed with them read in part "spreading joy to people who are special in the lives of adopted kids. All of us are wishing you happiness this season and good things in the coming year" It was signed with "thank you from all of us.
The post mark on the envelope was from this area. We have no idea who sent it, but it feels wonderful to know that there are people out there who appreciate what we do every day of the the year. We very much treasure our adopted kids, yes, even when they are being rather challenging. We are glad that others have taken notice of what we are doing, but we never expect to be thanked for it. Anyway whoever you are THANK YOU! from all of us.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Making Adjustments
It is about time I get around to posting something here. I know it has been awhile, but really I have been busy with all the tasks involved in being the mom of 4 kids with special needs.
Allen and Paul are doing just fine, as is usually the situation. Rene`, Allen, and I took Allen`s Mum (birth mother) out for lunch. She so much appreciates us letting her be involved in his life. That is not the situation with her other kid, though and the whole thing is very sad.
Lauren had a seizure just before Thanksgiving so we had to adjust her medication and shunt a bit. She is doing fine and hopefully that continues for a long while.
We have a new psych doc. for Hanna and I think this will work out, but it is going to take some time and the psych resident has got to go, lets just say that this resident does not get Hanna and does not know how to communicate with me. The first thing was to take Hanna completely off her ADHD med. She is just a bit off task, has a shorter attention span and is not able to attend to details. She is sorting things into color categories so we have a bin with Elmo, a red crayon, a red car, some red puzzle pieces, a red ball, red Duplo blocks, etc. in it. We also have other bins filled with things of every other color of the rainbow just like that one and for all of the things that are to colorful, which she has not been able to decide what bin they should go in there is a pile that she calls the rainbow group. She not only did this with the toys, crafts supplies, and games, but she did it to my pantry. Needless to say I can`t find a thing around here right now. We are going to have to straighten all of this out, but I have the feeling that there will be crazy land to deal with when we do it. Taking her off this med has not done anything to lessen her extreme anxiety which is what we were trying to do so we will soon be trying something else.
The other day Hanna came home with a small candle which she had purchased from the "school store" for Jared. Trying to explain to her that we can not send a candle to him in his Christmas box because he is in the Army, in the Middle East, where they work with bombs, guns, dynamite, and other things that can be blown up is not sinking in at all. I will have to get that box sent off one of these days while she is in school otherwise there will be trouble to deal with.
Anyway things just keep moving along one day folding into the next. It is all okay because very soon I am going to leave this routine behind for a week of vacation. I am so ready to go!
Allen and Paul are doing just fine, as is usually the situation. Rene`, Allen, and I took Allen`s Mum (birth mother) out for lunch. She so much appreciates us letting her be involved in his life. That is not the situation with her other kid, though and the whole thing is very sad.
Lauren had a seizure just before Thanksgiving so we had to adjust her medication and shunt a bit. She is doing fine and hopefully that continues for a long while.
We have a new psych doc. for Hanna and I think this will work out, but it is going to take some time and the psych resident has got to go, lets just say that this resident does not get Hanna and does not know how to communicate with me. The first thing was to take Hanna completely off her ADHD med. She is just a bit off task, has a shorter attention span and is not able to attend to details. She is sorting things into color categories so we have a bin with Elmo, a red crayon, a red car, some red puzzle pieces, a red ball, red Duplo blocks, etc. in it. We also have other bins filled with things of every other color of the rainbow just like that one and for all of the things that are to colorful, which she has not been able to decide what bin they should go in there is a pile that she calls the rainbow group. She not only did this with the toys, crafts supplies, and games, but she did it to my pantry. Needless to say I can`t find a thing around here right now. We are going to have to straighten all of this out, but I have the feeling that there will be crazy land to deal with when we do it. Taking her off this med has not done anything to lessen her extreme anxiety which is what we were trying to do so we will soon be trying something else.
The other day Hanna came home with a small candle which she had purchased from the "school store" for Jared. Trying to explain to her that we can not send a candle to him in his Christmas box because he is in the Army, in the Middle East, where they work with bombs, guns, dynamite, and other things that can be blown up is not sinking in at all. I will have to get that box sent off one of these days while she is in school otherwise there will be trouble to deal with.
Anyway things just keep moving along one day folding into the next. It is all okay because very soon I am going to leave this routine behind for a week of vacation. I am so ready to go!
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Meow
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
The Entire Army
Yesterday there was a program at school to honor veterans with music and a speaker. Lauren brought home the flyer from that event. In it was a page listing 24 individuals from the community who have served in the military past and present. She was looking for Rene` and Jared`s names on the list. They were not there. I have no idea how they determine who is on this list, but it does not matter, anyway Lauren could not find them and she was wondering why they were not on there. Hanna comes along to look at the list, too. She tells Lauren that they are not in the Army cuz they have to be on the list to be in the Army. I explained that Jared was in the Army and Rene` was in the Navy and that the list of 24 people is not the entire Army. We could not get it to sink in with Hanna that the Army is a lot bigger then what can be listed on a piece of paper. We gave up trying before Hanna decided to blow up.
Anyway thank you to everyone who has served our country in all branches of the military and to those who are there now God be with you.
Anyway thank you to everyone who has served our country in all branches of the military and to those who are there now God be with you.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Every Day Stuff
After spending three long days in a row at appointments I finally got to spend all of yesterday at home. Just being able to stay home to do laundry, clean, and catch up on paperwork is exactly what I needed.
Monday Hanna went to the orthodontist, which means she had to have the brackets that she had torn off put back on for the millionth time. They are now doing some work in moving her upper teeth from side to side and still moving the lower ones forward. The teeth are getting straighter, but the process crawls along at a snails pace both because she had a really messed up mouth to begin with and she keeps messing with things to slow it down. We also got lab work done on her for an appointment she has later this month. Lets just say that lab work with her is one of those things that you do only because it needs to be done and while getting it done you call in LOTS of reinforcements, turn your ears off because it is going to get LOUD, and hope that they can get it all done on the first try because repeats are even worse.
The next 2 days were Lauren appointments. She is much easier to deal with, however she occasionally has tears and does not cooperate. (I can`t blame her after all she goes through).
We spent some time going over the EEG that she had done the week before and in general things are looking better, but not quite good enough to try and take her off her seizure meds so we will leave things as they are for now. There was a rather lengthy conversation about adjusting her shunt which will likely happen next month. She also had some work done to address the tightness in her hamstrings. things are going pretty well with Lauren right now. It has been a long process and many procedures to get to this point and there will be much more coming up.
Since it looks like it is going to be raining and cool this weekend I am going to go get lots of groceries so I can make meals to restock the freezer. Being gone so much lately has taken a toll on our supply of ready to warm up meals.
I told Lauren that next week she needs to go to school every day and when she asked what I was gong to do, I told her I am going to stay home and do nothing. I don`t think she believed me though because she was doing her shake her finger at me thing and she told me to make cookies then.
Monday Hanna went to the orthodontist, which means she had to have the brackets that she had torn off put back on for the millionth time. They are now doing some work in moving her upper teeth from side to side and still moving the lower ones forward. The teeth are getting straighter, but the process crawls along at a snails pace both because she had a really messed up mouth to begin with and she keeps messing with things to slow it down. We also got lab work done on her for an appointment she has later this month. Lets just say that lab work with her is one of those things that you do only because it needs to be done and while getting it done you call in LOTS of reinforcements, turn your ears off because it is going to get LOUD, and hope that they can get it all done on the first try because repeats are even worse.
The next 2 days were Lauren appointments. She is much easier to deal with, however she occasionally has tears and does not cooperate. (I can`t blame her after all she goes through).
We spent some time going over the EEG that she had done the week before and in general things are looking better, but not quite good enough to try and take her off her seizure meds so we will leave things as they are for now. There was a rather lengthy conversation about adjusting her shunt which will likely happen next month. She also had some work done to address the tightness in her hamstrings. things are going pretty well with Lauren right now. It has been a long process and many procedures to get to this point and there will be much more coming up.
Since it looks like it is going to be raining and cool this weekend I am going to go get lots of groceries so I can make meals to restock the freezer. Being gone so much lately has taken a toll on our supply of ready to warm up meals.
I told Lauren that next week she needs to go to school every day and when she asked what I was gong to do, I told her I am going to stay home and do nothing. I don`t think she believed me though because she was doing her shake her finger at me thing and she told me to make cookies then.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Lutefisk
I sent the non-norwegian and 2 of his sons to one of the local Scandinavian Lutheran churches for some lutefisk. Coming from a family full of Norwegians I had smelled the stuff and even tasted it, but no matter how much butter or cream sauce you put on it lutefisk is totally gross, awful, and certainly not something humans should consume.
My husband likes fish, all kinds of it and Trevor will be adventurous and try just about anything so they figured it can`t be that bad. they both came home and said that I would never have to make lutefisk for them. That is a really good thing because the process of preparing that stuff is not something I want to learn. I will stick to making meatballs, lefse, kringla, and yule bread. Paul told me they had good pumpkum (pumpkin) stuff and he would like more of that.
My husband likes fish, all kinds of it and Trevor will be adventurous and try just about anything so they figured it can`t be that bad. they both came home and said that I would never have to make lutefisk for them. That is a really good thing because the process of preparing that stuff is not something I want to learn. I will stick to making meatballs, lefse, kringla, and yule bread. Paul told me they had good pumpkum (pumpkin) stuff and he would like more of that.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Taco Treats
We finished October with a sleepless night for Lauren (mom and dad took turns keeping her awake) as she had a sleep deprived EEG this morning. Looking at the schedule of appointments this month I am thinking that it would be nice to just go back to October for a while longer.
Paul is a pretty slow walker so he got just enough candy for us to share. It will be gone before the weekend is over.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
One Messed Up Kid
We have been having a conversation with Hanna over the last several days that is getting no where. There is a field trip in a couple of days which involves shopping, buying lunch, and bowling. Hanna does not want to go on this trip at all, in fact she asked if she could stay home with me, which she never wants to do. I am not going to be home since I have to be at the hospital with Lauren for a procedure which will take several hours.
Hanna has no money since she made all of her allowance ($180.00) disappear to who knows where. She was supposed to be saving it to replace some of the things she has destroyed around here. Anyway she has no money so she would have to "just look" when shopping, she would have to bring a bag lunch, and her own bowling ball and shoes. We told her that she could earn the couple of dollars it would cost to bowl by doing chores here. She has made it very clear that she is not going to pay to participate, she would really like us to give her money to shop, have lunch, and bowl, but that is not going to happen here. She gets allowance which would be available for her to use if she would quit destroying everything and trying to mess with us. She has siblings who are watching so we will not be changing the rules for her.
Given the fact that Hanna does not like bowling (or anything else that she might lose at) or as she will tell you, she HATES bowling she has absolutely no intention in doing anything to earn the money needed to participate. There is no amount of explaining that sometimes you need to do things even if you do not want to do them or that this could be fun if she wanted it to be.
She is just going to have to go on the trip and do nothing. It is interesting that the teacher was able to come up with something that is more evil then the stuff Mom and Dad make her do. She really thinks she is bothering all the adults in her life, but all she is doing is making herself miserable. The rest of us will move along just fine no matter if she makes good choices or not.
Hanna has no money since she made all of her allowance ($180.00) disappear to who knows where. She was supposed to be saving it to replace some of the things she has destroyed around here. Anyway she has no money so she would have to "just look" when shopping, she would have to bring a bag lunch, and her own bowling ball and shoes. We told her that she could earn the couple of dollars it would cost to bowl by doing chores here. She has made it very clear that she is not going to pay to participate, she would really like us to give her money to shop, have lunch, and bowl, but that is not going to happen here. She gets allowance which would be available for her to use if she would quit destroying everything and trying to mess with us. She has siblings who are watching so we will not be changing the rules for her.
Given the fact that Hanna does not like bowling (or anything else that she might lose at) or as she will tell you, she HATES bowling she has absolutely no intention in doing anything to earn the money needed to participate. There is no amount of explaining that sometimes you need to do things even if you do not want to do them or that this could be fun if she wanted it to be.
She is just going to have to go on the trip and do nothing. It is interesting that the teacher was able to come up with something that is more evil then the stuff Mom and Dad make her do. She really thinks she is bothering all the adults in her life, but all she is doing is making herself miserable. The rest of us will move along just fine no matter if she makes good choices or not.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
No More Pancakes
We have pancakes for dinner occasionally and there are always leftovers. I make all the batter into pancakes and put them in the refrigerator so the kids can warm them up in the microwave for breakfast. That works well until Dad happens to be supervising one morning.
Hanna knows that they are allowed 2 pancakes, that is it, no more, no less. Apparently the last time they had pancakes Hanna was the last one to get hers and there happen to be 3 left, so Dad, being the nice guy, allowed her to have all 3 of them.
This morning there were pancakes for breakfast and of course Hanna, the kid who can`t keep track of a thing or remember how to do anything without lots of cues and reminders just happened to remember that Dad let her have 3 pancakes last time so that is what she wanted. I was supervising so of course I am the mean mom who never lets her do anything. There is no explaining or reasoning with her on this one. She had 3, that is a fact so now she wants 3 every time, and she will do whatever it takes to get what she wants.
Dad and I will have to have another discussion about NOT changing things no matter if it is logical or not. DO NOT do anything just to be nice to this kid because it will eventually end in a screaming, flapping, hitting, mess sooner or later. Needless to say we will not be having pancakes any time soon.
Hanna knows that they are allowed 2 pancakes, that is it, no more, no less. Apparently the last time they had pancakes Hanna was the last one to get hers and there happen to be 3 left, so Dad, being the nice guy, allowed her to have all 3 of them.
This morning there were pancakes for breakfast and of course Hanna, the kid who can`t keep track of a thing or remember how to do anything without lots of cues and reminders just happened to remember that Dad let her have 3 pancakes last time so that is what she wanted. I was supervising so of course I am the mean mom who never lets her do anything. There is no explaining or reasoning with her on this one. She had 3, that is a fact so now she wants 3 every time, and she will do whatever it takes to get what she wants.
Dad and I will have to have another discussion about NOT changing things no matter if it is logical or not. DO NOT do anything just to be nice to this kid because it will eventually end in a screaming, flapping, hitting, mess sooner or later. Needless to say we will not be having pancakes any time soon.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Clean Bathrooms Or Drama?
I decided that I needed to clean bathrooms today, even though that was no where on the schedule this morning since I needed to deal with the furnace man coming and get the usual Monday morning laundry under control. The bathrooms, of course always need cleaning, but I got it done because I needed to work off some frustration, not because it was bathroom cleaning day. Now how could a mom like me, who does well with order, routine, schedules, kids who all went to school, more medical appointments in a year then most people go to in a lifetime, paperwork, and doesn`t mind cooking, laundry or dishes get frustrated?
There is only one thing that nuts me up enough to clean bathrooms before Wednesday morning and that would be...Hanna. She has been ssssoooooo in crazy land lately. I don`t know what is up, but it needs to stop soon. She has been harming herself, stealing, lying about everything, and just plain out of sorts pretty much since school started 6 weeks ago. I don`t think school is the issue here since she has the same teacher, is in the same classroom, has almost all of the same daily routine, rides the same bus, etc, but she isn`t talking so I really don`t know what has gotten her so rattled.
I did get her an appointment to work on medication changes that may be needed, but that is a month from now, unless someone else decides not to keep their appointment before then. I told them that if they had anything else open to please let me know, heck I will even rearrange Lauren`s appointments if necessary. (That is a real hassle so it seldom happens) but I will do it if I have too.
So until we have less drama around here the bathrooms at our house will be clean, hum, which do I prefer, clean bathrooms or less drama? I would let the bathrooms be a disaster in exchange for less drama, any day.
There is only one thing that nuts me up enough to clean bathrooms before Wednesday morning and that would be...Hanna. She has been ssssoooooo in crazy land lately. I don`t know what is up, but it needs to stop soon. She has been harming herself, stealing, lying about everything, and just plain out of sorts pretty much since school started 6 weeks ago. I don`t think school is the issue here since she has the same teacher, is in the same classroom, has almost all of the same daily routine, rides the same bus, etc, but she isn`t talking so I really don`t know what has gotten her so rattled.
I did get her an appointment to work on medication changes that may be needed, but that is a month from now, unless someone else decides not to keep their appointment before then. I told them that if they had anything else open to please let me know, heck I will even rearrange Lauren`s appointments if necessary. (That is a real hassle so it seldom happens) but I will do it if I have too.
So until we have less drama around here the bathrooms at our house will be clean, hum, which do I prefer, clean bathrooms or less drama? I would let the bathrooms be a disaster in exchange for less drama, any day.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Routine, Some Day
We are starting the week out trying to get back to routine. Last week was home coming and all that goes along with that. By the end of the school week Hanna was beginning to come unglued. She continued to spiral downward all weekend and today she is home because her behavior would certainly get her sent home. We might as well omit the drama of that. Hopefully she can get her act together in a day or two.
Lauren is having less pain and head aches so she is going to try to go to her job on the regular schedule this week. I hope it goes well for her. She is obviously feeling better because when her big brother teases her (yeah Trevor it is you) she actually responds appropriately. She is much more alert and has asked to help with things like making dinner, putting away clothes, and organizing the playroom. She has a long way to go to get to where she was before this all started, but at least things seem to be moving in the right direction.
Well after we get back to routine this week we have two and a half days off from school next week, so the heck with routine again. Oh well, that is just the way it goes around here.
Lauren is having less pain and head aches so she is going to try to go to her job on the regular schedule this week. I hope it goes well for her. She is obviously feeling better because when her big brother teases her (yeah Trevor it is you) she actually responds appropriately. She is much more alert and has asked to help with things like making dinner, putting away clothes, and organizing the playroom. She has a long way to go to get to where she was before this all started, but at least things seem to be moving in the right direction.
Well after we get back to routine this week we have two and a half days off from school next week, so the heck with routine again. Oh well, that is just the way it goes around here.
Friday, October 5, 2012
A Royal Day
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| Today the king and Keen (queen) of Sweden came to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the college that was started here by Swedish immigrants. All of the kids who attend Paul`s school got to walk over to greet them. He was a very excited little boy this morning. Watch out when he is waving that blue and yellow flag! |
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| This afternoon at the high school they were having the annual powder puff games for homecoming. The seniors dressed up. Allen was a beautiful Pink Princess. He cheered his team on in the volleyball game. |
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Lauren Update
Several people have called and emailed to see how Lauren is doing. I have been at a retreat this weekend so PCAs have been taking care of her. She is still having headaches most of the day and still needs to lay flat and be medicated regularly.
She has been looking forward to going back to school tomorrow since the day she had surgery. We are going to try for half days at least for now. That means that she will not be going to her job, but we have to get her more stable before we work on that.
This is a slow process which requires everyone to be flexible. We don`t know what will work so we will have to take things one at a time for now. For now we just need to get rid of the pain she is having and then we can move on to something else. Hang in there Lauren!
She has been looking forward to going back to school tomorrow since the day she had surgery. We are going to try for half days at least for now. That means that she will not be going to her job, but we have to get her more stable before we work on that.
This is a slow process which requires everyone to be flexible. We don`t know what will work so we will have to take things one at a time for now. For now we just need to get rid of the pain she is having and then we can move on to something else. Hang in there Lauren!
Thursday, September 20, 2012
We Are Home
We made it through that great vacation.
This is about 12 hours after surgery. Lauren`s face was rather swollen. She was not talking or moving much at all. She just hung out with her purple teddy bear (Violet) buried somewhere in the blankets,
This is the next morning when she got in her chair to work on her goal of going home. She had to be able to sit in her chair for at least an hour and a half, but this look on her face after only about 3 minutes made it clear that she was not going to be going anywhere. She made it 10 minutes and was put back in bed. After tears, medications, and a shunt adjustment she rested well for the remainder of the day. She got her nails painted, played with the therapy dog, and the music therapy group came to her room.
The next morning she was able to be in her chair long enough so we got to go home. She is a pretty happy girl laying on the couch with the cat.
Now we deal with some pain issues while she adjusts to having the pressure in her head at a normal level. This process could take several months. We also wait to see if there will be improvements in her neurological function.
Anyway we made it. I am going to a retreat this weekend. Lauren`s care will be in the hands of wonderful people who I am sure can handle this shunt thing just fine. Dad gets to hold the fort down here with 3 PCAs to help him out. I will be back to deal with all of this first thing Monday morning.
Now we deal with some pain issues while she adjusts to having the pressure in her head at a normal level. This process could take several months. We also wait to see if there will be improvements in her neurological function.
Anyway we made it. I am going to a retreat this weekend. Lauren`s care will be in the hands of wonderful people who I am sure can handle this shunt thing just fine. Dad gets to hold the fort down here with 3 PCAs to help him out. I will be back to deal with all of this first thing Monday morning.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Pacation
According to Paul, Lauren and I are going on pacation (vacation). In reality we are heading to the hospital long before the sun comes up in the morning, as she is having a programmable Ventriculoperitioneal Shunt (VP Shunt) placed in her brain to regulate the pressure. This will hopefully improve her neurological function, although no one knows how well it will work. At the very least it will help to remove toxins that are building up in her brain. This is it, there are no other options, so we are praying that it works for her.
In order to prepare for this pacation we had to take Lauren off her seizure medication, which has resulted in her having many seizures and requiring much supervision and care.
In the meantime Miss Hanna, our chaos creator, has been on one heck of a roll with her behavior!!! She went to respite, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, where she will put on her sweet, innocent, act. She has totally exasperated me today so I am looking forward to a break from all of that.
I can deal with Lauren in the hospital for however long we need to be there. She does her best to cooperate, she wants someone to be there for her, and she does understand that we are doing our best to help her. This RAD garbage on the other hand is just so tiring, trying to work with a kid who does not want to be helped, does not care at all about herself or anyone else, and would never be thankful for anything.
Well I am going to feed the crew, get a couple more loads, of laundry done, make lunches for the boys, and get a few hours sleep before pacation begins.
In order to prepare for this pacation we had to take Lauren off her seizure medication, which has resulted in her having many seizures and requiring much supervision and care.
In the meantime Miss Hanna, our chaos creator, has been on one heck of a roll with her behavior!!! She went to respite, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, where she will put on her sweet, innocent, act. She has totally exasperated me today so I am looking forward to a break from all of that.
I can deal with Lauren in the hospital for however long we need to be there. She does her best to cooperate, she wants someone to be there for her, and she does understand that we are doing our best to help her. This RAD garbage on the other hand is just so tiring, trying to work with a kid who does not want to be helped, does not care at all about herself or anyone else, and would never be thankful for anything.
Well I am going to feed the crew, get a couple more loads, of laundry done, make lunches for the boys, and get a few hours sleep before pacation begins.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Watering The Grass
We made a trip to the orthodontist yesterday, nothing particularly news worthy about that except that they adjusted Hanna`s wires 6 milometers on both sides. That is a huge change. We are finally getting somewhere in this very long process.
On the way home we were driving down a rather busy 4 lane highway when traffic on both sides of the road had to suddenly pull off to the right in order to make way for 3 police cars, a sheriff car, and 2 fire trucks to go by. After they went by traffic crawled along at a snails pace driving on the shoulder of the road for a couple of miles and then we had to stop. There was a grass fire (which is not a good thing considering that it was 90 degrees, windy, and very dry). Anyway the fire department personal were hosing down the area and it looked like things were pretty well controlled.
Hanna pipes up with "hey, why are they watering the grass here"?
Really, you can not connect fire trucks, flashing lights, flames, and smoke and come up with fire equals water it down and put it out.
FASD sure makes a mess of things doesn`t it.
On the way home we were driving down a rather busy 4 lane highway when traffic on both sides of the road had to suddenly pull off to the right in order to make way for 3 police cars, a sheriff car, and 2 fire trucks to go by. After they went by traffic crawled along at a snails pace driving on the shoulder of the road for a couple of miles and then we had to stop. There was a grass fire (which is not a good thing considering that it was 90 degrees, windy, and very dry). Anyway the fire department personal were hosing down the area and it looked like things were pretty well controlled.
Hanna pipes up with "hey, why are they watering the grass here"?
Really, you can not connect fire trucks, flashing lights, flames, and smoke and come up with fire equals water it down and put it out.
FASD sure makes a mess of things doesn`t it.
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