Going to visit the beauty that is our world makes me want to see more and more and MORE of it. I keep thinking of all the parks and other places I want to visit, with my children, preferably. Well, the children keep growing, despite my admonishments to STOP THAT RIGHT NOW. (they claim they can't stop growing - pshaw, I say.) So I need to get to some of these destinations soon, before they grow up and move away. Or grow up, stay here and become snarky teenagers (as opposed to snarky 8-10 yr olds) who don't want to vacation with their parents. Here are some of the places I'm hoping to get to see:
Parks:
Yosemite
Grand Canyon
Oregon coast (tide pools)
Ozark National Scenic Riverways & Mark Twain National Forest
Mesa Verde
Chaco Canyon
Bryce Canyon
Glacier National Park
Cities/Countries:
Washington DC (to see the Smithsonian)
San Diego, CA
Toronto, Canada
Germany
Ireland
Can I just say I love drugs? Seriously, our family's quality of life is so vastly improved by pharmaceuticals. It is amazing.
So, we went to Moab and the car trip was so nice! There was hardly any bickering at all - and it's a 7 hr trip one way. Stella said her anxiety med and Sandis' depression med made it so they didn't fight. She claimed she didn't even want to fight w/her sister. She went on to say that her "sitting still" medicine made riding in the car so much easier. I was glad to hear from her that the ADHD meds help.
Sandis has been so giggly in the last few days. Yep, my daughter is back. It took 3 days of medication and then BAM, they started working. Same timeline as Stella. Their play therapist was amazed and is reconsidering what she recommends to her clients based on what she's seen with my girls.
Today I worked. When I work, I drive around and take pictures of houses for insurance companies. For hours. With kids in the car. It's fun. Yeah well, it's not terrible. We listen to audio books, they do some fun workbook-y stuff. And then after about 2.5 hrs, they are usually at each other's throats. Today, we were out for 4 hours and not a single incident of screaming, beating on heads, stabbing with pens or anything of that nature. (For the record, the kids to that to each other, it's not me stabbing them, though I will admit to screaming occasionally.)
Drugs. I tell you, they are the BEST! I need to start a "just say YES!" campaign.
We are back home from our quick trip to Moab (left Friday, back Sunday.) Lots to say but I'm too tired. Here are a couple highlights that you should look for in posts this week:
- Stella's meds worked wonders on the drive. Most pleasant car trip with the kids ever.
- I'm going to make a list of all the National/State parks I want to visit with my kids. I've got about 8 yrs to accomplish it before Sandis departs. Probably only about 2-4 yrs before she starts eyerolling at the very mention of a vacation with family so I'd better get crackin'!
- We met up with our friends the Cobles and I have pics of their adorable kids :)
- Ice Castle! We stopped at the Ice Castle in Silverthorn on the way to Moab.
- Brian ran a 55K faster than last year's time AND he was able to drive home. Not bad.
- Girl Scouts, Girl Scouts. I've spoken with the Junior leader and I think we have a plan worked out for next year for Brownies/Juniors.
Ok, that might be more than a week's worth of writing considering I have to take the girls to a dog show in Denver tomorrow, two therapy sessions and a tax appt on Tuesday, Girl Scouts on Wednesday, NCHA meeting Thursday, swimming on Friday plus a birthday party sleepover on Friday/Saturday for Sandis. Oh, and work in there somewhere, I imagine. And unpacking, the worst. And I know my addled brain is forgetting some other stuff I'm supposed to do. So, look for it in the upcoming week(s).
It seems like we're in Denver once a week lately. Probably because we ARE in Denver once a week lately. It's not going to be changing in the next few weeks either as next week we head down to see a dog show and the following week is psych appts. Maybe the week AFTER that we'll stick to nearby towns. Maybe.
So today we headed down to Denver for Sandis' psych appt. She and I had filled out the checklists and surveys about depression and anxiety in advance. Why? Because I was thinking ahead last week when I took Stella in and had asked for them. So the PA looked over those documents and we chatted about Sandis' issues. Basically Sandis has been classically depressed lately - no desire to do things, even fun things, touchy, crying, sad, withdrawn, etc. I could give specific examples, but hey, I've already done that today. And I don't feel like typing out a long involved diatribe about how she over-reacted to something and clung to me for 1/2 a day or cried on the bed for a hour over nothing at all. In any case, the PA agreed that Sandis sounds depressed. No surprise that this coincided with Stella's getting better either (pretty classic pattern for a variety of reasons.) The PA prescribed prozac, a lower dosage that Stella but the same med.
So I'll have two kids 10 & under on anti-depressants. Not ideal, but then again, my adolescent life would have been much, much better if I had had anti-depressants. And if I had had some other things different as well, but anti-depressants would have helped, for sure. And why should I deny my children being happy and being themselves, who they are meant to be, because of a social stigma, because of a fear of "pill pushing?" I'm not going to. This is alternative parenting too, just like attachment parenting or free range parenting or homeschooling. I am going against the norm and the idea that kids are just kids and everything will be fine. I am actively making things better for them no matter what it takes.
Easy path, no. But what path is easy? None that I've ever found.
So today we headed down to Denver for Sandis' psych appt. She and I had filled out the checklists and surveys about depression and anxiety in advance. Why? Because I was thinking ahead last week when I took Stella in and had asked for them. So the PA looked over those documents and we chatted about Sandis' issues. Basically Sandis has been classically depressed lately - no desire to do things, even fun things, touchy, crying, sad, withdrawn, etc. I could give specific examples, but hey, I've already done that today. And I don't feel like typing out a long involved diatribe about how she over-reacted to something and clung to me for 1/2 a day or cried on the bed for a hour over nothing at all. In any case, the PA agreed that Sandis sounds depressed. No surprise that this coincided with Stella's getting better either (pretty classic pattern for a variety of reasons.) The PA prescribed prozac, a lower dosage that Stella but the same med.
So I'll have two kids 10 & under on anti-depressants. Not ideal, but then again, my adolescent life would have been much, much better if I had had anti-depressants. And if I had had some other things different as well, but anti-depressants would have helped, for sure. And why should I deny my children being happy and being themselves, who they are meant to be, because of a social stigma, because of a fear of "pill pushing?" I'm not going to. This is alternative parenting too, just like attachment parenting or free range parenting or homeschooling. I am going against the norm and the idea that kids are just kids and everything will be fine. I am actively making things better for them no matter what it takes.
Easy path, no. But what path is easy? None that I've ever found.
Yes, today went much like last week. Only worse. And better.
Stella was quite sure she could not do the day without me. I, and her therapists, believe she can. She made it about an hour before calling me in tears. Another hour passed, another tearful call. I was about ready to break because I HATE doing this to people. You know, "here's my weepy, possibly puking, daughter who will suck all of your attention and distract everyone. I'll be off running errands and doing whatever I like. Have fun!" Which is NOT what I'm thinking, of course, but that is how I feel. Anyway, the director of the school called and said they could handle it. It would be better if I didn't come. I expressed my concern of what I was dumping on them and they assured me that it was fine, they were fine, Stella would be fine.
After call #2, when she realized I wasn't coming, Stella pulled it together and went to class. She managed the rest of the day with only a bit of sorrow but no more tears. When I arrived, she was completely fine and chatting away with me about something or other that happened during the day.
So it was an emotional rollercoaster (worse than last week), Stella was a wreck (worse than last week), but I got the support of the quasi-school (BETTER!!!) and feel relieved. I can dump off my wailing malcontent without guilt. Whew! I still drained the emotional well today, but I'll get through this mess somehow, someway, someday.
fijit adj \ˈfi-jət\
1 morally very bad : evil
2 a : fierce, vicious
b : disposed to or marked by mischief : roguish
3 a : disgustingly unpleasant : vile
b : causing or likely to cause harm, distress, or trouble
4 going beyond reasonable or predictable limits : of exceptional quality or degree
1 morally very bad : evil
2 a : fierce, vicious
b : disposed to or marked by mischief : roguish
3 a : disgustingly unpleasant : vile
b : causing or likely to cause harm, distress, or trouble
4 going beyond reasonable or predictable limits : of exceptional quality or degree
It sings in an annoying robotic voice. It has no off switch. It has no volume control. Kill me now.
Catch up time! It's been quite a mixed up week around here.
First of all, I was on the wrong day all week. That makes for missing out on things, well, almost. I *almost* missed girl scouts again. How? Well, it was Wednesday and I thought it was Tuesday, for one. Also, the Juniors meet every other week rather than on the 2nd and 4th weeks of the month like the Brownies do. Usually this is the same, but now it's not. Ok. Still, we made it, only about 10 minutes late - which was the same time several others arrived, some even came later, and the leader was still standing outside talking to the moms, so we were basically on time. I'm calling it good.
What else...oh yeah, Stella's crazy breakdowns. Well, they upped her Prozac dosage and told her to deal. Basically, they said what we've heard before, she's old enough to deal with these situations and needs to work through them without me coming to the rescue. She did just fine at church school today. Gave me a big hug when I dropped her off, didn't ask me to stay (did, however, ask to stay w/me in church, which I declined.) She looked a bit apprehensive when I picked her up, but overall seemed unscarred by the experience. We'll see how quasi-school goes tomorrow.
The girls have been making Valentines all week. Not that they are getting very many made, but they are able to spread the mess far and wide and spend a considerable amount of time doing it. Then after all this time, money, effort and little output, they told me they were "bored" of making them and wanted to be done. Um, no. You must make one for each child at the party. Seriously, it's only 15 each, they can do it. Dorks.
Snow! Yes, winter has re-arrived in Colorado. We had snow of some sort the last 4 days, which is just wonderful :) I love winter, it is so beautiful. The kids are thrilled to tromp through the snow each and every time the go to the car. They go out sledding in our backyard every day (with talk of rebuilding the ramp, not sure how that's coming along. It's all made of snow by them, so I'm not terribly worried.) Our new dog is a crazy snow-lover too. I laugh so hard watching her out the window jumping, twisting, snapping at and in the snow.
I had two, count 'em, two, nights out last week. One was knitting night and the other was a Slumber Party (probably NSFW). Both fun in completely different ways! 'Nuff said.
I've not done any new organizational projects this week. Right now I need to do regular old house cleaning, blah! Really, I'd like to just take a nap. I have taken a 1-2 hour nap several times in the last week and I think I'm getting too used to it. It is really quite nice, though I should probably do things like clean up the house, or really, force my children to clean up their crap which would take care of 90% of the problem after which I could vacuum and be done.
One last thing, my husband needs his own Nook. He is using mine on a fairly regular basis now. Not that he wouldn't give it up to me if I asked, but we could each be using one simultaneously in bed at night rather than me having to wait for him to fall asleep to get mine back. Yeah, it only takes him 10-20 minutes to fall asleep but in that time, I could be reading instead of playing Drop7 or cribbage or Rummikub on my iTouch. We need to find a refurbished regular one (not color, like mine, he doesn't want that) so we can pick it up with some of his Xmas money (mine was birthday money :). Sadly, all the refurbished ones got bought up before the holidays so we need to wait for some of those to break down before we can get one ;)
First of all, I was on the wrong day all week. That makes for missing out on things, well, almost. I *almost* missed girl scouts again. How? Well, it was Wednesday and I thought it was Tuesday, for one. Also, the Juniors meet every other week rather than on the 2nd and 4th weeks of the month like the Brownies do. Usually this is the same, but now it's not. Ok. Still, we made it, only about 10 minutes late - which was the same time several others arrived, some even came later, and the leader was still standing outside talking to the moms, so we were basically on time. I'm calling it good.
What else...oh yeah, Stella's crazy breakdowns. Well, they upped her Prozac dosage and told her to deal. Basically, they said what we've heard before, she's old enough to deal with these situations and needs to work through them without me coming to the rescue. She did just fine at church school today. Gave me a big hug when I dropped her off, didn't ask me to stay (did, however, ask to stay w/me in church, which I declined.) She looked a bit apprehensive when I picked her up, but overall seemed unscarred by the experience. We'll see how quasi-school goes tomorrow.
The girls have been making Valentines all week. Not that they are getting very many made, but they are able to spread the mess far and wide and spend a considerable amount of time doing it. Then after all this time, money, effort and little output, they told me they were "bored" of making them and wanted to be done. Um, no. You must make one for each child at the party. Seriously, it's only 15 each, they can do it. Dorks.
Snow! Yes, winter has re-arrived in Colorado. We had snow of some sort the last 4 days, which is just wonderful :) I love winter, it is so beautiful. The kids are thrilled to tromp through the snow each and every time the go to the car. They go out sledding in our backyard every day (with talk of rebuilding the ramp, not sure how that's coming along. It's all made of snow by them, so I'm not terribly worried.) Our new dog is a crazy snow-lover too. I laugh so hard watching her out the window jumping, twisting, snapping at and in the snow.
I had two, count 'em, two, nights out last week. One was knitting night and the other was a Slumber Party (probably NSFW). Both fun in completely different ways! 'Nuff said.
I've not done any new organizational projects this week. Right now I need to do regular old house cleaning, blah! Really, I'd like to just take a nap. I have taken a 1-2 hour nap several times in the last week and I think I'm getting too used to it. It is really quite nice, though I should probably do things like clean up the house, or really, force my children to clean up their crap which would take care of 90% of the problem after which I could vacuum and be done.
One last thing, my husband needs his own Nook. He is using mine on a fairly regular basis now. Not that he wouldn't give it up to me if I asked, but we could each be using one simultaneously in bed at night rather than me having to wait for him to fall asleep to get mine back. Yeah, it only takes him 10-20 minutes to fall asleep but in that time, I could be reading instead of playing Drop7 or cribbage or Rummikub on my iTouch. We need to find a refurbished regular one (not color, like mine, he doesn't want that) so we can pick it up with some of his Xmas money (mine was birthday money :). Sadly, all the refurbished ones got bought up before the holidays so we need to wait for some of those to break down before we can get one ;)