Updates on my children

Well, it has been a long time since I’ve written anything here.  I am seriously hoping to change that for a variety of reasons that I’ll get into eventually…but not right now.

I’ve got two children, a four-year-old and a two-year-old.  They are almost exactly two years apart.  Our son is the oldest; he’s smart as a whip, but speech delayed.  Our daughter is the baby; she’s also speech delayed and she has seizures.  We’ve been through a lot with both, trying to get them caught up and to determine what’s going on with our daughter’s health.

Our son has been in special education for a while now; this is his second year.  He’s now talking up a storm and is really coming along very, very well.  His teacher is now preparing him to go to non-special education kindergarten next year.  We are so thrilled to see how well he is doing!

Our daughter is also doing very well – she has physical, occupational, and speech therapies (each one once a week) and is walking better, paying more attention to people and things around her, and so forth.  She also attends a preschool program at a local church.  We are working on the process to get her into the same school program that has helped her brother so much, but as with any agency like a public school, there is tons of paperwork, meetings/evaluations/hoops…etc.  We think she’s going to start in January…

She continues to have seizures.  In fact, they’ve increased recently, which is disturbing to say the least.   Her doctors are now taking her off one medication and trying another.  I just hope tht it helps her and that she doesn’t suffer from any of the major side effects; the last drug made her incredibly hyperactive, which affected her ability to work with the therapists, focus in preschool, or pay any attention to anyone.  It also seems to have dampened her emotional response to things, because now that she is being weaned off of it, she giggles more and responds more normally emotionally overall.

All in all, things are looking up all around.  I want more answers in terms of my daughter’s health, but I am learning to be grateful for smaller things as they come…

Gratitude

I’m grateful for friends who love me.

I’m grateful for peace and quiet.

I’m grateful for good books and time at night to read them.

I’m grateful for a chance to “catch up” on my sleep.

I’m grateful for a weekend away – and for my own place.

Moving myself to the top of the list….

Well, actually – I suppose I’m returning to at least one that I thought I had achieved.  I have decided that I need to give myself more time – that is, I need to do something nice for myself everyday again.  I have apparently just stopped taking care of myself, stopped doing what I need to do to restore myself so that I can take good care of my family.

Friends of mine rescued me this weekend, swooping in just as the last of my strength gave out.  They took me out, fed me and comforted me, listened to me and let me vent, let me get some of the poison, the fear, the anger, and the resentment out.   They took some of the load off of my shoulders for a while and let me catch my breath.

So…I am, with prodding occasionally from my friends, going to do better.  I am going to set aside time for myself every day.  I am adding myself to my “to do list” – adding a block of time, even if it is short, to my schedule that is all mine.

In addition, I am also going to find a therapist.  I believe that I need help now, and I believe that my medication needs changing.   So I have determined that, like it or not, I need to seek someone to help me though this, someone with training.  We’ll see how this goes.