Dura Mater

2012-02-10T23:51:00.000-08:00

Hiya. Life's been busy here, full of lessons and practice, therapies and running, rhythms of chores and sleep and cooking and laundry. I suppose it could seem endless, but it doesn't. It's home. The kids are having the usual triumphs and hiccups of childhood, plus their own variations on the themes. To say there's a lot to manage these days would be a bit of an understatement.

I've been mulling over things this week and I guess I have more questions than I have answers. For argument's sake, if you were in a position to know something, to have science and experience on your side, and to also know that this something would be a real solution for someone you know or someone you love... What do you do when that person won't listen? Do you let it go? The answer is different if you're considering the needs of a child or truly helpless person, of course, rather than those of a fully competent adult. What if that person is antagonistic? Paranoid?

I'm mulling because I keep running into situations where someone involved has a very workable answer but the person who needs it most refuses or is unable to take in the significance of the solution being presented. This happens often enough that statistically I have to be that person who refuses or is unable, at least once in awhile. There's a humbling thought.

So I guess I try to hang back a little, if I suspect that I'm making a fool of myself. I think it's useful to walk around the problem or puzzle and see it through new eyes, asking for input, often from unlikely or even contrary sources. I don't know. Sometimes things are just a mess. Sometimes knowing something doesn't do any good. Smart people have been wrangling the problem of pain and suffering for as long it's been around. I don't have anything to add. Just thinking.

Pax.

Equipment

2012-02-01T00:29:00.000-08:00

Good advice.

Models and manufacturers to consider:
Merritt
Recaro Monza

I've looked over the Britax Frontier 85 and a Graco model as well, on the advice of the awesome equipment wizard OT who sees Q sometimes for equipment and adaptive helps. It doesn't appear that either of those will work for Q, as he needs greater support for sitting.

I continue to think about the Otto Bock option for combining a seat for the young man with biking and running sport bases. If I had the extra cash, I would snap up one of those side-by-side tandem bikes that he loved so much last summer. E and G peddled him around the parking lot to squeals of laughter, and protests when they stopped. They all seemed to enjoy the experience and S and K wished they were big enough to peddle too.

Lots to think about.

Praying without ceasing

2012-01-23T01:14:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about that call lately - to pray without ceasing. Many years ago, someone asked me how, with three kids and one on the way, I found time to pray. I answered then without pausing to think, that I prayed throughout the day, sometimes over the dishes or in the midst of changing diapers, soothing little ones, holding hands with their daddy while on a walk with the family, or doing laundry. Stoplights are good, too. That conversation stuck in my head because I hadn't realized at the time what I'd been doing. Something about the sudden awareness, combined with the sweetness of praying peace and blessing over my people, big and small, while tidying also their more immediate, physical world, managing the quotidian... Well. I'm not going to claim that there's a reward in scrubbing toilets that extends beyond the clean toilet itself, but the combination of prayer and acts of service, done in love, with a joyful sacrifice? The parallels to the big picture life we're meant to lead are stunning to me. I continue to turn that conversation over in my head and find new things to think about it.

So the phrase has been bouncing around in my head again lately, especially as folks near and far have had a tough time, and sometimes their suffering looks to be taking the day, stealing the bliss out of the ordinary. I was thinking back over 2010, and how glad I am that it's over. There was this time, a stretch of weeks, wherein high drama, legal issues, health scares, kid stuff, financial swerves, bad news, and sundry emergencies were popping up not more than 72 hours apart. It was a lot to take in. I think right in the middle of all that was when I started pondering those words again.

As to what it means? How to apply? Well, I'm not really comfortable throwing out some sort of mandate or absolute, but this is what I think about when I think about praying without ceasing: We're supposed to take care of each other. Sometimes it's a grace-filled, rich and profoundly rewarding thing, sometimes it's a balancing act, performed with swords and running chainsaws. But it's the huge, all caps, shout it from the peaks, why of this life. Jesus modeled it, told stories about it, asked it of us: Love one another. Those little spaces of prayer hold up our arms while we're working away, trying to make sense of things. Those little spaces of prayer blunt the swords and chain saws, and allow grace to fill up and overlay not just the high points of time with our people, but also the disappointments and emergencies, adding to our resilience, enabling us for more than we might have suspected we had inside us. And during those minutes, hours, weeks, whatever, when it just. keeps. coming? Wow does that resilience, that focus and connection, wow does that make the difference.

Here's someone I "met" through a friend, someone who has already in her life as a young mom had the full allotment of opportunity to practice resilience and praying without ceasing. I think she'd appreciate your prayers.

Pax.

Mid January

2012-01-22T01:39:00.000-08:00

Hello and Happy New Year! We made it through the busy holiday season, with all the performances and scheduling disruptions. The big kids went off for time with their dad. Q saw him at the airport, which he loved, as always. He no longer suspects the kids aren't returning, though he'd not in favor of them leaving. Progress!

Early in the month we visited a new physician. This visit was to talk about the possibility of eye surgery being combined with the hip surgery. The doc was lovely, and the decision for now is to fix his lateral eye muscles and see how well that sticks. The concerns are related to the quality of the tissue and whether or not Q would smack the area with his hands (in splints), thereby undoing the dissolving sutures. If the sutures are disrupted or his muscles don't hold the correction well, the boomerang effect pushes his eyes farther along the continuum, in the wrong direction. The nice lady would base the decision to go ahead with the medial adjustments on whether or not the lateral procedure holds. She says the first would be less painful, less intrusive, and works better as a bit of a test run. I don't know. I feel like I usually walk out of medical appointments with a pretty clear idea of how we're proceeding and why, and I don't know why we'd do this. I mean, the hope is that his eyes are physically steadier and appear to track together better. But... It doesn't seem likely that he's having double vision, since binocular vision is really a case of eyes alternating very quickly between them, not actually concurrent use of both.

I would so love to have a knowledgeable pocket elf at these visits, to weigh in and tip the scales decisively. In lieu of that, I'll read some more, I guess.

In other news, the big boy is finding his way in high school. The girls continue with school and are just about to begin the second half of the school year. Q attends a developmental kindergarten three half days per week. It's pretty awesome to see how each of the kids' early efforts is unfolding as they build upon acquired skills and knowledge.

We've welcomed a wee little new cousin and attended a memorial service for her grandpa, a very good man who is greatly missed.

The house is benefiting from a rework of chores assignments, and we're glad to have power back after a recent wild combination of snow, ice, and wind storms. It was great for the kids to have prepped for the occasion with bread baking, cooking, and laundry. We only had seven loads to do to catch up completely from two days without power.

We're all set for the next round, and have a greater appreciation for both our gas water heater and the need for good emergency preparedness. Prescriptions and supplies work a little differently here than in many households. Q's nutritional needs being what they are, we've got shelf-stable back up for him, in addition to the usual stuff you'd have on hand for everyone else. We've got a shelf full of water in the garage, too. And I'm thinking it's time to run through the list again, while there's no pressing need.

The house is quiet and we've a busy day tomorrow, getting ready to tackle the upcoming week, so I'm off. Godspeed.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T10:07:00.000-08:00

To know and to serve God, of course, is why we're here, a clear truth, that, like the nose on your face, is near at hand and easily discernible but can make you dizzy if you try to focus on it hard. But a little faith will see you through. What else will do except faith in such a cynical, corrupt time? When the country goes temporarily to the dogs, cats must learn to be circumspect, walk on fences, sleep in trees, and have faith that all this woofing is not the last word. What is the last word, then? Gentleness is everywhere in daily life, a sign that faith rules through ordinary things: through cooking and small talk, through storytelling, making love, fishing, tending animals and sweet corn and flowers, through sports, music and books, raising kids — all the places where the gravy soaks in and grace shines through. Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people.
~Garrison Keillor

Quote

2011-12-19T00:10:00.000-08:00

There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are messengers of overwhelming grief...and unspeakable love.

Washington Irving

Voting update

2011-12-09T00:27:00.001-08:00

We're #33. WOW, people!! Eleven hours to go...

Vote, redux

2011-12-08T12:23:00.000-08:00

Vote, vote, vote!!!!!

We were #42 a few minutes ago - thank you for voting and sharing the link!

Vote!

2011-12-02T22:41:00.000-08:00

A charity I'm involved with, Out of the Gray, is in the middle of a contest - the winner receives a $5000 grant. Here's the link, and we need your vote! This money would provide care and clothing for sixteen caregiver clients. There's an awful lot of need these days, what with budget cuts and jobs lost. Please take a moment and add your voice to the votes - then feel free to forward the link to everyone you've ever met. (heh) We sure appreciate your time. The contest ends on the 9th of December.

Blog - Style with Purpose
Facebook page - Out of the Gray

Trust, morality -- and oxytocin

2011-11-14T22:09:00.000-08:00

Just thinking about all the things this explains in our every-days...

Paul Zak: Trust, morality -- and oxytocin | Video on TED.com

PS

2011-11-13T00:55:00.000-08:00

...To the meds coverage story. I did it. The pharmacist was surprised, and she said so, but I did it: Q has the Prevacid prescription and it filled. The pediatrician wrote it for "ONE YEAR," "dispense as written; patient has swallowing difficulty" and it went through. We'll see what happens when we hit the 90-day mark and the state wants to have this conversation again.

Next step? To get a response from the state for the pharmacy corporate office with regards to refunding my out of pocket expenses. Prayers over this would be appreciated. I will get this done, too, but (whispering) I'm a little tired... At this point, we could use that refund (we're out of eggs) and this thing needs to resolve this week because I have the next level of things to move on. No time for lollygagging, dontcha know!

In the meantime, I'm going to go sleep so I can be all bright-eyed and make more applesauce and apple butter tomorrow. Ooo - maybe some pear sauce, too. Cheap fruit = good, cheap food. Wheee!

Good life

2011-11-10T00:11:00.000-08:00

Such a lot of water under the bridge(s)!

Let's talk about Mr.Q first. He's has been sleeping... well, not great over the last couple of weeks, resulting in new local peaks in pharmaceutical caffeine use (by moi). The rehab visit went well, but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the A & P aspects of the selective dorsal rhizotomy discussion. It would seem that new, more delicate techniques and growing experience in neurosurgery are allowing kids who have inappropriate lower limb tone to benefit quite nicely from a procedure for which they would not have previously been candidates. Hooray! So perhaps that would be an alternative to the Baclofen pump. The thing is, every time Q's Baclofen dosing has increased, so has his swallowing ability, vocalization, overall healthy muscle tone and mass - all of these are huge. Just huge for him. So at this point, I'd want to go ahead with the Baclofen pump at some point, even if there would be excellent gains to be made in the rhizotomy - Q needs those upper trunk and extremities benefits. I think that's part of why he hasn't had any remarkable respiratory events (requiring steroids of any kind or breathing treatments) in almost two years.

But back to that "rhizotomy" word. I usually take in all the info for these appointments, go make notes, read whatever reports that are sent, synthesize with other things I know about Q, and on we go. But that word... It means "to sever nerve roots in the spinal cord." I just kept looking at his little back, then at the drawing on the white board, showing how certain little roots get clipped and where. His skin is all soft and unmarked there... I do get that the hip surgery and a possible placement of a pump also require incisions into that perfect little skin. There's just something about this procedure that seems somehow worse. As if there's a hierarchy for incisions... I still have that spot picked out in the backyard. For puking. Which doesn't seem at all theoretical to me...

Q had two evals on the same day with the OT/PT pump placement team. I don't have reports from them yet, but I expect them to say that a pump would be appropriate when Q's tone has reached the point that we feel life is unworkable here. He's tighter now than he was a few months ago, despite PT, massage, stretching, and Baclofen. So dressing is tougher, as well as arranging him for sleep, transfers for bathing, feeding, etc. As much as he wants to help, there are definitely certain losses in progress. He is more volitional or intentional (both?) about his own position - working to hold himself up in his chair before he's completely buckled or strapped in, holding up his hands for dressing or undressing (and laughing like mad as his fists emerge from the sleeves), lifting his pelvis for pants or changing. He's working more purposefully, but he's tighter as he does so, if that makes sense. All things to consider.

I know there's more, but I need to sleeeeeeep (whine). We're running four days a week as we train for a December 5K. The girls are noticing their muscles are different, which has provided neat segues into conversations about body image, confidence, and how to be the best person we can each be (vs. "fitting in" and trying to be like someone else). We've also got the usual subjects on deck for school, plus it's been fun to discover that Q is studying a little medieval history in his kindergarten class while his sisters are digging into it at home. G is finding his feet at high school - discovering the need for hard work in addition to good test scores. And what a lesson to apply throughout life: one must show up for and complete the difficult things as well as the fun or easy. (insert eyebrow waggle) In the meantime, he's enjoying after school activities and hanging out with neighborhood friends, though his mother wishes he had more homework because kids these days need to work harder!! (Heh.)

So because of the above, I've got to get to sleep. My syntax is suffering. And since I've just poured lemon ginger tea down my shirt... G'night.

Whoosh

2011-11-09T00:13:00.000-08:00

This is amazing. Transcendent, I think...

Light reading

2011-10-29T00:34:00.000-07:00

Neuronal migration defects.

Spot on

2011-10-26T23:50:00.000-07:00

Sissy Free Task. Indeed.

Since I'm here... The ongoing prescription argument is frustrating. Q needs the solutab. We've tried the liquid proton pump inhibitor (neurological side effects), Prilosec OTC (didn't work). He can't take Zantac, because it's in capsule form. There are little packets of soluble powder that could be mixed with sugar water, but that's omeprazole, the same med as Prilosec, which didn't work. Meanwhile, there's no word that the paperwork is getting where it needs to go, and the manufacturers have either stopped making the med permanently or have been on backorder since June. There are non-generic solutabs available, for which I will still be paying out of pocket, but instead of almost $6 each, it's more like $10. So. As soon as Q is on the bus in the morning, and just before the girls and I sit down to contemplate the birth of astrophysics, fractions and variables, predicate nominatives, and the medieval-era invasion of Islam, I will make the rounds again on the phone. I shall strive to be... Well. Let's aim for patient, shall we? I first began this conversation in May, so I think the bar of patience is plenty high. I do have the phone numbers of all my state reps, and maaaan... I'm considering using them.

Time for sleep. Peace out.

Info.

2011-09-07T00:25:00.000-07:00

Our church seems to be preparing for ongoing conversations about mental health issues. While thinking about this and some events that have led up to this, I've been reading about and ruminating on a few diagnoses. It's pretty fascinating stuff. As difficult as the subject matter can be, especially when families are suffering, remaining blissfully ignorant isn't really an option. Knowledge is power and ought to help us better understand ourselves and the people we love. Here are a few links.

Borderline Personality Disorder
Major Depression
Beyond Blue - a very useful blog
Amen Clinics - brain care and brain health, started by Dr. Daniel Amen
Traumatic Brain Injury - MedlinePlus, with links to other pages
Traumatic Brain Injury - Wikipedia, with more detail, discussion of current grading techniques, etc.

If you have good resources please share! Pax.

Onward

2011-08-16T01:06:00.000-07:00

We're now in the middle of the week in which we do our church's version of VBS - with dinner served and lots of cool projects. So much fun! G and E are serving as "table captains" which is sort of like a camp counselor role to the other kids. E has a table of four little girls and they're all doing these projects together. So stinking cute!

The director for our camp last week gave me a jar of dahlias Monday evening and thanked me for bringing Q to camp. I cried. She told me that there were so many faculty and staff, and other parents, who commented on our neat family dynamic and what an amazing job the bigger kids did with Q - especially when we were seated on the front rows for the concerts and Q was loving all that live music, and wiggling like a boy who'd been sitting still too long. I hugged her and cried. How incredibly kind of her to have taken the time and acknowledged both the beauty and the difficulty in one fell swoop. It is both. Always both. But the former far outweighs the latter, in sheer mass.

And speaking of all that Life business... You know, I've given up a lot of thoughts about what constitutes an "ideal" family. I was somewhat surprised to discover, rather recently, that I really do still miss the partnerships to be found in a good marriage. Even a barely civil marriage provides certain benefits to the spouses, most of them simply logistical. But even in a just better than barely civil marriage, those losses begin to be keenly felt. Imagine how lovely it would be to know that the end result of one's hashing things out with one's kid didn't then rest solely on one set of shoulders. Support in or for one's ideas is sweet, and deserves to be treasured for the gift that it is, of course. But nothing replaces that other parent "having your back," you know? In all those small but important ways.

Hope you're resting well and got to spy some meteors this week! Godspeed, lovely people.

Immersion

2011-08-11T23:16:00.000-07:00

So we're at Suzuki camp. Q has had a hard time settling the last three nights and tonight, in addition to us singing him The Two Grenadiers, in parts, G brought his viola and quietly played Q out with Humoresque. I've frozen those moments in my head so I can have them always: Q draped across me atop his bed on the floor, drooling on my shirt, almost trying to still fight sleep, K in her bed, S snuggled with grandma in her bed, E in the shower, and the giant boy who is taller than everyone else much of the time these days sweetly playing his punkin brother to sleep.

There's plenty of irregular nonsense, as is the case with Life. There's a crazed seagull outside the window right now, for example. And G is probably not yet asleep, though his sisters are, and he will miss breakfast in the morning if he isn't out soon. There's the part where we're figuring out the new versions of the parent-child and child-parent relationships - no easy task even when everything else is smooth and lovely, much less with a few irregularities thrown in.

However. That young man who played for the littlest guy of the bunch also let me know that he's decided against looking for a job right now, though he'd need one to get a phone, which he badly wants. He's forgoing the job so he can focus on succeeding in school. He's making plans. And his sisters aren't far behind. This is so incredibly awesome. I know people often report the empty nest thing, and I'll probably have some of that too, later, but oh wow, is this exactly what all the hard work has been for! I just love that they're in the middle of the progressive circle that takes them ever nearer competent adulthood.

And this week has been great for us all, in different ways. The teacher who trained under Dr. Suzuki himself captured G's imagination, the one who dances with all thirty-five of her sweet younger kids while they play with violins atop their heads has S smiling like crazy (she loves all her teachers). E and K were given tiny things to work on that will improve their performance in gigantic ways - much of which carries over to Real Life, too. Q wants to go home with his Rhythm teacher so he can always have such fun.

So hurray for a week well spent. For kids who've taken great advantage of the opportunity (and are willing to work and save for the next go round). And hurray for the bazillion people who've helped with Q and all manner of support roles. We wouldn't be here without you. Thank you so very, very much.

In my running around campus and I've collected about three miles per day, huffing and puffing as we go. This campus is built on a hill, so it's either lots of stairs for me or hauling Q up and down hills to handicap accessible entrances. I forgot to mention when posting about the news of Friday (ortho appointment) that Q weighed a little more than 40 lbs. Hooray! And so does his chair. Not hooray! So when "sprinting" behind him up hills, I'd like a little fanfare. Or a sparkler. Or just a bottle of water might be nice.

Sleeping time now. Yikes, but we're tired.

Still

2011-08-06T00:22:00.000-07:00

So we've had an unusually big week. Between the whooping cough exposure scare, the orthopedics appointment, and sundry volunteer projects, we've slid into Friday just about toodled out. Among other exciting details for this week is my ongoing argument about coverage of one of Q's meds - it's been a particularly bad time to pay out of pocket for a generic which is running almost five bucks a day. But here we are.

On Thursday we got to help put together the bound schedules for the Suzuki camp which begins bright and early Monday morning. The kids have been practicing the music for their groups as well as their pieces for the master classes. It's a little surreal to contemplate, how all their effort comes together for them. They've been taking violin for three years now, G has had about a year on the viola. It's pretty thrilling to watch and listen to them play in groups, and their solo performances are coming along nicely - E especially so with fiddling. The bigger three have been taking piano for almost six years, S for five. K and S are streaking out ahead with piano: K has been pushing G and E for a couple of years now, while S just recently announced that she believes she's at the place where she's now just going to play for fun, it's that nice. See me grinning? I listen to them these days with my heart in my throat, amazed at all this progress.

About Q's ortho recheck, then. The x-rays this time show his left hip out about 75%, as compared to the 60% from earlier this year, with an increased slope in the socket. His right hip is out a smidge farther than it was last time, but not much a'tall changed, though that socket appears to be somewhat more sloped as well. We discussed the options for surgery, for waiting, for injections into Q's thigh muscles. I asked the surgeon what he'd do if this was his kid. He grinned, self-deprecatingly, knowingly, and said that there just isn't a right answer, but given how engaged and responsive Q is*, he would go ahead with the surgery to change the angles in both femurs, build up the left socket, and look at the right socket once in surgery to determine whether or not he needs that socket built up too. There's a 5% chance that Q would need a transfusion (the pelvic area is highly vascular) with both femurs and one socket, but about a 40-50% chance of needing a transfusion when the second socket also requires work. About 3% of patients seen through this clinic (children's hospital) require another surgery to tweak something or make further changes after the initial surgery. This is important partly because if that right socket needs work, better to do it all at once, because it's a not-fun recovery. So if there's a 97% chance that the first go gets it all, best to do it then - which leads us to wait a little longer. The ortho guy said that since there's been some small changes in that side that we'd have a better idea in another six months. So Q goes back in February for more pictures and another chat.

In the meantime, we've therapies, dental appointments, orthodontist appointments, school, school, and more school to do. Q begins kindergarten in a few weeks (gak!). G begins the tenth grade (how did that happen!?) and thinks about getting a job to pay for all the cool stuff he wants to do. And the girls push on ahead in their studies, too. I may be a little bit of a geek, because this all seems like pretty exciting stuff to me, this growing up and out of the kids, this new school term. This stretching and testing of their ever stronger and more capable wings.

*You may recall - I hope I mentioned this before - that there's a study out of Australia indicating that the more engaged and "verbal" a child is, the more likely he is to have pain with subluxed hips. In fact, it's nearly 100% vs. about 40% for kids who are less interactive. In other words, there seems to be a connection between how much a child is trying to venture into or respond to relationships, typical presentation or not, and his or her pain levels. This fact drives me a little crazy. Imagine all those punkins who have pain and can't communicate it. Thinking about it feels like toothpicks in my brain.

I had a moment on my back porch (my back porch!) with a nice glass of ice water, checking out the stars as the sky emptied its light into another hemisphere. You'll be relieved to know most of them are still out there. The backyard rocks continue to proliferate like bunnies. I've had some help with the weeds - thank you (you know who you are)! And the wee little discount/saved from death plants are looking like they may yet choose life. It smells good out there, all sweetly herby and verdant in our wedge of earth. It's quiet and a little damp in the coolness of the day. Dewy, I guess.

Peaceful.

Peace-filled.

Come on over. I've got ice water.

Tools

2011-08-04T00:34:00.000-07:00

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Crazy teenagers.

Crazy parents.

Punchy-tired

2011-07-17T23:53:00.000-07:00

We are wiped out from the big weekend activities. Q rode the cars again in the Challenge Day race. This year the founder, Leo, had added a seat back for the boy to be strapped to. They used it last weekend in a different city for a kid with similar physical presentation. It was so fun! Q had a moose head wraparound neck support, and he grabbed onto the car right away and just rode like he was in charge, man.

When he wasn't riding, he was having a rest in the van with G (so cute, the pair of them all sprawled out), or even better, helping G or E drive this. There wasn't a roof on it, and the steering and brakes were located on sticks at the hips of the riders, rather than out in front as handlebars. He loved, loved, loved it. I've been thinking about how to get him on the road on a bike, and this would be one awesome option. There was a bag at the back, strung between the two joined bikes. It would easily hold most everything Q would need for a day out. Amazing how much fun he had as soon as he was in motion. He's definitely a little adrenaline junkie in an uncooperative body.

We're waiting for the modification piece for his backpack - how cool will that be!? It's been a few days since I ran - have to get back to that tomorrow. Since running longer distances and doing so more consistently, plus walking lunges, etc., I can easily tell a difference between last summer and this: Q is easier to hoist and easier to haul in the pack. How nifty, right?

Now to figure out the next bits of life: G and K got running shoes today, inspired by E's PT successes which correlate mostly to her shoes, though the exercises sure are helpful. G went parallel parking this afternnon and needs a viola bow and would love to have a new violin bow as well. The last violin bow he tried and thinks still would fit best was more than $700. Gulp. So we'll be praying over this - the viola that came from Goowill and makes such nice sound. ;o) The house windows need screens and I need a big, bad, load of dirt to come here, be free, and make friends with the rocks. Until the dirt tosses the rocks out, on sheer principle. So there, rocks! Heh. I'm afraid I've constructed all kind of scenarios in which the rocks just go poof. Of course, so far, the best way is to have cousins over and to announce that anyone who plucks a weed or moves a rock will get a penny apiece. K, of course, is the fastest - I owe her almost $4 so far! And the other girls each made some money off me too. Hooray!

The Zyrtec has taken over. Q's quiet so time to sleep! XO

Week end

2011-07-15T22:55:00.000-07:00

I've been chewing on things this week about how to mold one's family culture, what input is most effective for kids as they grow their wings and look to leave home. One of the things that seems a constant recurring theme is that I have a lot of friends, some real, some "imaginary", who require a LOT of their children. Some of these people are thought of as tough, true (like that's a bad thing), but most are thought of as responsible parents. People who are busy helping their kids to be people the rest of us want to be around. As opposed to say, children who walk around having tantrums over the silliest of things, or demand that occasions suit them at the cost of others' needs, and more. I don't know that I have any conclusions on the matter because I'm kinda in the thick of it, here. I do know for sure that two parents in the same household, a team working together for their kids, whether or not they agree on even as much as fifty percent of how to proceed, is making the process that much easier for those who have it.

I'm out early in the morning, so shall sign off. Hope you all have some sweet rest and a very productive time in whatever place or area you most need.

Apropos of Nothing...

2011-07-14T00:17:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking on this as an excellent item for inclusion in life skills discussions. Perhaps difficult for some parents, but when thinking about things like adrenal exhaustion and long-term consequences - man, seems like a no-brainer to me.

In other news, the kids are home. Yay! The morning activities prior to my getting to the airport demonstrated the growing complexities with Q. Again. Thinking on that for now, and hoping for forthcoming solutions.

I don't know how to speak about the kids visits with their dad. They love him so much, and rightfully so. He's their dad and they need that relationship, that champion who only shows up in daddy clothes. And also, there's fallout. Uncomfortable questions. Sadness at the very real losses resulting from his absence in their daily lives. So. Lots of tears tonight from one of the punkins. It can be hard to keep one's head together under the abrupt changes occurring with visits. Q had a hard time eating tonight - as he does during the beginning days of the big kids' absence. Here's to an easier day tomorrow. Yes. That.

Gotta nail down a few of life's details before I hit the sack. Huge shoutout to the people who took care of Q so I could go get the rest of the kids. Hope life is being kind to you and yours.

Midsummer Night

2011-07-13T00:20:00.000-07:00

A song.

I have a little lesson planning done, a little housecleaning done, a little sorting done, a little digging in the yard done. But Q is fatter and happy, and that is the primary job here when the bigs are out of town, so hooray for us. In the morning I will fly down to pick them up and they'll be tucked in here tomorrow night. Can't wait to squeeze 'em! Two have had birthdays of some consequence whilst off visiting, so this will be exciting. Have I mentioned that G has his permit? See how my eyes bug out while I think about this? There's always a new phase of life to enter, isn't there?

Better scoot to bed so I can get Q fed and head off to the airport in the morning. Tra la! Hope you're reveling in a little summer bliss.

Loopy

2011-06-27T00:09:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of this guy? Wow. I've always enjoyed the blues, along with many, many other kinds of music, but this kid is something else. Looks like Joe Bonamassa has been around for awhile. Who knew?

I'm Zyrtec-ed out. I've been digging in the rock pile, erm, "garden" and it seems that the wet spring lead to a huge pollen production. So I'm lightly toasted. And I have a love/hate relationship with antihistamines - I can't live without 'em under these circumstances, and sorta wish I could just sleep through 'em. Gah. A big thank you to the people who have helped knock back the weeds in the rock pile. I would not have made it this far, ever.

So I'm going to go sleep now, because without oodles of caffeine, that's what I can do, now. Or maybe I'll make it to the fifth page of that book. And tomorrow night will be earlier because it will. Q has early mornings on Tuesdays, and I'll take advantage of that to catch us all up a bit. In the meantime, think happy, non-befuddled, lesson planning thoughts for me, will ya? Thanks.

(And if I'm supposed to be calling you back, I will try to manage that as soon as Q's had breakfast. And before the next dose of wooly-brains kicks in...)