Changing the way we live...

So we did 2 sessions last week at Brain Balance.  It's 1 hour sessions and it'll be 3x/week for the next 6 months. We've put a timer on her tablet so she's limited to 1 hour/day all week and allowed 2 hours/day on the weekend. So far so good.  No tantrums about the tablet so far.  Tonight, J will pick her up and bring her over and I'll stay home and prepare dinner so we're not eating so late.  

I hope this works.  We did the home exercises yesterday and we need to do them on the off days from Brain Balance.  I'm hopeful. I want her to start showing some control over her behavior.  Next week J is going to be leaving to go to IL and I'll be on my own dealing with all of this and figuring out how to prep food for dinner every night.  I'm a bit nervous about it all.  G is so strongwilled and she can be so exhausting.  

Also, this past week I found out my childhood friend, Sharon, passed away.  She had a medical procedure and her heart couldn't take it.  This was a shock to her family as well since she seemed to be stable.  I'm so saddened by this.  She never got to meet G in person.  Now she's an Angel watching over her family and friends.  

I need prayers for our family.  So if anyone is reading, please pray for us.

Brain Balance...

 So we had a consult and evaluation for G at a place called Brain Balance. It's very pricey. They aren't doctors and they don't take insurance. The results of the evaluation were very interesting. They were talking about areas of G when she was born and how she hasn't progressed mentally to the age she is. I can see it too. When she does something and you want to punish with consequences she really doesn't understand why we are doing it. Stop doing that or we'll take away your tablet. The answer would be to stop doing what you're doing but her response is "I want my tablet". So we do see what they see in the evaluation.  Another is her coordination.  She doesn't have it. She can't seem to do a jumping jack. It makes me laugh but now I realize she may not be able to because of her lack of coordination.  Anyway, tt's a 6 month program and it's 3 days a week for an hour. We took a 5 year loan and praying we see some progress from this program. I honestly think we will see some progress. And what were our options? A Psychiatrist we wouldn't be able to meet with till the end of the year if we're lucky? Right now, she's in tutoring 2x week and this will be 3x week, plus she's in the EIP at school  All this work, we should hopefully see some improvement in her behavior and actions.  

Brain Balance Centers

Trying to figure it all out...

Things have been busy here.  Busy at my day job, busy with G and J.  Lot's of doctor appointments for all of us.  I've put my side gig on hold for now.  I'm hoping to do something when J goes back to work.  Right now, I have big stress over money.  Big stress about G and making sure she has what she needs to succeed.  These last 2 weekends were nice.  Last weekend she participated in an egg hunt.  She met up with one of the boys in her Kindergarten class.  That made her day.  And yesterday in the park she played with 2 more kids in her class.  I love that we met up with them.  She was so super happy and running and playing with both of them.  So nice to see her so happy.  This week is Spring Break so she's in daycare all week and one of the kids in her daycare is also in her Kindergarten class.  

Rainbow Butterfly Girl

Rainbow Butterfly Girl with Blue Bunny Ears

When the littles are sick...

Nothing is worse than your child being sick. All you want to do is make it better. Since G's tonsillectomy, she hates meds.  She hates the taste and we have a lot of spitting it out as we try to give her some.  Now she just got diagnosed with Strep and that's nothing to mess with.  Planning on buying a bag of lollipops to use as bribery.  I'll give it a shot.  I just want her to be better and back to her usual self.  Poor girl.   

J is finally home...

Sadly, he came home late after G was already in bed.  Only 3 days later than he had promised her.  He needs to stop doing that. But I'm glad he's home. G can suck the energy out of you.  I love her so much though. I wouldn't change that. I can't wait for the evaluation to be here already and hopefully some therapy to help her.  Maybe us too.  

I've been working hard on fixing up my office and getting organized.  I bought some inexpensive furniture.  The chest of drawers will hold paper supplies and that's where the printer will sit.  It's a rather big printer.  Can't wait to get my office in order.  And it didn't break the bank.  Thank you Walmart for having matching pieces to put my office together.  Its the little things that make things nice.  Happy Thursday to everyone!

Love this cube storage

My new desk

Chest of drawers

Playdates...

So we invited one of G's friends over on Sunday.  She really wanted to play with someone and she likes this girl. The problem is G is overly excited and starts going nuts. She does things that are dangerous and I had to warn her that I'd have to take her friend home if she didn't calm down some.  Then I had to keep reminding her that if she has someone over to play with, she needs to share her toys.  She can't always say, I want to play with that.  She needs to let her friend participate however she wants to.  She used to be better with sharing things but yesterday was a struggle. Then after she left we cleaned up but she kept saying she made the mess, not her. I kept reminding her that this is our home and she was a guest.  I wanted her to have fun and not worry about the mess.  I think her maturity level is not there yet. She wants sleepovers but I just don't think she's ready for them. Can't wait for this evaluation to happen.  I just want her to be ok.  I want her to have friends and flourish.  I want her to be happy and not think that a baby sister would do that because I know it won't.

Trying to change the tone...

So, it's Friday night and I promised G that if J is away on the weekend, she can sleep in my room.  But only on the weekend. So she did well in school today (got a purple, yay) and we went to McDonalds.We ate, she played and then we came home.  She played some more and now we are settled in bed. She is watching her tablet for a bit longer (It's Friday) then she'll need to go to sleep.  Hopefully, we can have a nice day tomorrow too.  It's almost mid month and her evaluation is at the end of March.We'll make it to then. Just taking one day at a time.  

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE

On another note, I got a bookcase and it'll hopefully be delivered tomorrow.  It's for my office.  I need to get it organized and this is the start.  Can't wait to get it and put it together.  

Better Homes and Gardens 8 Cube Storage Organizer, Multiple Colors Rustic Grey

Food sensitivity...

Today I gave G her meds in the morning vs in the evening  I want to see if it lasts longer in her system to keep her in control a little longer. This morning she was in good spirits waking up. She came in my room early and was miss chatterbox. She asked to come in my bed and since it was almost time to get up, I said yes. Everything went well till she finished her Froot Loops cereal. Suddenly she was a ping pong ball going a mile a minute through the house. Now I'm wondering if she has some sensitivity to food dyes.The cereal she ate most likely has a lot of dyes for the colorful loops. Just something I noticed today.  I know in the past she's had issues with red dye and being angry after eating something with that dye in it. Just taking notes for now.  

False alarms...

Yesterday, J left for his trip.  I took G food shopping after making some homemade waffles. She gobbled it up. Our trip to the store gave J enough time to do a short workout and pack everything he needed for his trip. We had lunch together and then I took G to a new park. She had the best time. She ran and ran, played hard, had lots of kids to play with. So nice to see her like that. We got home around 3:30 or so. She had the rest of her waffle from the morning to snack on while I made creamy beef and shells for dinner. She loves that. We also bought a rainbow slice of cake. She still has a majority of it left over for after dinner tonight.  We did bath and go ready for bed, however she was still running on so much enengy and not listening. I eventually lost my temper and she started crying. She doesn't understand why I'm angry all the time. She really doesn't realize what she's doing. It broke my heart and I don't want it to be that way for her. I'm really hoping this evaluation will help get her started on a path to understanding what's happening to her.  I just wish it was sooner. I will say the surprise for the evening was a malfunction in the smoke/carbon monoxide detector. It went off for 15 sec as loud as it could be. My daughter slept through it tough. I checked all the rooms upstairs and downstairs, then called J. We decided to be cautious and call 911 just in case. My cousins perished from carbon monoxide poisoning and it was enough reason for me to call and have them check it out. G and I waited in the car outside. They came by and checked it all out and said it could've been a speck of dust. In all my years with J and having these devices in my apartments/house, it has never gone off for no reason. But anyway, it was all ok and somehow G and I managed to get back to sleep for the night.  

She's the energizer bunny...

OMG. She doesn't stop moving. She doesn't stop going. She's just having fun but she goes and goes and goes. She goes in a zone and doesn't stop. No matter how much I tell her to stop and do something, she keeps on going and going and going. I hate the thought of mind altering drugs but we do need to do something. She was running toward her foam chair meaning to hit her head into the foam but instead she when head on into the wall. I'm sure you can figure out that didn't go well. Can't wait for the evaluation to take place.

Happy 25 Years

Has it really been 25 years together? Hmm. Not. Being a pilot wife means 1/2 your time is spent alone.  Alone on weekends, holidays, birthdays, anniversaries.  Long weekends mean nothing as a pilots wife.  I've been luckly though.  Through all the work struggles in his career, the time I needed him home the most he was. When I was pregnant and G's first year of life.  I'm so glad he got that time to be around her and help me acclimate to motherhood.  So maybe we've only been together for 12-15 years total, but it's the quality of that time that matters, right. Besides, I loved my alone time. Just me and my cats. Now, it's me, cats and G. Happy 25 years babe.

February 27, 1998

 

Finally got an app...

Took long enough. After calling a number of places, I finally got an app at the end of March. We still have to deal with her behavior and work to improve it but we need to get some therapy as soon as we can.  We have a parent/teacher conference coming up on Wed so we'll get a good idea of where she is when we talk to her.  She started with purples and rainbows (excellent and better than excellant) to blues and a few yellows (good and not good). Orange is at the bottom and means didn't do well and got in trouble. Yellow is also some getting in trouble. 

On another note, J and I are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary on 2/27.  We are going to Long Horns for dinner tomorrow. It was supposed to be tonight but G was acting up and we just couldn't go with her acting that way.  Hopefully we can get a good pic tomorrow while we are at the restaurant.

Giuli loves waffles and pancakes, especially homemade ones.  I'm looking at a new waffle maker at Amazon.This is one I've been looking at but not sure yet since it's not a traditional flip waffle maker. 

 Cuisinart VMW200PC1FR Vertical Belgium Waffle Maker (Renewed) Visit the Amazon Renewed Store 4.7 out of 5 stars 86 ratings Price: $39.87        

Figuring out G

No matter what I say, my daughter doesn’t do what I expect. She wants to be in pre-school instead of Kindergarten. She wants to play all day instead of going to school. J keeps saying she’s not normal. She doesn’t listen to me and I think more discipline when she behaves that way needs to take place. She needs to lose some of her privilages. I’m working on printing out her schedule for the morning and one for the evening. She also needs to start helping me do things in the evening. Maybe help make dinner, help set and clear the table, etc. I think this also may help guide her in showing proper behavior if she can take part of doing.

Filling up our home...

So slowly we are working on setting up our home.  Our family room is nearly complete.  Just needs some pictures up.  We found these awesome bookcases with doors.  Perfect for the space and it hides the dish TV equipment so it looks really clean and not cluttered.

If you are interested in this, here is the link to where I got them on Amazon.  

Prepac Tall Bookcase with 2 Shaker Doors, 80" H, White

Here it is in my house.  We got 3 in a row.  Still working on what to put on the shelves.  We have some shelves on the top that need to be painted to match and we'll put that up on the opposite wall to hold some larger pictures.   

Our New Bookcases

I feel like the house is coming together slowly.  Next, we hopefully can update our kitchen with a new island.  

I'm also starting to work on some other ideas to earn money.  Looking into affiliate marketing.  I'm taking it slow and working it into my blog as well.  The bookcase link is part of my new adventure.

New Year! New House! Settling In...

So surgery for the little one went ok.  It had its ups and downs but in the end, her behavior improved enough to where her teacher noticed.  Then we did our next move into the house from the apartment.  We did this on 12/23 so we can be here on Christmas with G's new bedroom and playroom all set up.  We really have a big house with lots of room right now.  We can't even furnish it all.  The dining room and living rooms are empty.  But we have a full family room and kitchen.  And I have an office again.  Much needed.  G has made a friend and we've had several playdates.  She's a grade higher but that's because of where her birthday is compared to G.  Next we have a treadmill coming at the beginning of February.  J really needs it and I'd like to get some use out of it too.  We're also getting our doctor appointments in now.  Healthcare has really changed since Covid and it's just been hard to find decent care.  But so far, I like my endocrinologist.  I have a physical coming up with a PCP and a Dermatologist as well.  On Monday, I'll make an appt for a GYN.  I want to make sure I get my checkups.  I'm at an age where I need to really make sure I'm ok and if not, knowing sooner rather than later is better.

Anyway, that's my update for January.  Let's have a great new year.  

Surgery for the little...

Well, she got through it. We arrived at the hospital around 6:20am. Checked in and she was given happy juice at around 7am. 7:30am they rolled her out on the bed to the OR. Miss princess waved to her people as she went through the hall.  So glad for happy juice. It did the trick. The doctor came in around 8 something and said he removed large adenoids and tonsils and she's now in recovery and doing well.  Nurse said she was up and not even crying yet. Then they wheeled her back to us and she was crying. They gave her some Tylenol with codeine in it and along with a popsicle to lick she settled down. And by 10 something we were in the car going home and then she threw up...in the car. Lucky for us, she hadn't eaten any food so nothing really to throw up. Now we are home and she napped, took some Motrin, and now watching her tablet with Dad. She's a super brave girl and doing great. Alarm is set so I'll have her next Tylenol dose ready for her to take. The plan is to keep the meds up so she's not unmedicated till further notice.  So far, she's had an ice pop and 2 cups of ice cream. One chocolate and one vanilla. Hopefully she stays happy. Praying....