Some things they just don't tell you.

I've come to the conclusion that there are some things doctors neglect to tell you when your child is on meds. for ADHD. I've learned the hard way that when the dose is decreased or your child is taken off the meds. that the side affects are not so much fun.

Em has been on her regular dose of the extended release med. as usual with a supplemental smaller dose to be given as needed later in the day if she has a dance class or something else going on that night. Well, she has been taking the supplemental dose everyday for most of the summer due to her theatre class. Yesterday and the day before were the first time for 2 days in a row that she hasn't had that 2nd dose. Needless to say, last night was the night from hell. She was so out of control that she couldn't calm herself down. She was moody, shaky, impulsive beyond her normal impulsive self, and downright crazy. This happened one other time over a year ago when her doctor wanted to see what would happen if we took her off her meds. for awhile too. The same thing happened only it was about 3 times worse. Thank goodness I had some of her meds. left over. She was off of them for a total of 3 days and was having panic attacks and was completely out of control. She cried for hours and begged to go back on her meds. She almost became violent which is NOT Emma. With the doctors consent I started her back on them. At least this time it was only her supplemental med. that I had her stop taking.

Today she is nice and calm so I know the "withdrawal" phase is over. I hate having her on meds. I really do. But, I know that if she doesn't take them she feels overwhelmed and can't get things done. She can't concentrate on one thing for more than a few minutes and is constantly on the move.

I can't even imagine how it feels to have your mind so out of control that nothing makes sense and you can't stop yourself from moving, moving, moving. She's tried to describe it to me but there really aren't words to describe it.

Em's level of ADHD is very significant. Put it this way--there are yes and no questions that you have to mark off about your child when they are first diagnosed. I had to answer yes to all of them but one. Yup. That's my girl. Her doctor has only seen a few other kids with this degree of ADHD.

No one really knows why ADHD has so many levels or what even causes it. They do know that it runs in families.

Em is going to have quite a few challenges ahead of her for a lot of years yet. Will it get better? Maybe. Will she eventually be able to go off of her meds. when she is older? Possibly. One can only hope. At least she doesn't see it as a disability. She sees it as a gift. It makes her more creative and intuitive which is cool.

She starts a new school in a few weeks. I hope they are as attune to her needs as her elementary school was. They had a sound system for her severe hearing loss which Holmes doesn't have so hopefully they will provide one so she can continue to do well.

I hope she continues to have her "can do" attitude. I truly believe that is why she does so well and doesn't let anything stand in her way. :)

Friends

Emma really has great friends. Today she and her friend Ariella sold lemonade outside of Arie's house. What fun! With Em's siblings being quite a bit older than she is sometimes it is hard for her to relate to them so she needs the interaction with kids her own age. We've had fun hanging around and doing things together this summer but a mom is not a friend or a sibling. I can't do some of the things that someone more her age can do. I am hoping that once she is in junior high this fall that she will get involved in school groups or clubs. Do they have a chess club at Holmes? That was her idea. Maybe she could start one. That would be cool. I know she'll be in all the plays and vocal music things. She has her sport which is dance but isn't interested in the sports they have at school. That's OK. I wasn't exactly looking forward to going to volleyball games at 7:00 in the morning. :)

I just found out today that one of her best friends will be going to Price Lab/NU High in the fall and not Holmes. It made me really sad but Em seems OK with it. I guess she has known for over a week but forgot to tell me. Another one of her good friends is going to be home schooled for most of his classes but will be at Holmes for advanced math so Em will get to see him for a little while everyday.

That has got to be hard for her to think about. These 2 friends are such nice young people and are good for Em. Both of them seem to be pretty level headed and keep Em grounded. I think Em will be fine though. She is so happy go lucky that she makes friends easily and even the "bullies" seem to respond to her and soften up. At least the ones that are boys. It's the girl's that are tough as nails and think making fun of kids is cool that I am worried about. I won't name any names. That wouldn't be right. I know she still has a few friends that are going to Holmes. Hannah N. and Charly W. to name 2 of them. Oh! Tiffany and Billie Ann too. They are sweeties. Always smiling.

Of course there will be the typical junior high drama. I've been through it 3 times already and my older 3 survived so I know Em will too!

My baby is 12!

It's July and the rain just keeps on coming! That hasn't stopped the craziness that is the Meier home.

Emma turned 12 on July 1st. Yup. My baby is 12. Scares me to death! It also makes me feel really, really OLD. That makes my kids 27, 24, 19 1/2, and 12. OK. I guess I am old. :)

I got a Zune for Em for her birthday. That's like an IPOD for those of you who wonder what the heck a Zune is. She really wanted one badly yet she hasn't gotten around to putting any music on it yet. She has been pretty busy though with trying to outdo both her sister and me on my new Wii, practicing piano, getting her reading in every day, and going to play practice every afternoon and evening. OH! I forgot to mention that she is in James and the Giant Peach at the end of July through the Sturgis Youth Theatre. This is the 4th summer that she has done this but she has been going to acting camps since she was 3. LOVES IT!

Em has had her eye on a chess set at World's Window for over a year now. It is absolutely beautiful with a marble playing surface. Needless to say it is not cheap. Pretty much every penny she gets or earns has been put aside for this chess set. Yesterday I took all of the money she received for her birthday plus some she had saved and added the gift certificate that one of her sisters and her brother gave her for downtown Cedar Falls businesses and purchased that chess set. She thinks I put it on hold for her at the store. I'm saving it for just the perfect moment to give it to her. I think I'll milk the helpfulness around the house for just a wee bit longer. :)

Weather, weather, and more weather!

It is hard to believe that it is almost July already. What is sad about this is that I can count on one hand the nice days we've had since school let out for Em on June 10th. As most of you know I took the summer off to spend time with Em before she gets too old to want to spend time with me. :) We had a lot of plans made and most of them involved the outdoors. The weather has put a damper on most of our plans so far. We were supposed to pick a destination and walk there each day no matter how far it was. We've only been able to do that twice. I can't blame the weather for this everyday though. We've had appointments and Em had the Boost program last week. We did have a great day on my birthday though. We left in the morning and didn't get home until about 5:00 p.m. or so. We shopped, saw my mom, went out to eat, did some more shopping, went to Cup of Joe and then had a great supper made by Allison. That following Weds. was another beautiful day but I spent it baking pies for my sons birthday and some cookies for him to take to work. Now I get to blame it on the weather for the rest of the change of plans. So many nights have been spent staying up until 4:00 in the morning monitoring the severity of the storms and making sure all was clear before I could go to sleep. It looks like it may be another long night tonight as well. I could just go to sleep and let my phone wake me up but I've been this way ever since I can remember. When I was little I HATED storms. My dad finally got me to go outside with him for a very short time to look at the clouds. He always made us stay in our cellar and he reassured me that we were very safe because it was a cellar and was underground. I'm not afraid of them anymore and have been known to storm watch on more than one occasion. My kids hate that! At least Em does. Em's fear of storms didn't start until after the Parkersburg/New Hartford tornado from 2 years ago. I don't blame her. So many lives lost and the damage was unbelievable. Then of course the July storm we had last year was pretty bad too. We lost one of our trees in the backyard which surprisingly did very little damage to our property. It fell between everything it could have hit. It did take out part of our swing set though. If there is even a hint of bad weather she brings all of her things down to the living room and camps out. Of course that means I do too. I can only pray that tonight isn't as bad as it seems it might be by looking at the radar and the storms that are likely to hit us that are on their way down from Minnesota. I need to call my niece and tell her to keep that crappy weather up there! There is some good news to celebrate---if the forecasters are correct then we will have beautiful weather pretty much all next week which means Em and I can start having our daily adventures as long as she is back for play practice by 3:30. Her 12th birthday is on July 1st so I am extremely happy that the weather is supposed to be nice. YAY! Have a super week one and all!!!

If truth be told...

Beware of the half truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong half. ~Author Unknown

(Just to warn you---this is not my typical blogging. It is kind of a letter to everyone that I care about.)

The above quote is one of my favorites. I wish more people would think about what is told to them and by whom before believing what they hear. Sometimes I think we should all live our lives as if we have the mindset of a child. They seem to know what is true and what is not and they also tend to be totally honest when they give an opinion. They don't hold grudges and they are always, always willing to forgive.

I have learned so much from the kids I work with and my own kids about listening to every side of a story and trying not to pass judgement because sometimes it is impossible to figure out just what the truth is. Sometimes when a person voices an opinion on something that is all it is...an opinion.

Someone I care about lost her husband today in a terrible accident. I know this isn't exactly related to my blog subject but then again it kind of is. What I want to tell everyone is that life is too short to hold grudges and let hurt or hate rule your heart. Most of the time what is perceived as the truth is only a half truth or not true at all.

Please, please hold your family close and just love them. God gave them to you for a reason. And I don't just mean your immediate family. I mean anyone that is related to you in any way, shape or form.

There is one thing more that I need to say. If I have hurt anyone in any way I am truly sorry. If you really, truly know me then you know I would never intentionally hurt anyone. That isn't me. I am not perfect and I say things without thinking about how they might be perceived. I'm only human...

Big Dreams and Moving On

It is hard to believe that in 2 more days Em will no longer be in elementary school. It is exciting but scary at the same time. (She is excited and I am scared.) I know every mom feels this way when their "baby" grows up but somehow it seems more difficult for me to let her go than it was when her brother and sisters were her age. Dan and Laura went to St. Pat's through 8th grade and Allison went there through 6th grade so I guess their moving on seemed like less of a drastic step. Dan also went on to Columbus instead of the public schools. Em transferred to Lincoln when she was in 3rd grade. Hmm. Kind of weird. We switched the girls over to the public schools each at a different grade level. It gave them so many more opportunities than Dan had. It also exposed them to more cultures and religions which I think is a really good thing.
Em had a dance recital this past weekend. She did a wonderful job especially during the ballet dance she was in. I went both Saturday night and Sunday afternoon so I could watch her dance twice. She was so poised and graceful during the ballet number. It brought tears to my eyes. She did pretty well in the jazz number she was in too but I think she is destined to be a ballerina. :) She's been in ballet since she was 5 and she gets better and better each year. She wants to go on to be a toe dancer eventually but she has to be older so her feet have a chance to grow to their full length before she starts. I'm going to talk to Ms. Jackie about putting her in an additional ballet class so she can get more time to practice. She would love to dance with the company (and she does do company ballet) but I don't think her schedule and homework demands once she starts at Holmes this fall will allow it. It is a dream of hers to continue on in dance and the performing arts all the way through college and beyond. I love her dreams. <3

Yawn!

Hello everyone! Isn't it absolutely beautiful out this evening? I love days like this. It was a bit too warm for my taste earlier but it is perfect right now!
I can't believe that I only have 7 more days of school left. Em has 10. As much as I love where I work I am SO ready for a break (thus the YAWN as my blog title.) :)
I've been debating whether to ask Em's ear doctor if he will put another set of tubes in her ears. I think this would make it set number 7. I know she's almost 12 but she has had 4 or 5 infections since something like September and she has another one. This time it is in both ears. She can't seem to get a break! Of course this means absolutely no swimming at all for the summer or for that matter maybe forever. She is deaf in her left ear and we don't want to take the chance of her going deaf in her right one as well which could happen if she continues to battle these infections.
On a lighter note, she is growing like a weed! I had to buy her a new pair of ballet shoes and a new pair of jazz shoes so her toes wouldn't be squashed for her dance recital on June 5th and 6th. I think she is going to be all legs. :)
Not much happening to blog about tonight so I will say adios for now. Did I spell that correctly Jessie?