save save save

Ryan qualified to go dance at the Irish Dance world championships in Belfast this year.  Granted, he qualified by placing 2/2 and the top 5 get to go, but it's still an amazing opportunity.  So how do I make this work?  I'm saving everything I can.  Making coffee at home.  Bringing my lunch.  Feeding the damn pig.

But I feel guilty because I am pushing aside everything that Dani wants to do.  How do I keep things fair? 

I need a money tree!

Santa part two

Christmas morning Mikey goes running downstairs.  He sees his War Machine action figure.  He sees his Mighty Beanz.  He is so happy Santa brought him everything he asked for.  He starts to tear into everything.

"But wait" mom says.  "Here's a note from Santa".

The note reads
"Dear Michael,
I brought you the toys you asked for this year, but I heard you were very naughty at school.  You can't open the toys unless you are good at school.  Please try to listen better next year"

His face fell as the realization sank in.  Santa knew he had been naughty.  Just like the song says.

Mikey has been an angel at school since he went back.  His teachers have thanked us over and over.  The other kids who got their presents went back to being little monsters.  I know I'm not in line for mother of the year any time soon, but I'm OK with that.  I figured out how to keep the big man working for me all year long. 

Christmas hits and misses

This year we went to see the big man at the start of December.  Princess was having a hard day, her boots were too hot and her dress was too scratchy but she sucked it up.  We took turns distracting the kids and waiting in line for an hour and when we reached the front, Mikey went running up to Santa in typical Mikey fashion

"Santa Santa - I want a war machine for Christmas this year." 

Now Santa has been doing this for a long time and there is a method to the madness.  Step one is you take the picture with the kids, step two you chat them up while the sales people sell portrait packages.  So Santa tries to corral the kids for the picture. 

Mikey continues on

"Santa I've been good.  Can I get Mighty Beanz too???"

Santa gets the finiky princess into place

"Santa - my sister wants her two front teeth!"

We get them in for the picture.  Santa hands them candy canes and asks Dani what she wants.  She whispers to Santa
"A cat"
and then we are outta there.

...to be continued

Two steps forward one step back

I'm not sure how I feel about the new medication. It's done wonders for her focus. She is there and on task. A little too on task. But mid day we have little melt downs. Not big ones but they are more frequent.

She's taken to creating graphs. I got a circle graph showing how much money was in her piggy bank and this graph for how she feels. I just adore this child - is it obvious?




Today was a good day. I love how under 10% is a frown and anything higher is a smile.

I had a long chat with a coworker about the psychiatrist and how I felt about him. She knew exactly who I was talking about and had actually told me stories about her daughters bad experience with this same doctor and the medication a few weeks back. I had an appointment for the end of January with a different doctor that I hadn't gotten around to canceling. I do think I will be keeping that one.

That it for today's update. Maybe I'll write more later. Maybe I won't.

Goodnight John Boy!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day three on Focalin - storm clouds...

Here we are on Day Three. My observations are as follows
1. First couple hours are great - Ms. Dani is focused and sparkly.
2. A couple hours in, the storm clouds settle behind her eyes and she looses her sparkle.
3. She complains of her stomach hurting and looks unhappy
4. Second dose - repeat of pattern.

I'm not sure this is the right medication for her. The outbursts are shorter, but more intense. They are also more frequent.

I have put my faith in modern medicine - I know there has to be something out there that will work for her - that will help her get through the ADHD but not set the Aspergers on fire.

I hate the child psychiatrist we went to see. He has no bedside manner and is very clinical. Why specialize in children if you have all of the tenderness of a seasick crocodile?

I'm going to tough it out a little longer and see but I'm not thinking this is the one for us.

On to something new

Back in October, we put Dani on Adderall to help with her ADHD.  It worked wonders - she was so focused in school and was doing amazing - but it really aggravated her Aspergers.  She went into severe crying fits where she would just shut us all out and curl up into a ball.  We love the benefits - the added focus - the fact that she doesn't wander off when walking from one side of the room to the other - but the  meltdowns were heartbreaking and had to go.

This week we met with a child psychiatrist.  He stated that he doesn't usually recommend stimulants for kids with Apsergers but since she had such positive effects from the Adderall, he was going to have us try Focalin.  Now - my first thought when I hear Focalin is the episode of The Simpsons where Bart is put on Focasin.  He becomes an ideal student and then turns into a conspiracy theorist who steals a tank.  The ending is one of my favorites ever.



Back to Ms. Dani. Day one on Focalin. She's downstairs going through all the toys in her playroom looking for toys to donate to other kids. Usually any talk about culling the overgrown pile of toys results in her breaking down in tears sobbing that she loves all her toys. Today not so much. She has a giant bag filled with toys that need to go to new homes.

Cross your fingers and toes for us.

How to make your nasty UGGs like new

So after two years of faithful service, my poor UGGs were getting really nasty. They looked fine, but the inside was just disgusting.  I searched the web up and down and couldn't find anyone agreeing on the proper washing of the insides of the boots.  Come on web - don't fail me now - I just want to know how to clean the insides of my UGGs

Several sites said to use the washing machine.  Followed by comments that said not to use the washer.  I am not convinced that UGG goes around and tells people not to use the washing machine.  Just to make you buy new boots.  I can see not using the dryer but the washing machine made sense to me.

So I told myself - lets do this - and I tossed the boots in the washing machine on the hand wash setting.  When they were done, I took them out - and loosely stuffed the toes with paper towels.  I then propped the boots upside down on tall bottles on top of an armoire by a heater vent (not directly in front of the vent but by the vent).  After a day - I took the boots down - fluffed the insides of the boots with a towel - to kind of uncrush the fluffy stuff - and then lightly restuffed the toes and put the boots back on their bottles. 

During this entire process my husband is thinking I'm nuts.  I'm sure I am.  But I'm also cheap and can't bear to throw out these boots because they were a couple hundred bucks and they are made from real sheepskin.  I'm not crazy vegetarian like the girl child but if I can get these boots to last a couple more years, I'll be very happy.

The good news is that after two days of drying I put the boots on and they feel like new.  They are getting a run through with the suede conditioner and scotchguard, and we will be good to go.

SO if you are on the fence trying to decide if you are going to toss your boots or wash them - try washing them!