Elmo Love

Trying Some New things for Gigi's Behavior

Ok, so Gigi's behavior has been improving but it is a very slow and long process. I know that these things take time, but i can't help but think that there is more that we could be dong to help her.

So here is what we have done over the past year;

- Although we do not stick to it 100% of the time, we have changed her diet to follow along the lines of the ADHD Diet the pediatrician had recommended last year. Like, I said, we don't follow it perfectly and we don't follow it all the time, but we stick to it as much as possible and it's now been a year. She had warned that this would not be the total answer, but I honestly hoped to see a more dramatic difference. the thing we most failed to follow was the dairy. Gigi LOVES milk, cheese and yogurt and I just couldn't bear to take away these things that are in every other way very healthy for kids.

- We have had regular appointments with a behavior therapist. Unfortunately, he really has not suggested anything we had not tried before but he does force us to have accountability. Knowing that we have to go back into his office and report on what we have done and what has worked/not worked makes us try harder I suppose. It's a little sad to me that I need this push, but hey, I am only human. Anyway, he has suggested some breathing techniques to her to try and control her emotions, listening to some calm music with headphones to take her away from surrounding distractions and frustrations, reward charts to visually show her how she is behaving day to day and a visual routine board on what is expected throughout the day.

But, as I said earlier, I keep feeling that there is more we can be doing for her. So, being the internet junkie that I am, I began to surf the web. I came across some forums for parents of ADHD children where they discussed what worked for them. I wrote down a few interesting options and then did some independent research on each.

Namely, I looked into DHA supplements, Vitamin B, some balm for sleep help and an herbal tea for sleep as well.

Well, I went to our local health store and began searching. I spoke with one of the associates in the store about what I was looking for. I never mentioned the specific items I was looking for, only that I was looking for some things to help my ADHD child. She immediately recommended DHA. So, I picked up a bottle of liquid DHA made specifically for children. It is said to help with focus. The associate also recommended another supplement I had not heard of; Behavior Balance - DMG, also in liquid form. This is for improved behavior patterns and social skills and contains Vitamin B which I wanted to get anyway. Together the supplements totaled nearly $50, but I am really hoping to see a difference in our little girl.

I also wanted to pick up a really good multi-vitamin that is free of artificial colors, dyes or sweeteners, but there were so many choices I felt overwhelmed. My dad's wife is a dietitian and nutritionist and she had sent us some chewable vitamins a few years ago that were really good - maybe I will ask her what they were called and stick with those.

So, Gigi is to have a 1/2 teaspoon of each supplement a day. I gave her the first dose today so I will give it a couple weeks before reporting back on how/if it is working.

The other thing I looked into were some things to help with her sleep. She has a very hard time winding down at night, something I have learned is very common among ADHD children. I read about a balm that you rub on the temples that has some aromatherapy qualities to calm and relax. The health food store didn't have any of this though. The other thing I had read about was easy enough to get from the local supermarket; Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime Tea. Tonight was the third night I have given it to Gigi, but already I have noticed a big difference. I hope it continues.

If you want to know more about this tea and our experience so far with it, you should check out my new blog (yes, I have yet ANOTHER blog) at www.busybuzzer.blogspot.com.

Well, I think that is all for now. Hopefully at least some of this will work!

Gigi's Fifth Birthday!

On May 27th Gigi turned FIVE!!!! I can not believe she is already five. I don't know why, but five seems like such a milestone birthday.

Anyhow, her birthday fell on a weekday this year so we had her party the Sunday before - on the 23rd. She wanted a "Hannah Montana" party and so that is what she got! I have been slowly collecting items for this party for about 6 months!!

Just for her party, I made a tutu in her party colors: pink purple and blue. I also embellished a shirt to with it. I appliqued the "Birthday Girl" to the front with Hannah Montana fabric. Of course little man had to be rocking out too - check out his "faux-hawk"!

Since we are not currently in our own home, I rented out the community clubhouse for the day to hold the party. I decorated using pink, purple and blue. With my trusty Cricut machine, I created centerpieces for the tables as well as some little confetti type cut-outs to throw on top of the tablecloths.

We had a pinata.

I set up a craft table where the kids decorated little cloth tote bags that they used to catch their pinata goodies. On one wall I hung a store bought mural where I took pictures of Gigi and all of her friends together.

For food we decided to make our lives easy and we just order some pizza pies from Pizza Hut.

I was not too happy with how the cake came out. I don't have any of my own kitchen stuff here - and definitely don't have any of my normal baking things. But it was Hannah Montana so it worked out.

In the end, all the kids had a blast and Gigi got tons of great gifts.

Last day of VPK

Thursday was Gigi's last day of VPK. To "celebrate" the school had an end of the year party for the entire school - but students only. Parents were not invited to this end of the year party.

The school also did NOT acknowledge that the kids in the VPK class would be going on to Kindergarten next year in any way - no graduation, no certificate - nothing!!

I will go into more on this whole disaster another night. It makes me so angry thinking about everything and I just don't have the energy now.

In short though, I am HIGHLY disappointed with this "school" and it's directors and I really feel like Gigi had gained NOTHING from this entire year - not even social skills.


Details to follow later....

Gigi's Five Year Well Check Up

Gigi had her five year old well check up today.

My little peanut is now 26.8 pounds and 37 inches tall!!!! She is so tiny!

Her blood pressure was great at 78/60 and she passed her hearing test with flying colors.

Physically she is doing fantastic. We are still working on the behavior issues, but we are making progress. We are also working on sleeping through the night in her own room. All in good time, I guess.

The good news is, she is very healthy!!

Pipa's Annual Visit!

Every year my father comes to visit us for a week. I love having this time with him and look forward to it every year. Unfortunately, this year he had to actually stay at my brother's house since we are not in our own home right now. Good thing he has an upstairs with three bedrooms and a bathroom that he never uses!!

Anyhow, we were still able to spend some quality time with each other and it's always great when the kids see him, since it's not all that often.

Here are some pictures from his visit:

We had a great week, but like all great things, it had to come to an end. I miss you already, Dad. can't wait to see you again.

Mother's Day

For Mother's day, hubby had the great idea of having a family picnic at a local park. Unfortunately, only hubby's side of the family was able to make it, but we still had a great time!

Anyhow, we rented out one of the park shelters for the day. We were able to get a great one that was a short walking distance to the playground and restrooms and also had it's own green space around for playing. Everyone chipped in and brought hot dogs with all the fixings, different salads, chips, drinks and watermelon. Actually, we ended up with FOUR large watermelons!!

The kids had lots of fun playing various games around the shelter with items supplied by my sister-in-law; baseball, horseshoes, catch, bubbles etc.

We walked over to the playground and had even more fun there. The food was great, as was the company and conversation.

While there we also did a combined mini birthday celebration for all the May birthdays we have in this family; five including mine. All the birthday girls had a cupcake with a candle in it and we all sang. Everyone opened their gifts and polished off their sweets.

It was very hot, but it was lots of fun!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Today is the big day...my birthday...and not just any birthday, it's the BIG THREE-OH!!!!

Blah Blah...I feel like I'm 20 - so there!!

With the exception of my baby boy not feeling well (he is very congested now, has started coughing and his little voice is hoarse, poor thing) I have had a great day!

My dad is here visiting and it's been a while since I've been able to celebrate my birthday with him here so this was a very special treat!

So, my dad, mom, hubby, kids big bro and sister in law went out for dinner at Asian Fusion Buffett. The restaurant was my choice, mainly because they have a HUGE sushi bar there and it is all you can eat!!! Believe me, I ate all I could eat :)

So dinner was great and then we went back to my mom's house (aka our pseudo "apartment") for cake and presents.

hubby got me a delicious chocolate cake (my favorite!) and I got some really awesome gifts; a new bath wrap and lotion, a Cricut cartridge, the BIG Cricut cutting mat, needles for my sewing machine, a quilting ruler, a marking pen for sewing, some really cute Capri pants, a nice pair of sandals, a few comfy pajama sets, some beautiful jewelery and money to buy anything else my little heart desires :) .... which will probably be more sewing and scrapbooking stuff :)

So, yeah, I was downright SPOILED!!! And I loved it!! :)

Another Scary Seizure

Unfortunately, J had another seizure yesterday.

He woke up Wednesday morning at about 7:30 a.m. and felt a bit warm to me. I took his temp and it read 99.0. I normally would not give my kids any medication for a fever as low as this, but because of the past febrile seizure I didn't want to take an chances. I gave him a dose of Tylenol and went about our day. At this point he had no indications of any other sickness at all. By lunch time I began to notice his nose was a bit runny and he was beginning to sound a little congested. At 1:30 p.m. I gave him another dose of Tylenol even though he did not have a fever by then.

At about 4:30pm he began to feel like he was warming up again. Since I had just given him the Tylenol at 1:30pm, it was too soon yo give him anything else. I was holding him next to me as he napped at this point.

At around 5 he was really feeling HOT against my skin, so I decided to check his temp again. It was 102.9. I gave him a dose of Motrin at exactly 5pm. At 5:03pm, he had a seizure.

Just like the first seizure, it was as though he knew it was about to happen. He woke from his sleep, eyes as wide as saucers with a terrified look. He then opened his mouth wide, screamed and the seizure began.

With the seizure he had in January, his eyes rolled back and his whole body shook uncontrollably. It lasted just barely over a minute. He lost consciousness and took about half hour before he would cry. It then took quite a few hours before he was acting normal again.

This time, his eyes rolled back, his little hands clenched into fists, his arms pulled up against his chest and his head and arms jerked violently. He drooled a lot and turned blue around his entire mouth area. ti lasted for about 45 seconds to a minute. When it was over, he gasped for breath and immediately began to cry.

Although I knew they probably could not do anything, we rushed him to the Emergency Room.

They did not do any of the tests that had been performed the first time, they only did a chest x-ray. The radiologist who checked the x-ray claimed that it looked as though he may have pneumonia, but maybe not. I was SO mad at that, what was I supposed to with that (lack of) information????

Anyway, they gave us a prescription for Zithromax for the "pneumonia" and said to follow up with our pediatrician and a pediatric neurologist.

We did not fill that prescription right away as I wanted the opinion of our pediatrician whom I trust.

So, this morning we went in to see Dr. Thole. She looked him over and said his lungs sounded great and did not think he had pneumonia. She called the hospital to get a copy of the film and the report just in case. After reviewing everything she felt confident that he in fact did not have pneumonia, but a viral infection. The antibiotics would not be of any help.

She recommended a pediatric neurologist and we already have an appointment...for JUNE! At least it's June 2nd and not the end of June.

Anyhow, the pediatrician just feels that this is simply febrile seizures. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do about except wait for him to "outgrow" them. sadly that could take until age six so we have a long way to go.

Just to be thorough and be sure there is not something more serious going on, we will be seeing the neurologist. I will be sure to write an update next month.

Please pray that this does not happen again, it breaks my heart to see his little body go through that.

18 Month Check up

Today J had his 18 month well visit with the pediatrician.

He is now 18 pounds, 28.75 inches tall and his head circumference is 17.5 inches. All three measurements are in the fifth percentile on growth charts. He's little but he is steadily growing so doc says he is doing well.

As far as his development, the pediatrician has told us time and again that boys are very different than girls in the way they develop. What may be delayed development in a girl may actually be average for a boy.

That being said, she says his fine motor skills and gross motor skills are actually slightly advanced for an 18 month old boy....which translates to average for an 18 month girl :)

However, even for a boy she feels his speech is delayed. He does try to say things but just can;t seem to get it out. He does extremely well with imitating sounds like the melody of a song etc, but can not actually form many letter sounds.

He can currently say "Mama", "Dada" "nana" (for banana), "u" (for up) and "ba ba" (for bye-bye). He can sign "again", "please", "thank you", "bath" and "cracker".

Anyhow, she did mention speech therapy however she would like to wait until he is two. She thinks that he actually may "catch up" since he does attempt to make the sounds. Plus she does not feel that at this point in time a speech therapist could do much more for him than we already do. We already name everything, point things out, repeat the words slowly and clearly etc. There is no physical reasoning for his speech delay (not "tongue tied" or anything like that) so he may just be a late bloomer. If at his two year check up his speech is still delayed (for a 2 year old boy at that point) then she will make sure we get him speech therapy.

We also brought up some issues.

First is the issue of his sleep habits. J is really great at going down to sleep at night. Every night we have dinner, give him a bath, read him a story and then lay him down in his crib while he is still wide awake. We leave the room and within a few minutes he sound asleep. No fussing, no crying, no whining. Just straight to sleep. Wonderful, right? Only he is up screaming and crying about 3/4 hours later. If I go in to him, I can nurse him and put him back in bed, but then he gets up about 2 hours later again. So I usually just end up taking him back to bed with me.

The pediatrician said that at this point there is no nutritional need for him wanting to nurse at night. It's comfort and habit now. She said it is now basically up to me when I want to wean him, but that when I/we am/are ready that would be the only solution she could think of to get him to stop wanting to nurse at night.

The other issue we have been having is that he can be a bit aggressive at times. He will often, and for no reason, bite, pinch and slap. What's worse is when I tell him "no" he usually looks up and laughs.

Well, I know this may be a point of controversy with some, but I agree with the ped's suggestion for the biting. She suggested that when he bits, to immediately put just a dab of liquid soap across his lips and tell him "no biting!". When he inevitably cries and cringes at the taste of the soap, immediately allow to drink something from his sippy cup. I'm sure some may find this mean or unnecessary but I will be doing this, because his biting really hurts. As for the pinching and slapping (which he doesn ot do nearly as often as the biting) she suggested to place his hands on his lap and tell him"no pinching/slapping" firmly.

Other than that, he is doing great and is a very happy little boy. :)

Weekend Getaway

This weekend was hubby's long weekend off from work - he had off Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We decided to take advantage of the time and get away!

I spent all day Thursday packing clothes and loading the van up with pillows, covers, enough food and drinks for 3 days and plenty of movies, coloring books and crayons.

When hubby got home from work, we strapped in the kids and hit the road!

We drove for about 9 hours and made our first stop in Columbia, SC. We got a hotel room for the night to recharge. In the morning we got back into the van and drove around Columbia for a little bit. Pretty cool looking city, lots of large buildings with interesting architecture. After a quick drive around downtown we drove about another hour to Fort Mill, SC. We spent the afternoon here, driving around and stopping for lunch at a Chik-fil-A. We wanted to check out this area because it is one of the areas we are considering moving to in the future. It was a very cute city. There were some really beautiful homes there as well as some open land. There were a few shopping areas. It is not an overly developed city...yet. It seems like it used to be a very small town, all residential, and slowly businesses and home developers have been making their way over.

We want to be in Charlotte, NC but Fort Mill, SC is right on the border and we have been told the taxes are less in South Carolina and the school system is better. Plus, it is only a ten minute drive into Charlotte. So, this is a location we are really considering now.

Our main goal for the weekend was to do some camping. So after driving around for a bit we got back on the interstate and headed to Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

We drove onto the mountain and pitched our tent just before the sun began to set. Since this is not peak season, we were able to get a great site, alone and right in front of a creek. It was beautiful!

The kids entertained themselves by digging around for worms and other bugs. There were plenty of beautiful butterflies for them to chase too.

We cooked hot dogs over the fire for dinner.

Then for dessert we roasted marshmallows.

We were all really tired from all the driving around so we actually went to bed shortly after eating our marshmallows.

Saturday morning, hubby made breakfast over the campfire; eggs, bacon, toast, grapes and juice.

After we ate, we cleaned up and took a few more pictures.

Then we went for a short hike up the mountain and had the opportunity to see a beautiful waterfall.

After we came down from the mountain we hopped back into the van. We drove just a couple miles in hopes of visiting a museum of preserved log cabins and the like, but a bad storm was rolling in. We went into the visitor center in hopes of finding something to keep us busy until the rain stopped. As it turned out, it was Junior Park Ranger day. All kids from age 5-12 could participate in free activities, then take an oath to preserve and protect the forest and then they receive a certificate and badge that says they are a Junior Park Ranger. Even though Gigi is not quite 5 yet, they still let her participate.

She made a beeswax candle in the shape of a flower, a corn shuck doll, a buzz toy and a piece of pottery.

By the time she was done and had her certificate and badge in hand, the rain was coming down even harder. So, at that point we decided it was probably best to just head home.

We got back at about 2 in the morning.

I wish we could have stayed longer. I definitely want to go back again and for at least 3 days at the campsite.

It was tons of fun!!