Another Sarah Report

Monday morning, we had an cardiac clinic appointment with Sarah's cardiologist, Dr. Williams. Let me start by saying, things are good, no changes in treatment, and we'll see him again in 6 months. YEA! She went in early for blood work and then when we got there, they did the chest x-ray, EKG, and O2 reading. All her numbers were a little lower than last time. Her oxygen saturation reading was only 79 (she's usually mid- to low-80's). He thinks this was because she's just getting over a cold, and being stuffed up hinders her oxygen levels. Her protein levels were a little lower too, with the albumen being at 3.5 (last time it was 4.0). When she was so sick last year, The albumen levels got clear down to 1.4 or something awful like that. (Normal for a healthy person is 4.0 to 6.0, and the doctor wants her between 2.5 and 4.0.) So, although they're down a little, he's not concerned, so we're trying not to be, either! He explained to us that although the numbers tell us much, the manifestation of the symptoms of this disease (Protein Losing Enteropathy - PLE) are really the measuring stick of what's going on inside her. She is feeling well most of the time, except for the stomachaches she has sometimes, but there doesn't seem to be any regular blueness (cyanosis), swelling (edema), diarrhea, or vomiting. So, we're assuming her daily "cocktail" of medications she takes along with the low fat diet (<30g/day) are keeping everything in check. I must say that the lower numbers make me a little nervous, but since the doctor's comfortable, I've decided to blame it on her recent cold, and trust him (and most especially, the Lord). I'm sure things will be okay, and the great, relatively healthy summer she had will drift into a relatively healthy winter and spring.

Saved by a Three Year-Old

This is one of those "Smiles and Sunshine" moments I built this blog for. I have a hard time remembering details about what happened last week, so I thought I better get this cute little story posted before I forget.

A few days ago, I was working on the computer and Nathan came in crying. He had tears streaming down his face, and his expression was one of those scrunched-up hurt-feelings faces that makes you think, "Oh, great. Now what did they do to my baby?" He climbed up on my lap and tried, through his sobs, to tell me what happened. I honestly couldn't decipher any of it, but know I heard Rachel's name somewhere in there. Trying to do the "mommy thing" and fix it for him, I facetiously asked if we should go and spank Rachel. Nathan immediately stopped crying and looked at me with a worried look on his face. He said to me, "Oh, no, Mommy! Not Rachel. She's such a good sister!" That made my heart melt. It was so precious, we went together to tell her what he had said. I found out from Rachel and a guilt-faced Bryson that he was the one that made him cry by pushing the teasing a little too far. After a half-hearted apology, Nathan forgave him, and everything was fine again.

By the way, Rachel later confessed that she was laughing and probably added to the problem. Hmmmm... Perhaps she shouldn't have been spared after all! Good thing her littlest brother loves her so much!

Who's the Biggest Loser?

When Shaunna was here this last summer, we were talking about how we need to lose weight and get in better shape. Mom had been struggling with her diabetes and blood sugar levels that were so screwy she didn't know what to do. Then she told us about Mike on The Biggest Loser, whose Dad was diabetic and on lots of other medications for his poor health and by the end of the season was off all his medications. She said, "That's what I want. I don't even care if I'm skinny ever again, I just want to be healthy and in control." Kristina had just had Kassandra and with her gestational diabetes experience, was feeling much the same way. So, we talked about doing our own special brand of Biggest Loser, working together for support and encouragement.

Shaunna and Kristina worked out a good and fair way to administer the challenge and invited each of us to participate. We had such excitement among the Dixon girls that we all agreed to participate and Krystal's sister, Shamae and Kristina's daughter, Shannon are also on board! We had to re-vamp the exercise portion and worked it out to have a weight loss winner and an exercise winner (since we all need to exercise and be fit, but only some have a significant amount weight to lose). That way, we all have a goal and a chance to win!

We each agreed to put in $35 to the winner's pot. That's $280 for winnings!! ($180 goes to the biggest loser, and $100 for the exercise winner.) We have to weigh in every Monday morning and report our weight that day and hours of exercise the past week. Kristina calculates the percentage of body weight we lost (or gained) that week and gives us one exercise point for each half-hour we spent exercising. I built a blog (...sorry, it's private to protect our losers) where she posts the results and we can go in search of support and encouragement from each other. We started on August 31st, and will end on March 29th (7 months).

At this point, I've not done very well with the contest results. I'm about in the mediocre range for exercising and second-to-last in the weight loss. But, it is helping, and I am doing (and feeling) great! My ultimate goal in participating in this little (okay, huge) challenge is to be healthy and feel good about myself. With all the heart, blood pressure, and diabetes issues in my mom's family, I'm determined to be healthy and avoid them as long as I can. In order to do that, I have to make some lifestyle changes and commit to being healthy, and therefore...happy. The thing I've noticed is that because I have to be accountable for my weight, I am much more careful what I spend my carbs on. Last week, I imposed a diet upon myself, combining some things from South Beach, some from Jilian Michaels' Master your Metabolism book, some from an insulin resistance Link and Balance Diet, and the common sense things I've known, but not followed, most of my adult life. Also, my desire to exercise has increased dramatically. For starters, we have to exercise at least 30 minutes, 3 times a week for any of our exercise to count. So, who wants to have only 3 points at the end of the week? Not me! So the intensity and drive is so much greater than ever before. And the more I exercise, the better I feel after a good workout, the more I want to feel it again the next day. Kind of cool how that works. The more energy I use, the more energy I gain, and the more energy I have to spend.

So far, I've only lost 2 pounds. But, in the last week, I've noticed that my body's changing and some of my clothes are fitting differently. You know, a little more room around the thighs, bum and arms, not quite so tight on the belly. It feels so good, and is so motivating! Can't wait to weigh in the morning and see if my new "diet" is really working! Actually, I can't wait til next March to see how I look and feel then!

Life After the Diagnosis

It's been about 8 months since Bryson was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. Some days I can totally forget that there's anything different about him, and think we were hasty in seeking a diagnosis. Other days, I'm so grateful to finally have an explanation and some tools to help us be able to help him through this adventure we call life.

After waiting forever for the doctor to send referrals and get appointments set up for us with therapists, we finally bypassed him and with the help of his nurse, we started some therapy. Bryson went to his first Occupational Therapy appointment in August, the week I was gone to girls camp. Steve took him in and they started the assessment process. His therapist is a cute and sweet girl (probably in her late 20's) named Tonja. It is so fun to watch how she interacts with him. At their first appointment, she told Bryson that she loved his name and when she has a little boy, she wants to name him that. (Her last name is Brown, too.) Bryson beamed. Through the evaluation, we learned that there were some things that she can help us with, mostly related to gross motor skills and building the large muscle groups. She gave us some tips to deal with homework time and some information about Sensory Diet and how to help him with his sensory needs. There is so much to learn. First, we let him go outside and jump on the neighbor's trampoline for about a half hour. She taught us that since he's spent so much time at school trying to focus, he's probably really burned out and needs to use his large muscles to kick his mind back into gear. Through the sensory information, we also discovered some music that he loves to listen to with a steady quick rhythm to keep him going at a reasonable pace.

The miracle occurred after the first week of school, and now homework time isn't nearly the nightmare it was last year. It still requires preparation and focus on my part, but we've made significant strides. I'm not sure if it's the maturity I've seen developing in him, the new desk arrangement for homework time, the "homework helpers" (small reward treats), the beat of his new favorite music, or the exercise prior to homework time, but something (maybe a combination of all of it) has clicked, and he works hard until the chore is done. He works so much more independently and sticks to it until we can sign it all off. I can tell that he's really trying and I tell him almost every day how much I appreciate his hard work and amazing focus.

About 5 weeks ago, we went back to visit the psychologist to talk about some therapy that the pediatrician recommended to help with stress management and relaxation techniques. He refereed us to Renee and we started seeing her, too. She assessed the needs based on his original diagnosis report, and the things I shared with her, and by observing and talking to Bryson. She's already taught him some breathing and relaxation techniques (using sensory reminders) that will help him be more "grounded" and focused for homework time. We haven't had to use them yet, but she taught them to me, too, so we could do them together. She spends time with me (or Steve) alone, or with Bryson, to discuss issues that come up and offer ideas and insight to help us better deal with the hard situations.

At our last session, she taught me the importance of focusing on praising his effort, rather than the whole. We had a situation during that week where I was correcting some of his spelling and the "criticism" was just too much. He shut down. When I got him back and talking to me, he told me that he felt stupid and hated that he makes mistakes. I realized at that moment how damaging my "help" was to him, but was worried also because I don't want him to get his homework back with everything marked wrong. I can see how damaging that could be, too. So, I asked Renee how to help and correct him without criticizing. She told me that in our society we focus on the end result as being "good" or "bad", "right" or "wrong" and that for kids like Bryson, he needs to know that each step of the way is a battle he is winning. She suggested that I praise his straight lines, nice handwriting, or the creative sentence and then ask him if he can see something that's not correct in the sentence (or problem). I tried it the next day, and realized how turning it into a game, and having him find the mistakes himself was a much better way to help him learn. I also realized in our discussion that his very literal mind hadn't completely grasped the "rules" or concepts in the assignment. The assignment was to "choose 7 spelling words and write 7 sentences." To you and I, that also includes application of the understood rules of proper grammar, spelling, capitalizaiton, and punctuation in those 7 sentences. Yet, every sentence he wrote started with a lower case letter and had misspelled words (including his chosen spelling words). It's amazing what you can learn when you step outside of the moment and look at things from an AS mind. We approached that and a couple of other issues with his teacher in his IEP meeting.

We had the IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting a week or so ago. We feel so blessed that he is able to attend The Academy, where the environment of the school already addresses much of what Bryson needs. We brought up the thought of giving speific guidelines to each assignment and the teacher agreed that it would probaly help all of her students to have that reminder. We talked about having short-term assignments written out for him to better pace himself with the long-term assignments. His special ed teacher suggested that homework shouldn't take as long as it does, so we also made accommodations for his math homework (when appropriate) to be written out for him, so he can focus on working the problems rather than the transfer of information. He also gets to do his "mad minutes" math facts with flash cards instead of on the paper for the same reasons. We also talked about how note taking is so tedious for him with this stuggle between transfer and processing information and asked that a copy of the teacher's notes be provided so I can help him at home to make sure he has all the right informaiton on his study guides and worksheets. He will also be receiving OT at school once a week to reinforce the activity goals that Tonya has begun.

I'm so excited about the progress we've made, the special alone moments and talks I've had with him driving to and from therapy, and the much-needed help we're getting for him and us. I feel like things are moving at a nice even roll now, and that we have many more tools and resources to help us work through the bumps. He's such a special kid with so much to offer and I love him and his special little self sooo much!

A Bear and Two Arrow Points

After cramming a few family home evenings with "character connections", letter writing, and family outdoor games, a few talks with dad, and a soap carving of a semi-truck, Bryson finished all the requirements for his Bear Award in Cub Scouts! He worked right up until the last possible minute to get it at Pack Meeting a couple of weeks ago. He was so proud! When he dropped his book off at the scout leader's house, he held up his hand for a high-five, and grinned the whole night. He worked really hard and also earned a gold and silver arrow point.

Admiring the Bear and Arrow Point Patches

Pinning on the Mother's Pin
(Good practice for those corsages on Prom Night!)

Bryson and Andrew (a fellow scouter) both received exactly the same awards that night!

He still has a couple of weeks until his birthday and is trying to get at least one more arrow point. I love how cub scouts gives him something to look forward to each week and an opportunity to work toward lots of small goals. The pride he feels when he completes requirements for each of his major awards just shines in his face. It's so good for him, and makes his mom (and dad) so proud! Way to go, Buddy!

I'm A Domestic Goddess...

Okay, maybe that's going a little too far, but I've done some pretty cool domestic-type things this last few months that I'm awfully proud of. You know how when you want to grow up to be a wife and mommy, you plan to be able to do all the cool and amazing things your mom did? Then, you get married and learn that you're also expected to do all the wonderful things your husband's mom did, too? Well, for the first 18 years of marriage, I have hated ironing, almost never (except one disastrous meal and one special recipe) made gravy from meat drippings, failed miserably and gave up on my mother-in-law's "no fail pie crust" recipe, and never made a loaf of bread with my hands, from scratch.

Well, I've decided to call this my Season of Growth in the Homemaking Arena. Since Father's Day, I've made four amazingly flaky and delicious no-fail pie crusts, made chicken gravy from a roasted chicken that even our friend who doesn't like gravy said was wonderful, bottled 12 quarts of peaches (water bath canned) all by myself, made beautiful twin loaves of yummy sourdough bread (from my own sourdough start), bottled 22 quarts of green beans (pressure canned) all by myself, and made a "just right" lemon meringue pie that looked as beautiful as my mom's and caused a great big grin on my husband's face. How's that for developing my talents? I know that He who created me is the one that gave me these hidden abilities, but I'm so excited, I've allowed myself just a few small moments of unrighteous pride...

Oh, yeah. And thanks to those who gave me tips, pointers, encouragement, recipes, and you know, ...helped me!

Back into the Swing of Things...

Well, we've been back in school for... a month for my Charter School kids, and 3 weeks for my Junior at Century High School. Yeah, I can't believe she's that old, either. Rachel is in 8th, Bryson 4th and Joshua 1st grade. I can't believe any of them are that old. The first day of school was pretty exciting. Sarah was still sleeping (she still had another week of summer break), Rachel was spending record time in the bathroom with the spiral curling iron, and the boys were dressed by 7:10 and making their sack lunches in the kitchen. Nathan was all caught up in the excitement, too, making his own lunch and packing his "pack-pack". (Sarah and I had to take him to the park to eat his packed lunch that day.)

Joshua, Rachel and Bryson on the first day of school
August 14th, 2009

...And Nathan on their first day of school...

Sarah's first day of school
August 20th, 2009

So, after a month, how are things going? Bryson had a major homework meltdown and Joshua had a little period of "bad choices" at school the first week, but everyone seems to have settled in and is doing great now! ...Whew! We love the kids' teachers, the new administrators at the charter school, and the new routine that comes with school schedules. Rachel's life changed a little bit this year with some of her good friends leaving to the traditional jr. high, and the new homework load of 8th grade. But, she's been busy, involved in student council and mostly happy. Sarah has only had one "sick day" so far, and we're thrilled that she's enjoying her classes and strengthening friendships. Nathan and I hang out all day at home (if we're lucky) and plan to have lots of trips to the library for storytime and special mommy-time at home. All in all, I'd say school is going great, and things are good. I'm holding my breath that life won't get much crazier and that homework time won't put me in a mental hospital this year!

Baby Blues is one of my favorite cartoons. Steve clips it out for me at least once every couple of weeks as it seems to apply so directly to my crazy mommy-life with my great kids! This was one he cut out last Spring, during burn-out season, but it also seems so applicable now....