Thursday, April 24, 2008

The good, the bad, and the merely insane

Good news: Well, we must be insane, because I have an appointment with my RE (short for reproductive endocrinologist - the same doc who helpd me get pregnant with J) on May 21. We decided time was a-wastin', and given my age and history, there was no point in continuing to try by ourselves for three months or six months or whatever if we seriously want to try for a child. I ain't gettin' any younger! Eek! Yay! Eek! Yay!

More good news: Elementary teaching positions have now opened up at three of the elementary schools in town (including the one closest to our house). Brian sent in his applications as soon as we knew, and hopefully he'll get some good news from that.

Bummer news: Brian got a $229 check as his refund from the electric company. It was made out to his ex, as the bill was in her name - he never changed it because they required some insane amount of cash to change it (which is why my bill is still in Kevin's name). So he tried signing her name and depositing it - our bank said no, because his ex wasn't there. Follow lots of calls to the electric company, in which they say they can't reissue the check because it's already been issued (um, how 'bout stopping payment on the first and sending a new one in Brian's name?), and long story short, the only real option is to have his ex (who no longer has any ID with Brian's name on it because she's remarried) write a letter to our bank explaining the situation and saying she releases her right to the check, signing the check with Brian's last name and with her married name, and asking them to let Brian deposit it. So he did - sent a letter for her to sign, sent the check, and sent a self-addressed stamped envelope for her to return it to us. He mailed it yesterday. Today he found the self-addressed stamped envelope and nothing else in our mailbox. So, where is the letter, where is the outside envelope, and most importantly, where the HELL is the check?! We can't afford to eat a $229 loss, and TXU (electric company) may say, "too bad, so sad," even if the postal service lost it. And how the hell would just that come out? And it's got a signature on it to where the bank won't cash it, so I'd think anyone who tried to cash it would be turned away. I'm hoping it fell out and no one recognized the name on the check, so they just put it aside to see if someone would come claim it. I know I left my debit card at the post office once, and they held it for me, so I don't think anyone at our post office would be dishonest enough to take it. We're hoping that the outer envelope just came unsealed and stuff fell out. *sigh* We could really do with having that back.

Other bummer news: Still no sub assignments for Brian, not since the one last week. With him having applications in with four area school districts, I'd think the phone would be ringing just a bit more. I know at one of the sub training sessions he went to, he was just about the only certified teacher there. Wouldn't you think that would count in his favor? I don't know why nothing is coming in, but it's not, and I'm starting to get antsy. Brian is, too.

More good news: J got a 100 on his first spelling test last week! And he's had a slew of green days and good days at the Y program lately. That makes me happy. He still has moments at home, but at least at school, things are going well. This makes me feel like the few dietary changes we've made so far are paying off.

Tonight is J's kindergarten program. He's going to be an army ant, and is really excited about it. They're having it professionally recorded, so I'm buying a DVD copy rather than carting the video camera and hoping I can get some decent shots. I can't wait to see it - I'm sure J will do fine, he always seems to do well in front of a crowd.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Pray hard!

Pray hard, think good thoughts, light candles, whatever works for you. Elementary positions have just (as in today - as of yesterday, they were internal only) opened up to all applicants at three of the elementary schools in town. Brian has already sent in his applications. I hope something works out!!!!! Twitch. Fidget. It would be such a relief to have something lined up for him full-time.

Boy, do I have a lot to catch up on!

We're settling in to married life, J is doing well and seems to be benefiting from having a man around the house, and now if Brian could just get some more sub work rolling in until he finds a full-time job, life would be dandy! So much to write about!

But first - Bloggy Giveaways. I had no idea such a thing existed, until someone posted it on the Lush forums. I'm entering the ones that appeal to me, and with 700+ giveaways posted, there are a lot of those! I'm hoping to have a giveaway of my own the next time they have a Bloggy Carnival.

I've got my first craft show coming up on May 3 - Bright Blessings will have a booth at Midlothian's Spring Fling. It's from 10 AM to 3 PM in Heritage Park, if any of my readers are in the D/FW area, come by and say hi! I'm freaking right out, wondering if I'm anywhere near prepared for this. LOL

And in other news, it looks like Brian will be in a band! He's going to be a bass drummer (*the* bass drummer?) for World Gone Mad. Thanks to my friend Heather and her husband for giving him the opportunity - he's really excited to be getting back to playing, and is driving me bonkers with the sticks and the practice pad. LOL

Busy afternoon at work, I'll write more later! No, really, I will!

Thursday, April 03, 2008

So much going on, I don't know where to start!

Let's see if I can give some nutshell versions of what's going on:

~Brian is all moved in! Yay! We moved the last of his stuff up last Sunday. Now we're trying to bring order out of chaos, cleaning out and dejunking in a major way so we can get it organized for once and for all. No more half-assed shoving stuff in closets just so we can't see it. We are cleaning out the crap. We're planning a garage sale on April 26. J did well with the moving - he got whiny and crabby after a while, but he really was a good helper before he was worn out. He's thrilled that Oscar (Brian's cat) is at the house - he adores her (more on that later).

~J got his third Home-Gram at the after-school program this week - four or five time-outs for talking when he shouldn't have been, not sitting still, not listening, and for calling a parent fat. As it's his third, I now need to call the program director (I've left two messages for her now, and haven't gotten a return call, so apparently it's not *that* important that she speak to me, or I'd have expected a call back by now). He and I had a talk about a lot of things after this, and like he always does when he thinks I'm mad at him, he just burst into tears and became a sobbing mess. On the way home, we decided to order pizza for dinner. He started crying a few minutes after I'd called to order it because he didn't want cheese pizza, he wanted to cook something at home. I asked him what he wanted to fix at home, and he said he couldn't tell me. I told him that I couldn't fix what he wanted if I didn't know what it was, and he started howling that he didn't want to cook at home, he wanted to go eat somewhere because that was better. *sigh* He sobbed most of the way home. After we got home, I gave him half a juice glass of Dr Pepper and he calmed down almost immediately. He sat still all the way through dinner and ate a good solid meal rather than getting up every two or three bites and running off to do something else. He did what I asked without balking like he usually does. He played quietly with his Bionicles after dinner and wasn't all over the map with the "mama, mama, LOOK, come SEE, heyIfoundthisreallycoolBioniclevideoandweneedtowatchittwenty-seventimes" like he usually is in the evenings. It was amazing. I'd started the caffeine experiment because I'd read that caffeine may be helpful in kids with ADHD, and I didn't have any formal diagnosis on that, but I figured the caffeine would either send him into overdrive or it would help. Apparently it helps. Read on....

~A couple of weeks ago, J's teacher and I both filled out Conner's surveys to look for ADHD characteristics. The school counselor scored them, and we went over the results yesterday. J's issues don't rise to the level of a DSM-IV diagnosis, but he scored highly enough (primarily in hyperactivity/impulsivity) that the counselor felt he could benefit from treatment. She gave us a list of psychologists and psychiatrists that she's familiar with, and we talked about the possibility of medicine and about behavior modification. She said we should educate ourselves before we make any decisions, talk to J's doctor, talk to the counselor we already have, and then we just see what works. She has two sons who were diagnosed as ADHD when they were young, and she said that for them, finding the right medication made a world of difference. She also explained that it's not a one size fits all deal, that if we go the medication route, it would be monitored and would involve regular doctor visits to make sure things were on track. Nothing she said was a surprise to me, and J's teacher and I scored things very similarly. I was glad to see that J doesn't seem to have the zero-to-sixty meltdowns at school that he does at home, not according to his teacher's survey results. Anyway, now it's time for more research and appointments and we'll go from here. The psychologist that the counselor highly recommended is up the road in Desoto, and she said it could take about two months to get in to see him, so if we're going to do that, I guess it would be wise to go ahead and call.

But like the counselor said, I need to educate myself. Brian and I had been talking already before all the ADHD stuff came up about how bad high fructose corn syrup (HFCS, because I'm too lazy to type all that every time I mention it! LOL) is for you and how it's in every.freakin'.food product out there, and our desire to get away from it as much as possible. We went to a local Asian market on Tuesday, and as we looked at packages, we noticed that HFCS just isn't prevalent in the pastries and snack foods as it is in what's available at our local grocery store. We bought a couple of things to try, and while they were different than what we're used to, they were good. So we thought, hey, we'll try to do more shopping there, and we also want to support local growers and farmers' markets. Then I started researching about how changes in diet can impact behavioral issues, and I thought, hey, maybe there's something to this. So, what we'll try first, before going the medication route, is to change what we eat. I'd like to cut out as much as possible things like artificial sweetener, artificial colors (especially the red dye - I know that causes problems for some kids), some preservatives, HCFS, and see how that goes.

And from all the reading I've done, there could be a connection with sleep and bedwetting as well. As long as I wake J up to go to the bathroom once a night, he's generally fine. My theory is that he sleeps so deeply that the signals from his body that he needs to go don't wake him up. This may be due to diet throwing his sleep patterns off, leading to sleep that isn't what a normal, healthy sleep cycle could be, and that can show up in bedwetting and in ADHD-like symptoms of irritability, frustration, inattention, and the like. It's interesting reading, and right now, I'd love to go home and toss out all the crap in my pantry and start fresh, because I really want to see how it works! Realistically, I can't afford to restock my pantry from the ground up with healthier alternatives, so we'll do it a little at a time. I'll be writing about this, because I know it's going to be a challenge getting J off the Pop-Tarts he favors and onto something better for him. But if it helps, it is so worth it.