A new leaf

Ethan has been a difficult child all of his life. We have tried various medications. Multiple meltdowns in nearly any situation, even the most mundane,like getting dressed became war. After a trip to a psychiatrist and a change to a different class of drugs I am happy to report he is a new boy. he still has meltdowns and he still has bad days but his good moments outshine those and outnumber them. The tone of our house is changing. Its lighter now. We can breath a bit easier. Life is by no means perfect, but it feels so much more doable. All the children are back in school. They are enjoying their new teachers. I am not enjoying having to do spelling words every day and enforce reading time when they really just want to play. Three are in the middle school this year and enjoying that big change and making new friends. One is in the high school so I have three schools and three busses to deal with. That's going fine. So far we have not had very many bus issues. We got a new bus driver on the special ed bus. He seems nice enough, friendlier than the one we had at the beginning of the year. The driver we have had for two years on that bus retired this year. I have finished our Philly trips for a few months. I have put off even calling for the next appointment. I am so worn out and tired of traveling. I love to travel for fun but Philly trips are more stress than fun. They need to return for follow up, no big deals in the works at the moment. Next summer I sure would like to stay home. Last summer I was there with Sophie, This summer I was there with Ben. NEXT SUMMER I WANT TO BE HERE! Pat keeps sending me lovely cards and post cards. they sure are a special surprise that makes me smile when they arrive. Thanks Pat. Eric and I have been learning all we can about Aquaponics. He built a small system in the basement and we are growing lettuce there. It is a really neat process. We have been to visit a few other aquaponics systems owned by others. Its been educational for sure. Now if our Tilapia would just spawn! With doctor appointments, therapy appointments, phone calls, errands, bill paying, shopping, chicken food buying, chicken feeding, dinner cooking, dishes doing, laundry doing, and homework helping I am keeping very busy. Sometimes more than I want to be but I love most every minute of it. Yes, Pollyanna has her own new medication as well. and a new attitude. Every day I get up saying, its going to be a good day. it usually is. If I can find positives and not get upset with the kids, its a good day. Setting myself up to have a good day helps me to do that. The kids are all really doing great. Most of the issues we deal with now are just "kid issues" but we deal with it times 8-10 kids. That can get frustrating sometimes. We just remind ourselves that this is kid stuff. We took them all out to dinner last week at Chinese buffet. We had so much fun together. I love my family!! and I am loving being able to love them. You wouldn't think taking 10 kids out to dinner would be fun, but I can't wait to do it again. I don't find as much time to get on the computer and often post to facebook from my phone. I will try to update this blog more often. Life with FAS, Arthrogryposis, various medical issues can be so much work. but if I can record some of the fun stuff here, as well as the struggles we might encourage someone else. if not, its good to be able to speak your mind somewhere. This is my forum for that.