Jessica's Solo!

Here is a snippet of Jessica's solo from today's Mother's Day Program. It's very grainy, since I took it on my cellphone, lol. The whole thing was really cute - the kids had the tables set with placemats, marigolds in painted pots, oreo cookies and orange punch. Most of the kids had either something to sing, read or say. It was really sweet and a great treat of an afternoon.




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Mother's Day Came Early

Here are my two Cutie Pies hanging out with my Mother's Day present. Not only did Chris provide the kayak, paddle and PFD, but then he really outdid himself when he packed a picnic dinner for us to go up to Crescent Lake so that I could take it out on the water for a bit.

Here are some pictures I took out on Crescent Lake! I was so excited. I did learn, however, that there really isn't a graceful way to either get in or out of a kayak. It's 9.5 ft Old Town Otter Sport - it's untippable, even for me. Crescent Lake the perfect place for me to practice paddling and get some exercise - it is close by (15-20 minutes away) and it's as flat as flat water can get. At one point the water was so still it looked like glass...absolutely wonderful and peaceful as anything. The best part is that the boat is small enough to just pop in the back of the minivan and I'm off - very easy and convenient.

Excellent Article

So, by now I am sure that anyone that reads my blog is aware that our daughter, Jessica has a Mood Disorder, with mild Tourette's. Jessica was diagnosed at the beginning of her Kindergarten year, at the age of 5. I found an excellent article online tonight and although I was unable to copy and paste it in full, here is a link to the web page:

http://movingmountainsforkids.com/mooddisorders.asp

I cannot begin to tell you how very difficult it has been to try and explain and/or describe Jessica's illness to friends and family members. Jessica is now 7. She is a very bright little girl who struggles greatly with a chemical imbalance that affects her emotions, moods, body, sleep patterns, school work - you name it. In her First Grade year, we are starting to see how the disorder affects her ability to learn in school and how she relates to other kids. Ironically, with Tourette's as the secondary diagnosis, her tics, which are vocal in nature, have garnered more attention that her other symptoms. Reading this article tonight had me nodding my head in agreement, and my hope is that it will help to better the understanding of her illness. I know I am not always the best one to try and explain what is going on, as I am often overwhelmed and just trying to get through the situation of the moment. I have appreciated the support of our friends and family so much over the past few years - I know several of you keep Jessie in your thoughts and prayers and Chris and I appreciate it so much.

I love when friends and family ask questions about Jessica's illness. It tells me that you're thinking about her and trying to understand our situation. I think that is why I found the above article such a great resource. It fills in a lot of gaps and it very detailed, without being to technical. I am sure many of you know we struggled with the idea of starting Jessica on medication to stabilize her ups and downs and I think this article addresses the need for medications quite beautifully.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and for keeping Jessie in your prayers!

Squeaky, we hardly knew ye...

Squeaky 1.0

So, I'm sort of having a week. It's been a while since I've posted (again!) and there has been a lot lot lot going on here. Here's one story, which my sister requested that I blog. :)

We got 2 really awesomely cute dwarf hamsters 2 weeks ago this Thursday. They were promtly named Squeaky and George. George apparently had a murderous streak in him and although I was advised by PetSmart that it was perfectly fine to house 2 male hamsters in one cage, it was certainly NOT. Poor Squeaky was injured by George and we brought George's ass back to PetSmart. I felt so responsible for poor little Squeaky that I took care of him for 2 days until the poor thing died last Sunday night.

Now, we had a family event on Sunday, and of course I had to fill my DSIL's in on the drama. They are brilliant, in my eyes, as they have raised 5 beautiful, responsible upstanding citizens between them, and then there's me freaking out about what to do about the impending death of Squeaky. SIL Sue announced she felt Squeaky should appear to make a "Miraculous recovery" no matter what his fate. Ahhhh....the classic bait and switch. I am all over this. So, this is my plan last Sunday night after little Squeaky died. My plan A was to get Jessie on the school bus Monday morning and basically keep her so busy she'd not have time to ask about Squeaky, clean the cage, bury Squeaky and run to PetSmart for another hamster.

Uhm, yeah... so, 3 pet stores (who knew all the stores would sell out their winter white dwarf hamsters over the weekend??!), one broken cage (Mom, I am SO sorry I started swearing while I was on the phone with you...) 4 phone calls and 1 panic attack later I resigned myself to admitting the bait and switch wasn't going to work.

So, then I called Kelly. Plan B.

Kelly and I figured Jessie would handle being told about the demise of Squeaky very well if there was another hamster in the cage when she got home. Now, I am sure by now, y'all might be wondering, "Well - honestly, Sue - why buy a pet for a child if you can't explain death to her?" Well, because she's SEVEN. And she's JESS. Jessie's reaction to the death of a hamster could range from gut wrenching sobs to "can we go get another one now?"

So, okay. I exchanged the broken cage at PetSmart. They gave me store credit for Squeaky and I upgraded the water bottle and bought a hamster igloo. Yes, they may hamster igloos. Go figure. Then we headed off to the local pet store to buy another dwarf hamster that resembled a mouse more than Squeaky, but, whatever - this one was a female and she was pretty cute.

Cute Hamster is installed in her cage and I had about 30 minutes to spare before the school bus arrived. When Jessie got off the bus, her reaction ended up being sort of a non-reaction...Kelly was right: she was sorry Squeaky had died the night before, she wasn't upset I didn't tell her, and any sadness she had was immediately alleviated by Cute Hamster. So, then I asked her, "So. What do you think you'll name her?" The reply?

"I think I'll call her Squeaky."

So, now we have a new hamster that Chris and I refer to as "Squeaky 2.0"