A Year has passed..... and what a year.

It amazes me to think that it has been a year now since our whirlwind began........ Michael's school troubles AND Emma's kidney problems were discovered about this time last year. It was a year of constant worry about both children; worrying if Emma needed surgery or would she need a transplant one day or whether or not she would have to take dialysis. In a few months we will go back for ANOTHER VCUG (scan of the kidneys and bladder). The pediatric nephrologist told us he would make the decision to have surgery after this next scan. The last scan showed no change.... It wasn't getting better, but it wasn't getting any worse either.

It has been a long year for both Michael and for us. Michael was born prematurely and had to be put on ventilators for a while. We are extremely blessed....... Michael was not "SUPPOSED" to go to regular school or be a fully functional child or adult. God had other plans for him, though. Michael has been in the various Special Needs programs since he was a baby.... First through Babies Can't Wait, and then at 3 the Richmond County BOE picked him up but severely reduced the services Michael was getting. At four, they decided that he was only 6 months under his actual age developmentally so they let him go. We put him into preschool and assumed everything was fine.... at the end of the year, the teachers told us they were having some slight problems with him behaviorally, but they thought it was because of the influence of a few of the other children in the class.

Then he went to Kindergarten. Almost from the start, we were told Michael was behind in the class developmentally. I asked for him to be reevaluated by the Special Needs Program...... they NEVER even acknowledged he had been seen in the past and treated him as if he had never been in the system. So I began a long and hard fight with the administrators........ they lost paperwork they claimed I never turned in (I had sent it in 3 times)........ only to discover they didn't have another paper from the teacher........ turned out the school guidance counselor had all of it in her office file the whole time and they wasted nearly three months. Frustrated, my husband and I decided to have Michael tested by a Neurologist. We wanted to test for ANY and EVERY learning disability possible. When he was born, the Doctor's told us that Michael had suffered brain damage from oxygen deprivation. But things had rerouted themselves by the time he was one. We knew that there was a possibility of some problems later on, but we left it to God and was thankful for the fact that we beat lottery odds to have a child born under such bad conditions and still make it through with as little problems as he does. He is a BLESSING and a MIRACLE....... search Google for Complete or Total Abruptions and see what you find and how bad off children usually are if they survive it...... then you will understand.

So we had him tested ourselves by a Neurologist and then began seeing a Child Psychologist. Both have agreed that Michael has ADHD and some other mild problems that can be minimized once the ADHD is treated. Because of his age, we decided a combination of medicine and therapy will help him the most. So he is on the smallest dose possible that is on a time release formula, so he gets a small steady dose all day. We also have the option NOT to give it to him if he doesn't need it for the day (like on the weekends). It is also a medicine that does not last long in the system and has the least # of possible short and long term side effects.

I want to make it clear.... We did not decide to medicate lightly. I could have taken him straight to the pediatrician and got him started on medicine. I wanted to make sure of what we were dealing with. I did NOT want to just "dope him up" so he would be easier to handle. I wanted him not to suffer when it came time for us to do schoolwork.

Michael's been on meds since Monday and we can see such a difference in him! We have noticed that he is still our dear, sweet Michael. He can talk to us more! He can think clearly and tell us what is on his mind without struggling to think of what to say! My baby can talk in clear paragraphs NOW! He also can STILL get excited and act up! But the events that would make us want to pull our hair out with him NOT LISTENING OR MINDING US has gotten a lot milder.... mind you, he still is disobedient sometimes, but now we don't worry so much if we punish him on whether or not he could stop himself.

We will take it day by day. So far, he hasn't had any side effects from the medicines and it has actually IMPROVED his appetite! I think he might even GAIN weight for a change! This is very exciting for us. I hope it continues. So my friends, thanks for reading. Enjoy your families, hug them often and cherish each other.... Life is a blessing; be thankful for it!

So I May Have Gone Off the Deep End.....

Okay those of you brave enough to be my Facebook friends have probably figured out by now that I've gotten into a couponing. And when I say couponing, I don't mean take four or five coupons in when I'm going to the store.... It's more like 40 or so. I usually average about saving 50% off the total bill. How do you figure out what's one sale and where to get the best deals? First, get your non food items at a DRUGSTORE! Doesn't make sense, does it? But CVS and Walgreens give rebates on items. Most weeks they have one or two items that you can even MAKE MONEY on if you use a coupon and get the rebate back. All you do is look at what is on sale on their flyers and then see if you have a coupon to match what's on sale. I also follow a couple of bloggers that looks out for those steals. FrugalLivingandHavingFun, DealSeekingMom, TheKrazyCouponLady, and Smart Coupon Deals are my favorites. How do I get coupons? I simply buy more than one copy of my Sunday paper. The rule of thumb is one copy for each member in your household but I would go by twos. I found the local flea market sells them for $1 each, saving me 50 cents a copy. We buy three extra (I get one subscription to my house). I tried getting extra copies delivered, but they weren't really any savings.I also try to wait until the store is having a BOGO (buy one get one free) sale and then add a coupon to it. My favorite strategy is to use that sale with two small value coupons (like 50 cents) at a store that doubles coupons. We have Publix, Bi-Lo, and Kroger here in Augusta that doubles coupons up to a particular value (50-60 cents). So say cereal is normally 3.79 each. It is BOGO which makes each box 1.90. If I use that 50 cent coupon then I can get each box for 0.90. That means I can get two boxes on sale for less than 1/2 of the regular price of one! Can you see how this can help stretch your food budget? Yes, it takes some time........ but it's been helping us out SO much! So I'm a Krazy Coupon Lady....... LOL. I say that with pride..... :)

Rants about our Public School System

First of all, I want to start out by saying that the majority of teachers I've met are awesome. They work very hard, love children, and are great people. They work for little pay considering they have 4 or 8 years of college to earn less than $30,000. They don't go into this profession because they want to be rich. They want to get into this profession because they love children and want to make a positive impact on our society. Kudos to all who choose this profession for their livelihood. However, over the last few years I have become worried about a few issues in our public school. First, what happens to our "smart" kids? When you ignore them for the sake of the whole, does that not discourage them? Does this make them more prone to talking and being active because they are simply bored? We are lucky that we have two magnet schools in our area that you can test to enter. But what about our rural areas where there is no such option? Also, what if a child excels in one subject but not others? How can we encourage the next generation of Bill Gates or Albert Einsteins? Another worry I have is how our system is dealing with special needs children. If you want to put them in the regular classroom, then you MUST take the time and educate the teachers about how to cope with having those children in the classrooms. Saying things during IEP meetings are great, but if you don't follow through with things then why are you even bothering? Also, don't just assume the parents aren't willing to put the extra time in if that's what it takes. I have felt that we have been punished and not offered things because we cared about our son's success and we WANT to understand why Michael is having troubles in his classroom. I also think that there should be an EXTRA assistant in EVERY room that has a special needs student so they can get more one on one teaching that they need to succeed in a general classroom setting. Also we must take settings into account for optimal learning. Most homes today are earth tones: calm and relaxing. Most classrooms are bright and bold and very cluttered. Studies have shown that girls respond positively to bright colors but boys respond negatively and do better in muted colors with clear and sparse settings. Look it up. I have even seen on the local news that a school in SC has decided to put this study into use and separated boys and girls into different classrooms and decorated the rooms accordingly. Guess what! All the students scores went up! Isn't this what our school systems are supposedly after? Higher test and grade scores? Why can't we try it out for elementary and middle schools?

So for these reasons and others, We've decided to homeschool Michael for the next few years. I think it will give him a chance to "catch up" with the other children and we will work on him subject by subject.... so if we find out he's behind just in one subject or ahead in another, we can tailor it to his needs and not discourage him. I plan on working with him all summer with Hooked on Phonics and Hooked on Math and enrolling him in an online public school offered in this state (this coming fall) called the Georgia Cyber Academy. I get lesson plans, textbooks, and even more importantly...... a qualified teacher to go over Michael's progress and she will give us suggestions and comments to guide us throughout the year! I know some of you are saying, "What about socialization?". My answer is, "What socialization?" They are told to sit still and be quiet all day long. PE has even become so structured that they have to do something other than just play together. I have signed Michael up for Tae Kwon Do and will continue to find new and different ways to let Mikey have plenty of opportunity to meet with children to socialize. The Academy also has field trips at least twice a month and also plenty of meet and greets. On a bonus note: the kids actually get to talk to each other and learn at the same time..... that's a great concept.

If you read this, let me know your thoughts.... I'm listening..... and open to them. Thanks for reading!

First Post

Hey guys! I thought'd I'd give this whole blogging thing a try. I have no idea who'd want to read this but hey...... anything to keep me sane. I think I'm going to try to post family stuff and fun stuff I'm learning along the journey of life. I'm into crafting. Scrapbooking is my main thing but I've played around with knitting, crocheting, sewing, cross stitch, and painting. Our family has begun a program called Financial Peace University. We started it because we wanted to do more with what the Lord has blessed us with and become completely debt free. My husband and I feel that with the economy the way it is, even though we have not been affected, it would be irresponsible of us not to take charge of our finances. That led to another hobby. I've been starting to do something called extreme couponing. Extreme couponing is waiting to use coupons when something goes on sale and getting it for 60-90% off of the original prices. I also learned how to get lots of freebies at Drugstores. I think I will save that post for another time. Anyway, welcome!