© Angela Farley | Dreamstime Stock Photos RF-LL Most of my life is lived in a constant state of heightened awareness. At any given moment I am painfully aware that I could have to drop everything and be in the middle of a medical crisis. Truth be told, that is pretty much true for any of us, especially moms. Our kids are in a state of constant movement and yes, at any given time, they could get hurt. For me, it is the same, except that I have also experienced this medical crisis too many times. In 2005 my oldest …
Solution Revolution
“You’re not doing the same things,” my husband said when I was working with my second son when he was 2, 3 and 4. “Yes, I am,” I remember answering, somewhat frustrated. “The same things aren’t working.” Regardless of the age, sometimes “the same things” don’t work. Developing children requires a diverse strategy arsenal. For academic development, we used alphabet puzzles, flash cards, animal alphabet cards, Bob Books, Now I’m Reading Books. One learned to spell his name first in sign language. Another chose Garfield over classics – our home library is stuffed with Garfield, Snoopy, the classics, World War …
Messy Business
Being a mom is messy business and I don’t mean in the disorderly home kind. Our children, even before they can walk or talk, have the power to turn our world upside down and our hearts inside out. My husband, Tom, and I were concerned about our two-year-old’s speech and language development. We decided to have her tested. During the evaluation follow-up, the speech clinician declared our daughter to be aphasic. She said, “I expect she will never go to ‘regular school’, read, calculate math, or hold down a job.” This did not fit my neatly packaged idea of my …
Busy Schedule & Raising Tough Kids? 8 Tips to Restore Your Sanity
Subscribe today for your FREE copy of… FACING YOUR FEARS – 31 STORIES FROM M.O.M. ***For just a moment, I want to remember those affected by the tragedy of 9/11. May God continue to bless those families and heal our nation. We’ve all been there, I know you have. You know–the point between pure exhaustion and guilt that the TV is a better supervisor of your kids than you are. In motherhood its very easy to feel drained, burned out, and lifeless. Between mothering my small brood, running a business, volunteering for organizations like MOPS, I tend to burn the …
How In the World?
Whenever I meet someone new and they discover I have seven children, often there is a gasp and “How in the world do you do that?” And then when they further discover, if time permits, that one of my children has a life-threatening illness, the question comes: “How do you cope with that?” I suppose I should first make the disclaimer that this was, and is, a growing process for me. (Oh, and the photo above was on a very busy day serving at church. 😉 ) I didn’t have seven children all at once (Whew! Go septuplet Moms!) My …
Is it Autism?
“She does not like to be held or rocked at all. She won’t look at what I am pointing at, and never points at things herself. The softest touch sends her wailing, but being bitten by ants at the playground did not cause a stir. She still is not talking, but all my friends have had late talkers. She seems to look everywhere but in my eyes. So many things don’t seem right. Could this be autism?” Autism. Just the sound of the word makes the strongest of moms weak in the knees. So what is autism? According to the …
Help!
Do you have a nagging feeling that your child’s development is not quite right? Does your doctor see areas of concern? You may know you want help, but have no idea where to turn. Today my goal is to give you some information to help you get started! The very first place to begin is with Child Find, www.childfindidea.org. This website will help you obtain the contact information for your specific state. By law, each state is required to locate and evaluate every child between birth and age 21 who may need special education or early intervention services. This evaluation …
Growing Up Different
Another crazy afternoon, a day in the life of me. Except this time, we had just picked up my oldest from school and she is still struggling to keep herself together. I juggle her assignments, Elijah’s off the wall energy and Tori’s victorious antics. We settle in for the evening, supper, showers, stories, and bedtime. After I get the little ones to bed, I hustle Chy into the shower. She takes longer than usual, forty five minutes later, she is out, dripping wet and her eyes hold a brokenness in them. She asks me quietly if I would …
Uninvited Diagnosis
She was tiny, frail and unable to meet any of her developmental milestones. I knew her biological mom had used every drug imaginable during her pregnancy. Nevertheless, the neurologist’s diagnosis cut through me. Our adopted daughter would struggle through life with brain damage. Two years later, another uninvited diagnosis forced its way into my world. It came from a high-risk pregnancy doctor that rushed into the room after a longer than normal ultrasound. He dug the ultrasound wand into my swollen belly while still chewing his half eaten lunch, “Absent bladder…hernia…heart on the wrong side. Most likely Trisomy 18. The …