Psychobabble

I used to think that at this point in my life I would be speaking a foreign language and my children would be running around babbling in something very tribal. As it turns out, our family has been learning a language completely foreign to us and to many of the people around us. Here's some examples of common phrases overheard in the Miller house recently.

Situation: Acadia placed in time out.
"I need to get my destructive feelings out. I need to rip grass, tear paper or chew ice, and you're not letting me use any of my coping skills."

Situation: Acadia spits at Lily, Lily responds.
"Just because you're mad about something doesn't mean you have to take it out on me. Why do you always take it out on me? Take it out on a thing, not a person."

Situation: Kids fight over front seat, Lily immediately moves to the back, Mom confronts Acadia, Acadia responds.
"I don't think that's right either, she shouldn't just move...Lily, get back in the front seat."

Situation: Mom tells Lily that she has found a therapist for her. Lily responds.
"Oh good, I wanted one."

Situation: Kathryn, watching PBS documentary on depression, starts asking the researchers...
"Oh, so if those areas of the brain are linked, what happens if you stimulate the prefrontal cortex? Does the hippocampus respond, or does area 25 show any changes?"

Here's some pictures of the restless natives:

For Mother's Day

For Mother's day, I want to ask everyone to watch this video and to remember the women who will be not be getting a card or a kiss or breakfast in bed on Sunday. Pray for the women in your church or community who cannot have a child. This will be a difficult day for them. Those of us who have children have no idea how blessed we are.

Model Kid

Miracle Kid

She played her first softball game, hit two singles, slid into a base, and ran home twice! I am marveling at the miracle of what it took her for her to do something other kids wouldn't think twice about. Since we found out a month late that softball had started, she missed all the practices and ended up starting the night of their first game. She was shy, but did fine socially, and played well for her first game. The game went from 5:30 to 8:00 and she stayed with her team, in batting order, and payed attention really well. She has been having a hard time lately, very intense, agitated and easily frustrated, and we also found out that her thyroid is now UNDER active and she has to start a new medication for that. If you didn't know, you'd just have thought she was the shy new kid on the team, not the miracle kid she is to have overcome so many obstacles just to be able to PLAY!

Normal Update

The blood work I had done after the miscarriage came back and it was all normal, as we expected. I knew I didn't have my Dad's blood clotting disorder which I got tested for several years ago, now I know that I don't have any other ones either.

Lily and I went on a field trip to a greenhouse with our homeschool group. She had a great time with her friends and brought home an elephant ear and a geranium. Later we snuggled on the couch and watched "My Louisiana Sky" with Daddy. I've been working on her scrapbook that covers her birth up to age 2 and I'm finally almost done!

Acadia stayed overnight at Grammie's as she's been doing every Wednesday. She's had some rough days and it was a relief to drop her off yesterday. She's started using language like "what the heck" and "Oh my gosh" and becoming extremely intense and agitated this week. She's been wrecking rooms when she's upset which takes us sometimes hours to get her to clean it all up. On the other hand she's had some good times when she's able to play and work just fine. Monday was a great morning for her but it didn't last more than half a day. I really don't know what's up with her. It could be a response to my feeling sad and depressed, or it could be the weather changing (which is what she claims) or maybe her medication isn't right again. I was glad I didn't decide to drag her along to the greenhouse, it would have been sensory overload! Anyway, it's stressful but manageable and part of our normal.

We've started the garden and we're filling up the pool, and Dan got his van stuck in the muddy yard yesterday so spring is in full bloom at our house! We can't wait for warm weather. We retired our rabbit who lost two litters and bought a new little 12 week bunny girl. I can't post a pic right now but she's the sweetest puffball and the girls named her Nellie. We hope to breed her in a few months and have better success than we've had so far. The rabbits are our family hobby and eventually we want to get the kids involved more so it can be a project for them.

Wow, this update does sound rather normal. Maybe we can hang out here for awhile.