About our Daughter

I am mother to four wonderful daughters, ages 17, 19, 21, and 23, and wife to the greatest husband on earth. God has given us a special child to raise one who was diagnosed with early-onset bipolar disorder at the age of seven, though she showed signs of it from the age of fifteen months. She also has ADHD, Sensory Integration Disorder (sensory seeking), Dyslexia, and Non-Verbal Learning Disorder-NOS, all typical comorbidities for a bipolar child. In spite of the trials, she enjoys lacrosse, running (finished her first marathon in October of 2014!), and reading and writing her own books. I will share with you the many joys and sorrows we have faced and will face in the future with the hope that you may find better understanding about this mental illness caused by both chemical and structural abnormalities in the brain. I desire that you will be encouraged by this blog if you are also dealing with a bipolar child. Thank you for reading and sharing in our journey.

How Did You Know She Was Bipolar So Young?

I wrote a long explanation of how we came to this bipolar diagnosis in a child so young under my post of March 19th of 2009. If your child or a child you know bears similarities, please seek out a good psychiatrist and don't wait for "things to get better." Often they will simply get worse, and the longer a child is unmedicated, the more damage their brain can accrue. Early diagnoses and treatment are key to providing these children with a chance at a successful life later as a teen and an adult.
Never change, start or stop a medication without the approval of your child's physician!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Laughter is Good for Your Marriage

My husband and I went out tonight to celebrate our 18th wedding anniversary, a week late, but better late than never. We didn't really have set plans, just to go out and find a restaurant without a line out the door. We ended up at a Peruvian place my husband had never been to but I had already sampled. The food was great, very unusual, but the best part was that I think we spent most of our date laughing really hard over the silliest things. I mean we were in tears because we were laughing so much, probably annoying our fellow patrons. That is what I enjoy the most about my husband, his sense of humor. We share the same really juvenile amusements. I miss the way we used to laugh together so much more. With our crazy family situation, we need to find lots of ways to laugh at ourselves, our kids, our life. Not everything is gloomy or negative, but sometimes I can sound that way, I know. We often forget to push it all aside for a good time, just the two of us. Our kids will benefit from it as well.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can really relate, tonight my husband and I got a long needed date night to escape our screaming kids. And luck has it that we were seated next to a family with screaming kids, all we could do was laugh.

Amy said...

I am so glad you had fun last night. I love my date nights with my husband too. He is also very funny but don't get to see it very often because of "life". Sad, huh? I am going to have a girl's night out with my eight year old-manicure, pedicure, dinner, and shopping! Very excited! I left you a message on my blog-replying to your comment. I asked you a question about Amantadine.

domandkat said...

Yay! What a wonderful thing to hear! Go do it again and again and again.

Must try out the Peruvian place...