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!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Let's Not Add Too Much to the Mix

We have been in the process of trying to move into a better school district so that we no longer have to pay three private school tuitions, which is more than we can handle. We had hoped that we would have moved by now, but we experienced some setbacks and delays due to some circumstances beyond our control. So now the beginning of school is staring us in the face, and I was in a panic, but we have decided that to try to move out of our house and into another by September the 8th is not realistic. We weighed the rent option but we keep coming back to selling and buying because of some financial considerations and job issues.

Actually, this is probably better that Caroline won't be having to adjust right away to not only being in school again, and being a part of our family again, but also a new house and neighborhood. One thing at a time. If we are here for the fall, I will homeschool my two youngest until we move. My oldest will stay at the public high school she was, and we will just see what buyers come our way. My husband has been working hard for two weeks on little repairs, painting, and on sprucing up our landscaping, so at least we've made a good start. I am glad that we can do this in a less-stressed out manner. Also, the housing prices may come back up this fall which would be helpful.

So Caroline will get to come home to her too-small bedroom, but only for a short period of time we hope. She'll probably just be glad to be home.
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