Today I gave Brianna both doses of her Adderall. The only thing I’ve really noticed is she was not hungry during the day until about the time her 2ns dose was probably wearing off. I say “probably” because at this point I am not seeing a difference in her ADHD symptoms. About 45 minutes after her morning dose she & I were sitting down having a conversation and she COULD NOT sit still, kept interrupting & trying to finish my thoughts for me. So, I’ll give it a few more days here at home & a couple of days of her being in school to get a better evaluation, but my thoughts at this point is that the 5 mg dose isn’t going to cut the mustard.

It was also my 2nd day on my increased dose. I didn’t do much that required concentration today, so I can’t make much of an assessment for myself. Basically I only took down the Christmas tree, cleaned the kitchen some, watched a movie with the family, cleaned the play room & the girls’ bedroom & closet.

Tags : add, adderall, adhd, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, Brianna, Sherra

Well, it’s about a quarter til 10 at night and around 4:30 or 5:00 I started feeling tired and yawning a lot (I took my Adderall at about 9:30 – so about 7 hours). If I had taken it earlier in the day (around 6:30 when I normally get up), then taken my 2nd dose again round 1 or 1:30 after lunch I’m guessing my “let down” would come around 8 or 9 PM when I’m starting to wind down my day.

The sweating seemed to subside later by early afternoon, so it wasn’t so bad. I’ll update again tomorrow when I’ve had a full day’s worth of meds. Plus, I’m seeing my therapist tomorrow.

Tags : add, adderall, adhd, adult add, adult adhd, attention deficit disorder, Sherra

Well, I took my first dose of Adderall this morning at around 9:30 (after I got back from picking it up at the pharmacy). It’s been about 2 hours and I am noticing I’m able to focus on what I’m doing more and not feeling that nagging feeling to “check on this” and “check on that” when I’m in the middle of something. And even though it’s the first day of the month and I’ve got dozens of things to do for clients, the PTA meeting this afternoon, as well as just general things around the house, I am not feeling the intense sense of OMG, I’ve got sooo much to do. I have to do it all RIGHT NOW that I normally feel. I am feeling that I CAN get it all done and it does NOT have to be done NOW, only that it needs to be done today. It’s a very good feeling!

Now, for the bad things…I do not feel hot at all, but O.M.G. the SWEATING! I had to change my shirt a little while ago!

Tags : add, adderall, adhd, adult add, adult adhd, attention deficit disorder, Sherra

I’ve been debating whether or not to post this as a public post or to keep it private. But, if you’re reading this you’ve probably figured out I decided to go ahead and make it public. Partly because I’m pretty open about just about everything and partly because you just never know who might read it and it could make a difference to them.

I’d been seeing a psychologist for a couple of weeks when some issues came up and he asked me if I had ever been tested for Attention Deficit Disorder. I had not, but I’d often wondered if I had it. So, last week I got tested for and diagnosed with ADD, both hyperactive and inattentive types. I’m 36 years old. I thought it was something kids had and “outgrew”.

It was somewhat of a relief to actually have an official diagnosis. But, at the same time I was also feeling scared, angry and sad. Scared because I wasn’t sure how to proceed. Angry because I wasn’t diagnosed earlier. Sad because I began to wonder what “could have been” had I been diagnosed and treated as a child.

So, I did my googling that afternoon and found several web sites with information about ADHD in kids and adults. I did not realize that the symptoms showed up differently in girls and boys and adults! Almost every symptom listed for girls I had as a child! If we knew then what we know now, I might have been diagnosed and treated sooner. I was a very good student in school (honor roll & graduated high school with honors), but I struggled with studying and completing assignments. I wonder how much better I could have done if I could have been able to focus more. When I started to think about it I started to cry…hard. I didn’t let myself wallow in it too much though, because honestly, it didn’t do any good. It was “cleansing” to get it out, but time to move on.

The question now turns to what am I going to do NOW to “fix” this.

I had an appointment with my primary care doc today (he got a copy of the test results and letter from my psychologist), and he prescribed Adderall. I’ll pick it up from the pharmacy tomorrow (there was a long wait this evening and I needed to get home before J.R. left for work), so I haven’t started taking it yet. I’ve got another appointment with my psychologist later this week.

I’m going to try to start journaling here to help me keep track of how I’m feeling and if the meds are doing me any good, making me feel bad, having side effects, etc.

Stay tuned.

Tags : add, adhd, adult add, adult adhd, attention deficit disorder

We added another member to the family over the weekend.  Here are some pictures. She’s 7 weeks old. 7/8 Lab & 1/8 Husky.  We finally decided on a name for her yesterday – Jackie.  Partly to tie it in with the fact that we got her on Halloween (Jackie – from Jack-o-lantern) and partly to pay homage to our previous black Lab, Jake.

The girls, of course, adore her.  JR is thrilled to have a dog he can start teaching early (unlike Shiner, who was close to 2 by the time we got him and a little more set in his ways). I’m less than thrilled that I’ve got to deal with puppy behavior for a while, but she’s cute.

She’s not doing well at night.  Saturday night she whined almost all night. We had her in the kitchen with Shiner, but apparently having another dog in there with her didn’t help with her transition much.  She pooped in the floor twice and peed in the floor 5 times that night.  Last night I just simply could NOT stand the whining and knew I wouldn’t get a decent nights’ sleep AT ALL, so I caved and got her out of the kitchen and slept on the couch with her.  She wanted to play some, but mostly she did sleep quietly – thankfully – although most of the time it was on my head.  She also used the potty outside twice last night.  When she got restless I took her outside and she went! YAY, no cleaning up poo or pee in the morning for me!

She’s also doing pretty well at going potty outside during the day.  We’re diligent about taking her out IMMEDIATELY after eating (and by immediately, I mean within about 30 seconds of her last bite), after she wakes up from a nap and after a good session of play.  It seems to be working.  Yesterday I only cleaned up 2 messes.  But, she’s really small and only pees about the amount of half a thimble. She does poo quite a big pile though.  But, since we’ve been taking her out often, she’s only done that in the house twice (other than Saturday night) – she’s pooed outside about 6 or 7 times.

We’re trying to teach Delaney how to properly handle her.  She’s only 5 pounds right now, so she’s small enough for Delaney to pick up (for the next couple of weeks anyway).  She keeps wanting to pick her up by the neck. I think she’s starting to get it though because she did have her under the front legs the last time she picked her up. When I was in the shower this morning I made sure to have them both in the bathroom with me. I really didn’t want to risk having the two of them alone together!  I peeked out the shower door once and Delaney had Jackie by the tail spinning around! Yes, Jackie was up off the ground! Poor puppy! I was mortified. Delaney doesn’t mean to hurt her, I just don’t think she 100% understands that it’s a real dog that feels and not a cute stuffed animal that moves.

Brianna has been pretty good at helping out with her – making sure she goes out when she needs to and keeping her from chewing on the things she shouldn’t.

Shiner is only tolerating her at the moment. He’s not thrilled that he has to share with her. He’s growled at her a couple of times when he’s chewing on a bone or eating.  We nip that behavior immediately when he starts. He’s starting to get the message. He was even “almost” playing with her this morning. He should enjoy her more when she’s bigger and they can actually run and play without her getting hurt. He LOVES playing with the other neighborhood dogs – but then again he doesn’t have to share with them. We shall see. He may only end up tolerating her like he did with Jake. But, Jake was old and couldn’t run and play like Shiner wanted to, so I’m hopeful.

Tags : Brianna, Delaney, house training, Jackie, JR, new puppy, Shiner

Well, after a whirlwind couple of weeks of PTA fundraiser money counting, Fall Festival planning, prep & implementation, Fall Festival money counting, client work, signing new clients I’m finally digging myself out of my hole filled with tasks and am seeing the light! Today & tomorrow I’ve mostly just got some QuickBooks work to do. Whew!

Brianna got her braces fixed and adjusted last week. Literally the evening she got the loose bracket put back on, the tooth was straight! I’ll have to post the before/after pictures on that later. The quick progress on her teeth is completely blowing my mind.  She also got the palate spreader put in at her last appointment. We have to “turn the key” every night before bed, and Delaney see us put the thing in Brianna’s mouth and push it, so, of course, she thinks SHE needs to have her key turned to.  So, we have to put the key in her mouth and pretend to turn it. She thinks she’s being just like her sister. If I “forget” to do hers she starts hollering, “Me too, Mommy! Me too!”

JR took the girls outside earlier this week and Delaney FINALLY figured out how to use the pedals on her bike. She can ride it (training wheels) in the driveway TOWARD the house, but she can’t ride it toward the street yet. There is a very slight slope toward the house, so she’s not having to struggle very hard in that direction.

Oh, and Delaney is doing very well on her potty training. I don’t remember the last time she had a pee accident (it’s been a few weeks), and last weekend when we spend almost the whole day at Brianna’s school for 2 days in a row for Fall Festival stuff she pooped twice, but not in her pants! YAY! She has also pooped in the potty here at home all but once this week. So, I’m seeing huge progress in that department.  The only time I’m “prompting” her to go to the bathroom is when she wakes up, right before bed, and right before we go somewhere. The rest of the time she either just goes or she tells me she has to go so I can take her.

The current plan is to take the family to the State Fair next Wednesday after Brianna gets out of school.  That’s the only day during the fair when we don’t have SOMETHING going on in the evening.  We didn’t go last year and Brianna was devastated. I’ve already bought the tickets on-line. I also go the girls unlimited ride wristbands. I don’t care to ride the rides anymore – too old for that and my neck can’t handle the rougher rides anyway. I go for the artery-clogging-butt-widening food and the exhibits.

Tags : braces, Brianna, Delaney, JR, teeth

My birthday has been pretty good. When you’re 36, quiet = good. JR made a quick run back home this morning to bring me breakfast. When he leaned over to kiss me (I was still sleeping), his iPhone fell out of his shirt pocket and knocked me in the head. Those things are pretty good weapons when they come at you from a far enough distance and the corner of it hits your forehead. I spent most of the morning putzing around reading birthday wishes on Facebook & Twitter. This afternoon I picked up money for the fall festival “mummy wrapping” then had a PTA committee meeting after. Ran a deposit to the bank (for the PTA) got home then checked my email. When we got home Brianna gave me the card she made me this weekend and I put it on the fridge. Shortly after that JR got home from work and we headed out to Chili’s for dinner.

Our “local” Chili’s is normally excellent – great service & food. Tonight was definitely the exception to that. The server was nice enough, but she had to be reminded to bring out drinks (about 10 minutes after we ordered them) and it took a long time to get our appetizer. When they brought our food they got both my order and JR’s orders wrong. Mine was easy to fix, JR had to wait extra time for his meal. Drink refills were VERY slow (we were only drinking water, so it’s not like they had to be mixed or anything). The floor manager ended up coming to check on us and we were quite honest and told them what was going on. They offered to give us a free dessert, but since I was getting a free dessert anyway (my birthday dessert), they offered to remove the cost of JR’s meal also. When the check finally came they had indeed deducted my birthday dessert and JR’s meal, however they charged us for 2 drinks – we were only drinking water. So, they had to go fix that also. If that had been our first visit (or one of the first) to that particular Chili’s we probably would not be inclined to go back. However, since it normally is excellent I can’t imagine we wouldn’t go again…especially since we love the molten lava cake and I ALWAYS get the country fried chicken crispers w/ black pepper gravy – YUM.

The girls are now in bed – Delaney fell asleep on the couch waiting for Brianna to get out of the shower. I think I’m about to head to bed myself. I keep catching myself yawning while I type this!

Tags : birthday, Brianna, Delaney, JR

This has been such a long week…and there’s still one day left in the “work” week. Most of you know I’m the PTA’s treasurer this year. This week the fall fundraiser order forms and money were due (Monday) – the order is due in to the fundraising company Friday (tomorrow). And, as is typical, there are always a few dozen “last minute” orders from people who don’t get their order forms in time or are waiting for money from this person or that person. Then there are those who’s order form does not match up with the money they’ve turned in. So, we’ve been counting money, balancing order forms w/ money, tracking down people who forgot to send money, etc. all week.

Also, this week is the book fair, so we’re dealing with THAT money also. Oh, did I also mention that TONIGHT was open house and we had the book fair open and we are pre-selling fall festival armbands.

Oh yeah, and this week was grandparents week, so the grandparents of a lot of the kids came to have lunch with their grandkids and get pictures taken with them. Guess where they were taking the pictures…yep, in the PTA room. And, the PTA room adjoins the library, where the book fair is being held. So, it’s been absolute CHAOS this week.

Tomorrow is the first day of the case lot sale at the Commissary and I’m heading there first thing in the morning to get the good stuff before it’s picked over.

But, there is great news…the Nintendo DS that Brianna lost last month when I told her not to bring it to the library and she did it anyway…I found it today. It was jammed under Delaney’s car seat. Brianna doesn’t know I found it yet and we probably won’t tell her for a while.

Tags : Brianna, fundraising, pta, school

JR starts back on day shift after tonight’s shift. That means I have to share the bed again, darn. But, that also means we’ll be on the same “schedule”, so it’s not so bad. Our anniversary was the 31st and we didn’t get a chance to celebrate it. 13 years. Maybe we’ll get the chance to go out to dinner together – just the two of us – now that he’s back on day shift.

Delaney has fully entered the phase where she copies everything Brianna does and says immediately after she does it. Sometimes it’s cute and adorable and Brianna thinks it’s funny so she makes a game of it. Other times it’s just downright annoying and it ticks Brie off. I just have to keep telling her that’s the kind of stuff that goes along with being a big sister and she has to deal with it. Delaney can also reach all the light switches now.

Brianna’s doing well in school and she loves earning “class cash” and shopping in the classroom every week. She got Delaney a toy this week. I thought that was sweet.

One of the neighbors made a comment the other day that Shiner had lost a lot of weight. I knew he had been loosing some since I’d put him on the diet and been trying to exercise him a little more. I guess I didn’t realize how much he had been loosing since I see him day in and day out. So, JR and I weighed him the other day – JR weighed himself, then held Shiner while he weighed himself again. Shiner’s lost about 20 pounds (in our non-scientific process). I need to take him down to the vet’s office sometime this week to get a quick weight on their scales there.

I’m keeping busy with client work and PTA stuff. The Fall Festival & Silent Auction is coming up next month and we’ve got a lot of stuff going on with that. A meeting each week for the Fall Festival Committee plus our regular monthly PTA meeting and all the work that goes along with that, I also have a client meeting once a week with two different clients and I’m on the planning committee and marketing sub-committee for the 2010 IVAA Live Summit in Phoenix, so I’ve got meetings for each of those at least once a month. I’m just glad Brianna’s back in school now so I can get some stuff done during the day instead of refereeing for the girls all day and then having to catch up on my work in the evenings.

Speaking of evenings, it’s almost 10 PM and I’m going to pack it up and head to bed early tonight. I was up until 3:30 AM working on a problem with a client’s web site and then, of course, the girls didn’t sleep in all that late, so I was up with them. So, tonight I’m going to enjoy my last night (for a few months) of having the bed all to myself.

It’s been a few weeks since I updated the blog, so I have a lot of stuff to talk about.

Delaney said her first “I love you” a couple of weeks ago. She didn’t say it to me or to JR, she said it to Brianna. No big surprise since she loves her sissy so much. Brianna missed the bus one morning, so we had to take her to school. As she was getting out of the truck, I said “Be good today. I love you.” So, Delaney said, “Love you.” She said it a couple of days later to. She has only ever said it to Brianna…not me or JR yet.

She’s also doing pretty well at potty training. Most days she stays dry all day. The past two nights she’s had an accident, but prior to that she was dry for a couple of weeks. She’s even gone #2 by herself a time or two. She’s only had two pee accidents during the day in the past few weeks.

Brianna’s been back to school for 2 weeks. Her classroom job is “book critic”. She has to do a book review every week. Every kid in the class has a job and they get paid for it in class cash. They also get class cash for bringing back their reading log signed and homework, etc. They get to go shopping once a week in the class store with their class cash, but only if their “check register” is balanced. They get to change jobs every 9 week period. She put her application in for computer technician also. She’s hoping to get that one next. She’s also got her eye on the librarian job.

Soccer practice started this past week. So, I get to schlep her back and forth to Camden 1-2 times per week for the next few months.

JR’s due back from Ohio tomorrow. He’s been up there this week. His dad got out of the hospital this week after his heart valve replacement surgery several weeks ago.

I’ve been keeping super busy with client work and PTA stuff. With the new school year, switching from a PTO to a PTA, Fall Festival Committee and the fall fundraiser, I’ve got my hands full!

I spent all afternoon today cleaning the shower and stripping out old caulk. I even took the doors off and took them outside to use the high pressure hose to get down into the nooks and crannies of everything. I’m not looking forward to doing that again anytime soon.

Tags : Brianna, cleaning, Delaney, JR, potty training, school, toilet training