It’s the same every summer. We leave the routine of school and it throws my girls WAY off. We’ve got anxiety and stress-related behavior challenges coming out our ears in our house. So I thought it would be a good time to repost this short vlog I shared at the start of the school year….
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Author Archives: Laurie
I'm a wife and mom of four girls - two with bipolar, ADHD and developmental delays. It's a daily journey to live this life well and help my girls do the same. As a speaker and life coach, I'm committed to helping other parents thrive in this wild ride too!
Leaping Past the Labels
Monkey is 8 years old and does back handsprings in my living room. Not my favorite place for that, admittedly, but considering as a toddler in foster care she was Failure to Thrive, and that she has Bipolar and Anxiety… I’m just happy she’s doing any leaping at all! Gymnastics and dance get her through…
Our Bipolar Happy Hour
Written on June 7, 2011 by Laurie
It’s always the same. Like Bill Murray’s movie, Groundhog Day. It’s the same in our home every single day, no matter what we do, what medications we try, what therapies we employ. My 9 year old just lives on the relentless Bipolar mood roller coaster. Every. single. day. Every day: …I wake her gently, quietly……
Managing My Girl’s Tough Bipolar Weeks
Written on May 31, 2011 by Laurie
Tough week here. My 9 year old forgot to take her meds once last weekend, and she spun into a pit of moody darkness for the rest of the week. It’s just part of the job with a neuro-atypical child, these zero-to-sixty meltdowns. It’s the crappy part of the job. Here’s how I handled it…
Coming Back to the Craziness: Dealing With Subtle Grief
Written on May 24, 2011 by Laurie
This weekend I left my life of raising special needs kids for 3 days of complete relaxation. I visited my mom in Arizona and enjoyed meals out, sleeping in, and lots of shopping (sans racing from the premises with tantruming 8-year old). It was a delight. But of course all things must end. Including the…
Staying Sane While Raising a Bipolar Child
Written on May 17, 2011 by Laurie
She stomps out of the room, each firmly-planted step shaking the floor. Tear-stained, she plunges her face into the pillows on her bed, where she screams and cries. As she starts to calm down, I feel the adrenaline retreating into the places from which it flooded my body. Breathing, relaxing myself, I tend to her…
How to Relax and Get Off Life’s Raging Rapids
Written on May 10, 2011 by Laurie
You know when a speaker is sharing a great story with an audience, and they reveal a lesson learned…. and you’re sitting there thinking What?? I got something completely different out of that! That’s me too. Maybe it’s just because we live life from a different angle as special needs parents. Whatever the reason, while…
Raising a child with two competing special needs
Written on May 3, 2011 by Laurie
I silently nudged her in the darkness. Slipped her out of her top bunk. Wrapped her in a blanket and ushered her to the van. Maybe if I didn’t wake her just yet, she’d forgive me, I thought. The sun wasn’t up yet, but I’d already been up most of the night, fearing the next…
What no parent should ever have to do
Written on April 26, 2011 by Laurie
It’s not something any of us want to think about. I faced it once, 4 years ago, when my then-1-year-old had inexplicable black outs and seizures over the 18 months following her 1st birthday. As a parent of children with profound special needs, it’s a constant, if hidden, companion to us. What if the unspeakable…
What are your favorite parenting books?
Written on April 19, 2011 by Laurie
My friends and I get together twice a month to just be. Be ourselves and not always mom or caregiver or advocate. Just us. Recently we were all talking about books and resources we’ve found helpful as parents. Some of us have kids with tough behaviors. My own kids have bipolar and struggle with behaviors…
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