| 5 Minutes for Special Needs

What I wish for my little girl

Written on April 12, 2011 by Laurie

She’s only 8 years old. But she has been through more than anyone I know in her young life, both from her foster care history and because of her bipolar. My heart is in a hundred pieces for her much of the time. And so, I’m sharing something a little different today. Something from the depths of my heart on behalf of my daughter…

in Adoption, Conditions and Diseases, Day In And Day Out, Mental Health

- 6 Comments

When she won’t hug Grandma

Written on April 5, 2011 by Laurie

6 Comments

We flew 8 hours with 4 kids and umpteen bags across the country to visit Grandma. Within 2 minutes they’d already hurt her feelings. It’s always been stressful to balance the expectations of extended family and the needs of my two older girls, adopted as toddlers from foster care. Both their difficult history and their…

in Adoption, Dealing With Public Perceptions, Grandparents, Mental Health, Raising Awareness, Social Skills

- 6 Comments

At last! There is HOPE.

Written on March 29, 2011 by Laurie

8 Comments

“There is hope for your child.” “And for your family.” Before you throw your computer across the room, bear with me for a moment. Because I’ve oft wanted to throw the computer (or throw up…) when people band-aided my heartbreak with platitudes over the years. So I understand. But today, after another hours-long appointment with…

in Adoption, Advocacy, Dealing With Public Perceptions, Developmentally Delayed, Laughing Through The Tears

- 8 Comments

It’s not just about your kids.

Written on March 22, 2011 by Laurie

2 Comments

It’s hard enough to remember to eat and shower, let alone remember to call that friend or have enough mental space to grieve our own losses on top of all the ways we care for our kids. But if we don’t, our families suffer. And our kids never learn how to deal with stress well….

in Day In And Day Out, Family Life, Laughing Through The Tears, Stress Relief

- 2 Comments

Food is so frustrating! {with Made to Crave book giveaway}

Written on March 15, 2011 by Laurie

13 Comments

As special needs parents, we give up a lot. Our time. Our energy. Some of our relationships. Our vision of what might have been our lives as a family. With all the things we give up, it would be really darned nice if we didn’t fall under the same rules of slowing middle-aged metabolism, so…

in Day In And Day Out, Family Life, Giveaway, Me Time, Stress Relief

- 13 Comments

Waiting. And why it’s not so bad.

Written on March 8, 2011 by Laurie

9 Comments

Raise your hand if you love to wait! Yeah, me neither. We spend lots of time waiting as parents with special needs kids. Waiting for things like doctor’s visits, referrals, our children’s therapies to take, results of the last lab work-up… For the past week we’ve been waiting with one of our daughters – waiting…

in Day In And Day Out, Family Life, Laughing Through The Tears, Mental Health, Stress Relief

- 9 Comments

Little things that make friendships work

Written on March 1, 2011 by Laurie

2 Comments

My husband jokes that it takes a military-grade logistics team to plan date nights or get together mid-day for lunch with a friend! That’s not far from the truth. One of the hardest parts of raising kids with special needs is the isolation. It’s just really, really hard to maintain close friendships when life is…

in Day In And Day Out, Family Life, Laughing Through The Tears

- 2 Comments

The Voice that Says, “You’re Doing it Wrong!”

Written on February 22, 2011 by Laurie

4 Comments

“Those who never make mistakes lose a great many chances to learn something” – Unknown What a great truth for a parent! No matter how many times I make mistakes, however, I still get frustrated with myself or the ensuing circumstance. Raising special needs kids provides lots of opportunities to make mistakes – in therapies,…

in Day In And Day Out, Laughing Through The Tears, Stress Relief

- 4 Comments

5 Minutes That Will Save You Years of Frustration

Written on February 15, 2011 by Laurie

2 Comments

My kids don’t make it very easy to love them. Come to think of it, not very many people I know do! But since my older two daughters have bipolar and ADHD, they top the list of tough-to-love most days. Considering there are others reading this site who have kids with similar issues, I wanted…

in ADHD, Adoption, Day In And Day Out, Family Life, Try This Tuesday

- 2 Comments

The thing that scares me more than anything

Written on February 8, 2011 by Laurie

10 Comments

Today’s post is hard to share, because it’s about something that happened here, on this site, last week. We all deal with judgment from outsiders as parents of special needs kids, but judgment from one of our own – from another parent facing those same hurts – brings up a whole new set of fears…

in Day In And Day Out, Dealing With Public Perceptions

- 10 Comments

Author Archives: Laurie