Sleep Sex

I was browsing some blogs I found recently and got hooked on this one called "Thystle Says", going down through some of her blog entries, I come across this one:

Thystle Says: What the? (Click it, it's a link, just doesn't look like one!)

Talking about Ambien and the side effects, and I quote:

"Ambien has warnings like "may result in amnesia". No shit. Among reported side effects are "sleep eating" (not awesome) "sleep driving" (kind of awesome) "sleep sex" (awesome for the spouse) and so on. Basically, if you were doing it, or even thinking very hard about it when you fall asleep, you run the risk of doing it while you sleep.

And not remembering it."

And I posted a comment:

"Sleep sex... I can do that without Ambien! That's how my husband and I had sex the first time LOL! No seriously, now I may have to go blog that story... right now..." (Quoting myself, that's great!)

So here I am, blogging the story..

I won't go into all the details of what happened BEFORE the first weekend we spent together, but let's leave it at, we had never had sex (It's TRUE!)

So we made plans to spend the weekend together at my house (it was a long distance relationship, which probably contributed to the lack of adult activities), and the first night we had dinner (or he did anyway, I was still anxious about eating in front of him so I starved), watched a movie, listened to some music, and then it was bedtime.

He was all ready to sleep on the couch, but let's be honest here, my couch was REALLY old and had about 2 inch thick padding with PLYWOOD underneath (second hand of course, and smelled like the storage unit it had been in too), so I said "No, don't be silly, I have a KING SIZE bed, you can sleep in the bed with me, I'm not gonna make you sleep on THAT."

So we went to bed.

And we went to sleep.

Sure, there was some cuddling, but that's it!

About 4am the next morning, I wake-up, and we are TOTALLY going at it!

Apparently he had the same wake-up call I did.

Since then, we have mastered Sleep Sex, and let me say once again:

THANK GOD FOR VASECTOMIES!

Swagbucks Just Provided Us With FREE Birthday Presents!

I have been using this awesome search engine called Swagbucks for a few months now.... Before summer started I was able to use some of the Amazon.com gift cards I had gotten by redeeming the Swagbucks I earned to buy the kids these things called Bakugans. Something along the lines of Yu-Gi-Oh, or Pokemon, a trading card game with a cartoon and toys, etc. I never really did get the whole gist of it, but the kids really got into the whole thing... for about a week.

I am still randomly stepping on those damn Bakugan balls in the middle of the night!

BUT, back to the whole point of my story, this Site is AWESOME. I have set them as the default search engine in my browser, and also as my homepage, so when I want to visit a new site, I just type the name of the site into the search bar and go. Find the site in the search results and occasionally get myself some swag bucks in the process. After you have earned enough Swagbucks you can go to the Swag Store and redeem them for all kinds of cool things like gift cards or even actual items from all kinds of different categories. It's great stuff!

I usually redeem my swagbucks for Amazon.com gift cards and then use them to buy things we need or just plain want, that aren't in the regular household budget. We haven't needed anything lately so my gift cards have just been stacking up waiting to be used.

Things are tight lately and we have birthdays coming up over the next few months, as well as Christmas, so I just thought "Hey, why not use my Gift Cards and Swagbucks to get some gifts!" I was able to fill in the gaps to cover all the birthdays we have coming up that we hadn't purchased for yet, and at the rate things are going, I should be able to cover a good number of Christmas gifts using my Swagbucks and gift cards as well!

Childhood Bipolar, Anxiety, Depression and ADHD

A little background: #1 has had behavioral and mental health issues for a number of years, they really started to become prominent right around his 5th birthday, by the time he was 5 1/2 I had had him evaluated for ADHD because he was acting hyperactive and talking about hearing voices. The evaluation went well and he was diagnosed with an Anxiety disorder and they said they saw no signs of ADHD. Well that was alright I suppose, but how do you deal with Anxiety in a 5 year old, especially when you're dealing with your own anxiety and depression issues and your whole family is going through major changes and you feel like you're completely up in the air, unsure where you will land?

3 years later, he is 8 years old, we have struggled the last few years with lots more turmoil, though a lot more stability and structure as well. We have had case management who have helped us get multiple therapists for him (individual as well as family therapy), a behavioral health professional, etc. It got to the point where he had a total melt down and was hospitalized because his actions were putting himself and other family members in danger.

It was probably the hardest thing I have ever had to go through as a mother.

He was there for nearly 2 weeks, and they put him on Prozac for the Anxiety and Depression he had been diagnosed with previously that their psychiatrist confirmed from what he could see.

There is a strong family history of Bipolar and I had been concerned about that for a few months previous because of some of his actions, I mentioned this to his last therapist and she basically told me that bipolar is a made up condition used as a diagnosis when there's no clear explanation for someone's behavior. FRUSTRATING!

I brought this up to the staff when he was hospitalized and they kept note of it, and I also spoke to their psychiatrist about it, though he only met with my son once or twice.

Since being released the Prozac stopped working, and the psychiatrist my son is seeing now said that that, along with the way I have described his behaviors over the past few weeks (similar melt downs to before he was on meds at all), makes her believe he may have a mood disorder. She said he is too young to be diagnosed Bipolar, but they can put him on Medication to help stabilize his moods and gave me some samples of Abilify (the same medication my step sibling was on for bipolar at age 13).

She also brought up the possibility of ADHD, even though I have had him diagnosed in the past, she said it wouldn't hurt to consider a re-evaluation, or to try him on ADHD meds down the road to see what happens, as it typically goes along with mood disorders.

I didn't think it was even possible that he might have ADHD until yesterday I completely by accident came across this entry on Mommy Needs Therapy... Or A Glass Of Wine - a blog I follow on Blogger - and she talked about a new behavior program... well I will quote her:

"We are implementing a new behavior program with Noah and I'm going to be blogging about it on a new site I'm setting up. Stay tuned for more information! This a big deal for our family and I'm very excited to be working with Debra Sale Wendler the Respect Effect Mom. I met her on Twitter as @adhdparenting. So far I'm very impressed with the program even though it is a lot of work and at times it scares the hell out of me because it's making ME change a lot about myself and how I parent. So seriously, stay tuned!"

I clicked the link to Respect Effect Mom and the FIRST entry on her blog talked about "unofficial red flag ADHD alerts you rarely hear mentioned" and as I started reading through this list I was like OMG THAT'S MY KID!

So I signed up on her site http://www.adhdparentingtips.com/ and Here's hoping for success!

Amish Macaroni Salad

This weekend was SO hot and muggy! We decided to take the kids to the beach, It was MUCH cooler there, and not nearly as sunny because of the heavy Sea Fog that stayed close to the ground.

We had made the decision in the morning to go to the beach that evening after I closed the store, so the husband made a LARGE lunch to hold us over until our late dinner that night after we got home from the beach.

Lunch consisted of Chicken Nuggets, Amish Macaroni Salad (a first time thing for us, it was premade from the store and given to us by a friend), and Deep Fried Potato Cakes (Fried in Canola Oil).

I opted for no potato cakes as I recently figured out that Canola Oil causes my Gallbladder attacks, and after tasting the Amish Macaroni Salad and deciding it tasted ok, but I would prefer my homemade macaroni salad that I had leftover in the fridge from the day before. So Hubby, Kids #1 & #3 had the Amish Macaroni Salad with their potato cakes and chicken nuggets, I had Chicken nuggets and my macaroni salad and#2 had Chicken nuggets and potato cakes because he didn't like the Amish macaroni salad.

I know, it seems like I'm rambling.

On the way to the beach, we took the long way, I like to explore different routes to different places in the area, as I have only lived here for 2 years and want to know the area as well as my husband does.

Along the way hubby starts talking about how he thinks he should have stayed inside after lunch and that he thinks being outside in the heat after such a large meal has made him sick to his stomach.

About 20 minutes into our trip #1 starts complaining that he feels sick. No big surprise, he is prone to motion sickness when in vehicles for long periods of time, so I pulled over and he does his thing beside the road. We backtrack some to the store we had just passed and picked up drinks for everyone. He seems fine after this.

We get to the beach, have a great time, the kids are awesome, and we vow to DEFINITELY return to this beach again in the future as it is Sandy, near home, and NOT crowded!

When we get home from the beach, half the kids are sleeping, hubby takes the baby out, the boys wake up and get out, and I get in the van to get #3 out of her carseat. She is asleep, so I wake her up and get her out and she's fussy, which is typical of a toddler who has just been woken up, and shes wet cause she had an accident, plus her sandals are full of sand from the beach, so I'm trying to get her into the house and she stops in the middle of the driveway and throws up... OH BOY... I yell to hubby and he doesn't hear me. After she's done, I try to get her to walk some more to get her into the house, and as we come around the van she stops and bends over and throws up again.... FUN STUFF.

I FINALLY get her in the house, and it dawns on me... Hubby wasn't feeling well, #1 threw up on the way to the beach, and #3 is throwing up now, and if I remember seeing remnants of Macaroni in the driveway after she was done.

It clicks that they all had the Amish Macaroni Salad.... the rest of us... who AREN'T sick... Didn't.

I mention to hubby that maybe it went bad in the fridge, we've been having some trouble with it not staying cold enough, it needs a new part, something we are saving up for. He agrees its a possibility. I take it out of the fridge to smell it and see if it SMELLS bad... it smells fine to me, and when I close the cover I notice the expiration date... August 16, 2009.... This all was happening on August 22, 2009....

Guess that explains it.