Kids » Lady Jess

Raising a Teen Daughter and Letting Go

Dec 162011

I just did something I never thought I’d do. In fact my immediate instinct when she asked months ago was to say “NO! Absolutely not!”. My oldest daughter is 18. She has a fiance. They’ve known each other since we were stationed in Washington. They went to school together, had always been close friends. Then, eventually it became more. After graduation he went into the Army, and as luck had it, he was at Airborne training here in GA when we arrived. He’s stationed in North Carolina. They’ve maintained a long distance relationship for quite a while now.

He asked her to spend the holidays with him while he’s on leave, visiting his family in Florida.

As I said, my first thought was just no. The problem with that is

a. She’s 18.

b. she is a good kid.

c. he is deploying

I don’t mean she’s basically good, I mean never EVER has she gotten into trouble. Not a bit in 18 years. And she’s never done anything to make us not trust her. Nothing. No sneaking out, no partying behind our backs, nothing. She spends her free time at home now, but in WA it was hanging out at her friends house, and going to Youth Group and church.

And he is deploying. I couldn’t in good conscience deny her this time with him before he goes. There will be other holidays for us, and this year, our gift to her is allowing her to spend HER time with him.

Maybe I’ll get some Cool Mom points for this one.

They Like Me A Little

Holidaze, Kids 1 Response »

May 092011

I had a nice Mother’s Day. Even with Hubby gone, and one kid grounded for life, the other at a friend’s house all day after church. Shocking right?

My youngest daughter, while I was searching around post for something, took it upon herself to make me a card and vaccuum the living room, dining room, and hall. She the proceeded to make dinner later that evening.

My oldest who was home for all of 15 minutes, brought with her a vase of yellow tulips and the above plate of cookies.

My husband, who isn’t HERE at least called. And if you knew him you’d know that for him to suffer through talking on the phone requires an act of God. Or a holiday. He also, though I did the actual ordering, and just told him about it, got me my World of Warcraft plushies.

As for how I spent my day? I treated myself to something I haven’t done in AGES. I played WoW allllll day. I even stayed up late, laughing and running dungeons with my guildies. I didn’t get to bed until almost 2am. I completely forgot the dogs hadn’t been out since arounmd 6pm. So for Mother’s Day even the dogs gave me a gift by not complaining and not peeing on the floor.

And a shout out to Shianti, my favoritest healer! Because my hunter and her pet pulled some really dumb shit last night and she kept us alive!! And my Apologies to twice, whom I may have led some hungry tigers to. What can I say? they crave dwarf sometimes?

Ellen Degeneres on Bullying

Kids 1 Response »

Oct 022010

Video says it all. My kid was bullied in elementary school, thankfully not to an extreme.

My friend Lizz and I were on the school almost daily, and teachers did step in when they saw things happening. The principal said he couldn’t do anything, and to take pictures if we saw it happening. That’s exactly what I did, since the bullies would start on the walk home. When the kids’ mom saw me with my camera she called the MP’s. But I know my photographic rights. No expectation of privacy in a public area. BE PROACTIVE! We can no longer just blow off this bullying behavious as “teenagers are mean”. It starts small, and grows into levels it should never be allowed to reach. Get the school involved, get the cops involved. Sure I spent an afternoon at the MP station over it, but it ended.

I Swear I JUST Had Her…

Kids 4 Responses »

Aug 262010

I swear it was just yesterday I had a sweet little newborn weighing in at 6 pounds, 3 ounces and measuring 17.5 inches. How on earth can she turn 17 today???

Time sneaks up on you like a windshield on a bug. – John Lithgow

Days 69-73: Headaches

Kids, OEF 2009 4 Responses »

Sep 292009

A very strange thing has happened in our household. My oldest and I have had the same headache, for the same time period, with the same symptoms. B told me Thursday or Friday she had a headache. I gave her 2 advil, and she never mentioned it again. Friday mine started. Ugh it was awful. I couldn’t shake it for anything. I threw everything at it. Advil, decongestants (the pain was all behind my eyes). Nothing worked until Saturday when I took Excedrin Migraine. But it still came back. So Monday, I went to the doc. She ordered bloodwork, and Thursday I have a head CT.

After dinner last night, B looks miserable. I ask her what was wrong and she says headache. This time I ask if her stomach is upset. She says kind of. Well, the clinic is closed at this point. So my choices are the ER/Fast Track, or wait til today and get in at the clinic. I opted for the ER. Since at this point we both have this thing, I’m worried about something contagious. They take her in, do bloodwork, CT, give her IV fluids, and eventually a cocktail of toradol, compazine and benadryl before releasing her with a migraine diagnosis 4 hours later.

So far today she feels fine, fingers crossed for her that it stays gone. I have some pressure still, like mine’s gonna return. Ugh. I was told by her nurse that the ER was the better choice because they can do everything at the visit. Unlike the clinic which schedules the CT. Of course that cocktail of drugs would have rendered me unable to drive home, so the ER wouldn’t be a good choice for me.

It’s just so strange that it hit us both at the same time. I have no explanation. The youngest is unaffected. It was just us. Barometric pressure changes? Misalignment of the planets? Who knows. Lets just hope it goes away and stays away.