Blue on a Green Day

(I promise, this whole blog post is not all sad. It will be worth the read. You'll learn something, I am sure)
I try hard not to be blue.

Really, I do.

Especially publicly.

But, I just have to be real.

Blue has been knocking on my door for a few months now and I am afraid if I do not keep trying to avoid it, its friend, Depression, will soon follow.

I have to keep my head up for my kids.

I have too much to do for them to actually fall apart.

But, that doesn't mean that I am not fighting the urge to crawl into my bed and sleep the day away because I don't want to face my challenges.

I have heard so many other moms who are carriers of Fragile X Syndrome talk about their depression issues or having the blues. I do find it to be true that it really is something we have to stare straight in the face and realize this is a symptom that comes with being a FXS Carrier.

I have tried to realize, though, that this does not define me.

Just like I tell Brother that FXS does not define him.

Brother gets so excited when he hears me talk about someone else who has FXS or if I am talking about a conversation I have had with a mom who thinks her child may have FXS. Just as I seem to get excited when I meet another mom of FXS knowing that she understands what I am going through.

Then I talk to other moms and realize that they, too, know what I am going through on the other side of things.

My biggest obstacle lately has been our issues with Sister... she jumps, grunts and throws her "bracelet" all the time. Rarely is she not doing this. It starts to wear on you as a parent. I don't know how to explain it. It just does.

And all of this doesn't just affect the mom of this house, it affects that dad too. I see it wear on Marc. We are both worn out and overwhelmed. I guess that is why we sold our goat and our chickens. That was a hard decision for all of us. The kids were very sad to see their pets go but, Marc and I really need more time to focus solely on our kids and the animals were taking up a lot of that time. Anyway...

I remembered to pray in the morning when I woke up before I went on with the rest of my day because I was working hard to fight off the blues. I was inspired to keep myself busy.

I made some hair things with one of Sister's jean skirts that was too short, broken jewelery, a spandex book cover, and some flannel pajamas (I didn't put them all together,  mind you, but individually).

This head band is made from the jean skirt. It was a 2 tiered ruffled skirt with buttons so I cut 2 sections of the gather and then put the together in opposite fashion and lined the buttons down the center. I super glued all this together and glued it to an old headband I don't use anymore.

I know this is a funny look, but she was tired and really didn't want her picture taken (really I think it is a cute look in a funny way). Anyway this one is made with felt, some beads from a broken necklace and a broken earring.

I made this one to match Baby's cute little shoes. This one was made from the book cover and a broken earring.

Left: more of the jean skirt.
Right: the flannel pajamas and a bead from a broken necklace.

This pin is made from the belt loops of the jean skirt.

Fun stuff, huh! and so frugal! (smile)

And then I created a social story for Sister that I will share with you, to give you an idea of what a social story can be.

The key to a social story is simple and at a level your child will understand, the words and the images.  Actual photos are also a great idea.

I just did simple illustrations because she likes to look at books and I thought this would be fun. I hope it works.

So there it is. I hope it works.

Now looking at all these things I did accomplish yesterday along with working on OT tasks with Baby I can feel good and move past the yucky stuff.

Besides, today is St. Patrick's Day. All the more reason to be happy. I get to wear green and pinch people who aren't wearing green. What more could I ask for?!