Pet Peeve

I keep seeing posts about what we should teach our children.  They are usually pretty one sided about teaching our daughters to look for someone who treats them like a queen and teaching our sons to treat woman as such.  I think what they are failing to capture is the true sentiment that we have to teach our children that relationships are teamwork.  Here is what I want to teach my kids

Don't look to be complete in another person.  Be complete in yourself and then find the person who compliments that.

Treat your partner like your best friend and your equal. 

Never raise a hand to someone you love no matter if you are a girl or a boy.

Don't settle for someone who makes you feel bad about who you are.  Find someone who loves you inspite of it.

Don't look for someone you can't live without.  Find someone you wouldn't want to live without.  

Put into your relationship what you want to get out of it.  

Find someone who makes you laugh.  If you can laugh through the sorrow and hard times things will be ok.

Never be cruel.  Words can't be unsaid.  

Don't leave things unsaid either.  If you love someone, even when you are mad, tell them.

Relationships take work but they shouldn't be a struggle.  

Most of all don't lose sight of who you are or change that for anyone. 

Outdoor School

Where we live kids in the 5th grade get to go to a camp referred to as an outdoor school for a week with their school.  Hannah gets to go this year and I am a total wreck.  In all fairness I would be a wreck no matter what, however when you add Hannah's special needs into the mix you get one freaked out Mommy.  Thankfully the camp and school is willing to work around her diet so she can attend, but I am so terrified of how her anxiety is going to play out.  We have never sheltered them from sleepovers or camping so she is at least good away from home although she is usually away from home with her grandparents and not in a cabin in the woods.

Hannah also spent last year being bullied by most of these kids so I am worried about the lack of supervision.  I know that she will most likely end up in a cabin with her friends and she is doing so much better in school but the worry will always be there.

I have had some pretty nutty nightmares so far regarding packing disasters, we will see how they evolve the closer we get to her leaving.

My Child Showers With a Cat

My oldest daughter and our kitten are in love.  How in love?  They shower together.  Why is everything in this house so weird?

My Baby

We had a cat for 11 years who passed away last January.  Fuzzy was a horrible cat.  The equivalent of a grumpy old man but she was also beautiful and we were totally in love with her Fuzzy butt.  Drew has had a horrible time getting over her loss.  Its his first experience with death and her's wasn't a gentle passing.  She started having trouble in the evening and the vet couldn't get us an appointment to have her put down until almost 3 pm the next day.  During that time we spent time loving her and telling her we would miss her but also seeing her in pain and struggling.  A few times a week Drew is in tears because he misses her, despite adding two new kittens to our home who actually like him and want to be loved on.  His healing is coming along slowly but this amazing picture my husband caught lets me know that it is coming along with help from the new babies in the house.  

We Are The Murphys

Hi all.  I am reentering the world of Blogging after a 3 year vacation.  I blame Facebook.  However some of my ranting is just to long for Facebook so I decided I want to start blogging again.  My name is Audra and I am a wife and mother of three amazing if not a little cracked eggs.  I suffer from depression and have for probably my entire life but wasn't diagnosed until I had kids.  I have been living with the knowledge for 10 years now.

My husband Dave works in the computer field but beyond that I have zero clue what it is he does.  I know that I am not allowed to say he fixes computers.  We met online in a game called Ultima Online in 1998 and married in 2001.  It worked out great for us at a time when people thought I had lost my damn mind for dating someone I met online.

My oldest daughter Hannah was born in 2003.  When I had Hannah I was not prepared for what I was in for.  From birth Hannah was a difficult child, although I refused to see it.  After years of gentle guiding I finally had Hannah tested and discovered that she had ADHD.  It was like my world crashed down around me.  It was later discovered that she suffers from ADHD, OCD, Anxiety and something that in the UK they call Selective Eating Disorder and here in the good ole USofA we are in total denial of its existence.

We added to our family in 2005 with my beautiful son Andrew, also known as Doobie.  Doobie was the polar opposite of Hannah.  He was the most mild mannered sweet child I had ever met and was a relief that was after all our struggles with his sister.  Imagine my surprise when in 2009 it was like a switch was flipped and my sweeter then life angelic little boy turned into Dennis the Menace.  He went from being the kid everyone loved to the kid no one wanted to see coming.  It was heartbreaking and confusing and in 2011 led to him receiving an ADHD diagnosis, along with anxiety and sensory issues.

In 2009 we had our last but not even a little least child Olivia.  Olivia is at the best of times a wild card.  She was also a very mild mannered but opinionated baby.  Everyone loves this girl and she is well aware of this.  She has been worshiped since birth and it shows, Hannah once asked why Olivia thought she was a princess and the best answer was because Hannah taught her that she was.  Her and Andrew would build literal baby thrones for her to sit on while they catered to her every whim.  Olivia is curious and smart and shows this by constantly destroying her surroundings.  While most people would assume out of my three that she is the one with some behavior disorders she is my only neurotypical child.  She simply has the need to understand everything by destroying it.

This is my family in a nutshell and this is my blog.  I hope you like it.