The Scottish Games and Aiden's first performance!

Today was the Scottish Games in Wellington Ohio and it was also a BIG day for Aiden. Today he competed in his first ever musical competition!

Aiden played in the practice Chanter division. He played "The Blue Bells of Scotland" and did very well! I think he was a bit nervous, but he says he wasn't nervous at all.  And he took 2nd place! He has only been playing his chanter for 6 months and this was his first experience in something like this. He is already eager for next year and to compete again!

I am so proud of him! He was very excited to show off his metal to his teachers in the Lochaber Pipe Band as well! 

Aiden and his 2nd place metal!!!

 My little Grady watching the Highland Games

 The start of the mass band

 My boys watching the mass band.

 There is something so beautiful when this many pipes play together. I always get goosebumps and tear up at Amazing Grace every single year.

 In a few years, my Aiden will be in these ranks!

 This is the Caper toss. And yes, he is about to throw a giant tree.

 The idea behind this is to toss the caper at a certain angle to get it to flip (a 12 o'clock angle is a perfect flip). This Caper is 16 feet tall and weighted 130 lbs.

This is the Lochaber Pipe Band from Lorain, Ohio. There guys are teaching Aiden how to play bagpipes. They are an amazing, patient and caring group and we are so lucky to have found them!

And last but certaintly not least, My Aiden performing "The Blue Bells of Scotland". There was some wind (and other pipers playing in the background) but you can still hear him.

WAY TO GO AIDEN!!! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!!

Plan of Attack

I was finally able to get Aiden into the dr for his adhd issues. He is at the max dosage for Daytrana (the patch he wears) and we didn't want to do an entirely different medication (yet). So our new plan of attack was to add something in addition to the Daytrana.

So, in addition to wearing his Daytrana, Aiden will now take a small dose of Clonidine (1/2 pill twice a day), to kind of take the edge off. I think we've established that he will take one with breakfast and his 2nd about dinner time.

Yesterday was his first day and the first dose made him a little fuzzy headed. He said it felt like "his hamster fell off it's wheel".  But after a few hours, he said the fuzziness went away. I didn't give him his evening dose until after his baseball game (He is still the team catcher and doing great!) because I wanted to avoid fuzziness during the game. He didn't mention any fuzziness in the evening and so far this morning, hasn't said anything either.

So far, the effectiveness is still up in the air.  Yesterday it made him kind of sleepy with the fuzziness. In the evening we had a little whining etc, but I think that was because Daytrana was completely out of his system and the small dose of Clonidine isn't enough to have a "complete control".  This morning we have had a bit of teasing towards his brother but it isn't as bad as the past few weeks. Once again, his Daytrana takes 2 hours to kick in so we're just riding on Clonidine right now.

 I'm hoping this will be a good solution. New medication always makes me nervous.  ADHD meds are always such a trial and error to find the right dosage/combination. It's a very frustrating time because adhd kids body chemicals are so different. We've been lucky to find some good medication for Aiden without too many problems. Hopefully we hit the nail on the head again this time.

I also had a Dr. appt for Liam this week. His heartbeat was at 138 and measuring good. Only problem is I'm down another 2 lbs. I haven't gained any weight this pregnancy, which has me worried. Dr K wasn't thrilled either. We're trying a new heartburn pill in hopes that this will help me be able to eat more regularly (well we will if the insurance will cover it!).  Weight gain has never been a problem in my previous pregnancies, in fact, I gained waaay too much with Aiden and just about right with Grady. So to not gain weight with Liam does worry me.  Dr K. said Liam is probably gaining weight by taking nutrients from me and the prenatal vitamins but there are things he can't create on his own, like amino acids, so it's a tab worrisome.

Hopefully by next month things have changed around a bit; for both Aiden and me!

We love summer!

 Grady hanging out at his favorite place; Mam-maw's house!

 Wearing his fishey coat and making fish faces before a fire at Mam-maw's house. Being Ohio, we still have some cold nights.

 Aiden's ready for some marshmallows!

 Playing at the park

 Wheee! Tried to get Grady to go down too but he was being stubborn.

 My handsome, handsome guys waiting for the Fish Festival Parade.

 Aiden's favorite part; the Fireman's Water Fight!

 Grady started watching from his stroller because it was raining at the same time.

 Aiden was just itching to get closer.

Grady finally joined Aiden in the rain and he really really wanted to jump in that big puddle!

As you can see; our Summer is going pretty well. The boys are staying busy with baseball, therapy appts and playing outside and at Mam-maws house. I can't believe it's already mid June!

We're going to Gettysburg in a few weeks and everyone is super excited; especially Aiden. He is reading everything he can find about the Civil War and Gettysburg. I can't wait to share that special place with him.  

And in less than 100 days- little Liam will be here!! I can't believe things are going so fast!

One of those days......

Ugh...I need to vent and rant a bit because.....today is just one of those days.  One of those days where I really do not like my child. Don't get me wrong; I LOVE my child but his behavior today (and in recent days) makes me really really not like him.

Aiden's adhd. He's been on the same meds and dosage since the beginning of the school year and they have worked very well all year. But he has also grown almost 3 inches and gained weight. So by may/early june there was signs that his medication wasn't as effective.  At his June appt last week (he goes to the dr every month for a re-check on behavior and blood pressure/weight gain etc) I mentioned that his behavior was getting worse and I really thought we needed a change in dosage. But Dr. didn't want to change anything yet because he often sees behavior worsen at the end of the school year due to stress/weather change/etc.

But things have gotten worse since last week. The nasty talk, arguing, overly emotional and even violence/destruction has gotten worse. It's so hard to deal with; it's hard to see my son act like that.  Today he tried hurting Grady, whipping him and throwing a giant red ball at him so he'd fall off the porch (all this while under the "influence" of his medication.)  I had to beg the dr's office to get him a new appt (since his next one wasn't until July) and I admit, I cried at them cause I'm so frustrated (pregnancy and frustration don't mix well.)  They were able to squeeze him in next week. It's going to be a long week.

I'm angry at all this. I'm frustrated. I hate feeling this way. I hate spending my time yelling at Aiden when I know he can't totally help it. I really want to take away his bagpipe lesson and baseball game for tonight but I can't bring myself to do it yet because it's the only things he loves and is relativity calm during. I HATE HATE ADHD.  I HATE that the only thing his biological father ever gave to him is this stupid stupid disorder.

batter batter baseball!

Baseball season has started again!  After playing 3 years of t-ball in Norwalk, Aiden enrolled in rec league here where they play by little league rules. Which means, at age 8, they are doing kid pitch! EEK!!!

I am a lot more freaked out about it than he is! Unfortunately, his team is a bunch of beginners and the other two teams have more experience so the odds are stacked against them. The first team they faced the pitcher could throw very hard AND throw strikes! Double eek!  Aiden hit a few foul balls but nothing past that yet, but because of rain (of course) they have only had 1 game!

 The baseball scowl. Every player has one.

 Aiden's first at bat of the season

 Aiden getting suited up to play catcher. He LOVED it!!

And did very well!  

What's in a name

When it came to picking the name for our third child, there were a few "rules" I made. It had to be of Irish/Scottish/Gaelic descent, have a good strong meaning, go well with Aiden and Grady and I really preferred to not have a popular name.


Aiden's name means "One born of Fire" or "Fiery"; which totally fits his personality. When I picked the name Aiden in 2003, it wasn't popular. The next year; it exploded in popularity! Now, I hear about Aiden's everywhere (and they all seem to live up to their fiery name).  Aiden's middle name is Charles, after his biological fathers step-dad.

Grady's name was suggested because of our love of the Cleveland Indians and Grady Sizemore. But the name Grady fit my ideas very well. Grady is also a Gaelic name meaning "An Illustrious Person". And I believe whole heartily he will live up to that. Grady's middle name is Quinn, after my grandparents who made/make such a huge impact on my life.

So when it came down to naming our 3rd son, his name had a lot to live up to. Brett wasn't too keen on most of the Gaelic names I picked out and I didn't like his ideas for "normal" names.  We batted around "Peyton" for a while but decided it had moved more into a girl's name than a boys lately. I liked Finnegan (Finn) but no one else did.

We were finally able to agree on a name we all likes; and it even gave Aiden a bit of imput too.

He will be named Liam Lowell

Liam means strong-willed warrior (among other things). If he lives up to strong-willed, the kind of scares me but it sounds like a strong name. Aiden loves the warrior part because he feels he will make a good Jedi someday.  Lowell is after Brett's Grandfather, who recently passed away (and it happens to be his great-grandfathers name as well).

So we will have an Aiden, Grady and Liam.  I'm very excited to have my three boys. I can't wait to meet Liam in a few months.

School's Out!

Aiden is officially done with the 2nd Grade! I can NOT believe it!! How is my baby a 3rd grader already? I remember being in 3rd grade!  I was feeling nostaligic and looking through some pictures from his past first days of school. 

 Aiden on his first day of Kindergarten!

 First Grade

 2nd Grade. Missing teeth and all.

I didn't get a picture of the last day of school but this was a few days before for memorial day. I can't believe how grown up my baby is and how much he has changed over the past 3 years. He is growing up WAY too fast!!!

Memorial Weekend

I know...I know....it's Wednesday but here's the weekend report.

Memorial Weekend was pretty difficult. My mom and brothers went to North Carolina to visit my sister and it was the first time in almost my whole life that we didn't spend the time together as a family. There's been so many many changes since march that spending a big "family" holiday without them was very difficult.  I pretty much wanted to stay in bed all weekend. But of course, that couldn't happen.

Saturday we went to the "Great American Rib Cook Off" in Cleveland but it might as well been called "Tiny, ghetto rib cookoff". It was a lot smaller than your led to believe. We walked around the whole thing in less than 10 minutes.  I was disappointed in my selection of food (beef brisket sandwich), I had heard on tv it was great but I thought there was way too much fat involved. I wanted to try some ribs but I had already made my choice and didn't want to waste anymore money. The best part was eating a waffle ice cream sandwich. Oh and going home.

On Memorial Day Aiden marched in the parade with the boy scouts. That was a lot of fun for him. It was a short parade but had a decent turn out and he loved it. It was super, super hot too! Felt more like July than May. So after the parade we went out to Soak City (cedar point's waterpark) and cooled off there!

 My beautiful boys before the Parade

 Grady spent his time before the parade saying "Hi!" to everyone who passed.

 Aiden marching with pack 412

 Way to go Aiden!!

Grady trying to stay cool when it was 90 degrees yesterday. We didn't spend much time outside, I didn't want his asthma to get aggravated. He wasn't too happy about spending his afternoon indoors. Thankfully, today is a bit cooler and we're able to get outside more!