Wow

I hesitantly post this realizing that medication is not always looked at fondly for children. However, after realizing that my daughter really no longer had much 'quality' of life I decided she needed the anxiety medication. She's only taken it five days and all I can say is 'wow'. She's a totally different child. She actually slept thru the night by herself in her own bed the night before last. I don't know that that's ever happened. I even had someone tell me that the reason her hair is thin (although you can't tell because her hair is so curly!) and hasn't grown well is because of all the stress she undergoes when dealing with situations. I realize that not every second is going to be blissful - we still see her getting nervous (twisting her shirt, biting her nails, asking the same question over and over and over, etc) but we have seen major improvement. We even took her to walmart last night to get school supplies. Generally when we go there I could hear her screaming several aisles away. Last night, I could hear her talking several aisles away! It felt awesome! (I didn't realize how loud my daughter was until I watched Noel's video of the girls on her blog - my child really has some lungs :). It's kind of funny because sometimes you don't realize how bad it was until it starts getting better. I really felt like all of us were going to snap in two. I'm so thankful my family has been so supportive thru all of this because I really don't know what I would've done without them. (And ofcourse thankful that Bob's folks made the trip here to see us since Payton's anxiety and need for routine were most important). And - ofcourse all the emails and encouragement you all gave me - we needed it and I feel like my family is feeling some peace again. Even after just two days of less screaming and anxiety, we're already finding it easier to get out of bed in the morning. The last picture of Payton reflects how all of us have felt the past two days (even Koen!).