Hey you...

Hey you, yes you; the gentleman who gave me the judgmental remark and sigh as I walked out of the doctor’s office with my son yesterday morning, he was proudly displaying 3 lollipops in his hand and showing them to everyone who went past, 3 lollipops one for him and one for each of his brothers given to him by the nurses at the nursing station because he just had several stitches removed and didn’t moan or flinch.

My son was so happy and thankfully didn’t take to heart or even notice your snide remark because of course I must be a terrible mom to bribe my child with candy to go to a doctors appointment or allow him to eat so much candy at 8:15 in the morning, I noticed your comment though and it just irritated me that people can make such comments without even knowing the back story of the person you are remarking on.

Maybe you were just having a crap morning, if so it’s still no reason to be rude or pass judgment on other people, I know my monkey was busy and happy and running around in the reception area, he was excited and having a good day… no a great day despite the stitches the nurses were brilliant and this is why as much as your comment irritated me I chose to walk on and to hug my monkey tightly as we left and tell him how proud I was of him, he laughed and smiled he asked me which lolly his brothers would like best and then proceeded to tell me that he would only eat it at lunch without me even having to say it.

So in a way thank you for only affirming the pride I have for my son, you didn’t put a damper on his shine and your bad day and judgment was not paid forward as intended.

Special needs does not = a low IQ!

One of my pet peeves is the ignorance that comes from so many people in relation to a special needs child or a child with learning disabilities.

Loghan pushed a child at school yesterday when I asked him why he said the boy called him stupid and he retaliated, this is not the first time this has happened and it may not have been in relation to his adhd probably not kids can be mean sometimes or say things without thinking and Loghan has had too many bad experiences so it made me quite upset and got me thinking about the posts and experiences I have had and seen in the past whereby children on the spectrum or with any sort of learning disability are deemed or thought be lazy, odd or to have a low IQ.

Please if you are a mum who is faced with a diagnosis along the lines of autism, aspergers, adhd, add, and so many others do not for a second allow anyone to tell you that children of this respect have lower IQ’s because it is absolute hogwash and in most cases these wonderful kiddos actually have above average or high IQ’s which cause them to become bored and irritated very easily or emotionally frustrated, if the child cannot verbally communicate as well the stigma and association of a low IQ is there when it is absolutely not true and in so many cases where I have met people who thought this I have wanted to physically shake them and say have you actually spent time with an spectrum child or a child with learning disabilities because if you did you would never say this, it is hurtful and ignorant and makes me both incredibly sad and angry.

Albert Einstein had both learning and social difficulties and has been placed on the spectrum.

Loghan was tested as a part of the process of diagnosis, what we learned was that his scores in regards to mathematics and learning were well above his level he was doing things at the level of a 9 year old and he was only 5, his IQ score was high as well, however his social or emotional IQ or EQ was of an average level or just below, this is not out of the ordinary for kids on the spectrum or with learning difficulties, often their IQ and EQ struggle to correlate as they are quite far apart in development and this is often made worse by peer alienation or bullying.

 

In the past before the world had a better understanding of these kids, these wonderful kids were pushed aside, sent off to reformatories, made to stay at home or kept away from public eyes because they were thought to be a hindrance to society and their families, they were not encouraged to embrace their gifts and difference and it makes me so incredibly sad.

 

Please if your child or someone you know has special needs always encourage them and make sure they know how amazing they are because they really are, they are blessed with gifts, insight and feelings that most every day people may never ever know the meaning or joy of and we are all incredibly blessed to have our children, I have never in my life met a special needs mom who hasn’t felt blessed by her child and it my hope that with further research and active voices the stigma and bad association that hovers around these diagnosis will eventually be fully lifted and no child will be made to feel inferior or different to their peers and those around them.

 

procedure and dissapointment

So I promised an update and here it is...

Yesterday my ex, My monkey eldest and I all jumped into the car and off we went to the Red Cross Children's Psychiatric Center, we left over 2 hours later and I have to say feeling rather despondent and a bit frustrated.

When we were phoned for the appointment I thought we would be seeing a doctor strait away but unfortunately that is not how the procedure goes and we first had to see the counselor and relay all of our information and why we were there to her, I have a lever arch file full that covers all of Loghan's appointments and steps we have taken since he was first diagnosed in 2011 so you can only imagine, to top it off the lady we saw did not seem to have very much patience for children especially ones that do not sit still etc... seriously; she also seemed to be very judgemental over the current decisions we have made with regards to splitting the boys up in order to give Gabriel more of the attention he needs so he doesn't end up getting to a point where Loghan is, so far this has affected Gabriel's behavior and personality for the better he is doing so much better at school and after care, it is not a decision that was made lightly or without thought and just because Loghan then says he misses his brother does not mean we made the wrong decision, case in point when they are together on the weekends, Loghan goes strait back to hurting and fighting constantly with Gabriel demanding every minute of our time and not allowing Gabriel even a minute of attention....

Our decision was made based on the need for all of the boys to get the attention and love the need and deserve it may not be a permanent decision and they are still together on the weekends but it was done based on what we were advised and felt as parents, teachers family etc.

I cannot begin to explain how mentally and physically exhausting having a child with special needs is, I am not complaining I would not change it for the world but when you have two and the one demands constant attention while the other has a personality whereby they feel like they are intruding by asking for attention it can be incredibly difficult and we needed to make decisions based on what was best for both of them, Gabriel may not ask for the attention conventionally but he had taken to baby like behavior and tantrum throwing, he was starting to get into a lot of trouble especially at aftercare, since we have split them during the week, the tantrums have all but abated and he no longer acts like a baby at all to gain attention so whilst I understand and know Loghan misses his brother in his own way we as parents needed to do this, it hurt and it was not something we wanted to do but in the end it really has helped.

Anyway back to the appointment, 2 hours later the lady decided we had been there long enough and advised I would need to return to give her all Loghan's medical history and then Loghan would need to return a while later to be interviewed and only then does she get together with the doctors and they make a decision from there as to what treatment he will need...

I understand it is government and our only option but it was a bit disappointing, the more time goes on without help the more chance there is of something else happening and it is incredibly nerve wrecking for us as a family, Loghan does not seem to understand the impact or what his actions have caused as much as we explain it to him, he blocks his ears and does not want to hear or talk bout anything, which is typical child behavior and when a child feels guilty or doesn't want to hear what you have to say... you get the picture.

I'm trying to be positive, personally I am not sleeping very well, my appetite has gone out the window, I know I need to see someone at the moment it's just not possible financially so I am going to be looking into a herbal medication to see if that may help, it's a long journey made even longer when you start to question your decision and choices over the years whether you should have done this or seen this doctor or that but the truth is we have seen the best doctors in the field and this is our last option, I do trust that in the end we will egt the help that we need I have been told red cross has some of the best doctors for children in the country so we just have to keep positive and keep pushing forward until we get the help we need.

School starts next week and Loghan gets a new teacher as his has relocated to the UK we were advised of this at the beginning of the school year, it is a shame because his teacher was just amazing and he loved her so much but we have been assured the new teacher is very much like her so Im sure it will be ok.

Hubby is back and we are finally settling back into routine at home, I cannot explain how great it is to have him home.

Jesse is just Jesse lol, he has recovered from chicken pox but has been left with quite a number of marks which we are hoping will fade with the help of tissue oil but otherwise he was very happy to have his daddy home again.

That's it for update on my front, I hope everyone has a wonderful cozy winterlike Wednesday =)

Its been a bad week

I've been feeling really down this week, something happened last week within our family that sent us absolutely reeling and me into a state of questioning every decision I have ever made as a mother from pregnancy up until now.

As a parent you send your child out into the care of others believing they will be safe not come to any harm emotionally, physically and so forth and then something happens to them and you just feel that your child is not safe wherever they go and that you just want to put them in a protective bubble or lock them away from the outside world, we were so angry and hurt especially for who it involved and I struggled so much and still am struggling to come to terms with it as a mother even though the truth is the problem we faced is one that is becoming an everyday occurrence in our society... it sickens me, it hurts, I'm scared I want to leave this country move to an island where all I have to know is how to trade coconuts and ride a bike..

What happened, happened there is nothing I can do to rewind time and I am pain every time I look into their eyes and know that despite our best efforts what happened still happened.

We are making headway, last week was utter chaos but there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I am holding on for dear life because I have to believe that this will at some point become an ugly distant memory and that we as a family can pull through better, stronger and wiser.

I urge all the moms out there please hug your babies tight tonight because their innocence is the hope we need to pull through

RAWR!!!!!

I am a fierce lioness when it comes to my kiddos and there are a few topics that I am extremely passionate if not somewhat aggressive about when it comes to motherhood and life in general these are:

-          The right of every woman to the birth of her choosing

-          The encouragement of breastfeeding but understanding and acceptance of formula feeding

-          Vaccines (this one I don’t bring onto the blog all that often because I know it causes so much hate and anger)

-          Finally the topic that makes me roar most aggressively is awareness and understanding of mental, emotional and learning disabilities and disorders.

So you can imagine how much my inner lioness roared this morning when I saw the following:

This picture is not only ignorant but insulting to anyone who does suffer from or has a loved one who suffers from any of the above mentioned disabilities and/ or disorders.

Just because a disorder or illness is not physical does not mean it doesn’t exist and just because you do not have personal experience with it does not mean it is all bs.

There are days where I wished to the Gods that I could ‘fix’ my depression, that I wouldn’t feel the need to upset my friends and family with my negative feelings and lack of socialization, that I wouldn’t feel the need to hurt or starve myself, I didn’t want to feel that way I hated feeling that way, I willed it away with every fibre of my being but until I accepted and understood what I was going through until I found others like me and help and understanding I could not move forward and I rely heavily on those people to pull me through and show me the better side almost every day.

There are days when I have watched my kids suffer, days when I have wondered how are we going to afford 2 grands worth of medication every month (because every parent wants to see their child medicated and wants to spend thousands on meds and appointments instead of food or other things that are needed, right?), days when they have come home in tears from being bullied days when they have asked me why they are like this why can’t they be normal (who decides what is normal anyway)!!!!!

These ailments exist besides the fact that people are living through them every day they can be picked up on brain scans and in hormone levels, please tell me they don’t exist I dare you.

Hear me roar RAWR… vent over, sorry but not sorry if I offended anyone.

P.S I do apologize that this post is somewhat all over the place but this topic really upsets me and I tend to go all over the place when writing about it.

Encouraging Empathy and Understanding- Being the mom of THAT child

I read a post some time ago by woman speaking of her child becoming THAT child and it touched a point because I was the mom of THAT child, I have often spoken about the boys trials and how far we have come but very seldom to I get to vent about the treatment these kids are subjected to….

I was the mom of THAT child…

You know THAT child, the child who is always in trouble, the child who struggles to concentrate, sit still and pay attention.

The child who is shunned by other kids because their parents have told them to stay away or they just don’t want to be where the trouble is… I was the mom of the child who sat alone at break times and who came home in tears EVERY day, the mom of the child who called themselves stupid and would ask why nobody liked him or wanted to be his friend, why his teachers ignored him or told him he was bad all the time and would blame them even if they were not in the room at the time….

I have had a parent verbally assaulted me with a baby in my arms, I have received threats and nasty phone calls, Loghan has been threatened and pushed around by ADULTS, he has been told that he is a bad child a bad influence that nobody likes him by ADULTS!!!!!!!

Wednesday updates and musings

Good Wednesday Everyone!!!!

Things thankfully have settled down this week, the boys started at their new creche/ aftercare on Monday which was a great success!  

Loghan and Gabriel are very happy they get the individual attention and stimulation that they need and of course there are huge play areas for them so they have been in their element this week.

Never say never

There are many things that I said I would never do with my kids.. 

But the one that I never expected to break was that I said I would never medicate my kids, that Ritalin or anything of the sort was an easy way out for lazy parents and that it turned your child into a zombie.

It is also the one decision that I have received the most flak for and that I end up having to defend myself for time and time again by people who do not even know me or have never met me or my kids.

A little bit of leeway....

Every so often I get asked why we are somewhat relaxed when it comes to the boys diets over the weekends as they are both adhd and Gabriel has a long list of allergies; diet is incredibly important to managing not only their health but their disorders as well.

Basically in our house the rules are as follows during the week whilst they are attending school I insist on cooking a proper breakfast in the morning, they get a healthy packed lunch every day that consists of at least 3 fresh fruits, a yoghurt, a sandwich with dried fruit or raisins/ nuts (in Loghans case) as an alternative to sweets and diluted juice or water to go along with it, we do not allow take away's during the week.

Being the mom of an adhd child is hard being the child who has ADHD even more so

I remember when Loghan was about 18 months old I started to notice that his behaviour was somewhat different to the other kids of his age, he was my first child and I really didn’t know any better so I took it as a sign that he was just a really active inquisitive boy and that as he got older he would learn to control certain actions and reactions.

Patience and Understanding... from one mom to another

My, he is busy- oh my, they are spirited aren’t they… this seems to be the mommy polite version of… my kids don’t behave like that or holy moly; how do you survive…

The ladies who do this think the moms on the receiving end don’t get the hint of sarcasm that our children must just be naughty or ill disciplined, that their children are precious angels who can do no wrong- I have watched these sweet innocents on the playground and they are not always what they seem to be-  I have seen them trip kids, tease kids and bully kids… as soon as the child complains they are pictures of innocence and have done nothing wrong …. The other child must have done something to provoke them etc

That aside every now and then you find a mom to connect with, a mom who looks just as tired and highly strung as you do, one who turns to look at you with a shrug and a smile when their child is pushed because they know they are just kids being kids and 2 seconds later the roles are reversed her child pushes mine and then they are best friends for the remainder of their play…..

Looking up....

Yesterday was a good day, scratch that yesterday was a great day…

After feeling pretty down and miserable I got up yesterday determined to pull myself out of this slum no matter what it took, made myself a cup of good coffee courtesy of my parents who know us so well they got us Nescafe coffee for Easter instead of eggs whahaha…

Updates

So I have been a pretty half arsed blogger the last week or so, lets just say its been really emotional things have really come to a head for us with Gabriel so I am just going to drop a few updates in the blog.

ADHD and Coexisting Conditions

I just wanted to do a short post of the main coexisting conditions of adhd, I always find every bit of information helpful and I know so many moms who don't know about these conditions or what to look for- if you think your adhd/ Add child may have one of these coexisting disorders or that they are displaying any of this symptoms please discuss this with your chosen specialist as soon as possible.

ADHD and Coexisting Disorders 

As many as 75% of children with ADHD have at least 1 coexisting condition this can however be overshadowed by their ADHD symptoms and often goes unnoticed, there are 5 disorders to seem to be most common. 

They are:

1-       ODD or CD

2-       Mood Disorders

3-       Anxiety Disorders

4-       Tourettes Syndrome

5-       Learning disabilities

ODD (Oppositional-Defiant Disorder) and CD (Conduct Disorder) 

About 40 percent of individuals with ADHD have ODD and 25% have CD. 

ODD involves a pattern of arguing with multiple adults, losing one's temper, refusing to follow rules, blaming others, deliberately annoying others, and being angry, resentful, spiteful, and vindictive.

CD is often associated with efforts to break rules without getting caught. Such children may be aggressive to people or animals, destroy property, lie or steal things from others, run away, skip school, or break curfews.

Academically, students with both ADHD and CD are twice as likely to have difficulty reading as other ADHD children. 

* just a side not your child may be displaying symptoms associated with ODD/ CD and yet may not have ODD/CD, if they start displaying these symptoms it is best to seek out professional help as soon as possible, the sooner these symptoms or actions are dealt with the easier it is to stop it from developing into full on ODD or CD.

Mood Disorders

Some children, in addition to being hyperactive, impulsive, and/or inattentive, may also seem to always be in a bad mood. They may cry daily, out of the blue, for no reason, and they may frequently be irritable with others for no apparent reason. 

*side note- all children have bad days but children with mood disorders are constantly in a bad mood or are mostly in a bad mood for what is mostly illogical reasons.

Depression

The most careful studies suggest that between 10-30 percent of children with ADHD, also have depression. Typically, ADHD occurs first and depression occurs later. Both environmental and genetic factors may contribute. 

Environmentally, as children with ADHD get older, they may feel left out. Too often they are forgotten on birthday party lists, playdates, and sleepovers. These children may not be invited to play at other children's homes because of past difficulties with accidents or may not be chosen to be on sports teams or to participate in games. 

This takes a heavy toll on the child's self-esteem. As these episodes pile up, the child with ADHD can become discouraged and about one in four may become clinically depressed. 

While all children have bad days where they feel down, depressed children may be down or irritable most days. Children with ADHD and depression may also withdraw from others, stop doing things they once enjoyed, have trouble sleeping or sleep the day away, lose their appetite, criticize themselves excessively ("I never do anything right!"), and talk about dying ("I wish I were dead"). 

Fortunately, ADHD by itself is not associated with increased risk of suicidal behavior. Current studies suggest that both ADHD and depression may share a common underlying genetic link, since families with ADHD also seem to have more members with depression than would be expected by chance.

ADHD in a nutshell

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Symptoms of ADHD

The main symptoms of ADHD include inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity. These are traits that most children display at some point or another, but to establish a diagnosis with ADHD, the symptoms should be inappropriate for the child's age or not concurrent with other children in the same age group.

I know so many people say oh he/she is just a normal child but believe me when I say you will know if your child is ADD/ADHD, I picked it up with Loghan extremely early at a stage when I adamantly refused to even acknowledge the existence of ADHD, his behaviour was just very different to other children his age and from babyhood he already displayed colicky, hyperactive behaviour, he was always on the go, always getting into trouble always acting impulsively.

words to you my boy on a not so easy day

you know its going to be a great day when you get a phone call to pick your child up before 10am in the morning....

sigh* Loghan my child I love you but some days I could just scream

I don't understand you sometimes, there are days when you just go crazy- you kick things throw things scream and fight, you refuse to listen to anyone and anything and make life so difficult for yourself....

I know you cant help it, I know it is difficult for you far more difficult than it is for us.

Loghan Update

So it is now Tuesday and I finally have to time to chat about last week and the weekend, I have mentioned before that it was Loghan birthday on Friday and that his party was due to take place on the Saturday….. Unfortunately it didn’t happen.

Late on Wednesday afternoon we or should I say I received an email from the school counselor to say that Loghan had been suspended from school…. No phone call apparently they couldn’t get hold of my ex never mind that he has two phones as well as a land-line and I also have a cell and land-line but in any case I phoned Loghan’s dad and asked him to contact the school he did and we were told that it was a very bad day and that Loghan was to return to school on Monday.

So of course when he called back we were faced with: so what are we going to do, we already told him his party would be cancelled, for any parent I can say that the thought of this was absolutely heart-breaking even though we knew we had to do it. We contacted his psychologist and were told that yes indeed we needed to stick to our word and as well as cancelling the party he was to receive no presents and all his privileges were to be taken away so he can understand the severity of what has happened, I think I cried the whole way home, I have never been one for celebrating birthdays as I know what it is like to have my birthday ruined by some or other person or reason but choosing not to celebrate as an adult is completely different to telling a 7 year old child that they would be spending their birthday in their room.

So it was decided that on Friday I would collect him and his brother after school and would be able to spend some time with him before he went back to his father we had cupcakes sang happy birthday and to be very honest Loghan was extremely mature about it I think the situation upset me/us more than him.

Going back a day to Thursday I spent the majority of the day on the phone after being told by his pead that it was time to go a step further and seek out a psychiatrist not just a psychologist, counsellor, play therapist, specialist pead basically every other avenue we have tried has not helped so this is our last resort- according to both his psychologist and pead we need to establish whether there is something we have missed along the lines of a mood disorder or if when he fell he did indeed suffer some sort of fracture or fluid build-up that was missed on the scan he had that night, I cannot for the life of me remember whether he had a CT scan or an MRI that night is a frenzied blur but I do remember them saying that the one he had was more to look for larger fractures and soft tissue damage unfortunately our medical aid only covers one scan per person per year so as much as we wanted to without a substantiation from the doctor who insisted she did not feel it was needed we could not do another scan.

All I can say is that the 1st doc I called wanted to charge 4500 for one consultation- I think threw up in my mouth, eventually we were able to find someone who was both recommended and didn't want me to sell a kidney in order for my son to see them once.

As a mom I cannot explain what I am feeling right now; the appointment is tomorrow I am scared as hell my baby boy is so perfect to me special in every way I want to help him so badly and we need to know if there is something that we have missed I know that but what if there is something and what if it is something serious, what if he requires more medications or worse I just can’t stand the thought of it!!

At the moment we are out of options, his school is a general public school and even though I know they are doing the best they can with what they can it is quickly becoming apparent that if we do not find a solution soon it may not be enough and we may need to look at a special ed school, home schooling or a tutor to be honest this is our last resort and not because it would make him a labelled special needs child (not that he isn’t one already) but because this would throw off more than we could begin to explain not only would it knock his self-esteem back again and make him feel rejected but there are very few schooling options meaning that Loghan would have to take a bus to school every day on his own and then one back in the afternoon again on his own to join his brother in day care for obvious reasons this is not something we want to do- we are also faced with the problem that it can take months to get a child into these schools and they require references from several specialists saying that he needs to be in the school- now the majority of Loghans therapists and such he has been to don’t think he needs this so that’s a negative as well as his marks are excellent which is also a problem for these schools, I don’t know why because most special needs children are exceptionally gifted.

The 2nd option would be a tutor- at the moment it costs us 4700 just to keep the 3 boys in crèche and school, that is a lot of money for us and is more than half of what I earn monthly… which is just sad but anyway- a good tutor and we would need one who is able to work with a special needs child would cost us that just for Loghan…. What about our other kids what are we supposed to do with them when we can’t afford care for them and that’s what the school and many people don’t seem to think about- yes Loghan is special he may require extra care but we have 2 other children who also deserve and need care and love and support.

Our last option would be home schooling- this would require one of us to quit our job and stay home full time to tutor Loghan this would leave us 1 salary short and would also create the problem of affording care for Gabriel and Jesse as Loghan would need to be schooled on his own without the distraction of his two younger brothers running around.

So from this it is easy in my mind to understand why we so desperately want it to work for Loghan in the school that he is in- last year he did so well this year has just been crazy… we are really hoping that tomorrow we will be able to set a path forward we may not get answers tomorrow but a step forward in the right direction would be a great help.

We (my ex and I) were also due in court today but it has been postponed- my ex and I share custody and alternate weeks with our boys this is what I and a few if not all of Loghan’s therapists feel is part of the problems he is having or adding to the issues so after pleading and asking for the last few years to try one household with my ex point blank refusing I resorted to asking the court to intervene and decide that why if they decide it is a professional opinion based on a social workers report of what is best for the boys and not just mine or his opinion.

In south Africa for those that read my blog in other countries there is no such thing as sole custody except in extreme cases otherwise both parents have equal parental rights and responsibilities, both parents are encouraged to share time with the their children as equal as possible and although alternate weekends and holidays is still the norm for most dads if a dad does ask for equal time they will be allowed this- it is also law in SA that a father cannot be denied access to his child whether he pays child support or not if say for instance my ex refuses to pay his monthly court decided support amount and I then decide to hold back his kids from seeing him I will end up in more trouble than him which as far as I am concerned is so wrong- I have friends who have not seen a cent of child support for years and yet when they have gone to court they are given the run around the men can’t be found etc its just plain wrong but anyway that’s how this country works- just a side note that we also have one of the highest cases of foetal alcohol syndrome in this country due to mothers purposefully drinking in order to gain a grant when their children are born.

Now I am going to go on public record and say this just as I said to the social worker- my ex loves his kids- he may not have been ready to have them when we did but they mean the world to him and I know that as a father he does what he feels is the best that he can with what he has- I do not I repeat do not and will not take his kids away from him or stop them from seeing them EVER but I do believe very strongly that being a father is not about the quantity of time you spend with your kids but rather the quality- he does not see it that way, I hope one day he will understand and no matter what the outcome is of this court proceeding I hope that the court does what is best for our boys- I will say that we have an amazingly thorough social worker who by no fault of his own is completely swamped, I understand that he is doing the best he can as fast as he can no matter how frustrating it is with the constant postponements and such- we are under an incredible amount of pressure from the school though which I hope from our side he can understand.

On a lighter note I mentioned in my last blog that we were going to start cloth diapering well we did on the weekend and its going great my hubby and I are so happy that we decided to do this and Jess is much happier as well!!!

Crossing fingers for a positive outcome tomorrow!

Cosleeping the next extreme sport

I can’t wait for my boys to become teenagers so I can wake them up at the crack of dawn on the weekends as their favourite thing to do is moan during the week that they want to sleep later and then come barging into our room on a Saturday morning saying mommy the sun is up its time to get out of bed ahhhhh how sweet it will be…..

Anybody who has ever co slept with a child or baby at some point or another whether they are sick, mizzy or in general you choose to co-sleep knows what an extreme sport this can be.

Raising a special needs child

Being the mom of an Adhd child can be a very trying and challenging thing... my thought babble today comes around as it is the last day of the 1st term for western cape schools and this morning I could literally feel a weight lift off my shoulders.... 1 term down 3 to go.

Nothing prepares you for a child with special needs with my 1st pregnancy I remember my doctor asking me if I wanted to do the downs screening and amnio and I said No, I asked her if she felt it was nessesary and her reply was "only if you plan on doing something with the results", I have seen the difficulties moms face with special needs children and decided that what would be would be in any case all my children were thankfully born healthy.