Pixie Mama: The Beginning

I’ve been blogging for a while under another name as a single mom but when I was contacted about this new blog starting up I decided it was time for a fresh start. So you maybe are wondering where I’m going to start with this. I will start from the day my family became complete. It was almost 2 years ago and now looking back at it all it seems like a fairy tale. I went from homeless, poor, and alone to finding the love of my life (just "Love" from now on), having a home, and having a complete family.
I’d technically been in labor for a day and a half already but I wasn't dilating yet. The pain just kept getting worse and worse. I finally called my mother who had just come to town the day before. I just couldn't take the pain anymore. My mom came over and sat with me while she timed my contractions. It was definitely time for my boy to make his big debut into the world. I don’t think he will ever understand how big his birth was for me, or at least not until he has his own children.
My mom got me in the car and we went to pick up my step-dad. I was in so much pain and they were cracking jokes the whole time; it's a wonder I didn't strangle them both! It seemed like my mom was going over every possible pot hole and railroad track on the route and my step-dad was making all kinds of jokes about my water breaking and my son being born in the rental car; they're lucky I was in so much pain. I was in way too much pain to strangle the both of them. For the record, my water never broke on it's own, the doctors had to do it for me.
We got to the hospital and I was admitted. They put me in a wheel chair despite my telling them it hurt worse when I was sitting. They put me in labor triage and I was there for what felt like hours with a RN telling me that I wasn't in labor. We all knew I was but because it wasn't registering on the monitor she swore I was having Braxtin Hicks. Finally, thanks to my cousin who had delivered at the same hospital, a midwife decided that my contractions weren't registering because I was having back labor. They waited to move me til I was at 3 cm. Once I was moved thing started to get hazy. I was given Nubian first, really didn't work. People came in and out. They put me on an oxygen mask because my O2 levels were low. They gave me the epidural. Then the next thing I remember is the beautiful moment my son was born. He was born the day before I was suppose to be induced. I panicked at first, I couldn't hear him cry. They laid him on my chest while they finished up. He had a lot of hair for a newborn. His body was covered in fine, newborn baby hair; even to this day Mini me has a hairy back. His eyes were dark brown almost black but I could see him staring right at me. He reached straight for my hand. I cried like I never had in my whole life. The most beautiful boy I had ever seen in my life and he was right there and mine. After everyone had come and gone--I'd be willing to bet the hospital had never had that many people waiting for a single baby!--I was left with my son and my thoughts. I couldn't sleep. I don’t like hospitals and sleeping in one was not something I was thrilled about. Never the less I had one of the best accomplishments of my life a little boy who looked like he was made completely of me. My life, my love, my angel, my mini me

Kindergarten Success!

My Tiny Boy Human has ADHD and ODD (oppositional defiant disorder), making him very difficult to deal with when he does not have his medication. I did not want to medicate him at first; I tried all sorts of natural ways to help him with his inability to focus: herbs, diet restrictions, etc…and nothing worked. Once I decided to try the medication, I wanted to kick myself in the rear for not giving it to him sooner! The change in him was immediate, and it was a lifesaver! He was able to listen better and follow directions, so he was no longer getting in trouble. I was no longer yelling at him or pulling my hair out in clumps or crying in a corner because I was losing my mind. We no longer had shouting matches which resulted in tears….things were all together much easier, and our house became much happier!

Tiny Boy Human started Kindergarten and seemed to be having trouble adjusting to school. Thankfully, his teacher has her own children with ADHD and knew immediately that his trouble stemmed from his medication not “kicking in” until nearly lunch time, making morning learning time a struggle for both him and her. So his pediatrician changed his medication to something that would be faster acting. Little did I know, the new medication he was prescribed was only going to help with the attention deficit part of his disorder, only to make his ODD worse. He was going to the office daily and I am pretty sure he broke some sort of record when he, my 5 YEAR OLD, was suspended from school for 2 days on only his third week of KINDERGARTEN. No friends, you are not hallucinating; you read that correctly. He was removed from school for 2 days due to his poor behavior, of which he really had no control over. It was heartbreaking, as his mother, to see him struggling so much when I knew that inside he wanted to be good but his brain just was not functioning the way it was supposed to.

But the good news is, we changed his medication back to the original with the plan of giving it to him much earlier to give it time to absorb into his system so he would be ready for class right away! And it worked! He no longer has any issues at school and he is thriving! He tells me every day how much he loves going to school, riding the bus, and even homework! That’s right readers, he loves his homework!

Tiny Boy Human got his first report card and out of 25 graded areas, he got 21 S's (standard met--highest marks), 3 N's (needs improvement) and only 1 U (standard not met). He also received +'s (highest markings) in all 8 graded areas for work habits and study skills! And then, he read a book to me:

"This is my yellow bear. This is my red bear. This is my purple bear. This is my blue bear. This is my brown bear. I have many bears."

He read it all, all by himself, and only needed help with the word "many." He has been reading a book to me every night; it is a little bittersweet to go from reading to him while in our glider, to him reading to me, but I am so proud!

We had "student lead" parent teacher conferences this week. In terms of his scholastic performance, he's averaging a "B" level. He knows all of his letters and numbers, and writes them all very well. He reads at level 2 (out of 3!), he knows a lot of his sight words, and the only thing he doesn't do well with is rhyming; he thinks rhyming means the words have to start with the same letter instead of end in the same sound, he just doesn't get it yet. If he can figure out rhyming he would be one of the top students in his class! His behavior is awesome when he has his medication, and even when he doesn't have it (for various reasons we really do not want to get into) and has trouble controlling himself and focusing, his teacher says he is "one of the sweetest kids I have ever worked with and we have the closest bond out of all of my students." And that was proven when he was asked what his favorite part of school was and he replied, "being with *Mrs. Teacher!"