The Bear

My sweet little 5 year old is called "Bear". He is a very special little guy who is current diagnosed with Global Developmental Delay (GDD). We do not believe this will be the final diagnosis by any means but due to his still young age it is all we have.

The adventure with Bear started even before birth as well I think. He was a difficult pregnancy for me, we had just suffered a loss of a pregnancy and conceived again right away. Which made it a bit of a high stress pregnancy to start with. Add to that I had a high stress job issue at the time (which I left to keep pregnant) and the fact that my body wanted to react with high blood pressure, it was a long road.

At 8 months I started going into labour with real contractions, but no progress. My blood pressure continued to rise and the doctor said well we should check the placenta for issues related to my bloodpressure and that is when they figured out he was breech! That is right... i estimate that about 7 doctors had all touched my belly and said that Bear was head down. I had known he didn't feel the same but didn't realize it was because he was upside down! Which is likely part of the reason my labour did not progress. And maybe be a future topic about his disability as well.

Anyway, there were many things I will write about in this blog that were red flags as he went along in his life. At three we had his language assessed and it was determined he was beyond severely delayed. Less than one percentile in language skills.

He then went on to attend a special needs preschool by the name of Providence, which he attended for three years before heading to Grade 1 this year.

We had him assessed through the Preschool Autism Assessment Resource Team (PAART) at Alberta Children's Hospital (ACH), and they determined that he does not fit the criteria to be labeled with Autism or at all in the Autism Spectrum. So he got GDD for now until he is old enough to undergo further testing.

It is my feeling, after much research, that he has both a Sensory Processing Disorder and an Auditory Processing Disorder. Time will tell as will this Blog. My hope is to get some feedback from other parents who children have been diagnosed with these as well as in the next two years to get to the bottom of his issues.

That is my short introduction to my little Bear. He will be the focus of much I write about at he is my little mystery. My eldest I love equally, but we know where his specialties lie. I will be sharing lots I have learned about him though.

Thanks for listening

The Monkey

My 12 year old son is affectionately called "The Monkey". He was diagnosed with ADHD - combined type at 7 years old. That day changed our lives completely! No longer was I the crazy mom who was always stressed out for no reason!

I knew from a very young age that something was quite different with Monkey. He was always so BUSY! He started crawling at 6 months old and was walking steady at 9 months and running full steam at 12. He has always shown extreme abilities in Gross Motor Skills. At a year old he started to get sick due to enlarged nasal turbinates. Now, that has no connection to his ADHD at all. The part that connects is that he would a "head infection" as I liked to call them, and be so sick and have a fever of 102-104 and I would be dragging him into the ER to get the fever down and antibiotics and he would still be racing around!!!!! He has more energy than the Energizer Bunny! That was the first indicator.

After he started school, the rest became apparent. He was frequently acting up in class, talking over the teacher, getting up in the middle of class for no reason, and no concentration at all. I worked in the same building as his school so I was there at the end of everyday and everyday his teacher would have another story to tell about his day in class. Finally I had enough of these meetings and made an appointment with a Child Psychologist and had Monkey assessed and our thoughts were confirmed.

Part of me wanted to tell people "HA TOLD YOU SO!" and part of me just cried for him. We then started therapy and medications and all of our lives are better, but mostly his! Stories of the struggles with medications and behaviors will follow as I write it all down.

Welcome to a glimpse into our world

My name is Melanie and I am a mother, wife, and friend to many. My life is very busy and complex at times.

The most important thing in my world is my two lovely children. I will often complain about them and some of their antics and challenges, but the reality is I love them with all my heart and my life revolves around doing everything they need to be done.

Then there is my husband! He is a wonderful man who loves me even with all my faults and insanity! He is a great man, a wonderful father, and a great provider.

I will blog a lot about the three of them a lot I believe. Both good and bad.

I don't profess to be a professional writer. I have had a great deal of life experience that I would love to share. I have been struggling through getting my boys what they need within the Canadian/Albertan Health and Education systems and feel maybe I can pass that knowledge on to others if they can just find me in the wide world of the internet.