lifestyle

Kindergarten and ADHD?!

If you have a kid starting school this year, you’re probably super excited! Your baby is going to make new friends, learn new things, and grow into their own little person. They’ll probably run home and tell you how fun their first day was, tell you about all the friends they made, and all about everything they learned! If you have a kid with ADHD…. it might be a little different for you.

We did pre-k 3 in 2017 and it was a tough year. Thank the LORD for her teacher during that time. She was a literal angel. I think I actually cried when school was over because she couldn’t be Grace’s teacher again! Grace had a really hard time doing pretty much anything you’re supposed to do. Listening? Nope. Patience? Nope. Respecting adults? Nope. Sitting still? Nope. Thinking before doing? HARD. NOPE. & don’t even get me started on making friends. Grace wasn’t able to play normal with other kids. She couldn’t focus on one thing for too long before getting bored or wanting to play something else. She also had absolutely no impulse control. As soon as someone upset her she lashed out. At the end of the year her teacher said “You know, have you thought about getting her evaluated for ADHD?”

I got ahold of a children’s psychiatrist and they got her in right away. I’m pretty sure he wanted to call a priest at our first appointment, but he was so kind. “You’re daughter has been here one hour and I can tell you she is showing every sign of a child with ADHD/ODD. Let’s get her evaluation papers and figure out what’s going on.” Honestly, before I had Grace, I thought ADHD was some made up disorder given to bad kids: but I was SO wrong. Two weeks later we were given an ADHD diagnoses, but she was too young (at 4) to be “officially diagnosed” with ODD.

The doctor mentioned meds right away and I was totally against it. So, I did as much research as I could and tried a few things. First we tried switching her diet. We eliminated sugars, dyes, processed foods, dairy. Didn’t work. Then we tried CBD oil! It just wasn’t enough. Plus, the prices were outrageous! Grace was about to start pre-k 4 and we decided maybe we’d give meds a try. At first we tried Adderall, but it made her a hundred times worse. Her doctor wanted to switch to another medicine, but I declined. We got her into a children’s play therapist and things started to get a little better at home. Then she started her pre-k 4. The worst few weeks of our lives.

Teachers are supppsed to be warm hearted and loving, right? My poor kid drew the short end of the stick and was stuck with someone who I’m sure had NO heart. Pre-k 4 was only 3.5 hours long. The third day I was told my child was making the teacher tired and was impossible to teach because she was so defiant. She insisted my five year old go onto medication to “make everyone’s time at school easier”. (Which we did put her back on a liquid Ritalin, she did great! But, we took her back off when we pulled her out of school.) Comments like this lasted for about 4 weeks until we decided to pull her from school. Our daughter is extremely smart. She was ahead of everyone in her class and she loved to learn. She came home and told us she “hated school and didn’t want to go back”. We said that was enough. If someone wasn’t willing to work with our child as much as we were, then it wasn’t worth it. She took a year off of school and was doing SO MUCH BETTER! Of course she was still her sassy self, but she was almost a different kid.

Fast forward to the first day of Kindergarten. I was TERRIFIED. She was going to be awful. She wasn’t going to make friends. Her teacher was going to be unwilling to help. I was so wrong! She has definitely been having some tough days again, but she has a great teacher! Instead of getting calls EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. about my child, I get told “it’ll get better!”. It’s such a relief to have someone so caring and kind towards our daughter. When you have someone who understands that your child isn’t just being “bad” or “defiant” on purpose, it makes the biggest difference! We have a meeting tomorrow morning for a behavioral plan and a 504 plan, which her teacher actually recommended to me! I’m so excited for this new school year. I really think this is her time to shine!

Welcome to our crazy life!

Hey there! 99.9% of the time our kids are the center of attention. They rule our whole entire world, and that’s A-okay with us. I’m going to take a few minutes here and put us in the spot light for once! (Okay, let’s be real. The kids are literally screaming Baby Shark and asking if they can have Goldfish for dinner as I type this… but we can pretend, right?)

My name is Nicole, and that is my husband Tyler. I am a former EMT turned stay at home mom (for now). My husband is in the process of becoming a police officer for the city of Phoenix. We have been together for 4.5 years, and married for 1 year. I absolutely adore this man. He is the best dad and an amazing husband. We have 2 kids, a 5.5 year old girl and a 1.5 year old boy, and one cooking in my belly. My oldest is not biologically his, but he is all she really knows and he has always been “dad” to her.

Like I said earlier, our kids run our whole entire world. They keep us on our toes and make sure we never have a chance to relax LOL. This is our oldest, Gracelynn. She is starting Kindergarten this year and is SO excited! She may only be 5, but she has the attitude of a 16 year old. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid of the teenage years that are ahead. She’s such a free spirit and definitely goes after what she wants. She is also one of the most kind-hearted little kids I have ever met. She is one to make sure no one is ever left out of the fun.

This sweet little face is Daxton. He is a baby shark obsessed little Tasmanian Devil. He loves to go go go go go gooooooo! He was born with two congenital heart defects, but that doesn’t stop him from being a crazy little thing! He is a huge daddy’s boy until it’s bed time… then he’s all about cuddling with the mama. He is so adventurous and loves to explore. He is seriously the definition of a boy. He loves trucks, cars, dinosaurs, monsters, and getting dirty. His heart is so pure and I am obsessed with being his mommy.

This cute little bump is our second boy and last baby, baby C! He was a HUGE surprise. We, AKA my husband, originally talked about waiting until Dax was in preschool to have another, but the universe had different plans! I am SO excited to have another little. I am obsessed with babies, so what’s one more? LOL. Pregnancy is extremely hard on my body though, so this pregnancy has been very rough. I have SPD and it can make the smallest movements unbearable. I’d put up with every ache and pain a million times over though for these wild littles.

Well, that’s us! Our cute little fun family! We are super excited to share our lives and adventures with you! See you again next week!