Better Eat My (GFDF) Wheaties!

For several years I've wondered if our oldest has food allergies. I've wanted to get him tested for quite some time, but I haven't due to my fear of how he'd react to the testing (blood draw). I suspected my own food allergies. I decided to pursue my health first and underwent all the testing myself in hopes of getting better educated and in hopes of reducing the number of tests my son would have to go through. Once I had my food allergies mostly figured out and my diet under control I had the confidence and experience to pursue his food allergies. I put off  getting him tested for as long as I possibly could, but after watching him struggle to get through a 45 minute soccer class without sitting or laying on the floor in exhaustion and frustration I decided it needed to be done. After seeing him cry because he couldn't run as fast or as far as the other kid it was time. After watching him tucker out at tumbling class next to kids who were still moving full steam ahead, I realized it was time. And after rushing him into the shower after his eczema had a painful reaction to the chlorine at the pool, it was clear I needed to do something. A friend of a friend who has children with food allergies of their own had been "through the ringer" of doctor's appointment and was able to recommend a pediatrician who, even though he's over seventy years old, is open to new and somewhat alternative medicine and food allergy testing. I could not be happier with this doctor. He's a breath of fresh air. He is a combination of sweetly old fashioned (he called me himself with the test results) and eagerly open minded. He's guided us step by step through the pediatric food allergy testing process and has helped us to determine that N has numerous food allergies (approx 22) at various levels. Right now we are focusing on the highest reactors (most of which are dairy) and we'll pursue his other allergies after we decide if we're going to do any more testing. In the mean time, we are educating N, his teacher, his friends and family in what he can and cannot eat. We've purchased children's books about food allergies and donated one to his class room to educate his friends. We're making trips to the grocery store to explore new foods. We've found some we've liked and given the thumbs up to and some N doesn't like that got the 'ol thumbs down. And that's okay. I told N I have worked through lots of foods to find things that taste good to me and I will work through it with him to find what he likes. Our most recent finds are soy chocolate milk that he can take to school. He won't drink it every day, but he likes that he can drink chocolate milk like the other kids. We've discovered that some instant pudding mixes do not have dairy in them and can be successfully made with almond milk. We'll learn how to package those up for school lunch treats. A friend told us that Oreos are dairy free! Yay! We're also working on trying new fruits and veggies and "real" meats to maintain a healthy diet.We're having fun looking at pinterest for gluten free/dairy free (so we can all eat them) muffin recipe for breakfast. All the cooking is a little extra work for me, but I'm rewarded on a daily basis knowing and seeing with my own eyes that N is feeling better. We went for a one hour hike in the woods the other day. In the past he may have had the endurance for 1/4 to 1/2 that amount of time. We started reducing his dairy intake before vacation and he was able to walk all over the theme park with less whining and fatigue. Today, after a full day of school, N came home and asked to play "Red Light, Green Light." We did. Then the boys wanted to play baseball, so we did. Then they wanted to play soccer....we did. After dinner he came upstairs and asked to do my exercise tape. It's low impact and safe for a child his age to do, so I put it in and did it (for the second time today) with him. The whole time he had a big smile on his face and kept saying,  "I feel good, Mom. I feel good!" I held back tears of joy. Our hard work is paying off! I'm sooo glad I feel as good as I do because I'm gonna need all the help I can get to keep up with him! Better eat my (gluten free, dairy free) Wheaties.

Bumble Bee

It's a stormy night, but never fear! Bumble Bee is here to protect us! However, he is sleeping on the job. I found N sleeping in his Halloween Bumble Bee Transformer costume, mask and all! (For safety reasons I will take the mask off.)

Thailand

Daddy recently returned from a fifteen day trip to Thailand. We are sooo happy to see him!! This is Daddy's third big trip to another country in less than a year. The boys and I made cards to put in his suitcase again, but I can't find the pictures I took of that this time. Oops. Last time it was very snowy and cold when he was gone. Lots of my family and friends skipped outta town for warm, sunny vacations. This time, the weather is much nicer and friends, family and neighbors are home. Being able to play outside and having family here to help made a huge difference! The boys enjoyed the nights Grammy stayed with us and the days that Grandpa mowed. Thanks for your help, Mom and Dad.

 Last time D was gone we had record snow fall. This time we had record rain fall and flooding that will go down in history. We were fortunate enough not to have flooding in our house, but lots of people did.

Park underwater. Can you see the tippy tops of the
red and yellow  playground equipment? And the roof of the
picnic shelter? 

This is one of our favorite burger places. You'd never guess their
back parking lot is under all that water.

Daddy was gone over two weekends. The first weekend he was gone the rains were falling and the flooding was approaching. I didn't realize the flooding was going to get as bad as it was. I didn't realized it until we went downtown to the museum and saw roads blocked off and people sand bagging. That's when it hit me. Wow! We looked at the sand levies before heading into the museum to play for the morning.

D tried his hardest to plan his trip around lots of holidays (both Thai and American) and events, but he just couldn't figure out a time to be gone without missing something. We did our best to send him pictures and video from various occasions, especially N's Spring school program. Grammy and Grandpa attended the program. I think N really appreciated seeing them in the crowd. :) The Spring play was titled "How Does Your Garden Grow." N and several other boys in his grade played the part of weeds and did a really cute rap. N really got into it.

Mom and the boys did a great job of making my Birthday special since D was gone and lots of people sent me cards and emails. Thanks everyone! I woke up to Birthrday decorations all over the house and homemade gifts from the boys. Grammy and the boys took me out for breakfast at a local family restaurant and we skyped with Aunt J. D planned ahead and sent me the most gorgeous bouquet of flowers. He ordered them the day before he left and included a hand written note with them. I cried when I saw his handwriting on the card because I knew he had to plan ahead to do that. Thanks, honey! Mom watched the boys one night so I could go out and use up a gift card for a massage! Aaaah. Mom and the boys made me gluten free,dairy free cupcakse that were amazing! Mmm.

Day ten and eleven are always the hardest for me for some reason. Maybe it's because the boys were up in the night every single night?  Maybe? Hmm. Possibly. Fortunately Mom was here and I got to recoop with a nap.

Daddy returned home late on a Friday night after the boys were asleep. I was so happy to see him. Giddy, really! He was able to stay awake until our usual bed time then crashed and burned. He popped right up at 4am the next morning and we were off and running to our home town tractor show. Nothing much slows D down. He did, however, fall asleep on the couch at 7pm the first three nights after he got home from his trip.
He was wide awake 5am the first few days after he got home and had intended on keeping that routine, but has fallen back into his routine by now.

A few days after D got home he and I headed up to the windy city for an overnight to celebrate my Bday (belated) and Mother's Day in one. We had a great time. That was the first time we'd been to Millenium Park. We happened to get a great deal on a room at the Palmer House and saw a taping of the Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me Show. So fun.

Now we're catching up on things that got a little behind while D was gone. Last weekend I watched the boys while D fixed a toilet, the washing machine, mowed and set up traps to catch a trail of ants in the garage. This weekend we're ripping out a portion of the ceiling and wall in the living room that has been damaged due to a leaky drain in a shower. Busy, busy.

St. Patty's Day

We had lots of fun with St. Patty's Day this year. While we decided to forego the parade this year on account of it being cold (and me being tired from going to a Mom conference), we still had fun at home.
N's teacher encouraged the kids to make a Leprechaun trap. The kids turned them in before Friday and left them out in the classroom over the weekend to see if they could catch a Leprechaun. N and L enjoyed making their traps so much that, to date, they've made three sets of traps. It is for these fun projects that I save washed plastic fruit containers, capri sun boxes, peanut butter jars, toilet paper rolls, etc in our "junk box." Our junk box is nearly depleted now, so I will have to save up some more stuff for future use. The boys were so into their traps that they left them out at home on Saturday night to see if they could catch the little guy. We did not catch the Leprechaun (or the "trap guy" as L calls him), but he did leave his footprints, some donuts, a few candies and a mess of all our green toys he could find. We decided maybe we need to do something to prevent the little guy from coming into our house next year 'cause he made such a mess. N suggested we put all our baby gates across our exterior doors to prevent him from coming in. Good thinking, Buddy.