What am I supposed to do with this, Mom?

We headed out to Bill's Berry Farm Friday. but forgot sis had dance class... Oops!! So we missed the pumpkin patch... So we ended up going with my Team31/mops group this morning. We had two tough weather days in both... Friday was wet, muddy and cold, today is extremely windy and muddy. We tried to make the best of it though. I would definitely recommend Bill's berry Farm for pumpkin patch over country mercantile... So fun and the family is super nice. I know where the 5 of us will be going next year! Ok.. Enough playtime... Baby boy is finally napping... Gotta get lunch going and attempt to get school done before dance class in a few hours.

Nothing new..

Just plugging along with school, taking tomorrow off for the pumpkin patch with daddy, but finishing up our week Saturday instead. Trying to find some variety in our allowable foods.. I have at least 3 recipes that are keepers even without such a strict diet

You can tell baby boy is learning to get around now with all the bruises on his poor little face. He's getting it though, can stand without assistance for 10-15 seconds as of tonight. :-)

http://youtu.be/_r9snKgnGlU

If my house wasn't baby-proofed before, it will be now! I see a walker in the near future!

Another Halloween idea..

A loves raisins! Just make sure the ingredients are raisins/grapes only!

Score!!!

check out http://www.indiecandy.com/Lollipops-s/47.htm

All the hard candy lollipops on this page are safe for our current diet, except for the "sugar-free" lollipops, which have lemon in them.  The chocolate ones should be fine too, but she's not a huge chocolate fan.  And don't worry about the "ascorbic acid" it is fruit based, not from corn. 

Yah!!!

I found 2 treats that are safe during sis' restricted diet....and I already know that they are a hit with both girls... Miss A actually squealed when I showed her, she was so thrilled!! Both are found in the health food section at Fred Meyer. These flavors and brands only!!

Coming along...

Tell you what... Beans and red meat get old!! But the sacrifice is worth it. I have so far lost 2lbs following (not strictly) Miss A's diet. But we are eating very healthy. I'm really going to need to be organized with a meal plan because quick meals will only happen if things are already prepared. Eating beans out if a can is ok once in a while, but the stuff they line the cans with is not good for you. I have a half dozen bags of different types of dried beans in the pantry and 2 large containers of soaked, not cooked beans waiting in the fridge. We made a roast several days ago and that worked well for many different dishes... Tacos, stir fry, etc... But it's gone now. I'm still hunting for safe gluten-free flour combinations so we can enjoy muffins or biscuits once in a while, but cutting potatoes and rice out makes that difficult since those seem to be key ingredients. Refusing to give up yet! I don't want Miss A to miss out on too much stuff, especially since this takes us through the holidays and Halloween. Worst time to diet! :-)

For anybody that occasionally makes food for her, I will send out a list of things I know she can have and we'll continue to add to that as we see other stuff. There is nothing processed that I have found to be 100% safe. Even store bought applesauce Is out of the question because it contains ascorbic acid. Did you know that is usually made from corn? We are a very corn-dependent society!

A delay of birthday (party)

Just an FYI!! The idea was brought up today and Miss A likes the idea, so we are going to delay Miss A's birthday party this year until her dietary restrictions have been (hopefully) lifted because 3 months will take her until after the start of the new year. This way she can have her supergirl birthday cake and EAT it too! But this means gifts are delayed too and hope everyone will respect her decision to delay the party and everything that comes with it, that means no sneaking in extra gifts! She wants to wait. That doesn't mean you wouldnt be able to wish her happy birthday. She is aware what it means and is ok with it and it will be an extra special after waiting for it for a month.... I promise!!

Mobility

I've had a crawler for just over a week. He's tired and hungry here, so he's quite whiny, but still cute. :-)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bimY96XLUKo

Planning for Halloween.

So I am looking at the different names of corn, sugar, rice, etc. Unless you can find fruit bars/fruit leather that are nothing but fruit (no fruit juice, no ascorbic acid, nothing but fruit....and good luck finding one that Is not homemade) then let's plan a food/candy-free Halloween this year. It amazes me how many things corn, rice, potato and soy are found in and the different names they go by.

Results are in...

So Miss A does have leaky gut syndrome with some yeast and icky bacteria in her gut and an array of foods that showed up as problematic for her insides. So on top of our avoidance list of dairy, egg, peanut, tree nut, sesame, fish and shellfish, have more to add.... Wheat, oat, rye, barley, gluten, rice, corn, peppers, turkey, pork, lamb, chicken, potatoes, lemons, oranges, soy, cranberry, coconut and I'm sure I'm forgetting several. We also have to really severely limit all types of sugars (which includes some fruits (watermelon/cantaloupe/etc), juice, pop, frozen yogurt, sorbet, popsicles, candy and more) and anything artificial (colors, flavors, etc). She also has a group of supplements to take on top of the vitamins I already have her on that assist in healing, detoxing and creating a good environment for her gut.

She will be on this diet for 3 months to start with and will be retested. And other things could pop up during the detox and healing process so we have to be on top of it and keep track of how she's feeling and reacting to everything. I will be keeping a food journal for her, so if she's with any of you when I am not around, I will need to know what she ate and if she had any symptoms after she ate it... Please!! :-) please run anything by me first though... This is going to be quite a process for our little one and something could be fine one day and not the next.


Edit... By the way... Corn includes cornstarch, corn syrup, pop corn... No cornstarch or wheat as a thickener... I'm on the hunt now! Girls and I skipped school today to go hunting :-). We will make it up Saturday... I think this is a justifiable excuse for skipping school today... My baby has to eat!

Figuring it all out

Finally settling into a routine... I think. We pretty much do school from 9-3 with LOTS of breaks. Then Monday and Friday we head to dance class and Thursday is our half day since we have MOPS every other week and the other weeks we do dr apts and other apts then school after lunch til 3. I didn't realize how many appointments we go to until I got everything planned out. I'm thankful for MOPS, I get a time out with other moms my age to chat and even get breakfast while the kids get 2 hours of bible study and play with other kids their age, though I tend to keep Mr M with me instead of with the other babies in the nursery. The kids LOVE it!! And I like the fact that they are so careful and on top of things with the allergies. Miss A even has another BFF. :-)

Late Tomorrow is our follow up apt with the naturopathic dr for Miss A... I've been impatiently waiting for the results for 2.5 weeks. I'm actually hoping she has a leaky gut, maybe we can help calm down some of her allergies and asthma. :-). If that's the case, along with the already avoided foods in her diet (dairy, eggs, peanuts, treenuts, sesame, fish and shellfish) we'll have to avoid all forms of sugar (sugar, honey, agave possibly most fruits), anything artificial, yeast, gluten, grains, potatoes and other nightshade vegetables, possibly tomatoes and a few other inflammatory foods. (I've done a little research already to prepare) Then whatever comes back as problematic on the delayed food allergy/food sensitivity test where they tested 96 common foods will also be on the avoidance list. We will be eating on this diet with her, though I won't be as strict with the other kids on it. 3I have no intention of making separate meals for all of us, only do that on rare occasions, like pizza delivery night, but that's extremely rare. :-)

Baby M had his well baby checkup today...Weighed in at 24 lbs and measures 28.5 inches tall. Believe it or not, he isn't off the growth charts... Weight is high and height is average, but I think his numbers are lower than Miss A's were until she started walking.