Food, glorious food! Part 2

I researched allergy testing and won't bore you with all those details. Basically no one can agree on which type of test is best. I was also thinking it might be more GI related so we wanted to get the kids tested for gluten intolerance/celiac as well.  To do this test they needed to be eating grains.

It was a done deal. Of course, me being the all-or-nothing personality type that I am, I didn't play it smart and add in one food at a time. Noooo not me!  If we were off diet then we were OFF DIET.  The kids ate at Kentucky Fried Chicken, Little Ceasar's Pizza, Long John Silver's and several other places they had never been to before.

Something I learned from this experience is that we are definitely doing the right thing by steering clear of these offending foods. Our house was crazy!  Behavioral problems were sky high. Reading abilities were dramatically affected. Sleep problems were becoming a nightly issue when they had been almost non-existent before. After quite a while of eating this way we finally reigned it in and went back to the basic Feingold protocol which eliminates the artificial colors/flavors and preservatives. Things weren't great but they were tolerable.

The kids' appointments were staggered so I took Silas and Sadie in first. We had already eliminated eggs and peanuts from Sadie's diet since we suspected allergies to those two items. Their blood was drawn and sent to the lab.

When I got the results I was devastated.  Thankfully they weren't with me and didn't witness their sobbing mother the entire drive home. Then Ellie, Avrie and Evelyn had theirs done as well. The results weren't much better. I was so confused. It said that they were allergic to several foods they had been eating with no problems. Or were there problems?  Maybe that was the underlying issue. Maybe if I took these foods out of their diet their gut would heal and they could eat more and feel better. Was this really the way?  Everyone's bloodwork also came back positive for gluten intolerance. Well, everyone except Silas but that's a complicated story of mishandled bloodwork and a retest after he was off grains for a while. His numbers *off* grains were still close to  positive.  Plus he shows such a good response to a gluten free diet that I think he's probably gluten intolerant as well. I'm not about to subject him to another blood draw to find out.

I was so overwhelmed with the various allergies and sensitivities listed that I made a spreadsheet. I thought that would help me see what they *could* eat.  You can take a peek at the Allergy Chart if you would like.

I made a plan and worked with a friend with allergies in her family. Made a trip to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods an hour away and we were set. Then I started really questioning this. Per the specialist anything that was an allergy we were supposed to avoid for.ev.er. Was that truly accurate?  One thing that really had me second guessing was that Sadie only showed up as sensitive to peanuts when I was pretty certain she had a full blown allergy. This specialist never once suggested an epi-pen. Red flags were waving high.

So I researched some more and decided to do skin prick testing. Took the kids to the head pediatric allergist at the children's hospital in our state capitol. He scoffed at some of my findings which was hard to take. I have avoided mainstream doctors for several years for this reason. They weren't there when my children were screaming in fear and acting so irrational that they could hurt themselves or others when they had preservatives or food coloring. It's very, very real.



Have a blessed day! ~Tammy

Read Part 1 here.
Read Part 3 here.

Food, glorious food! Part 1

It seems like everything in the U.S. involves food in some way. Getting together for a visit?  Let's have a pitch in!  Sunday School class?  Snacks are provided!  Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas family gatherings?  Bring on the the turkey and ham and all the fixin's!

I love food. Don't get me wrong. But this whole trip down allergy lane has made it difficult to navigate. Just to have a day trip takes a LOT of planning and organization. I know that I have mentioned this before but I am not a natural born organizer.

Just to update on the whole diet situation...I know you all have been in such suspense wondering what we are eating for dinner...we went off the SBP diet and added grains back in. Not because it wasn't helping. No, we really felt good. There were just a few problems.

-Everyone was always asking for food. With five little birds constantly chirping, "Mom! I'm hungry. Can we have...?" I was going nuts.
-I would fix HUGE amounts of food that should really be enough for 2 meals and it would be gone in a matter of minutes. It got to the point where I was letting the kids eat their fill and then I would get something if there was anything left. Much of the time there was nothing left. I had to go to the store more often throughout the week so one night I just grabbed something real quick. Then it happened again. And again.

This was happening so often that I was feeling horrible as I was not eating on the diet at all. But I was still having to keep up with all the shopping, chopping and cooking. I was burnt out. I found myself questioning why this diet was working. Maybe we didn't truly need to avoid ALL of these foods. Maybe it was just one or two things that were bad for us.

Also I had figured out that Sadie was possibly allergic to eggs because of the high amount of eggs I had been eating and she had been getting through my milk. I eventually weaned her and then we really saw she couldn't eat eggs. We also noticed problems with peanut butter.

We decided to do allergy testing. We would finally have answers.  Or would we?

Have a blessed day! ~Tammy

Read Part 2 here.

Read Part 3 here.

Operator error

Sadie is saying lots of new phrases here lately.  The other day she was coloring. She scribbled with a green crayon, then a blue, then a red....smiling and so pleased with herself. :)  Then she scribbled with a white crayon. Of course it didn't show up on the white paper. She then turned to me with a very serious face and said, "It's not working."  :)

Today she announced that she had to go to the bathroom and walked out of the room. This is a new thing that she has not done before.  By the time I got to her she had stripped to nothing.  I took her in and had her sit on her brand new potty seat....

Me:  Sadie?  Did you go potty?
Sadie: (In her sweet little 2yo sing-songy voice.) Nooooo. It's not working.
Me: *giggle* Well you have to make it work. (I made a little ppssssssss sound)
Sadie: Ooooohhh! Okay. (With a great big smile.)  pppsssssssssss

As if making that sound would make her pee!  Fun times!

Have a blessed day! ~Tammy

Crazy things we never thought we would hear...

The kids were all ready for bed and we were nudging them in that direction. We heard a very quiet 4 year old voice coming from the other room...


Evelyn: Ummmm I have pee running down my back.
Todd: How is pee running down your back?
Evelyn: Well, I peed in my goodnite......and I was upside down.






Really.   She really did say that.    I just tried my best not to laugh!

So Todd helped her clean up while explaining to her (again) that she can't pee in her goodnite on purpose. It's for accidents and is especially not for peeing upside down. 

Have a blessed day! ~Tammy

Hey Good Lookin' Watcha Got Cookin'?

I am not an animal type of person. They are cute and all but I'm not really into being drooled on, climbed on, covered in who-knows-what, smelling who-knows-what.  I've got kids to worry about. Come to think of it, I get enough drool, climbing and smells from the kids. I don't need a pet.  Of course the kids would love to have one. So we got fish!  :)

We have had them a few months and the kids have enjoyed them quite a bit. They are often found peeking into the tank to see what their fish is doing. (They each got two.)  I honestly don't know how they know which fish are theirs, but they do.  Recently, we have had a few deaths. After testing the water and getting a new pump we had yet a third fish die. We took him in and the nice man said that we had a bully in our tank!  One of the other fish was attacking them and that is why they had died.  He described how to tell which fish is your bully and the kids knew immediately which one it was. I was fairly impressed with their knowledge of the scaly little friends.

So we went home and Todd took the accused out of the tank and put him in isolation. We were going to keep him out for a day and see if the mood got better in the neighborhood. Now as much as they are enjoying the fish the kids really want a dog. They have been told that if they can show responsibility with their current pets then maybe we can work up to a dog. Ellie was concerned about the bully fish staying warm all through the night since there was no heater in his small container so she took the initiative to check his water one last time before going to bed.

She checked the temperature and added some water. The fish jumped out!  She grabbed him and put him back in.

Ellie:  Mom, something's wrong with Finn McFishle.
Me:  What's he doing?
Ellie:  He jumped out of the water and when I put him back in he started acting funny. He looks like he is choking.
Me:  Was the water hot?
Ellie: (Confidently) Yes. It's supposed to be above 80*. (looks at thermometer) It's between and 80* and 90* now.
Me:  Todd!
Todd:  Ellie the temp is supposed to be at or below 80*. (looks at thermometer which is steadily rising as we speak) It's at 100* right now. I think you cooked the fish.

Poor Ellie burst into tears. She had cooked Finn McFishle. She was devastated.

After she calmed down we talked about listening skills and checking with mom or dad before doing anything out of the ordinary for a pet.  Ellie said she was thankful that we didn't get mad at her. It was at this time I told her that I had done the exact same thing to a goldfish I won at the carnival.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Have a blessed day! ~Tammy

Ramblings of a perfectionist...

I bet when some of you read the title you thought I had a guest writing today's post. LOL  By the looks of my house, van or anything else I am in charge or organizing, it certainly doesn't scream "Perfectionist lives here!"   But that is exactly what I am. So much so that I put off doing things if I can't do them perfectly.

Todd has been asking me to update the blog and I just haven't found the time to get things caught up like I wanted. I have SO many things I want to write about!  Many stories to tell and several that would require a series of blog posts. It is all perfectly laid out...in my mind. :-)

So today I decided to suck it up and just make a post. I am going to get posts done as often as I can. They may not be in any certain order and...um...that's okay. At least I think so anyway. ;-)

Have a blessed day! ~Tammy