Merry Christmas!

Our first Christmas back in California.  It rained all day, it was cold and we loved it!  I was worried that the kids would not be happy about mom taking the number of gifts down to under 4 plus their stockings, but I really don't think they noticed!
They happily have been playing Just Dance 4 on their new Wii and been busy flying the boys remote control heliocopters for 2 days now! This was the ONE and ONLY picture I got of the them Christmas morning and of course they have horrible glowing eyes! Oh well...I hope you enjoyed your holidays too!

An Empty Nest part 1

Well, it is official.  All 3 kids are in public school now.  I am now faced with the reality that I don't have my own identity.  Who am I?  I am a wife and a mother.  But now I have to find out what happened to ME after 12 years of being ONLY those two things. 
So as the kids embark on a journey in public education I will be spending time figuring out just that.  Who am I?
Wish us all luck...I have a feeling the kids journey will be much more exciting than mine!

Well we didn't go meal less this week! My MIL is here for a month.  She LOVES to cook, although she is not very excited over cooking with our dietary restrictions, I have to say she did a wonderful job adhering to it! 
We had french onion soup, chicken enchiladas, spinach chicken salad and turkey chili.  YUM!
Today we are grilling.  Chicken, snap peas, salad and butternut squash risotto!  I am in heaven!
The kids have been their usual picky little selves.  No one wants to try anything new.  But we will persevere!
They will learn to eat gluten, dairy, refined sugar free and have minimal beef or eggs!  I know this challenge will be hard, but I look forward to good healthy eating habits.  It is nice to share the responsibilities of cooking!

Chicken Soup

Who would have thought a person could really get sick of chicken soup?  It smells SO good, but it was met with a chorus of  "oh man! Not chicken soup again!" lol!
I am feeling very limited in my cooking.  I am going to have to start experimenting...when I finish the laundry, plan the school year, buy uniforms for the boys, sign up for classes for me...and oh yes, the highlight...book a vaction for Jeff and I.
We are having chicken soup tonight...only it is SPECIAL chicken soup.  It is out first meat bird chicken soup.  I grew it (well I didn't lay it and hatch it!) but I grew it from chickhood, butchered it with my neighbors help and now it is cooking in a pot with onions garlic and carrots and potatoes.
YUM!  I hope I don't get funky about eating one of my "baby hughies"!
Chicken soup is good for the soul.  I NEED chicken soup both mentally and physically right now. 
It has been a LONG week. 
Peanut got stitches on Monday.  Tuesday a friends hubby was diagnosised with cancer and yesterday my mom told me my dad's sick too.
The world keeps spinning and life goes on even when yours is in upheval!  Only God knows His plans for us.  I pray they are in line with my ideals, but I know His will WILL be done.
We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. Roman 8:28

Full Time Job

Feeding my family is quickly becoming a full time job.  And just like any other new job, I am feeling unequiped to handle my load. 
"Where does my help come from, my help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."
I decided to turn this blog into a food journey of healing myself and my son.
Peanut was born 5yr 8mo. ago.
He was a happy baby.  Snuggly, slept decent, didn't have the issues Mouse had with me eating dairy products, didn't have the issues JuJu Bug had with reflux.
It was mouses first year of school, and like any other Kindergartener he brough home every cough, cold and flu that went into his classroom. 
We had it ALL. 
Peanut had his first seriously illness at 4mo old.  He caught croup.  He was SO sick.  I covered his carpet in towels, slept on a air mattress in his room and sweated my brians out with the humidifier and heater on.
By the time he was 9mo. he was starting to be physically rough.  He would pinch, bite, and hit.  I remember vividly one day he grabbed my nose and stuck his finger up in it so hard he gave me a bloody nose.
At 11mo old he was kicked out of the child care at the gym for biting.
By his first birthday I had to constantly be viligant and watch that he didn't hurt other children.
At 1 yrs old he weighed in at 19lbs.  Smaller than his older brother and sister.  But seemingly still okay. After all, he had caught tons of germs that year and didn't eat as much.
But then the vomiting started. The diapers started making your eyes water and the smell was toxic.
Something was wrong.
We tried changing his diet.  We took him to numerous Doctors and specialists.  But by Christmas he was down to 17lbs.
My baby was wasting away.  His skin was gray.  He had dark circles under his eyes constantly.  His hair and nails had quit growning.  He had a huge distended abdomen. He was passing his food completely undigested.  That is if he didn't vomit it up profusely first.
Then one day I walked into his room.  He was sitting in his crib kind of out of it and as I watched him I was literally watching hives apear on his body.  I striped him down, he had one so big on his butt check you was the same size.  He started crying and grabbing them.  They were starting to hurt because the skin was stretching.
At this point we were seeing a naturopathic doctor.  But she was across town.  I started searching for a local naturopath.  Our chiropractor referred us to one he knew of through his naturopath (the one we were driving across town to see) So we made an appointment.
After, test upon test, all coming back negative or inconclusive.  The general "ruling" was "failure to thrive" with food allergies and intollerances to gluten and dairy. 
Fast forward to 2012.
Afer treatment upon treatment, diet restrictions, mood swings, behavioral issues and chiropractic treatments. We are not much better than we were in 2007.
He still gets diahrrea, he still gets hives, he still gets distended tummy, he still acts out and gets eczema. Plus he quit growing again. 
He in fact lost weight again.
So we are started researching.
What caused these symptoms?  Does anyone else have similar symptoms?  How did he get this?  WHAT is THIS?
Meanwhile, I started feeling bad.  I chalked it up as stress, poor sleep, and unhealthy snacking.  I never put what was going on with Peanut together with how I was feeling.
Until this year. 
I was a filing lab records when I came across similar test he and I both had undergone. 
They were very similar.  We reacted to the same things had the same absorbtion issues and symptoms.  How did I miss this?  How did our Doctor miss this? 
So I kept reading.  I started researching terms and wording used in the lab notes on line.
I stumbled across Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
More specifically Crohn's Disease.
Could this be what we have?  So I studied more.
I talked to the Doctor.  We compared notes. We have a plan.
She agrees it could be exactly what we are dealing with.  So we wait for labs.
And we change our diet once again.
No Gluten
No Sugar
No Dairy
No Soy
No Beef
No Eggs
Sigh...I think I can, I think I can...
This is my daily journal of our journey.

Moved in Phase 1 complete!

YAY!  We started moving into the house Sunday night June 5.  14 weeks after escrow closing phase 1 is FINALLY complete!  Now to start phase 2, the master bedroom and finish the stucco outside. 
I can't believe what a different house it is.  We LOVE it.  It is a tight squeeze and we may have to have a huge garage sale, but it is awesome!
I will take pictures soon and post before and after of what we have done so far.

My Mouse

Today for the first time ever Mouse used the term, "Today is the Best day of my LIFE!"  :)  I thought it was momentous enough to write a post about it!  I am sure there will be many more of these in his life.  But the first time you say this, well, it should be documented!  Mouse is a bit "shy" when it comes to baseball.  He tends to not swing at much.  He wants to be a pitcher.  He can catch, steal, and walk like no other.  Jeff has been out practicing with him tons. The other day after a game that he struck out and walked in I gave him the talk.  "You know, Daddy struck out SO many times, but do you know that he hit the ball more often than not?  Do you know why?  Because he took the chance and SWUNG the bat!  You have a better chance of hitting the ball if you SWING than if you DON'T swing.  If you never swing you will never hit it, if you TRY you may strike out, BUT you could also possibly "knock it out of the park!"  (Great life lesson there!)  His face lit up and he kind of had an "ah-ha" moment.  So he had Jeff out back so many times in the last few days pitching to him that it was driving me nuts!  Last night he had a baseball game.  He hit it out to center field! He was SO excited!  He was practically bouncing when he walked in the door....and he said to me...."Mom, TODAY is the BEST day of my LIFE!"  ....I am getting choked up typing it!  It is funny that, at 9 yrs old, the best day of you life has come from hitting a ball.  But, to a boy who loves his Daddy, and wants to play baseball with, and for his Daddy...well I guess this WAS the best day of his life!  I can't wait to hear the about the next time he has, "The best day of his Life!"  I know there will be many.  I thank God for the blessing of my son.  I just love him to pieces!  He makes a Mama proud to call him SON.  He ROCKS on the guitar (I mean REALLY rocks!) and he LOVES baseball.  He LOVES to play and he is the BEST team player I have EVER seen.  I can't believe my baby will be 10 in 4 months.  My kids make me SO proud!