Allergy Diet Days 3 and 4

Sunday:

Breakfast: Oatmeal and Peaches

Lunch: Tilapia fillets with mango salsa and honey-roasted potatoes

Dinner: Chicken and Indian rice, with veggies and a fruit smoothie

Monday

Breakfast: Oatmeal (Asher asked for it!) or whole grain rice cereal with unsweetened almond milk

Lunch: DRIVE THRU! Wendy's baked potatoes (plain) with organic chili and Wendy's apple, chicken salad with homemade dressing (red wine vinegar, honey, and olive oil)

Dinner: Crock-pot cooked organic whole chicken with potatoes, carrots, and celery and salad with strawberries and pomegranate seeds.

Dessert: Stuffed Pears (Jaxon had two!)

Behavior:

Sunday was pretty bad. Finn was crazy at church, but he's been short on sleep because he's been getting up early. I was pretty emotional and fell asleep at church (which I don't remember doing since college). I think this was our roughest day so far.

Today was better for everyone. We had a playgroup with friends and Mark was off of work. I found Jaxon reading a book on his own twice today, which is really unusual for him. Finn was a back to his regular self, but still asking for milk. Jaxon's eye circles appeared better at lunch but by dinner they were darker again.

Side Effects:

Pleasant- We sit down and eat together as a family THREE TIMES A DAY! It is wonderful to have this time together. The diet isn't really that bad since we've found a lot of choices for eating (except breakfast which is my favorite meal).

Not-so-pleasant- Lots of cooking and TONS OF DISHES. We've run the dishwasher almost twice a day.

Allergy Diet Day 2

We spent a few hours at Rail Fair at the train park today and the kids were relatively well behaved, if over-excited and not listening. At least we dressed them in matching clothes so we could spot them easily.

Breakfast: Oatmeal and peaches, Spinach smoothie

Snack: Tahini cookies, apple, nuts and raisins

Lunch: Chicken, white rice, green beans, organic refried black beans, fresh fruit

Dinner: Organic chicken nuggets (probably not on the diet, but Mark made dinner while I was teaching Zumba) and applesauce for the kids, Sushi for us.

Behavior:

After the train park the kids were crazy, fighting and whining. They ate pretty well for lunch and dinner but still ask for milk and aren't fond of the snacks they're offered.

I would say their behavior in general is sub-par. It could be a symptom of withdrawal from these foods, but it could also be that they're hungry most of the time since they don't like what I'm giving them.

I had a headache throughout the day, but since I cheated at dinner (some sushi had cream cheese and I had red bean ice cream for dessert). I wonder if the soy sauce could be part of my problem (soy and msg, I believe). We aren't on a no soy diet, but I avoid it mostly anyway because of research showing it's bad effects.

Mark seemed fine, he's not super into the diet and ordered Coke with dinner.

I bought quinoa noodles to serve with sauce but just read the label that they're corn and quinoa. :( Bummer, I'll have to buy some rice noodles instead because my kids won't go for the spaghetti squash substitution.

Allergy Diet: Day 1

Today we started a Multiple Food Elimination Diet. It's day one of seven.

Here's what we're not eating, the top 8 allergy foods, I believe.
Wheat
Corn
Eggs
Dairy
Sugar
Food Coloring/ Preservatives
Chocolate
Citrus

The goal is to see if the children's behavior or allergy symptoms improve by day 7. IF there is improvement, then I will reintroduce one allergy food at a time and watch how they respond.

I have to say that dairy is by far the hardest for me to give up. Well all of us probably.

Menu:
Breakfast: Oatmeal with peaches and honey, also tea with honey

Lunch: Carrots and hummus, organic refried beans (in a bowl), fruit, and juice (I bought juice because I was taking away milk and everything else)

Snack: Tahini cookies

Dinner: Carribbean Brown Rice and Beans (thanks Em!) and Spinach Salad with Strawberries

I pulled out all the good stuff today. I can't wait to see how tomorrow goes. :( The kids didn't really eat dinner, but I did cook it in a crockpot, so it was a little mushy. . .

We were all pretty grouchy today but I wasn't sure if it was bedcause of the diet or because the Gods of Urine were angry at us and I spent all day cleaning out the kid's infusion cabinet b/c Jaxon peed on it in the middle of the night.

Jaxon: Half day, had a cookie and popcorn so no diet until afternoon. Typical behavior, went to bed with melatonin

Asher: Asked for milk and nutella and bread. Mostly ate fruit and juice, a few carrots. Lounged on the couch all day complaining of a small cut on his finger (hope it's not infected)

Finn: Extra grouchy today, lots of yelling and fighting. Good thing hot sauce is on the diet :)

Me: Grouchy (maybe it's me not the food?) and nervous about if the kids will eat anything in the next 7 days. Cravings for me aren't so bad, though.

Mark: Thrilled with a new computer to watch football and beef jerky. Easy to please.

I'm keeping track of this mostly for me, so don't feel the need to comment unless you want to or have a great recipe to share!

My goal for this experiment is to see if there are 1 or 2 items we could eliminate in our diet to see big results. If that is not the case, then this will have been an experiment in child torture and perhaps healthy eating.

Rushed to the theater to see Wall Street. Empty so far. Good thing we're early.

Lessons Learned

Mark: "You have a Heavenly Mother and a Heavenly Father."

Jaxon: "Uh, what do you mean? Nobody died in our family."

Steal, I mean Sale, at Deja Vu Boutique

A while back I found this cute little boutique/ consignment store on Ray and Val Vista.

They sell trendy bags, Miss Me jeans, jewelry as well as gently used name-brand clothing.

Today they had a sale and I scored big time. This was probably the most stuff I've ever bought for the least amount of money.

Here's the tally. (Keep in mind that these are resale prices. The original prices are higher)

Green Tommy Hilfiger Shoes 15

Pink shoes 40

Gold Shoes 22

Green shoes 28

Denim skirt 14

Coral blouse 10

Floral skirt 15

Yellow skirt (new w/ tags $88) 20

green exercise top 7

White bermudas 18

Shirt with embroidery 12

Long sleeved shirt (not pictured) 12

Total: $213

So you want to know how much I paid?

Well, the deal was everything you can fit in a shopping bag (think plastic grocery bag) for

$5.

Not kidding.

I'm pretty much the star shopper of the universe today!

PS. I crafted this blog with this title in jest, but I just got an email from the store. Apparently they found full-priced merchandise tags in the dressing room showing that someone had cheated the system and stolen from the store. There will be no more $5 bag sales. :(

Changing Tastes

At dinner tonight Jaxon was trying to get Asher to taste some of his taco salad. Recalling a line from one of their favorite books, Jaxon chided gently, "Remember Asher, dinosaur's try everything at least one small bite."

Asher responded, "We're not dinosaurs. We're boys."

Mark and I suppressed a chuckle and continued with dinner.

But that got me thinking about foods that I didn't like as a child that I do now and vice versa.

Here's my list:

Foods I Used to Like (but not now)

Big Macs (had one today to remind myself :(

Ned's Krazy Sub

Pepperoni on my pizza

M&M's and other cheap chocolate

Store-bought frosting (flavored trans-fat)

100 Grand candy bars

Foods I Now like (but didn't growing up)

Bell Peppers and Onions

Mustard (but just a little)

Potato Salad

Brie (if I ever had it growing up)

Coconut

Curry

Fish (still not my fave, but I appreciate it more)

Potato Soup

Spaghetti Squash (and lots of other veggies)

Bananas

Foods I Still Don't Like

Pot Pies

Mushrooms (I keep trying)

Tater Tots

Mom's Tuna casserole on English Muffins (I made it once for Mark and we threw it away. Sorry Mom, but some college recipes should have stayed in college)

Shellfish

How have your tastes changed since you've grown up?

Scenes from an Eight-Year Old: So that's what he does!

Mark told me about his conversation with Jaxon on Sunday.

Jaxon: "Dad, I've been thinking today about what it's like to be a dad.

I think it's somewhere between easy and hard."

"And also, when I have to pee at night and it's too scary out there (he's on the top of a triple bunk), I just lean over my bed and pee in the trash can (next to his bed on the floor)."

Mark: "!!!!!!!"

end scene.

--

Singing of Her

Tonight Finn wanted me to sing "Boo Sky."

I remembered that Mark sings "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" to Finn when he puts him to bed. Since Mark is out of town, I sang it to him instead.

So I started singing "Whenever I hear the song of a bird, or look at the blue, blue sky", but I felt impressed to substitute Heavenly Mother for Heavenly Father. The result was really powerful. We speak of Mother Earth and the powerful force for creation that women represent, but as I sang to Finn I got teary and thought of all the wonderful women in my life, who have profoundly influenced me for the better.

Here are the lyrics as I sang them to Finn tonight.

Whenever I hear the song of a bird, or look at the blue, blue sky,

Whenever I feel the rain on my face or the wind as it rushes by,

Whenever I touch the velvet rose or walk by the lilac tree,

I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world, Heavenly Mother created for me.

She gave me my eyes that I might see the color of butterfly wings.

She gave me my ears that I might hear the magical sound of things.

She gave me my mind, my life, my heart, I thank her reverently

For all her creations of which I'm a part.

Yes, I know Heavenly Mother loves me.

Scenes from an Eight Year Old: Cheeseburgers

Just now I'm putting Jaxon to bed and we have this scene.

Jaxon: "Mom, my tummy hurts."

Me: "I'm sorry. Did you eat anything when Grandma took you to the restaurant tonight?"

Jaxon: "Yeah, I had a cheeseburger." (This after he already had dinner at home)

Me: "Ah, well, that's probably why your tummy hurts."

Jaxon: "No, my tummy's not feeling cheesy, it's feeling more french frie-y."

Scenes from an Eight-Year Old

Just now, Jaxon handed me a rock. It was white with gold flecks. No wait, he didn't hand it to me, the tossed it to me.

He said, "Here, mom, take this rock as a memory of me when I go live with Marlene."

Marlene is my mother. He has always called her "Grandma."

What?

I said, "Why would you go live with Marlene?"

Jaxon, "Remember one time when you told me that someday you would send me to live with Marlene? You told me I would go when I was older."

Me: "When did I tell you this?"

Jaxon: "It was a while ago. Probably before I got these underwear." (gestures to the only item of clothing he is wearing.

End Scene

The Cutest Boy . . . I Ever Saw. . . Was Sipping Cider Through a Straw

I finally downloaded all of our videos from our Flip. Most of them are one second of Jaxon's thumb (like 60 of these, I kid you not. I had no idea that Jaxon was a videographer).

Here's a cute one of Asher and Mary playing with two straws and one cup. We're so sad their family moved away. They were lots of fun and we pretty much stopped going swimming once the left. :(

But in this clip, Asher and Mary were playing and I thought I would catch them being adorable. (and it gives me a chance to see how easy it is to upload the Flip videos. It's not, this was my 6th try in 2 days, but maybe that's blogger's problem, dunno.)

Screaming and Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth

Today was a rough day.

I don't know if it's the transition to school, but Jaxon had 3 meltdowns, complete with the limp "dead" body and non-responsiveness.

Finn had about a dozen full-on, neck-vein bulging, screaming his guts out, hitting, running, scratching tantrums.

Asher had 3 really bad anxiety-mixed with screaming, sweating, kicking, and crying attacks.

Despite this I managed to have a nice trip to Ikea with my best friend Leslie and a nice date to Charleston's with Mark. (Embarrassingly we only ordered $3.99 worth of food. But those croissants are to DIE for.)

So what I can't figure out is if my kids are the only ones who are totally LOSING it lately or if it's like a bug that other kids are catching.

Embarrassing Personal Confession #7

When I signed up for summer childcare, I thought, "Four hours of childcare a day?My house will be sparkling and I will have everything on my to-do list done!"

Nope.

It appears that I am just an untidy person and that I procrastinate regardless of how much free time I have.

(This is not to say that I didn't get lots of stuff done this summer but I didn't do everything and I certainly didn't keep an immaculate house.)

When it comes to housekeeping, I find my performance shameful. There you have it.

Baby Songs: An Update

When my children were babies I wrote them little songs to sing to them as I put them to bed.

Tonight I sang these songs to my children as I put them to bed and it made me realize how fast they're growing.

Next week Jaxon will be starting 2nd grade. He's already forgetting some of his favorite things from his time at the Montessori, like the banana pudding work (smash half a banana, add vanilla yogurt and applesauce and mix). We did that today, too. Also, Jaxon got his first library card today and he was thrilled!

Jaxon's behavior has been improving over the last few months. It's mostly because we have a therapist that helps me and Mark work on our parenting and keeps all of us accountable for the outcome. We've become stricter with our discipline and more consistent. We've also become less indulgent. For example, we all took it for granted that Jaxon would have a birthday party. But, Dr. Jones helped me realize that when Jaxon can't be obedient and follow directions, do his chores, he doesn't deserve a birthday party. Putting that on the line really encouraged Jaxon to be obedient and follow the rules.

Asher will be in half-day preschool this year. He's not very excited about taking the bus, but I think he will enjoy the program. He enjoyed the evaluation process, so that's a good sign.
Asher qualified for the special needs preschool at our public school. He has language delay and also some social behaviors like withdrawal and anxiety that he'll be working to overcome. He's our shy, timid, scared little guy. So, imagine my surprise when we're at a hemophilia event at a community pool this weekend and Mark tells me that Asher went off the high dive! I was (and still am) shocked. I guess this shows me to not put my child in a box. The sky's the limit, Asher.

Finn is in the middle of an attack of the terrible two's (or maybe it's me that's being attacked). He's very intense, sometimes violent and usually screaming. Perhaps it's the third child syndrome. I tend to believe he has over-active testosterone. He's my first child to have crushes on girls at this age (well Jaxon's just starting to notice girls and he's 8). He's also my most coordinated. For example, he can throw a frisbee and ride a trike like a kid twice his age. He's a dare-devil and told Mark while he was kissing him, "Leave me alone. That's yucky." He's finally mastering the potty, which is a huge breakthrough and about 6 months before his brothers did.
But Finn still has his sweet moments, and can be very charming and adorable. It's all or nothing with that kid.

Mark and I are doing well. We returned about a week ago from a trip to Victoria for our 10th anniversary. We went with our friends, Meghan and Brandon and had a great time. Unfortunately, my memory card was stolen as we were about to fly home. So, the 1100+ photos that I took are gone. Our friends took some as well, so we are not without any memories of the trip, but I'm still very disappointed about missing the pictures.
I'd be remiss if I did not mention our gratitude for Mark's sister, Katie, for watching our boys so we could get away. It was not an easy job, especially since she's not familiar with the ins and outs of caring for boys with hemophilia (not that there's much to it, but the stress or worrying can be pretty burdensome). She went above and beyond her duty by taking the kids hiking, bowling, to the bounce house, splash pad, and any number of other places. I know they had a great time and keep asking when we're going to go back.

Mark is enjoying his job working for the state. Venture capital and private equity keeps him very busy and always abreast of new innovations and technologies. I'm about to start teaching my second weekly class of Zumba at a local fitness club. I really enjoy it and it's a great workout.

All in all, our family is doing great. We're happy and healthy, and we've enjoyed our summer (especially my 4 hrs a day childcare, hooray!)

I'll try to get some photos of our trip up on the blog, as well as some of our kids.

Tales from Potty Training

WARNING, DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH OR ARE EATING.



I don't know why I thought Finn would be easier to potty train than my other boys. He is more aware, but still not any more compliant than the others. Although he pooped on the potty once in the last week, the rest of his BMs have been in inappropriate places. (Kitchen floor, diaper, carpet, underwear x 4, etc)

Tonight was the worst though. Finn has been running around naked the last few weeks for potty training purposes. Anyway, tonight he started yelling from my room about poop. So I ran at the speed of light to see where he had dropped his deuce and found him sitting in our bathroom sink! Sure enough, as I pick him up he starts to cough and gag (remember this is the kid who vomits when he smells his own poop) and lest we have a bigger mess on my JUST CLEANED PORCELAIN VANITY I plop him on the potty and go to recruit Mark to clean up the mess. In the meantime, Finn ignores my request to sit still on the potty and comes marching out with you-know-what hanging from his bum. When asked "Where does your poop go, Finn?" he replies, "In the potty" with the mischievous little smile of a child who knows better.

The ironic part is when Mark figures out what's going on, he starts laughing hysterically and the other kids can't figure out what's so funny.

The bathroom sink?

Seriously?

Where's the strangest place you or your kid has ever pooped?

Scenes from a marriage. JESS- Does it bother you that i can read your mind? MARK- No. It's not that complicated.

California

Today we spent a few hours at the beach. It was the first time for Asher and Finn, and Jaxon's first time since he was a baby.
We had a great time. They boys played in the water and sand and even though it was a little chilly, we hope to go back tomorrow.
Here's a great photo I snapped of Mark and his "Mini-Me."

Picturesque to Grotesque

I love my life. It's been a really good day. We've been to the park twice, to the gym, made brownies, played and played some more.

There was just one little hiccup, well almost a hiccup. Here's the scene: we're at the park for dinner having a wonderful time. The weather is 75 and sunny with a gentle breeze. The park has a beautiful fountain and the kids are so cute running and playing with us. Then Finn starts coughing and can't stop (he's getting over a little bug). In fact, he coughs so hard that he starts gagging and throws up all over me (you may remember from a previous post that he has a very sensitive gag reflex). Ew, it's in my hair and shirt. I glance down and notice that I'm still wearing my sports bra underneath, so I take off my soiled shirt and try to ignore the damp strand of hair on my neck and back that I know smells like stomach acid.

The Awesomeness of a Mother's Life:

Going from picturesque to grotesque in the blink of an eye.

P.S. What's with Jaxon acting like a teenager at age 7? He just demanded $20 for a yearbook (In elementary school? Come on.) and when I said no, he ran to his room and slammed the door.

"Get back here with that brownie!" I hollered after him.

PPS. The photo of Finn is actually a shot from today at a different park, but doesn't it look just like the one from earlier this week? That photo was taken in the fall I think.


I totally forgot to mention that the first outing to the park involved Finn pooping in his underwear and trying to crawl away while I wiped him. I happened to be on a conference call for the Hemophilia Assoc at the time. Another awesome mothering moment. It must be meaningful that I still thought today was a good day.

Playing at the park for the last time for 4 months.