Food Allergies/Gluten Free - It's a Vivas Thing!

Nov 23 2009

Miserable Monday

You know, some days it's better just to stay in bed.

Or at the very least; go back to bed!

I woke up this morning thinking it would be an ok day. I managed to get three kids off to school without a hitch. (I also managed to finish off the coffee.)

I managed to make my way upstairs to the shower; and actually got one!

Then, the phone rings. It's Chicken Noodle Butt's doctor. After a lengthy conversation, and many interruptions from the Princess, we finally manage to get an appointment down. And then, I find out that it is 39 miles from my house! Great. I'll worry about that, later.

By now it was after nine and the home counselor who works with my niece was late. I had to take the Drama Queen for a lab test and she wasn't happy about it. Finally, dh came down, told me to go, and asked what time the counselor would be there.

9:00 am.

He says it's 9:40.

At that precise moment, there is a knock at the door. It's her. I let her in and my niece pipes up,

"That's funny! Uncle Art asked Aunt Hope when you would be here and she said nine and he said it was nine forty and then you knocked."

I wanted to shrink into my sweat shirt. She replied that she'd had a hard time getting there. I raced out the door with the Drama Queen leaving hubby to deal with the counselor. I figured it was a fair trade since I had to deal with the Drama Queen and needles…and blood.

And we waited for over an hour….all the while she scrunched up closer in my lap and gave me all the reasons why she was afraid and filled my head with her drama.

Once we were called back, I begged her to please not scream in my ear. I reminded her she's done this countless times and she doesn't even complain. She asks the nurse to show her how it feels. The nurse pinches her. I tell her not to look. Duh, of course she'll look.

As the needle gets closer, she prepares to scream; takes a breath, starts to shout and instead remarks,

"Oh, I'm ok. Am I doing good, mommy? I'm trying my best to be brave."

I tell her thank you for not screaming in my ear and she's doing wonderful.

From there, we had to head over to another place. I've been there; I know where it is. Only it isn't there. So, I head over to the other place I think it might be. Nope; not there. I give up and head to Wally World to pick up the Smart One's birthday gift. I know it''s there because I've seen them at the other Wally World. Except I can't find it. So I ask for help. The man replies that Wally World doesn't carry them, that the only store in town that carries it is Toys R Us. Sure, ok…even though I saw it at a different location? I decided I'm done and head home with the Drama Queen.

On the way, we see a homeless teen, so we stop and hand her one of our hobo bags. She takes it gratefully and we head on.

As we head up the street, a HUGE GIANT BOX comes flying across the street, and lands on my windshield! I'm talking refrigerator size box here, people! I slam on my breaks and the box flies off and lands in front of my van. Whew!

I manage to calm down and drive around the box and get home, in time to gulp my lunch down and take the Princess for her therapy appointment. I manage a few moments of calmness before she comes out. And she is not happy. Great.

After an enjoyable ride home…NOT…I remember I have a couple of phone calls to make. One is to the local gluten free bakery. She had promised me a dozen free cupcakes for my trouble one night, so I decided to take her up on the offer for the Smart One's birthday tomorrow, but I had a couple of questions about what else the cupcakes contained; specifically, nuts anyone?

She informs me that they do not contain nuts, but they are made in a facility containing nuts. I ask her are the in the same room or somewhere else. she replies that they use the same pans and stuff. Oh. So I says, they are made on the same equipment so may contain nuts. She says, no, they won't contain any nuts, they are just in the same pans. OK. I politely tell her thank you very much, but I'm afraid I can't take that chance with my children's allergies, so thank you for offering me the cupcakes, but I'm sorry, I won't be able to accept them and I won't be purchasing the others that I wanted to order either. She replies, "Look! I'm not an allergy baker, I just wanted to make gluten free cupcakes for my sister!" She sounded pretty upset and I told her I was sorry, but I can't take the chance with the nuts and hang up.

And I realize that I need to bake something for the birthday tomorrow after all. The Smart One says he wants a chocolate cake. Ok.

So I grab B-boo because, by this time, we have to leave for the ortho appointment. I'm explaining to her that my day seems to be not going so great and we realize I've gone to the wrong office. Great. So I take a quick right and then another right and head back from where we've come. Only the road is under construction and down to one lane. I make another right so I can make a quick left into the parking area.

And discover I'm in a little tiny alley, with no exit. No place to turn around.

And I'm in my big ol' RV conversion van (as one of the Drama Queens friends likes to call it.)

Now, I can't back up, because I'd be backing into a very busy street. So, I find a mansion that doesn't have their gate shut and pull in their driveway and attempt to back up in the tiny alley and turn around. Three times.

B-boo is laughing at me. Seriously laughing at me.

I finally get turned around while she remarks about all the cool toys they have at this mansion.

She goes in, comes out, we check out. And I found out that the $1500 portion the insurance is supposed to pay isn't going well. "Um, what exactly does that mean?" It means the insurance has only paid $80 dollars and you'll probably be stuck with the rest when your COBRA runs out.

Great. It's just one of those days.

We finally make it home and I explain to my husband that I'm not good to be around tonight. I go to mash the potatoes while he listens to my woes about the day.

And realize I smell vanilla.

In my potatoes.

That can't be good! I poured vanilla rice milk into the potatoes instead of original. Ah shucks!

After many spices added in with some doctoring up of sour cream, I got rid of the vanilla taste in the potatoes and we went on to have a decent dinner.

I've been hiding up in my room ever since. I'm not coming out again until tomorrow.

Nov 11 2009

Why Mom’s Can’t Sleep

It's a holiday today. As a homeschool mom, I'll be sure to remind my kids why they don't have school today and to pray for those families whose members are serving or have served in our armed forces. And I'm not making light of what today is. But holidays mean something around here.

I have six kids at home. Count them…six. (I have a college student but he lives on his own, so he doesn't count in this post.)

Six kids means that I can have six different places to be on any given day. It means, everyday, I have four public school schedules to keep to at three different schools, plus working homeschooling around my youngest. Whew! It makes me dizzy thinking about it. Add in doctor appointments, counseling appointments, sports, activities, etc…and I am one tired mom!

Which brings me back to a holiday. It means I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn to take anyone to school! Don't get me wrong; I love getting up at the crack of dawn and making breakfast for my kids and having that special time in the morning. But I'm getting older and tired.

So back to that holiday anyway! Last night, hubby made the littlest ones promise not to wake up anyone…at all…this morning. (I did tell him that he should realize that is a promise they won't be able to keep. The Princess can't stand being alone, quiet, for anything and Chicken Noodle Butt will find something to cry over.)

I also have this problem. Once I'm awake, that's it for me. I can not go back to sleep. It's the same for me at night, too. Wake me up, I'm up.

A friend asked the other day how can she be so tired and yet not fall asleep. I replied that it's the brain. It finally has time to function, so it goes into full mode. Mom's go to bed wondering if they've accomplished everything they should have during that day and wondering how they can get the everything accomplished the next! Unfortunately, God forgot to give us a turn off switch for our brains.

So this morning, it's a holiday. I don't have to be anywhere. I get to sleep in, right?

At 6:47, the little one goes into the bathroom. He's talking as loud as he can about counting and the fact that something is yellow. I pretend I don't hear him, but he starts to get louder. I finally just say, "Shhh!" He stops, and it becomes quiet again.

Next thing I know, my phone goes off. Now, I know that I turned off the alarm, so this means it's a person. It's 7:03 and my sister-in-law wants to know if I want to go to the parade today. I tell her I'm asleep and ask when and where. She says she was asleep, too, but mom woke her up so she's texting me with one eye open. I consider the parade.

"The little ones might like it. That means I'll have to wake the older kids up. That means I'll have to get up soon and make breakfast. Oh wait, we're all supposed to be sleeping in until whenever we want today. We do need sleep. But hold on. Chicken Noodle Butt needs pants and it's supposed to get cold tomorrow. I'm supposed to find time to get him pants today…and it needs to be cheap. Penneys might be having a sale since it's a holiday, or I can take him to Savers. It sure would be nice if hubby had a job. If I take them to the parade the Drama Queen will be walking around a lot on that broken growth plate. She'll probably like that but we really should keep her off of her feet. Oh, that's why I promised her we'd paint today. Oh man, that means a mess…I wonder if I can con Chicken Noodle Butt into doing something else. I could give him a puzzle. Maybe I we could all work on a puzzle together. Oh wait, I need to call the ortho doctor and find out where his leg braces are. Today's the eleventh and they told me to call today if I didn't hear from them. Speaking of doctor visits, I need to make them a dental appointment, too. I wonder when I can get them in. Speaking of teeth, maybe I should make a good breakfast today. I could make biscuits and gravy. That sounds really good, but it will have to be for a late lunch/early dinner because I need to thaw out the sausage. I'll have to look up a recipe for gluten free biscuits for the Smart One, and I'll need take out part of the sausage to make the Drama Queen dairy free gravy. That reminds me, I still haven't replaced the broken skillet, but I think I can manage with the pot. Giggle…I better make sure the Drama Queen doesn't touch it otherwise she might break another toe. Speaking of gluten free recipes, I need to find one that doesn't have eggs so I can still make stuffing this year for Thanksgiving. Did someone let the dogs out? I hope they gave them water. Oh man, they need a bath today. I wonder if the kids can handle their baths by themselves. Roxy is a pain to bathe. We really should have named her Marley; dumb dog."

About this time, I realize the toilet is running, so I get up to go jiggle the handle. Chicken Noodle Butt starts crying about something, so I head over to find out what is wrong with him. Hubby comes upstairs to take over and let me sleep. Yeah, ok. I head back to my room and lie down. I text sister-in-law to tell her the plan for today was for everyone to sleep in as late as they want. She laughs; I laugh.

I try to go back to sleep.

"I wonder what to get the Good Looking One for his birthday. Poor boy has to work on his birthday. It really would be cool if we could all show up with a cake and sing to him at work. I wonder if he'd get fired if we did that? Maybe if hubby is working we can take him out to lunch. It will probably be pretty crowded though since it's black friday. Oh, I hate going out on black friday…who does that anyway? It was fun though, last year, when he took us out in the middle of the night. Boy, was it cold. That reminds me, what are we going to do for the Smart One's birthday. I can't believe he's almost 12. He'll be hitting puberty soon, that will be fun. I wonder if the Good Looking One will teach him how to shave, too. The Talented One loved that! Christmas is coming soon. What will we do? What do you get a 22 year old? The little ones are easy; legos and barbies will make them happy.And they do seem happy a little don't they? I wonder if we'll end up adopting them. Where will we put them? I wonder if I can get a good job and just have all of my salary go into adding some rooms on the house? Then we'd all fit. Speaking of fitting, I can't believe the Talented One and the Smart One are graduating college and high school the same year. Can we really throw a big party for the graduations and the 18th birthday all at once? It could be like a family reunion! That's be great. Where would we hold it?"

8:25, I get another text message. This time from Punky, asking me to bring the choir book so she can make copies. "It sure would have been great to skip activities tonight, too." I text her back ok.

I write this blog.

It's now 8:46 am. Hubby thinks I'm sleeping. I think I'll go make some coffee and cuddle with him.

No, no parade today. It's quiet in the house for now and somehow, that seems a much better way to spend my morning.

Oct 10 2009

When They Get It!

As parents, we strive hard to instill values in our children. We hope that they will someday get what we are trying to teach them. In today's society of instant gratification and *I*, it's not so easy. We are constantly battling the television, music, selfishness, etc. that is the norm. One of my favorite scriptures is:

⁴⁰"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:40

When my children were younger, my family was more active in mission work. The larger our family became, the harder it became to have the *time* to serve others rather than ourselves. As a parent, we've had to be more creative, and teach our children, that it's not just about going out on a mission, but looking for opportunities to serve; in our home, in our neighborhood, in our church, on our streets. And I'll admit that our lives are so busy, and sometimes, other's won't ask me to help with this or that because of our current family situation; I've learned to say "no" when I need to. But, it is still important for us to have the chance to live outside of ourselves.

Sometimes I wonder if my kids notice; and then one of them does something like start a new ministry for our youth. And well, her heart is like mine; it's like a passion that burns inside of you and won't let go. It's my middle son noticing the homeless man on the street and asking for one of the bags that his sister had made up; and seeing this ministry in action. Or the same son running into the street to help another homeless person who has fallen out of his wheelchair into the street while others just stare or walk away. It's their willingness to stop and pray for someone in the middle of a restaurant because they looked like they needed someone to show them Christ.

Today was one of those days. For my youngest son, who is NOT a morning person and complains every single morning that school should not start before 10 am, it was a proud mama moment when he volunteered to run in a charity race along with his youngest sister and father to raise money for children with cancer. I honestly didn't think he'd make it. He did. He was up at 6 am and ready to go. When I asked him why he got up so well, he replied, "Because it was worth it to get up, Mom."

Last night, my niece brought in her loose change to give to those children because she wasn't able to participate in the run, but wanted to be included in the giving. So she gave all she had, much like the widow's mite.

Not long after the three left for their race, my oldest son called. He was at the park up the street. His fraternity was helping a charity event for children with food allergies and would I come? These busy young college students had gotten up at 6 am on a Saturday morning to help set up tables, chairs, tents, and bouncy houses for the families that were putting on the event. Then they stayed to help run the event, take pictures and then help with the tear down and clean up after. He had no idea when he volunteered that this was a group that could touch our family, too. You see, I have two children with severe food allergies, and this group had managed to raise over $35,000 to raise awareness for children with food allergies!

This evening, I can sit and write out my thoughts; no, my thanks. Thanks to my God, who continues to show me that my children do get it; that He is working in their lives.

I get it.

Sep 25 2009

Hubby Missing; Hubby Returned

Why is it when the hubby goes out of town everything falls apart? That's why I haven't blogged in a few days! Monday B-boo had dental surgery, and well, we all know how that went! That turned into a fiasco of well, gross things, for the past four days. On top of that, the bird dog got into a bag of m & m's hidden in B-boo's room. Really bad. That made for a lot of gross things on my carpet…a mixture of peanuts and chocolate on a tan carpet is never good, especially when you have a daughter who has a fatal allergy to nuts. (And no, I don't usually allow peanuts into the house, but this was a sealed bag, in a closed room…who knew the dog would find them!) Literally, at the same time, we had a…er…clog in the toilet. Great, just great. Hubby goes out of town and I'm at home with, well, I'm sure you can figure it out.

And the week just kind of went on like that. I think those things happen so that I can appreciate my hubby even more, because if he were here, he would have been the one plunging the toilet and moving the furniture around for the carpet cleaner yesterday. Not that I mind doing it, but it's just one of those things I love about being married.

On the other hand, while hubby was gone, the Talented One started getting up earlier and having an omelet for breakfast and a cup of coffee with me. I realize he's only 16, but it's been fun to have my young man moment with him. We don't have those often. I used to make him breakfast every morning, then he stopped wanting it. I'm not sure what happened this week, but it's been nice to be able to share those few moments with him.

Which is another reason why I like to get up early and enjoy the shifts of the morning. It's nice to have a few minutes with B-boo and the Talented One before everyone else gets up. Our time. Then, as soon as I drop them off, I wake up the Smart One and he has his omelet and we spend some time reading a passage from the Bible and discussing it and talking about what the day holds. If the little ones decide to get up, they are to quietly get ready for their day upstairs and then spend some time reading or coloring in their room until the next shift starts.

Once I drop off the Smart One, the little ones come down.I then make them breakfast, share things with them, memorize verses, sing together, etc. and then we ship them off.

And then, it's finally the Drama Queen's turn! And we get a whole 2.5 hours together to homeschool!

Anyway, back to the missing husband. When he's gone, it's hard to function. He likes to call me supermom, but really, it's because he's my partner in crime! For instance, he always calls me and asks whom he is taking where. In a family of 8, that is very important! Wednesday night I had four different place to be at the same time! Needless to say, for the first time in 6 years, I missed open house and meeting my kids teachers. We've always done open house together, so he missed it, too. I had to call in recruits to help get the kids to church and back! (Thanks, friend!)

And finally, he came home..to a clean carpet and a messy kitchen! And he's so good, he didn't complain at all about the kitchen, but instead told me how much he liked the clean carpets. Oh, and he took his shoes off, too!

I think I'll keep him. 🙂

Aug 27 2009

The Drama Queen

Or, as we like to say, "And then there was…"

Yup, that's her. Our very on Drama Queen. A brilliant ray of light, full of energy that refuses to be told she can't do anything. Her name, roughly translated, means,

"A beautiful rainbow we don't deserve."

Yes, that about sums her up!

After a complicated pregnancy, the Drama Queen arrived two weeks early, on the only day that week that was not someone else's birthday. Within a couple of weeks, we knew something was wrong with her. For the next five months, we'd travel back and forth to the doctor over and over, trying to get them to figure out what was it was that was making her so sick. Finally, a diagnosis. She was suffering from severe food allergies. Severe enough to land her in the hospital on more than one occasion…and for me to get over my fear of needles since I was the one that was her main care giver.

As we began a whole new lifestyle of eating, I worked hard to educate myself on the in's and out's of food allergies and to try out new recipes. Not easy when you can only cook with a handful of ingredients: chicken, turkey, rice, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, apples, tapioca, salt and pepper. Yes, I'm serious.

When she was finally able to have soy, I was ecstatic! Adding in beef and beans later was awesome. And then, we could finally have melons…oh, how happy we were! Yes, we. Because of the severity of her food allergies, she could not have formula. This meant that I had to follow a strict diet, too. And so it went.

These days, she's allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, apples and dairy. Her brother, the Smart One, is on a gluten free, nut free diet, so sometimes cooking for the two of them together is hard; but we manage to have some pretty decent meals anyway!

So what is it about the Drama Queen anyway? Well, she has a pretty high tolerance for pain, kind of like her momma. Translated into English, this means that:

When she says a penny is stuck in her throat, yet doesn't act like it, you take her to the hospital anyway. And they don't believe you until an x-ray proves it and then they do surgery.

When a VCR lands on her feet and nearly slices off two of her toes, and she has to have them stitched back together, she can still go right outside and run around instead of sitting for the next week.

When she goes into anaphylaxis she will try and go about her play in spite of the swelling and hives.

When 300 pounds of plexi-glass land on her foot and she can walk anyway, you take her to the ER. Odds are, it's broke. And when they send you away anyway and tell you it can't possibly be broke because she's fine, you nod your head and drive away…and then come back again when they call you to tell you that the x-ray showed it was indeed broke, after all. It also means that she'll go through a boot thing once a week for three weeks, destroying them, until you finally give up and tell her to just wear her sneakers and try not to make it worse. Oh, and you beg her not to show people where it's broke by moving it around. That's just gross.

When she flies off of a swing that she wasn't supposed to be on anyway and lands on a two-by-four in an anthill, you take her to the ER. And even though the nurse says it can't possibly be that bad, you scream for a doctor anyway, because you've seen it, and you know. And then you take her home with 17, yes SEVENTEEN staples in the back of her head, and you're told to keep her down for the next 48 hours. Sure, OK.

And all she wants to know is when can she please go outside and play…and climb her favorite tree, the big Mulberry tree that she's been climbing since she was about a year old. The same one that her older brother had to climb up into and get her out over and over….until we finally got smart and taught her how to get down, too.

The Drama Queen is just that. She wants to try everything. She is all about living life to the fullest. The righter of wrongs. The sheriff of the house. The let's just have some fun child.

She loves to sing…and sing….and sing, especially if it's about her Lord.

She loves music…all of it. Celtic Women, Bocelli, Selah, Barlow Girl, Newsboys, Celine Dion, and Journey (cause Mom really likes Journey.)

She loves to dance. She started a new dance class this week, so I've had the pleasure of listening to her tap away on the kitchen floor…over and over and over again. Because it annoys her siblings, so she waits until it's just the two of us. Yup.

She's all about fashion. It has to be shiny, or glittery, and of course, noticeable…because she's also all about that. And honest. Sometimes too much. She's had to learn a thing or two about humbleness and just because it's true does not mean you should say it.

She loves babies and can't wait until she can babysit all by herself.

She can make friends with just about anyone…and usually does.

She loves to talk on the phone and can't possibly understand why we won't let her have a cell phone…because, well, she needs it.

She wants to live life!

This is our Drama Queen. The wannabe pop star, actress, and doctor. Because, yes, she can do it all!

If you'd like to listen to some of her singing, click here.