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

Aug 23 2009

The Smart One

Our youngest son is the one we call the Smart One. He is number four of our children and probably the most interesting one. Or interested one. When I was pregnant with him, his kidneys were full of more than the normal fluid, so we had quite a few ultrasounds to monitor him. For a time, they thought he may have Down's Syndrome, so we prayed our way through that, too. Born two weeks early, he was just fine! Or so we thought.

By the time he was a year old, he'd pretty much stopped eating. He'd never been a fan of baby food and just seemed to have no interest in table food either. He was in failure to thrive and losing weight, so they sent us off to a gastroenterologist and nutritionist, both of whom felt that he just didn't have normal taste buds. Yes, I am serious. He was a smart one though!

At six months, the boy could work a remote control! By the time he was one, he was chatting up a storm. He was so tiny, yet could speak so clearly people were amazed. He had amazing fine motor skills and a fascination for taking things apart and putting them back together.

Throughout the next several years, he'd continue to see different specialists because of his digestive issues, failure to thrive and extreme leg cramps. Finally, when nothing could be found wrong with him, we gave up, and he just learned to live with it. Until a little over a year ago, when we just couldn't take it anymore! So, off to Loma Linda we went in search of some answers! Turns out he has food allergies and cannot have any gluten. Once they were removed, he started to grow and gain weight. Lots of it! (Ok, he's still thin, but 15 pounds in a year is pretty good in my book!)

So what's so different about the boy? Well, he loves tools. Seriously! A few years ago we got him his own set of tools. Yes, real ones. The boy loves to change light bulbs and fix things for us. If Dad is fixing something, he's there. If he can do it on his own before Dad gets home, he will. I call him my toolman!

He also likes to talk. A lot. In detail. Sometimes hubby will call me and ask what I'm doing. I'll tell him I'm listening to the Smart One. He'll reply that he'll call me back in an hour!

He's a funny kid!

He has every "Free-Credit-Report.com" song memorized.

He still loves to take things apart; and then put them back together.

He loves his mom; a plus in my book!

He loves Karate and he's pretty good at it, too. Just got his red belt in August!

He loves to teach others.

He loves his dog; which is so much like him.

He knows how to drive a Bobcat!

He started in the youth group today. He loved it! I'm glad! He's growing up.

And tomorrow he starts middle school. No more homeschooling for him; he'll go into a school of over 1500 middle schoolers. I'm not sure I'm ready. I hope he is. I think he'll like it. I know he's nervous, so I've put up a good front, pretending I'm not.

Tomorrow's a new day for both of us, and I can't wait to hear all about it when he gets home!

Aug 07 2009

How about a day?

Where no appointments exist? No counselors! No doctors! No dentist! No caseworkers! No school!

Nothing, Nada, Zip!

Ah….

A morning where you can stay in bed and watch…oh, I don't know…"Mama Mia!" and laugh through it because that little woman is so much like your little Jewish friend. Really.

And you can type a blog about…oh, nothing really.

And feel sorry for your daughter because her lips are so sore from her new braces.

And you can not fret too much about the fact that your other daughter is now needing dental surgery to fix her teeth because she's ground them down so bad.

And you can even, perhaps, think about watching yet another movie…or not. But at least you can think about it!

And there's time to mend some pants.

And time for cuddles..with the kids…and the dog.

And maybe even time to do a little shopping for camp…if you feel like it.

But the best part?

There's time to relax, have a long shower, and perhaps make oneself smell really nice…and go on…oh, I don't know…a real DATE with one's spouse! Really.

A real dinner…with no interruptions. One where neither of you has to eat cold food because someone else is always needing something. One where you can eat anything you want…because there are no children with food allergies with you!

Adult conversation anyone?

I should pinch myself…cause it looks like I may have one of those days! Really.

Jun 18 2009

Things We Were Never Told About Being a Mom

I've been thinking about motherhood. You know, the kind of mommyhood really, where you never thought you'd do this or that? I remember being a child and wanting a large family. I wanted 8 kids and I was going to be a great mom. I'd cook for them, sew for them, play with them, and we'd be the best family there ever was.

Well, I am 40 years old. I have 5 kids, plus guardianship of my niece and nephew. Seven kids. Yup! Ok, well my oldest is 21 and living on his own now, but I'm still his mom. I took my youngest son to a doctor's appointment this week, and as we were sitting there discussing some stuff, the doctor brought out a poopy chart. I didn't know such a thing existed! In case you'd like to know what a poopy chart is, you can see it for yourself right here. The next few moments were a discussion of poopies, what they look like, etc.

Never in my daydreaming of motherhood did I imagine myself someday looking at a poopy chart! And I got to thinking…what else did I not ever think I'd do as a mother? I mean, motherhood is VERY different than what I imagined it'd be. Better, but different. So here's my list of thing's I never imagined I'd do as a mom:

Look at a poopy chart (sorry, I just can't get past the poopy chart!)
Cook chocolate covered mealworms for my son's birthday and feed them to his friends.
Pull a cockroach out of my 18 month old's mouth, alive and kicking (the cockroach, that is) not once, but twice. Ewww
Explain to a police officer that I am sorry there have been three 911 calls from this number of the past couple of years, but please be patient and understand I have five children; it's bound to happen again.
Explain to a profusely bleeding child as we run out of the mall that this is an ideal time to call 911.
Make green eggs and ham.
Homeschool.
As a mom who hates needles, I never ever expected I'd have to give my child a shot of epi during an anaphylactic reaction. Yes, I can do it if necessary!
Be able to drive a stick, hold a cloth to my child's severely bleeding head and get us to the hospital in less than five minutes. (She lived, but has a great scar after 17 staples to the head.)
Have to figure out how to cook a great dessert/meal without gluten, wheat, dairy, eggs, soy or nuts.
Find my daughter's frozen tastebuds connected to the top of a frozen orange juice can because her siblings convinced her to put her tongue on it after watching "A Christmas Story."
Take a dying lizard to the vet , crying, hoping that we could save it so my son would not be sad.
Have a range of pets over the years consisting of rats, hamsters, parakeets, lovebirds, ball phythons, garden snakes, water dragons, japaluras, rabbits, dogs, and whatever else I can be talked into.
Have a 7 ft python brought to my house…and then hold it.
Be filled with so much love.

I'm sure there is much more, but this is what I could come up with on the spur of the moment. Anyone else want to share?

And speaking of moms who could never have imagined, please pray for my friend, Kayla and her son, Elijah. She's such an inspiration. Elijah has EG and is tube fed a special formula. In my book, Kayla has gone above and beyond in the motherhood category. You can read her story at Bristle Ridge Academy

May 11 2009

Parks and Old Women

In staying focused on the blessings of what life has to offer, a recap of my weekend.

Friday seemed really bad, things weren't going great and to top if off I was rear-ended and the lady who hit me just took off and left me there! Once I surveyed the damages, I realized there wasn't much, but still…why can't people just be nice? And then, I came home to these:

You have to realize how special these are. They are from my older brother…letting me know he cares, all in His perfect timing.

(Please don't tell him that although Azaleas are one of my absolute favorite plants, I tend to kill them…I don't know why she swallowed the fly)

Saturday we had some time for this:

Spin Time

Monkey Time (including blisters)

Hang Time

Header Time

Down Time
(What ARE they talking about?!)

And then there was Mother's Day. Lunch was accidentally left out on the counter all night instead of put in the refrigerator to thaw. We figured food poisoning on Mother's Day was probably not the way to go, so instead we headed out to lunch after church. This can sometimes be pretty difficult, especially when you have children with food allergies. We have to find food that has no gluten, nuts, dairy or eggs. We also have a rather large family, so that alone can be intimidating for a waiter. We had unexpected guests join us…turning us into a party of sixteen…and it was awesome day at Chevy's!!

My oldest son showed up with flowers for me. (He's such a great son!) That'd be my laugh of the day, so you get a long short story to go with it. It began a long, long, time ago…A few years ago my son was attending a dance and needed a corsage. The corsage looked like it was made for an older woman (ah, like a Mother's Day corsage!), not a teenager going to a dance. Needless to say, definite fixing had to be done in order for my son to be able to save face with his date. (I find it funny that an older lady Grandma is the one that did the fixing!)

Yesterday, my son brought me these:

Please notice the flower below:

This is the *old lady* flower that he complained about. In other words, my son gave me flowers for an older lady….to me, not an older lady.

Which brings us right back to Saturday. A friend stopped by and shared a little story with me. (Honest, I'll try and keep it short.) She said that another friend had asked her to stop by a baby shower since she now lives out of state. She wanted her to say a blessing, give a word of wisdom…you get the picture. She wondered why the friend didn't ask someone else…and then it hit her.

She said to me,

"I realized, we are now the older, wiser, women! Hope, when did we become the older, wiser women?"

I'm not sure, friend, I'm really not sure.

By the way, today is my mother's birthday. She's not old either. Honest, my dad will probably back me up on that one. Those aches and pains are not from age, they're from over-activity, yeah, that's the ticket!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OLD WOMAN MOM!
WE LOVE YOU!

May 06 2009