I've Been a Neglectful Bloggess

Hey! I'm still here! Don't worry, we're all fine.

I am going to start writing again. I need to get some stuff out of my brain and onto my blog. It feels so therapeutic!

<----- See that baby? She keeps growing and no matter what I say, she won't stop. Sigh, she is so beautiful.

I think I'm going to have a little bloggy-shift soon. I have other things I want to talk about, and the dye-free stuff is kinda boring. I need to talk about our recent adventures in being gluten-free, all of my recent work in the lactation world, and the funny shit my kids say. So, stay tuned friends.

Major milestone!

Happy, healthy baby with a proud Nana!

A year ago my family went to a family wedding and after my son ate his weight in terrible food choices, we had an epiphany, of sorts.

Food affects behavior. 

Now, I can see why some of you are skeptical. It doesn't make any sense: we live in a first world country with government organizations in place to protect us from toxins and poisons on our food. We can trust the FDA... right? Well, in my humble opinion, no we can not. My beautiful, happy, intelligent, fun little boy who turns into an out of control little monster who can't control one ounce of his emotions when he eats those artificial colors would probably agree with me.

In the past year, we've survived major holidays (quite happily, I might add), had some tears and hurt feelings over some brightly colored birthday cupcakes, and spent a lot of time trying to convince friends, family, and medical professionals that we are not insane.

But, the highlight of all of this has been seeing my friends and their families find relief from sleep and behavioral issues as a result of that path our family has been clearing. It makes me feel as though I'm not crazy, like we're not just doing this as an experiment anymore.

This is our life.


My friend sent me this message on Facebook (I have her permission to share):

"3 weeks totally dye free!!! As far as I know he's had no artificial food colorings...
He's still "J" in all the full glory. Waking too often and too early, very tantrum prone too.
I have noticed a few changes. He's suddenly more verbal. I can't understand a word of what he says but he is chattering a lot more. I think the tantrums are *slightly* decreased, usually just 2 bad episodes a day now. The biggest thing I noticed is that he now eats meals. He eats a ton actually and it's impossible to tell if this is at all connected to the dietary change. He sits down to a meal and eats more than I do! He snacks all the time in between meals too- and the best news is that he's not puking it back up. I have no idea how or why this change occured but I welcome it. He had a big milestone of sorts yesterday- 5 hours without nursing! Being able to eat and keep down food is so nice. Thanks for pointing us on this path..."

I might have cried a little when I read this- I mean, wouldn't you? To know that another family is happier just makes me feel so good.

I know that this way of eating is not without its challenges... I know that. And I wish more of our family was respectful of the things we choose [not] to eat. Maybe someday it won't be this hard. Maybe they'll change their eating habits, too.

I'm just so pleased with the way this year has gone. I've learned a lot about what I put into my body, and how to nourish my children so they can be the best they can be.

Happy Birthday!

Wanna know what happens when the boy gets invited to a party? Or something else social happens? I panic. There's been a lot of that lately. I might be getting ulcers.

Birthday parties are basically guaranteed to cause Eli to have a reaction. Some helpful suggestions I've gotten: Just scrape the frosting off the cupcake and he can eat it! (Are you aware that to most kids, cake is just a vehicle for frosting? It's amazing, and many adults agree.) He doesn't have to help with the pinata! (Really? You tell him that.)

I'm at a loss as to what to do when we go to parties. Avoiding them would be wonderful, but he's at the age where he's making real friends. He talks about his friends constantly and keeping them apart on special days like birthdays seems cruel. But so does allowing him to watch kids gorge themselves with rainbow colored sugar while he just sits on the sidelines.

This summer, we tried to go with the flow, once. Eli ate a delicious chocolate cupcake piled high with yellow icing. It took about 10-12 hours for the reaction to start, but once it did, he wasn't himself for a couple of days. We were pretty sure this would happen, but since he hadn't had any artificially colored food in quite awhile, we weren't sure what his threshold was. Some kids can tolerate it now and then, others can't.

But things are starting to look up. Now we're able to tell him, "That red and green cupcake is going to make your tummy hurt. Maybe we can have some ice cream instead!" He's trying so hard, and I'm so proud of him.