GFCF Diet

Kierstyn has an appointment in two weeks to see the pediatric gastroenterologist, Dr. Lyons for her reflux. She is on her second medicine, Prilosec, trying to control it. It seemed to work for one week but now it's not. We are in our 4th week of trying it. I have a feeling that he will do an endoscope like he did on Kaeterina earlier this year. I've had the whole family on a gluten free diet for most of the summer now. This means Kierstyn has to eat gluten again before the test if I want him to look for celiac disease, which of course I do since he'll be down that way anyways.

I've also been weaning them off of dairy and eggs. That has been much harder. Honestly, it's been much harder because I don't want to give those up either. I know I'm addicted to gluten. Life without bagels just doesn't seem worth living : ) Pete would only agree to the new diet for whole family if I agreed to do it for myself as well. Being that I'm such a ridiculously picky eater, giving up anything of the limited things that I do eat, is difficult. It has helped my weight loss goal though : ) We are trying to be fair to everyone in the house and if one person can't have something then neither can anyone else. Between Pete's celiac and food allergies and Kierstyn's GERD diet (nothing spicy nor greasy, no chocolate, tomatoes, onions, garlic, citrus, no just name a few) and her ADHD diet, we don't have a lot of options.

My cooking skills are being tested tremendously! I've been checking out new blogs and cookbooks from the library like crazy. But I do have to say that I am enjoying the experimenting in the kitchen again. It is really all in all an healthier way to eat in the long run. It does mean the house isn't quite as clean as it should be. Why mop if I'm just going to get it dirty immediately following : ) It's all a trade-off!

Sick Kiddos

It seems that between the 4 kids, I've been to more doctors, specialists, labs & hospitals this summer alone than in the past 8 years. Of course we've had the on-going issues trying to medically diagnose Kaiden's severe developmental delays.

Additionally, Kierstyn has had health concerns on-going since July. It started with a concussion when Kaeterina dropped her while trying to do a headstand in the front yard. Lots of headaches have followed. She did pass the pediatrician's neuro test twice on two different occasions. That was quickly followed by reflux. The first medicine didn't work so we are in our 4th week now of trying another that doesn't seem to be working either. On top of that, I think she has allergies, possibly asthma too. Those do all seem to run in our family. I took her in to see the pediatrician last week because the headaches weren't getting any better, neither was the reflux.

Now she's been running a fever all week and complaining of a stomach ache. The stomach ache is probably the reflux. The fever has me concerned. I think Pete will take her in to see the pediatrician again tomorrow because I'll be at the Beth Moore live event at KCC.

I Know

I know. I'm WAY behind in posting updates. 4 months to be exact. It's been a crazy, busy, sickly summer. Busier than normal and I hope not the new normal for us : ) I was trying to at least keep Kaiden's blog up but I've failed at doing even that over the past 3 months. I wasn't sure if I would keep this blog going since we weren't moving to NYC right now. I think I will. More goes on in our lives than just Kaiden. Although sometimes I'm not sure of that either.

Everyone is sick here AGAIN today and although it is gorgeous outside (80 degrees and sunny!), we are going to have a jammie day which will allow me to do some catch up work on the laptop. The girls LOVE jammie days. We just lounge around the house in our jammies reading, snacking, and watching dvds at will. We are on season 8 already of Little House on the Prairie. KiKi is anxious to see Laura have her baby so we'll see if we can get that far today.