Pics

5month Gastro appt & 4month check up wayyy late!
And the boys playing trains!

Mama-powered

We are on our way to Macon, and I have time to write while Derek drives, B sleeps, and Dreycin watches movies on the DVD player. Macon is a 2hr drive we go 1x a month for B's pediatric gastro appt.


If there was a week I have never felt more empowered it was last week. Since we have moved here it has been difficult for me to adjust. Being a new mom 2nd time around, in an area that is new to me and let's just say close minded, I have struggled. But I have to say in the last few months I have felt liberated, and my social butterfly wings have begun to fly again. It's so hard those first few months of being a new mom, then throw in health issues with both! About two months ago I started going to yoga, and instantly felt a connection with my teacher who was like minded, green and vegan. We shared about where we go shopping for our organic foods(1.5hrs away from where we live). Then she began teaching for donation out in town and I was able to start in the last month going to yoga an additional 2-3x per week. We both talk about how back "home" yoga classes are filled to the max, it's a way of life. So different from here! She is also here due to husbands job with Marine corps. The other activity I had wanted to get involved with was volunteering at the base. Around Christmas time I started asking around who I needed to talk to and got directed to a class to take. Last week I took the class called LINKS for spouses, it was nice to be around other military wives! I took the class to become a LINks mentor, to other wives coming into the Marine Corp family. I also took a training to be a family readiness officer assistant, we call them our FRO. again both were empowering for me. I have struggled with being a stay at home mom, feeling like my kids need me and then again looking at those two degrees in their beautiful frames just sitting in the back of my closet. Makes me sad, but I know my kids will only be small for a short time. I was asked by my mom if I have a closer bond with Lil B at this age compared to Dreycin, and I would say absolutely. It was my mom taking care of Dreycin, but I still felt jealous of her time with him, while I was at work. At the time I had to work, we had two car payments, my school loans, and for myself I wanted those two years of experience post graduate degree on my resume. But today Dreycin and I have a bond like no other. I stopped working right after he turned 1, and we got to experience some pretty awesome times! So that's where I am today, in realization that for right now volunteering, giving back to my military & surrounding community is what I need to do for my sanity and my boys. On thursdays we go to a library class, and since I have recruited so many of the military wives the childrens director has asked me about the possibility of coming to base to do the class! I am very excited to pass her information along the "chain of command" to get something educational on base for kids for free for ages birth-3. When we started the class B,D and I were the only ones coming to the class for a few weeks, but I slowly got the word out and interest sparked among some of the wives! It is a drive for us, 30min there 30min back to base but in my eyes totally priceless. My mom use to pay a monthly membership $56 to Gymboree for us to go to classes every week from 3mos-15mos! I finished up my awesome week by going this past Saturday to an awesome breastfeeding support group. I have been going since October, but recently told a few women on base who came to the meeting which made an excellent turnout and great conversation/experiences with breastfeeding! I told Derek today that sooner than later I am anxious to get back to working, not just for myself but for us, our kids, and our future! I mean let's face it, I won't get a retirement plan with volunteering and the way our society is going we are gonna need more than what we think to survive after retirement!

B's appt went well, we have a f/u in 3mos. We were told that after 1month of no blood we can start solids. My plan is to do baby led weaning to solids anyways, so I bet it will be a while before we even introduce anything! Frankly I'm scared, with what additional allergies we may encounter? On Saturday I talked about how naive I was to start Dreycin on rice cereal and solids at 4mos, I was being the OmG parent I can't wait to see what he does! I never knew that breast milk is truly the only thing your baby needs the first year! We still have blood occasionally I showed the doc pics but he wasn't concerned? So again he is happy and healthy and weighing in at 19lbs 7oz at 5months! Oh yea, Lil B is already 5mos????

Banana bread

It was so yummy! I love my new cookbook! We had a little bit of blood again today, but I also tried some chips made from oat floor, the only thing different. But now I truly believe he has an oat or gluten intolerance. No more oats. I will have my allergy testing next wednesday!

Look what I got in the mail today!!!

This cookbook is going to totally rock our world! I am super stoked about trying new recipes and knowing the proper substitutions! I already made the snicker doodle cookies and we loved them! Next few things I'm gonna do is turkey curry, turkey Chilli, and black bean burgers! Anddddd, the author Elizabeth Gordon is totally a social worker with her MSW just like me. Her blog is allergyfreedelights and she is my savior right now bc my sweet tooth will never go away!

Allergy test experience with 2yr old & 5mos old

Initially we were told that 1 week prior to testing neither child could take any type of allergy meds, no problem there. They scheduled us early @815 & 845 am but took us all back together. I hated the thought of having to take two children on two separate occasions. Plus I've had allergy testing 2x, once at 13 and once in 2007 and knew that I would need the hubs there. The test pricks were 99 for Dreycin and i think 33 for Bronson. Infants are too young to test for environmental allergies, and although they can be tested it is not accurate and would be better to test after age 1. The test pricks are like little toothpicks that are pressed in with the liquid IgE form of allergic substance. We met with dr first discussed our concerns with each child, then went back to the area for testing. It really helps to have a gentle, caring tester ours was a mama and grandma so she was great with kids. Dreycin we both had to hold, our options for him were pricks on his back or arms and we chose back. He cried majority of the time and we tried to keep him entertained with iPhone but it wasn't working! He was uncomfortable, and we couldn't hug him, so I held his head on my chest. DErek had to hold him out & away so that we wouldn't touch any part of his testing. Towards the end I started bribing him that after the test we would go get him a donut! Good thing he didn't have a milk allergy, but i think he is lactose intolerant like his dad. He also had a juice and snack after the process while sitting on dad's lap for the 15min they make you wait until they can read the test. He stayed teary eyed but in the testing room Elmo's world was on so that helped a little! Bronson was so much easier, the test lady brought out a big blanket and then I put B's blanket over theirs, laid B on his tummy and he didn't even realize what was going on until we were almost done. Allergy tests can itch if you have a lot of allergies, and I think that's what happened to both at the end. After it was done Derek and I were both very happy that we did the process even though there was alot of tears! After the testing we went back to room to discuss results with dr. The dr also decided to go ahead and do blood RAST test on B due to prick test not always being accurate on infants. we were given an order and sent to hospital. Before we even left the office both kids were OUT! We were asked to come back in 6wks. Rx for Flonase for D, and told that he could also take liquid Zyrtec for those pesky environmental allergies and frequent weather changes we have in Georgia. The last thing Dreycin said after we strapped him into car seat was "I want a donut(enter very sad expression here)!" we stopped but he wouldn't budge after falling asleep. I hated to wake Bronson up for the bloodwork but Derek was off work and I wouldn't have to take Dreycin in too! It was simple enough only bc we have had to get blood drawn 3x. 1 tube of blood and the results were negative for everything?? Puzzling, but at least our doc did the prick test. Again, I'm so glad we did this even if it was probably harder on me and D than our boys! At least they don't have as many allergies as their mama does! I'm actually going back to them to redo my food allergies. Since I have cut so much out of my diet, I find that I am still breaking out in hives on my chest, chin, neck and upper back when I eat. So here I go again.....the doc did mention some people grow out of allergies but people with compromised immune systems usually don't. Now is good time to mention that Lil B is still blood free :)

Pic is of us doing stamp art this morning!

164.8

It's what I saw on the scale this morning :) after eating in Atlanta at a few allergen friendly places!
We had a wonderful time in Atlanta, stayed at a hotel with an indoor pool, went to the Georgia Aquarium and whole foods market to grocery shop. I also got to eat at chipotle!
Prior to deciding to go to Atlanta we were just going to go to Tallahassee for the weekend,but decided why not just drive a little further and enjoy a long holiday weekend!
The Friday before we left we took both boys for allergy testing, and what an experience that was! We found out that Dreycin is allergic to pork & peanuts, and all outside allergens -trees! Bronson is allergic to chicken, eggs, shellfish, and pork. He is to young to determine environmental allergens. The doc has also sent out a RAST allergy blood test to see if we see anything different. I thought for sure eating chicken and turkey was safe, I mean I was eating chicken like everyday! We were until yesterday blood free for 4 days, and the only thing I had different was oatmeal. Before we left for Atlanta I baked up a batch of banana bread, turkey bacon, and took snack bars to be safe. And the only time I ate was 2x at whole foods, and chipotle. So I now it had to be the quacker oatmeal, because I didn't see the ingredients? Dumb on my part.... But oh well. Hopefully we are on our way to a full recovery.
BTW If any of my readers have a son, Dreycin's favorite book right now is I STINk, look it up! It's A really cute book about a trash truck!

I am feeling green today.....

Today my theme is green. My new sol Gaiam yoga mat arrived from amazon, saved $30 by not buying directly from Gaiam. I needed a thicker mat, my joints need some extra TLC :)
Cant wait to use it tomorrow AM at yoga! I am also having my leftovers from last night, mostly green pesto brown rice pasta with spinach and turkey cutlet. The pesto sauce was easy(googled easy pesto sauce), and awesome since I'm avoiding nightshade produce and cant eat tomato sauce! I also wore Lil B in my green ring sling today my friend Stef sent me, which I was able to nurse in without even having a cover at our appointment! It was also pretty awesome to hear I was down 11lbs since my last appt!

Saving a buck or two?

My quest for a dishwasher detergent that tackles this hard water in Georgia has been unsuccessful, until I decided to google homemade dishwasher detergent for hard water and came across simplydesigning.blogspot.com and she had a laundry detergent recipe too. So this morning the kids and I went to our first mother goose on the loose class, were we sang, played with a few instruments, read a few books. This class is just what I have been wanting for both boys, educational social interaction. We had tried the play group here on base but it is unstructured play, with all ages and Dreycin got hit by an older kid. I was pisted, so not going back there anymore. After class we checked out some books, and went to Walmart to get my ingredients for my homemade detergents. They were very similar for both so I decided to make both. After reading about how much $$$ it actually saves you I was like ok this could be awesome!! I bought
1box of borax
1box of washing soda
1 bar of fels naptha soap
1can of dry Lemi shine
1 bottle of kosher salt
1bottle of vinegar

And it took me less than 45min to make both. Here are some pics.
The second to last pic is of how much dish detergent I ended up with. And the second pic is the canister of borax and washing soap before I added the shredded bar of soap. Sorry they are out of order my iPhone is uploading the pics the way it wants too. Wow I'm feeling a little domesticated today!

Twentytwelve

Happy New Years, we are cheering for a healthier year this year!!!
Im starting the year off at a weight of 169 & i havent seen that number since 2008! We were so blessed in 2011, I can only imagine how awesome 2012 will be! We are enjoying Daddy being home, helping out! Both the boys slept bad last night, but when Derek heard B wake up this AM he came and got him right away so I could sleep until 10! Bronson went all day yesterday without any blood in stool, but was very crabby. I'm guessing it could have been the black eyed peas chili I ate two days in a row? Ive been cutting back on beans. We also didn't have any blood in the first two stools today but the 3rd a little bit? I'm very anxious for our second opinion, because I'm thinking it has some relation to allergies but not completely. Some people just don't understand why I am so adamant about breast feeding through all this.
Yes it's frustrating but I refuse to let anyone tell me that my breast milk has no nutritional value once I've cut out all or most allergens. Especially a dumb dr that has probably never been educated on breast feeding. So B now 4months has been gaining weight, he is a little over 18lbs and until last night was sleeping all night from about 10pm until maybe 6, wake up eat then goes back to sleep until 830 or so. I measured him at home and he is 28 inches long!
We don't have a 4month follow up until end of the month, and at that time we will get more stats. I've also decided to hold off on vaccinations, maybe doing a delayed schedule for B until we get results of allergy test and he starts solids. Right now I'm loving it when he plays with my hair while he is nursing, when he moves his little hand all over my face in discovery(he does it to Derek too), and the way he puts his feet together heel to heel while he is on the floor playing. Those lik feet are so cute! Speaking of the little booger, he is starting to scoot with his arms now, he is never the way we left him on the floor! It was so cute today Dreycin saw that I had put him on floor for some tummy time so he went to go get B's Christmas present a little tikes toy that he looks up at while laying underneath and plays with! He drug and lifted it up to bring it to his brother, it was so sweet! It's truly amazing the way they are starting to look at each other, each one will smile then they both burst into laughter! Although the other day B and D were playing on floor and B grabbed a hold of Dreycins hair and would not let go so D started crying! We may have let it go for just a minute longer silently trying not to LOL!!!!!!

Yoga have I told you how much I love you?! Tuesday's are my yoga nights, well at least for the last month, and turns out the instructor is adding more classes out in town in the evenings and every other Saturday! Today was one of those "get me out of the house NOW" days, I pumped and left a bottle and when Derek walked through the door I said BYE!!! Did I mention I'm at that postpartum stage where all my hair is falling out, Derek had to declog our bathroom shower! I'm seriously tempted to cut it all off but I've never had long hair!!!!

I'm looking forward to this year, maybe to come home to Texas for a month or so this spring. And maybe to figure out where the Marine Corp will be taking us next.