still figuring it out

Well back in Feb.I took my son to the GI dr. to see about his constipation.They wanted to see him back in a few months to see if he was still having problems. Last week i brought him back and he is totally over it. They said that he did not need them anymore. I fixed his problem by putting him on the gfcf diet and giving him probiotics and digestive enzymes. They were surprised that it helped. I am relieved because he is finally potty trained and he does not hurt anymore. He just had to get his gut problems corrected.I think that we are on our way. I am seeing signs that putting him on the SCD diet as well as the gfcf would work, but I am afraid to start. He eats a lot of potatoes and the SCD would mean that he shouldn't eat them. I did not give him potatoes for 3 days and I noticed that he seemed less agitated than before, his dad gave him potatoes for breakfast yesterday and he had the biggest meltdown and was scrunching up his face and he seemed to be in pain. He yelled and screamed. I had no idea what was going on, he had not done this in a while to this extent. Then my daughter told me that they had potatoes for breakfast. That is when I knew that it had to be the potatoes. I am now limiting potatoes, and I am keeping track to see if on the days he has them if the meltdowns are worse. i am going to keep him off of them until Friday then I will give him potatoes for lunch and see if anything happens.

Frustrating weekends

Today is friday, my children go to their dad's this weekend, and even though I have told about countless websites to go to, to learn about their diet and I have told countless times what they can and cannot have, he is still buying just all the wrong stuff for them to eat. He waits until today to let me know that he does not have any food this weekend for them and that he is out of money. I am also out of money, but I know how to cook. So I am spending this day cooking, baking and packing enough food and snacks for two kids for two nights and two days. I am also washing all their clothes, ( he isn't allowed to wash their clothes because he refuses to buy the right detergent) and packing them up for this weekend. Once their the kids will have no structure, will stay up till midnight or later and wake up early, get thier medicine and vitamins at all the wrong time and come home sunday night tired, cranky and hungry. But they seem to love to see their dad so they keep going.I am hoping someday they will realize which one of us tries harder for them.

Snack Ideas

This is going to be an ongoing post about snacks, My children are always hungry. It takes some creative thinking to plan enough snacks throughout the day. Soon I will start a new job and they will be taking food to daycare and school. Anybody who wants to can post a snack idea under comments, the only rules are that they have to be gfcf, no preservatives, no additives, no chemical and no fd&c food colors or numbers.

One snack my daughter loves is simple: celery and natural Skippy peanut butter.

One that both of my kids love is brown rice crackers and natural Skippy peanut butter.

Sometimes I have to get real creative and they just snack on Oscar Mayer Natural lunch meat, my son loves the turkey and my daughter loves the turkey and the ham, she eats hers rolled up with Spectrum Canola Mayo.

This weekend I made them a cake it was from Kinnikinick and the frosting was Enjoy Life, they loved it. It is really sweet though and I realize after they gorged on it for three days, (it had been about three months since they had cake) that I would either have to make it more often, or limit it to birthdays, I do not know yet. The hardest thing to pull them away from so far is sugar.

probiotics and doctors

i started my daughter on probiotics and she said yesterday that her stomach doesn't hurt anymore, so I know that it is working. the kids have so much energy, i am going to start taking them as soon as I can afford to. My son has a new pediatrician, she is really nice and seems to understand him and the diet a little better than his last one, he didn't care about anything. He is starting on an allergy medicine, which I am hoping will help him a lot. He gets bugged by allergies most of the time year round. I know he is allergic to animals and we have two dogs and a cat, but he loves the animals, one of the dogs is his and the other one is my daughters and the cat is everybodys. I can't give them up so i am hoping the medicine will help. my daughter is still aggressive. yesterday she bit my son in a very bad place and said she doesn't like him because he has a disability, she says she doesn't. Well we do not have her diagnosed yet, but I am seriously thinking she has aspergers. they are constantly fighting.

when ADHD meets Autism

Both of my children have ADHD and neither of them take medication for it. My son is spacey but not real hyper, my daughter is not real spacey but is extremely hyper. They are now sharing a room. My daughter never stops talking, I mean literally she talks to herself when no one else is around, she drives my son nuts. He is Autistic and cannot process information very fast, he also cannot drown out background noise. My daughter not only talks ALL THE TIME she also talks very fast and processes information at lightening speed. My son cannot keep up and has a meltdown everyday because of my daughter. She is 2 years younger and doesn't seem to want to understand that she has to slow down for him, I have been trying to teach her forever to try and understand him. I don't think there is a diet or supplements in the world that will help the sibling rivalry syndrome. I am hoping that because they just have each other that they will come to be close as they get older. They do not have the option to only talk to certain siblings like I do. They are the only two.

Over the weekend

The fourth of July went well for my kids, my son loved the fireworks, my daughter got scared though and cried. We went to the theme park that afternoon and the kids had a great time. they are both doing well these days. I started my daughter on probiotics on Sunday and she has been in a little bit of a better mood since, she is no longer constipated, which is always a good thing. I have even been taking an energy vitamin lately and have noticed a slight difference. As soon as I get a job we will all be taking probiotics and supplements to help us. I have also been cheating less lately, being broke helps. I already feel better. I know that my children will benefit in the long run, and I also know that they are already learning good nutrition and they take it seriously, they will tell people what is good and bad for them, they will also turn down food they know they can't have.

digestive enzymes

Even though my son is on the gfcf diet with additional restrictions i decided to on Monday start him on a digestive enzyme. He takes one tablet with breakfast and one with dinner. on Wednesday I started to notice a difference with him. Going potty is easier for him now and he is no longer constipated, he hasn't had an accident since Monday, so I know that the enzyme is working. he is happier and not as all over the place as he was. I am thinking about trying them on my daughter next to see if it improves anything. And since insurance doesn't cover the cost of anything, I am going to get a job working overnights so that I can better afford to help my children and still be here during the day with them. They didn't invent vault for nothing, i live on the stuff.