March is Madness!

Oh my heck! It's March! Wait, it's almost over? Where have my days gone? I have absolutely no idea! I have been busy for the last 10 months dealing with our little mexican jumping bean. Things got off to rough rough start. My thyroid was too low so I wasn't making enough milk, on top of that even though he has a great suck, the roof of his mouth is severly arched and so stuff wasn't positioned correctly to get milk. I could put my finger in his mouth behind where his front teeth were, and go up and up and up!! All the way up to my middle knuckle!!! That is a high palate! Not a good thing.

Bugga has never ever stopped moving. Even while pregnant he was always moving. He would never relax while nursing. Something always moving, a foot kicking, and hand squeezing. He would scream unless he was on the breast. Pediatrician says reflux... meds.. the meds were terrible!!! I smelled them, and they gave me an asthma attack! Couldn't get them down the baby, so we saw a different ped and she ordered meds through a compounding pharmacy woo hoo grape flavor. OK, this took a week to start working... kind of.. not.. eventually he went off this medication because his reflux was gone.

He only slept through the night for a week!!  No naps, unless being held.. let me tell you.. I love the snuggles, but I do need to get stuff done ... still not napping in his bed.. YET..But he sleeps in his crib at night.. See, when we went on a trip, I started giving him formula. Ya know, trying to wean him a little. Plus he ate veggies, fruit, oatmeal, yogurt.. yup. and he loved it. BUT, something was not right. He was struggling to poo, he was up most of the night screaming, he was biting like crazy!!

I got online and did a search for "how to get my 10 month old to take naps"... an article came up about how dairy and gluten cause reflux and the symptoms are: irritability, asthma (yup he was a wheezing monster), constipation, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, arching and more.. he has all but one symptom !  AHH HAAA   I feel like an idiot. No one told me! My poor baby boy was in pain! We immediately took him off formula and gluten. No more dairy for him or I, as he is still nursing.

So yup, Bugga and I are gluten free (gf) and dairy free(df), our house is also sf and cf (corn and soy free). It took 5 days, but last night was the first time he slept almost the entire night! He woke for a dream feed at 11pm, but then slept until 6 am..amazing! BUT, still napped in arms. Hey, I am not complaining! He was so much happier and nicer today.. well until he got hungry and started biting my leg. No I am not exaggerating, he was biting me. So into the high chair he went to have some rice, peas, bananas and mango. yummy.. then some blueberry coconut milk yogurt. YUM!

Since being gf my migraines are gone. I had a headache yesterday, all day, but it is normal the first week or two to have headaches from withdrawal of gluten. Other symptoms of withdrawal include nausea (which I get when eating gluten!!), skin eruptions, stomach cramps... and more. 

I also found while researching  gluten.. People diagnosed with gluten allergy or celiacs usually are diagnosed with thyroid problems with in 5 years of diagnosis. AND people diagnosed with thyroid issues usually are diagnosed with celiacs within 5 years of diagnosis!  AND people with these conditions are also usually diagnosed as diabetic with in 10 years!!! HOLY CRAP!!! Most diabetics have thyroid issues.. Do you see the vicious circle here?

My symptoms for gluten allergy were: dizziness, nausea, stomach cramps, dry skin, exhaustion, irritability, joint pain, muscle pain, the bottoms of my feet felt like I was walking on needles!, diarrhea and constipation..  Guess what the most dangerous of those was???
The dizzy part. Why? Because it means my body was attacking my cerebellum. Yup, my brain was under attack, and if not caught soon enough, the damage is permanent! I started getting dizzy 13 years ago! Fortunately it would get bad then better. Why? Because when I was dizzy I was so nauseous that I was vomiting, and so I wouldn't eat anything except chicken broth (no gluten there!!).

So, my daughter was getting dizzy too. Glad I found out about the gluten thing. She has been sneaking gluten, and well.. paid for it.

Out of 10 people in our home, 6 of us are gluten free now. The rashes, cramps, dizzy, and more are disappearing!!  hurrah!!!

Happy Valentines Day!

Ok, I am not sure how I truly feel about this day. Saint Valentine was beaten with clubs, stoned and then finally beheaded. Why? He was caught marrying Christian couples.. this was illegal at the time. His captor, Claudius II liked Valentine... Valentine made the mistake of trying to convert Claudius.. Valentine was a martyr for the Christian faith.
His tortuous murder was on February 14, 269 A.D.
Valentines Day was brought about by a Pope to remember all the martyred priests.

I once read that Valentines day is the day you tell people how you truly feel about them. hmm... Now I am not to sure about that.. But, I will enjoy that part of telling people you care about them.

I hope everyone looks at the true meaning of Valentine's Day, and not just expect the commercialized side of the day (expensive dinners, jewelry, chocolate).

Life is crazy here on the little farm. Chickens are eating eggs. We have been raising meat rabbits, but with the baby allergic to rabbit fur, we will be selling all the rabbits and bunnies. I sold some of the chickens, but we still have an egg eater ... I need to catch her in the act, then return the favor by serving fried chicken for dinner the next day.

Stay WARM!!!

Everyday is a pie day!

I LOVE PIE!!!  I could eat pie everyday! So many different kinds! Fruit, meat, vegetable, meat and veg, custard, nut..

It's my babysitter's and MIL fault! Mary and her daughter Kendra took me to a carnival at Kendra's school. There was a pie room. I tried the peach pie. I tried another slice, and another... I ate the ENTIRE pie!! OH it was soo good. the crust was light and flaky on top and the bottom crust was light, cooked through but had amazing flavor. The peaches.. not sure if they were canned or fresh.. Who cares, I dream about that pie to this day!! 
I love Thanksgiving because there is GRAVY and then there is PIE! And not just one kind!! Almost always apple pie and pumpkin, then my SIL made chocolate cream pie. YUMMY

So one day I was next door visiting my MIL. She told me to try a tart. It was basically mini pecan pies. She only gave me half of one, because she said they were rich... OM Heck!! YUMMY!!  My first time I had ever had pecan pie and I loved it!!  Of course I had to come home and make some. Unfortunately I discovered that all pecan pie recipes use, yup you guessed it, CORN SYRUP. Why would anyone make such a wonderful thing using corn syrup??  Well, I had to find a way to fix this. I did. TWO ways in fact. The recipe is below:

PECAN PIE MUFFINS

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flour (AP or GF !!!!)
1 cup pecans, chopped
2 eggs
2/3 cup butter, melted

Oven 350 degrees.
Mix all together.
Muffin tin, either lined or sprayed with oil. Fill atleast 9 of the spots.
Bake for 20 minutes

These are wonderful!!  If you make them GF, they are a little gooey (perfect). I made these for a dessert and sent some home with my mom.. She had no idea what the dessert was I sent her home with.. She texted me later and said I was evil. She loved them and had to have the recipe immediately because she ate the 3 I had sent her home with and she wanted more.

I surprised my daughter with these in her lunch. She and I are GF. She came home and gave me a huge hug. She LOVES these!! For the GF ones, I have even used less butter, more like 6 TBS and they still worked. Sorry no pictures, they get eaten too fast.

Cheap Heat

The following message from my friend Susan. I thought it might be good info for when the power goes out.

 Cheap Heat

"When Lark set me this simple demonstration of how to heat  a small room for about 15 cents per day, I was hooked. My engineer husband, Fred, was able to explain the rationale to me and we know that the Brits used a similar technique in their homes and apartments during WWII, but they did not have access to tea light candles, all of the same size. I realize that many tea lights are full of lead but in a desperate situation, thy could be used to my benefit. The British government told citizens to never leave their candles unattended.  Years ago the size of the candles were uneven in both height and width and were extremely precious commodities during the war. Enjoy this 3 minute demonstration of how to heat a small room for 15 cents a day:"

http://myscienceacademy.org/2013/11/16/how-to-heat-your-room-for-15-cents-a-day/

 

I am going to try it. this might take the edge off when the power is out. Any tea light will work, but you can get them in bulk at Ikea. Please remember to put it on a non heat sensitive or flammable surface,

Last year and the year before, the kids had big stones the put by the fireplace to heat up before going to bed. Those stones stayed warm until morning.. totally worth it.

Here comes the ... RAIN!!!!

My goodness, the rain was coming down so hard earlier that hubby and one of my kids were digging trenches for the water so it wouldn't fill my garage. Then they made sure all the down spouts were not blocked, and dug a new trench for the sump pump, so if there is water under the house it has someplace to go.

LOTS of rain!! We couldn't see the street from the house, and it isn't even very far away. You were soaked instantly if you stepped out into it. IT was super LOUD! Like a rock concert. Insane is what it is. And guess what???? MORE IS COMING!!

The last deluge also brought wind. Lovely... not. Our power has been going out and coming back on all day. The loud "bangs" that sound like a shotgun are the transformers blowing. So we started the first fire of the year. Just in case the power goes out and doesn't come back. We don't want to try to start a fire while the wind is blowing, and we are freezing.

And so starts AUTUMN..moldy leaves, rain, rain, wind and more rain..

ON a good note, we saw salmon in our river!!! First time in 3 years! NO the hatchery did not take the dam down like they said they would. Why? Because they are .. well I can't say, there is a baby in the room. They said the dam would be down before the spawning season. I guess they forgot that is September.
BUT we did count 6 salmon! That is more than we have seen in years!  Unfortunately, NOT ENOUGH!  We stopped by the hatchery and the dam is holding back hundreds of fish.

Ok, I'm off to check the trenches..

STRIKES

I am not an alarmist. I am not even sure anyone has heard about any of this. BUT, there are a few possible strikes in the works.

One is grocery stores, the other is trucking.

Now one or the other isn't such a bad thing if you have food storage, and if you have full tanks of gas plus extra... BUT if you don't..

I am not sure the entire story at the moment. All I know is that several trucking companies are planning on striking or not coming to work for several days. I also know that on the news they were talking about grocery stores going on strike.

IF both happen at the same time... oh crap! Do you have gas? Do you have food? What about toilet paper? Diapers or formula for your baby (if you use those)? laundry soap?

I am not one to cross a picket line. I will not.

If trucks aren't delivering.. grocery stores only have 3 days of food, if they are not rushed. If rushed they have about 20 minutes of food. No trucks, no gas. How will you get to work?

Just some stuff to think about. I'm not sure any of it will happen. But I know the trucks are planning on not running sometime in October, and since we are now at the end of September, and I am hearing about possible strikes at some stores... looks like things could happen at the same time.

Um, we live in Western Washington...what's with the heat?

Yup it's hot here. The heat wouldn't be so bad, except that it is also very muggy. YUCK

This isn't so bad if you can handle it. But the number one killer of infants and the elderly in summer is the heat. You have to have a way to cool off, you have to stay hydrated. That said, some people don't realize they are dehydrated, and that can be dangerous. Dehydration does not happen only when it is hot outside. It can also happen in times of stress, illness, and when it's cold outside.

For babies, signs of dehydration include:
Decrease in wet diapers
Very tired baby, sleepiness
Irritability
Thirst
Sunken fontanel or soft spot
Poor latch
Not wanting to play or smile
Tongue and mouth appear dry
Sunken eyes
No tears when he cries
Vomiting

These signs can also be used for children.

Dehydration Chart

Degree of dehydration	Pretty Parched
Mood	Restless, irritable
Eyes or soft spot on head	No tears, sunken
Mouth and tongue	Dry
Thirst	Thirsty, drinks eagerly
Urination	Less frequent than normal
What to do	If your child has two or more of these signs, call your pediatrician, give liquids or an electrolyte solution.

Degree of dehydration	Dangerously Dehydrated
Mood	Lethargic or not conscious
Eyes or soft spot on head	Very sunken and dry, no tears
Mouth and Tongue	Very dry
Thirst	Drinks infrequently or unable to drink
Urination	Minimal or none
What to do	If your child has any of these signs, call 911.

Breastfed infants should continue to breast feed. Do not give carbonated, high sugar beverages or dairy products when dehydrated or the child has diarrhea, as this can make it worse.

Treatment Based on Degree of Dehydration Chart

Degree of dehydration	Minimal or no dehydration
Rehydration Therapy	Just replacement of losses
Replacement of losses	Children under 22 lbs (10 kg): 2 to 4 ounces (60 to 120 mL) oral rehydration solution (ORS) for each diarrheal or stool or vomiting episode Children more than 22 lbs (10 kg): 4 to 8 ounces (120 to 240 mL) ORS for each diarrheal stool or vomiting episode
Nutrition	Continue breastfeeding, or resume age-appropriate normal diet after initial hydration, including adequate caloric intake*

Degree of dehydration	Mild to moderate dehydration
Rehydration Therapy	ORS, 1.6 to 3.3 oz for each 2 lbs of body weight (50 to100 mL per kg body weight) over 3 to 4 hours
Replacement of losses	Children under 22 lbs (10 kg): 2 to 4 ounces (60 to 120 mL) oral rehydration solution for each diarrheal or stool or vomiting episode Children more than 22 lbs (10 kg): 4 to 8 oz. (120 to 240 mL). ORS for each diarrheal stool or vomiting episode
Nutrition	Continue breastfeeding, or resume age-appropriate normal diet after initial hydration, including adequate caloric intake*

* Overly restricted diets should be avoided during bouts of diarrhea. Breastfed infants should continue to nurse even during acute rehydration. Infants too weak to eat can be given breast milk or formula by medical personnel through a tube. Lactose-containing formulas are usually good. If the baby can’t absorb lactose-based formula, lactose-free formulas can be used. Complex carbohydrates, fresh fruits, lean meats, yogurt, and vegetables are all recommended. Carbonated drinks or commercial juices with a high concentration of simple carbohydrates should be avoided.