Catching up.

The basic problem with blogging/journaling is that the more you have to write about, the less time you have to write. Quite the catch 22. So let me just summarize a few highlights of the past couple weeks.

Last Saturday (10 days ago) we got another load of wood chips and put it all around the front yard. We've been wanting to do it pretty much since we moved in, and it looks tons better.

Our frogs have returned to the backyard with the spring weather, and the boys are thrilled. They really are the perfect pets - sitting under our big rock waiting to be played with then returned when we're done with them. They require no upkeep on our part, and of course they stay outside. Recently they found 3 frogs, put them in the driver seats of some toy trucks and raced them around the yard. (See how yucky and weedy my herb garden is next to the patio? Well Dave weeded it and put down weed barrier and the rest of the wood chips there Saturday, as well as planting that rose tree his office gave him in memory of Kevin. It looks beautiful.)

Last week was the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet.
Spencer earned his Wolf badge, a whole 3 months early! It helps that I'm his leader.

We went to the bay on Saturday. I'll do another post about that, since I took lots of pictures.I watched Kristen's boys while they saw Ben's play Friday night, then they watched our boys so we could see it Saturday night. My brother played Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and we really enjoyed it. They did it Bollywood style, and my favorite part was the big Indian wedding dance at the end. They did a great job of keeping Shakespeare easy to understand and interesting. You know how boring those monologues can be.

But our most exciting news is that we have started giving Brennan wheat!!! We just had a feeling that we should try giving his some to see how he'd do. So last week I made apple oatmeal muffins, which have flour, eggs and milk in them. We gave him one and he devoured it. It was like he'd never eaten anything so wonderful in his life. But the best part was that he didn't get a rash! A year ago he would have developed hives all over his face after just one bite. We were going to start him out slow with just one, but then he wanted more and more. Can you blame him? He ended up eating 4 or 5 that day - no rash. Then we watched for diarrhea, his other main symptom last year. He didn't have any problems. Since then he has had sugar cookies, wheat bread, regular pancakes, cake (homemade and store bought), graham crackers, and pizza crust. I walked through the grocery store Saturday giddy with excitement about all the yummy foods I want to give him. But I realize we should still take it slow, so I just bought fish crackers (not cheddar). We are still watching for eczema, but he hasn't had any so far. I'm so happy I want to cry.

Saturday activities

Yesterday Dave went rock climbing with a friend. They haven't gone in almost a year, and he was excited it finally worked out. They went to a place 90 minutes away, but the first 2 climbs they tried were closed due to nesting birds. That was a bummer because they were east-facing walls, meaning they warmed up first in the sun. Cold rocks are tough to climb because it's hard to hold on with numb fingers. But they did manage to find a couple of good climbs. He came home all happy and sore, which go hand in hand with Dave. Then he took all the boys on a hike down by the riverbed. Spencer's been wanting to go there ever since the cub scouts had a Chumash Indian guest speaker, telling them all about making games from nature. He said they could find lots of elderberry bushes down in the riverbed to make clapper sticks. Spencer brought some home yesterday and was able to make a clapper stick, just like the guy said. I enjoyed the quite house while they were gone.

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One new development with Brennan's allergies: we were talking to a lady whose daughter has food allergies similar to his, including eggs. She said she's been able to give her eggs as long as they're cooked, which alters the egg protein. We were hesitant to try it, but the other day he got into some salt water taffy, which contains egg whites, and low and behold, he didn't develop a rash. So we are going to try to introduce eggs into his diet and see what happens. That's not one of his major allergies, but it does help baked goods not be so dry and crumbly. Sometimes I look at Brennan's skin and am so grateful at how much better he's doing this year. It's a lot of work to keep him fed, but it's just so worth it. But sometimes it still makes me want to cry, like tonight when we ate the most delicious strawberry cake from scratch, and he was no longer content with his chocolate soy ice cream. So we kept throwing sugar at him until he got happy. Gummy bears did the trick.

Allergy-free double chocolate muffins

Dallin and I made chocolate muffins yesterday morning, and Brennan was feeling totally left out. So while the muffins were in the oven I looked up a recipe for allergy-free muffins in my Sophie-Safe Cookbook and made a few changes. A couple days ago when I was at the health food store, I found coconut flour - how cool is that? So I substituted some of the oat flour with it. The results were delicious, and although I still preferred the regular chocolate muffins, I've had requests for this recipe. So here it is:

1 1/2 cups oat flour (grind oats in blender)

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup oil

1 egg, egg substitute, or 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cup soy milk

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and liquid ingredients in another, then add all together and mix just until moist. Add chocolate chips. Fill lined muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from pan; they're a little crumbly.

What a party!

Yesterday we all went to Kristen's house for her birthday. There were 28 of us there.

Look how patiently all the kids are waiting!

Happy Birthday Kristen! That little Brennan just sat watching everyone eat their cake and didn't make a sound. When I saw him there I quickly got out his cookies we brought, which he got excited about. Poor kid!

Aren't we clever?!

So every year we get chocolate advent calenders for the kids. You know, the kind where you open a little door each day and get a cute little Christmas item-shaped piece of chocolate? So while I was at Trader Joe's the other day I picked up 3 of them (the chocolate has milk in it, so of course Brennan can't eat it). Later Dave mentioned that Brennan would feel really left out and that we should get him some candy to eat at the same time the kids eat their calendar chocolate. He then had the idea that we could buy another calendar, eat all the chocolate ourselves, then fill the spaces with Brennan's alternate candy. Then I took the idea one step further and decided to melt our dairy-free semisweet chocolate chips and pour it into the molds right in the calendar! So we bought another calendar last night on our date and fixed it all up as soon as we got home. The whole process only took a few minutes. Then I put it in the freezer to harden the chocolate and closed all the doors, so it looks just like the other 3. Why do I get so excited about Brennan eating yummy food just like every one else? There's so much he misses out on that I love it when he can take part in our traditions with us.

Thanksgiving and Brennan's B-day

Our holiday began on Wednesday. It started out raining, which is a big deal around here. It was a lovely cozy morning of baking pies, sweet potato souffle and birthday cake. Dallin and Brennan were excited to help. Isn't my cherry pie beautiful? Then Dave and the boys all got home early (working for a specialist sure has its advantages over urgent care - I don't remember the last time Dave got off early the day before Thanksgiving or the day after). We went to see Madagascar II, but it was sold out. To say that we were disappointed would be an understatement. So we went home and rode bikes (it had stopped raining by then), fed the missionaries (I cheated and bought pizzas), then dropped Brennan off at Kristen's house so he could go to bed there and took the other 3 to see the movie. It was really fun - maybe even better than the first one. And we practically had the place to ourself.

Thursday morning Dave went to church for the turkey bowl (flag football), and had a blast. He said there was just enough mud to make it exciting. Then we had Thanksgiving dinner with my parents, grandpa, uncle Michael, Ben and of course Kristen's family. My dad had to go to work at 2:30, so we ate around 12:30. Poor grandpa had to get up in the middle of the night to join us. I think he got up around 11:30.

All the food was super yummy and I was good at not stuffing myself silly. It was a nice day (we were grateful it wasn't raining), and the kids played at the park while the adults visited and napped.

Then we had Brennan's birthday celebration. I found the recipe for his cake in a South Beach Diet cookbook of all places. It was a flourless chocolate cake, which I figured would work out wellsince I wouldn't have to substitute it (flour substitutes get weird). Instead it called for finely-ground almonds. I did have to substitute with soy milk, vegan margarine, soy yogurt and egg substitute, but the thing actually turned out quite good. It was very rich and fudgey, and Kristen said it was like a truffle cake. I iced it with chocolate icing (vegan margarine and soy milk) and melted chocolate chips to write the words.

He blew it out all by himself on his first try (we practiced beforehand). Yum! Brennan ate his cake with chocolate soy ice cream while the rest of us ate our pies.Yay - bath toys! Happy Birthday Brennan!

It's about time

Over the past 2 days I've finally gotten around to doing things I've been meaning to or trying to do for a long time.

1. I made hotel reservations for Hawaii! Dave and I are coming up on our 10th wedding anniversary next month, and I've always wanted to go to Hawaii. So although we had decided to go there, I just hadn't been able to choose a place. My friend said she could get me a good deal through her time share. But the problem is that the deals don't turn up until a month ahead of time, and Dave has to give his work at least a month's notice. I kept looking online, but I just couldn't bring myself to decide on anything. I'm so dang indecisive!! So I called my friend yesterday, and although she couldn't find anything good on Oahu, where we wanted to go (Polynesian Cultural Arts Center), she happened to notice some great deals on other islands. So I called Dave, and we decided to go to Kauai instead. It's more tropical (waterfalls, tropical plants, etc.), and much less developed. I wanted to go someplace exotic without a lot of crowds. So we'll go to the PCAC another time - maybe our 20th. We're going to a really nice resort with its own private beach, and we'll have a bedroom, living room, kitchen and 2 bathrooms. It feels so good to finally having it arranged, and we're totally stoked to go.

2. I took Brennan in for his 1 year shots. I know, he's almost 2 years old, but let me explain. When he was diagnosed with his allergies last year, right before he turned 1, his pediatrician said he couldn't get any of the 1 year immunizations because they were all grown in egg. Well I believed him. Then recently I started to wonder if there were any he could have. So I called the health department and made an appointment. The nurse told me that it wasn't true about the 1 year shots and egg allergies, and that the only one he can't have is the flu shot. So he's all caught up now, thank goodness. I'm not a negligent mom after all!

3. We're getting the A/C fixed! After 2 un-returned phone calls, Dave called the guy for me and left a message saying that if he's too busy than please refer us to someone else. Well the guy called right back(!) and said he's been out of town, so he referred us to someone he said was honest and reliable. We made an appointment with the new guy for that morning. Apparently it's just a part that needs to be replaced, which he is installing at this very moment. Of course now the weather is cooling down, but I'm just glad it's finally getting done and will only cost a couple hundred dollars.

4. I ordered a new calendar. Our old calendar expired a month ago, and I just hadn't gotten around to ordering a new one. I have all kinds of notes posted around my old calendar and feel lost not knowing the dates coming up. I like to order my calendars from Wal-Mart, so of course that took a little time to choose which pictures to use and upload them, and then of course they had to make it and mail it. But it came yesterday - yay!

5. I cleaned off the piano, bookcase and mantel. We fed the missionaries a couple nights ago, and then my visiting teachers came over later that evening, so this motivated me to de-clutter. I really need to have people over more often!

Exciting Morning

Some mornings are more exciting than others.

Spencer - "Mom!! Brennan's eating the Jewish Sugar Scones!" I thought Brennan was being too quiet. I made the cookies for the PTA, which is doing a luncheon for all the teachers today. Amazingly Brennan didn't develop a rash, since he's allergic to almost every ingredient in them - flour, butter, sour cream, egg. He must not have eaten much, or else the Benedryl was still in his system from this morning when Dave came home from running and found him sitting on the couch eating a box of Wheat Thins. Luckily I was able to salvage enough cookies and make them presentable again.

Tyler - "Don't go too fast, mom. Remember when they caught you and gave you one more chance?" I got a warning for speeding and not coming to a complete stop over a year ago. It sure left an impression on my kids. They're still bringing it up. A few minutes after he said this, I passed a speed trap. Good thing I wasn't speeding.

Spencer - "I almost had to stop, drop and roll," after burning his pajamas on the gas stove when he accidentally turned it on while climbing up to the microwave to see how much time was left on the timer for piano practice.

Summer evening

The boys have been riding their bikes a lot in the evenings, since it feels so good outside by then. Actually Dallin asks to ride his bike at all hours, but I just don't want to go out there in 100 degree weather. Tyler has been doing great - he can start and stop by himself now.
Brennan had a bad reaction today, although I have no idea what caused it. He had just woken up from his nap and was eating a fruit cup, which he eats all the time. Half his face turned bright red and was covered with white bumps, especially around his eye. Of course it cleared up quickly with Benedryl, but I still hate it when that happens. Especially the not knowing what caused it part. Check out his stained shirt - I'm guessing he got into some plums.

Allergy-Free

I just discovered a great line of allergy-free goodies for Brennan called Enjoy Life Foods. All their products are free of milk, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, soy and eggs, and it's all made in a designated allergy-free facility. I've bought their chocolate chips before at the health food store, and they're delicious. They don't taste weird at all - just pure milk-free chocolate. But the health food store didn't have anything else from that brand, so I just found a website called http://www.glutenfreemall.com/ that sells a whole bunch of Enjoy Life stuff, including cookies, snack bars, bagels and CANDY BARS! I was so excited when I found it. It's all rather expensive, of course, but I bought a bunch of cookies and candy bars to have on hand in case of an emergency. Why am I so excited to give Brennan unhealthy foods? I guess it just makes me sad that he misses out on so much, plus he's so tiny I feel the need to beef him up.

Allergy Update

We got the results of Brennan's blood work yesterday. When we were at his last allergy appointment, she ordered quantitative IgE levels for all his allergies. When we did his skin tests last fall, it was just a positive or negative result for each food. But the blood test tells us exactly how allergic he is to each thing, and we can do repeated tests to follow the numbers and see if they go down. Overall, the results were very good. The levels were lower than she thought, and he was even negative to almond (yay - a nut he can eat!). And his allergy to walnuts was very low. Interestingly, he was the most allergic to casein, which is a milk protein found in all kinds of things, even products that say "lactose free" like cool whip and some soy cheeses. It was even higher than peanuts, which really surprised me. Unfortunately he had a weak allergy to soy, which was negative on the skin test. I've replaced all dairy projects with soy, so I'm not sure what to do about that. I'm guessing I should keep giving it to him since he's doing SO much better skin-wise and he needs the nutrition. But I'll have to ask his doctor about that one. Another new allergy was sesame, so I guess I have to stop giving him those sesame crackers I found. The wheat allergy was relatively low, so it'll be interesting to see if it goes down.

Getting the blood drawn was quite a story. I left the other kids with Dave because no one needs to see their baby brother screaming from a medical procedure. When I got to the lab there was just one phlebotomist working (the last time he had blood work there was another lady there to help me hold him down), so she said I'd have to hold him myself and I might have to come back another time if she couldn't get it. Amazingly, he didn't make a peep when she stuck him, and she got it on the first try no problem. Apparently he has excellent veins. All he did was tense up his arm. What a trooper.

Still way below the charts

Brennan had 2 doctors appointments this morning. First he saw the pediatrician for his 18 month check-up. He is 31.5" tall (25th percentile) and weighs 18.7 lbs (way below the charts but following his own curve). No wonder all his pants fall down. It's interesting to hear different doctors' opinions. I told him about the scary incident when he ate a friend's peanut butter egg last Easter and developed severe hives that we could only get to clear up with a high dose of oral steroid and that we wondered if we should use the epipen and go to the E.R. He said he's never had a patient need to use an epipen and that it sounded good to use the oral steroid if needed. He also said Brennan's lungs sounded good and that he just has some upper airway congestion (he has a cold right now). But when I saw the allergist one hour later, she thought his lungs sounded terrible and that he needs to be on his nebulizer treatments all the time, even when he's healthy. She also said we should have given Brennan the epipen and gone to the E.R. after the peanut butter egg and that we shouldn't mess around with the oral steroid because it takes too long. She ordered a blood test to measure the IgE levels for all his allergies. I've been wanting to do this so we can monitor his levels to see if they go down. She said we might be able to start introducing certain foods back into his diet, which is really exciting. I especially want him to grow out of his wheat allergy. That complicates my life the most.

After the appointments we went to the zoo, which is right next to his allergist's office. Today is the first official day of summer vacation, and the boys were excited to go. It's a tiny zoo, but it's just the right size for little people. By the time we get to the end, they're ready to leave anyway. Brennan roared at all the animals and Spencer acted like our tour guide. Then we ate a picnic lunch and played at the park.

Birthday, cont.

Yesterday I made pizza for dinner. Then I got real adventurous and made a pizza for Brennan too. I found the recipe for the crust in my Gluten-Free Gourmet book by Bette Hagman. It's a GREAT book, recommended to me by my pediatric dietician. The crust was super quick and easy, using my gluten-free flour mix - rice flour, potato starch and tapioca flour. Then I used a very thin layer of pizza sauce (sometimes tomatoes give him a rash - not an allergy, just a dermatitis from the acidity), and topped it with slices of soy mozzerella cheese. He loved it! I like to give him the same thing we're eating as much as possible so he doesn't feel left out. A couple weeks ago I made snickerdoodles and all the kids (mine plus Kristen's little ones) were standing around me with their hands up like little baby birds wanting a cookie. Brennan came up with his hands up and that same wishful look in his eyes. It just about broke my heart. I ran to the freezer and quickly defrosted him a couple of his cookies. I need to remember to do that before I start handing out cookies next time, because he wasn't very patient about it.

After dinner we went to Kristen's house for cake. She also gave me flowers. The cake was SO yummy - her delicious homemade chocolate cake topped with chocolate frosting then homemade whipped cream and finally cherry pie filling. I love the combination of chocolate and fruit. Mmmm! Is this turning into a food blog? If I had my camera with me I would have taken a picture of it because it was also beautiful. Anyway, I just love having a sister living right up the street from me. What a great birthday!

Brennan's Snack Options

One of the hardest things about Brennan's food allergies is trying to find quick food for him - snacks and things to pack when we go out. He can eat raisins and grapes, but he gets tired of them. Plus he already has a problem with loose poops, and I don't want to make it worse. But I'm so excited because recently I found some good snacks for him:

1. Homemade no-bake granola bars. I found the recipe for this at: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=257284 a couple years ago. My kids all love them, and they are quick and easy to make. I remembered them recently and realized that I only have to make one substitute for him: sunflower seed butter instead of peanut butter. Plus I usually just use raisins or craisins and no chocolate chips - too messy for him.

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2. Nana Banana cookie bars, from the health food store. Most of the allergy-free snack bars I've bought in the past are expensive ($6 for a box of 5) and taste strange. These ones are very soft & yummy - he loves them! And they are only $3 for a box of 5 individually-wrapped cookies.

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3. Sesame crackers from Food 4 Less, of all places. I'm always so happy when I find regular food that just doesn't happen to contain wheat or dairy or nuts or eggs. It's when they purposely try to substitute that things start to taste strange and the price gets outrageous. So I found these crackers in the regular snack isle today, and when I got home, I noticed they don't have any wheat in them! They taste super-healthy, so I don't know how much he'll eat them (I gave him one and he ate it), but at least it's a cracker option that only costs $2/box. That's unheard of at the health food store.