proud mama moment

Today.

 

oldie but a goodie

 

Today I dropped Caleb off for OT with Miss L (his new OT). We've talked a lot about his new friend Miss L and where Miss A is now. We've talked about him getting to play with a new friend and while I was reassured last week with their time together transitioning; I wasn't sure how today would go when I kissed his head and said good-bye knowing this was his first day alone with her and Miss A wouldn't be there. Well... It went beautifully. You continue to surprise me and amaze me Caleb. I'm so proud of you. He engaged right from the start with Miss L. Talking to her and wanting her to read to him during his session. They walked in together and my heart puddled a little. My eyes clouded up. I knew he'd be okay. Each little baby step gets us closer. He's learning to fly and I get to watch him as he soars. This is our last week before he starts his one day a week preschool. I know the years are going to fly by and the significance of many of the kids in Hollister heading to school today is not lost on me. I know we will cross that path when the time comes; just as we have crossed this path of OT and choosing the right preschool that will fit Caleb's needs. I prayed the entire car ride over to OT this morning; praying for a calm heart and for these new transitions to go well for Caleb. It has been so easy for me to get lost in the weary. The driving to OT twice a week. The insurance issues. The medical bills. Trying to figure out changes to C's eating. These things bring my spirit down sometimes. But the struggle has brought me the beautiful. After all we've been through this past year to see Caleb take such a huge leap today with change made my heart feel glad. I'd do it all over again in an instant. I don't regret a thing and being on this journey is right where we are meant to be. Here are the some moments I savored this morning. Caleb was singing sweetly in the backseat the entire drive over. The boys were happy with feet dangling over their car seats peeling stickers and talking to each other. The drive home Caleb was talking away. Asking about the weather, the farm land, the vegetables, and wanting to spell different words. (He loves sounding out all the alphabet letters and spelling words, sweet boy) Not everything is as I imagined it would be as a mother. I never knew the heartache I would experience and the extra worry over C and his struggles. But there's so much more beauty than I could have ever imagined too. Just because our days together aren't like they were a year ago being home most days, doesn't mean our time away from home isn't well spent. The boys are still learning even in the backseat of the car when we drive to OT; singing songs and listening to books. Through rich conversation and curious moments of conversation. They are learning all the time. And God is giving us the strength, patience, trust, and wisdom through His Grace to get through each and every hard moment and blessing us in the midst it all with so much beauty.

I love my boys so much.

I read this powerful post the other day by Kelle Hampton on Enjoying the Small Things. I know I often put up her posts that inspire or have mentioned her beautiful book. She continues to inspire me with the way in which she sees life; she finds the beauty and shares it with others and her pictures and words continue to speak straight to my heart. I loved her thoughts and her heart in this post about her sweet daughter Nella who has Down Syndrome. "We're in this together"
enjoying the small things-we're in this together if you have a moment and want to take the time to read it please do.

I have met some incredible people on this journey that I know God has placed in our lives for a very special reason. They've brought me hope and encouragement when the road seems long and daunting. I'm so proud of all Caleb has accomplished in this year (and...all through his 3 years of life, he's already overcome so much) and I know he's going to continue to surprise and amaze us, giving me many more proud mama moments for his strength and bravery.

To the moon and back Caleb Lincoln.

**pictures of sweet lucas to come..just as this is Caleb's last week before he starts preschool, it is lucas' last week as a one year old.  I can't believe he will be two on Sunday!! My mama heart can't take it. So much growing up and love and heart squeeze moments. Pregnancy hormones to boot!! tears, tears, tears. So bittersweet.

saying goodbye

Today we said good-bye to our sweet Occupational Therapist miss A. There were tears. There were hugs. I'm grateful for the growth Caleb has made under her wings this year. She will be missed.

 We came home and as we settled in for naps I got teary eyed some more over the moment pictured above (Caleb reading The Giving Tree to Lucas) and the beautiful book pictured below. Have you read it? All the world? It has beautiful pictures and a beautiful story and I could hardly read the book without crying with my two beautiful little boys perched next to me. #i'mahotmessofpregnancyhormones

 

I managed to get a short video of Caleb singing in the car before we went in for OT.  His sweet voice is music to my soul. It's been an emotional day for me. Good-byes are never easy. I feel blessed for the year Caleb had with Miss A. He has grown so much and I'm hopeful that he will adjust to his new OT, Miss L (he did great with Miss L leading the session today and Miss A stepped back and didn't have to intervene at all; Monday will be his first day starting with just Miss L)

 (in this video it is hard to hear him sing the words but I just love his big ol' smile at the beginning)

 

(towards the end of the video caleb starts to get into the song. God loves me so)

 

Tomorrow we have a fun outing planned with friends to a place we've only been to once. I think the boys will have fun and I think a day of fun with friends is just what we need.

"...Nanas, papas, cousins, kin 
Piano, harp, and violin
 Babies passed from neck to knee

All the world is you and me

Everything you hear, smell, see
All the world is everything

Everything is you and me

Hope and peace and love and trust

All the world is all of us' 
 
*a few of my favorite verses

All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon and Caldecoot Honor medalist Marla Frazee

thoughts

Thoughts for my Monday...

 We are finishing up our kitchen painting project. Here's what I thought as I watched D guiding the boys so patiently and gently with a painting task; I am so blessed to be married to such an amazing man. He is a devoted and strong husband and a truly wonderful father. He is so patient with our boys; always quick to include them in whatever task or project he is working on. I love Lucas' hand in the right picture (he was trying to push d away so he could have the paint brush all to himself!) But I love looking at it and seeing D's strength and patience. They are so blessed to have such a caring daddy.

 16 week baby bump. I'm feeling good and so thankful to still be running! We ran about 5 miles early Saturday morning and during the week I've been running about 3 miles at a time. Running and bible study are two things that really keep me calm during the week. I'm so thankful for these two gifts. Running early in the morning with the crisp morning fog just refreshes my soul. Spending time in God's word on my own and at my weekly bible study really keep me encouraged and hopeful when I am stressed, weary, or just plain hopeless about a situation.

 

 

 

These scriptures and thoughts from our study on Ruth by Kelly Minter really encouraged me today. There have been a few situations; mainly, dealing with insurance issues for OT and figuring out our weekly grocery trips with new food 'requirements' for C. The time it takes to find the food and the increase in prices with these foods, along with figuring out the nutrients/vitamin aspect of some of the new foods... (these things leave me questioning the entire diet change and wondering if it is even worth all this trouble!)... All of these things have made me feel both weary and quite frankly completely inept! Each time I feel discouraging thoughts I feel God's gentle whisper encouraging me. I know I can do "all things through His strength" and that gives me Hope and Encouragement when I need it the most.

Here are a couple other sweet thoughts and moments I wanted to write down...

Caleb has been so happy and carefree lately (trying new things more willingly and feeling confident in his body with movement). It warms my heart. On the drive home today he was singing along to a CD I found at the MH library. It's a childrens' worship and praise CD and it's really sweet and calming. He was singing along in the backseat and knew a lot of the words. Hearing your child sing songs about Jesus' love in their sweet and innocent voice, well let's just say it takes your breath away! I tried recording him when we got home but of course he was done singing at that point :) I'll try again. Love his sweet, singing voice. Especially as he walks around the house singing the alleluia or playing pretend church where he says some of the prayers that he hears us saying at church or sings church songs. He repeats a lot of phrases he hears us say right now such as "lucas...we don't hit in this house..."that hurts my body" (in a big brotherly tone of course) and "oh lucas are you all right? you okay?" my favorite are his big bear hugs with an "I love you soooo much mom!!" melt.my.heart.

We gave Miss A a thank you card and a flower pot with a lily in it today as a little going away gift to thank her for her time and support this past year with C. We've been talking about Caleb having a new friend; Miss L to play with when he goes to OT. I know he sort of gets it, but I didn't realize how much until he handed over the card to Miss A and then with the saddest expression (bottom lip pout and eyes clouding over in big tear drops) gave her (more like shoved into her hands quickly with tears streaming down his face) the flowers. I think he thought she was leaving today (this is our last week with her) It broke my heart into a million pieces and I almost started crying with him right there. He is such a tender and empathetic little boy. Oh I love him so.

Lucas is just his sweet and happy self as always, throw in a little spice to that personality and you've got him wrapped up in a sweet and spicy package. Always keeping us on our toes and laughing. I love that the boys have each other and love how they play together. The rough housing (near constant) is starting to make me tired! But I love them so.

Happy Monday

and one last Monday pick me up....here is good too @ enjoying the small things ( one of my favorite blogs to read and be encouraged by, love her thoughts she shared today and the sweet video at the end of her little cuties)

Happy Friday Highlights!

 Looking forward to these things this weekend

family time, finishing our kitchen project (hopefully), and just being home the four of us.

I love tip-toeing into their room after they are fast asleep. love tucking the blankets up around them. I love holding their warm hands in mine for a moment or two. I pray over them and bless them. I soak them in while the moon is high in the sky. I wish time would slow down just a little bit more each day; these days with seem to pass much too quickly.  I love them so much my heart can burst. My blessings. To the moon and back my sweet baby boys.

**I wanted  to say thank you for the kind words and prayers on my last post. D has done some more reading and research and there is a chance we got some false positives on that long food list. for now we are continuing to start slowly...and trying to really just focus on gluten free and ease our way into diary free. we will be talking with the dr. with our concerns but three days into this and I'm surprised how much food and healthy things the boys are eating. They aren't starving that's for sure. And if anything they are getting more variety and healthy food choices. We are continuing to take this one day at a time. It means a lot to have so much support through family and friends. It takes a village ;)

A few more random things. August 28th we have our 18 week ultrasound; the day after C starts his one day a week preschool (we visited again today; every time we visit I am affirmed with the feeling that we made the right choice putting him at meadowlark and I have a feeling he's going to really grow, socially, in such a nurturing and safe environment away from home) Next week we meet his new Occupational Therapist at Pediatric Pathways. Miss A will be moving (next week is her last week with us) and we are so sad (I may have cried on the way home!) I am anxious about what these two major changes will bring weeks apart. I have a feeling Caleb will surprise us with adjusting to these two changes; but at the same time I am nervous because he has been doing so well in OT lately and he is coming up on being there a year. I don't want this to set us back and I am anxious to go down to once a week. But- as my mom says- change is good and I know deep down that everything will work out and that God has this all under control. It is also the week after Lucas turns two and D and I celebrate five years of wedded bliss ;) I feel like the last week of August is just jam packed with milestones, celebrations, beginnings, and filled with hope for what the future holds.

My favorite moment this week pregnancy wise (as I'm way overdue for a baby bump update) was hearing the baby's heart beat for the first time with the boys in the room. I'm not sure they really understood even if we talked about it; but there was this moment when I looked over at them as the heart was beating loudly for us to hear and Lucas just gave me the biggest grin ever and laughed. I know they are going to be such sweet big brothers and that just makes my heart so happy.

(I also need to do an update post on lucas! It'll be coming when he turns two but right now I just love how verbal he is becoming and watching his personality take shape. He gets very focused (totally has that engineering mind) and loves puzzles. I was surprised because I hadn't sat down and done them with him in awhile, but he pulls them out on his own and works on them. Basically he just goes to town on them and surprised me with how fast he could do it on his own. Little things like that highlight the boys' different interests and strengths and I love watching those kinds of things emerge. I love how their different personalities and interests compliment each other and seem to balance out our family. I love seeing sparks of what is to come; music, books, language, literacy, singing, imagination, and empathy are caleb's strong suits and Lucas is; busy, adventurous, joyful, focused, loves puzzles, trains, and putting different things together. It is so fun to watch them grow and learn and play together.

Okay now, hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Hope whispers...

"when the world says give up, Hope whispers, try it one more time" love this quote.

to moms of one or two children first of all I read this and tears streamed down (yeah I'm pretty emotional lately). How true this is. If you have a chance, it's a good read.

Second of all today what I'm sharing is hard and messy and sad and will not make sense I'm sure. I've been through all the stages of grief I feel like over this: mad, angry, sad, defeated, sad some more...etc (are those even stages of grief?) but thankful I've come out on the other side. I've come out hopeful.

What I wanted to share today is about my sweet C. In the midst of lucas' tree nut allergy discovery and my pregnancy nausea and on the day we began to start our kitchen project we got a fat bill from caleb's bloodwork we did awhile back with the bio medical dr. that day was hard. I sobbed and sobbed. About two weeks before that we got a 50 something page book with all the foods he tested positive to for food sensitivity. We got a detailed food plan and tons of helpful information. A free phone consult with a nutritionist came included. The thing was that at the time I could not handle or digest it all-at all. I just cried and threw myself a big pity party! While shopping at trader joe's looking for food lucas could eat (that didn't have tree nuts) I found all the foods caleb could not eat as well. But I couldn't seem to find something they could both eat. Below Caleb's list of food he can't eat (His IGg was a 3+ for these foods which means he has a mild true allergy (or food sensitivity) and
eating these foods can cause a variety of not so good side effects; I'm still learning but websites and books offer more info and explanation on these things. Basically we need to stay clear for 8 months and then slowly rotate them back in to his diet and watch for side effects after being free from them for 8 months)

Here is the list: (foods c can't eat)

egg, bran, cheese, gluten, oats, sesame, walnut, almond, cantaloupe, malt, pea, sole, watermelon, barley, cashew, coconut, milk (cow), peanuts, soybean, wheat, bean (lima), corn, mustard, rye, sunflower

okay now that's a huge list. that's basically the 8 common food allergens. eggs/soy/milk/wheat/nuts (peanut included) I'm forgetting some aren't I? then add on the other random foods...watermelon (hello my favorite fruit) and cantaloupe (hello caleb loves this) yes it was another blow to my heart. I happen to love nuts too (walnuts yum!) I love food and finding out both boys can't eat several of my favorite foods between lucas' tree nuts and caleb's long list (it made me really sad for them)

so I had a good month long pity party but who wants to hear about that. here's what happened that turned it around

first, we visited my family and my wonderful and amazing aunt joey happens to be gluten intolerant as well among many other things and she said the best thing anyone could have said to me, though in that moment I didn't want to hear it of course! she said this....
"You have been given a gift, an amazing gift!" well, obviously I hadn't thought it was such a gift as it seemed and it is life changing not just emotionally but financially I felt as though our trip with the bio medical doctor was wasted ( I know hello I was mad) and I was upset about the financial aspect and quite frankly I wanted to be in denial about the entire thing! It took me two days to realize she was 100% right about this gift we had been given

the second thing to turn all this around was last night at my bible study I asked for prayers for us, for wisdom and strength on this new journey we are beginning. Having prayers from so many wonderful women really gave me such a sense of peace and calm over the whole thing.

these things really struck a chord with me from our Ruth study this week and I carry them with me...

from our Kelly Minter Ruth Study
"Maybe the Lord took Ruth on such a humbling journey because He knew the heights to which He would one day bring her. Nothing prepares us for enormous blessing and impact like a season of humbling"

"Be encouraged that humbling seasons are for our ultimate benefit, though they are painful and, well, humbling."

"Times of humbling and hardship prepare us for a wealth of blessing we would have otherwise been unable to handle"

"When God has ordained the humbling, you can be wholly certain that His love is the catalyst.

Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you James 4:10

 This study has been such a blessing to me right now in the season we are in. When I would try and think about our 'food' changes I would get overwhelmed. I would wonder how can I even go there when I have a house to clean, boys to feed, OT shelping to do, bills to pay, and just the daily act of living. I felt like it was just too much...then our bible study leader said this...God honors our sacrifice...He gives us strength in our weakness...(my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness 2:corinthians1:9) I realized last night as those words rang out to me that we could do this. God would give us the Grace to do this. One day, one grocery trip, one tear, one meal at a time. We have been given a gift. We have the knowledge while caleb is still at such a young age. we are continuing to help him in every way we are able. I have certainly been humbled by all this but I know the blessing has come already and will continue to come despite the struggle and because of the struggle. I've been incredibly blessed by D and his strength through all of this.

Today the boys and I ventured to Nobb Hill (I was nervous after my trader joes' failures) But deep in my heart I felt as though God would give me the Grace. Joey's words echoed through to me you've been given a gift and dave's steady encouragement and optimism gave me hope. It turns out Nobb hill is flooding with food for those with special diet restrictions. While I struggled and read my brains out over the labels (and maybe the boys had a snack from a box or two) I did it. It took under 2 hrs in the store, we only lost one shoe ( I found it after more shelping) and we found an array of breakfast food (cereal, muffin mixes, pancake mix), lunch food, snack food, and dinner food (they had pasta made from brown rice. score!) I had my handy card of foods to avoid and my packet of foods caleb could eat. I had two happy lil helpers searching for labels that said gluten free (caleb was seriously such a helper cleaning up messes and putting things in the cart for me) I felt hopeful for the first time since we received that 50 page packet and initially scary medical lab bill. I felt as though this journey we are on may be hard and certainly unexpected at times, but God has put encouragers along the trail, rooting us on, giving us a boost when we need it. I'm so grateful for our family and friends; especially the ones like my sister who get how hard it is (my sister was on a yeast free diet...no sugar. ouch) and my aunt keeps sending me gluten free articles and recipes. There are books and websites with helpful info. I have already spoken to the sweet nutritionist and dr. slutten's nurse who helped me figure out the right supplements and vitamins for the boys to take. (fish oil, multi vitamin, and calcium and vitamin d) We have Caleb's follow up consult at the end of the month which will help as well. I am hopeful that these changes will help with his allergies/asthma/even his low thyroid based on what I have read and been told by caleb's bio medical dr. We will see, if anything,it is one more thing that may help.

Here are some foods I found that we will be trying out.   fruits and veggies the boys already love and eat so I'm glad about that :)
easy peasy is fresh fruit and fresh veggies. caleb loves turkey thankfully and the boys both love meat so I know they will get plenty of protein still. They are garbanzo boys and we have plenty of those from the farm. More beans will be added to their lunch. Dinner ideas are meat, veggies, but thankfully I found 'gluten free pasta and they love brown rice, and quinoa to start" I found some good snack choices for them for our car rides to OT. It wasn't as hard as I thought. We found goat's milk yogurt and now I'm on the look out for goat's milk. There's so much more to do and say but I think I've carried on and written a novel here. The hardest thing I found was coming across something that was free of the common allergens but then it would have something such as coconut in it and I wouldn't be able to get it. It isn't that we can't just buy gluten/diary free...it's that it also has to be soy free, egg free, nut free, corn free, etc(then add in some random things like he can't have coconut) that's what I found was the hardest! I would get all excited and then one wrong ingredient such as corn starch and it was a fail. Still I managed to load up our cart with foods he could eat and that made me feel good :) I found gluten free flour and I know we will start trying out new dinner recipes and baking recipes.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far....

A journey of one thousand miles begins with one step.

I'm hopeful and grateful and know we took that first step today

(as a side note, i'm not sure how much all that I wrote made sense! It's long and complicated and we are still learning but we are working with the dr. and nutritionist. We are starting slowly and learning as we go so if you have questions feel free to ask :) I know that was really long winded and probably confusing!

 


I wanted to end with this song. The video is a lil strange. But I love Natalie Grant and I love this song. I love the lyrics  :)

Hope whispers

"when the world says give up, Hope whispers, try it one more time"

to moms of one or two children first of all I read this and tears streamed down (yeah I'm pretty emotional lately). How true this is. If you have a chance, it's a good read.

Second of all today what I'm sharing is hard and messy and sad and will not make sense I'm sure. I've been through all the stages of grief I feel like over this: mad, angry, sad, defeated, sad some more...etc (are those even stages of grief?) but thankful I've come out on the other side. I've come out hopeful.

What I wanted to share today is about my sweet C. In the midst of lucas' tree nut allergy discovery and my pregnancy nausea and on the day we began to start our kitchen project we got a fat bill from caleb's bloodwork we did awhile back with the bio medical dr. that day was hard. I sobbed and sobbed. About two weeks before that we got a 50 something page book with all the foods he tested positive to for food sensitivity. We got a detailed food plan and tons of helpful information. A free phone consult with a nutritionist came included. The thing was that at the time I could not handle or digest it all-at all. I just cried and threw myself a big pity party! While shopping at trader joe's looking for food lucas could eat (that didn't have tree nuts) I found all the foods caleb could not eat as well. But I couldn't seem to find something they could both eat. Here's Caleb's list of food he can't eat (His IGg was a 3+ for these foods which means he has a mild true allergy (or food sensitivity) and
eating these foods can cause a variety of not so good side effects; I'm still learning but websites and books offer more info and explanation on these things. Basically we need to stay clear for 8 months and then slowly rotate them back in to his diet and watch for side effects after being free from them for 8 months)

Here is the list: (foods c can't eat)

egg, bran, cheese, gluten, oats, sesame, walnut, almond, cantaloupe, malt, pea, sole, watermelon, barley, cashew, coconut, milk (cow), peanuts, soybean, wheat, bean (lima), corn, mustard, rye, sunflower

okay now that's a huge list. that's basically the 8 common food allergens. eggs/soy/milk/wheat/nuts (peanut included) I'm forgetting some aren't I? then add on the other random foods...watermelon (hello my favorite fruit) and cantaloupe (hello caleb loves this) yes it was another blow to my heart. I happen to love nuts too (walnuts yum!) I love food and finding out both boys can't eat several of my favorite foods between lucas' tree nuts and caleb's long list (it made me really sad for them)

so I had a good month long pity party but who wants to hear about that. here's what happened that turned it around

first, we visited my family and my wonderful and amazing aunt joey happens to be gluten intolerant as well among many other things and she said the best thing anyone could have said to me, though in that moment I didn't want to hear it of course! she said this....
"You have been given a gift, an amazing gift!" well, obviously I hadn't thought it was such a gift as it seemed and it is life changing not just emotionally but financially I felt as though our trip with the bio medical doctor was wasted ( I know hello I was mad) and I was upset about the financial aspect and quite frankly I wanted to be in denial about the entire thing! It took me two days to realize she was 100% right about this gift we had been given

the second thing to turn all this around was last night at my bible study I asked for prayers for us, for wisdom and strength on this new journey we are beginning. Having prayers from so many wonderful women really gave me such a sense of peace and calm over the whole thing.

these things really struck a chord with me from our Ruth study this week and I carry them with me...

from our Kelly Mnter ruth study
"Maybe the Lord took Ruth on such a humbling journey because He knew the heights to which He would one day bring her. Nothing prepares us for enormous blessing and impact like a season of humbling"

"Be encouraged that humbling seasons are for our ultimate benefit, though they are painful and, well, humbling."

"Times of humbling and hardship prepare us for a wealth of blessing we would have otherwise been unable to handle"

"When God has ordained the humbling, you can be wholly certain that His love is the catalyst.

Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you James 4:10

 This study has been such a blessing to me right now in the season we are in. When I would try and think about our 'food' changes I would get overwhelmed. I would wonder how can I even go there when I have a house to clean, boys to feed, OT shelping to do, bills to pay, and just the daily act of living. I felt like it was just too much...then our bible study leader said this...God honors our sacrifice...He gives us strength in our weakness...(my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness 2:corinthians1:9) I realized last night as those words rang out to me that we could do this. God would give us the Grace to do this. One day, one grocery trip, one tear, one meal at a time. We have been given a gift. We have the knowledge while caleb is still at such a young age. we are continuing to help him in every way we are able. I have certainly been humbled by all this but I know the blessing has come already and will continue to come despite the struggle and because of the struggle. I've been incredibly blessed by D and his strength through all of this.

Today the boys and I ventured to Nobb Hill (I was nervous after my trader joes' failures) But deep in my heart I felt as though God would give me the Grace. Joey's words echoed through to me you've been given a gift and dave's steady encouragement and optimism gave me hope. It turns out Nobb hill is flooding with food for those with special diet restrictions. While I struggled and read my brains out over the labels (and maybe the boys had a snack from a box or two) I did it. It took under 2 hrs in the store, we only lost one shoe ( I found it after more shelping) and we found an array of breakfast food (cereal, muffin mixes, pancake mix), lunch food, snack food, and dinner food (they had pasta made from brown rice. score!) I had my handy card of foods to avoid and my packet of foods caleb could eat. I had two happy lil helpers searching for labels that said gluten free (caleb was seriously such a helper cleaning up messes and putting things in the cart for me) I felt hopeful for the first time since we received that 50 page packet and initially scary medical lab bill. I felt as though this journey we are on may be hard and certainly unexpected at times, but God has put encouragers along the trail, rooting us on, giving us a boost when we need it. I'm so grateful for our family and friends; especially the ones like my sister who get how hard it is (my sister was on a yeast free diet...no sugar. ouch) and my aunt keeps sending me gluten free articles and recipes. There are books and websites with helpful info. I have already spoken to the sweet nutritionist and dr. slutten's nurse who helped me figure out the right supplements and vitamins for the boys to take. (fish oil, multi vitamin, and calcium and vitamin d) We have Caleb's follow up consult at the end of the month which will help as well. I am hopeful that these changes will help with his allergies/asthma/even his low thyroid based on what I have read and been told by caleb's bio medical dr. We will see, if anything it is one more thing that may help.

Here are some foods I found that we will be trying out.   fruits and veggies the boys already love and eat so I'm glad about that :)
easy peasy is fresh fruit and fresh veggies. caleb loves turkey thankfully and the boys both love meat so I know they will get plenty of protein still. They are garbanzo boys and we have plenty of those from the farm. More beans will be added to their lunch. Dinner ideas are meat, veggies, but thankfully I found 'gluten free pasta and they love brown rice, and quinoa to start" I found some good snack choices for them for our car rides to OT. It wasn't as hard as I thought. We found goat's milk yogurt and now I'm on the look out for goat's milk. There's so much more to do and say but I think I've carried on and written a novel here. The hardest thing I found was coming across something that was free of the common allergens but then it would have something such as coconut in it and I wouldn't be able to get it. It isn't that we can't just buy glueten/diary free...it's that it also has to be soy free, egg free, nut free, corn free, etc(then add in some random things like he can't have coconut) that's what I found was the hardest! I would get all excited and then one wrong ingredient such as corn starch and it was a fail. Still I managed to load up our cart with foods he could eat and that made me feel good :) I found gluten free flour and I know we will start trying out new dinner recipes and baking recipes.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far....

A journey of one thousand miles begins with one step.

I'm hopeful and grateful and know we took that first step today

(as a side note, i'm not sure how much all that I wrote made sense! It's long and complicated and we are still learning but we are working with the dr. and nutritionist. We are starting slowly and learning as we go so if you have questions feel free to ask :) I know that was really long winded and probably confusing!

weekend magic

memories were made this weekend. my heart always feels full after a weekend spent with family creating memories.

 

here are some moments captured..

 playing at the park in the sand. (i'm bummed I didn't get any pictures of my cousin angela with the boys this trip- but she was there at the park and we had some nice runs together!)

 playing in the front yard

 lucas' wild man face; screaming happy sounds

a favorite thing of theirs to do; rough house

 love, love, love their bond.

 their first ever ice cream truck experience. these are the little moments that just make my heart squeeze over with happiness.

 I mean, there's just something about the 'special-ness' of getting ice cream from the ice cream man in the summer time. same one as when I was a little girl by the way! I love how the evenings just stretch out all warm and long in the summer. I love how being home brings back my childhood memories. I love witnessing their wonder and the magic that is childhood.

 look at lucas' face. pure adoration for his big brother.

 I love caleb's bare toes, dirty feet, bruises on his knee, rosy cheeks, and popsicle in hand. isn't that what being a kid is all about?

 I love how simple and special this evening was. dinner and sitting on the front porch enjoying ice cream.

 a real smile from my dad. love watching the boys with their papa. after having three daughters I think it's pretty special that he has two grandsons now.

 Saturday we spent the day in Santa Monica at my aunt and uncle's house swimming. oh boy did the boys have fun!

 this is my favorite picture of caleb. he's just so happy here. he was so happy all weekend. I love watching him come out of his shell and radiate his happiness around others. my sweet boy.

 my sweet brother boys. they just took off holding hands and were walking around chatting and sharing secrets with each other without anyone around.

 here are a few pictures from my phone. we dropped d off on Thursday at the metro link and the boys were beyond thrilled and excited to see a real train. I love how a simple outing to the train station makes their day.

 my sweet book worm and my little social bird. one reading and one chatting on the phone having a pretend convo with jenny

 family movie night.

 

 a long 6 hr drive home, two traffic jams- but the boys slept for over two hours and did great despite the 2 hr delay!

 sweet cheesers with their auntie.

 there's something so beautiful seeing your sister's love for your little boys.

 and a few more train pictures.

the end.
my favorite moments were spent doing the little things. playing at the park; watching the boys interact with family, swimming all day, pizza and fruit for lunch in bathing suits wrapped up in towels, sunblock kisses on fast asleep boys after coming back from a date with d. a long beach walk in the cool sand at sunset, just dave and I. relishing the quiet and the crashing waves, holding hands, dinner at Buca di Beppo  with my cousins and aunt, sister, and friends. I love coming home with bottled up moments that will always be remembered and childhood magic that the boys experience and I get to watch from a mama's eyes.


video of some moments over the weekend. unfortunately the quality didn't come out good once we saved it. so I will have to have d help me fix it.

hope you had a beautiful weekend too.