Where to begin

So Kale has EOE as I said before and there is a good chance the other boys do too.
We just got Kasen's lab work back and he was allergic to at least 14 things, including wheat, carrots, pears, sesame seeds, peanuts and so many others I can't remember. He has not seen the GI doctor yet so we are not sure he has the same condition as his brother but all the signs point to the fact that he does.
I have not had a formal meeting with the allergist about all this yet she just told me through the nurse that I am to remove milk, eggs, dairy and peanuts forms Kales diet and milk, watermelon, peanuts and all grains from Kasen's .
I have spent the last few days being completely and utterly overwhelmed by just the thought of how I will possibly remove all those things from their diets. I don't even know where to begin.
I also am unsure of exactly how the allergist picked those specific food s to remove out of all they are allergic to. How do you remove all grains from a kids diet?? So I had a breakdown, actually a few and then I went to work scouring the Internet for information on this disease and allergies and food elimination diets.
I am still overwhelmed and confused and unsure where to go from here.. But I am moving forward. I have a set of questions for the allergist when we see her, a dietitian lined up and an appointment with a second GI for another opinion. We have gone dairy free and peanut free already and are slowly working towards tackling wheat and soy.
After learning more about this disease I am so thankful that my children are not sicker, I feel thankful they are able
To eat at all, as lots of children with this condition have feeding tubes, but I am also sad for them, sad that they have to be different, that there life has to be harder, that our lives have to be harder.
The other two boys will have bloodwork soon and I pray they will be spared the same fate as their brothers but if not, we will deal with that too. But if you have a moment please pray for us. Pray for everyone affected by this horrible disease.


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A whole new world

Well the tests came back and my sweet Kale does have eosinophilic esophagitis, so the good news is we know what is wrong with him and the bad news is we have to change his diet and remove some of the things he loves the most.  He is allergic to so many things that he doctor decided to try the things most irritating to the stomach first and continue his allergy shots to help with the other things he is allergic too which are mostly pollen related. He is also starting twice daily Pulmicort mixed with applesauce to heal his esophagus and stomach. The three things we have to remove now are eggs, dairy and peanuts. The eggs and peanuts are not so bad, he has always hated eggs (now we know why) and peanuts are no big deal, but the milk is a killer. He loves milk so much and cheese. So we are trying almond milk as the doctor recommended and looking for new foods but it is so hard to have to tell an 8 year old who is used to eating certain things that he can no longer eat those things. He is doing well but it makes me so sad to have to say he can't eat things he loves.
   We are in the process of testing the other boys for this condition since it runs in families and especially in boys.
   

I don't get manicures

   I don't get manicures, or pedicures.  I don't buy jewelry, or pay to get my hair colored. I don't drive an expensive car or even a new car. I don't go on vacation, I rarely go to restaurants without a drive through. I don't buy anything thats not on sale, I rarely buy myself clothes that are not second hand. My children pass clothes down and then to friends. My husband and I rarely have a date and have only on three occasions in 10 years spent the night away from our children. When things break we don't buy a new one, we fix the broken one and if that fails we buy a used replacement, as a last resort we scour the internet and sale ads for the best deal on whatever it was or we live without it.
   We don't buy our kids whatever they want. Most things in our house are repainted, refinished, recycled or handmade.
   I think it is safe to say we are not frivolous. Could we do better? Yes. Couldn't we all. There are times we buy Sonic drinks that are not half price or pay full price for a movie ticket but for the most part we really try, to save and scrimp and live below our means.
   Does that mean we can live comfortably with our income? No. We are recovering from a loss of income and a bankruptcy, we have six kids. I can't imagine things ever being easy financially for us.
   We sacrifice a lot, we say no a lot, we plan and budget and pray. But the one thing we will not sacrifice is our marriage, our family or our time together.
    People often wonder why my husband doesn't get another full time job or why I don't work a second job to help out.  While we are looking at, revising, and making new plans every day, the one thing that remains the same is always, if we have to be gone 24 hours a day and leave our children in the hands of strangers, give up our time together and let our marriage fall apart, then it isn't worth it.
  Living without manicures, new cars, jewelry no problem.  Raising 6 kids alone while my husband works 24/7 and we still barely scrape by, no thank you.
   So judge us all you want. Pick and pull at our decisions, all you want. We will get back on our feet, we will move forward, as a family. We will do this together.
   So when people ask me why I don't get pedicures or why my hair always looks so frazzled I just smile. Because I know those things don't matter, what matters is my children can have a mommy and daddy who set aside all the petty things in life to make time for them.
 

Like breathing

I found this amazing blog today and I had to share. Think breastfeeding moms are fanatical? Weird?  Earthy? Hippies? Well I challenge you to read the  post below written by Diana Cassar on her blog http://dianaibclc.com/. She has an amazing way of portraying the act of breastfeeding as it should be, a loving, natural gift from a mother to a child. 

Normal, like breathing.No one argues that breathing is a normal, biological process that we, as human mammals, do.  We take it for granted, until it becomes difficult.  Then, we seek help to make it work again, because, it’s breathing.  Human mammals breathe.  It’s normal. Breathing promotes life.I’ve struggled for years with the cultural attitude that breastfeeding, another life-giving, biological process undertaken by human mammals, is something other than normal.  A lifestyle choice, perhaps.  Extra credit.  If it becomes difficult (and, let’s face it, here in the United States, there are too many reasons breastfeeding becomes difficult),  we are called to heroism, to extraordinary depths of commitment if we are to make breastfeeding work.  How have we allowed this basic mammalian behavior to live on the fringe, as a matter of opinion, not a birthright for every baby born?Last night, I participated in an online discussion about a mother from a subculture within our own, with a very severe breast injury, caused by an anatomical abnormality with her baby’s tongue.  Someone noted that this mother persisted through her immense pain because breastfeeding is important to women in her community.  I nodded my head in agreement at the computer screen, then read this profoundly wise response:“I don’t think it’s so much that breastfeeding is important to her as that breastfeeding is what they do.  We don’t treat asthma in mothers to whom breathing is important. The importance of breathing is assumed by everyone at every level, and anyone having trouble with it is going to do what she needs to do to get it to work.  Period.  What a wonderful world it will be – and how much more easily successes will come – when breastfeeding is nothing more than what our own culture does.“Those words, from Diane Wiessinger, IBCLC and La Leche League Leader in Ithaca, New York (and co-author of the 8th, revised edition of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding), struck me so powerfully.  I wrote to Diane and asked her permission to title my new blog “normal, like breathing” and to share her simple, yet rich words with all of you.  To my extreme good fortune, she happily agreed.You’ll get to know me better as you visit this website.  I welcome you here with a smile and a hug (if you’re a hugger), and I envision normal, like breathing as a tool that can bring our culture closer to embracing breastfeeding as “nothing more than what our own culture does.” Not special, not heroic, not if, then, either, or.  I’ll blog about breastfeeding topics in the news, about commonly-held perceptions and misconceptions about breastfeeding and human milk, and about subjects related to all of the above.  I encourage questions and dialogue.I began my breastfeeding journey in December, 2002, with a newborn daughter and an onslaught of obstacles.  I received support, and in turn desired to give support to mothers.  As a La Leche League Leader and, since 2009, as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), I enjoy helping mothers but realize our healthcare providers and larger community need accurate, current information.After a few years of writing, speaking, and advocating for breastfeeding education, I discovered my calling to public service.  I hope to be part of a growing movement of maternal/child health advocates and policymakers who are normalizing breastfeeding in the United States.  Won’t you join me?

eosinophilic-esophagitis anyone?

  Ever heard of Eosinophilic-Esophagitis? Well neither had I...Until my most recent visit to the allergist with Kale.
 This boy has taken us for quite a medical ride. He lierally has the worst allergies I have even seen in anyone. On top of that since he was born he has had horrible reflux, ear infections, asthma, pneumonia, eczema  and various other ailments.
   We have seen specialists galore in an attempt to make hime feel better but so far with not much resolution.
   He has been on every allergy medication under the sun, too many steroids, antibiotics and inhalers to count and had 3 surgeries and a year so far of allergy shots.
  Still he keeps getting worse. The child can NEVER breathe out if his nose, gets lousy sleep and generally feels miserable all the time.
  So we went to an allergist this week that we had seen previously with all his new info to see if she could find anything new.
   His immune system is intact so thats good but they are concerned he has eosinophilic-esophagitis, which is basically an allergy induced reflux that is caused by allergy cells lining the esophagus and stomach. When he breathes in or eats something he is allergic to it causes these cells to swell firm his nose to his stomach. Which is why his nasal and stomach symptoms are not controlled currently. This could also mean he has undetected food allergies.
  He had lots of blood work this week and will undergo a endoscopy to biopsy some tissue from his esophagus and stomach to look for these allergy cells. If they are found he will began oral steroids 2x  day and we will have to change his diet to remove all the foods he is allergic to.
  On one hand I am happy that maybe we are on the right track and maybe he can finally be free of these annoying and debilitating issues but on the other I cannot imagine having to change an 8 year olds diet when he is already a horribly picky kid.
   If you know anyone who knows about this condition, please send them this way!! And please pray we can find an answer for my sweet boy.

Move to the country and life insurance

Kids say the craziest  things... how many times have you heard that one? But it is as we all know true! I just love listening to my boys talk to one another, I catch some real gems that way. Like this conversation the  other day. 

Kasen (6) to Kale (8) - "Do we have life insurance?"

 Kale" Yes!! Of course, we have State Farm.."

Kasen" Why do we have State Farm?"

Kale " Because they are the most amazing insurance company ever! Thats why"

Kasen satisfied with the answer says "Oh.. ok, just checking" 

Conversation over...

Then today on the way home, Kasen, with life insurance on the brain apparently, says

"Mom, can we PLEASE buy a farm?"

Me " Kasen, farms are very expensive"

Kasen" Well we could use one of your credit cards"

Me " We don't have credit cards, we have debit cards" Long convo, about debit cards, followed by

"Well we could use your life insurance to buy it.." 

Me" Kasen it does not work that way"

 

How does he know what life insurance is???? He is 6!! 

Decisions, decisions...

 It seems as though we are always at a crossroads in our family. My husband, as most people know is a firefighter and loves his job. We cannot however, survive on his fire pay alone. He was blessed for a while with a great second job with a homebuilder but if you have read my blog long you know that ended when the housing bubble burst. He has since been running a lawn spraying business but recently sold it  after much debate and prayer. It just wasn't working out for our family, too many hours, unpredictable schedule and not enough income for all the hassle.
   So we find ourselves again in a period of transition. Finding a job is difficult for him because of his fire schedule, 24 hour shifts 10 days a month. He was offered a job with another homebuilder but they want him to work everyday he is off at the station 9-5 with a 45 minute commute. That would equal 0 time at home and me being pretty much a single parent.
   It sounds selfish I guess but I am not looking forward to handling this brood alone. I have done it before and I was a stressed out mess. Plus my children need their father home sometimes. It is not like he is home every weekend or every evening. But what are we to do??
   I was in school last semester but was denied my financial aid this semester and so am on hold now. I have no degree and so I cant see me getting a job that pays well enough for him to just have the fire job....It would be different if we had one child, but six kids with schedules, laundry and meals are hard to handle alone.
 I know women do it all the time, but I just don't think I can do it.
So I guess for now we pray..that something better comes along. I could rant and rave about this longer but I won't. If you have a minute will you pray for our family. Pray that we can find the answer to our financial issues without losing our family time.  In return let me know how I can pray for you!!