Hectic life

Took a little break from blogging the past few weeks just due to a crazy schedule. See the pictures below for some proof. :) Now that the mission teams are in full swing my work load doubles and I've been subbing here and there at an awesome preschool along with the increased workload at church. :) Then just the normal nuts-o stuff of kids in sports and then spring break was enough to make this momma TIRED! Like chill every night and not think kind of tired. Starting to adapt a bit to this pace so I'm back.

Spring break was a very busy but fun time. The one really cool Spring break treat was LEGOLAND! Boys had a blast! Hope to take them back soon. Eric was tall enough to go on all the rides (you bet he was thrilled) and Tyler was tall enough for all but one ride. Eric was super brave and went on all the roller coasters. I was surprised and a bit apprehensive but he did it! So proud of him. While there we got to show the boys where Brian & I were married just over 10 years ago. LEGOLAND kept part of Cypress Gardens (where we were married) and the gazebo where our wedding took place is still there. So amazing to get to take them back there. They really could have cared less but Brian and I thought it was neat. :) Besides LEGOLAND we just had a lot of fun as a family. It was really quite chilly the beginning of spring break but once it warmed up we had a play date with friends at the park, played in the water in the front yard, visited the library, and just spent a lot of quality time as a family.

To celebrate Easter we did a few things. One was meeting some friends at a church in Ormond Beach for an egg hunt. They really had it set up well. The kids visited 8 stations where volunteers told stories about what the different colored eggs meant. Eric's favorite was the white egg. I asked him why and his response was "Because it shows us that Jesus took all our sins away." Talk about a proud momma moment! The day after the egg hunt was Easter so we were at church in the morning and then came home and did a small egg hunt with the kids. They loved it! Later that day we went to the baptism at the beach our church was having. Kids had a blast. The water was FREEZING but you know that never stops kids. Both the boys were in the water for almost 2 hours. Not exactly sure how they didn't wind up with hypothermia but we will save that for another post later on bad parenting. Haha! While there Eric got to fly his first kite and Tyler discovered a very cool star fish. I think all in all it was a very fun Easter.

Tyler is still loving soccer! He had a game today and got a goal. He was really excited! Don't think he is feeling too hot though. He wasn't running all over the field and in the mix of it all like he usually is. Thinking the first week back to school has him a bit tired. Speaking of back to school, Tyler was super excited to go back because he was just sure he would be starting kindergarten! I felt bad having to tell him that he had to wait until August. He is READY to go to the big kid class. I don't think he is ready but he sure is! :) I still can't believe my baby is 5 years old! He is able to sound out words and read some and is doing beginning addition. Where is my baby?! He absolutely loves learning all the science stuff his class is doing. He comes home and tells me all about the different experiments.

Eric just started up his new season of football. He is so happy about it! That kid was all over the field today pulling flags at practice! He is the smallest guy out there again but I can tell he has gotten so much faster and is gaining confidence out there. We've had a rough few weeks with him behaviorally  but think we have it narrowed down. We've let him cheat some on his gluten free diet and we were also giving him Claritin. The really bad problems started right after we started giving him Claritin. Took us over a week to put the two together but when we did the medicine was stopped immediately. His behavior improved quite a bit but not back to where it was. We are also as of this weekend back to strictly gluten free for him. Not sure how long it will take to get out of his system again but I'm hoping it won't be long. I'm praying with those 2 switches that we will be back to some better days. We also have a new reward/consequence system as well so we shall see what the coming weeks hold. Never a dull moment that is for sure. Have some new direction on where to go from here too so that should be helpful.

If any of you are looking for good gluten free recipe ideas then check out The Fresh 20 and download a sample of their menu plans. I am loving their recipes. Have to dumb them down a bit for the kids but they are really good food and it will help control that crazy gluten free budget.

All in all it has been a busy few weeks. Kind of hoping the next few will settle down but as I type this I am looking at our calendar and realizing that that is not going to happen. Kind of looking forward to the slower days of summer even though the weather will be nasty hot.

All about Tyler

I cannot believe I'm typing this but my youngest is now 5 years old! I swear I was just pregnant with him last month! Crazy! Tyler is such a joyful child to have around. So very easy going and laid back. Don't get me wrong...he can be a stinker too! :) He is a charmer and tries to charm his way out of trouble. The other day at school he blew kisses to a group of girls! I think I may have my hands full in a couple of years. He says some of the cutest things as well. My favorite yet was that B.J.'s Brewhouse is opened until it is closed. When he is really being silly he will scrunch up his face and break out in dancing. Doesn't matter where he is either! He's a little smarty pants too. Being the youngest he has flown under the radar where this is concerned but he isn't fooling us now. He has started reading already, doing basic addition and subtraction, and is dead set that now that he is 5 he should be in Kindergarten. He doesn't understand that entire school year thing. Tyler loves to be outside! He also loves legos, star wars, and wii just like his brother. His favorite Star Wars character is Yoda. I believe his favorite past time though is cuddling. He will look at me and just exclaim in a very excited voice "I want to cuddle!" Then he runs up and cuddles up to you and just chills. Melts my heart every time. This week he gets to start soccer or as he calls it scoccer. I guess I'm officially a soccer mom!

Gluten Free Club

Looks like Eric will no longer be alone in the gluten free world. As of Monday I decided to go on it as well. Partly so Eric wouldn't be doing it alone and partly to see if it would help me with some pain issues I have. On Tuesday I went to my chiropractor and she reviewed my x-rays with me. In doing so she could also see my digestive tract and the fact that it isn't functioning as it should. Guess what she suggested...yep...going gluten free to see if it would help. Funny she said that seeing as I had just started it the day before. So now I'm 5 days into it and I have way more sympathy for Eric and his withdrawal symptoms than I did before. I'm a very empathetic person but you can't truly understand what something does to you until you go through it yourself. The worst symptoms have been exhaustion, stomach upset, extreme hunger (even though I'm eating a ton of food), and severe light headedness. I literally almost passed out on Wednesday. I stood up and went to turn around and walk away from the couch and everything went black. NOT GOOD! Thankfully that symptom has lessened. Today has been mainly fatigue and stomach protestation. We shall see what the next few days lead too. Hopefully the detox will start lessening soon. I can totally understand why Eric had a complete break down one morning before school now. Holy cow! Who knew that gluten could act like a drug or other addictive substance.

Through research I'm finding that there is a definite genetic link when it comes to gluten sensitivities and so it stands to reason that Eric had to have inherited it somewhere. It appears that somewhere is probably from me. So tonight at dinner I told Eric that we could start a gluten free club. He absolutely loved it! So now we just need a name for our club. :)

Illness, football, & granola bars

We have had so many good days that a bad one was bound to happen. That's okay though. I expect them here and there and can handle that. Believe me, they are getting way fewer and farther between already so 1 in the past 2 weeks I can deal with. It was to be expected too since Eric is kind of under the weather. I think he has a cold. No fever but congested, sneezing, and coughing. With a very unscheduled weekend, a very over stimulating one (think football game & being in a child care situation with about 15-25 very loud kids Saturday night that lasted well past 9pm), and a very out of routine one (couldn't go to church on Sunday) I had a feeling we would pay for it on Monday since we didn't really see any problems on Sunday. And we did. He had a meltdown at school about a rule being changed by a teacher. By the time I got him in the car at pick up time I knew it was going to be one of those afternoon/nights. The child could not stop moving to save his life or focus on what I was trying to talk to him about. By the time 6:00 rolled around he had earned 30 minutes to bed early. Even he knew at 7:00 that it was just one of those days and we would just restart the next day. On a positive note that is exactly what he did today. He made a fresh start and had a good day at school. The teacher said he had a couple of times that he almost got upset but listened to direction and talked it out nicely with his friends instead. Huge win! For that we went to the library and got him his very own library card. You would have thought I gave the child a million dollars! He was elated! Tonight he read a chapter in the Magic Tree House book he checked out. After that I read both the boys a chapter out of the How To Train Your Dragon book. Love that my kids are enjoying reading lately.

Tyler on the other hand spent the weekend sick with a fever. No fun! He acted out of sorts on Saturday morning at Eric's game but wasn't running a fever. I had volunteered to help out with child care for an event held at Palm Coast Community Church that evening and took the kids with me. I was working in childcare so I was with them. Towards the end (around 9pm) Tyler comes up and puts his head on my leg. I was wearing jeans and could tell he was warm through them. A few other people also said he felt warm. Got him home and he had a very minor fever. By the next morning he woke up with a 100.0 fever but it went away in 1/2 an hour. I debated going to church and then decided against it. I wasn't serving that week so it wasn't a big deal. I'm so glad we stayed home because half way through what would have been 2nd service his fever came back. By the middle of the night it was 102.0. At 4:30am (Monday) I gave him meds and he stayed fever free the rest of the day. He got to stay home from school and play on the computer and watch tv all day. I think he enjoyed himself immensely. Today he got to go back to school since he was fever free without meds for 24 hours. He was happy about that because today was his 100 day of school celebration. :) I am taking him to the doctor tomorrow though just to check into these tummy aches he is always saying he has. No lie the child complains on a daily basis about a tummy ache. It is random parts of the day as well. I'm wondering if he doesn't have reflux. Between that, the fever, cough, and swollen lymph nodes this is one momma that would just rather be safe than sorry and go ahead to see the pediatrician.

Speaking of football, yes I know it was a while ago in the post but whatever, Eric had his first game this Saturday! He had a blast! The child played his heart out! To top it off his team won which made the game even more special to him. I think the funniest thing of the entire game was Eric pointing to where he was going to run. I think his coach about had a heart attack! That and I heard the coach tell Eric once to stand still and pay attention to the other players. Oh my word...thankfully Eric's coach is patient and kind with him. LOL! After seeing the coaches for the other team I'm so thankful for Eric's coach. You could tell that Eric's coach understood that these kids are 8 and under. They need to have fun, not be pressured to win. Some of the parents (on our team) amazed me as well. After the game Brian went up to the coach to thank him for his great attitude about the game, for keeping it light hearted for the kids. Just after that one of the parents came up and told the coach he saw that he ran only a couple of plays and suggested he work on some more with the kids. He also said that they had been working with their son on running this week but would work on catching this week so they would like to see him in as quarterback next week. Really?! Come on! These are kids! And the hardest part for me was overhearing one of the kids on the other team comment on how making the play on Eric was easy. Talking about how Eric was the easy one to get. Mind you the previous play Eric made a pretty darn good run. This will always be a battle for me I though I think. The kid didn't mean any harm. He's a kid. He has no filter. What they think comes out their mouth. What bothered me was the coach on the other team didn't correct his player. He just nodded and smiled. I had to fight my anger back hard (not the proper hormonal time for me to have to deal with that kind of stuff to say the least) and realize that Eric didn't hear it and even if he didn't he wouldn't have known they were talking about him. Eric is the smallest in stature but his heart was bigger than any other childs' out there. Even the kid on Eric's team that was diving to get the flag was doing so not out of heart but out of the pressure his parents placed on him. That just breaks my heart for that kid. Will Eric be the best on his team? Nope...not even close....for now. That isn't to say in the future he won't be a killer player but for now he will just seem younger than the other kids out there. One day he will catch up but it won't be this season. And guess what. That is okay. That is the way God made him. Maybe God can use him to show others to take joy in the game...not the win! He can show them that you leave your heart on the field and do your best and forget the rest.

Moving on past the sappiness I will post a link to these incredible gluten free granola bars I made tonight. The kids loved them and I'm addicted to them! Eric has been missing out on granola bars due to cross contamination. I found this recipe and jumped on it. I bought oats that were grown in fields specifically used only for oats and not next to a wheat field so there is no cross contamination. Let me say these were easy peasy lemon squeezy and totally divine! They are more on the chewy side once you take them out of the fridge for a bit. Straight out of the fridge they are a bit harder. Give them a try and let me know what you think. I used chocolate chips and craisins as my mix ins since we have a bunch of both in the house. http://thehotplate.com/default.php/?p=6300

Until we meet again...

Just breathe

We have had such a good day today! Very busy but a good day. I would say though that tonight I'm adjusting. Adjusting to a tweaked parenting style and an entire new attitude. I have to say I'm rather exhausted and overwhelmed by it all but also very happy because I can really see progress. While it is more work during the day to really be focused on those teachable moments even more than usual there is such a huge reward for it. In time I will adjust to it energy wise and it will all become routine. Until then I have a feeling I have a few exhausted evenings ahead of me. So worth it! I know I said that already but whatever. :) 

"How many times have you heard me cry out God please take this. How many times have you given me strength to just keep breathing. Oh I need you, God I need you now. Standing on a road I didn't plan...I'm trying to hear that still small voice. I'm trying to hear above the noise." These are lyrics to a song by Plumb that speaks to how I have felt so often these past couple of years. There were many days that I needed to be given that strength to just breathe.Yet that desperation has turned into the attitude you just read in the first paragraph of this post. Some of it is thanks to finally knowing what is going on but mainly the attitude is because God has truly done a work in me as a mom (and as a Christ follower in general) over the past couple of years.

That is all. Short and sweet post tonight.

Could it be?

So we had almost given up hope on this gluten free diet. We knew it helped Eric's eczema but we hadn't seen any behavioral changes in him. Mind you it hasn't been 3 months yet so we truly shouldn't have even thought about stopping it yet but we are very impatient people. I know, I know...we must work on this. Anyways, almost a week ago Eric decided he wanted me to buy some baby carrots at the grocery store. I raised my eyebrows a bit at this because he doesn't like carrots. I told him if I bought them he would need to eat them. His response "okay." Sure thing kid...this is totally not going to work I was thinking to myself but I'll buy them anyways. At the very least it will force me to eat them. We get home and I put them on his plate and wouldn't you know it he ate them and liked them! Wow! But the shock wasn't over yet. We asked if he would like a little ranch dressing to dip them in and he pushed back a bit at that one. But we told him if he didn't like he wouldn't need to eat anymore of it. Well guess what? The child loved it! This was followed up with him agreeing to try raw spinach (and he liked it!), craisins (he liked it too!), and finally apple balsamic vinegar (another like!)....talk about being floored! We followed this record breaking day up with a trip to Yomii, the local frozen yogurt place that the kids LOVE. Since then he has been eating these foods like a champ. Follow all this up with the fact that while his behavior has had a few rough spots the past week (what child doesn't have behavior issues from time to time really?) we haven't had near the amount of behavioral issues we are used to. Now is this coincidence or a result of diet or just getting older? I'm not sure but we aren't going to change it if it is working. This does not mean that we won't have some hiccups along the way...in fact I'm sure there will be plenty...but it is exciting to see the changes happening.

And speaking of getting older, I believe I failed to mention that Eric is now 7 years old! Where is the time going? He is growing up so fast! He wanted to have a Lego party this year which is actually a very fun theme I found out. He had a great time with his friends at the party. Another fun activity was his first flag football practice on his birthday. He LOVED it! While he is the smallest on the team in stature, he is all heart and gives it his all out there! I can't wait for his first game this coming Saturday. At the ripe old age of 7 Eric is a very fun, silly, lovable young man! He loves God (one of his favorite gifts for his birthday was a new Bible that contains all the books), football, Star Wars, and bike riding. He is a great student and loves to help his friends at school. He is still a strong willed kid but you can really see how he is starting to grow up and learn how to use this to his advantage in a positive way.

Tyler has been so cute regarding Eric's birthday. All weekend long he has been walking around telling Eric that he is the birthday boy. Tyler reminds us that Eric gets to choose things or go first at something because Eric is the birthday boy. He loves his brother! Tyler has been learning how to add, subtract, and read. Ummm...what happened to my baby? With Eric starting football, Tyler has been at me to sign him up for "skoccer." I sent everything in this past week so hopefully I will hear back soon because I'm not sure how much longer Tyler will be able to hold out! :) Oh and I just had to put this in writing before I forget to but Tyler has some of the cutest vocabulary such as "stumpthing" for something and "pinano" for piano. I'm pretty sure he knows how to say it correctly (I've heard him do it) but he knows it is cute and does it for the cute factor. He is a charmer. In fact his teacher told me they were outside the other day and Tyler was on the swing. She looks over in time to see him blow a kiss at a group of girls on the playground! Say what?! Oh my goodness...it's the quiet ones you have to look out for apparently. Haha!

Time to circle back around

So after a particularly good day followed by a particularly challenging night I once again find myself sitting at the computer researching behavioral stuff. Looking more and more at over excitabilities in children and seeing more and more of my child while I'm reading it. It just brings us right back to how this entire journey began. I can say, despite one test we've already had done over the summer, that I'm fairly sure I know what is going on with my child. Sometimes you just shouldn't ignore mommy intuition no matter what a piece of paper says. So now I am printing out articles and checklists to take to our appointment on Thursday to hopefully gain some insight. I have a good feeling about this psychologist and I'm giving it up to God that this is the person he wants in our lives to help us parent Eric better and to help us better meet his needs academically.

All this was spurred on by an epic dinner standoff. I asked Eric to eat half of his veggie fries before he got down from the table to which he assured me he would do. Well his story changed very quickly. He refused to eat them because he said they were yucky. Now they didn't taste great but I don't think it was bad enough to commence a show down over. Eric felt differently. He sat at the table for 2 1/2 hours refusing to eat. Screaming, crying, whining, wheeling and dealing, and finally just sulking. Then a friend on facebook gave me the idea of letting him dip them in nutella. Yes, Nutella. Not ketchup because he hates ketchup but he loves nutella. Wouldn't you know it, the kid ate it and loved it! So gross! At that point though I didn't care. As long as he ate so he could go to bed and I could decompress.

On the bright side that was our only meltdown of the day. I don't technically count it as a meltdown though since it was more of a battle of wills than anything. He made it all through church without any issues so that is a win! Yay! This is the first time this month that has happened. Now I'm just hoping it will continue through the week at school. Good night all! This tired momma is off to bed to recharge and do it all again tomorrow.