A Glimmer of Hope (already!)

Yesterday was probably the hardest day of my life (including two natural births without any drugs!).  Claire was on her 3rd day in a row of not eating lunch or dinner.  She was having meltdown after meltdown and her last meltdown lasted 3 hours straight.  This included screaming, crying, pulling on my leg, and begging for Cheerios.  I had fixed her a plate of freshly steamed green beans, steamed carrots, and turkey breast and she refused to even touch any of the food.  Also, she was tired because she has been waking up at least once a night for the last 3 months.  I also noticed the night before last that she was EXTREMELY overstimulated and flapped her hands continuously for over an hour!

So, after her most recent meltdown (the one that lasted 3 hours), I called my mother in law and asked her to please pray for Claire.  I myself had been praying all morning but I hoped that if more people were praying, there might be a better chance of our prayers getting through a little quicker ;-)

During all the screaming, I had ethan strapped to me in the Ergo Baby Carrier and my headphones in my ears with Metallica blaring all the way up to block out the sound of her screaming.  I made Claire a loaf of GFCFSF Zucchini bread.  It was super easy and smelled wonderful.  After I made it, I tried to get Claire to eat some. One look at it and she knew it wasn't something she has ever had before.  So she wouldn't even try it.  At this point, I was furious because I knew she was starving and if she would just TRY the bread, she might like it!!!   It was made with local honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, almond flour, eggs, a banana, aluminum-free baking soda, eggs, and zucchini.

I decided to take matters into my own hands (literally!) and put a piece in her open mouth as soon as I got the chance.  Not only did she LET me put it in her mouth, but she didn't put up a fight.  After doing this several more times with the bread, I decided to try it with other foods.  She let me feed her (by my hand of course) her entire plate of lunch, down to the last fresh green bean.  I was so happy that I started crying.  After that, I gave her a cup of freshly expressed apple/grape juice with added Vitamin B12.  Then last night, she once again showed no interest in her dinner.  So, I thought I would try the hand feeding again.  Sure enough, she ate EVERYTHING on her plate and another piece of zucchini bread.

Before bathtime, I noticed a small red rash on her shoulder.  I decided to wait and see if it went away or got worse.  It eventually cleared up on its own, but we decided to give her Epsom Salt baths every night to help with this release of toxins.

So, last night, Claire slept ALL night without waking up a single time.  She woke up jibber jabbering instead of the usual screams to let us know she was awake.  I fixed her breakfast and put a piece of zucchini bread on her plate.  Ethan woke up shortly after, and after I got him changed and fed, I came back into the living room to see her plate cleared (even the bread was gone).  I assumed she threw the bread on the floor and looked for it.  There was no sight of bread anywhere.  I decided to test it out again where I could see, and she ate the bread up like it was a cookie!!!

A little while later, she brings me the container of raisins.  I said to her " Claire, can you say please to mommy?"  "Claire, say please".  Not only did she say it, but she said it 3 times more after that!  Everytime she brought me something she wanted, I asked her to say Please and she did!!  Now granted,  it sounded more like "pease" than "please" but this is a HUGE IMPROVEMENT.  She used to say "ga ga gag agagaga" everytime I asked her to say anything.

Also, she sat in my lap today and stared at me in the eyes for 5 minutes and continued to come back and sit in my lap with a toy and look at me.  She was interacted and playing with me!!!!

As of right now (2:30 p.m.), she hasn't had a SINGLE meltdown today.  Usually at this point in the day, she's had at least 3 meltdowns.

I know these are only small things, but in only 5 days on this diet she has made me believe that this diet is DEFINITELY working!!   I am so grateful and will continue to update her improvements :)

We have an appointment on December 11th to have Claire tested for allergies with a Naturopath Melanie Ortler.  She is going to perform the Classic Food Sensitivity Screening and Digestive Analysis so that we can find out what else Claire might be sensitive/allergic to.

Here's a video of Claire putting coins in her piggy bank.  Notice she only flaps her hands ONCE.  Usually, she has to flap them between every coin that goes in the bank.

A New Journey

As of about a month ago, we realized Claire is still not developing normally.  She is almost 3 and still doesn't talk, she flaps her hands CONSTANTLY, and talks gibberish constantly.  After doing a lot of research and filling out questionnaires, much to our dismay we have accepted that Claire has a form of autism.  My first reaction was nothing short of tears.  I cried for two days on and off and had a strange feeling towards claire, not hate or anger, but sadness and sorrow.  All I've ever wanted was to have a daughter with whom I could raise to one day be a wonderful woman, wife, and mother.  But this diagnosis shattered all of my dreams of that, because, lets face it, autism isn't a promising diagnosis of ever having a normal life.

I prayed and prayed and prayed some more the next few weeks and have been given peace by God about this whole thing.  After talking to a few friends whom I know wouldn't judge me or my child about this, I learned of a few options to try to see if I could reverse what damage has been done to Claire from the 4 vaccinations she received as a tiny baby.  We have decided after much research, that we are going to put Claire on a Gluten-Free Casein Free diet.  So many children with autism have shown dramatic improvement from doing JUST this same diet.  I have hope that God will heal my sweet Claire Bear and that one day she will again tell me that she loves me.  I have decided to devote this blog to Claire's journey back to the world and will be posting her progress.  So, here is a video of Claire now, on November 29th, 2012, 2 years 9 months old:

We also are looking into seeing a naturopath and getting Claire tested for food allergies.  She has had almost a CONSTANT yeast rash on her bum, which suggests she has a yeast overgrowth in her gut, which also can contribute to the autistic behavior she has shown the last year.  I'm putting all of my faith in God to get us through this and to give me the wisdom to find out the best things I can do for Claire to get her well.  Claire is having a hard time going off of gluten and dairy.  She loves her bread, milk, cheese, yogurt melts, and rice puffs.  But I'm goingto work my butt of finding and making alternatives for her to make this transition as smooth as possible.  I know this is going to be a grueling journey, but it's going to be worth it in the end. I just know it!!

As of today, we've been GF/CF for little over two days. Some of Claire's autistic tendencies include flapping her hands constantly when she gets overexcited, having complete meltdowns anytime Ethan cries, and only speaking words from cartoons that she has watched.  Plus she loves to watch things spin.  Hoping and praying this diet change will help her to overcome some of these more severe things she does.

A friend on facebook posted a video to the song You Are I am by MercyMe.  This song has given me SOOOO much hope and went straight to my heart.  I know that God can do anything!!!  All I have to do is trust in Him!!

Happy Mother's Day

It's still strange to me that this holiday applies to me now!  In saying that, I was very surprised when I woke up yesterday morning to two cards on the kitchen counter:  One from Dietrich to me and one from Claire to me :-) along with some Ferrero Rocher chocolates!!!

The cards were so sweet and thoughtful and also in the card from Dietrich was $5.00 and a note telling me to go to Starbucks!  If anyone knows my husband, they know that he is not a fan of coffee or my addiction to it, so this gift was a very generous and selfless one :-)  I could not have asked for a better husband to be a wife to, nor could I ask for a better daughter to be a mother to!

As Dietrich was at work all day yesterday, I spent my morning with the family of my friend Danae and had a wonderful brunch with lots of my favorite foods.  It was so nice to be welcomed into their home and fed such a wonderful meal!  Claire had so much fun playing outside with the girls and even fell into some chicken poop somehow.  But even that couldn't ruin my perfect day.

I finished off the day spending time with my dad's side of the family as we celebrated Mother's Day with all the mother's on his side of the family (where Claire stepped into horse poop over there!!).

Overall, my Mother's day was almost perfect!

Now, if I could just have my son here in my arms, life would be perfect :-)

And one more makes four :-)

So, as of Wednesday January 10th at 10:05 a.m., we found out that the newest addition to our family is a boy!!  I cannot even put in words how happy I was at that moment.  I have always wanted to be a mom, but even more, I've always wanted to give my wonderful husband a son.  Someone he could sword fight, play G.I. Joe's, and share his love for guns with.  I was at peace either way as I know either gender would be a blessing from God, but man was I thrilled to see that God wanted to bless us with a little boy!!

Shortly after we got home from our appointment, Dietrich took a trip to Wal-Mart and got our son (oh I just love the sound of that!) his first G.I. Joe toy (Snake Eyes).  It made me so happy to see him so excited about getting a son.  I am looking forward to Claire being a big sister to her little brother since I loved being a big sister to my little brother's.  Also, so many of my friends have little boys (Colette and Stephan have TWO!!) so I'm looking forward to all the play dates we will have in the future :-)  God has been so good to us and it's at times like these that I wonder how people could not believe in our amazing heavenly Father.  Everything I have ever been given in my life has reflected God in so many obvious ways.  I am so looking forward to this next chapter in my life and am excited to see what the Lord has in store for our family!!  

One more thing, isn't his profile so beautiful already??

And now, the anticipation for the day of his birth begins :-)  

Round 2. . .

So, as everyone probably already knows by now, we are expecting our second bundle of joy in mid-June of 2012.  We feel so blessed and yet a little scared at the same time.  As much as we love and enjoy Claire, we have learned her to be a strong-willed child and that has made these past two years very challenging!  But I wouldn't have my life any other way.  Maybe baby #2 will be extremely weak-willed ;-)  

Anyway, exciting news for us is that we are having this baby at HOME with a midwife instead of at a hospital with a doctor.  I am sooooo looking forward to it this time so I know what to expect.  This decision came after a lot of talking and weighing our options/risks/benefits.


On another note, I can't believe that Claire will be 2 in little more than a month!  The time has passed by so quickly.  It seems like just yesterday I was holding her in my arms for the first time and never wanting to let her go.  That feeling still remains although she will hardly let me hold her anymore since she is such a big girl now.

As of today, I am 15 weeks pregnant (only 25 more to go, yay!) and in just two short weeks we will be finding out if Claire will have a little brother or sister.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend.  We sure did.  But I know next year will be even better since we will be a family of 4 :-)

Cancer-Free

Since I have become a mother, I have unfortunately become more of a worrier. I'm sure this happens to everyone, but here as of late, I have been increasingly worried about my well being and how much I want to be around to see Claire grow up. I know that I need to take good care of myself not only for me, but for my family as well!! So, I started re-reading a book about preventing and healing cancer (the non-toxic way).

I just have to tell you, this book is one of the most innovative, interesting, and informative books I have ever read. The main reason I got into reading this book was because, 1) My mother-in-law highly recommended it, and 2) Cancer runs ALL over my family. So, I decided to buy my own copy. And since I am in the business of doings things the "organic" way more or less, this book was RIGHT up my alley!

Here's how I see things. I never understood how cancer became such an epidemic the past 50 years. It's always puzzled me. I decided to do some research and learned that due to the changing environment, the processed foods we eat, the chemicals put on our produce (fruits, veggies, etc.), and the lifestyle of the average modern day person, more and more people have been diagnosed with cancer.

Now, here's where I got into looking up things on chemo. Here's one website I found that literally shocked me when I read it:

http://natamcancer.org/page65.html

Seriously, MUSTARD GAS? That right there should make you curious as to how something that is a bi-product of MUSTARD GAS could be the one of the most common treatments for cancer?????
I don't want to drag on this subject, but seriously people, if you are even the slightest bit interested in learning ANYTHING and EVERYTHING about cancer, I highly recommend you buying this book or even checking it out at your local library. I would be MORE THAN GLAD to lend you my copy also!! You will be amazed and fascinated at what you will learn.

Here's the link to the website about the writer (Bill Henderson) and the book Cancer-Free: Your guide to Gentle, Non-Toxic Healing

http://www.beating-cancer-gently.com/

I now have an open mind and comfort in my heart about cancer and am no longer scared about it :)

The Lord has really put this on my heart to share with any and everyone who is curious about it. I am going to end this blog post with a couple of excerpts from the book :) Feel free to bombard me with any questions!!!

Oil Cleansing Method Challenge

A little off the subject of parenting but also along the lines of organic :)


First of all, I am in no way trying to endorse any kind of product nor am I selling anything.  I just felt the need to share my story and experience with other people who might be interested in trying something different and natural in a world full of products that are not even remotely natural and contain mostly chemicals....

Okay, so I have never really had what you would call "pretty skin".  I have struggled with blemishes ever since puberty.  I noticed that after 3 years of working in a restaurant, my skin was at it's worst.  Then, I got pregnant and for reasons unknown, my skin was almost instantly beautiful.  Pregnancy did wonders for my skin and hair and I didn't have a single blemish until a couple of months after I stopped breastfeeding!

After that, my skin went back to being awful.  I tried everything you can think of as far as face wash/moisturizer goes.  After washing my face, I found that my skin was either greasy or extremely dry.  It seemed like I had to either have dry itchy skin or greasy oily skin.  Either way, I was still getting tons of blemishes.  Then, my mother-in-law mentioned something called the Oil Cleansing Method.  I was very interested but also a little repulsed at the idea of putting oil on my skin.  It seemed almost ridiculous to add more oil to an already oily face.  But then, I figured, nothing else has worked, why not!!!  After the first time of doing this, my skin looked absolutely radiant! I kid you not! I could not believe my eyes! Not only did it look good, but it felt like baby skin!!  I also noticed my skin had a sort of glow to it similar to a glow you would get after working out.  Seriously though, I highly recommend this to any man or woman looking to get healthy, beautiful skin for next to nothing!!  Not only that, but you know EXACTLY what you're putting on your skin as there are only one or two ingredients in this method and its 100% natural and good for your skin !!   In most cases, you won't even need a moisturizer!   Please don't shun this idea at first...Give it a try!  I promise you will be happy with the face you will see in the mirror.  I guess God knew what he was doing when he made oils!

For anyone interested in learning more about this amazing Oil Cleansing Method, here is the link explaining everything you need to know about it!!  http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/

Also, here's a link of an article I read about the oldest woman in the world and her secret to her longevity and young looking skin at her old age of 122 :)  Super interesting! (See the header titled Calment's Secret to Longevity) http://anson.ucdavis.edu/~wang/calment.html