It's been awhile...

We have had an eventful last few months.  For one, Claire caught the flu.  She was sick for over two weeks and came down with a double ear infection.  Ethan also broke his first two teeth.  Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep!   But alas!  Good news and positive updates!

First of all, Claire's stimming behavior has reduced DRAMATICALLY!  She can easily play with a toy now like a normal kid would and not just line the toys up or flap her hands at it.

She has also started laughing when something funny happens on a cartoon.  She has her bad days during a yeast die-off but always comes out of the bad days with an even better day.

Okay, before November 29th, Claire's vocabulary was NOTHING.  She couldn't play catch, slide on a slide, make eye contact, say hello or goodbye, sleep in her toddler bed, handle ethan so much as whimpering without erupting in a horrible never ending tantrum, or do hardly anything for herself.  I'm going to try and list all of her improvements but there are so many that I may not list them all.

First, a list of words she has learned to say:

apple
please
thank you
yes
no
hi
bye
momma (hoorayyy!!!!)
baby
yay
yummy
box
doll
dog
snake
snack
move back
jacket
jump
bounce
shoes
boots
outside
papa
look
book
cherry
rainbow
whisper
kisses
good
okay
go


Now, this may not seem like much, but to us (and Claire), this is HUGE!

She has also learned to slide down the big slides at the park all by herself, get onto and jump on the trampoline, see-saw, ride around in her truck, play basketball and actually shoot the ball towards and sometimes into the goal, play catch, point at things in her book and try to repeat what we tell her they are, and as of yesterday she can COUNT TO 10!!!  Yes! MY darling Claire can count to 10.  I never thought she would learn this much so quickly, but after only two days of watching a cartoon by Leap Frog, she has learned to count to 10.  Of course,  I can hardly get her to do it on command, but nevertheless  she's able to count to 10 on her own.

She can say "Hi" to her daddy when he gets home from work, "Bye" when leaving anyone's house or when anyone leaves our house, she sometimes says thank you without having to be asked to say thank you, and she plays with her cell phone up to her ear talking (before, she would never know that's what it was for, but she has learned that's what it is--she's had this toy for 2 years).

Also! After her bout with the flu, she had spent an entire week sick in our bed.  We decided to try letting her sleep in her toddler bed.  She has done GREAT sleeping in it!! We even got her her first big girl comforter and sheet set for her big girl bed.  THis milestone was one that I didn't see happening for a long time since up until this point, we didn't think she would mind us and stay in her bed.  But, she has done been sleeping in her big girl bed since December!!!!!

As of now, she's still taking the digestive enzyme before every meal, she's taking 500-1000 mg of vitamin C per day, and when I remember to give it to her, probiotics once a day to help her with yeast.  She's also still on the GFCF diet.  Her eye contact has gotten SOOOOO much better.  I know we still have a long ways to go, but I recently started reading a book called "Healing the New Childhood Epidemics Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies by DR. Kenneth Bock and these recovery stories I'm reading are soo very encouraging.  They made me realize that this is going to take time and patience but when I put it down in writing, I can see that Claire has already improved so much!!

We have had a couple of setbacks in that we learned we have been giving her milk and toothpaste containing a thickening ingredient called carrageenan, which can cause the digestive tract to be inflamed and damage the immune system by not allowing the stomach to properly absorb nutrients.  We immediately cut everything out that contained this and we are hoping this will help her too.  I'm learning in the books i'm reading of new therapies and supplementation that can help too.  The information I'm taking in has been a blessing and a bit overwhelming.  A lot of people don't agree with what I'm doing here and think that Claire was simply born this way and the only thing that can be done for her is to accept her the way she is and love her the best we can, and that the stuff I'm doing won't help.  But obviously from the amazing improvements she has made in such a short period of time with nothing but diet change is PROOF and NOT coincidence that she is getting better and I have all the faith in the world in her and the things that I'm learning and applying that she will come out of the fog and one day be unrecognizable as having autism.  This is my vow to her that I will do everything in my power to help her out of the fog in her mind and help restore the good things in her mind and body that will help her to feel better.  

And on that note, here's a short video of Claire speaking a couple of words after she brought me her shoes and told me "outside"

Simply Well

Today was yet another good day.  We made a trip to Flower Mound to see a woman who does muscle testing.  I was very nervous about not only the trip, but about how we were going to get Claire to sit through the testing.

The drive down there took longer than expected because of TONS of road work.  But, both kids were pretty cooperative!!!!

Once we got there and inside, everything just fell into place.  The woman who performed the muscle testing for allergies was SOOO nice, mellow, and very good with Claire.  Now usually, when we go to a new place for the first time, Claire gets extremely over-excited, hyper, and talks a LOT of jibberish.  But, not today!  She was calm, quiet, and walked right into this woman's house without a fuss!!!

Once we got into the room where the test was going to be performed, Melanie (the founder of Simply Well) had a DVD player ready for us to put a movie in for Claire and a cute little comfy kid-sized chair for Claire to sit in.  Claire sat in the chair and hardly moved at all the entire time we were there (which was over an hour!!).  Claire let her hold her hand and do the test without a single fuss.  We had such a lovely time and I was SOO impressed with Claire's behavior!!   I honestly don't think she would have behaved this way a month ago.

Some amazing things are happening to Claire.  Here are a couple of pictures of the kids from their very first "trip" :-)  Will blog the results of Claire's test as soon as I get them!

Another good day!

Today,  Claire did AWESOME!!!   First off, she played and when I say played I mean she interacted, made eye contact, and gave her full attention to her Oma this morning!  She even let her push her down the slide and said "AGAIN!" after each time (which is a new word for her!!!).  I even got it on video!!

Then, later in the afternoon, I was cutting up fruit to put in her juicer, and she runs in the kitchen and looks right at me and says " sssss".  I said "What Claire??"  Then she says "Juuuuu, Juuuuuiiccee".  She said juice! She said juice!!  And at the exactly right moment!!!!!  So, her juice cup is sitting under the spout of the juicer and Claire walks up to me and hands me something.  It's the lid to her cup that I was filling with juice.  She knew exactly what she was doing.  I swear, it's like the fog in her head is finally starting to clear!!  She talks nonstop and I'm finally starting to understand what she's saying.  I can't believe it's only been a little over a week!!  Thank you Almighty God!!!!!!

Mama, Claire

Yesterday, I noticed Claire seemed to be stimming more than she has the last week.  I wondered if maybe I missed something and accidentally gave her something containing gluten or dairy.  I did notice that she was having more frequent bowel movements and think this could possibly be a yeast die-off of some sort.  Nevertheless, Claire ate baked chicken yesterday for the first time in her life! She has NEVER shown interest in it before but at almost an entire chicken breast on her own.  I was so very proud and happy!  Also, she said "please" at least 10 times yesterday (although it still sounds more like peas).

I checked my email last night and I got a response back from a GAPS doctor in Mineola.  She not only can give us a full analysis of Claire, but she also has a farm with grass-fed cows and chicken, organic produce, and raw milk that she will sell us!!  Praise God for opening so many opportunities for us to heal Claire and also for us to start eating more healthy too.

I started the documentary Food Matters last night and 30 minutes in I was shocked and fascinated at the same time by what information has been kept from society.  It's very bothersome the way the medical community and government are more interested in making money than actually helping people.  

This morning, I walked up to Claire and she gave me a big hug.  Then I looked at her and pointed to her chest and said "Claire" then pointed to my chest and said "Mama".  After doing this a few times, she started saying it with me! I would point to her chest and say "claire" and then to mine and she would say "mama!".  She has never been able to sit with me that long and engage in that kind of exchange before.  I was very impressed and happy to see how eager she was to learn it!  

Things are looking up and it's only been a week since we started these diet changes!! Thank You Heavenly Father! I give all the grace to you!!!!!!!!

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 :-)