Anthro purse hanger

After I made a new purse recently (I really like it), I wanted a place to hang it (instead of keeping it on the floor by the computer, where it gets stepped on). I couldn't find anything I really liked at a good price. So, inspired by this picture,

I got a few Anthropologie knobs, spray painted some scrap wood, and put this together:

I like it!

Home!

We are home! Lucy was discharged from the hospital around 5:00 p.m. yesterday, so we were all home in time for dinner. Everything feels back to normal!

None of the tests at the hospital really showed anything, but we do have a metabolic specialist to see in the next few weeks. My general feeling is that there MAY be something underlying or, as we've always thought, Lucy "just gets stomach viruses really bad," and then the GAPS diet made it more pronounced this time for some reason.

Hospital... again

Well, Lucy has ended up in the hospital again. She began throwing up Tuesday morning with what seemed like a stomach virus. By Tuesday late afternoon, when the Zofran I'd given her still wasn't helping, we thought about taking her in to the ER. A nurse practitioner friend said we could give her another Zofran (this was about 7:30) and see if that helped. When it didn't, we decided to take Lucy in. They admitted her and gave her IV fluids and IV Zofran overnight. They ran her CO2 levels, which measure blood toxicity (I think). In a healthy person, the number should be in the 20s. Back when Lucy was admitted to the hospital in February, her number was 12. Tuesday night, the number was 6. This was very concerning to the doctors. Today they did a couple of tests (x-rays and ultrasound) to try to figure out what the underlying issue is. Obviously, there is something more going on here so that her little body can't cope with stomach issues. The doctors don't know if it's an intestinal issue, a metabolic issue, a brain issue, or something else. The ultrasound and x-rays didn't show anything abnormal. Tomorrow they're going to do a small bowel follow-through (or something like that), which will show her digestive process to see if anything is out of whack there.

By late this afternoon, Lucy herself had perked up, ate some food, and was acting pretty good, all things considered.

It's definitely hard coordinating "life" with a child in the hospital--figuring out care for the boys, Jon needing to get in to work for a while, etc. But homeschooling definitely makes it easier (no drop-offs or pick-ups to worry about).

Though this is a stressful time, I do feel God's hand at work. After this past weekend, which was the annual women's retreat with church, I was feeling so encouraged, motivated, and joyful. I believe Satan wanted to attack that in any way possible! However, I think God was working yesterday while Lucy was sick. Normally, when one of our kids is sick I waver back and forth when deciding whether to bring him/her to the hospital. It's so hard to decide when is the point that they're "bad" enough to need to go in.... and then I convince myself they're doing a little better and we should wait until the next day to decide. However, THIS time was not like that. This time, yesterday evening, even when her symptoms were no different from times before, it was so clear: we're taking her in. Thank you, God.

Baby hummingbirds

Our neighbor has a hummingbird nest in a potted tree on her front patio. We've looked at the eggs a couple of times recently and have been waiting for them to hatch. They hatched over the weekend!

Dentist

The children and I went to the dentist a couple of weeks back; this was Levi's first visit. He did a great job telling the dentist all about himself (age, favorite color, favorite toy--cars, etc.). Lucy and Nate were great cheerleaders, too.

Another Levi video

I just can't help myself. His cuteness kills me.

Hummingbirds

We got a hummingbird feeder over the weekend, and one bird found it last night when we were eating dinner. After dinner, Levi was calling for more, telling them the feeder was there.


At the beginning of the video, he's looking at Jon and asking him not to watch (Levi doesn't like people watching him do cute stuff lately)--he tells him he should watch the Clippers game instead.

Happy Easter

I had to wait until after church today to try to get a picture of the children. It was unsuccessful.

The kids sang a song in church--Levi included. Levi is holding the hand of another little boy, Marshall, who was scared/sad, and Levi had been asked to help him.

Tonight, on the way home from Ray and Colleen's house, Lucy was excited because she got a stuffed bunny rabbit. "It's my Easter rabbit!" she exclaimed. Levi had also gotten a toy. "Yeah!" he answered. "And I got my Easter gun!"

GAPS progress

This update is mostly about me! :)

I hit a wall one or two weeks ago where I was really missing my old way of much-less-restricted (yet still generally healthy) eating. I've been feeling frustrated that I haven't seen the results I wanted for myself (clear skin, big boost in energy) even though I've followed the diet to a T. I decided to cheat with a chai tea latte from Starbucks two days in a row, but I paid for it with two more days of upset stomach! After two months without a gram of sugar crossing my lips, a coffee cup full of it was too much. That probably wasn't the smartest "first cheat."

On a seemingly unrelated note, I have been feeling very "out of it" and foggy lately: someone will ask me a question, and my mind is blank. I will think of the answer 5 minutes later or something. I just haven't felt like myself. I mentioned this to Dr. Abell when Nate and I were there for Nate's appointment this week, and Dr. Abell said my brain fog is from lack of carbohydrates! What?! So I bought some quinoa and millet pronto after that appointment and had some quinoa for lunch yesterday and today.

Our lunch today: salmon patties for the kids, quinoa and tomatoes for me (and broth for Nate and me). I would have added avocado for all of us if I'd had a ripe one.

I talked with Dr. Abell about the severity of the diet, especially the complete removal of grains. He agrees it isn't a long-term solution, and we decided I will slowly introduce healthy grains (quinoa, millet, and amarynth) with the children in a couple of weeks, after they've been on full GAPS for over a month (and intro+GAPS for over two months). This definitely isn't following GAPS protocol, but I feel like doing two+ months of "hardcore" GAPS is better than nothing, and introducing those few grains while still doing the other GAPS stuff (broth, cod liver oil, probiotics, fat-full meats and oils, eggs, fermented foods) is still very healthy--and will hopefully still achieve the results we're after (though maybe more slowly).

Oh--I did make the most delicious smoothie for dessert last night! I juiced an apple, some pineapple, and a bit of orange (I love our juicer!) and added that to the blender with frozen bananas, frozen mangos, half an avocado, a few Tbs of coconut oil, three raw eggs, and a few pineapple slices. It was a filling treat.

Lucy is 5

Happy birthday to Lucy! Lucy is growing into a compassionate, spunky, humorous little girl. She loves to dance and be silly at home but likes to be quiet and reserved when we're out. I think "quality time" is one of her love languages; she always wants to be with me and/or doing something together.

Apparently this is fun

Wait listed

I got our letters in the mail from Journey School yesterday: Lucy is number 10 on the kindergarten wait list; Nate is number 17 on the 2nd grade list. A lot could happen in the next couple of months on those lists, but I'm pursuing some backup plans too. I've been researching schools in our district into which we could transfer. (Our "school of residence" is relatively horrible compared to other schools in our district when you look at test scores, percentage of English vs. non-English speakers, teachers, etc.)

A first

This was the first time a child in our family has fallen asleep at dinner. Love it.

Living room update

I have never been very happy with the curtains in our living room and dining area. When we moved here, I still hadn't gotten into my sewing groove, and I just got the fabric at the local discount home decor fabric place. I also ended up disliking the fact that the curtains over the window and the sliding door were different.

Here's the first "before" picture I found:

So I replaced those with new, matching curtains for all the windows/door and made some new pillows too. I really love it all. I also realize that these pillows will never look this nice again. :)

Roasted cabbage

I made this recipe the other day, and it's really good! I added chopped Maui onions on top, lemon juice, and paprika.

Dancing

We got this kids dance game after seeing it at Virginia and Anne Page's house in December. We love it!

(I would have taken a video of Lucy too, but she has her dress tucked into her underwear. I said she needed to take it out if she wanted me to take a video, but she didn't want to. Oh well.)

No news

For those who have asked: I still haven't heard from Journey School. I might hear today... but if I don't, I'll assume we're on the wait list.

Lace scarves

Doing the GAPS diet has taken all my extra energy, so I haven't felt like doing much sewing or crafting. But this week I came up with an idea for some of the vintage lace Mama gave me when we were in Virginia at Christmas: scarves. For my first try, I stitched a bunch of strands together, and then I stitched over the whole thing with some elastic thread. This makes it flexible and ruffly.

Then I stitched some straight onto knit fabric, after seeing this picture for inspiration:

Kids' "bad words"

Mama tells us that, when Greg and I were little, she had to forbid us from saying "bulldozer." Apparently, Greg and I thought it was a bad word--which makes saying it just as bad as saying a truly bad word. (Now that I'm rethinking this, perhaps we knew what a bulldozer really was, but we had somehow turned it into a mean thing to say to each other.)

Nate, Lucy, and Levi say their share of mean things to each other, but this morning I had to hide my laughter when Nate reported what Lucy had said.

"Mama! She called me 'dumb diaper'!"

GAPS update

We're over a month into the GAPS diet, and I'm pleased overall with how things are going. The children finally got their energy back after about three or four weeks and no longer lounge on the couch all day--thank goodness. They are still eating a CRAZY amount of food. We're going through two dozen eggs a day!

We've moved to stage 6 of the intro diet, which means we can have fruits as snacks (introduced one at a time) in addition to all the other things we've been able to have. I also got a nice juicer I'd been saving up for, so we've had fun the last couple of days coming up with fun combinations to try (carrot, cucumber, radish, apple, kale, celery, blueberry). Nate isn't a fan of the juice (go figure), but Lucy and I are loving it. I've also reintroduced probiotics (stopped them when first beginning the diet) and cod liver oil.

Here are some of the dinners the kids have loved this week:
- lettuce wrap tacos (use lettuce instead of tortillas, then add browned ground beef w/garlic, tomatoes, and avocado. The boys eat all the items separately.)
- egg scramble with leftover taco meat, green onions, tomatoes, avocado
- steak stir-fry with onions and mushrooms, served with butternut squash fries

Individual progress notes:
Me - I've kept off most of the initial two-week weight loss, which is nice. Unfortunately, the diet has not helped my skin at all. I'm really disappointed about that. Otherwise, I'm feeling good, not starving, and mostly enjoying the foods.

Nate - I have noticed some really great things in Nate. First, he is eating a lot of foods that he either would never try or didn't used to like. Yesterday he ate a big leaf of romaine lettuce with lunch. This morning he had two slices of cucumber with his huge plate of scrambled eggs, hamburger patty (with cauliflower, onion, and carrot mixed in), and guacamole (mashed avocado). Second, Nate has had a huge decrease in hyper behavior. It is wonderful. Before the diet, he had a really hard time keeping his hands to himself, especially when we were getting in or out of the car (he was always pestering Levi). This behavior has now decreased 99%. This improvement alone almost makes the diet worth it!

Lucy - To be honest, I haven't seen much improvement in Lucy. She is a tough one. I'm still hopeful that her sensory issues and OCD tendencies could calm down.

Levi - Levi has been whiny whiny whiny. Some days I feel like I might scream from all the whining! I think some of his behavior has actually been die-off; perhaps he had more "tummy issues" to resolve than I had thought. He is generally eating the foods well.

Another really nice improvement I've noticed in daily life: it is no longer horrible taking all three children to the store. Checking out at the grocery store used to be the worst: children going in different directions, fighting with each other, taking things off the shelves, pushing to "help" load the conveyor, etc. No matter how much preparation I'd give or how many consequences I'd impose afterward, the store was always a nightmare. Now, with the decrease in hyperactivity, they are much calmer. They are able to stand still much better in the checkout line. I know this doesn't sound like much, but it has really made life much more pleasant.