Day 3

Good morning!  How are you all?  Is anyone still here?  The last couple months have been busy and then this last one has just slammed us all with many new things.  There are several that I'd like to share with you and then I am hoping to share the journey too.  At the same time, since it is not all about me, I need to maintain some boundaries (which I quite admit I am not great at.)  I hope you'll find the journey interesting and you'll share it with other friends who might be going through something similar.  I'd love to start an actual dialogue here instead of just hearing my own voice, so if you have a comment or idea or story to share, please do.

The first big change is my diet.  You know I am trained as a Health Coach and many of you know that before my son was born I struggled with Ulcerative Colitis.  Pregnancy and nursing somehow delivered the perfect cocktail of hormones to stop the disease in its tracks but in the last few months I've been struggling again.  I finally found a doctor who I could afford and actually believes that UC is connected to diet (um, for real??)  He put me on an elimination diet for a month (which is about two weeks longer than I've ever done a simple cleanse diet) so I am looking forward to seeing the results.  Are you ready?  No dairy, soy, corn, gluten, wheat, added yeast, nightshades, or added sweeteners.  With reintegration the whole thing will take about three months.  I'm a little nervous but happy to be finally trying something more methodical.  I'm on day three right now (hence the optimism? :)  

I am going to keep track of how that is going right here.  So far, no one has died (which I kind of expected with taking out sweets) and the headache of the first day or so is gone.

The next big thing, which came about first, is Emerson and his new diagnosis of Sensory Processing Disorder.  I can't tell what a watershed moment this has been for us.  Finding out that there is actually something going on with your child besides your shitty parenting is immense.  I'm not going to sugar coat it.  We have struggled, fought tooth and nail, stewed in guilt and misery and given up more times than I can count.  Now, suddenly, we have an answer that makes sense.  He started OT a month ago and things have improved dramatically in some areas already.  Already he eats more foods again.  Kale!!  Beans! Broccoli!  And he will try new things with new flavors.  No twisting his arm.  No begging.  He yelled at me last night from another room to save some of the kale salad with the new dressing on it for him to try.  And then he tried it and didn't like it but chewed it up and swallowed instead of spitting it out and acting like I was trying to poison him.  People!!  It is a thing of beauty.

I want to keep up with our progress as a family here.  This is something that effects millions of children (and adults!) I'm going to record the successes in this place because that is where I want to devote my energy.  If you have questions, please ask!

Okay, I am going to save the last thing for another post.  So much has happened and the next one is a big one for me personally so I'll give it the attention it deserves.  Thank you so much for coming here to read and share my story.  If any of this resonates with you please feel free to introduce yourself!