My gluten-free baby

It's going on two months now since Izaac began a strict, gluten-free diet and we've yet to see any changes in his skin. At one point, his skin cleared up almost completely after using a medicated cream and what a marvelous week that was! No scratching! None. He was able to toddle around the house bare-footed and lie still during diaper and outfit changes and play with toys in the bath all without feverish, uncontrollable scratching. But since regular use of a steroid cream on a baby is potentially harmful we have gone from clear skin right back to where we began (head-to-toe red, scaly, scratch-till-he-bleeds eczema), even with twice-daily applications of thick, sticky lotion. Seeing how much he suffers with it brings me to tears some days, knowing nothing we're trying is working. The next step is to take him to an allergist to see if we can pinpoint what is causing the eczema and to take him off dairy and see it that makes a difference. I am going to keep him on a GF diet, as trying as it is, because I've heard other opinions that say it can take up to six months to notice a difference.

Apart from the eczema, Izaac is an indescribable light and joy to this family - he has an outgoing, loving personality and it is infectious!

Random Christmas memory

Christmas Eve, Elijah and Joel drifted to sleep without seeming excessively excited that the next day was Christmas. Christmas day was amazing and eventful and I thought for sure the kids would pass out at the first touch of their heads to their pillows but Joel kept getting in and out of bed, wiggling and acting as I thought he might act on Christmas eve. So I asked him why he wasn't able to sleep and he sat up straight, opened his eyes wide and said, "I can't sleep because now I'm too excited about Easter!"

The Christmas Tree Stand

For the past two weeks a Christmas tree stand has been holding my husband hostage, but it's only temporary and by next week we'll all be together again and happily on our way to Florida for Christmas vacation. The lawn care company Paul works with sets up a Christmas Tree stand every year for three weeks at the end of November through the middle of December. They had over 700 hand-picked (beautiful) trees delivered from a tree farm in Michigan a couple weeks ago and now have only 7 left. SEVEN! And seven more trees means almost no more stand for this year. It's been quite an adventure having daddy gone so much during this Christmasy season. We'd normally be watching movies together, making chocolate-covered pretzels, wrapping presents, or sitting by the fire dreaming about our children's faces come Christmas morning. I've been in survival mode for the most part (hence the reason I haven't been blogging) and am looking forward to Monday (the day we leave for FL) and the dreaming can begin.

So yeah, it's almost midnight at present and I'm exhausted - absolutely - but the house is clean and the laundry is put away and there is so much to look forward to in the coming weeks! Speaking of, Izaac has shown great interest in the presents under the tree and I can hardly wait to see what he'll do when he actually gets to open some. His favorite though are the candy canes on the tree. The boys and I have laughed at his adorableness, he plucks a candy can off the tree, breaks it open then sucks on it with a satisfied grin. Elijah and Joel have done their fair share of sneaking candy canes too and, to tell the truth, so have I. We're over candy canes now. Totally. I think we've bought 5 boxes of candy canes so far and you'd never know it by looking at our tree. If I eat any more I might never want another one as long as I live.

I forgot to mention that, thanks to Kevin Pollock (owner of the tree stand) we were able to purchase a big, beautiful frasier fir and stand for $25 this year. A real tree! A dream come true for me. Now I don't have to burn a wanna-be fir-scented candle from Wal-mart because I have the real thing in my living room and it smells beyond good.

The night we put the tree up, after the kids were in bed, I looked everywhere for the lights we'd used on our fake tree the past 6 years so that in the morning we could all decorate the tree together, until Paul remembered they were attached to the fake tree. But the next morning we woke to find the boys had already adorned the Christmas tree with every ornament we own (plus candy canes and a few foreign objects). We didn't have the heart to tell their proud little faces that the lights are supposed to go on first. All we could do was smile knowingly to each other and say to the boys, "Wow, what a amazing job you guys did!" Two days later we took all the ornaments off to put the lights on and the boys cheerfully helped.

It's been so fun these past couple of weeks, even with Paul gone. We've missed him a ton. Thankfully we'll have our normal schedule back soon, since no one buys Christmas Trees after Christmas.

photography

Joel: [camera on Elijah, click]
Elijah: Are you photographing me?
Joel: No. [click]
Elijah: Are you photographing me?
Joel: No. [click]
Elijah: Are you photographing me, Joel?
Joel: No. [click] I'm taking pictures of you.

"On This Thanksgiving Day"

"Shining sun, a warming, soothing blanket of light

On this Thanksgiving Day.

Winds quiet, still, listening,

Listening for the whispers of winter.

Trees watching, pausing, waiting,

waiting to catch the coming flakes.

The sky hovers blue, as far as eye can see;

Up, up, hovering, covering, seeing, sheltering,

On this Thanksgiving Day.

Marvelous land, nesting the animals, resting for winter, thoughtful, still, quiet

On this Thanksgiving Day."

Thanksgiving, 11.27.08

One of the Best Thanksgivings Ever

Considering last Thanksgiving meal was eaten around a Cracker Barrel table while I was almost nine months pregnant I had a lot to be thankful for this year. Although my brother and his family and cousin and her family were unable to come, which would have made the day perfect, and although we did shed sentimental tears over it, once Thanksgiving morning came everyone felt much better and enjoyed the day. For breakfast, we ate our traditional special-occasion strawberry Toaster Stroodles while Christmas music played; we went around the table telling what we were thankful for, and teared up a bit when we told each person we were thankful for about them. Next came Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and football while I cooked (and listened to more Christmas music). We arrived at Mom and Dad's at 1:00pm in the pouring rain and ate one of the most delicious Thanksgiving meals ever. The boys were excited, especially during the meal when Papa showed them the two movies he'd bought for them that morning and they spent the next couple of hours watching them. Later Mom, Dad, Paul and I played Phase 10 and laughed and laughed. I've never played a game that moved so slow or lasted so long. Dear goodness. It was such fun enjoying everyone's company, joking and talking, snacking and playing a game. By the time we left, it was dark outside and very cold so Paul started a fire in the wood stove and the boys went to bed after lots of hugs, giggles and Happy Thanksgiving's. (Okay, Joel has talked absolutely non-stop since I began writing this blog. Literally, he's sitting on the arm of the couch next to me and telling Elijah a never-ending story that keeps evolving from one grand hero/rescue/danger to another and it's too cute because Joel's not normally the big talker of the family. Now Elijah went out the door, Joel laid his head on my shoulder and said I love you, Mom. Such a darling. *sigh* and this classical Christmas Music is wonderful).

After the boys went to bed, Paul watched one of his "band of brothers" movies (about WWII) and I watched the final story of Anne of Green Gables, and bawled my eyes out when Anne, after having searched for months and nearly given up, finds Gil among the pow soldiers at a German camp. The perfect ending to a perfect day!

Thank You, Lord. You're wonderful.

Gluten-Free Day 4

Izaac, who is sleeping soundly in his crib, has unknowingly completed day 4 of a gluten-free diet. I've read dozens of stories in the past few days of people having severe eczema disappear when they removed gluten from their diet and am even more hopeful that this diet will do the same for Izaac.

The boys understand why Izaac can't have gluten and will offer him something he can have when he comes asking for what they're eating. (Just to clarify, Izaac does sit in a seat and eat normal meals and snacks. He doesn't just wander around eating whenever he gets a chance, yet if he sees someone eating, he wants to eat too). It amazes me how understanding Elijah and Joel are, probably because they know how much the eczema bothers him and I'm sure they're as eager to see his skin clear as I am.

As I research the benefits of a gluten-free diet, not only am I not freaking out anymore but I am inclined to go on it myself! Maybe I should. But if I do, I'll wait until after the holidays.