Aohdan Interview 1-GFCF for over a month

This interview was taken using the handy FlipVideo HD Camcorder that Generation rescue so gratiously provided for us to use while involved in the Family Grant Program (thanks Gen Rescue!!!). Anyhoo, I thought it would be really cool to do a series of 'Aohdan Interviews' to really watch his progress as he makes the journey through biomedical and the Gluten-free, Casein-free diet.

In this video you will notice he answers questions fairly well. But notice how some of the questions he doesn't seem to understand what I'm asking and gives an answer totally unrelated? Before we started the GFCF diet, he would just get mad and yell at me if I asked him about his day at school. So this is a big improvement over just a month ago! Very excited!!!http://gfcf.com/

GFCF Pizza Pockets

When we decided to go GFCF, the one thing my son reallllllly cried for was pizza rolls.  Ever looked at the label on a package of commercial pizza rolls.  Ummm, yeah....talk about a preservative fest.  When I really read the ingredients I was shocked, and a bit ill.

So I made it my mission to make my son GFCF pizza rolls, or at least something close.  Here is my list of ingredients:

Namaste Pizza Crust Mix

Pizza Sauce

Daiya Mozzarella Cheese Shreds

Quite possible the best pepperoni EVER!

*Side note*  If you just want to make pizzas, one package of each of these ingredients make exactly (4) 9" Pizzas.  I bought these little cake pans and they work perfectly and are the PERFECT size. 

But back to the pizza pockets...

First I mixed up the batter...  Can I just say I LOVE my Kitchen Aid?  Seriously one of the best investments I've ever made!

And lightly cooked the pepperoni...

 

Then I cut up the pepperoni in tiny little chunks...

 

and mixed together the pizza sauce, Daiya mozzarella shreds, and cut up pepperoni chunks in a mixing bowl...

Next I spooned 2 TBSP of the Namaste Pizza Crust mix into each cup cake hole, Spooned 1 Heaping TBSP of the sauce/pepperoni/cheese mix on top, and spooned 2 more TBSP of the pizza crust mix on top.  I then had to take a spoon and spread it carefully so all of the sauce mixture was covered.  This is what they looked like before going into the oven.  I baked at 400 for approx 15-20 min.  It may take a little longer, so if you make these at home you'll have to keep checking them....

And here is the finished product!  See how the sauce mixture is sort of oozing out the side.  They were Delish! YUM!!  Best of all?  Aohdan loved them, and that made it worth it!

I will try to post all of my cooking adventures!

God Bless,

Vicki

Behavioral changes

Before I get into the meat of this post, it is imperative to understand how much Aohdan adores his iPad.  If we ask him to put it down, or shut it off, it is MELTDOWN city! 

This is our life.

One of our nurses also has an iPad, and Aohdan will often help himself to her's because, you know, it's 'different' than ours.  Lol.  Nightime is the worst though, or when Jennifer goes home and has to take her iPad away.  Aohdan usually yells and cries and just generally throws a fit.  Well tonight, Aohdan was watching a movie on Jennifer's iPad and she was giving me report on Ava and heading home.  She simply said, "Aohdan, I'm going home can I have my iPad?"  He simply said, "Ok.  Here."  And handed it to her.  Not a single complaint.  Jennifer and I just looked at each other like, "Did that really just happen?"  It was definitely a change from the norm, but GOOD!  So suffice it to say we have defintely noticed some positive changes since starting this diet.

I still remember that psychologist from Children's hospital telling me, and I ""..."The GFCF diet is folk medicine.  It is not scientific, and parents who think they see  benefit are only experiencing a placebo effect."  Well you know what Dr. ----, you can take your negative attitude and shove it, because I am well aware of what 'scientific' means.  Here's what 'Scientific' means...

"a method of procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses."


So yeah I am prettttty sure that behavioral changes from the GFCF diet are able to be 'observed, measured,' and all the rest of it.  And the placebo effect?  Come on...  Moving on now...

I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound bitter, but what bothers me most is hat this man, and others like him,  is that he is in a position of influence!  I'm a strong thinker and rarely ever take advice without researching it.  But a lot of parents blindly follow what Dr's say!  I still like the vaccine argument...So Dr. ---, explain to me again why I had 9 vaccines growing up, and my children get 35+?  Then I sit back and laugh to myself as they use fancy medical jargon to explain why our kids get all this crap into their system. 


Going off topic, vaccines are a topic for a different post, and not tonight. 

Well, goodnight all!

May God Bless you and keep you!

Blog under construction!

Please bear with me while I figure out a good, working template for Ava's blog.  YOu may see a different design each time you visit, just be patient!

Thanks,

Vicki

Second day of school - MUCH better

Last Thursday, 8/31, was Aohdan's first day of school.  But the school only took 1/2 the kindergartners on Thursday the 31st, and the other 1/2 on Friday the 1st.  Someone told me once that kindergartners are like 'herding cats' (lol) so the staff wanted to make certain there were plenty of hands to help get the newest members of the school well adjusted=)

As you all know, his first day of school did not start off well.  But today was much better!  He talked to me about 'Miss Julie' picking him up, even though he did spend a few minutes making comments like,

"School is DONE."
"I already went to school Mommy, no More!"
"There is no school today"
"School is sick"
"I am sick"
"These boots hurt my feet"
"These socks hurt my feet"
"I don't want pancakes, I want eggs"
"I don't want eggs, I want pancakes"
"Sissy can go to school, I'm staying here"
"My iPad needs me here"

...Uhhhh....I am NOT kidding about these comments either, lol, all in a matter of about 10 minutes.  But when it came to getting his coat on and heading out to the bus stop, he was fine!  He smiled at Miss Julie and walked on the bus and found a seat with no problem.  It was a much easier morning to say the least.

The picture below was actually a picture of the first day of school, but it was so cute, I'm including it again!

We're pretty much casein (dairy) free.

Up until this weekend we've been strict on the gluten portion of the GFCF diet but we have still been giving Aohdan 'raw' dairy products such as raw cow/goat milk, and ice cream (sparingly) made with raw cream. We've also been using homemade butter made with raw cream.

Well, this weekend was it! All dairy is officially gone! I made a trip to whole foods and bought stuff to replace butter, milk, and ice cream.

*I replaced raw cow/goat milk with unsweetened almond milk
*I replaced the butter with earth balance vegan buttery sticks and coconut oil
*And I replaced regular dairy ice cream with coconut milk ice cream. It is delish!

So tonight for dinner he actually asked for his pizza, and then he finished his pizza and asked for his "new ice cream." His behavior today has been overall very good. He had a melt down at church today because he wanted to go to his friend Tyler's house. Since then though he has been really good. He even said "please" and "thank you" for stuff today.

So I've come to a realization that dairy is probably not good for me either.  I may not be 'allergic' persay, but since I was a kid I remember getting this mucousy feeling in my throat everytime I drank milk. And I mean everytime. I never did much care for milk growing up unless I was eating something very sweet, and it had to be ice cold. I tried a glass of Aohdan's almond milk and I LOVE IT! Another perk is that it only has 40 calories per 8oz glass. Regular milk (2%) has 110 I believe.  In reading symtoms of dairy intolerance, I pretty much have all of them.  Not that I'm jumping all the way on the band wagon, but if cutting way back on dairy (or eliminating it altogether) increases my level of health...it just makes sense right?

Have a great evening and God Bless!

Vicki

I am pretty excited about this journey, and I'm excited to get my baby back. I am excited about getting Aohdan to a point where he feels good.

School Update

I'm not sure who all I talked to about our final decision regarding Aohdan's school....but we have decided to put him in kindergarten at our local school district. We actually did get notice from Haugland's that there was a spot for us beginning on 9/16, but I was feeling very anxious about the drive to Dublin 5 days a week. It just felt like so much to put on our, already piled-high, plate.

So I called the school administrator and had a long talk with her about my worries and concerns. She really eased my mind a lot! She basically told me that Aohdan deserved the chance to show us what he could do. And you know what? She was right. The morning that school started, I got Aohdan up early and made him a good breakfast of eggs and pancakes (gluten/casein free of course) and let him play on the iPad for a little while. As soon as I mentioned that the school bus would be here he started crying and whining and complaining. Ahhhhh, it was so hard to listen to. I longed for a child excited to do something. Instead it felt like I was being drug down into that pit again...

So needless to say I was really worried about how his first day of school went. How awesome it felt to hear the administrator inform me the next day that Aohdan had an 'excellent' day at school. Yayyyy!!

First Day of Kindergarten

Aohdan's First Day of Kindergarten from Vicki Ballenger on Vimeo.

Our Story - 38 Min Documentary

Ava's Story from Vicki Ballenger on Vimeo.

Don't judge parents until you've walked in their shoes

One of the hardest things for me is that, often, Aohdan just doesn't seem happy.  He yells, wines, cries, you name it.  And he repeats back the things he has heard Kenny and I say to him.  It is like pouring salt on an open wound to hear your child say to you, "Mommy!!  I said QUIT I'm NOT going to tell you again!!  Now knock it off!!"  It is like everytime I lose my temper, he is like a tape recorder that remembers EVERYTHING I say.  And then guess what happens?  I sink into the 'I'm a horrible mother' pit of despair.  Aohdan is not an easy child to parent, but I love him with all my heart.  We try our best to not spank him, but occasionally he does get a swat on the behind.  And I do mean occasionally.  Like once a month.  But to hear how he carries on in public, you would think he was beaten daily.  I mean it is hard.  This is an example of what happens.

I take him to the local Denny's as a treat, I'm trying to do something nice right?  I mean we've taken away wheat, dairy, artificial food dyes, and so much other stuff, that I do everything I can to make him happy.  So we get a seat at the local Denny's, oh and we have to sit in this one particular booth and he has to sit on the same side every time or he is not happy.  So we settle into our favorite booth and he decides that he wants his chocolate milk BEFORE he eats.  SO I tell him "No" that he has to eat first.  So immediately he is in a bad mood.  Then the waitress comes to take our order and looks at Aohdan, who is now extremely winey and complaining, and says, "Hi Aohdan how are you today?"  To which he responds by yelling at the top of his lungs "Don't look at me!  I said No!  I'm NOT gonna tell you AGAIN!"  By now most people in the restaurant have glanced in our direction.  So I tell the waitress to come back in a few minutes.  At this point Aohdan is still talking loud and making a scene.  That's it.  We're taking a trip to the bathroom.

I don't say a word, I simply get up and quietly take his hand.  At which point he starts SCREAMING all the way to the bathroom, "NO MOMMY!  DON'T HIT ME!  DON'T SPANK ME MOMMY!!  PLEEEEASSSSE!  DON'T HIT ME!!!" 

I am mortified.  I can just feel peoples' eyes piercing the back of my head as I continue walking to the bathroom with a screaming child thats acts as if he is getting beaten.  It is a feeling I cannot quite put into words.  You see men place a lot of their self-worth on how well they provide for their families.  Women, well we place our self worth on our children.  And when you have a child that acts miserable a lot of the time, it is really hard to feel good about yourself. 

So we get to the bathroom and I get down on one knee and look at Aohdan sternly.  See as soon as we get to the bathroom he quits crying.  Because it's just him and I, there is no one in the bathroom to put on a show for.  That;s how I feel about it anyway.  So I tell him in a stern voice that he needs to straighten up and be nice or we are going home.  And he is good the rest of the visit.  But on the way back to our seat we have to walk by the same people again.  Who by now are probably looking at me with disgust because they assume I took my child to the bathroom to beat him.  I wipe away a tear on my way back to our table.  What started out to be an enjoyable Mother/Son trip to Denny's has ended up being, yet another, episode of yelling and screaming.

Now I know kids who are NOT autistic who have done these types of things.  I have a friend who's son has ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and she has quit taking him out in public because of the outbursts.  So I know that it's not just parents of autistic kids who deal with this...a LOT of parents feel my pain.

So next time you see a child have a melt down in public, and you see the mother or father lose their cool, try to set aside any judgement.  For all you know that mom could have been listening to that child yell at her for the past several hours, or several days, and unless you've dealt with that....you have no idea what it's like.

I love my child with all my heart.  So let's take a minute of prayer right now for all the mom's who are dealing with hard-to-parent kids. 

Love you all and God Bless!

Vicki