Sea of Green Life

GV at ski practice. The whole family now is ready for ski season. Gid even said today that he had fun skiing and felt like he knew what he was doing. We are gearing up for a busy several weeks with birthdays and Christmas' (yes plural, we party til the new year with family). AB loves to ski to but mostly likes me to hold her up so she doesn't crash. She loves all sorts of music stuff and is practicing her lines for a church program. Others will sing too, she's not doing a solo or anything. EL is allergic to milk. We are of course bummed, we had hoped for another GV with no allergies. She gets a immediate sore throat, so she won't even drink it (never did). She also starts to cough and squeak and it can go on for days. She sounds like a lap dog: yip, yip. So she has a nebulizer (albuterol in a mist) and it really makes an immediate difference. She stops coughing immediately. I still don't eat anything with out a headache, but have noticed a difference after I cut out

Yep even more. I am so glad that I have the peace that only God can give. I did find it extremely funny that my regular Dr. said not to lose any more weight (10lbs--not missed), the allergist took away all the foods I had left to eat. It's okay. You're right, I can't eat anything. But I already feel better. I have not wanted/needed to rest at naptime all week. I used to get so sluggish and drowsy after lunch. Now I know it was from food! On Friday the 4th I went in for more allergy tests. Even the allergist questioned the possibility of an MSG allergy. Not that it is uncommon (almost everyone reacts to it, most don't notice) but he questioned where I was getting it. For the record and you will hear me preach on this more often now. MSG IS IN EVERYTHING! It's a nuerotoxin and is linked to just about any problem a body can have. EVERYTHING I mean: sprayed on fruit as a perservitive, in spices that list anything except the spice (asorbic acid), organic food, injected i

I believe today it is official. Eloise can walk. She still crawls if she is down already, since she is already down. She can walk about 10 feet! The biggest break through was on the night that her sisters were at Grandma Rhonda's house. That way she got to practice and not get knocked over. Who wouldn't get frustrated if everytime you tried something new something or someone got in your way? Anyway that is what is new and exciting for her. AnnaBelle is still working on getting milk. She can have a lot more than she used to have, but still not a lot. I am going to try using real butter in our baking, but I don't think I'll handle that one well. We have been trying the lactose pills and they seem like they may get rid of some her stomach pain. The problem we had though besides how awful she felt, was that she didn't retain her food nutrients when milk was in her system. We'll be monitoring her weight to make sure it doesn't drop, since she won't be gaining

Took a field trip to the beach today. It had to be 80 outside. Loved it! Two of my daycare kids got thier feet w/ shoes on wet, so I just let them continue on and get soaked. Guess I should expand, they got their shoes wet then tripped in the water, so then I figured it was no use and let them continue. Eloise loves the water. Don't know why she was backing up, but it was so cute. Make sure you watch long enough to see her plop in.

Ugh. Can't figure out how to get my pix out of Memory manager. (a scrapbooking program) to post here. Have wait till I find the camera.... I'll have to post a pix of GV later on her second day of school. Didn't even occur to me to take a picture the first day. Awful I know. She loved it. She was so busy at lunch watching others she only ate about 7 baby carrots. She didn't even look into the bag far enough to discover the ranch dressing. For morning snack at school she ate her plum and a pudding. So I told her how excited I was that I didn't have to pack a lunch for today! She just laughed and said okay. I still wish I could go with her, I loved school! It was so much fun and I loved all the games and worksheets. Guess it's obvious now that I am a teacher. ABelle is having great days being the oldest one here. Yesterday I didn't fight with anyone, today, AB didn't want to clean up, but other than that, no arguing! I could really get used to these quiet d

Baby duck aka Lucky Monster ducks. Flip, bending down, male. Puddle, checking you out, hopefully female. Eloise playing peek a boo with her tutu. Anyway, milk and duck, not together in a recipe (not yet anyway) but two seperate break throughs in the Silence house. Allergist said to try AB and cheese. We have been and it hasn't been bad. She has had accidents at night again and it seems like she is....well....in the bathroom more. We stopped milk because she wasn't growing, she just passed all the nutrients (or most of them anyway). So we want to make sure she isn't starting that again. She also has had several things with milk and hasn't reacted yet. She is more hyper---like a kid on caffine. So not sure how far we are making it. But definately farther than before. I can also sneak some milk and corn (like the less than 2% of ingredients) which means I went to the doughnut shop and got to eat my whole doughnut. Even though I had a few hives o

Getting pretty bad at updating now. I'll have to make this my homepage again so I see it everyday. The typing isn't the problem it is posting new pix which is what everyone wants to see. A few quick blurbs here and some pix. Allergies: Not sure how much I trust the allergist in LaCrosse now. AB tested high on a skin test for milk but not a blood test. He said to start introducing small amounts of cheese because of the negative blood test. If she can handle it we don't have to go back for 9 months. I gave her a bite of string cheese and she wet the bed. Maybe coincidence, but we'll be keeping a log. Try a sample of cheese tomorrow too. Sara is feeling much better with allergies. Still miss food though. Might have to succomb to the temptation and have a fried chicken part from the Legion. Chase it with Benedryl. Ducks: the ducks have their new house and we really like it and so do they. they are about the size of a juevenille goose now. Or a really fat duck. they are abou

On Sat. we went to a garage sale and made out well. A chair for daycare, a Barbie boat, a whole bunch of rhubarb and these two cuties. Yes we will be raising them for future dinners. Not these per say, but ducks. Gideon has always wanted chickens but these were cuter. They are Moscovy ducks. We are still learning about them since we didn't plan this out ahead of time. The are apparently super awesome eaters (both eaten and what they eat). They eat slugs off garden plants and weeds but not garden. They eat mosquitos and black flies, and vegetable peels. I'll try to get better at posting. In other news. I made the call to the oxygen rental company to come and get all their tanks. I drove to IL with no oxygen. It has almost completely gone away. I am still not eating anything. Remember my list is long so to everyone else I'm not eating anything. I am quite happy and eat a normal diet. AnnaBelle goes in for her testing at Allergy Associates on July 1st. We are so excited to fin

I look at this blog everyday and think of all the things that are going on that I want the few people that follow it to read. I post some of the info on FB but not nearly enough! So this might be a long one to read, but we have done so much since Jan.! First off is that I am feeling way better on my diet without all my allergens. For a short recap I have completely cut out; corn, eggs, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, seeds, and green beans because of the car issue and hives/itchy-tingly skin. I am still on low acid so most fruits are out. I still eat lots of foods, they just don't usually come out of a package, which is not a bad thing! I have been making more meals from scratch, even though I did that anyway. I can't wait for spring to plant our garden! The best thing about this is that I am better! Not all the way, but at least half-way better. I get less headaches and drowsiness in the car and my throat doesn't hurt anymore. I know immediately when I am hitting something becau

AnnaBelle Pearl- Born at 7lb 4oz, Current: 27lb. 6oz. 37" tall. Favorite things, her baby sister, her baby dolls, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I feel so blessed today to look back through AnnaBelle's three years and see how God has measured each step. We are so thankful for the health she has and her attitude toward everything when she is sick. AnnaBelle is our funny kid, she just cracks us up. Genevieve was always a thinker, coming up with questions to ask. AnnaBelle will be talking to you and then throw in a zinger. Or just start laughing at herself in the backseat. She's making you laugh even when she is driving you nuts. She must be feeling pretty close to 100% now, because she is back to singing or humming while eating. She must think it aids in digestion. She has done this since she was about one. We tried almost every kind of milk but they all had problems. She still says her stomach hurts so we have one more kind to try before we put her back on almond and me on somethi