Can’t Lose the Memories

Alright I’m back. The summer is rolling along and the days all seem to be blending together. Yesterday I tried to recall what we did last Saturday and I couldn’t.  So if nothing else, I need to keep record of how we’re spending our precious days.

Let’s start with my birthday (June 11). It was a Thursday, so it progressed like any other weekday until about 5:30p. That’s when Hollis came home and supplied pizza and my required cake from BJs. Love, love, love those cakes! A few of our friends came by to eat and to sing to me, and to watch me blow out my candles. I only allowed four candles on the cake–one for every decade in which I’ve lived. I finally feel like an adult. It happened somewhere between 33-34. I went from feeling like a child acting like an adult, to feeling like an adult who can be child-like. Hollis wrote me a wonderful letter, in which he guided me on a scavenger hunt throughout the house for my gifts. It was great! It reminded me of our courtin’ days. After gifts, pizza, cake and song, we left everyone here at the house while Hollis shuttled me off for another surprise: tickets to see a play in uptown! How in the world had I forgotten how much I love the theater? It was a really great birthday thanks to my hubby.

Fathers’ Day we served him breakfast in bed and gave him gifts, then we went to church. At the door each father was handed a small bag that contained a matchbox car. From the pulpit the pastors said that whoever had the white racecar with the number nine on it wins a prize. It was Hollis! As he walked to the front to claim his prize the song “Car Wash” was playing in the background (the prize was a gift card to Autobell carwash). I don’t know what came over him but the next thing I knew he was in front of the church dancing to the music! Of course people were clapping and cheering him on. I loved it!

My June summer days are crawling by. The boys and I are having fun together. That’s all we’re doing until next month. Beginning in July we’re going to incorporate some structured learning back into the day, so the transition back to the structured school day in August will go smoothly. But for now the kids are truly enjoying a break. I’m also working on getting Jadon out of the habit of midday naps. Turns out there will be no rest time in the school day schedule! I was shocked to learn that; I thought naps were part of all Kindergarten days.

Starting in July I’m going to up the ante on Caleb’s toilet training during the day as well. He’s going to spend more time in underwear instead of a Pullup. Not looking forward to this at all. However, it is TIME! I have been changing diapers for 5 1/2 consecutive years! ENOUGH!!!!!

Gonna start posting more in July. Thinking of putting Breakfast Blogging into our schedule, probably alongside Jadon’s Journaling. We’ll see.

The Can from China

Hubby forwarded me this email today and I was wowed. How on earth do we miss these little things we can do to solve our own problems?

I was buying food the other day at the grocery store. On the label of some products it said “From China.” For example, the Our Family brand of mandarin oranges says right on the can “From China.” I was shocked! So for a few more cents I bought the Liberty Gold brand or the Dole brand since they’re from California. Takes forever just to buy food and do label reading! 

Are we Americans as dumb as we appear?  Or is it that we just do not think? While the Chinese knowingly and intentionally export inferior, and even toxic, products and dangerous toys and goods to be sold in American markets, the media wrings its hands and criticizes the ex-Bush Administration for perceived errors. Yet 70% of Americans believe that the trading privileges afforded to the Chinese should be suspended. Well, duh..why do you need the government to suspend trading privileges? SIMPLY DO IT YOURSELF, AMERICA!!

Just look on the bottom or label of every product you buy, and if it says ‘Made in China’ or ‘PRC’ (and that now includes Hong Kong), simply choose another product, or none at all. You will be amazed at how dependent you are on Chinese products, and you will be equally amazed at what you can do without. Easter is just an example. Who needs plastic eggs to celebrate Easter? If you must have eggs, use real ones and benefit some American farmer. 

The point is do not wait for the government to act; just go ahead and assume control on your own.

THINK ABOUT THIS:   If 200 million Americans refuse to buy just $20 each of Chinese goods, that’s a billion dollar trade imbalance resolved in our favor . . . fast! The downside? Some American businesses will feel a temporary pinch from having foreign stockpiles of inventory. Wahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

The solution? Let’s give them fair warning and send our own message. Most of the people who have been reading about this matter are planning on implementing this on June 4 and continue it until July 4. That is only one month of trading losses, but it will hit the Chinese for 1/12th of the total, or 8%, of their American exports. Then they will at least have to ask themselves if the benefits of their arrogance and lawlessness were worth it.

Remember ~ June 4 to July 4

If we can’t live without cheap Chinese goods for one month out of our lives, WE DESERVE WHAT WE GET!

Pass it on, America!

Emotional Constipation

Sorry for the lack of updates (Mom). I’m there again, that place where there’s too much to say and words just won’t come to say it all. For the purpose of self-preservation it seems my emotions have been given a local anesthetic–only my feelings for others register right now. Feelings about myself and my life have been numbed. I’m hoping this season will pass quickly, that someday soon I’ll be reacquainted with the essence of me. But I’m kind of lost at the moment, so I won’t be blogging much until I get where ever I’m going. In the meantime, thanks for loving me, despite me.

The Savings Game

I’ve gotten heavily into bargain shopping and coupon clipping. I’m still no good at shopping, because the bottom line is I hate to shop. In fact Hollis took over grocery shopping for awhile because he says we can’t afford for me to do it. He created this spreadsheet of items we regularly purchase. He visited various stores and recorded their prices. Then he patronized each store based on the lowest price for items we needed. Don’t ask me if we saved more money this way; I was never shown any evidence.

Anyway with the world’s economy being being portrayed as it is, there have been many television programs about saving money and ways to do it. Before, I was a casual bargain shopper. If I had a coupon or if it was on sale, cool. If I didn’t or it wasn’t, no biggie.  However lately it’s gotten fun for me. Not shopping; I still hate that. But saving money…now that’s a good time to be had! I’m also a bit of a nerd when I get into something because I like to have “proper tools.” I found this thing, The Couponizer, online and I want to save up now to buy it. Isn’t it cool?! Yes I do see the irony in saving money to buy something to help me save money, but it’s pretty. If any of you have more frugal suggestions on how to get this organized (especially YOU, Megan B.), I am totally open.

A Tale from the Bottomless Pit

Yesterday I gave in to a long-time craving for McDonald’s apple pie. I bought two for $1. And to make sure I could enjoy my treat in peace I also purchased fries for my sons. Nevertheless, I still ended up having the following conversation with Jadon:

“Mommy, what are those?”

“Apple pies.”

“Apple pies! Wow! What’s in ‘em?”

“Mushy brown apples and dirty brown slime.”

“EWWW! … Can I have one?”

So Amazing

One of Caleb’s therapists told me a long time ago that because he had already mastered identifying letters and knew their sounds as well it was possible he’d learn to read before he learned to speak. That sounded nuts to me at the time. However these days I’m not so sure this won’t be the case. Once again Caleb has challenged my perspective of what life is supposed to be like.

So Much To Say, So Little Time

I can’t imagine trying to get all this out and keeping it coherent all at once; so I’m just going to start and we’ll see where it goes.

So for starters I’ve lost some of my hearing. Like every year hay fever kicked in for me at the end of last month. I’m congested in my head and in my chest, my sinuses are already impacted and my nose runs like a faucet. Somewhere inside of seeking relief from all that stuffiness I must have damaged my ears. I hope it’s not permanent. I’m not a happy person right now, but I’ll try to keep it light.

In a few weeks Jadon graduates from preschool. They took “senior” portraits and everything! And yesterday I got his invitation to the ceremony. I am floored. They are taking this very seriously. Jumping back we visited Jadon’s new school last month. They had a Beginner’s Day for rising Kindergartners. He even got to ride the school bus. He seems very intrigued by the whole deal. For days after he kept asking when he could start at the new school. That’s always a good sign transition won’t be hard. He will begin his school career in a combination classroom, which means he’ll start in a class where both a Kindergarten and 1st grade curriculum will be taught concurrently. We decided to go this route because the kid’s already reading at the 1st grade level, and doing simple math. The combination classroom opportunity was a big reason we chose the school, so we’re all pretty excited to see what comes of it. 

 

Jadon’s been pretty funny this week. Monday, Hollis took the boys with him to get some medicine for me. Being the wonderful husband that he is, he also picked up some comfort food, Peanut M&Ms. He must have told Jadon that he was buying me the candy to make me feel better. So now every time I moan because of the sinus pressure, or blow my nose he tells me, “If your nose hurts, that means you need to eat some M&Ms and you’ll feel better!”    OK! I’ll do whatever it takes not to go through what I went through last year.

Also on the Jadon front, he’s pretty excited about his strawberry plants. I finally came through on my word to help him grow strawberries this Summer. Here are our friends we’ve been tending since Spring began. There’s only one flower in this picture, but since it was taken quite a few more flowers have appeared. So once the petals fall off, we’ll be on our way to seeing and enjoying the fruit of our labor, literally.

 

Today is the last day of Caleb’s antifungal treatment. Yay! Soon we can begin chelating. First he has to go for one more blood test. I’ve taken him to this lab three times now. The last time he fought so hard, even with me and two nurses in the effort, both of his arms ended up bruised. I can’t go through that again. So it’s up to Hollis now to take him and hold him. I wish a urine sample would work, or that they could test his blood by sticking me with the needle. But alas it is what it is.

On another note, he just finished his 3rd week of exceptional children’s classes with CMS. He has to be at school by 7:45am. That’s earlier than anyone else in this house has to be anywhere. I’m shocked 3 year olds can even be taught that early in the morning! His teacher says he’s doing great. When I picked him up from the preschool he attends on the days he doesn’t have EC classes, Ms. Michelle his teacher brought him out to me in the car line and the first thing she said was, “Nikki, he said my name! Just out of nowhere he says, ‘Oh, Michelle.’ I was so shocked I almost didn’t believe I heard right!” Took him almost the whole school year but he finally figured out how to get her attention. Thattaboy!

More good news about Caleb is he’s grown out of his strong egg, tuna, chicken and milk allergies. He can have cheese again! Yay! We learned of those allergies through a skin prick test a few years ago. We had to have a blood test done last month for a more thorough screening of his food allergies; that’s how we learned he’s grown out of the former ones. However, this new test revealed strong to moderate allergies to other food we’ve been told to keep him away from–asparagus, broccoli, cantaloupe, cashew, coconut, coffee, gluten, mustard, oat, orange, rye, safflower, sesame, tomato, walnut, watermelon and wheat. Foods he’s only slightly allergic to are avocado, barley, celery, corn, grapefruit, lemon, milk, peanut, chili & green peppers and rice. These foods he can partake of once every three days. But the kid can eat cheese now! Woohoo! I wondered why I never saw reactions to these “allergies” before. Then I learned that allergic reactions can differ from the typical itchy eyes, sneezing, runny nose or anaphylaxis.  I read that in an allergic person

the brain and central nervous system react to foods, heavy metals, chemicals, immunizations and other substances as if they were poisons, when in most cases these substances are neutral, or even beneficial, to the body.

So Caleb’s allergic response to these foods is he displays more behaviors associated with autism. My hope is that once his body is restored to health, by removing the mercury and lead, and by suppressing the overgrowth of yeast, these foods will no longer invoke allergic reactions.

I’m sweeping my brain to get to other stuff that’s been clogging my mind and preventing me from blogging, but since there’s more stuff in my head right now for my thoughts to hide in I’m coming up with nothing. I’ll blog the thoughts as they are released, later. Until then, giggle at these:

Caleb Today

When I dropped Jadon and Caleb off at preschool this morning, Caleb’s teacher told me something that has lightened my day. Their class took Spring pictures on Monday and the school used the same photographer they used in October. Ms. Michelle said the photographer remembered Caleb and how challenging it was to get his cooperation the last time. I was told this time, however, the photographer was amazed at the difference in him. She said he listened to instructions, doing what he was told. He didn’t try to get up or run away. Ms. Michelle said the photographer just kept saying how amazing was the difference, and that he was like a totally different child! She also thinks the photographer took a boatload of pictures of him because he was laughing, having fun, and being so easy to work with!

I am so thankful for every bit of knowledge God has dropped in my lap. I’m thankful for His guidance that’s led us one way, and arrested us from going another. I’m so grateful for every prayer on Caleb’s behalf, and every friend who has made any effort to be teacher, cheerleader, play therapist and hugger for him. Who he will become is being influenced not only by Hollis or me, but by every person in his environment.

As far as his health goes it bears recording where we are. Right now we are at the beginning of the anti-fungal process to get rid of the overgrowth of yeast in his gut. I tried to go the natural way using raw, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar. Once I made him a drink using a cup of purified water, 1 tsp of vinegar and some stevia to sweeten it. He drink it the first time. After that he wouldn’t touch the stuff. So now we’ve moved on to a medicine. He’s four days into a 21-day treatment. Once all the yeast is taken care of we can begin the heavy metal chelation in earnest. We’d started the process before the anti-fungal using a vegetable-base chelator that just attracted and bound to the metal toxins, to be excreted through his digestive system. The result was he broke out in hives and a rash that threatened to cover his entire body and made him itch unbearably. At one point his back and butt looked like raw ground beef. Even Jadon was like “Oh my gosh! Look at Caleb’s butt!” We thought the reaction was caused by the chelator itself. Turns out the chelator was the indirect cause. According to my research 

Some people are so toxic that when we mobilize the offending metals they experience a detox reaction. … Mercury overloaded individuals may experience a rash or irritability. … Rash can occur, most likely on the basis of Mercury detoxification through the skin.

He was excreting mercury from his SKIN! So turns out the rash and hives were signs of good things going on. Who-da thunk? Last Friday (after Thursday’s nightmare) I tried giving him just a little bit of the chelator, so we wouldn’t have to stop the chelation process altogether. Immediately the hives showed up on his back and butt and he started digging like crazy into his skin. I rushed to the medicine cabinet to get the antihistamine and we were out! I threw Caleb in the truck, still scratching like crazy, and rushed to the drugstore. I ran in pulling my whiny, itchy child behind me and tried unsuccessfully to locate some itch cream. I caught the eye of a pharmacist behind the counter and simply yelled “Itch cream!” Perceiving my emergency, he yelled back “Aisle 15!” I found the stuff, sat on the floor in the aisle, laid Caleb on his stomach over my legs, yanked down his pants and slathered him! The kid is still traumatized. Even now he won’t trust Hollis or me behind his back with any type of lotion; he cries and tries to grab our hands.

Anyway we were told that chelators feed the yeast, and so that’s why we haven’t started the heavy stuff yet. So now we’ve stopped even the lightweight stuff until all the yeast is taken care of. No need to make him suffer any more than necessary.

Are we having fun or what!

Nightmare Come True

A few weeks ago I blogged about using a harness on Caleb when we go out. As much as I hate having my child on a “leash”, I realize it is necessary for his safety. Well today, even with the harness, I managed to lose him briefly. A few years may be subtracted from my lifespan due to the stress of that moment. But as scary as the experience was it could have been MUCH worse.

We went to Discovery Place today in uptown. Jadon ran into a teacher from his preschool who also has a son in Jadon’s class, so we all roamed around together. An exhibit going on right now is about the circus. There is an “enclosed” section where there are costumes and props with a stage for putting on a show. I use quotation marks around the word ”enclosed” because the area was not as enclosed as I originally thought. We all went in to play for a bit. Caleb lifted up a fake barbell and I went to grab my BlackBerry to take a picture. That was the beginning of a series of unfortunate events.

My phone was not where it was supposed to be. Since Jadon was still playing with his friend whose parents were playing with them both, I took the opportunity to retrace my steps taking Caleb with me. I didn’t find my phone so I headed back to the little stage area and released Caleb into the “enclosure.”  I sat at the entrance/exit and did a thorough check of my bag looking for my phone. When I didn’t find it I said a little prayer that someone honest would find it and turn it in. Then I went to play with the boys. Two trips around the stage later and I realized Caleb was nowhere in sight! CALEB! My non-verbal child who does not respond to his name and has a tendency to wander if given the freedom had somehow managed to get away from me in a crowded place! In that moment I realized I was smack in the middle of my worst nightmare. Admittedly I forgot about my eldest son as well as my missing phone and ran around aimlessly for a few seconds searching. I was about to scream into the air “NOBODY MOVE! I’VE LOST MY SON!” But then I caught a glimpse of the Kapla exhibit where kids were building things out of wood blocks. I know my son, and THAT definitely would fascinate him. I rushed over just in time to catch him before he knocked over a tower being built by an unsuspecting 12-year-old girl. With Caleb securely in my grasp, and me able to breathe normally again, we made our way back to where I’d left Jadon. But before I could get to him, the fire alarms went off! Again I felt life drain from me. I was teetering between relief I’d found Caleb before it happened and panic because I didn’t have Jadon. Against the rules I headed the opposite way of the nearest exit. Just as I reached the stage area Jadon flew out with his hands over his ears, scared of the alarms. Finally with both kids safely in tow we made our way out of the building. By the time we were able to stop and rest I didn’t know what to feel first; the experience was overwhelming. Jadon however felt no such conflicting feelings; all he wanted was to go back inside and finish playing! I wanted to go home. But then there was still the case of my missing BlackBerry.

About a half hour later the “all clear” was given and most people went back inside. Sidenote: I just realized I never found out what caused the alarm, yet I still went back in the building. That’s unlike me. Anyway I made a deal with Jadon that if I found my phone, he could go back and finish playing. Thankfully my prayer was answered and indeed an honest person had found and turned in my phone. So back upstairs we went for about another hour so Jadon could play.

As I type this thinking back on the day’s events I am amazed (and a little impressed) with how I handled everything. I’m not at all being egotistic. I’m just really awed that those very stressful situations didn’t leave me a nervous wreck, and we were able to still enjoy the rest of our day. It had to have been by Grace. Really. I’m not that strong.

Not Your Typical Easter Morning

My church (Freedom House Church) is known for its eccentricity. Nothing is done as usual; the goal is always to keep the gospel fresh and relevant. This past Easter was no different. Besides the carnival atmosphere outside–moon bouncers, funnel cakes, ribbon fries, kettle corn, 10,000 candy-filled egg hunt, etc.–inside things were over the top as well. And more importantly, as the gospel of Jesus was lifted high above it all, about 180 people were drawn to Him!

Check out how each service began: