Potty Time!

omg so baby has been interested in the potty the last week esp the last day or so and she peed in the potty! and if she wasnt backed up she would have gone number two once too haha. you should see her she grabs tp and wipes herself too hehe. as well H has been asking to have her diaper changed more often and when addy "asks" to go on the potty we put her on too and she has gone once today too with a dry diaper at that! both my girls are growing up so proud of you two! i may just get myself a diaper free baby yet haha.

today she was on my lap as i went and grabbed a fist of tp and began wipeing so i just put her on the potty then she continues her thing for 10 min... then H wanted to go too so i put her on the big toilet while her sis played ont eh potty chair H went and got off and flushed. then addy proceded to put the lid up and try to climb on the big potty! haha then thats when she almost did number 2. no go that time as i think she had just gone.

bad fast forward when daddy gets home he goes potty, she follows him in and wants to go so we put the chair back together (it turns to a stool too) and with her diaper on she tries to sit down on it haha. we get her ready and she goes not once but twice! then H follows in to try too (her sis got a cookie for going so im sure that was her motivation) she does her thing doesnt go gets off... and addy wants to go on the big potty like her sis again haha...

some jokes.

was on the boards at truehope and happened on a post from 2009. it brought me back and i remember how confadant i was then and how well i was emotionaly. i'm close now but  my hormones are taking me for a ride haha...

but in the thread was these two jokes.
1.
It was flooding in California. As the flood waters were rising, a man was on the stoop of his house and another man in a row boat came by. The man in the row boat told the man on the stoop to get in and hed save him. The man on the stoop said, no, he had faith in God and would wait for God to save him. The flood waters kept rising and the man had to go to the second floor of his house. A man in a motor boat came by and told the man in the house to get in because he had come to rescue him. The man in the house said no thank you. He had perfect faith in God and would wait for God to save him. The flood waters kept rising. Pretty soon they were up to the mans roof and he got out on the roof. A helicopter then came by, lowered a rope and the pilot shouted down in the man in the house to climb up the rope because the helicopter had come to rescue him. The man in the house wouldnt get in. He told the pilot that he had faith in God and would wait for God to rescue him. The flood waters kept rising and the man in the house drowned. When he got to heaven, he asked God where he went wrong. He told God that he had perfect faith in God, but God had let him drown.
"What more do you want from me?" asked God. "I sent you two boats and a helicopter."

2.
A woman who is in her nature grumpy, chronically hard done by, and never content is at the beach with her young son. She nags at him not to get sand in his shoes, not to get too close to the water, not to pick up nasty dirty shells and bits of seaweed and put them in his pockest. He is playing by the edge of the water when suddenly he is swept away by a freak wave. He cant swim, and she is certain he will drown.

In that moment, she realizes that she has wasted her life being negative and unpleasant and not appreciating what she has. She drops to her knees and begs God to return her son to her, in return for which she will dedicate the rest of her life to being grateful and will never complain about anything again. Miraculously, another freak wave deposits her son on the beach in front of her, unharmed, not even wet. The woman grabs her son and hugs him - and then holds him at arms length, looks at him and frowns. God says, okay, seriously, whats with the face? I gave you your son back, didnt I? And the woman says, he had a hat.

more weird days.

hayleigh has been acting off again, but this morning woke up her chearful self so happy...

been looking into the food connection. though hayls isnt considered autistic (now) she would have been 1-2 years ago. I read up on it and female hormones have a protective effect on the brain hence why autisim occurs more in males than females.

If H had been a boy she likely would have been. but she still has traits and her body still has the same issues that go with autism, like food intolerance causing gut problems. her body *is* autistic but her mind is mostly spared.

I've noticed on her off days her tummy is bloated and her eye wanders and she is very spacy more sensitive to sounds and touch and pain. needs to be held more more cuddles etc. also ears and cheeks were red.

yesterday her tummy was distended and she barely ate and today she is herself. its happened too many times to deny the causation.

I found myeslf ont he autisim mercury mailing list a few years ago after it was mentaioned on a forum for the vitamins i take for my mood. I have no doubt their suggestions will be helpful for her but i am paralized to make the leap. im scared. some of the things i did before she went in for her assessment for autisim worked and seem to have had a direct relationship with her *growing out of it*

at 10 months old I started the vitamins myself and was breastfeeding. at ten months old she started developing!

anyway i could go on and on about the early days till now. but all i know is my instincts are often right dispite my lack of confidance that it is.

so far to date we have found a few forums dedicated to special diets or enzymes that may help her.
trying low oxalates
sara's diet
phenols.. 
more phenols 
enzymes for phenols
epsom salts this one is a big one with hayleigh. her really bad day we skipped giving her a bath. last night she not only got a bath but i slathered home made cream on her. along with rubbing her tummy with castor oil.

the first diet i found was SCD specific carboydrate diet which is actually treating for phenols by removing those foods. which is many foods.  but it was entirely daunting and would not work in my home with my meat loveing carb eating husband who honestly needs to stop eating how he does but i doubt he will. but he has some symptoms similar to hayls.so once I get them both started on no fenol enzymes we will see how it goes. we do notice a great improvement with Hayls being on the enzymes she has now from enzymedica digest gold which is another brand and a broad spectrum enzyme but phenols are covered partly in it as well. it's just more expensive.

i am still looking into more biomedical things (suppliments) so far consistantly its enzymes probiotics zinc and magnesium.

also I notice addison is also developing some of the same digestive problems.

Hayleigh and the blood sugar connection.

not entirely sure but she may be diabetic. or just not process it well.

i had been suspicious about this for a while but thought i was imagining it and being a worried mother. so i never brought it up to the dr. but her melt downs oten revolve aorund food somehow.

so i tested her with my meter. her levels were moderatly high before eating and got lower 2 hours after eating the first time i checked.

this time she had just grabbed a thing of juice but her levels were very high. i mean she had just grabbed it. tested again a few min later and it was even higher.

she often has melt downs that seam like hypo glycemia cus she is fine when she eats but maybe her blood sugar is too high and eating lowers it? i dont know.

will be monitoring for a while to see if there is anything to worry about and we will see a peid soon.
fingers crossed.

buffalo allergy?

well we knew it was possible addy may be intolerant to buffalo too as it is bovine protein as is cow milk and beef. but she hadnt reacted when i ate it like she did with beef milk and soy. so i made meatloaf with 1/4 buffalo in it the rest was pork and turkey. (one of the best ive made too!) addison loved it and had seconds even refused her veggies to have more meat... (she loves veggies.)

but about when she should have started to digest it... around midnight (late dinner) she threw it alll up. and seemed completely fine after. we will try again in a little bit to confirm. but this is getting to me i miss red meat lol. she is much better today but still off. it may be a bug, but it takes days to weeks for the protein to work out of breast milk.

fingers crossed. sigh.

Et tu Addy?

well my suspicions addy had similar tummy issues to H are confirmed in my mind. not that she had much chance to excape them with her gene pool.

she has always had weird bowel habits and she had the strangest watery/mucousy poops often green when she was newborn till she first started eating solids. (could be a sign of alergy and she had only had breast milk meaning if thats what it was, it was a very strong one) but now like H after a tummy bug she has had near constant diarrhoea. (this was nearly two months ago) and in the last 4 months or so she has stopped growing. H had stopped growing too around the time she hit about the same weight, but also in common is that addy is eating the same foods at 10 mo that h was at 16 mo and the tummy bug. H didn't grow for an entire 8 months.

also H didnt always have the dark circles under her eyes. well after age 3 mo or so it wasnt constnant (she was early and very sleepy and I was so sick so It was likely due to that)

Addy wasn't born with them but within the week of her birth especially after i ate one of the offending foods there they were... allergy shiners... sigh.

like her sister probiotics and Anti fungals help, however i think much like her sister there is something in the chemical structure in foods she just isnt digesting. and now she is ten months old getting close to a year old and not gaining weight (unless i up my supply) I think it's time to try her on digestive enzymes too. it really seems to fit the phenol / and or leutin reactions... and unlike H addy gets hyper and has trouble sleeping and gets moody, H got sleepy and passed out. Addy fits the symptoms better. so I won't hesitate this time esp since I know more now. I just feel odd giving an infant supplements.

that girl can eat like there is no tomorrow and still slow gain... something is up but since she gained so well to start it's not that obvious or even concerning (yet) and i would rather it not be.

the peid is relieved i am so proactive and found something that works for my kids. He says there is just so much they dont know about in medicine.

cry it out/ detachment parenting. and harvard study on touch.

study out of harvard highlighting babies need for touch.

"
The pair say that American childrearing practices are influenced by fears that children will grow up dependent. But they say that parents are on the wrong track: physical contact and reassurance will make children more secure and better able to form adult relationships when they finally head out on their own.
"We've stressed independence so much that it's having some very negative side effects," Miller said."

 http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1998/04.09/ChildrenNeedTou.html

in other words having a strong bond with your child by responding to their cries actually makes them more independent and confidant later in life. ...

that being said it's really hard to know what will work for you children in how to raise them. each child is different and I firmly believe if you have to read about it in a book it's likely going against your instincts on how to raise that particular child. in my case it came down to my own confidence in myself... if you have to hide in another room to cry yourself when your child is crying (like i did often) , its not good for either of you. (though with things like PPD in play as was the case with me with my first it is necessary to recollect yourself. but then you go back in if you can handle it if not you ask for help, i had my husband and the ministry along with a family counsellor a therapist and psyc doc along with PPD support group and my public health nurse... but it is in yours and the child's best interest to not make disaster days like that become the norm) i dont think it's ok to let them cry (alone) even if nothing works (ive had those days)... they at least know you are there for them, if you are there in the room with them. there seriously were days i held and rocked both my girls while we both cried.

Attachment parenting was suggested to me by my infant development worker to help H out of her autistic traits and help her develop more typically. I believe though i had a hard time fighting the lack of instinct and attachment i had with her that all i did with attachment parenting helped her become the strong independent 3 year old she is today. she still has her days but she has come so far since. but in all honesty it was completely contrary to the kind of parent i thought i would be. I was an avid Super Nanny viewer and was all read up on tough love and trying to bend the children itno fitting into your life... until i had them myself. it just didn't seem right to go against their needs to suit myself. I read somewhere that havening a relationship with your child shouldn't be an adversarial one. they dont have another way to comunicate than to cry. if we feel we are butting heads with them the real problem is how we are reacting to the situation, and not the actual situation. I had to learn to have lower expectations on my children and  we three are much happier for it. Co sleeping baby wearing and responding to cries in due time has all helped both my girls, its a struggle to balance their needs but we're getting there... they both needed more touch than average for different reasons. and i indulged it with addy her instant banshee cries have gotten slowly to more of an average cry. =)

sleep has been a MAJOR issue around our home with Hubby not sleeping well with his snoring and  children yes even the tree year old wakes up at night and needs us to help her soothe... and its normal!

from the no cry sleep solution:

The No-Cry Sleep Solution Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night

Buy the book at Amazon: USA | Canada | UK When Your Baby Wakes Frequently To Breastfeed or Bottle-Feed If your baby is waking up every hour or two to breastfeed, bottle-feed, or locate his pacifier, you may be wondering just what it is that causes him to wake up so often. The realiity is that brief nighttime awakenings are a normal part of human sleep, regardless of age. All babies experience these. The difference with your baby, who requires nighttime care every hour or two, is that he is involving you in all his brief awakening periods. Your baby makes a “sleep association,” wherein he associates certain things with falling asleep and believes he needs these things to fall asleep. My baby, Coleton, spent much time in his early months in my arms, his little head bobbing to the tune of my computer keyboard. From the very moment he was born, he slept beside me, nursing to sleep for every nap and every bedtime. By the time I looked up, he was 12 months old, firmly and totally entrenched in a breastfeeding-to-sleep association. Your baby, like my Coleton, has learned to associate sucking (having your nipple or his bottle or pacifier in his mouth) with sleeping. I have heard a number of sleep experts refer to this as a “negative sleep association.” I certainly disagree, and so would my baby! It is probably the most positive, natural, pleasant sleep association a baby can have. The problem with this association is not the association itself, but our busy lives. If you had nothing whatsoever to do besides take care of your baby, this would be a very pleasant way to pass your days and nights until he naturally outgrew the need. After all, this is natural. You may not even see this as a problem, in which case it is not. It's all a matter of your perception and your personal needs. -emphasis mine

http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth/books/0071381392.php?nid=172&isbn=0071381392

i could not agree more that most parenting "troubles" are a matter of perception! hayls is three and still uses her sucky to sleep. almost got rid of it but wasn't able to once she got sick this winter. if she had been breastfed from the source she likely would still be doing that. and i personally dont see anything wrong with it.


anyway i have many ideas on this subject and before i start sounding judgmental as that is not my intent, and the only one i judge is myself and my thoughts on what is needed before i even had them. as ignorant as those ideas turned out to be ... lol.