Report

Nick: Doesn't think he's tolerating the yogurt well yet. That's the first thing that has bothered him. He continues to feel good, have lots of energy, etc.

Me: I'm continuing with the anti-fungal supplements. It will be at least another week or two before I will be able to take the full recommended dose. Every time I up the dose, I have about two days of terrible gas, fatigue, brain fog, and sometimes a headache if I'm not careful with the probiotic foods. Then the next day I feel better than I have in maybe years, until I up the dose again. The mix of feelings I have about larger doses are almost comical - I can hardly wait to get well so I really want to just take the full dose and go to bed for a few days, but reality ("Oh yeah, I have to take care of my children") keeps me adding one pill at a time.

I noticed a little yellowing of the skin on the palms of my hands. Hmm...too many carrots and winter squash, probably. In the past couple of days I have tried to lean toward green and white veggies instead, but we're about to intro juice again so... Anybody have any thoughts about this?

We added olive oil yesterday, and to my surprise, everyone but Nick had a little diarrhea. OLIVE OIL?! I, of course, added more than the "few drops" we're supposed to start with, so I don't think I'll consider this an intolerance. Tomorrow we will do the few drops and see how everyone does. Prior to GAPS I had been cooking with it in large amounts, so I'm fairly certain we will tolerate it well.

Hannah: She has the yellowish skin as well. I haven't noticed it with Audrey or Tess, but they have Nick's olive skin tone while Hannah's is like mine. I wonder if it just doesn't show up in darker skin? Hannah got rather yellow as a toddler, before we took her off gluten - to the point that people noticed it. Is this a liver thing?

She continues to complain of stomachaches, though it seems less the past few days. She has not been having regular accidents, for the first time ever. The only exception to that is if she has diarrhea. There must be a physical and/or developmental reason for that, since Audrey, who is 16 months younger, is able to get to the bathroom. I have stopped commenting on it if she has an accident, just quietly cleaning her up. She is expressing embarrassment about it to me, for the first time. I see that as a positive thing, because I think before when I was frustrated with her, she was being defensive about it. Live and learn. This parenting thing is not an exact science, thankfully.

Audrey: has been scratching a bit as I relax more on the salicylates. Tonight I tried giving her two No-Fenol with dinner, to see if that helps. Her arms are still clear, but her legs look a bit splotchy red and she has one small splotch on the right side of her mouth that flares after eating salicylate foods. I really see a difference in her since starting the diet. She seems...sturdier. Her face has some softness to it. She's definitely taller. Her eyes are bright. She's more willing to try new things and be outgoing. She laughs nonstop.

Tessa: is getting all four eye teeth at the same time. You can see the little white points just below the skin. In my experience with my kids, these are the most painful ones. Ouch. I have a good teething homeopathic, thankfully. She had a day of high fever, a clear runny nose, and lots of messy diapers. Can't really tell much about the food though, because of the teeth. I handed her a toddler fork and served her dinner on a plastic plate instead of her high chair tray last night. She proceeded to eat her entire meal with that fork and had an absolute blast! I don't remember my other two doing that so early (not quite 16 months), but she does have big sisters to watch!

Haven't taken on the soup thing yet, between Tess teething and me dealing with die off. This has also been on of those weeks where we have had tons of requests for our time. I alternate between saying no to everyone, and having busy weeks. My threshold for being overwhelmed is pretty low, so I say no a lot. Tomorrow we're supposed to meet friends at the library, Thursday is playgroup at our house, and Friday an old friend arrives to stay the weekend. Somewhere in there I need to grocery shop, cook, clean, arrange a guest room, and buy Easter stuff for the kids. Whew.

I do wish I could find some food prep shortcuts. I find it difficult to keep up with dishes, cooking, laundry, housekeeping, while still homeschooling and having friendships. I'm hoping that as I start to feel better, this will also get better.