The "Can't Eat Anything" Diet

Oh Jude dude. How I don't know what to do with you...

We are back at square one with Jude's food sensitivities. Just when I thought it was getting better. He has been getting fussier and fussier again, and not sleeping one bit! And the poo. Ohhh the green, runny poo. Everything that screams "food sensitivities!!" is present.

So. I am starting a new "no food" diet. Just kidding. But really, I'm not eating eggs, dairy, soy and wheat. In case that doesn't make things difficult, I notice super fussiness when I eat onions, peppers, tomatoes, acidic foods and beans. Sigh.

Why not just switch to formula? Oh, I have asked myself that many times. Usually when I'm up from 2:30-3:30am with a screaming baby. Selfishly, I want to keep nursing him. This is our last biological child, and since I wasn't able to nurse Ella, I'm fighting for this a bit! Plus it's so good for him. PLUS, if he does have sensitivities, formula probably won't help until I can pinpoint what it is.

That's why I'm not quite giving up yet. Yet. Jude has his 6 month check up in a month, and I want to be able to share with the pediatrician that I have explored ALL options. I can do this for a month or two, and if it helps I can continue for a while longer. I just want to figure out what makes my baby's belly hurt so badly.

I don't need a ton of variety in what I eat, I just need to have food available when I'm hungry! Today I stocked up on lots of "safe" foods. I eat way more healthy right now then I ever have in my whole life!

This is where I hit "save" and forgot to finish the post for almost a week! So now, I continue...

We have started sleeping Jude in his own bed and it is going SO well. Way better than it did with Ella. Turns out the kid prefers his own bed. Poor guy. I think part of his nighttime issues was that he likes to be left alone while sleeping! Like mother, like son :)

Seriously, we can pretty much just put him in his crib awake, and he'll be sound asleep in minutes. Sometimes we have to go in and give him a little pat on the back, but he's getting better.

I was beginning to have doubts if it was good for an infant to be left alone, screaming his little lungs out and wanting me. But this once again reminded me that it is good for him to sleep in his own bed, peacefully. It has brought more routine to his day and kids do so well with (flexible) routine.

Just as we embarked on this "sleep training" week and strict eating, Jude caught a nasty little cold. I was SO discouraged the first few days of eating for him, when he began waking up in the middle of the night screaming. I figured it was something I ate, but we think he had an ear ache! Poor guy. We gave him some tylenol finally, and he is doing so much better.

Which means I am encouraged by the effects of not eating gluten, dairy, egg and soy. Thank goodness. I still need to give it a week or two to completely exit our bodies, but so far I'm seeing a huge improvement in fussiness and complexion. Green runny poo is still here, but it's improving a bit.

He's a happy baby when his belly is happy, and when his belly is happy, his mommy is happy. And when his mommy is happy, well, we are all happy :) Ha. Just kidding. Mostly.

I am already sick of cold weather. Elijah and Ella are too. They miss playing outside every day. More tv watching has been going on than I would prefer. I need to be creative again. Feeling in a bit of a rut. Sigh.

Ella is talking SO much more than she was a few months ago. Finally. She is learning her ABC's, which is super cute. She has a wicked cold right now, but she's a trooper as long as she has her nuk :)

Elijah is into his trains still, if not more so. He builds all these bridges and crazy tunnels. It's cute :) He is starting to play for extended periods of time with one toy. He prefers staying home and playing to almost anything.

Ella...well Ella still likes to destroy house. She's a little tornado. At least she's cute!

Besides Jude's eating and sleeping issues, he is such a cute chubbers. He is starting to grasp toys and shake them around. He loves to play on his belly or watch the kids race around the house. He has the best belly laugh (like his brother!) and the cheesiest open mouth grin. I love it. He also realized he has a voice. I always go to him, thinking he's unhappy, but he's just noisy!!

Joel is loving his new job. It really has been such a blessing. The job itself fell into Joel's lap, and everything else that came with it has been really good for our family. I love the consistent income, the decent hours and at night we have Joel's full attention! He doesn't have to think about paperwork or make phone calls, and I love it. This is the last year (hopefully) we have to file complicated, personal business taxes, and from here on out it should be easy as pie. Joel is enjoying the simplicity of it all. He's their first employee and although it's an established business (they have always used subcontractors), it's at the beginning stages of expanding, which is exciting. It's great for Joel to be a part of something where he can use his knowledge, skill and ideas to help bring vision into the company. We are excited to see where this leads!

The local YMCA had a day a few weeks ago where you could become members with no membership fee. We decided to join and it has been awesome. I have wanted to work out more often, but never found time in my busy day. I can put the kiddo's in their child watch program (they love it), and not only exercise, but get a little break in my day to do something for myself. We have 2 Y's near us, and we can use both. The one a bit farther away has a splash pool for little kids, so we hope to take advantage of that more often too! It's been so much fun to have a change of scenery over these long winter months.

Well, I'm thinking I better go do something. I've been terribly lazy lately....so lazy I don't really feel like proof reading this. Excuse any mistakes, please!