(Written by Susan)
Day 4
To start off my day, I had my usual mix of Chex with Craisins. It is such a tasty breakfast and gives me energy for my busy mornings. Today, I did not even feel hungry for a morning snack. Lunch consisted of chicken, rice, corn and a roll. Not only do leftovers taste great, but they are also quick and easy. For something sweet after lunch I had some grapes. Of course in the afternoon I had my usual trail mix snack.

I decided to prepare ham and potato soup for dinner which is one of Ryan’s favorite meals. Tonight, I made a couple of adjustments to my usual recipe.

Ham and Potato Soup

• 1 small onion
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium carrot shredded
• 6 tablespoons cornstarch
• 4 cups diced potatoes
• 5 cups milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Shredded cheddar cheese

Directions: Cook the potatoes and save 2 cups of the water from the potatoes. Melt the butter and sauté the onions. Add the carrots and sauté. Mix in the cornstarch, salt and pepper. Slowly add the milk and heavy cream. Stir regularly while bringing mixture to a boil. After mixture has begun to thicken, add the potatoes, reserved water, and ham. Cook for a few more minutes to warm ham. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese on top.

To go with the soup, we had leftover dinner rolls which were delicious when dipped into the creamy soup. I felt very satisfied after dinner tonight and did not have anything else to eat or drink. As I mentioned in previous posts I have been feeling better. I am not positive that the diet is the only factor but from my reading it certainly can play a huge role.

(Written by Susan)
Day 3
While we have not converted 100% over to a gluten free diet…my husband still snacks on foods containing gluten (Darn you Girl Scout cookies!!)…all of our family meals have been gluten free. This is the third day of our gluten free week and I believe I have been feeling better. I have to research a little more into what others have said about the gluten free diet. Here is my day…

For breakfast I had my usual bowl of Chex with Craisins. Since finding out Rice Chex is gluten free we have been eating them like they are going out of style. It is a great cereal for breakfast or snack. For my mid-morning snack I had a piece of oatmeal bake with milk on top. I don’t mind eating the same things each day and my son Ryan seems to be just like me. When we find things we like to eat, we eat them day in and day out. Lunch was a repeat of dinner from yesterday, grilled ham and cheese with veggie sticks. For something sweet, I had some applesauce with cinnamon. There is no doubt I have been eating healthier over these past three days. My meals are more balanced with lots of fruits and vegetables. And you know what? I am not at all surprised. I am always telling people how healthy Ryan eats. He is sensitive to tomatoes, but other than that, he is able to have all fruits and vegetables. The best part is that Ryan actually likes to a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

Our afternoon snack time came and I opted for trail mix again. I think this will be a regular habit, because there are not a lot of snacks, besides fruits and vegetables that are safe for Ryan. For dinner I tried a new gluten free dinner roll recipe that turned out great! You can find the recipe here: Gluten Free Dinner Rolls. I wanted to coat the chicken with breading and decided to try something different. I crushed Chex cereal and added rosemary, thyme, salt and locatelli cheese. Next I coated the boneless, skinless chicken with egg and dipped it into my “breading” mixture. It went into the oven and baked for about 35 minutes at 380 degrees. Since I was baking my dinner rolls at the same time it made the meal come together very quickly. Per Ryan’s request, we had white rice and corn to top off the chicken entree. Dinner was delicious and now I am beginning to consider having all gluten free meals all the time. It is going to take a little more effort and a little more money, but it is great to have a table full of food, all of which can safely be eaten by Ryan. After dinner I again had a craving for something sweet. Tonight I decided to have oatmeal bake along with my hot tea. Delicious.

(Written by Susan)
Day 2
This morning I decided to have my usual breakfast, which happens to be gluten free. General Mills now make gluten free Rice Chex and they are great when accompanied by Craisins. When Ryan was ready for breakfast he wanted to have a piece of toast so I decided to try a slice of toasted freshly baked bread. As I expected, it was very good. Next I searched for an oatmeal bake recipe so I could attempt a gluten free version. I substituted applesauce for oil and raisins for the cranberries. You can check out the recipe here: Oatmeal Bake.

For lunch I had leftover meatloaf, potatoes, veggies and a slice of the homemade gluten free bread. Yum! I am a huge fan of leftovers. Next, Ryan and I tried the oatmeal bake which turned out okay. I bet it would be delicious warmed up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. While Ryan enjoyed his ice cream and oatmeal snack, I chose to not do dessert. For an afternoon snack I went back to trail mix, because it is filling and very satisfying.

Time for dinner. I opted for a simple meal since we had been playing outside right up until dinner time. I fixed grilled ham and cheese sandwiches using the same loaf of bread I baked yesterday. Greg, Ryan, Dominic and I all had sandwiches with the gluten free bread and everyone was pleased. The ham came from Heavenly Ham and I found that my local store has a gluten free ham. Hooray! If you check out the website or call your local store you will find that some locations are still be using the old spice recipe which is not gluten free. As a side to our sandwiches we had carrot and celery sticks and sliced broccoli. We used Marzetti’s Sweet Italian dressing for dipping our vegetables. If you have not tried it shame on you. It is my family’s favorite salad dressing and it is also gluten free! You can check out all the gluten free salad dressings Marzetti’s makes at their website. Shortly after dinner, I always find myself craving something sweet. Lately, I have been having a hot cup of tea with sugar and a touch of milk. Tonight, it really hit the spot.

(Written by Susan)
When my son Ryan was 6 weeks old, he was given a lollipop to taste. No harm in that, right? Within minutes he started developing hives on his cute, little face. Not sure what to do, since I was three and half hours from home, I went to the nearest pharmacy. The pharmacist recommended giving Ryan Benadryl and helped me figure out the correct dose to give him for his weight. Thankfully, this cleared up Ryan’s face and my husband and I could breathe calmly again. After speaking with the pharmacist and later Ryan’s Pediatrician, we learned that Ryan most likely reacted to the red food dye in the lollipop. Several months later I began to feed Ryan bread and noticed that he sometimes developed hives after digesting the bread. When Ryan was 9 months old I was out with a friend and I fed him a baby snack puff. Shortly after, Ryan started to get hives on his face. Within an hour they started to spread to his arms. I called Ryan’s pediatrician and brought Ryan directly to his office. The pediatrician had me pick up some medicine to give Ryan to stop the hives and recommended that we see an allergist. It has been three and a half years now since my son Ryan was diagnosed with a wheat allergy, peanut allergy and red food dye allergy.

I received a bunch of literature from the allergist and began to adjust Ryan’s diet to try to eliminate wheat, peanuts, and food dyes. In the beginning it was a challenge making sure that each food item was free from Ryan’s allergens. I had a list of ingredients commonly found in foods that the allergist said were not to be trusted as safe for Ryan. These ingredients could possibly contain wheat even though wheat was no where to be found on the food label. From time to time Ryan would have a reaction to something that he would eat and I would feel frustrated that I fed something to him that he was allergic to. Then Ryan began having skin problems and his eczema got worse. After speaking with the allergist we thought that Ryan might be sensitive to dairy. So Ryan went on a dairy free diet as well. For about two years Ryan avoided dairy until I decided to gradually start introducing it again. Thankfully Ryan seemed to do fine with dairy products which allows him to eat more foods and have a more balanced diet.

(more…)

Today was a fairly busy day.  Early on I watched the boys while Sue went for a hair cut.  Each of my boys has his own quirks and it is a blast watching them do whatever it is they are doing.  I don’t think Dominic is feeling well.  Today he was a playful little boy one minute and a screaming mad boy the next.  He would take naps periodically throughout the day but not enough to really get a rest.  We took off around noon to go to Roba’s Family Farm.  Late September, early October is one of their key times because they have a huge area of pumpkins for purchase, a little petting zoo with goats, sheep, bunnies and others, and some delicious apple cider….I’m talkin’ D-licious!  We ended up picking out 4 pumpkins, two around 5 lbs, one white one around 9 lbs and our large one at 16 lbs.  The boys both had a great time.

We went to my grandmother’s house for a little visit.  I left with my mom to go over Pop Pop’s to clean things up.  I cleared out the fridge and any food in the shelves.  There is so much stuff in the trailer and sheds.  I found the harmonicas my grandfather and I used to play back when I was a wee.  I think my mom has a picture of me sitting on my grandfather’s knee and we were both playing.  From there the whole gang went to Ruby Tuesday’s for dinner.  Dinner was ok, my mom ended up leaving because she was feeling ill and Dominic started getting very angry.

We then cruised down to Circuit City and bought a new digital camera.  We went with the Canon PowerShot A590 IS 8-Megapixel and a 4 GB memory card…which was on back order.  OI!  The price was right at $129 and it has all the features we really need.  Our other camera just wasn’t cutting it.  It served its purpose for about 5 years now so we figured we should do a little upgrading.  We took a little walk down to AC Moore and returned a puzzle or something…I really don’t pay attention because my wife is in charge of that stuff.  Then we drove over to the Home Depot.  All I got was a flat-free wheel for our wheelbarrow.  But we got another present while walking around…Dominic filled his pants to the brim and over.  For a 10 month old boy he is pretty big but the stench from this BM was of someone 30 times his age.  I kept getting caught behind him and Sue while walking down the aisles and man I felt close to dry heaving.  But it seemed to make him feel better so I dealt with it for a little while longer before ordering my wife to take him to the van to get changed.  I thought I was in the clear from having to deal with it but after checking out and returning to the van I found that Sue was just starting and I had to hold Dominic up while she peeled off his clothes and diaper.  I’ll not get into any more details about this but lets just say it was very very rough.

Store
I’m now in the programming phase of developing my store. Working with the templates from Magento is not completely straightforward but I love how everything is modularized…it’s just a matter of finding the template you are working on in the maze of folders. This is going to be a slow and long process but I think it will be well worth it.

Family
Ryan and Dominic appear to have pink eye. And I think it’ll only be a matter of time before Sue and I both get it. My eye was itchy this morning but that seemed to have subsided. Dominic woke up periodically through the night and was not easy to pacify. Either he has more teeth coming in or he really is not feeling good.

Fun
I made Sue watch a demo of the electronic drum set that I would love to get…trying to win her over on the idea. I don’t think anyone can see it in action and not be pumped to get one. But as usual Sue had to throw in bits of reality. Namely, will my boys end up destroying the drum set and can I really afford it. I think if I teach Ryan how to play he might be less inclined to take a hammer or hockey stick to the set. Concerning the affordability…well we won’t talk about that.

Today my grandfather passed away. He went in his sleep at the hospital where my mom works. We had a very small ceremony at the funeral home before Pop Pop was to be taken for cremation. He did not want any elaborate gathering or extended viewings. He lived simple and his send off was simple. The plan is to scatter his ashes into the ocean somewhere in Florida.

It seemed that the handful of relatives that stopped in already came to terms with the situation which kept the ocassion semi-solemn but even spirited. I know when my mom call me at work to tell me what happened I actually felt relief that he does not have to fight it anymore. I imagine many of them felt the same way. My dad said back in April he didn’t think my grandfather was going to last two weeks. Pop Pop put up a battle for 6 months on top of the few years his body made it difficult for the cancer to get a complete foothold.

Sue asked me how I would like my last days to be. I honestly hate to think about it. Of course it is inevitable but why do you have to plan it out? I’ll leave that up to them whevever the time comes. At that point I’m really not going to care.

We went to visit my grandfather in the hospital. It does not appear that it will be very long before he succums to the cancer. It is amazing to see someone that was such a strong and healthy man whither away because of something no one can really control. While he laid there he would vocalize bits and pieces of conversations with no one in particular. He still seemed to maintain his humor although I’m not sure he was aware of it. My mom would ask questions or respond to things he would say to try to keep his brain working.

As I sat in the chair looking at him with Ryan in my lap I just thought of the times I would go over “Pop Pop’s” house and have conversations about gardening (one of his passions), carpentry (another passion) and life. Sometimes he would give me some leftovers from his lunch or dinner. The food was always incredible. He cooked simply but knew just how to make it taste great. His specialties were chicken cordon bleu, pea soup with ham, chicken soup among many others. And if he was feeling really generous he would give me some desert that mom made him. That wasn’t very often though…he LOVED any desserts she made him.

I flashed back to times when he, my mother and I would go fishing at “Mesamer’s”, a friend of Pop Pops who had a nice pond on his property full of bass and bluegill. We would always come away with a stringer full of fish. Some of the fish he would use to fertilize his garden, others he would clean for a future meal.

Since the hospital visit I’ve thought about the visits we as a family would have at Pop Pop’s. Seeing Pop Pop slowly declining. Early on you could see that he was weakening but being a very strong man he held his own. With each passing visit he became less and less mobile until evenually he would sit and talk with you between brief naps. It’s definitely difficult to see him like this.

Ryan is a very very curious little boy. He is a very goofy person too. Tonight I gave him a bath. While playing with some toys he looked down, pointed at his chest and said, “Daddy, what are these?”. I told him they were his nipples. Then, of course, he asked what they were for. The only thing I could think of was “nothing”. He then told me “they are for when you drink milk.” Oi!

Kids certainly say the darnedest things. We were at the local market the other day to fulfill our grocery list. Ryan chose to ride in the little car cart. The one that is completely filthy from being outside and having other kids just beat the crap out of it. So he is sitting in this car, spinning the steering wheel and leaning out saying goofy things. We get to the deli counter behind a large lady. I think I was in a zone of some sort so did not fully comprehend what was taking place. But once I came to I realized my son had his hand out of the car, pointing at the lady while yelling, “Look at THAT belly, mommy!” I had to give him a scolding.

Having a couple kids puts you on the proverbial emotional rollercoaster until you die. Lots of highs and the only lows (so far anyway) are when they get hurt.

Today Dominic did a lot of walking without holding onto anything. He is so proud of himself. When I got home I watched him take a few steps, then pivot on one foot until he was facing the direction he wanted to go….THE STAIRS….then walked to the first step and started climbing. He goes into little rants about Dada and Mama with fits of laughter sprinkled between.

Ryan is loving preschool. Today he sang the songs they were taught and danced all around the house. He was chanting something about apple sauce of which I didn’t even know there was a song about. How can you not be extremely proud of this stuff? At the moment he has become quite a story teller. His imagination is crazy and he throws things into his stories that I did not even know he knew about. Recently he became very curious about God. Last night he asked me if he can play with God and told me God is in heaven. Not an easy concept to grasp as three year old.

We added two new kids to the mix. Nim and Jaws. Nim is about 3 inches long and a very rich orange color goldfish Ryan won at the Schagticoke Fair. He lived in a bag which prompted us to buy a fish tank. We recently bought a friend for Nim and named him Jaws. Jaws is a goldfish but does not really resemble one. He is about 2 inches long and has some smatterings of the goldfish orange but mostly a white-ish color with black tipped fins. Early on they stayed at opposite ends of the tank but now they seem to be hanging out together.

Total kid count 5 including Max.

Ryan and Nim (Jaws behind the coral)