Poor Sick Joy

Joy has been SICK.  Two weeks ago, she caught a stomach bug and puked, and puked and puked for 5 days.  On top of that she has had diarrhea for almost a year now and it got worse with the sickness so several times a day I was bathing her and washing her crib sheets. (it has always been bad though, she can't go to bed with out plastic pants on over her diaper)

We took her to the doctor on the 4th day of throwing up because she had lost so much weight (3 pounds - which is a lot when you started out at 20!) At one point I was ready to take her to the hospital to get an IV of something because she was so out of it and skinny.  The doctor assured us it was just a bug and it would be over soon.  ($30 co-pay down the drain - as usual) I used the opportunity to once again bring up the fact that she's had diarrhea since she turned 1 and this doctor actually supported the idea that it might be a food allergy or intolerance. (but only after he prescribed Zantac and I pointed out that flaws in him prescribing that for her yet again.) We had her tested for food intolerances already when the problem first occurred but they all came back negative.  He said it is possible that there was a false negative and to try eliminating foods.

I started out with gluten but after a few more hours of research decided to try eliminating milk first because; 1. it's WAY easier to cut out lactose than it is gluten. 2.  It takes less time to see results. 3. I read that premature babies are more likely to be lactose intolerant. (which she is) 4.  I was lactose intolerant when I was her age - it caused the opposite problem for me so I never really thought it could be that. 5.  I REALLY wanted it to be lactose rather than gluten.  Like I said.... SO much easier to work around.

So, we started her on a non-dairy diet and have desperately been trying to get her to eat anything and everything that is high in fat and calories to gain weight.  I mix tablespoons of coconut oil in everything she eats and shove globs of peanut butter in her mouth when she's not suspecting. Avocados are one thing she actually likes and will eat willingly so that is good.

Two days into the diet, the diarrhea stopped.  Oh my goodness I almost cried I was so happy when her poop was in a neat clump in the diaper rather than a sauce dripping down her legs.  I was still doubtful because she doesn't drink a lot milk, the only time she has it is a little in her cereal and I found that the cheese we get is already lactose free so I was suspicious that it may be a dairy allergy rather than lactose intolerance.   I bought her some Lactaid milk and and she had that in her cereal, plus I made pudding out of it for her.  Sure enough, the next day the diarrhea was back along with crankiness and an extremely distended belly.  So, we are back to the dairy-free diet and although we have seen significant improvements in her mood and appetite, she is still having the same old diarrhea.   We plan to keep her completely dairy free for 2 weeks and see what happens. If there is no change we'll have to try gluten-free next.

Thank goodness we live by a Sprouts and Trader Joe's!   

Not many places sell coconut milk ice cream.

 She is back to her pre-sick weight now:)

Claire's Cubbies Performance - Award Night

This week was our church's AWANA Award night.  

Claire was so excited to get her ribbon for finishing her 2nd Cubbies book.

Here she is singing with her group of Cubbie friends.

Cubbies is done!  Next year she will be a Sparky!

 

A Day with Cousin T.J.

Today we went with my mom up to Anthem to babysit Cousin T.J.  Claire was SO excited.  She absolutely loves him and can't keep her hands off of him.  Joy did better than I thought she would. She shared some toys with him and gave him a couple hugs throughout the day.  They kept him busy and he loved to watch them play with his toys.



Joy liked his jumper more than he did and danced to the music it made.


We took him outside and Claire gave him a ride in his walker. 



Which he loved.


Then some cuddle time on the couch.  He is a big guy!
T.J, 6 months, Joy 22 months - same size.
 

Ummm...Don't look Michelle.


Finally a picture where they all look halfway content!
 

Skate Park!

Claire has been dying to try out her scooter at the Freestone Skate Park.  Every time we walk by it we promise to take her and we finally did!

 We went before school let out so there were only about 3, why-are-you-not-in-college-or-working, man-children there.  (physically men but making childish life choices)

She lasted a lot longer than we thought she would but finally heat and exhaustion got the better of her.

Like Mother Like Daughter

Joy and I share our enthusiasm for chocolate.

Meet the Creature

 We just got back from City of Chandler's Meet The Creature.  Oh my goodness it was so fun!  I was expecting just one animal but there were so many!  

The teacher talked about each animal and let us know the safe way to handle them.  We were so happy to see the guinea pigs up close since we have told Claire that when she is older we will get some.  These pigs were much bigger than any that I've ever had.  

 Long hair 

 

and short hair.  

 

She had brushes and clips for the kids to put in the guinea pigs hair.

The craziest animal there was the armadillo.  Wow! I had never seen one before!  It was amazing!  I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera but luckily our little video camera was in my purse so I was able to get a few shots (which explains the poor picture quality)

This little guy was fast and never stopped moving so I couldn't get a good picture of his face.

But when he was held he curled up into a ball.  His head and tail fit together like a perfect puzzle.  I was in awe but the girls didn't care about it at all.

They were busy petting the chinchilla ..

 and turtle...

 but the star of the show was this lizard. 

The kids had him by the window because he uses static electricity to walk on glass. I had never heard of that before.  He did not have suction feet at all.

We had a great time and on the way home talked about how amazing to was that God made so many different creatures.  Claire cannot wait for the next class.

Parks and Rec Fun

 We have so been enjoying our new home and area.  Right away we started taking advantage of the City of Chandler parks and rec classes.  Last month we had Claire's sportball and art class.
She loved sportball but not many other kids showed up.   The week that I snapped a few pictures, was the week that she was the only kid! 

 

 She loved it anyway.  She adored the coaches and they did an awesome job.  I am glad it is over though because it was getting really hot to be outside waiting for her to be done.  

  Joy and I played on the playground that was right there and Joy enjoyed some one-on-one time with me each week.

Claire's art class was pretty fun too.  Each week the teacher had all sorts of different paints and techniques ready for them to try.

She loved this technique the best and made SEVERAL of them. 

Joy is too young for the class so we didn't pay for her so I couldn't let her try anything even though she really wanted too.  I did let her play with the play dough when other kids weren't using it since it is a non-consumable.

I was taking care of Joy and Claire was working on a painting by herself.  When I came over to see how she was doing I saw that she had painted the word "wet" on her painting.

"What does this say?" I asked her. 
"Wet" she said.
"Why did you write "wet" on your painting?"

"Because when I painted the purple wings on the butterfly, the paint was too wet and it is dripping."

I was impressed.  She has been able to read most short vowel words for awhile but we have really been working on spelling lately and I felt like that moment was a small victory.

I think we will try a gymnastics class next.  Most classes go out past the time that the baby will be born so I don't want to commit to too many.