Food Allergy

I’m going to talk about poop in this blog, so everyone brace yourselves or decline from reading. Our youngest, Isla, had a rough week last week with diarrhea. The poor girl is already so tiny. I wasn’t too worried about it. She was acting totally normal otherwise. She was eating, drinking water, and nursing like crazy. I figured the diarrhea was from her shots she just had a couple weeks ago, from teething, or she just had a small bug of some kind. I wasn’t worried until last Sunday. Her poop turned grey. She had five grey BM’s. Brandon confirmed that I wasn’t loosing my mind and it really was grey. Now I’m no doctor, but I am a professional googler. Let me tell you, don’t ever google “grey poop in babies.” I was all worked up and told my husband, “ Brandon, our baby is dying of liver failure.”

He helped me to rationally think it through. I ended up messaging her doctor, who by the way is amazing. I sent her a message on a Sunday evening asking if this was cause for an ER trip. She was so sweet, got back with me right away, and didn’t make me feel terrible for contacting her on her own personal time. She recommended getting a couple lab tests done. She wrote the order that night and the next morning(Monday) I got her to the lab before the big snow storm.

We are still waiting on the results, but my gut is telling me it’s a dairy intolerance. It would make a lot of sense with all the yogurt she eats. This girl is SO picky and I’ve just been feeding her what she will eat. Most days yogurt is our last resort after she throws everything else.

I’ve already found a replacement….food packs. I loaded up on them(the same as bread and milk) to last us through this snowstorm. She’s been eating three of them per day. I am four kids in. I would have considered myself an expert on getting picky eaters to eat. I mean we are parents. We just need to put our foot down right? Ha…this one has totally changed my way of thinking. She has by far been my toughest to feed. She is the queen of throwing food and stressing out her mother. I have learned to feed her whatever she will eat. I’m also still nursing her, so that way she won’t you know….die of malnutrition.

Here we are waiting to get her lab work done. She was excited. Poor girl had no idea what was coming. I was so excited to hear they just needed a finger poke. Isla did amazing. She didn’t even cry. She sat very still and cooperated so well. Huge relief for me! That’s the worst, holding a screaming kid and feeling like the worst mom in the world for putting your kid through torture.

We walked down to the dining room and got a lemonade afterwards. She loved that. She kept yelling “mo bottle.”

These snowy days have worked to our benefit as far as getting a lot of school done. We’ve actually been working ahead. It keeps the kids occupied and out of trouble. Brandon has been around this week and has been doing school with the kids. He really is a much better teacher than I am. I stick to the books. Brandon is a natural genius.

Brandon has even been helping with meal prep. He insisted on making dinner a couple nights ago. I know it sounds wonderful, but I always struggle with letting go of my OCD and letting him on the loose in the kitchen. He did great though. He even washed his own dishes. He multintasked and taught Joah school, put Brielle to work, and cooked at the same time. It was an amazing break for me, as I’ve been dealing with a lot of crap all week(literally…..crap).

I think by far the best part of his meal prep though, was his insisting to grill during the snow downpour. Now I tried to talk him out of it. I wasted a few breaths. Then I’m like “what the heck. Knock yourself out.” And here he is grilling(and whistling) in a T-shirt in dangerous low Michigan temperatures.

Brielle loves to help in the kitchen. She always begs to help me make meals. Here she is chopping veggies for chicken noodle soup.

She also helped me make a dessert for our Gascho family lunch we have on Sundays.

We’ve been trying to keep these kids busy. We pulled out the play doh today as a last resort to not lose our m

The kids have been coming up with all sorts of zoos and farms between the toy blocks and the toy animals.

We’ve been reading stories.

Joah lost his first tooth. His first reaction was disappointment. He said “that was my favorite tooth. I used that tooth more than any other.” Then he found out the tooth fairy brought money. His disappointment soon disappeared.

I’ve been trying to stay active. It’s always a good day when I reach 100 active minutes. I’m really trying to get healthy again. These four pregnancies have really thrown me back, and I have a lot of work to do. I’m at least making efforts.

We had family night a few nights ago and here are some pics. We usually have family night before and after Brandon leaves for a trip. The kids are always extra clingy to him, and Brandon is very intentional about taking his family out and spending time with us.