The Dramamine Experiment

   When we first embarked on our foreign service life a couple pediatricians and several friends advised that we give the boys Benadryl to settle them down and help them sleep on the plane.  This was the basic result:

  I've been frightened to try any kind of child sedative ever since.  But I've had more recent advice from a few foreign service moms to try Dramamine, a motion sickness medicine that contains anti-histamine.

  A couple of these mothers said that their children also had hyperactive reactions to Benadryl, so I decided to give it a try.  As with the Benadryl experiment I have elected to give it a try before the 15 hour flight.  Sunday afternoon seems like as a good a time as any.  I've set them on the couch watching "Oliver and Company."  At 12:50 p.m. I tried to give each boy half a tablet as recommended by the box.  Zack took his quickly and easily; I only managed to get part of it down Gabriel.

  Observation time!  Results to come.

Well, it's been an hour and the results are pretty ambiguous.  Zack seems a little more subdued.  Gabriel seems normal, but that makes sense given that he didn't take the whole dose.  But the results are not negative, so I think I'll be willing to give it a shot on the airplane.  Maybe being strapped down in their seats and coaxed to sleep will work with medicinal help.  At least they're not bouncing off the walls like they were after Benadryl!

Less Facebook, More Writing

   I've decided to take a break from Facebook for many reasons.  I've actually always loved Facebook as an excellent way to keep in touch with people back home, to share pictures and stories, etc.  But I have allowed Facebook to become a breeding ground for several negative habits and feelings in me lately.
   First of all, I tend to automatically go to it when I begin to become bored; it's like a nervous tick.  There are far more constructive ways to spend my time and I intend to cultivate them for a while.
   Next, it has bred obsession in me.  The easy access to fairly innocuous information isn't healthy.
    Further, I have to fight to prevent myself from becoming involved in the most vacuous conversations/debates.  I succeeded in removing myself from all political discussions, but found myself moving on to other subjects.  I have found that debates on Facebook are utterly inane and their results tend to breed stubbornness and anger, two very unhealthy results of debate.
  Along the same ground, I am so sick of hearing and seeing the political garbage all over Facebook I just can't stand it anymore.  People are using Facebook for propaganda, sharing ridiculous memes that support ignorance, hatred, and bigoted labeling.  People say things on the internet that they would never have the guts, stupidity, and/or social inadequacy to say in person.
  In summation, Facebook has resulted in unnecessary stress and tension for me and it's time to stop.  Maybe I'll come back to it eventually, but for now it's most healthy for me to focus on the very important things I'm dealing with in my life right now: a new country, new language, finding a Christian community, being a loving wife, raising my children, connecting with my nieces, keeping up with my friends, helping my husband in his career, etc.
   I have a lot of projects in the works.  I need to start on the boys' India scrapbooks.  I need to make a living and dining area sophisticated enough for confidently hosting John's work superiors.  I need to revisit the piano, improve my ear-playing, and learn to sing easily in harmony.  I need to continue building the very strong personal relationship I've developed with God.  I need to continue to improve my health.  I have an amazing, beautiful life and I intend to focus on it.

  We have one week left in America and, barring unforeseen circumstances, we will not be back to our country for 2 years.  We're looking forward to this new adventure.  On Monday we pack up our UAB, which will be sent by air from Sheridan to Jakarta.  On Tuesday my lovely MIL, Beth, will drive us to Casper, WY where John will meet us and take us the rest of the way to Ft. Collins, CO.  Friday will be Ryan and Allie's wedding (yay!).  Saturday the boys and I fly for Hong Kong via San Francisco.  We have 45 minutes to get from our Denver to San Fran flight to our gate bound for Hong Kong!!  John will go to D.C. for a couple days for consultations, rushing to Jakarta to make it in time for Zack's 5th birthday.
  The Hong Kong flight might be tough to negotiate, because although we leave at 1:30 p.m. Pacific time, we will be adjusting for 4:30 a.m. Hong Kong time.  My goal will be to get the boys to nap as fast as possible, waking them up at 9 a.m. Hong Kong time.  The flight is about 15 hours.  I will be experimenting with dramamine this weekend to see how it affects the boys.  Benadryl, unfortunately, has about the same affect on them as caffeine.
  We'll arrive at 6:15 p.m. Hong Kong time, dash to our hotel, and head back out for some HK street food.  Zack loves meat-on-a-stick like nothing else on earth.  Gabriel will love the Victoria Harbor ferry.
  We leave Hong Kong at 4 p.m. the next day and arrive in Jakarta at 7:30 p.m. Jakarta time (one hour off from HK).  I don't know what we're doing from there because I still don't know where we're staying!  Our house might not be ready.  All part of the experience.
  It's going to be a big week!  I'm so proud of my little family that can take on all this excitement and adventure together.  We're a great team.

Improvements

The boys are beginning to show extreme improvements.

Zach:

He's up to 31.7 lbs, just over a one pound gain. His eczema has almost disappeared completely. He is sleeping way, way better at night. Unfortunately that means he wakes up earlier, but better that than 3 or 4 times up crying at night. Presumably the bad dreams have stopped.

Gabriel:

Temper tantrums have all but vanished. He is still two, but the random meltdowns have stopped and his attitude has evened out. He no longer collapses in rage when he's hungry and I am proud to report that the pound he gained, then lost again from giardia, has made its way back onto his skinny little physique. He's 26 lbs!

I forgot to measure them today; I'll have to do that this week.

Since going gluten free has been so easy we're now starting to lower their carb intake altogether. Their sugar was already pretty limited, but now we're cutting back on grains in favor of fats and proteins. It's along with the philosophy of the Paleo diet, which John is on and I loosely follow.

Praise the Lord for my healthy boys!

Progress

It's been a while since I've posted. It's way too easy to get bogged down in routine. I have a couple pictures to share, but for now I'll just say the gluten free is working.

Gabriel is so healthy and strong; he's like a different child. He gained a pound 6 weeks after starting gluten free and his binge eating has come down to a healthy, steady appetite.

He lost his pound due to a gorgeous case of giardia last week, but we've killed that nasty parasite and we're back to work on weight gain. The challenges are a little different here in India than they would be at home.

We're using lots of butter and the boys get a cup of carnation instant breakfast about an hour after their normal breakfast.

I don't think the boys have even noticed the change in diet aside from the banning of their weekly Embassy pizza run.

Managing Birthdays

Managing your child's own gluten free birthday is easy, but going to another's child's birthday party presents some difficulties. My boys were invited to a combined birthday of a 5 year old girl and a 4 year old boy. Thank God for my darling husband who reminded me about two days before the party with the question, "so what are you going to do about cake?"

I started by emailing the mom's and asking for the menu. It was to be snack foods like goldfish and animal crackers at the beginning and then a cookout with burgers and hotdogs.

I panicked a bit at the idea of wheat-filled snacks set out on the table for kids to graze; I envisioned myself as the wheat Nazi, standing guard in front of the table and depriving my children of normal childhood treats. I had to remind myself several times that I was doing the best things for my kids. So, I bought a special treat of fruit snacks (a rare sight in our home) and packed some cashews and crackers. So, what to do about cake? I had no GF cake mix on hand, so I made cookies instead. John pointed out the morning of the party that I should have frosting, but it was too late to get any, so we'll remember that for next time.

I had a distinct feeling that cookies were not going to cut it when the boys saw that cake. So, I spent the whole morning talking about the awesome, super special cookies that they got to have. Zach said he wanted cake, but seemed satisfied with the answer that cake would make his tummy hurt. So I kept talking up the cookies and special snacks and prayed.

The day went over great! The boys were mostly distracted by the giant bouncy castle. Zach and I got into one tussle over goldfish, but I pacified him with the fruit snacks. Burgers and hot dogs are easy, just leave off the bun. I had a surprising task of keeping Gabey away from the cake. He hates cake; never touches the stuff. But he saw everyone else eating it and wanted a bite. So I managed to snag some frosting from the side and he was happy with one bite of that and went back to his cookie.

All in all gluten control was a very successful endeavor for another child's birthday party. I'm glad they're too young for sleepovers just yet...

Notes on Progress

Zach has seen little to no change, except, perhaps, a little easier time going to sleep. Both boys had minor bouts of diarrhea two days after the diet started. Purging?

There have been some noted changes in Gabriel:

1) Improved behavior. He suddenly and dramatically entered the terrible twos a few weeks ago. The child who never cried and never said boo went through emotional roller coasters and pretty big tantrums. He was defiant and unmanageable. His behavior is not the angelic perfection it used to be, but it has improved since the diet began.

2) More energy. Gabriel loves his quiet play time, but ever since the diet he has been eating less and playing harder. He used to stuff his face with anything put in front of him, but that just didn't help his growth. The kid could eat 3 hot dogs, 2 servings of mac and cheese, and a whole apple without batting an eye. Now he eats more appropriate for his age. He still has a healthy appetite, but he seems to be satiated more easily.

3) His belly has gone away. Every time he ate his tummy would swell up. I always attributed this to a full stomach. But now, even after a very large meal, his stomach has stopped doing this. In fact, you can see every line of his perfect abs.

It takes 3 weeks for gluten to exit the body completely and we've gone 1 1/2 weeks. Halfway there! Let's see if improvements continue for Gabey and start for Zach.

Gluten Free Lunches

Who says gluten free has to be tough? Here are three simple lunches that are gluten free, easy, and little boy friendly.

Quesadillas with mangos and broccoli.

Seriously, easy-peasy. Just steam some broccoli and slice up a mango. The quesadillas are nothing but plain corn tortillas, salt, pepper, and cheddar cheese fried on a skillet with sunflower oil. Sometimes I throw in some chicken or lamb to add texture and protein.

It's a huge hit with my little guys every time.

Macaroni and cheese with strawberries.

Always a fan favorite and even easier than the quesadillas. I use Annie's gluten free mac and cheese. It takes all of 20 minutes. Follow the box instructions, slice up some strawberries, and you're good to go.

PBJ and peaches

This one took a little more preparation because I had to make the bread the night before. I used Gluten Free Pantry bread mix, which is extremely easy to use and even comes with a package of yeast. This batch was made with egg, as the recipe calls, but next time I plan to try without eggs since I am allergic. Thank goodness my boys can eat eggs or I would be sunk. This particular PBJ is made with apple jelly. Slice a little thin because this bread is pretty dense, as GF tends to be. The peaches are, unfortunately, canned since peaches are out of season here in India and tough to come by even when in season.

See? GF isn't so tough.