red light.

so i figured since i babbled all over my facebook about it, i should explain our new added "crunch".

first, let me start with what happened a week ago at sawyer's school. that sort of kick started this whole thing.

so sawyer is overall.... apathetic to punishment. like, you could tell her "get upstairs or ill throw your lovey in the trash" and she'd tell you to toss it. in school, they have colors on how theyre doing that day and she doesn't give 2 shits. like "cool. i got a yellow". or the threat of it doesnt phase her. sawyer had a bad week last week at school - but i mainly attributed it to A and S moving into the same bedroom that wkend before (pics on my TYLWL blog). and, well, they are re-learning how to fall asleep on their own LOL so i gave the teacher some ideas on what *i* would do with sawyer in those situations (hey, she asked!). and waited for the change.

now, is this 3 year old behavior? sure. but at the same time, i read about red dye in foods, on another board. hmmmm. so i looked up some more info.

http://www.red40.com/

http://blogs.psychcentral.com/adhd/2010/09/the-red-dye-diet-the-concept/

http://reddyefree.blogspot.com/

the last blog was interesting, mainly bc of the comments on some of the entries. so many people had behavioral changes as well as other changes in their children.

so i figured, well, sometimes sawyer's a nut case ;) sometimes aidan is. lol more like "over-reactive flip outs for no reason" which usually are from overtired kids, but sometimes.... i wonder... ;)

anyway. so sunday of this week. my mom and i went grocery shopping.

if you eat pretty "clean", most of your food, likely, doesnt have red dye. but its the "treat" foods that are bad - the crap cereal, fruit snacks, etc. and sneaky things.

for instance:
*eggo cinnamon waffles do not have dye. but the blueberry does (didnt check others).
*regular chocolate syrup has red dye. sugar free does not. that works for us already lol
*lots of fun cereals do not have red dye (like kix! or chex!) but some "good" ones do - like special k with red berries.
*most of the fruit snacks have red dye, but there was one we found that didnt.
*some things that are meant to look "golden" have red and yellow dye - like pillsbury croissants. (which sucks. bc i can sneak anything into a croissant and get them to eat it - veggies, meat... gah. and i am uncertain to how easy that is to just whip up lol)

etc etc.

so you just have to be careful. keep an eye out.

as for behavior changes, i dunno. ill watch. she did have a fabulous week at school. which makes me smile. but the biggest change has been HER SKIN.

sawyer's entire mid-section was rough, scaly, patchy.. the dr always said eczema. so we'd put creams, oils, we put on some food oil that she told us to do lol sigh.

but less than 1 week without red dye and POOF! her skin is glorious. is it as soft has her sweet little face? not yet. but the eczema is barely there. its amazing. really.

and fyi, this stuff is normally "not me". but since sawyer is already sensitive to so many things, and we've rotated so many level 2s and 3s back (with good results! as she has gained so much weight in the past year!)

so anyway. check into it, maybe? if you have any questions, i may not be able to answer them but ill try :)

gluten free life.

ok, in case youre wondering - it sucks!! ta-daaaa!!!

its a lot harder than i thought it would be. of course.

so here is where i ask for recipes :)

what we love so far:

1. deboles pasta.
2. rice pizza crust. it actually comes out delicious and crispy.



i did some oil, garlic powder, then some sauce and cheese. then on aidan's, i put turkey pepperoni! (sawyer cant have turkey) - and they were great!!

3. kinnikinnick donuts. they are frozen so you can just have 1 once in a while. its nice bc about 1x a month, EJ takes aidan to go get donuts before sawyer and reese wake up. so i can give sawyer her own :) she gave it 2 thumbs up!



4. glutino pretzels. they are so good. omg. totally better than normal pretzels, but since they are almost $6/bag, i refrain from eating them. lol

5. gluten free bread is okay. its frozen. (made by kinnikinnick as well), but its alright for what sawyer needs bread for. which is basically only jelly toast for breakfast. she doesn't really like sandwiches. its a pain in the ass to break off, but we only usually need one piece at a time :) i will say that its better than letting it go to waste - considering its over $7 for a 1/2 loaf! ha!

6. van's waffles. eh... these are okay. only okay. they get a little bit... i dont know the word... piecey? lol just not the same texture.

7. blue diamond crackers. SO GOOD!! i have to hide these from EJ. ;)

okay, im sure there are things im forgetting, but other than that, sawyer eats a lot of fruits, some veggies (not her fave. sigh), and meat.

with meat, she has to to a pill. an enzyme that tell her body "no. this is good. dont poop it out right away!!" and so far. this is because she has a sensitivity to all meat, fish, poultry, nuts, and grains. so for those - a pill, it is!

PLUS she takes her probiotic in the mornings. and now that she can have dairy - cheese and yogurt are, hopefully, fattening her up ;)

OH!!! and another great recipe is homemade chicken nuggets (courtesy of my friend kristi)!! okay, well, i only got so sample them bc the oven's heating element caught on fire when i made these and my new oven doesnt come til the 21st, BUT - chicken, honey, and crushed up cornflakes. divine. crunchy and so good! and sawyer ate them right up!

***note to cookers - GF pasta and some other stuff takes a helluva lot longer to cook than the package says. haha just an FYI.

oh and ETA: the other stuff is easy to keep her away from. some of this stuff may contain soy waaaayyy down the ingredient list, but it has been okay so far.

sawyer's poops.

well the problem is solved, my friends.

i, and dh, have been slowly ruining our 2 year olds body bc we assumed she had a dairy allergy and fed her soy.

oddly enough - she has a soy allergy/sensitivity. ok. really?

after her horrible blood test (started off great, but then she wasnt giving enough blood so they had to root around and i wanted to cry for her), we got her results back (appt to talk about them next week). but here are her top sensitivities.


level 3.
soy
garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
fennel (the spice)

level 2.
horseradish
cantelope
cashews
tuna
sole
lobster
turkey
eggs (we knew this! phew!)
and gluten.

gahhhh!!

so they said to start eliminating things. oh, and what a time sawyer has had with dairy products (yes, im trying to give them to her sparingly so she gets used to more dairy). but dear heavens our whole pantry is changing bc of the gluten.

and, let me remind you, food for kids like her is pricey. i was actually surprised lol i had barely anything in my house that had no wheat. so my mom and i did a lot of shopping and searching and at least found some things to start her off right :)

BUT just in the past 2 days of doing this - she has not had one blow out. just one or 2 NORMAL poops. which is so nice. haha i guess this falls into YKYAPW, right? talking about your kids poops is gross, but im so happy that now we know all these things and she can gain some weight :)

so. starting off - 2 years old and 21 lbs. lets see if we can chunk her up in a good way :)