Natalie

So I like to not say things like, "I told you so", but today is a special occasion. When we moved here Natalie started going a little nuts. Maybe it was the stress of moving, maybe it was that our kitchen was torn apart and we were eating out a lot. I started reading on what could be causing my sweet little Natalie to act the way she was. I found this website, www.fiengold.org. I got a lot of crap for cutting out artifical colors and flavors and a few other things. When i said my babies couldn't eat apples I was looked at like I was nuts. Now that it has been awhile we have been able to have apples now and then, cherries however, still not. Anyway, I knew that it had made a difference in my family. I could feel the difference myself. So part of the problem was also that Natalie and I were both feeling a little hyperactive and I was not able to keep my patience with her. So you can only imagine how I feel when I see an article like this one, http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1659835,00.html Will it change things? Will things stop having to be neon red, yellow and orange? Could maybe we introduce REAL fruits and veggies into our food so the neon colors aren't so attractive to us? I am so hoping so because it would make my life much easier. Going to the store is a big pain when you need to read the labels on every little thing to see if it is something that your family can eat. And reading labels with three kids and trying to keep them all happy, oh yeah, lots of fun.
BUT that isn't the only thing today. Some of you know that my Natalie is also a bean pole. I would like if she could gain a little weight, it would just make me feel better. Where to start this story? After Gwen's birth she was just fussy enough for me to try and eliminate things out of my diet. I tried dairy, a common one, it didn't do anything. I also tried eggs and wheat. Well, Natalie gained weight at this time. I didn't put the two together, I thought maybe she had a growth spurt. I was also so completely stressed out that it was insane, I was cutting these things out when Jack was gone. It is hard enough to cook for three after a baby is born, but to do it with no help...So go forward a few months. I happened to weigh Natalie, she had lost the two pounds she had gained. I was crushed. She also had a few other problems. Her tonsils were huge, like almost touching. No fever, no nothing, just big tonsils. She was getting her third molars, maybe that was it? And then she starts complaining that her stomach hurts, like all the time. Not a kind of hurt that makes it so you can't move, just this constant hurt. I hated that, because I go through the same thing, and I swear it started when I was a little bit older. But yes, I have had stomach pain since I was about seven. And she started saying that she was tired all the time. My little bright flower was drooping. So I talked to my friend, who also happens to be an extrememly good chiropractor:), she reccomended we try to cut out wheat again. I thought that maybe it was one of the things that I had tried to cut out after Gwen was born, she told me that it sounded like wheat more than anything.
So not quite two weeks ago we cut out wheat and gluten. Umm, just try to do this for two weeks, it isn't fun or easy. Wheat is in everything. We have gotten a little creative in our meals. On day two of doing this we noticed that not only was Natalie finishing everything on her plate, she was asking for more. Then her tonsils, even though she is still getting her teeth, are almost to normal size. Her stomach doesn't hurt!!!! And get this, mine doesn't either. She has gained back those two pounds in less than two weeks. It makes me so extrememly happy, but also so sad. We will still test wheat at the end of our two weeks, but since we have not changed anything else about our diet I can't see what else it could be. I have had a few people say that it is the stress in our life right now. That isn't it, because if anything Natalie was the happiest of all of us to going to Hawaii again. And she is the one who ha cried the most over not going. We are actually under more stress right now than we were the past few months. If stress played a part in these things for her, it would be worse now, not better. I know that Jack is going to need that test though. I already see it though. But maybe it is best to test so we can see for sure that wheat is what was causing our Natalie to be sick. But all this makes me sad because one, I am going to miss a good french bread, and many other things. And two, something that I could have controlled for so long, I feel terrible that it took me so long to figure this one out.