Allergy Chronicles

Hello and happy Tuesday! An update on Emmett boy - he is doing much better! He is back to sleeping 4-hour stretches at night (rather than up every hour, but still not back to his 6-hour stretches) and seems to be his happy self once more! This is great because it means we've finally got his eczema figured out. This is also terrible because it means my eating habits are now drastically changed.

these pictures show a 24-hour difference in his skin

Today is day 8 of eating soy, milk, peanut, and egg-free. The milk and peanuts are no big deal...but eggs and soy take a huge chunk out of my eating options. Don't believe me? Go ahead and take a look at any food label in your house: 9 times out of 10 it will have either egg, soy, or milk in it. I have to really think ahead about what I'm going to be eating and when throughout the day. From my Leonard Sax readings, I got a book called "In Defense of Food" - it was good timing, since this is basically my life for now. The book's premise is to eat food - REAL food - not too much, and mostly plants.

The first couple of days were HARD. I was very irritable. Justin sat on the couch next to me while eating some leftover caramels from Halloween - I grabbed the caramel he was about to open and threw it across the room: "You can't eat that in front of me!!" Ha! All the way through Sunday it was like this - just mad and annoyed and frustrated. But come Monday, things changed. I'm not craving those foods anymore and I am settling into my new normal. My friend Kari said when he family went to Costa Rica, they had a really hard time because they have ZERO processed foods down there. She said she felt similarly - irritable and missing her regular snacks - but after a while they of course adjusted, and now she is going back to those eating habits. Except that she can have eggs...

Wednesday I got together in the morning with some women from church for a play date with our kids. Thursday we went out to dinner with Jon and Judy in Gig Harbor. It was nice to spend the evening with them. I babysat Jon and Laura's baby Eleanor on Friday.

I gave a talk on Sunday about when Jesus tells Simon-Peter to throw his net in the water one more time and they catch a ton of fish - I like that story. I'm still teaching my Sunday school class (14 turning 15 year olds) and currently working on the ward Christmas party. I asked to be released from my basketball coaching calling and the stake decided to ask someone else to do youth conference for next year. 12:30 church is tough with a wee-one. I'll be excited in the new year to switch to 9:00.

That's really it! Not much, but a lot at the same time. Can't wait to come to Idaho for Thanksgiving!
Enjoy some Emmett giggles: