Gluten Free update and HELP!

Many of you have asked how the Gluten Free diet is going so here it is!

Austin is still on the Gluten Free diet although I have to admit I've had SEVERAL days where I either wish he wasn't or that I feel bad that I'm making him do it. Some days are really easy and other days are really hard. We've recently had quite a few birthdays in my family (with mine coming around the corner!) so I made Austin the Betty Crocker Gluten Free Brownies. He loves them! He actually gets mad at me when I cut him off from the chocolately goodness. =)

Austin is only on the Gluten Free diet at the time. I'll do this diet for a time and then *hopefully* we'll add in the Casein free diet as well. (No milk/dairy) I have read that the casein free diet may help with digestion and self stimming but haven't really seen anything about the GF diet doing that. Austin stims a lot and sometimes we stop him, sometimes we don't. It all depends on how distracting it is for the rest of us!

I haven't seen a ton of changes in Austin since I started the GF diet but all books/articles state that it can take up to a year to clear all Gluten from your body so I'll give it at least a year and go from there. His teacher has seen changes in him at school though. She claims he's more attentive, willing to sit in his chair, and able to follow directions better. He's also started making some new sounds/pitches with his voice recently so that could possibly be from the diet as well.

On to other things...

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!

Several months ago, Austin started yelling at the TV. It's not 'inside' voice level that you can tolerate either. It's the top of your lungs (or close to it) yelling with all his might. Thankfully, Andrew is gracious enough to keep quiet and has yet to tell his brother to be quiet or to complain that he can't hear the movie. Mommy on the other hand is quickly losing her patience and her mind. I cannot stand him yelling at the TV. He does it every 5-10 seconds for the ENTIRE movie. We've tried redirecting him, we've tried pausing the movie and talking to him, and we've tried sending him to his room. Nothing works. Plus pausing the movie isn't fair for Andrew. I seriously am contemplating getting those noise reducing ear muffs.

Seriously, it's that bad. I get a headache and my patience gets paper thin. We purchased him a weighted vest (more on that later when I have a bit more sanity) but we haven't seen the slightest change with his yelling. Any and all comments are welcome!

*The video is of quiet yelling. To get a true impression, turn your volume up all the way. =) And no, he doesn't always sit this close to the TV. I've just reached the end of my patience and don't care at the moment! ;)

THANK YOU WALMART!

Okay so keeping up with the gluten free diet is hard. Not only do you have to give up what you love but it's stinkin' expensive. Seriously, I pay $6.50 (unless it's on sale!) for bread mix for my bread maker. Ben and I were in Walmart here in town (they're nearly finished converting our Walmart into a Super Walmart) checking out the new layout and food displays that they've been working on. Would you believe I saw a sign that read 'Gluten free'! The other Super Walmart near our house doesn't carry but one or two gluten free items but this new Super Walmart has a whole section for it! WHOOO HOOO! Go ahead, ask my husband. I did a happy dance right there in the middle of the aisle. LOL The bread mix I mentioned above is going to cost me $4.88 at Super Walmart! Not only that but they had 10 (or more) different kinds of cereals and a bunch of other items I didn't know existed. I'm so thrilled to know I can now shop at ONE store for ALL my needs. I usually shop at Walmart or another grocery store and then head to the health food store for Austin's gluten free food but now I don't have to!

Can you tell I'm really excited?!? Hee Hee!

Thank you Walmart!

Just helping myself, that's all Mom!

I made a fresh loaf of Gluten Free bread this afternoon. I cut it in half to cool so I could freeze half of it. Then I left it on the counter to cool. A few minutes later, I found Austin at the table eating one half of the bread.

Family pictures!

A few days ago, our family had professional pictures taken by a good friend of ours. She just started her photography business and she's really good! Oh course, Andrew just HAD to be clingy that day and would not leave Ben's lap for the pictures. When we did manage to get him off his lap for the 'couples' picture, we couldn't get him back for another try at a family picture! Three year olds. They have such a mind of their own, don't they? Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

Click here to view!

Pictures

Wondering where I've been? I was able to attend the annual M.O.P.S. (Mothers Of PreSchoolers) convention held in Nashville, TN this year. Ben held up the fort (and the GF diet!) while I was away for 4 days without the kids! Last year it was held in Grapevine, TX as you can see here.

Here are some funny pictures of Andrew. Even though he's attempting to cut out his nap, he still can't quite make it all day without one.




Sunday afternoon Ben fell asleep on the couch and Andrew wanted to be with him. So what's a 3 year old to do? Climb right on top of sleeping daddy and lean over and watch his face and...fall asleep in the process. Haha! He slept practically upside down for 45 minutes!

No Gluten!

Last night I made a BBQ chicken sandwich meal (just like shredded BBQ beef but with chicken) and it dawned on me to check the ingredients on the BBQ sauce label. We love Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce and 'modified food starch' was listed. I've read somewhere online that modified food starch can sometimes contain gluten so unfortunately I didn't feed the yummy dinner to Austin (and Andrew) but gave them an alternative that was just as yummy. I emailed the BBQ sauce company and they quickly replied by this morning saying "Sweet Baby Ray's Products do NOT contain any gluten!" WHOO HOO!

New loaf of GF bread and cute video

Today I made my 2nd loaf of GF bread. This time I tried another box mix and it came out MUCH better. The color looks more like typical bread and it's nice and moist. Here's a picture of the box. It gives you options on which ingredients you can use but for this loaf I chose the milk, whole eggs, and butter. The other option is water, egg whites, and vegetable oil.



Once we had finished dinner, Austin started rocking himself to sleep and I quickly grabbed my ancient camera with no sound and videotaped it. =) The food in front of Austin is his GF bread with peanut butter on it. He ate the peanut butter off the bread cause I gave him the heel. Silly kid.