Going to see the Hokies play!

With hurricane Joaquin threatening to make landfall on the east coast we weren't sure whether or not we would be able to make our first family trip to see the Hokies play. One thing was for sure, our first big camping trip which was to surround the game was definitely out of the question. With the outlook grim Mommy was literally posting the tickets to resell them when Daddy called from work reminding me that it had been ten years since we graduated that he really really wanted to go. By Friday morning, it was looking as though hurricane Joaquin was going to stay out at sea so with that we packed up our bags and hopped on the road for a long (rainy!!) trip to Blacksburg. Fortunately, the rain actually ended up working in our favor as my people canceled their hotels rooms and we were able to get a great rate. The kids woke as soon as we got to the hotel at 11 pm and didn't settle back to sleep till nearly 1 am. They were so excited, especially Colin who was so happy to be staying at a hotel.

The next morning we bundled up in all of our rain gear ready to do whatever we needed to see Virginia Tech play Plitzburgh (as Colin would say).  For weeks we had been excited to take part in the Hokie Village, a newer event prior to the game on the soccer fields which included music, games, and various activities to get everyone pumped for the game. We were pretty much the only people there when we arrived but the kids enjoyed running around in the rain and practicing their cornhole skills all while doing some moves to the music. The joy of watching Colin and Genevieve in that moment is something I will cherish for a long time!

We had club level seats for the game and access to the special club zone room. We knew it would be nice to have this with the kids but we're even more grateful to have it once we knew how wet the game would be. Thankfully once the game actually started the rain slowed down and nearly stopped for the second half. This allowed us to spend almost all of our time outside besides half -time where we went inside to warm up. 

Before the game started we loaded up on snacks and a giant turkey leg....

Waiting patiently for the game to begin...

Genevieve enjoyed the High Tech's Dance Number...

And put on some moves of her own during their show...

(It was so nice to have so much room for her to roam since she does not like to sit still!)

Sadly, the Hokies ended up losing 17-13 only earning 100 yards on offense. But we kept smiles on our faces as we really did have a great time during our first family game. 

It took less than five minutes of leaving the stadium before Genevieve was OUT...

Colin on the other hand was still just as excited as ever and couldn't wait to go see where Mommy and Daddy use to live. 

We did a little campus touring. Daddy snapped a shot of Mommy and Genevieve in front of my freshman dorm Main Eggleston. 

We discovered that the bottom floor of the library was now a large coffee house. I guess with all the technology these days they don't need all that room for books! While Genevieve continued her nap, The rest of us warmed up with some drinks and snacks. 

Next stop was the campus bookstore to find something for the kids since they were so great at the game. Colin was certain he was going to be able to find a Lego football set...we told him good luck with that and assumed there was no way.  Well, turns out they actually had one and Colin discovered it on his own. Impressive. 

We finished up our time in Blacksburg with dinner at Gillies, a vegetarian restaurant downtown Mommy use to frequent. Turns out given, our new diet, I eat a lot differently than I use to but we still had a yummy meal! It also gave Colin a chance to put his set together and play with the "quarterbank."

We weren't anxious to leave Blacksburg and spent some time just driving around after dinner. Unfortunately, we'd planned to drive all the way home and had to get on the road. A few hours in, we realized there was no way we were going to make it home and decided to get as far as Nana and Grandpa's before calling it a night. The kids were so excited to wake up at their grandparents and enjoyed spending all morning together. Colin also got to brush up on his football skills with Grandpa.

While we were away the Derry family kept Lilly for us. We were so thankful for their help and know that Lilly was very well taken care of by Liam and Joergen. 

Daddy and I had such a great trip that we decided to try to take the kids back to Blacksburg at least once a year in future. Go Hokies!!

Colin's Similes

Colin is the KING of similes (and sometimes metaphors too!)  Here are just a few I want to remember. I hope to continue adding to this list:

"I fell off the chair like a dolphin." (as he plummeted to the ground off the stool)

"Mom, you have beautiful long hair like a princess."

"Look! I'm swimming like a dolphin." (apparently he really likes dolphins)

"Lilly has sharp teeth like an alligator."

"Wow, my hair is sticking up like a castle."

Future writer on our hands? I think so....

GAPS Diet: Day 3 Stage 1

We had a great day today!  We ended up not adding egg yolk at all today because it just didn't happen somehow and before dinner I decided we would just wait to add them tomorrow.  This way we will all add the yolk in at the same time.  I continue to pray that Genevieve will have little to no reaction.  Watching her face swell before was not fun.  I plan to give her about a dropper full only in her soup.  The energy level was great in the house today and we are ready to continue on this journey.  Colin had a little cheat today with an organic hot dog but I'm gonna let it slide because this is not easy!

Geneveive had a few minor flares with her face but overall it reacted pretty well to the foods she had today.  I think it acts up when I put coconut oil on a veggie.  Coconut oil is not high in histamine so I do not know what is causing it. (And technically you aren't even supposed to add in coconut oil to stage 1 but I am not looking for perfection here. I have to fill my kids up somehow!) One more tidbit about Genevieve today, she easily ate a gallon of soup by herself (absolutely no exaggeration) along with all her veggies and meats.  She eats more than Tim and I on a daily basis and it has been no different the past few days.  I just love her ferocious appetite but I'm also curious if she's possibly not assimilating the nutrients as well as she could (she always has tons of undigested foods in her bowels) and wondering if her appetite may possibly decrease a little once we are done with all of this.

Unfortunately, Colin's face began acting up more than ever today.  It was actually his red cheeks that got me to look into food intolerances a year ago.  We took Colin to several pediatricians about his cheeks and each said it was "just some eczema and to put some cream on it."  Knowing me, you know that is not a solution I would accept!  It's just in my nature my whole life to ask, "Why?" I ending up reading a lot about milk causing eczema on the cheeks and thus took Colin's beloved milk out of his diet.  It did seem to decrease his rosy (sometimes rough) cheeks quite significantly and so I have not added milk back in his diet since. Unfortunately, it didn't do anything in the bowel department.  (BTW: I hope we will be a full dairy family once we are done with this!! I love me some cheese and yogurt and so do my kiddos! No vegan here!!).  A lot of  practitioners and families who deal with eczema discuss it getting worse before it gets better when completing GAPS Intro.  I hope this is what is going on and that it is all just part of it getting out of his system.  We have been eating these types of foods for a while now but not so many healing foods at once without any "cheats."(well, ok there was that hot dog today...).  I'm curious to see how Colin's face looks in the morning and wondering what the introduction of the egg yolk will do.

I just love my little babies and I have been so encouraged over the past week. Looking forward to another great day tomorrow.  My sweet Colin asked for gummies and meatballs for his snack at school.

GAPS Diet: Day 2 Stage 1

We made it through our second full day on the introduction phase of the diet!  The kids did great although there was a little more whining for snacks then yesterday.  Tomorrow we add in egg yolk to mine and Colin's soups! I'm really tired so that's it for tonight. :)

GAPS Diet: Day 1 Stage 1

We had our first official day on Stage 1 of the GAPS diet today.  It went great!  Our kids have become really use to eating lots of veggies and soups over the past year that they didn't know the difference between today and just any other day.  Genevieve stood by the pantry a few times saying "nack!nack!" but she quickly got over it and enjoyed any other allowed foods I gave her.  The kids blissfully ate broccoli and chicken for snack...I hope they cooperate just as well tomorrow!

Colin enjoying his homemade turkey sausage for breakfast.

Gummies helped to make the day go by a little easier.  Here is a shot of our big bowl of treats along with a close up of our Spiderman gummies.  I tried to make some for Colin's party and it was a total fail but the ones I have tried since have been awesome!  The key is lots of gelatin!

Speaking of gelatin...it contains histamine...not a whole lot but some and so I have been hesitant about how many gummies I want to allow Genevieve to eat.  I wanted to share something else about the histamine link and when I finally realized it had to be the problem.  Last week I made a soup which the kids enjoyed at breakfast.  Colin fussed because he likes "green soup."  Well in order to make my green soup I have to add spinach or kale.  Flat leaf fresh kale is usually my go to as it seems to bother both of the kids the least but all I had was a frozen power greens bag from costco which included spinach, kale, and chard.  So between breakfast and lunch I added a bunch of this mix to the soup.  I blended it up and the kids loved it.  Genevieve ate a few bowls but after just a few bites the entire bottom part of her face became red and somewhat swollen.  I knew it had to be something from the mix as I had just fed her the soup that morning with no ill effect.  I realized how it had spinach and remembered about spinach being very high in histamine (and just now I realized that chard was in the mix which is also very high in histamine).  Lots of things started to click and it just made sense.  The only food she has eaten that has caused an issue that does not contain histamine are apples.  I am still unsure about this.  Although thinking about it, it may have only been the times she had jarred applesauce which is "old" food and hence would have had time to build up histamines.  When it comes time to add apples I will have to see if there is a difference between the two.  The doctor who developed GAPS claims that the diet will heal histamine intolerance over time.  I hope she is right!

I'm a little nervous for snack time at playgroup tomorrow but I plan to have several gummies and a few other cookie cutter foods to help the kids not mind what the others are eating.  On to Day 2!

UPDATE: Disney World Favorites 2015

More on our Disney World trip to come but for now here's a list of our favorites for this trip. (Updated to include Miss Genevieve!):

GAPS Diet Intro Day

Today was our first day testing out the GAPS Diet Introduction Phase.  We officially start Stage 1 tomorrow!  Today was filled with making both chicken and beef broth and tons of butternut squash.

 I also made about 50 lemon/honey gummies for snacking over the next few weeks. For dinner, I spiced things up by using cookie cutters on the butternut squash to make snowmen and then dinosaurs for the kids.

So why Stage 1 now?  We are tired of trying to figure out what foods Genevieve can eat and what she can't eat.  It's time for an elimination type diet and GAPS helps you do this in a systematic way.  For a while now I have wondered if Genevieve may be suffering from Histamine Intolerance.  She can't even look at a pickle without her face turning red and swelling.  She also seems to react to foods that aren't even terribly high in histamine but still contain it like green peas.  I had no idea green peas were even a histamine food since I hadn't seen it on the few lists I've looked at.  After eating peas as a snack with nothing else today her face became red and itchy.  I investigated histamine foods some more and found the following very detailed list which includes a histamine number for all major foods.  Peas are only a 1 on a scale of 0-3 however they were enough to cause a reaction. So at this point we have to eliminate all high histamine foods as we go through the GAPS introduction.  One thing that makes things difficult is that fact that leftovers are high in histamine.  With little ones its nearly impossible make all foods fresh.  I am hoping by eliminating all of the trigger foods this won't matter as much.

In addition to helping Genevieve, we know that both Colin and I can use more healing. We have improved a lot over the past year with all of our diet changes but I would really like to be able to eat whatever we want with little side effects.  I am hopeful after all this we can eat rice and bread with no ill effects and maybe even have dessert after dinner and still fall asleep at a decent time.

I'm hoping our first official day goes well tomorrow!