Shark Paper Bag Puppet

Sooo what preschool family doesn't know the baby shark song! I needed a simple craft for back stage at our dance recital so I figured out how to turn baby shark into a paper bag puppet. Below you will find the link to my drawings. Enjoy.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e9kU607peTK7bCSBrVuG0eaS9hj5gz_4/view?usp=sharing

The ongoing mystery of the 11 year old

Waaaaay back when my oldest was 7 I posted this very frustrated post:
https://allergic2motherhood.blogspot.com/2014/
Then a year later I posted this:
https://allergic2motherhood.blogspot.com/2015/06/blood-sugar-mystery-follow-up.html
Here we are 5 years later still dealing with the same mystery! After 5 years of monitoring and keeping track of things here are her current facts.

Blood sugar monitor is still used, only now we monitor it based on emotional state not time of day of diet. Diabetes and Hypoglycemia have been ruled out due to normal A1C numbers and no other symptoms.

Symptom 1: Feeling like walking super speed through deep mud.
Symptom 2: Amplified sound
Symptom 3: Food tasting like soap
Symptom 4: Moments of lost time and when she's alert again a random blurting of dream like memories will sometimes follow.
Symptom 5: Blood Sugar spikes of over 250 at peak of episode
Symptom 6: Dramatic mood swings and shifts
Symptom 7: Anxiety

Just this Christmas break her mensis began for the first time, which effectively proves the precocious puberty that was suggested back when she was 7 out of the water. We have been monitoring now to see if the cycle changes the length of time between episodes. So far with only 2 cycles we haven't noticed any correlation.

Back story: Miss D had a traumatic birth, she lost 75-80 percent of her blood volume before birth and the drs and nurses at birth did not diagnose this until her body had been low blood volume for nearly 30 minutes. She had full liver and kidney failure and clotting issues over the next 14 days. At birth the specialists told us we may or may not ever see any effects from the blood loss on her brain. She has proven very smart and with no apparent learning disabilities. She has shown some testing anxiety and worry, but that is more related to her emotional state than anything brain related.

This past November we had a short EEG study done. Sleep deprived and triggered her scan showed nothing of value. Only to have an episode that afternoon. grrr.

So now we've been keeping track of all of these symptoms and issues for several years. Her pediatrician has been TRYING to get us a neurology appointment. Trouble is we live in Hawaii, and of the 4 on island they are all over booked and one just left to return to the mainland, bringing us down to 3 meaning that no one has time to dig through a mystery situation. The Endocrinologists don't believe it's hormonal anymore so they feel it is outside of their perview. It's very frustrating. At this point our best diagnosis guess is Silent Seizures with Adrenaline spikes which mask as blood sugar as her body's way of fighting for the control back. Naturally that Adrenaline spike causes anger and frustration at any and all around her.

Today I put these thoughts onto the internet hoping that someone can help us find a solution or suggestion.

Blood Sugar Mystery Follow Up

So for those of you who read my previous post about the blood sugar mystery, I just wanted to update the post. We never got a solid answer. They determined it was not hypoglycemia, or Diabetes. Their 2 theories they tossed out were adrenal gland problems and early puberty. unfortunately the testing for both take a lot of time. On one hand we have to collect all pee for 24 hours and for the other hand 3 vials of blood to go to the mainland for a 2 week blood study. Due to school and everything else we didn't do the tests yet. But once we started making some better diet choices and keeping her accountable for her behavior and we have seen a significant improvement in it.

We switched to fruit for breakfast instead of a cereal. Then started sending a granola bar to school to be eaten at recess time mid morning. A simple lunch followed by a snack either waiting in the car for her after school or once we got home, then a small dinner. Daddy insisted on desert later in the evening too.

Over all by cutting back on the volume at each snack she has lost a little weight, but mostly she has grown taller. Her focus is better in school and outside of school. Will we do the tests? I don't know but I do know that whatever the cause of the insanity was, life is much better at our house lately.

Aaaaaah summer is upon us!

I'm sorry to have vanished for so long, I'm now up to 3 kiddos an almost 8 year old, almost 3 year old and an almost 1 year old. They have kept me soo busy this year that blogging was the last thing in my mind. Not to mention that since the birth of my little mr, I've been dealing with intense back pain. Bad to the point of needing to see physical therapists, and extra doctors. Throw that in on top of all my other crazy momma life issues and voila recipe for things falling through the cracks.

We are back with a plan for an awesome summer. My oldest will be joining me this summer on the blog. She is desiring to do her own toy review vlog, so we are going to collaborate this summer. I'll review something from my point of view and she'll do it from hers. So that you, our followers can get a well rounded perspective on how annoying/fun a toy really is. Hehehe.

We'll Be reviewing Legos, especially the friends sets and elves, Barbies, Play doh, and we'll be cooking together. It should be a fun summer!

The blood sugar mystery

This summer while I was nearing the end of my pregnancy, I began to get increasingly frustrated with my almost 7 year old. She would be starving an hour before her meal times, and in that time she was teary and insulting, she would walk away stomping and singing under her breath about how momma hates her and never loved her. It was like she was trying to pick a fight with me. I just dealt with it, and realized if I gave her some food her attitude would instantly be better. I felt like such a push over because I gave in to her cranky. I figured once school started things would be better. What happened was it just became more dramatic. Just a couple weeks ago now, we had her school conference. At her conference we learned that this is happening at school too. All of a sudden things began to fall into place. There was more involved than baby jealousy and school getting harder. We went to the dr. The doctor and I both assumed that we were looking at a case of hypoglycemia where blood sugar drops dramatically before meals. He prescribed a blood sugar monitor and a set of lab tests. We've been charting her blood sugar now for a little over a week. But the mystery lies in what her blood sugar is doing.

In the morning when she wakes up after no food for 8-10 hours her blood sugar is still about 100. This is not typical. Then after she eats it drops down to 90. This is backwards. It should not be like this! In the afternoon after school it jumps to 130 then back down to the 90's after a snack, then before dinner it spikes back up to anywhere between 130-180. About an hour after dinner it will be back down to 100 or so. This pattern is not one I can find any information on. It is making me mental. The fits, Whiney, mean comments, attitude, and just plain nasty are symptoms of the high numbers. She had been especially cranky at me yesterday morning as we readied the house for our church to come over. Finally a lighbulb clicked in my brain and I tested her blood. 180. The highest it had been so far. She always tells me not to yell at her, when in fact I am talking surprisingly calm for someone who is being confronted by such attitude. I asked her if things sounded funny when she was hungry and she said everything seems loud and echos like a tunnel. The dr has asked us to watch what she is eating because her BMI number is high, but now to curb the attitude we have had to start feeding her more often. This is a problem because she always feels starving when she is like this so she over eats. Even if I try to control he portions it's never enough. 

If anyone has any ideas as to what is going on inside this little girl I would love to hear them. We go the results of her blood work today and everything was within the normal range. Dr. Was like it looks fine, lets just feed her more small meals. Then I told him the numbers we've been getting and how it's backwards and now he is referring us to an endocrinologist. I'm hopeing for a quick appointment date, but I'm not holding my breath as there is exactly one pediatric endocrinologist on the island. Oh joy.  That means there is no second opinion either.

Update: follow this linkhttp://allergic2motherhood.blogspot.com/2015/06/blood-sugar-mystery-follow-up.html

Best Hospital food ever!

If you have food allergies like me some of the worst times can be going to the hospital and being admitted. While most times you have no warning or ability to make arrangements when you are going to have a baby you have a bit of warning. When I had my second daughter I contacted the hospital because with my first the only foods they could find that I could eat was water and jello. Not exactly the best diet. So I didn't want that again. They went out shopping just for me ahead of time. The food was amazing and it was like being at a resort and being catered to. I was actually looki forward to the same thing this time around. So I contacted the hospital again and since they still had all of my menus they were able to quickly put together an amazing array of food. 

This was amazing spare ribs. Soo tasty.

This is an amazing Antistresstimine, because food while recuperating is essential. What impressed me most was one morning I got some crackers on my tray that were not safe for me. No big deal they had the ingredients right on them so I made sure to read them. The dietary coordinator I was working with came up to my room the second morning to check in with me, and I just off the cuff mentioned it was on there, because the hospital is a children's hospital too and kids may not read the label and just assume it's safe. She was livid. She switched my tray preparer and made quite a big deal about it. Even sent up her boss to appologize. It wasn't that big of deal to me, but to them it really was. That makes me confident to put myself in their hands when it comes to my food. So good job Kapiolani medical center for women and children! Mahalo Nui Loa for your care!

Texas Brownies

Not sure why they are called Texas Brownies, perhaps because everything is bigger in Texas? The pan you need is a jelly roll pan or a large sheet pan with a minimum of one inch around the edge. In my family these are Nana's Texas Brownies. My Nana lived in Nebraska and Minnesota at different times. When she lived in Minnesota when I was little I remember her teaching my how to make cookies. As I grew up she moved back home to Nebraska. The one thing I will always remember about her Nebraska house in the winter around the Christmas holidays is that the garage was as cold as a refrigerator, and at times as cold as a freezer, and no one used the front door every cousin walked in through the garage. Along the wall leading to the house and over and beside the door were shelves full of ice cream buckets. In those buckets were cookies. Lots and lots of cookies. And if you happened to be walking in the door with Uncle Dale, Brian, Eric, Tim, or Craig you could get the most sought after cookies. They were the ones you had to be tall to reach. I'm pretty sure that they were the ones that put those buckets in that location because my Nana wasn't super tall like they were. We are headed into the holiday season and a bit of me got nostalgic the other day. I didn't have diagnosed food allergies when I was a kid, and so I could indulge in any treat Nana made. These brownies never made it outside to the garage cooler shelves. The pan would sit inside her washer/dryer closet in the kitchen. It had a bifold door. I'm not sure how she did it but I know she never oiled it to fix the noise it made opening. She would scold you for sneaking a brownie, but we all knew she never really meant it. Now that I'm older with annoying food allergies. I decided it's time to make some of the treats edible to me again. So without further ado soy free, dairy free, egg free Texas Brownies.

2 c. flour
2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. Canola oil

(Optional) 2 drips dairy free butter flavoring by Wilton
1/2 c. shortening (spectrum farms)
1 c. strong coffee 
1/2 c. Coconut buttermilk ( to make simply put 1tblsp of vinegar into 1 cup canned coconut milk)

1/4 cup Apple sauce (cheat: I used 1 pouch of go go squeeze Apple apple sauce)
1/4 c. dark cocoa (unsweetened)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

In large mixing bowl, combine flour and sugar. In heavy saucepan, combine conola oil , butter flavoring, shortening, coffee or water, and cocoa. Stir and heat to boiling. Pour boiling mixture over flour and sugar in bowl. Add the coconut buttermilk, applesauce,  baking soda, and vanilla. Mix well, using wooden spoon or high speed on electric mixer. Pour into well buttered 17 1/2 x 11 inch jelly roll pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. While brownies bake, prepare frosting.

FROSTING FOR TEXAS BROWNIES:

1/2 c. Spectrum shortening
2 tbsp. dark cocoa
1/4 c. Coconut milk
3 1/2 c. unsifted powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

In saucepan, combine the shortening, cocoa, and coconut milk. Heat to boiling, stirring. Mix in powdered sugar and vanilla until frosting is smooth. Pour warm frosting over brownies as soon as you take them out of the oven. Cool. Cut into 48 bars.