Archive | June, 2009

Starting from scratch

30 Jun

I had already started a post for the day (all about the fun and games of Jade touching the hot just-turned-off front element of the stove) but another topic has invaded my life and has left me reeling just a little.

About a month ago, we took Jade to see a doctor of internal medicine and hematology who specializes in allergies.  For various reasons, I suspected that she might have some food sensitivities, and figuring there is a possible link between these and her seizures (at the very least, they would a stress on her body) we decided allergy testing was a good idea.

Long story short, it turns out that Jade is allergic to all dairy products (including goat’s milk, which is often less allergenic for those who are allergic to cow’s milk), as well as egg white and beef.  Dr. Kaegi recommended that we eliminate these foods from her diet for at least a year.

Although I suspected a sensitivity to milk, the eggs and beef surprised me.  And I am reeling (just a little) because every single one of Jade’s keto recipes contains either dairy or eggs.  Every single one.

It’s going to take me a few days to rewrite all Jade’s recipes; I’d built up a repertoire of almost a hundred.  I’m also going to have to do some research into soy products available here.

I know there have been other keto families who have successfully dealt with food allergies, so I know it can be done, but, man, I have so much other stuff to do right now, too.  I’m fighting the urge to just lie down and whimper for a while.

Hold my hand?

Halia’s new ‘do

22 Jun

People often ask me if I’m surprised to have a blonde baby.  (Not really — Michael was a blonde baby, and I am half German, after all.)  I also get asked if I think Halia’s hair will be curly, like Jade’s is.  But Halia’s hair has never shown any signs of being curly, although it does get a bit fuzzy after a bath, and then it goes right back to being a smooth wave across her forehead.

Until yesterday, that is.

Yesterday, we spent the early evening at the Takhini hotsprings.  We’ve been meaning to go for ages because Jade loves swimming and Halia enjoys her baths so much, I thought she’d love it, too. 

We all enjoyed ourselves, but I was very surprised when we came home with Halia’s hair looking like this:

Halia's Curly Hair - Front

 

And again, from another angle:

Halia's Curly Hair - Side

 

Jade’s hair also gets curly when wet, but apparently Halia’s requires either hot temperatures or the presence of rejuvenating natural minerals.  Or something like that.

And what the heck, while I’m busy uploading pictures, here’s one of my favourite new Halia expressions.  It cracks me up every time.

Frowning Halia

As easy as riding a…

19 Jun

Jade got a big present today.  It was waiting for her at the top of the stairs when she came up from her nap.  There it was, in all its gaudy, sparkling glory, a vision of pukey pink perfection, complete with handlebar tassels: her very first big-girl bike.

The new bike immediately had to be tried out, of course.

And we discovered that the bike is still just an inch or two too big for her.  Michael had removed the pedals and training wheels so that Jade could learn to use it as a push-bike first, a great way for kids to learn how to balance on a bike.  But her toes just barely hit the ground when the seat was all the way down, so she couldn’t really get it going.

“Too hard!” she whined.

So the pedals and training wheels went back on and she tried again.  She couldn’t get it started on her own, so I gave her a shove and off she went.

For one pedal, anyway.

She did eventually gain a little momentum, which is when I realized her knees were coming up practically to her armpits when the pedals would come up.  No wonder she couldn’t get any power. I stopped her, got her to hop off, adjusted the bike seat, let her on again.  We went around the block and I adjusted the seat up three more times, at which point she could pedal decently, but now of course she can’t touch her feet to the ground.

And goodness, I never realized just how much you have to learn in order to ride a bike.  Keep your head up!  Look where you’re going not at your feet!  Don’t get distracted by the tassels.  Push the pedals forward, pushing them back brakes the bike.  Braking means stopping.  Push the pedals one at a time.  But keep both  feet on the pedals.  Keep your head up!  Come over here to the side of the road!

And so on.

So Jade might not quite be big enough for the big-girl bike just yet.  But I can see her trying.  She’s going for it.  And I bet that when she does get it, I’ll feel like it’s all too soon.

Mixed bag

17 Jun

When the four of us got into Dr. Huh’s office on Monday, she asked us, “How was your trip?”

“Great!” I said.

“What?!” exclaimed Michael.  “It was terrible!”

“What?  No it wasn’t!” I cleverly countered.

It’s true that our trip to Ontario* was a bit of a mixed bag.  Michael was thinking about Jade getting a terrible and worrisome cold, the challenge of finding keto ingredients, the stressful drive to Mississauga to see his very sick Granny, the nights of no sleep and being in separate rooms with wakeful children, not getting to go sailing, the traffic.  And of course, he just hates being in the city.  I was thinking about the laughs with family, watching the cousins play together, the visits with dear friends, the way Jade snuggled up to Granny in her bed, the pleasure in the grandparents’ smiles.  Truly, it was a great and a terrible time.

Jade’s follow-up visit at the BC Children’s Hospital was similarly mixed.  Jade’s EEG this time looked much better than it did in February and March.  Dr. Huh was pleased to see Jade so steady, her hand tremors gone, her vocabulary improving.  However, she confirmed that the seizures we started observing in Jade’s sleep are, in fact, tonic seizures.  (This means all her muscles tense up for several seconds.)  We didn’t want to see these develop because we’ve read that having this type of seizure show up is a progression of the Myoclonic Astatic Epilepsy that indicates a poor prognosis (whatever that means, exactly…).    Dr. Huh isn’t happy to see them, either, but she says that it just means we need to be more aggressive with the diet.  So we’ll be making changes again in the near future.  Truly, a great and a terrible thing.

But in both cases, I want to let the good outweigh the bad in my mind.  There is so much good to be happy about.

And: it’s good to be home.

*I know it didn’t come up on the blog, but we suddenly decided the time was right for a trip to Ottawa and Mississauga to visit with Michael’s family.  It was so last minute that I was too busy packing and cooking keto meals to get around to blogging about it.  Oops!

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