Our Home Life Archives - Page 4 of 14

10:51 am by Penelope

Easy Gluten-Free Diet Menu Plan

Today Jax of The Roller Coaster Life of a Forever Family is sharing how easy a gluten-free diet can be to help with gluten-sensitive kids’ behavior.

I had heard about gluten free diets for behavior issues but had never put my son, Christopher, on one only because I didn’t think it was something I could manage as a single, working mom. I can honestly say, living a gluten free lifestyle is actually pretty easy. There are tons of easy, quick and healthy options available for even the pickiest of finicky eaters (like my son).

Easy Gluten-Free Rotisserie Chicken Meal Plan

For example, just go to your local grocery store and pick up a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken. My local Stop and Shop has two for one Fridays so make sure to look out for your own local bargains.

A rotisserie chicken could last for several days and be turned into several different meals, based on your family size. A few options appear below:

Day 1: Gluten-Free Baked Chicken with Mixed Vegetables

Simply heat up the rotisserie chicken in the oven, microwave some mixed vegetables with a little butter and you have a quick, tasty, healthy meal.

Day 2: Gluten-Free Chicken Tacos

Corn tortilla shells are gluten free so warm a few up in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Then fill the shells with shredded chicken, lettuce and tomato. Feel free to top them with guacamole, sour cream and salsa according to taste. One caveat: make sure to check the ingredients of the salsa because some are thickened using gluten, believe it or not!

Day 3: Gluten-Free Chicken Noodle Soup

My son loves Ancient Harvest Quinoa spaghetti. Please note that quinoa spaghetti does need to be cooked for at least 15 minutes to have the same consistency as regular spaghetti. While heating the spaghetti, on a separate burner you’ll heat up three cups of organic chicken broth. When cooked add the quinoa spaghetti to the broth along with some mixed vegetables from your freezer and the left-over chicken. You can season with salt, pepper and some Italian seasoning then let the pot simmer for five minutes. Soon you will have a tasty, hearty soup.

Gluten-Free Dessert Recipe

Dessert: Popsicles

We make our own popsicles using some rocket-shaped Popsicle molds that are BPA-free. I fill them with organic, all-natural lemonade and freeze them for several hours. They turn out great!

What tips do you have for eating a gluten-free diet?

7:31 am by Penelope

Have You Tried Gluten-Free With Your Kids?

Do you have a child that’s difficult to parent? Are your children cranky, aggressive, or hyperactive? Has your child been diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD)? {Read The Out-of-Sync Child for more on SPD}

Have you tried a gluten-free diet for your child with Sensory Processing Disorder?

I haven’t yet, but here’s what I’ve been reading about a gluten-free diet for SPD…

Beth Allen says this in her post, Jumping on the Gluten-Free Bandwagon for Our Son with Sensory Processing Disorder:

My second son Asher, 18 months at the time, was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder. SPD is a neurological condition in which the person has difficulties organizing the sensations coming from the body and the environment. One of the first things I read about SPD recommended removing both Gluten (protein found in wheat) and Casein (protein found in dairy) from his diet. I decided I’d give it 3 weeks, and then go back to life as usual, because it surely wasn’t going to change anything.

Well I’m here to shout from the rooftops, because it’s turned out to be life-changing for us!….

I was about to dive in to Occupational Therapy after Asher was assessed, but I decided to try this GFCF (Gluten-Free/ Casein-Free) diet for 3 weeks “just to rule it out.” Ha!

The GFCF lifestyle has been a Godsend! And still to this day, 5 months in to this journey, I am blown away by what we’ve witnessed. Our estimation is that 75% of Asher’s symptoms were COMPLETELY GONE within 1-2 weeks of going GFCF.

Jenny has a son with autism and SPD and says this on the SPD Blogger Network about a gluten-free, dairy-free diet:

Back in October, you may remember that my son started the GFCF diet (gluten free and casein aka dairy free). Within weeks, his eye contact and engagement improved, his verbal ability approved, and he began to sleep through the night for the first time ever. That was life changing for this exhausted mommy, and I was ecstatic that Bud seemed happier himself.

To be honest, I haven’t tried a gluten-free diet with my son because, frankly, I thought it would be just too hard. But check out this group of ebooks!

Check out these five ebooks on grain- and gluten-free cooking! In these books are numerous tips for a gluten-free kitchen as well as almost 200 recipes for every meal of the day. This book bundle is useful whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been gluten-free for years.

Grain-Free Meal Plans: Summer {2 Weeks} by Cara Faus
Cara’s known for her grain-free meal plans, and this collection includes recipes for 3 meals a day, 7 days a week for two full weeks plus grocery lists, prep instructions, indexes, and more to take the headache out of meal planning for your family. {$~~16.00~~}

Awaken: 30+ Egg Free and Grain Free Breakfasts by Karen Sorenson
In Awaken: 30+ Egg Free and Grain Free Breakfasts, Karen offers 30 delicious breakfast recipes that are egg- and grain-free with step-by-step instructions and photos as well as tips for stocking a gluten-free pantry, egg and sweetener substitution charts, and nutritional information estimates.

Baking with Coconut Flour by Starlene Stewart
Baking with Coconut Flour is not a recipe book but an instructional guide that will answer your questions about baking with coconut flour. Starlene shows you how to successfully reproduce other people’s recipes, how to work with coconut flour, how to adapt your favorite family recipes, how to troubleshoot your flops, where to find coconut flour and more. She even includes a handy worksheet to help you convert recipes!

Check out Beyond Grain and Dairy Cookbook
And the recipes in Gluten-Free Snack Cookbook look so yummy!

I have already ordered and can’t wait to read the Grain-Free Meal Plans book (with grocery list)!!! I’ll let you know how it goes.

Have you tried a gluten-free diet with your kids with Sensory Processing Disorder? Did it help their behaviors?

3:32 pm by Penelope

Proud to Be a Stay At Home Mom

I’m a Stay At Home Mom!!!

Beginning at 4 months old, my sweet baby boy, Lil Bit, had grown up in daycare. I was incredibly blessed by motherhood, and more and more, I began dreading leaving my 3-year-old each morning. The daycare had grown as quickly as he did and was becoming more chaotic with the revolving door of daycare workers. This school year, each morning, my heart hurt as I dropped him off with him wailing, “I don’t wanna go to school. I wanna go witchoo.”

I was already feeling guilty for leaving my severely-neglected JD in daycare as an infant. His diagnosis of Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) piled on even more “mommy guilt.” Would staying at home have helped my adopted child in his attachment as an infant? Taking FMLA (family leave) made a world of difference for my son after he got kicked out of his third daycare. (This year of all-day Kindergarten was incredibly successful with only minor rule infractions and not one meltdown at school!!!)

But could I really go back to being a stay-at-home mom as I had been when my husband and I first married? (See this YouTube video about homeschooling my stepson)

It turns out that YES I CAN!!! And I’m loving being a stay-at-home mom!! But I am busier than I thought possible after saying yes to a sibling foster placement of a school-age child and infant sibling.

Our finances are tighter, but with me staying at home, we are saving over $800 a month from daycare costs, eating out much less, lower gasoline costs, no office wardrobe, no maid service, etc.

And we, as a family, are less stressed – minus the stress that two additional children add.

Are you a stay-at-home mom? If you work outside the home, have you thought of how you could stay at home with your children?

7:15 am by Penelope

I Am a Cancer Survivor

I lost my dad to cancer over 25 years ago. Much like my foster kids, I will never recover from that traumatic loss of a parent.

Cancer traumatized me as a young college student when my dad was suddenly in ICU, disoriented, and strapped to his bed. My dad had suffered a seizure and had become aggressive with the hospital staff. A cat scan showed that my dad had 3 tumors in his brain. All those years of smoking had led to lung cancer that had metastasized in his brain. The doctors gave him 6 months to live.

And just like that, with no warning, cancer, the silent killer, destroyed our lives!

I’ve shared about growing up in poverty, but what I found next still breaks my heart…

My hearing-impaired father, who had recently lost his job of 26 years, was just too proud to ask for help: My Daddy had been living in his home with no electricity, surviving on a diet of pecans he had gathered from a local park.

And now CANCER! With no health insurance, we had very little hope.

However, even in our darkest hours, God can still shower us with His blessings. We were blessed by many angels that helped us through this horrifying journey of brain cancer. My heart overflows for all those that helped our family during this difficult time.

I am extremely grateful for the American Cancer Society. The ACS provided us with a wheelchair and hospital bed once my dad became bedridden. Thank you again!

The American Cancer Society will turn 100 years old on May 22, 2013. Watch this moving video!

By not remaining silent, the work of the American Cancer Society has helped lead to a 50 percent drop in smoking since the 1960s, which has contributed to a drop in overall lung cancer death rates. ACS has played a role in nearly every cancer research breakthrough in recent history. And because of this research, I am now 9 years CANCER-FREE!!

GOALS OF THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY

Continue to ensure lifesaving cancer research gets funded.
Undertake a historic research study called the Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3) that will help us understand how to prevent cancer and save lives. The goal is to enroll at least 300,000 adults from various racial/ethnic backgrounds from across the US by the end of this year.
Make sure that people facing cancer have the help they need, like a free place to stay during treatment and a ride to get there.
Keep fighting for everyone to have access to quality health care, lifesaving screenings, clean air and more.

How have you been affected by cancer?

Although this post is sponsored by American Cancer Society, it is my true story of cancer…This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of the American Cancer Society.

10:00 am by Penelope

Help! Is This Oppositional Defiant Disorder?

Our strong-willed preschool son is a defiant one! This strong-willed Kindergartener has been so demanding and obstinate lately. And we are exhausted!

We recently attended a foster care training on mental health issues, such as depression, PTSD, ADHD. And when the speaker showed the slide on Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), our mouths fell open…

What is Oppositional Defiant Disorder?

ODD is a pattern of negative, hostile and defiant acts that lasts more than 6 months. (How about 2+ years?)

Symptoms of Oppositional Defiant Disorder

Loses temper easily
Argues with adults
Refuses to obey rules
Often annoys people on purpose
Blames others for his mistakes
Often touchy or easily annoyed with others
Often angry and resentful
Often spiteful

A child must exhibit at least 4 or more of the following symptoms to be diagnosed with ODD.

My son exhibits every single symptom of ODD!!!

Now don’t get me wrong – I am not diagnosing my son with ODD! To the contrary, my prayer is that he does not have ODD.

Because…get this: He has had no tantrums at school this entire year! My observations are that he only exhibits these symptoms of ODD with his parents! Since he only exhibits these symptoms with his primary caregivers, it could mean that he is expressing his needs due to his past trauma only when he feels safe – with his parents.

Read more about the overlapping symptoms of other disorders.

photo credit: demandaj via photopin cc

2:13 pm by Penelope

Fun Memory of Grandpa’s Dr. Seuss Food Menu

Dr. Seuss’ birthday is March 2nd and touches a special memory in my heart. Every year, I celebrate with my kids with a special edible Dr. Seuss food menu…because of my dad’s epic fail…

My Daddy was shy, rarely appearing in public. But he had a quirky sense of humor.

On a March 2 evening in my youth, I came home late from school to find my dad in the kitchen already preparing supper. (I grew up in a single-parent home with my dad and two younger sisters)

He informed me that it was a special day – a special day, indeed! It was Dr. Seuss’ birthday! He added that since we didn’t have any Green Eggs and Ham – that he had a better Dr. Seuss food idea and would be serving another delicacy:

GREEN CHICKEN!

My sisters and I just looked at each other as he proudly placed his colorful, culinary masterpiece on the table. We tried to eat it – we did – however, we just couldn’t get past the color to eat GREEN CHICKEN!

The funniest point of the evening that made us laugh as a family even years later is –

EVEN OUR FAMILY DOG WOULDN’T EAT THE GREEN CHICKEN!

My dad passed away from brain cancer just a few years later. He never met his grandchildren (or his sons-in-law). My children will have no memories of their Grandfather; however, I want them to feel as though they knew him. One way I’m creating a connection with their deceased grandfather is to preserve that silly memory of Dr. Seuss food on March 2nd with my children.

Over the years, Dr. Seuss’ birthday, has been commemorated by National Read Across America Day. (In fact, next week, my son will celebrate a Seussibration week at school.)

Our family has our own unique celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday – to celebrate a Grandfather.

DR. SEUSS FOOD MENU IDEAS & RECIPES

Green Deviled Eggs & Ham Rolls
Red Fish, Blue Fish Tuna Sandwiches
The Cat in the Hat Parfaits made with Strawberry Jell-O & Cool Whip
Seussibration Splash made with Strawberry Jell-O, Berry Blue Jell-O, and Sprite (sugar-free Jell-O floats)

For more ideas, check out my Dr. Seuss Pinterest Board!

What ways are you creating family memories? Do you celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday? What food ideas do you have for a Dr. Seuss party or shower?

9:00 am by Penelope

When Your Child Stops Breathing

Gasping, in the middle of the night, our Stinkpot would suddenly awaken and sit up in bed. Could my child have sleep apnea? He’s always gone back to sleep easily, but it was always startling to me how he would just wake up.

And our child’s snoring rivaled that of my husband’s!

Our poor baby boy, born premature, to a smoker, has always had severe breathing issues. Numerous hospitalizations and bouts with pneumonia, allergies, asthma, and even TWO, nearly three, myringotomies (tubes in the ears).

While consulting for his second myingotomy, the ear, nose, & throat doctor (ENT), asked us about his breathing. He told us that Stinkpot had enlarged tonsils which could cause Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). He said that our toddler’s tonsils should be removed to help with his breathing — but only after he is 4-years-old or old enough to follow doctor’s orders.

Knowing our strong-willed hyperactive toddler, we knew it would be a few years before he was ready, especially given his propensity for rages! However, maybe some of his rages could be caused by his sleep apnea???

Signs/Symptoms of Sleep Apnea in Children (1)

Snoring
Pauses in breathing
Mouth breathing during sleep
Night sweats

Our Stinkpot had all of these symptoms, including waking up a sweaty mess every morning. Other signs of sleep apnea in children could include daytime cognitive and behavior problems, including problems paying attention, aggressive behavior and hyperactivity. (2) Hmmm!

Our Stinkpot was scheduled for his tonsillectomy after Christmas. We were extremely worried about fasting and if low blood sugar would cause him to go into a rage. However, a 6:15 a.m. check-in time might have helped, since he was still mostly asleep.

The surgery staff were fabulous! To prepare him for his surgery, they told him that they were going to put a special Super Hero mask on him, and he would have to smell some monkey perfume. “It doesn’t smell good since monkeys are stinky!” They told him that when he took a nap that they were going to put a straw in his arm!

The adenotonsillectomy (removal of both the tonsils and adenoids) lasted only 15 minutes. He awoke as most children do, but not crying as he did before. Surprisingly, he has done tremendously well!!!

At home, he was HUNGRY! And ate more than he has…ever! Probably due to no ADHD stimulant that morning. He ate yogurt, pudding, Oreo cookie pie, popsicles, French fries, ect.

And he was hyper! “Put the football down & rest, son!” He took a short nap that afternoon, but was climbing the walls otherwise. As if he hasn’t had surgery at all!

The second day, he slept – the entire day – all but three hours. However, since then — I am simply amazed!!! No sore throat, no other symptoms that he had had a tonsillectomy, except….

HE DOESN”T SNORE!!!

Does your child show signs of sleep apnea? Has your child had a tonsillectomy?

9:00 am by Penelope

The Easiest Way to Read Through the Bible In a Year

A new year, full of new beginnings! And, of course, New Year Resolutions.

What are your New Year resolutions? Lose weight? Exercise?

One resolution that I’ve had for years is to read the Bible through in a year. But I can never keep up with the reading plans. I fall behind and can never seem to catch up. And then I get discouraged. And give up…

The sad thing is that I love to read! However, reading is next to impossible with my rambunctious preschool boys. When I’m finally able to relax…zzzzz!

However, last year, I discovered Audible.com!

I began “reading” audiobooks as I drove (alone) to/from work, running errands, on day trips for business, etc. In fact, my list of books I’ve read has grown tremendously. Check out the list of books I’ve read on GoodReads that includes best-selling parenting books, The Whole-Brain Child and Bringing Up Bebe. {Check out all these other parenting titles available on audio.}

And then I found Zondervan’s NIV Dramatized Audio Bible! It is WONDERFUL!!! I’m learning so much about the history of God’s people – in its entirety.

The best thing about Audible is that you can get a free a 30-day trial that includes one free monthly credit you can use to download the entire Bible (all 75 hours of it). You can cancel any time during the trial month before your credit card is charged $7.49 for the next month. After 3 months, memberships will begin renewing each month at the regular Gold rate of $14.95 (less than a hardcover book).

I absolutely love “reading” audiobooks! How about you?

Do you “read” audiobooks? Have you ever wanted to read the Bible through in a year?

Disclosure: Links to Audible are affiliate links which means, in the very distant future, I will receive a small commission if you choose to purchase a plan.

1:00 pm by Penelope

The Craziness of Medicaid and Flu Shots

My 3-year-old was burning up with fever this morning. 101 degrees! “Oh no!” I thought. “He has had a cough and runny nose for a week now. Please God, don’t let it be pneumonia again!”

A fever in either of my boys adopted from foster care puts me into high alert. Both boys were born premature (one in Mexico) and have had numerous hospitalizations for respiratory issues. But this morning, my biggest concern was the flu.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports:

“Significant increases in flu activity in the United States have occurred in the last two weeks, indicating that an early flu season is upon us. 48 states and Puerto Rico have already reported cases of laboratory-confirmed influenza and, nationally, the percentage of specimens testing positive for influenza is rising fast. Influenza-like-illness (ILI) activity levels in parts of the country are already higher than all of last season. 5 states are already reporting the highest level of activity possible.“

Last week, I took Stinkpot to the doctor regarding my suspicion that he might have hypoglycemia. I requested a flu vaccination, careful not to say the word “shot” in front of my 5-year-old.

The doctor left for a few minutes and then returned, refusing to give my little boy the flu shot.

Apparently, since he is now receiving health insurance coverage under Medicaid, the doctor said that their office cannot give flu vaccinations under Medicaid!!! What???

I now have to take my children covered under Medicaid to the county health department to get them immunized for the flu!!! You cannot be serious!!!

RANT: In my opinion, the government should make it easy for everyone to receive a flu shot – not dictate where someone, especially the poor, would have travel to get vaccinated!!!

The irony is that the CDC, which receives 85% of its funding from the Federal government, has designated the first week in December as National Influenza Vaccination Week!

I will be taking my children to the county health clinic as soon as Lil Bit is able. However, because I had an allergic reaction to the flu shot, I cannot take it without allergy testing first. However, because of my asthma, I will!

Have you had your children had their flu shots? Do you have to deal with the same Medicaid craziness?

If you have a blog, use these banner and web tools to spread the word and promote flu vaccinations!