Coming in November...

Pray with us for our new addition! This child, completely unexpected, has a 50% chance of having Brugada Syndrome. We won't be able to tell in-utero, but we will be able to learn (hopefully) quickly after giving birth.

Our miracle tree frog - with arms and legs and a head that are actually visible!

Amazing.

Soy

Ever since being diagnosed with all these food allergies, I have done a lot of research regarding each of the products.

I have been completely shocked by what I have discovered. I'm sure I'm just now getting on board with something that each of you already knows, but I'd still like to share what I have learned.

I'll start with my biggest allergy: milk. Apparently my allergies are IgG allergies, which means I have built up some antibodies to each of the products I'm allergic to. But, it's different from an IgE allergy, which causes a person to go into anaphylactic shock in the end. This particular allergy, an IgG allergy, causes problems like, fatigue, dark circles, nausea or other similar problems.

When I began looking at milk substitutes, I learned that soy milk should not be an option for any of us. My neighbor was the first to tell me that unfermented soy milk has many side effects and issues related to it, and when I did some research, I learned she is exactly right.

We are constantly bombarded with marketing that boosts the healthiness of soy milk - it has extra protein, soy is supposed to be good for brain development, it is low fat and has tons more fiber than cow's milk. People also cite the fact that Asians have been using soy milk and soy products for many years and look how healthy they are!

Well, the truth of the matter is, in China they use FERMENTED soy products. Even soy milk, called dou jiang, is made from the juice of tofu. Tofu is already fermented and the liquid around it is packed full of protein and healthy goodness. In the US, when they make soy milk, it is made by crushing the beans and grinding them into a pulp.

"Beans are cleaned and soaked overnight, and then pureed. The solids (called okara) are strained out, and the resulting liquid is boiled for about 10 minutes. A little simplified, but that's the basic idea." [source]

There is no fermenting in this process. Why do we need soy products to be fermented? Check these sources to get more details, but essentially, there are enzyme inhibitors in unfermented soy products that prevent our bodies from breaking down food and nutrients properly.

http://preventdisease.com/news/09/073009_soy_lecithin.shtml

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/soy-milk-dangers.html

http://www.quantumbalancing.com/news/soy%20dangers.htm

Those are just a couple of sites I have found in my detailed research. The amount of marketing available for pro-soy products has amazed me, but as I have read, it is very intentional.

Going back to the aforementioned milk allergy, I am supposed to ingest small amounts of milk every day in order to build up my tolerance for it, but I am not supposed to ingest large amounts. I have noticed my nose runs more when I ingest lots of milk products and the (ever present) circles under my eyes DO get darker.

But, my alternative to milk will not be soy milk. It is almond milk, preferably homemade because manufactured almond milk has (less than 1%) soy lecithin in it (a product in almost every processed food in America). If you'd like to make your own homemade almond milk, check this link out that my brother sent me. It's delicious and you can make it for about $1/quart.

I think that about scratches the surface.

The Three of Us

This is an older photo, but I wanted to post it anyway. My kiddos are so cute!

Lainey

Pray for one of my best friend's one year-old who is having an MRI tomorrow morning. Here is the info about it. I just know she's going to do great, but I also know it's scary to have any medical procedure done on your child.

Atlanta

Our family just took a (much needed) trip to Atlanta for the last part of the week. We had such a great time going to the children's museum and the aquarium there, but we really enjoyed seeing my aunt, uncle and my two cousins.

Sam and Carolina travel so well, it really is a huge blessing. One thing I usually do before long trips like this is to put on Sam's Medic Alert bracelet, which states that he has BrugadaSyndrome and an ICD implanted. I cannot believe I completely forgot to put it on his wrist for this trip. I think I need to leave it in the car from now on, just in case.

Generally, when we're here at home, I don't make him wear it. He doesn't love to wear it, though he will, and all of our local doctors and hospitals know his situation. The biggest fear I have when we're traveling out of town is that we'll get in some horrible accident where I won't be able to share his condition and the medics won't know that he has the ICD. I even had one pediatrician once feel Sam's defibrillator and ask me if it was his liver! Based on that alone, I can only imagine what an EMT might do if they felt his belly and didn't realize it was a defib.

Despite my horrible fears when we travel, I can actually enjoy myself most of the time. I forgot to bring a baby carrier OR a stroller, so both the kids had to walk everywhere we went. The worst part is that I learned Carolina has outgrown most of her shoes. I brought four pairs with us and the only pair that actually fit were her snow boots! I'm headed to a consignment sale today to find new shoes for her. That kid is seriously growing fast.

Sam's famous quote of the weekend was while I was away. He told my Aunt Nancy, "hey, we are playing outside in the grass and I'm not wearing a coat AND I don't have to button up! Where's the snow?? There's no snow here!!"

I think we'd been on-the-mountain a bit too long! It was a nice break from the snow.

New Blog

Check out the new blog I designed and am helping to implement. I'm so proud of my girls at highcountrymommies.com!

In other news, Sam has a cold again. So far he hasn't presented with a fever, but has had a lot of coughing and other exciting things going on.

We are enjoying another couple days inside, as the cold and the snow have made it impossible for Sam to get out. However, we are fully intending on enjoying April, once it arrives, and excited about the possibility of seeing grass again.

This morning Sam was talking to my father when he was asked the question, "what have you been doing lately."

Sam answered by saying, "We laid in the grass and saw the SUN!!"

We obviously got off the mountain last weekend and enjoyed seeing the sun for extended amounts of time. It was quite balmy at 50 degrees in Raleigh on Saturday.

Here's hoping there will be more sun!!

SSN!

We got to go to Raleigh on Friday and get "off-the-mountain," which was so much fun. We spent time with my brother and his family - it has been WAY too long since we spent time together.

On the way to Raleigh, we stopped in Wilkesboro to apply for Carolina's social security number. We had all the paperwork needed (so much paperwork!), but learned that when she came into the US, immigration put her first name as "Carolina Rone" and left her middle name blank! So, now she is apparently (officially) Carolina Rone with no middle name. We have to call INS and get them to change it and then change her name on the new social security card too.

It's always something, isn't it? But, at least it's no big deal. I just need to make a few phone calls to figure out how to get this done.

Other than that - no news is good news!

We're very excited that March is upon us, even though we MAY get another bad snow storm, at least the end is near. I can't wait for Spring!