Taking a Little Break From the Kitchen

Taking a little break from the kitchen now that our express move household goods shipment has left (along with many of my kitchen essentials! Goodbye, Kitchenaid mixer!:(   ). Since we are moving in a few weeks and it will be about another month or two before we get settled, we are taking a little break from food trials as well. I will still continue to test some new things in the kitchen in the meantime, but will be somewhat limited for now. Back in full force by August!!!!

10 months later. . .

B is almost 15 months old now (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and she is now finally on medication for her reflux. Her symptoms began when she was between 3-6 weeks old and the doc finally agreed that she had reflux when she was 5 months old. Now, they are concerned because her reflux has come back (improved around 11 months old, aside from when it would flare up with food reactions) and we aren't exactly sure WHY. The ped and DH and I all think it is secondary to something else-- teething, food, full moon (haha)--- but now the ped (and DH and I, though this has always been a concern for us) is concerned that she is going to have esophageal damage from the acid coming up so often. So we got Zantac. We are only a little less than a week in and BOY what a difference! She still has some reflux symptoms, but my B who I thought would NEVER sleep through the night before her 15th birthday is now only up ONCE in the night for the last couple of nights. And she isn't constantly coughing in her sleep now, or hiccuping and wet burping when I go to pick her up. Her hiccups during the day are all but gone now as well. And best of all-- she is so much happier and has a better frustration tolerance!!! I am so happy, especially since we are still at a lower dose. I hope this sticks!!!! How exciting if this solves our problem! I still can't help but wonder WHAT is making her reflux flare up again, but hopefully whatever it is will be something fairly innocuous.

A very small but exciting (for us!) victory!!!

B was able to eat raw banana today! She has been eating cooked banana for months (7!!!!) but as of a few months ago, still would not touch raw banana. A couple times when she first started with bananas she did have some raw and it gave her diarrhea, but every other time after that, she would spit it right out and never truly ingest it. SO tonight when I was making her cooked banana for dinner, I cut off a little 1/4inch thick slice and then cut that into four little pieces and put it in her little snack bowl. She gobbled it right up!!!!!! How exciting! No issue so far! I still think we are going to cook the bananas for the most part, but maybe start giving her a few pieces of raw banana in the AM with her breakfast. Maybe we are moving forward with our textures and starting to move away from purees!!!!!!!!!

Check out the new recipe!

Check out the new recipe for quinoa muffins on the page "recipes that have passed part 2!" Enjoy!

Getting ready to move! I will miss Japan!

The time is coming soon! Less than two months before we move back to the states! SO sad to leave this beautiful country but so glad for the chance for B to actually see a specialist and hopefully get some FPIES answers! My DH is looking at jobs and for the ones that seem promising, I am checking out area hospitals and doctors for B. Well, I came across the Children's Hospital in Boston and they have an EGID program there that I think B could be seen in. We still have to rule out EE and some others (per B's ped-- he also feels like she really needs a scope. Yikes!) so I figure an EGID clinic would be an awesome start. So if this job in MA works out, we may have a place to take B! I am hoping to hear back from them soon-- I called last night (their AM)-- so I will post any info I find out. Anyone living in the Boston area dealing with FPIES or any forms of EGID might want to look into this.

Quinoa-- is it true?!

Seems as if the "mother grain" decided to celebrate Mother's Day by becoming B's fifth and newest safe food! We are still having some odd refluxy symptoms going on, but they really haven't worsened in the last few days and there are no crazy diapers currently to speak of, so after 3 weeks and now at a 2oz serving, it would seem as if we have a winner! Be on the look out for some new recipes as I test the baking waters with quinoa and quinoa flour! Still don't trust it enough to give it to B after noon, but I think it will become a nice breakfast staple!

This is our last food trial before moving (we are using the month of May as the month to get our 12 month vaccines-- we do everything individually since those shots that are a million vaccines in one kind of freak me out) back to the states at the end of June! After being settled there for 2-4 weeks, we will resume trials. Currently, we are still considering spinach as the next mystery guest on our new food trial menu. I guess that leaves me plenty of time to look for fun and interesting ways to make it!

Happy Mother's Day everyone from the house of the newly accepted Mother Grain! Hope it is a good one for all and hope it is reaction free!

Vacay from our Food Trial!

I know, I know, I should keep up with the trial until something really goes wrong, but maintenance was turning off the hot water today and we only have a few months left living here in Japan, so I thought hey-- let's get on a train to Tokyo! And since we were out and about, wandering around in a country where (I am embarrassed to say!) I only speak about 10 phrases in Japanese, though I can understand a decent amount, I decided to forgo the quinoa sampling for today and let us girls just have fun! We went to a temple and a shrine (two religions in one day-- Buddhist and Shinto!!!) and got some great pics. Here they are! Enjoy!

Tom Petty was Right

The waiting is indeed the hardest part. We are currently on the fence regarding quinoa, with only one full week in our trial remaining. However, we are now within the window of days when her delayed severe reactions occur, so a little anxious over here!

She has been showing extremely subtle symptoms of a possible approaching reaction but not really enough to make us stop and not enough to make us so sure of her success with quinoa. She is definitely not teething right now and her reflux has mildly flared up and been slightly worsening since day 1 of the trial (hiccups, some spit up here and there, one extreme spit up/vomiting episode 7 hrs after ingestion). The other thing I am curious about is that she has been catching every and any bug that comes anywhere near her. She is now only fighting a cold and the end of an eye infection, but I am wondering if this should be a warning sign-- as I look back on past reactions, we were always in the pediatrician's office the week preceding the reactions for either a cold or the flu or something of the like. When DD is eating only safe foods, we have yet to experience this. Not to say that it couldn't be just coincidence; I mean, really, kids get sick. It happens. And sometimes a few things at once. But it is just something we are questioning right now. So funny how this makes you question EVERYTHING!!! She has also had some green and mucousy diapers this week BUT she was on a generic form of Zyrtec for her cold and I think the flavoring in that caused the diapers (she has been on it once before and we had the same problem). So we stopped the Zyrtec generic a couple days ago and are waiting for change. Her nights have also been rough and her mood has definitely been crashing down the colic-y path but again, she has been feeling under the weather. And I know-- I ramble on and am probably thinking way too hard about this, but we haven't passed ANYTHING in almost 6 months and while I am so hopeful she will pass something, I am so scared of her having a severe fail and then having the weight loss and growth set backs all over again. This is our last food trial until we are settled back in the states, since we still have her 12 month shots to do (delayed because of avocado reaction) and I want them done at least a month prior to our flight. Ugh. I hope this week goes by smoothly and she starts to improve with this food and not move towards a severe reaction.