BeeBooBaBooBeeBopBop

 A boy in his leotard.

 A Blue Jay stuck in the coop.

 My first tomato.

 Looking for mulberries.

 Ancient History.

 

 Eaden is always writing Naia's name on everything (walls, the fridge, her brother). She must think I'm not very smart.

A Compromised Generation. Arrggghh!

So y'all know my kids struggle with eczema. It has taken over my life recently. I am fully converted to WAPF dietary principles. I am experimenting with food and ointments. I have been researching, researching, researching. I have been spending money that I do not have. Money on books not available at the library and that I wish to write in, money on cod liver oil, probiotic supplements, and natural oils. I am tired. 

I have had this book, A Compromised Generation, on my shelf for a while. I have not wanted to read it. I started. So sad.

Although I am a health conscious person, I am guilty. Guilty of feeding my kids horrible crap. Maybe I am responsible for their skin making them so uncomfortable.

I know we just started cutting out sugar and processed foods (we have not completely cut out grain yet), but my son's skin is not healing. I am well aware I need to give it time. It's just that he is super itchy today, my house is a mess, and I'm behind on Eaden's homeschool. I'm impatient and frustrated.

Parenting in a confusing world can be so hard! I wish we lived in a simpler time....We don't.

Here is a small sample of what we have been eating. My kids will eat a lot of different foods if I just give them melted butter with lemon to dip it in.

 We started cod liver oil. The baby will take it by mouth but I am rubbing it on the skin of the rest of the kids. The probiotic supplement is a tasteless powder so it is easy to put in any drink. And my monster kefir grains.

 The kids are having a little bit of a hard time with the grain free thing so I made them some spelt muffins. Don't they look excited? Actually, they enjoyed them. However, Naia's eczema flared up a bit the next day....

 She is much improved though.

 My son, notice his elbows, is not. And he is dairy free. He is holding our first mulberry harvest.

 The kids like to dance for me as I wash dishes.

 Despite the outdoors irritating the eczema, we get out.

I am just going to take this whole healing process one day at a time. I feel I need to take a break from the researching and just feed my kids nutritious whole foods. I can't spend anymore money.

Thursday Farm Day

I have decided that every other Thursday will be Farm Day. The day when we buy our raw dairy, pick our own whatever, and buy local produce at various farms. 

Today we went to pick strawberries. The farm had other produce they grow for sale as well.

 After picking strawberries we headed over to the dairy farm. I am lucky that I live on the outskirts of town and very close to a lot of farms that provide us with what we need.

My kids, Eaden especially, LOVE the farm dogs.

 Today we spent $56 on dairy and $15 on the produce. This dairy will need to last us 2 weeks. I am hoping that we can pull a $150 a week budget. We shall see.

Our path on the cure for eczema is going VERY well! Naia's skin is very much improved and Tavens is slowly improving. His behavior is drastically different. He will come up to me, hug me and say "I love you Mom." Sometimes he comes up, taps me on the shoulder, and says "I like you." He is becoming very sweet. A new child emerging with the new and nourishing food. I will post soon with new pictures of their skin!

I am so very happy.

Bleubonnets, Aggies, and Eggs

Okay. Get ready for picture overload. It was Easter weekend after all.

 Obviously, the Bluebonnets (our state flower) are in bloom.

 We went to watch the Aggie girls take on Alabama.

 I really wanted to keep candy to a minimum this Easter. Thank you Texas A&M for this egg hunt on the soccer field.

 Bluebonnets again.

 We made a Easter egg tree on Easter morning.

 Then we headed over to my parents for the big egg hunt. I told my Dad not to put out so much candy.

 Well they still got bucketloads of crap. We are thinking up new traditions to start with Grandma and Grandpa next year...

 Taven wanted to put a lizard on his cousin Abby's head.

Eczema...and Stick a Foot in my Mouth

I am changing the purpose of my blog up a bit. Well I'm not sure what my purpose was before, but I think I might have one now. Here is the main thing. I do not want to offend anyone or seem as if I am judging anyone. My last post was not too nice and I deleted it for that reason. Often I find that I don't agree with a certain idea or group of people to later find out that maybe they were right.

So if I just shut my mouth I might save myself a lot of embarrassment. 

I will use this space to document what we are doing. Homeschooling, homesteading, food, fun, nature walks, travel, whatever. But without putting down or judging others. This is our journey and I need help. Since resuming blogging just a couple of weeks ago I have learned so much. The blogging community really helps me stay in touch with current issues. When I quit blogging, I quit reading blogs. And when I quit reading blogs I go into my own private sphere of not knowing or remembering. Does that make sense?

I have tried to sort of follow a Weston Price diet for a while now. I have not been too successful (mainly with the cutting out of sugar and white flour). We drink raw milk and I slip kefir into my daughter's milk most of the time. We eat lots of meat and fruit. We need to work on vegetables.

Here is the thing. My two middle children have pretty severe eczema. I was listening to a podcast the other night from The Village Green Network Healthy Life Summit given by Emily Bartlett on how to heal eczema through diet. What really got me was when the lady said that eczema is the tip of the iceberg. It's the body crying out saying look! something is wrong here!

My oldest and my youngest have no eczema. I guess that's why I never thought it was the food. They all eat the same thing. But every child is different and each child may have different food sensitivities.

I need to face the facts! I need to listen. 

Although I truly hope we will not have to go gluten free, we are going to cut out gluten and sugar for one month. I ordered some cod liver oil online which I will try to somehow get my kids to take on a daily basis. I do not think my daughter will need a probiotic supplement as she does drink quite a bit of kefir. My son I'm not so sure about. He doesn't drink milk and he will not eat yogurt...

Another thing that was mentioned in the podcast was that I should not use petroleum products on the kids' skin. Well of course we have been using Aquafor constantly since that is what the doctor told us to do. I am not yet sure what I will use as an alternative. The kids will be crying for something.

To be honest, I still do not know much about exactly what foods we should or should not be eating. I do not have time to sit and research it all day either. I am just going to have to start somewhere and learn along the way.

We still need to get all of the flour and sugar out of the house and of course Easter is coming up. We usually go to my parents and hunt for mass amounts of candy, but I asked the Easter Bunny if he could hide money instead. We will see. A lot of cousins are counting on the candy. Peer pressure! 

We also have 1st grade starting next week for Eaden. With the new homeschool schedule and the new eating plan I have a lot in store. Wish me luck!

Here are my son's (3 years old) legs (yes he is wearing pink crocs).

 His ankles are particularly bad.

 Here are my daughter's (4 years old) legs.

 And her arms.

I truly truly hope this new diet works. We have been to the doctor numerous times and I have tried so many things. To end their (and my) suffering would be such a happy thing...

This post is linked to Party Rave Wednesday at Holistic Squid (the same lady whose podcast I refer to).