1 Hour of Sanity

Ammon has discovered Play Dough. I cannot believe how long they play with this stuff. I can't touch it or stand the smell of it, but my kids love it and it occupies them long enough I can get some stuff done around the house while they sit still playing.

For autistic kids, this is a God-send. They get sensory stimulation and I've noticed that after my kids play with it they are helpful, content and easy going. YAY!

I Love Summer Because....

Remember summer back when you were a kid and how wonderful it was? Blissful, lazy days. Warm evenings watching and catching lightening bugs. The smells of barbeque's. Swimming. Even with the mosquito bites and sunburns, summer was my favorite season. It still is, but lately I've been re-evaluating my love affair with the season. I'm thinking it is not as in love with me, as I am with it.

1. Broken or bruised bones. Three summers in a row have given us falls out of trees which resulted in concussions, skateboarding accidents that resulted in scrapes and bruises and most recently a fear that a femur was broken (it wasn't, thank goodness!), and trampoline injuries of various forms (and not just on the kids).

2. Nothing says "I have it together" by taking your kid to the doctor in nothing but his underwear. Or barefoot. Or wearing flannel jammies when it's 103 outside.

3. Artwork! It's great to see it in chalk on your driveway and sidewalk. It's great to see it on beautiful coloring book pages. Not so great to see it on your wall, side of your van, all over the two year old, or on your bills.

4. Speaking of artwork, how about science experiments gone bad. Like, the marker in the microwave? Or catfood in the bathtub water? Or bubbles in the dog water? Or creating mud pies with the hose and a bucket?

Ammon felt it was necessary to cook a marker in the microwave. It exploded.

5. Day Trips. I wake up thinking it will be a great day for a day trip! Let's go to the zoo, the museum, the park, the waterfalls, etc. Usually these places are enjoyable and fun for all of us. But don't we all get that one kid that HATES to wear shoes, or sit in the stroller, or dumps all your bottled water for the day in a nice trail behind you as you pull him along in the wagon? Day trips that end in muddy clothes, missing shoes, almost heat stroke from lack of water, soggy sandwiches, and speeding trips back home because you have a naked two year old WITHOUT a diaper on because you forgot them or used them all up.

6. Potty Training. This is the third summer I have potty trained one our kids during. My tactic is to let them decide when they want to potty train because I don't have the energy or time to fight with them. Joshua has finally potty trained this summer, and it's gone pretty well. But we still have occassional accidents and these usually happen at the same time as 'not having a diaper' or 'we're 15 miles from a bathroom!' or 'we just passed the bathroom and "I have to go potty" is uttered from the backseat'.

7. Amnesia. I think winter wipes the slate clean in your brain. You're so cold, so bored and tired of living in the dark that when summer arrives you are bursting at the seams to get out the door and enjoy summer and all the things you associate with summer, except for a couple of minute details, like the "adventures" from last summer. Which is good. I'm not complaining about the amnesia. It's what motivates me to get all excited and do it again the next year. Will our kids remember that we were ~this close~ to admitting ourselves to the insane asylum, or will they remember that trip to the zoo that was so fun because they got to see the baby elephant and penguins? I don't know if I drove my mom nuts during the summer, but I don't remember any bad summers as a child, even though it may not have been completely enjoyable for her, bogged down with the grown up things of the world that don't take a break just because its summer. And maybe this is why we have kids that remind us that summers are for breaks, that we just have to go with the flow for a bit, and so what if your marker is blown up in the microwave. We have 5 others.

I watched Joshua lay on the basketball court the other day by himself and watched clouds passing overhead. I thought about how this is what he will remember: watching dinosaurs and birds form in the clouds, watching the ants scurry by, getting licked in the face by the dog as he lay there and she came to inspect everything was alright on him, and the warmth of the cement warming him in the cooler breeze of the evening.
Aren't summers great?

We Had the Baby - Baby #8!

So, we were told that the baby was a girl and while the boys were disappointed we prepared for a little "sister". We bought all pink and purple, frills and bows. It was one of my best pregnancies ever. I was running until my 7th month. After 9 weeks of bed-rest and contracting I got back on the elliptical for the last 3 1/2 weeks of the pregnancy. (Baby was overdue by 5 days).

Braedon Carter Baker was born after 1.5 hours of labor 7 lbs. 10 oz. and 20 inches long at 2 a.m. end of June... Much to the relief of his shocked and exhausted mom, dad, his 7 excited siblings, Daddy's chain of command and the gym staff and everyone else that knows us...IT'S A BOY!!! {Not a girl as we were told!}



Ben was tickled "blue" and so was Benjamin. Everyone else was excited too, except little Bella who insisted a girl would be better. :) I think she's used to her brother now.

First Month of Gluten Free Life

We are near the end our first month as gluten free. It hasn't been that bad. I haven't felt deprived at all, but I think the kids have to some degree. Just because they go to friend's houses or church activities and there's all the stuff they can't eat.

I have seen major improvements in our health in just one month. The babies are talking and growing. Ammon seems as big as a three year old now, despite being almost 2 and a half. He is talking in sentences, asking questions, and getting some attitude. Joshua is saying words I had no idea he knew. He started potty training and that is still a progress in the works, but he's now able to notice when he has to go. Hannah's moods have improved and she is willing to help out with a lot of the chores. She just seems happier. Jesse just states that he is hungry all the time, but he has gained 7 pounds in the last month and I think he is also going through a growth spurt.

I left Isaac and Simeon to update last. I had thought with this diet, because I seemed to be feeling better and so have most of the kids, that it would magically make the Autism disappear. It wasn't until this week that Isaac woke up one morning and told me he feels good. I don't remember when the last time Isaac had told me that. Simeon was doing really good with a lot of things, like his speech and some eye contact. I had heard some stories about a gluten free/casein free diet, along with intense therapy, made the autism disappear. I just didn't know what to expect from the kids going gluten free.

Yesterday, in a moment of insanity, I decided to take the kids to the zoo. The last time we had gone was the day I got the call that I had Celiac disease. I remember having the stomach pain that was getting worse the longer we spent at the zoo. Yesterday was amazingly different, for me anyway. I had energy, I had no pain, I could pull the little boys in a wagon through the entire zoo and I didn't feel like I was going to pass out by the time we got done.

What was alarmingly the same was Isaac and Simeon. Isaac hadn't gotten his medication that morning in all the commotion getting ready for the trip. He was screechy, making weird noises, and had spastic arm movements. His coordination was off, so when I ask him to help push the wagon up a few hills he looked like he was pushing but instead he was just hanging onto the back while I dragged the wagon and him up the hill. With this awareness of him not being on his medications and that we had been on the diet for a month, while he was in great mood, there was the autism still.

Simeon's only goal when he goes to the zoo is to see the penguins. The penguins should be the only animals we see when we go to the zoo in his opinion. They are in the center of the zoo, so on the way there we stop to see the other animals, like elephants, rhinos, monkeys and small animals. At the elephants he had a complete meltdown. Nothing like seeing a 6 year old screaming at all the other zoo patrons that he needs to see the penguins. A couple times I knelt in front of him, tried to do some counter pressure things on him to calm him down but it wasn't working. He wouldn't look at me, he was fidgety and could only repeat "I want to see the peeeennngggguiiiinnsss!!!!!!!" Eventually we got to them after taking a few wrong turns which only agitated him more. When we got there you could hear Simeon over the crowd of people in there as he talked to the penguins. "Hi penguins! Do you like donuts? I have a flag! I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. You're going swimming? I love swimming. Penguins love fish!" This in itself draws attention because he's so enthusiastic and my children have been blessed with really loud voices they inherited from their father. We are required to stay at the penguin exhibit for no less than 15 minutes. Simeon would be there all day with the penguins if he could. While I relayed all this to Curtis that afternoon he asked if Simeon had taken any of the 4 stuffed penguins he has. He hadn't. In the past the penguins have come along for field trips he carries in his backpack. Lesson learned there.

And the other lesson I learned: The gluten free diet is not going to cure everything. It will make us better to some degree, but in the end, Isaac will still have Aspergers and Simeon will still have Autism. I'm not upset by this, just maybe I had my expectations set too high.

Over all though, we have been doing really good. I am so relieved to have a diagnosis. Cooking has been an adventure in finding things to replace what we used to love. I did convert our favorite chocolate chip recipe and so far have made some muffins, corn bread and pancakes that were wonderful from scratch!!

I will try to get some posts on here for recipes I have tried. I'm still trying to remember to take pictures of the bakery products we have tried, but we are to excited to eat them instead of taking time to take pictures.

Here are some of the things we have come up with for quick meals.

Rice cakes with peanut butter and jelly
Corn tortilla shells with refried beans and cheese
Muffins
Eggs
Baked Potatoes (I found the big ones at Costco, wrapped them in foil and put them in the oven on 300 for three hours while we were gone for an appointment. They were done and wonderful!)
Spaghetti with corn noodles
Pepperoni and cheese sticks (more of a snack)
Steelhead trout and salad

I'll keep posting things as I find them.