Importance of role models

Alex hosted a tea party for us tonight. Each one of us went around and shared our "flavor" of tea (pretend, of course). Nathan's response: strawberry rainbow sprinkle, mine was princess orange tea with whipped cream and a cherry on top. Then there was Alex's response: "FLAVOR FLAV!!!!" She is a riot. We about spit our tea everywhere. Thank you to my mother, Sherree, for teaching her about this incredible role model.

Must See

I am so excited about this new show on ABC:
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution
http://abc.go.com/shows/jamie-olivers-food-revolution/about-the-show

Fridays at 8:00pm/CST on ABC.

Finally, a show that gets real about what we are feeding our children in the US.
As Alex is about to start kindergarten, watching this just made me sick.
I am thrilled we have Jamie Oliver to stir things up and show us not only what we are doing wrong, but how we can make simple changes in our home that will teach our children about nutrition. Please, please take a moment and Tivo this show! You won't regret it!

I'm pretty sure God has me on the road to become a licensed nutritionist (someday, much much later). We will see. I am learning so much through this whole process with Carson. Once you see and learn how important proper nutrition is and how it effects your body, it's impossible to turn back. Moms, if you have any questions about meals or snacks or supplement suggestions for you and your children, I'd love to help. I'll get off my soapbox now, but let me know what you think of the show.

PS: I Corinthians 6:19-20

"Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God. You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

How we love our butterflies

Alex received a Butterfly Pavilion kit from the DeWalls for Christmas and we had such a great time with it. We sent off for the caterpillars and six weeks later, we received a container full of caterpillars laced with food. Over the next two weeks we watched nine caterpillars quadruple in size and each spun their bodies into cocoons. On "cocoon" day we watched nine little caterpillars spin like tornadoes to create their new shelters. It was amazing to see all nine do everything in sync. Nature is incredible.

Then, we took the nine cocoons and transplanted them into their hatchery. We waited and watched and seven days later, we had butterflies. Alex was hysterical. She was running around the house yelling, "My babies, my babies! I am a mother. It's a MIRACLE!" It was so cute. They stayed in the hatchery for three days while we fed them nectar to gain strength. Then it was time for the big release. Alex is such big stuff. No tears...she knew releasing them was part of the plan and she had a blast doing it. We were very fortunate to see ALL 9 hatch! They guaranteed 4, so we were lucky! Here are their names in order of hatching:
*Ellie
*Princess
*Evelyn
*Abbi
*Princess Butterfly Sparkle
*Olivia
*Princess Kaitlyn
*Princess Rainbow Butterfly
*Princess Rainbow Butterfly Ice Skate!!!!! (HA!)

A few pics from the process:

Alex is yelling, "My babies are hatching!"

She brings all of her babies outside for the release
A song and interpretive dance for the babies. Only Alex would do this.

There goes Ellie

Princess Rainbow Butterfly Ice Skate

She was fearless as usual

Yes, she is actually kissing them

What a sweet and nurturing mother she is.

Alex was so delicate and sweet with them

Bye little butterflies! Thanks for coming to Boyd Court :)

Hopeful!

The Darby crew headed to the Gonino Center for Healing today to get another opinion for Carson. I was referred by a good friend of mine that had success with her family and at this point I am open to trying anything I can to shed light on Carson's complications. I was cautiously optimistic heading out for our hour drive to this "healing clinic"-- but again, I've been trying not to get too excited because I've been disappointed by lack of answers thus far. That being said, I LOVE THIS PLACE!
I am excited and hopeful. It feels great to have confidence that my son is going to be okay.

By the way, my husband is amazing. Nathan took the afternoon off to go with me to the appointment. He said, "I am not here for Carson. I am here for you. I know it's been a long road, and I don't want you to do this alone." Amazing man. I don't deserve you.

First, Carson was tested via Microscopy. A tech pricked his finger and placed the blood under a microscope for all of us to see. It was awesome. She showed us an example of healthy RBC (red blood cells) and then she showed us what Carson's looked like. Many of his RBC were misshaped and clumped together. The most amazing visual was being able to see his toxins in the blood. The toxins looked like burrs or shards of glass. We were also able to see groups of fungus, mold and yeast. They were also able to show us strands that revealed protein linkage and liver congestion. What does all of this mean?
Well, a lot. The crazy part is that she didn't have our file and was able to tell us:
* Carson has a severe case of leaky gut (something we already knew, but fascinating she could tell us this by looking at a drop of blood.)
* He has a high level of toxins in his bloodstream
* He was a VERY high level of yeast, mold and fungus in his blood, aka "Candida."

Next, we were able to finally meet Dr. Gonino. I wish every MD could share his amazing bedside manner and confidence. Not arrogance; confidence rather, and his openness to talk about his faith. Gutsy, but very inspiring to us. One of my frustrations has been that all of the docs brush off the fact that Nathan is a type I diabetic. I just know it's linked somehow. Mother's intuition or plain common sense tells me that Carson's daddy has a major immune system disorder.... so how is that NOT linked to Carson's condition? The other doctors have all told me there is no correlation. When I casually mentioned it to Dr. Gonino, he abruptly stopped what he was saying and told us, "Well, that completely changes the game. I am so glad you guys came today. I think we can do some amazing things for your son. " He told us a story of a very young girl that had been diagnosed as a type I diabetic and was put on insulin daily. Her parents were not convinced that this was the proper diagnosis so they came to Dr. Gonino. He agreed with the other physicians that she was diabetic, and these parents pleaded with him to dig deeper and test for other possibilities. He did and found that she actually had Celiac disease (gluten or wheat intolerance). Within six weeks, she was off insulin completely. Long story long, he believes that gluten could be one of the major culprits with Carson's intolerance (which is what I was saying to the GI and he said he didn't think so). He also said that Carson is a "fungus ball" and the toxic levels of yeast and mold in his blood are tearing up his gut, causing the "leaky gut." This has all happened due to these chain of events: he has food intolerances that cause his immune system to react when he eats certain foods, he then gets sick because he lacks the proper immune support needed to stay well, then he is prescribed antibiotics, then the antibiotics kill the good and bad bacteria in the gut, and the yeast and bacteria take over. And that is what we call a series of unfortunate events! He gave us a prescription for the Candida (yeast/fungus) and told us to remove simple sugars from his diet until we get his levels under control. The other thing I loved about Dr. Gonino is that he validated our efforts. He praised the fact we are seeking help from a nutritionist and said 1/2 of what he tells his patients to do, we are already doing. He said we've done a great job being proactive and hitting this hard. It just felt good to hear a doc say we are doing the right things for Carson. He believes that by adding a few more supplements, killing off the colonies of yeast, and testing for food allergies, we will be able to narrow down exactly what is causing the leaky gut and heal him up. He actually said, "Yes, we can and will heal your son." Umm, okay. Sounds good to me!

I take him back on Thursday for the blood work. I want to do it all at once so we can keep the needle pricks minimal. It will take 4-6 weeks to get some of the results back, but he is doing a Hemoglobin A1C and pancreas screening to determine if he is indeed showing type I pre-diabetic symptoms. He is also conducting a test to determine if he has the gene that causes Celiac disease. He literally said he can possibly prevent our son from getting type I diabetes. I have to say that is a huge stretch for me. We've never heard any doctor say that or anything close to it. So, shame on me for thinking "I'll believe it when I see it" but I hope he proves us wrong. That's why I need to have faith.
In the meantime, it gives me something to celebrate...we are in good hands with this doctor. We will keep you posted with the results. We love you all and thank you for your prayers and support.
Finally, please don't judge my grammar or writing abilities (and please don't laugh at my medical explanations)...I am a tired mommy doing the best I can to explain this mess! :)

A day at the museum, March 8

YaYa & I decided we needed a fun day out with the kids so my mom came over and we took the kids to the Dallas Museum of Science and Nature. We had a blast! It was a very action packed day. Carson was mostly along for the ride but he did great and just wanted to run, run, run! He was everywhere. The highlight for both kids: the dinosaurs. When Carson saw the huge bones he stared and kept saying, "wwwwoooooooowwww." One of Alex's favorite movies is Ice Age 3 and "Rudy, the T-Rex" is one of the main characters. When Alex first saw the huge T-Rex, she screamed and ran away yelling "It's real, it's real!" Once we explained that the bones are real, but dinosaurs are extinct, she rolled up her sleeves and joined in the fun. The best part was when we were leaving, she wanted to go back and see the dinosaurs one last time. As we were walking away she yelled, "Bye, Rudy. Love you! You are a really cool and awesome T-Rex." As always, you just had to be there to hear Alex..but it was so cute and funny. The pictures are terrible but at least I have a few from my phone:

Carson would never stop moving (shocker!)-- here is an attempt to get a pic of him in a fireman's hat

Alex & Carson loved the water displays and played well together

Carson was very intrigued with the distorted mirrors. It was so cute!
Chief Alex loved the firetruck

YaYa stayed very busy running the zone defense :)

Alex playing fire chief

It was such a great day!

Kill the Bill!

Taking advantage of the first amendment, courtesy of the Colorado Springs Gazette:

The House of Representatives approved socialized medicine in the United States, a move that stands to fundamentally change a country that is unique in the world for defending individuals in providing for themselves and making their own choices.

The health care package results from bribery, corruption, a lack of concern for what the majority of Americans want and a disregard for the 10th Amendment of the United States Constitution. Despite passage, don't count on "free" health care or any other aspect of this ill-conceived package to materialize. It just isn't likely to fly.

The 10th Amendment couldn't be much clearer: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Just where does the Constitution authorize the Congress or President Barack Obama to force individuals to buy health insurance? Nowhere. The federal government may no more force a person to buy health insurance than it may force one to buy a house, a car or a college education.

Nobody alive has seen the federal government function in such an openly corrupt manner as President Obama and the Democratic majority have in trying to force their health care agenda on the public. Stunts including the Louisiana Purchase and the Cornhusker Kickback have sickened Americans, not to mention the knowledge of politicians supporting and voting for a bill they cannot possibly have read. The dignity of the Congress has never been more in question. A year ago, nobody could have imagined President Obama's approval rating going so low as it has in recent weeks. He promised to govern from the middle and has instead governed with a heavy hand from the left, essentially forcing a health care agenda most people do not want.

Already, 36 states are ready to sue the federal government because the United States Constitution doesn’t authorize Congress to impose socialized health care.

Regardless of Sunday night’s vote, the health care package is unlikely to ever take effect. Sometimes, when you win you lose. Congress cannot get away with violating the law of the land, especially when it lacks support of anything approaching a majority of Americans.

Most likely, Democrats accomplished nothing more Sunday than destruction of their party. They indulged a delusional sense that majority control authorizes them to do whatever they want and to heck with what the people desire.

The country can’t afford this plan and the rational majority know it. It’s unlikely to pass constitutional muster in court. Voters and politicians in states, including Colorado, will do everything imaginable to stop it. After health care reform fails to materialize, it may go down in history as a prime example of how checks and balances work against absolute power and corruption in the United States. Ultimately, the fate of this bill will determine whether this country favors government or the governed. Count on it to favor the governed, as it has for more than 200 years.
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AMEN!
I am all about getting people the medical attention they need, but not at the expense of the entire nation. I know I've offended several by this post, but I love that we live in a country where we can express our opinions. For now at least :)