Joseph Jr. - 3 Months

The biggest news related to little Joseph this last month.....his skin.

We are still struggling on getting a handle on his eczema. I thought we had it about figured out a couple of weeks ago and it seemed to be clearing up. I could tell dairy was bugging him and his skin looked a lot better when I avoided it, but it wasn't clearing up completely.
 

I then cut wheat out of my diet.....getting better but not there yet. Then on a whim I decide I should watch my soy and egg intake, since they both are common allergens too. It wasn't horrible, but you could tell his skin was still irritated and was itching him. I was at a loss and feeling really bad for the little guy.

About a week and a half ago, I decided to go see a local herbalist lady and see if she had any other ideas. She assessed both of us and determined I had a candida (yeast) issue in my body and that was affecting Joseph's skin. She recommended a couple of supplements for me, probiotics for both Joseph and I and a 3 week detox/diet to clear the yeast out of my body. That meant no dairy, no wheat, no yeast, no sugar (including fruit) and no vinegar. I was sort of already doing that, minus all the fruit I was still eating (the sugar in the fruit was just feeding the yeast). On a side note, she also said I needed to up my protein intake and told me I could add eggs back into my diet.

I followed her advice for about a week and Joseph's skin was actually getting worse. Last Thursday, I decided to go and see my old chiropractor, Dr. Mays. I can't believe I had not thought of him earlier. He not only is a wonderful chiropractor, but knows a lot about nutrition, allergies, supplements, natural alternatives, etc. In short order, we determined that Joseph has issues (allergic, intolerant or sensitive) with dairy, wheat, corn, eggs, gluten, and beef.....and he really wasn't liking one of the supplements I was taking. The day before we saw Dr. Mays, my diet was mostly beef and eggs.....no wonder he seemed miserable and looked awful. As far as the beef, I'm hoping it is just a fluck and is actually the corn fed to the beef rather than the beef. (We pasture/grass feed our steers, but I was out of hamburger and we are eating corn-fed beef right now.) 

As of today, he is looking better and feeling better. I'm hoping his sleep improves this week too. He has been so itchy that he can't sleep well at night. We are going to head back in and see Dr. Mays again this week. I want to follow up and run a few more allergy possibilities by him and have him adjusted again.

At this point, I'm just concentrating on what I can eat. The list is shorter than what I can't eat anyways. On a positive note, I haven't eaten any junk in weeks and I am back to pre-pregnancy weight plus some.

And we are praying that this won't be something Joseph has to deal with his whole life.

03-14-11

03-16-11

03-21-11

03-30-11

Ending on a fun note.....Joseph has rolled over twice in the last couple of days! And he is enjoying the time we have been spending outside.

God bless!