Joseph Jr. - 5 Months (Part 1)

Even though this is our third child, it still amazes me how quickly time passes and how fast the little ones grow up and change right before your eyes.

Joseph is rolling all over the place and definitely does not stay still for long.

He is also real close to sitting up by himself.

He's all boy and seems so much bigger than I remember the girls being.

He adores being entertained by his sisters and thinks every word out of Charlie's mouth is hilarious.

The last couple of months have still been a struggle and investigation into what is causing Joseph's eczema. The more I 'google', the more I talk to this doctor or that specialist, the more unanswered questions there seems to be.

One day he would look just horrible...red, weepy and sore.

And the next it would seem to be clearing up and be more dry and crusty.

As of last, we were thinking the underlying causes were mostly food allergies. Since then, we have determined a few more things.

04-02-11

04-03-11

04-10-11

About 3 weeks ago, we went to see another doctor that specializes in biofeedback. Very interesting...both Joseph and I were hooked up to the biofeedback machine and assessed. In a nutshell, it looks at all the different systems in your body, looks at your hormones, vitamins and minerals levels, etc. and can show where you may be deficient, have allergies, etc.

For Joseph, it showed he has issues with dust, mold and coffee. We saw the doctor on a Wednesday and that weekend (Fri-Sun) we were away from home camping. It worked out well, we were out of our house which I assumed was making Joseph sick. My housekeeping skills have been lacking more recently with the juggling of 3 little ones.

Amazingly, his skin cleared up tremendously over our camping weekend away. But, within a day or two of being back home, he was breaking out again and his poor little cheeks were red and sore.

04-16-11

04-22-11

05-05-11

I was at a loss again...wondering if the air in our house was really that bad. At that point, I scheduled to have the house professionally cleaned and to have the carpets shampooed.

So frustrating, depressing and discouraging. I will be back tomorrow with more of the story.

God bless!

MN Teen Challenge Gala

Friday night, I attended the MN Teen Challenge Gala with my mom and mother-in-law. It was fabulous. Since Travis joined the program in June, I have seen the choir perform numerous times, but this was all 400+ of them. There were six students that shared their testimonies and Travis was one of them. He did great. I never could have done it, there were more than 1650 people in the room.

What a wonderful blessing the Teen Challenge program has been not only for Travis, but for our whole family. God is good!!

God bless!

Ten on Tuesday

Randomness from the Neaton ranch.....

1. My kids are funny and I couldn't imagine my life without them. Charlie's above face is a daily occurrence. Sometimes it makes me laugh and some times not!

2. The girls adore their father and can't wait to get into a piece of equipment with him.

And I think he likes it most of the time too.

3. Even when she is not looking at the camera, she is saying cheese.

4. I took Joseph in today to look at his skin again. It does look noticeably better and I'm thinking it should only get better from here on out. Final conclusions.....no dairy, no wheat and no gluten, no eggs, no corn, no green peppers, no potatoes, and no beef.

5. I think the beef and eggs make me the saddest. Probably because we raise both in our back yard. I'm still hoping/praying that the beef is more of a corn issue and will probably try a little after his skin clears up some more.

6. Besides all the skin issues with the littlest. In the last couple of days, I have developed some red spots on my arms and Cori has a couple of little spots on her leg. I have no idea what it is. There is no itching.

7. Cori is trying to talk more. She almost says - done and blanket - now. I have a feeling when the switch finally flips, she will be talking as much as her big sister.

8. I started taking a liquid fish oil. The girls are always wanting what I have so I have been giving them some too. It doesn't taste horrible, but it still amazes me that little ones have no issues with that stuff and come begging to have more. The first day we took it, Charlie says....Mom, that tastes kind of funny. Can I have some more?.

9. Garden planning, garden planning, and more garden planning going on here. I can not wait to get things planted.

10. I may be over doing it but this is what I'm planning.....tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, sweet corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, broccoli, cabbage, squash, pumpkins, watermelon, cantaloupe, lettuce, spinach, and zucchini.

God bless!

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!

Six on Sunday

1. I got the cutest picture of Cori at the chiropractor, but it's on my phone and I have no idea how to get it off. The kids have all been getting adjusted since they were born. But this was the first time she crawled up on the table by herself and laid face down for Dr. Ryan.

2. Joseph's skin is slowing clearing up. It looks much better today than it did a week ago. This definitely means no dairy and no wheat for mama.

3. Thursday, my Bible Study group finished up our current study...Sacred Influence. What a wonderful opportunity to spend time weekly with like-minded women, wives and mothers...and it was a wonderful book on being a positive, encouraging influence in our husband's lives.

4. Charlie got to have a sleepover at grandma LuAnn's on Friday night. She had a blast and has already asked about getting to stay again.

5. Saturday morning, I got the privilege of spending over $50.00 to fill up the minivan and over $90.00 at the grocery store...for only 4 bags of groceries.

6. So, I am failing on my plan for the 100 Day Challenge (starting and keeping 3 habits daily for the next 100 days). My 3 habits were - taking my vitamins, reading my Bible, and taking at least one photo. I think in the last 13 days, I have completed all 3 a total of 3 days.

My resident carrot peeler.

This is what Joseph looked like at the beginning of last week. His skin is now looking much better.

My very own Cinderella.

God bless!

Lent 2011

I am not nearly as prepared for Lent as I would like to be. I did go back and look at my plan from last year...more to get an idea of what worked and what didn't. My fast last year from Facebook and Twitter went well. I actually never went back to Twitter. I don't remember exactly, but I'm sure I failed on the fast from Internet on Sundays. Since last year, I have reworked my schedule quite a bit and had been getting up before everyone else and spending time with my Bible and Him. The early rising all went away at the end of my pregnancy with Joseph and hasn't really returned.

I feel like I constantly struggle to fit it all in. Right now there are days that everyone gets feed and clothed and that's it. Lent this year will probably be more difficult with Joseph still waking a few times a night and we are currently struggling through some major eczema issues. So, I'm going to be realistic and fit some of the things I'm already doing into my Lenten plans.

Plans are...

Fasting -
No Facebook.

My original plan was to give up snack foods and excessive snacking between meals. I feel like I am hungry all the time...nursing a little one does that to me. I haven't snacked really since Sunday besides fruit and veggies between meals, so I'm thinking I will just continue this at least through Lent.

With Joseph's eczema, which seemed fairly cleared up last week and is now back and really bad again, I've been eliminating foods here and there, but haven't been real good about it. So what better time than Lent to be serious and sacrifice for my child. He looks so rough, it makes me sad. This means...no dairy, no wheat, no soy. I'm also doing no eggs and no peanuts...at least for a few weeks. I know dairy is affecting him, but it seems like something else as well, so we will see. This will need to be an ongoing sacrifice as long as I'm still nursing.

Prayer -
I will be consistent with bedtime prayers with the girls and would like to start praying with Joe daily. I'm already working on getting some individual devotional time in each day as part of my 100 Days.

Giving/Community - 
I'm thinking, we should have friends and/or family over a few times during Lent for a meal, dessert, fellowship, etc. I think I'll plan on 3 or 4 times during Lent.

Have a blessed season as we prepare for Easter.

God bless!