How Mom Stole Halloween

I'm the worst Mother ever.
My kids are going to hate me.
I ruined Halloween.
I love my babies.

Yesterday, Charlie got tubes put into his ears. A years worth of ear infections were indication that we really didn't have much of a choice. You know what else a years worth of ear infections did to him? They tore apart his stomach.

One bad diaper every couple of days, turned into two... turned into a never ending cycle of digestion nightmares for the kid. Not my favorite topic of discussion, but by now I'm good at it, and- lets be real for a minute- when your kid hasn't had a solid poop in 3 months, something isn't right.

It had been mentioned to me in the past, "oh it could be yeast, cut out sugar". And like most of us do, when we hear something as astronomical as "cut out sugar", I did. For a day, maybe.

When it got to the point of my son's bottom being a solid sheet of red raised rash, broken and bleeding-

After the last double ear infection, after another double round of antibiotics-

When Charlie's body stopped digesting literally everything, and he cried and screamed and begged, anytime we'd go anywhere near his diaper-

I put my foot down. I put on my Mom pants, I took a deep breath, and I said the words that I had been meaning to say for months...

We're cutting sugar out of our diets.
We're detoxing.



I had been doing my research. I had been collecting my courage. I had had enough. When I said that we were cutting out sugar, a sacrifice that none of us were going to be prepared to make, I meant it.

And then, I realized that it was October.
My heart sank. But sunken heart or not, I couldn't take back my words. Not this time.

Really? Did I just take away Halloween?
You bet your candy bucket, I did.



What kind evil beast takes Halloween away? What kind of terrible monster denies even the worst behaving children the joy of fighting over the last pumpkin shaped peanut butter cup?

Wait just a minute, now.
I'm not a monster.
I'm not a beast.

I'm a mother. And I love my kids.

I love my kids so much, that I'm going to let them hate me.
This is what being a Mother is all about, right? Teaching them, and doing whats best for them? Even if it means that they hate you for it?

So I did what I said I'd do. I made my demands. I pleaded my case to Christopher, and he willingly stuck by my side as I threw away the freshly baked ghost shaped brownies on the counter. There wasn't going to be a "we'll start tomorrow" option, it was now or never. Next went the candy from the parade, followed by the marshmallows- "rest in peace, sugar", we said, "feed somebody elses yeast and overgrowth".

If you're wondering what sugar has to do with my sons stomach problems, well let me try to explain it to you in the cutest way possible:

Imagine a game of pacman. Everyone knows what pacman is, right? Well picture a nice round circle (the tummy), filled with those little colorful balls that pacman eats (the balls are yeast and bacteria). A few balls are ok, no big deal, right? And then you've got pacman (the good bacteria), zooming around in there, eating the balls (the yeast, remember?) one or two at a time, tra la la, keeping things in check. Well, along comes a ghost (antibiotics), and he tries to kill pacman! And soon, more ghosts (more antibiotics)! Pacman dies. The good bacteria is gone. So then, what do you have left? Just a whole bunch of colorful blinking balls. And you know what those blinking balls thrive on? Sugar.

Did that make sense? Are you following?
I know there isn't any sugar in the game of Pacman, but-
I tried.

Basically. My son took so many antibiotics over the last year, that his belly filled with yeast and bacteria, and his digestion stopped working properly. Take away the sugar, and theres nothing left to feed the bacteria. Throw some probiotics in there, and you've got an all out war on your hands. Believe me, you do not want to be around when the yeast/bacteria start to die off.

We're two weeks into being sugar free, and after it got worse (poor Charlie, Mommy loves you!), it got much better.

After months and months and months of awful diapers and tummy aches- we went from 4 runny stools a day, to 1 or two solid stools. Did you read that right? Cutting out sugar, worked! Taking Halloween away from my babies, worked!

Ok, so I didn't really take Halloween away. We're still going out trick or treating. We're just not going to eat any of the candy. Instead, the kids are collecting it for the Halloween Fairy, who will in return bring them the bath time Disney character and super cool motorcycle toy that they've been wanting. (And pajamas for Evelyn, since if you don't tell the Halloween Fairy what you want, so Mommy can run out and get it, you get pajamas. Sucks not being able to talk, huh Evelyn?)



And, because I'm not pure evil (even though the kids think I am)- I slaved over a hot double boiler -boil boil toil and trouble- and made the kids stevia sweetened Halloween chocolate (seen above), which by the way, is not an easy thing to do.

A thorough detox will take 6-8 weeks. We're sticking to it for the full duration, and then some. I'm doing my best to make meals, snacks, and treats for all of us, while still sticking to our other dietary restrictions (which vary from person to person). I can't promise that everything will taste amazing, but... I'll gladly sacrifice my taste buds for the sake of my family's well being.