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.

Charlie Gets Tubes In His Ears

Its been about a year now, that we've been dealing with Charlie's chronic ear infections. I really can't even remember the last time that he wasn't sick.

When we left Charlie with the babysitter, to go deliver his baby sister back in August, he had a double infection. I remember being nervous about how he'd react to us leaving him, since he was extra grumpy because of the pain, but- he did fine (for the most part). And then when Evelyn turned a month old, he started showing signs of another infection (gagging on anything he put into his mouth, laying his head on the floor- all the same things that he did with the previous infections). Finally, seeing how close together his infections really were, we got him in to see a new pediatrician, who sent him to an ENT, who scheduled a surgery to have tubes put into his ears right away.

That day was today.

Putting on his hospital gown

Since we currently don't have a vehicle (in case you missed it, Christopher got into an accident last week and wrecked the Van- hes ok btw), my good friend Carrie offered to take us to his appointment. Thank you Carrie! We were running late, and got there just 2 minutes before his scheduled surgery, but- we made it! They called us back as soon as we signed in, so... hope you're ready, kid!



A very nice nurse took us back into a chilly yet warm room, with a blue-ish sort of tint to it. Christopher's sweater, Charlie's pants, Lovey, the sheets, the gown- the way that the colors reflected off of the walls filled the air with an overall feeling of calmness. Kind of perfect, how it turned out that way.




Charlie was a champ, really. He shed a few tears, and said the words "go home" more than once. Surely he hated being in the cold room, with two socks on one foot, and strangers zooming in and out and about-



In between our distracting him with songs about his Loveys, (because we've gained a new one on top of the one that he already had) it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. I think somehow he had known that it was coming.



Before we knew it, Miss Debby came in, a friendly nurse with the very best smile, and said it was time to go. I kissed my baby goodbye, reminded him over and over again how much I loved him, and then followed him with my eyes as he rode on Debby's hip all the way down the hall, and around the corner into the Operating Room, both Loveys in arms.

I did my best not to cry, as he shouted "Bobby!", which really means "Mommy", as we were walking away.

We went into recovery room 2, a large space filled with rocking chairs and other mothers waiting on, or already holding their little ones- where we sat nervously, having conversations about nothing that made sense at all (to me at least), hoping to pass the time.

Soon, the doctor came out, and told us that he had put up a little bit of a fight (and that they had won, obviously), but the surgery was done and he'd be out soon. Thank goodness, bring me my baby!

About 15 minutes after we had originally taken our seats, out came my groggy little mini Sasquatch, wrapped up in a warm blanket, reaching for me, and quickly stealing the hearts of all of the nurses, and everyone else who happened to be in the room with us.



We rocked back and forth until it was time to go, not saying much, just enjoying the warmth from the blanket and each other. By the time we got home, he was back to his normal self, and ready to watch Space Puppies.

Our fingers are crossed in hopes of no more ear infections, and hey- hearing how things sound above the water (because hes been hearing things through walls of water), will probably be a nice change of pace for the kid.

You did great Charlie, we're proud of you.