February 5

Wow!! Time really flies!! Here we are, almost all the way through the winter and the last time I updated was August.

Jack has been doing fantastic. I am sorely missing Dr Akin, though. I didn't realized how blessed we had been to have him in the same state, a mere 45 minutes from us. Now he's a loooooong ways away, and I am wishing for a nice reassuring visit with him. Well, since Jack is relatively stable, I guess we'll survive with our regular allergist/immunologist. He is fantastic, and is willing to learn, which is more than half the battle!!

We are almost one year in to the dye/preservative free living, and I have come soooo far. We are also chemical free in our house. I am proud of the way we are living, and it feels good to be able to provide my kids a safe house in which to grow up....no cancer causing chemicals here!!! My daughter is even on board and has stopped wearing perfume! His behavior is a world away from where we started...he went to bed tonight like the sweet angel boy he is...not one peep of the fussiness or craziness we used to live with. Looking back, I don't know how we made it through that. Carrying him in to his bedroom while he was thrashing, kicking, clawing, screaming and crying was no way for him to live. Or us, for that matter. I am glad we are living a better life.

The other kids are also seeing the benefit of eating better. Although they complained that we had "nothing good to eat" at first, they have come around and know that the benefits of our healthy eating far outweight their cravings for junk...ahhhh. How rewarding!

My youngest has been diagnosed severely speech delayed. He was at a 3-6 mos receptive/expressive level when we started with speech therapy at 19mos, but has progressed wonderfully and in now just has an expressive delay...I'd say he's at a 12-18 mos level (he's 27 mos). He's coming along. It's another added bonus...dealing with speech therapy. I guess we got one thing under control, so time to move on to the next thing.

The older kids are doing great. Both are honor roll students. I am so proud of them!! My daughter tried out for volleyball, but didn't make it....heartbreaking, but with failure comes determination....or something like that. My son continues to be a super soccer player....love watching that kid play!!!

I was appointed to VP of Research for Mastokids, a position I am proud of. It is up to me to bring research to our organization. It's going to be a fair amount of work, but hopefully I will leave the position in better shape than I'm finding it. I have lots of goals for the year, so I need to get on it!!

I think this is all for my update for now. It's nice to get my thoughts out!!

Kristy