Well, we are back from our summer vacation and getting back to a normal schedule.  The kids had a blast spending time with their friends and family but were excited to get in their own beds and see their “old” toys again.  We have begun the school year and they are moving right along, learning and enjoying their curriculums (along with a few supplemental things Mommy addedJ ).

With fall in full swing (here at least) and those nasty little viruses and bugs making their way back into the lives of others, we have started our oil/supplement regimen in hopes of avoiding any “sickies” as my kids call them.  We might have started a day late for the little guy, but I’m crossing my fingers and hoping it is either short lived, or just a fluke… a mom can hope, right?

Anyway, I look forward to talking to you soon!

We are taking our Liposomal Vitamin C, Core Olive Leaf, Flora 12+, and Core Mycelia.  If you have any question about immunity boosting supplements just send me a message…

generationhaw@gmail.com

Thanks!

Jill

Therapy is a must!

From the day Jaxon was diagnosed with autism (actually even before he was diagnosed) we have been taking him to weekly sessions of speech and occupational therapy. We have taken breaks from time to time but therapy is one of the first things I research when we are notified that we are moving.  Jaxon has had many different therapists over the years and they all take a little different approach, but overall, our therapy experiences have been very positive. 

Jaxon feel into the category of “regression” where language was concerned.  He had started talking well bore his first birthday, but by his second birthday he was using echolalia instead of normal speech and some of the words/phrases he was using on a daily basis slowly faded away.  Although speech was important, treating his GI issues is what ultimately helped his speech.  In just a little over a month of attacking his yeast/bacteria overgrowth (in the GI tract) his language began to return…we were thrilled, thankful, SO excited!

As far as OT is concerned, we mainly dealt with sensory issues and low muscle tone.  Constant support at home combined with occupational therapy was great in these areas. Another thing that helped was cleaning the heavy metals from the body and then filling him up with specific vitamins and minerals.  Digestive enzymes helped Jaxon to absorb the nutrients from the foods he was eating and this helped his muscles and sensory issues. 

We just finished our first round of listening therapy at our current therapy office and are working on focus/attention.  Integrated Listening is very popular within our clinic and so far we have seen great improvement in Jaxon’s vestibular system as well as his ability to focus during school time and a great deal of improvement in his ability to stay attentive during soccer and flag football. We will do another round of therapy with the ILS in the fall and I will keep you informed with our progress.  Carter is also doing the ILS program and it has helped tremendously with his sensory issues (they developed overnight…sock lines bothered him, tags in his shirts…etc…literally, overnight).

Have a great day!

Jill

Gluten free is going great!

Happy Monday! For those of you wondering, the gluten free diet is still going strong.  Actually, we had an IGG test on the two older boys a few months ago in order to determine any specific food sensitivities that were present.  Some doctors don’t feel these tests are necessary and other doctors feel they can be helpful in controlling GI issues, behavior issues, and/or other specific symptoms that can’t otherwise be explained.  Anyway, the test showed a significant gluten sensitivity for both boys (probably genetic with our luck) so as a family we have been doing nearly everything gluten free (yes, my husband and I…on occasion…put the kids to bed and scour the house for anything containing that pesky gluten protein). I will tell you, hands down, we can spot a contamination from a mile away with both boys so we know we made the right decision there. 

Gluten free dining and shopping has become so much easier in the past year since I have written to you.  There are many more gluten free options in the grocery stores and there are many more restaurants offering a gluten free menu.  For us, gluten seems to only cause behavior and focus/attention issues so we don’t have to worry quite so much about a little contamination here and there, but even for those of you who do have to worry, things are much easier these days. 

Some of our favorite gluten free items include; Udi’s pizza crust and baked good (muffins, cinnamon rolls, and brownies), Katz gluten free items (pretty much everything), and Rudi’s gluten free tortillas.  Our boys have also been enjoying the Applegate Farms gluten free corndogs, Annie’s Organic gluten free macaroni and cheese, Bella and Evans chicken nuggets/strips, and Koch’s Turkey strips. 

Right at this moment you are probably thinking “wow, you sure feed your children a lot of pre-packaged meals full of preservatives” but in all actuality, we have a homemade meals most mornings for breakfast except the occasional donut or muffin when we are running out the door late.  Lunch, however does normally include something quick combined with left over fresh veggies, fruit, and a tall glass of water.  I will say, that our pre-packaged meals are purchased at Whole Foods or the organic section of the grocery store.  In our family, we have found that the less ingredients in something the better our boys digest, behave, and focus…just our opinion/experience.  I realize that not everyone can or wants to be organic, GMO-free, dye free, etc. but it is a choice you are free to make.

Dinner, is always homemade (unless we go out to dinner, which doesn’t happen too often as most of you with a toddler can understand). I have not had a hard time making normal recipes gluten free but on the off chance that my husband and I want to indulge on something the boys wouldn’t appreciate anyway, I always have frozen homemade spaghetti sauce and homemade meatballs proportioned in the freezer.  Visit my Good Eats blog for more recipe ideas, I will try to add to them in the near future. 

And with that, I am off to finish dinner!  It is summertime…and that means fresh veggies, grilled meat, and happy supper time!!  Enjoy!

Jill

IGG LINK

Whew, they say time flies when you are having fun..well, we have had our share of fun the past year so that must be my excuse for not posting anything in over a year.  The boys (all 3!) and I have been super busy this past year.  We have moved to Ohio, finished our first year with two of three boys in an online (schooling from home) program, and traveled back and forth to Colorado for my private practice.  Of course we have had many other adventures and mishaps this past year, but that is the major part of our journey. 

Now that I feel like the ground is back under my feet and stable…to some degree, I am going to try like crazy to keep everyone up to date on our lives, a few of our past adventures as well as some amazing things we have coming up.  For those of you who have emailed and asked specific questions I will try to answers those in my first few posts but keep them coming!

We decided not to take the summer off from school, after all, when kids don’t go into a brick school building everyday they aren’t exactly sure when “summer vacation” is supposed to start, or what exactly that means (at lease mine don’t)….I decided to take full advantage of their sweet innocence. We have been taking school very light so far, and plan to continue that way.  Both of the boys are really enjoying our time around the table and I am so thankful for that. Having them wake up and be eager to dive into our learning time is really a blessing.  A couple more summers like this and I might just transform into a full on homeschool mom!

Alright, that is all for now, I have lunch (gluten free turkey strips) in the oven and two boys ready to eat…the third is out like a light in his wee little bed J. I hope y’all have a great weekend and I look forward to talking to you on Monday!

Jill

Today has been all about memories.  Earlier, Carter had a field trip at the park with his preschool class and I felt so fortunate to be able to give him some much needed “mommy and me” time as he calls it. At this moment, I am sitting outside…50 degrees with winds up to 30 MPH but my boys are happily playing with two of their best buddies while we wait for the rain to come.  Sure, Jaxon could be doing homework, Carter could be practicing his ABC’s or numbers, and I could be cleaning or packing.  Instead, I am sitting outside (chilly for sure) watching my child play hard and make memories.

I knew going from two to three kids would be both fun and challenging. I try my hardest to give equal love and attention to all three of the kiddos, but I’m sure I fail at time as any parent would. I’m sure as the kids get older they will ask for me to spend less and less quality time with them so I am bound and determined to soak it all in while I can.  Carter is still at the age where kisses are acceptable in front of his classmates, and “I love you” comes out every few sentences.  My words of wisdom to anyone who will listen, take a few moments every day and give 100% attention to your kids, they need it and love it more than you will ever know. 

Thank you for stopping by!

There is nothing more frustrating than not getting answers when you spend a ton of money on labs, tests, or evaluations only to find out nothing more than you knew before.  Jaxon just had a load of testing done to see if we could determine why his focus/attention keeps coming and going and not staying anywhere near consistent.  Well, the test told us absolutely nothing….except that the doctor and I were going to have to make a plan based on past experience, gut instinct, and hope! 

As a parent, gut instinct is something I use quite frequently when dealing with my children.  As a doctor, (not the MD kind…but still a bit of knowledge and experience under my belt) I tend to try to look for some facts to back up this instinct, but when you can’t get any current facts, I always tend to look at the past.  What worked in the past, what failed in the past, what did we skip in the past….then move forward. 

For the next few weeks Jaxon’s specialist and I are going to try a few different things in order to see if we can get Jaxon’s attention and focus to be more consistent and then do some more investigating as to what might be throwing him off track.  Adding back supplements one at a time will be the first step, then changing his diet one food at a time will be the second step….all the while we will keep Jaxon on some antifungals to deal with the never ending yeast in his GI tract.  If you too are dealing with yeast or focus issues, stay tuned, I will keep you updated!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wow, I literally blinked, and six months have passed!  Owen, our littlest monkey is already 9 months old; Jaxon is going to be NINE this summer, and Carter is anxiously awaiting his 5th birthday next month.  If I had a super power, I might just freeze time for a while and enjoy this amazing time.  Watching them grow, and change, and turn into such amazing little men is the biggest blessing ever. 

At the end of the month we will pack up and head east to Ohio and experience the next chapter in our lives.  The boys are very excited to both be partaking in online school and I am both nervous and excited to be a part of their educational journey.  Jaxon has been so successful this year in his online classroom that I was very excited when Carter asked if he could try online school next year too.  My husband and I have plans to get them involved in as many activities as possible to keep them socially involved and physically active.  I have to say, after seeing so many parents struggling with homework and testing and such, I am really confident in our decision to continue with online school. 

Owen will be delighted to have his buddies (daily entertainment) home with him every day and help him grow and join in with his many explorations and adventures throughout the day.  The love that Jaxon and Carter have for Owen tugs at my heartstrings and makes me a very proud mother.  Having the boys involved in online school gives our family a chance to spend more time together, to travel, explore, and let the boys “learn” about things in a hands on fashion.  Jaxon has a huge list of historical places he wants to visit once we make our way back east. 

I will keep my private practice open in Colorado and I will travel home every eight weeks to see clients.  I will occasionally travel with all three boys as well as make a quick trip by myself from time to time….just having this opportunity is wonderful.  My husband is looking forward to fishing, camping, and “guy time” while I am away.  I’m sure our family time will entail trips to D.C., Pennsylvania, sporting events (both professional and those of our kiddos), roller coasters, and maybe even a trip to Wisconsin to visit some of my husband’s family.  Whatever we do or where we go, I know we will have a great time, and make many memories that will last the kids a lifetime.  I am so happy to be falling back into the great part of living the military life…all the new and exciting experiences.  The past year, living in Colorado, spending time with my parents and extended family has been a blessing, and I would not have survived my husband deployment with them, but I can’t wait to move into this new chapter and invite them to visit us…in our new home in Ohio. 

If you are looking for a beautiful place to take your family for a short vacation, long vacation, or staycation, Vail, Colorado could be just the place you are looking for!  The kids and I (along with the help of my mother) took a quick trip up into the beautiful mountains of Colorado.  The boys had an appointment with a new biomedical doctor and we decided to go up a day early and see what the town had to offer!  

Wow, impressed doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about this beautiful little ski town!  I am glad to have found a new doctor in a place as lovely as this is.  Finding a gluten free restaurant wasn’t even an issue; every place we went had gluten free options on their menu.  The air was crisp, the environment clean, and the people were so very kind.

We stayed at the Marriott and had the weather been just a tad bit cooler we would have enjoyed smore’s and hot chocolate in front of our very own fireplace!  Instead, we traded in our cool weather activities for a swim in the HEATED pool, Jacuzzi, and beautiful ride up the mountain on the gondola.  The hotel offered the best buffet breakfast we have ever had!  The food was great; reasonably price (for a mountain town) and kids under 3 eat free! 

Walking around downtown Vail was a success!  The boys were able to enjoy the outdoor air, run around a bit, and peek in a few of the magnificent shops!  So, if you have any free time coming up and need a place to sit back, relax, and enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery, you need to set your GPS for Vail, Colorado!


 

Having a doctor you like and can trust is the most important thing (in my opinion) for a parent raising a child with autism.  We recently lost our DAN (also biomedical) doctor and I remained in denial for as long as I could be.  However, as time went on, my child slowly drifted downhill…and so began the dreaded search.  

Reaching out to my readers helped a lot.  I am so thankful for everyone’s feedback and suggestions.  I wish I could step outside the box every now and again and try different forms of treatment, but I am a girl who likes to stick with what works for as long as it works.  With that being said, y’all know that the IQS has been my machine of choice since I was introduced to it, so our new doctor would need to be familiar with and use if for Jaxon’s treatment.  

Luckily, the IQS is still being used by a few doctors in Colorado!  We met with a new doctor two weeks ago, and just in time.  School was starting and I needed Jaxon to 1) sleep through the night again 2) calm down long enough to focus on his school work 3) detox all the gluten and “junk” he ate this summer and 4) just an overall check of his body.  The doctor was great, he was able to go over the symptoms Jaxon was having and put him on the least amount of supplements possible to achieve our desired results. He agreed to go a little more “in depth” at our next appointment and see if we can’t get some answers about some of the long term issues that have been bothering Jaxon.  

I plan to visit all the remainder of the IQS providers in the next few months so I will keep you posted. My husband asked me why I want to keep checking out other doctors if I have already found a good one and all I could tell him was that it took us quite a few doctors to find the perfect one the first time and I wouldn’t settle until I was sure I found “the one” this time too.

Jaxon is starting his third week in online school and he i  loving it!  I have found that it takes us less time than I thought it would and that he is picking things up very quickly.  Of course having some time to myself (while he is at school) would be lovely…his success and love o  education is more important.  

For those of you wondering what a day of online learning is like, I will break it down for you.  We begin our day with calendar time, followed by attendance, daily language review (a you tube type video with his teacher) and then assignments in math, science, social studies, reading, writing, language arts, and spelling.  Jaxon spends about 3 hours doing schoolwork and has the rest of the day to spend time enjoying being a kid.  He still reads every night, practices his site words and spelling words, and does his daily 30 minutes of physical activity, but he doesn’t have to spend 8 hours a day away from home trying as hard as he can to sit still, focusing, and listening in a classroom that is full of distraction.  

Our online school works on a Monday – Thursday agenda and we are able to use the weekend if we need to make up assignments.  Jaxon meets with his teacher, reading group, and ESE teacher via “Go to meeting” and he meets with his speech therapist via Skype…isn’t technology amazing!  He still sees an outside (private) Speech Therapist and Occupational Therapist, but is able to keep his IEP current and up to date. For now, online learning seems to be “just what the doctor ordered”…but check back in a couple months and I will let you know if I am still sane!