My baby is starting to look much like a Buddha statue, he's growing so fast. Proudly enough though, last week my toddler gained 12 ounces, which was double what the baby grew. (I got a baby/toddler scale for Christmas, so now I can weigh them anytime I want...but I try to keep it to once a week)

My toddler is very small for his age after dropping in percentiles before his celiac diagnosis. 25 pounds was a huge milestone because everytime he got there something would happen, and he'd get sick and lose 2-3 pounds...that's 10% his body weight! This happened three or four times. It was so sad to look at how skinny he'd get each time, skin and bones it seemed. I let him play in the sprinklers in the front yard and started to worry that somebody would turn me in for child neglect. But, the worst is over now...at least until he gets into school. He's gaining and growing well.

Unfortunately the baby's huge appetite didn't compensate for my appetite over the holidays and I gained some weight. Yesterday I had one of my more compliant days so far, and chomped on collard greens for my after-dinner snack. I could feel a difference, though subtle, after just one day of improved compliance. Beneficials really do feel right and give me strength. It was a compliant and happy New Year's Eve. I slipped up tonight on some more holiday festivities, and felt some of that strength fade a bit.

I'm happy to have discovered a local grocery delivery service that offers chopped and washed collard greens in bags. One bag lasts me a few days since I haven't yet gotten my family to try them. I've been doing what I can to avoid going to public places during the local flu outbreak, so grocery delivery is nice. My husband tried to go to church today but heard so much coughing and saw so many kids there with runny noses that he turned around, washed up, and came back home. I'd expect the church to be only half or 2/3 full during a flu outbreak like this one, but it was filled up to overflowing...I wish people would stay home when they're sick, it makes me scared to go even when we're healthy. I cling to my sons' health by tooth and nail, and lately to my own until I rebuild my immune system. Of course, being at the doctor's office last week was probably the worst place to be, but I seem to have survived it well. I had a few mild symptoms, slight cough and slight chills, so I took some Elderberry and a bit of that homepathic flu remedy by Boiron just in case. Either it worked, or I didn't have anything in the first place!