whhhoooooooo * ** ***

cough, cough, choke, cough

Yeah, that's me blowing the dust off my humble little blog. Poor penny...long neglected.

Missed you, whoever is out there still....do I hear an echo? Oh well. No more readers, probably. I'm not even positive if I'll find time to truly revive her. But, I've decided spontaneously to give it a try. Bear with me, push me along, and help me get better, 'kay? Thanks for that vote of confidence!

We're in the midst of our first homeschool year. It is so, so much better than school ever was for Little B. He is thriving, reading like a little professor, soaking up anything he can learn, and loving (almost) every minute. Our hard moments are fewer and futher between. A beautiful thing! His struggles are so much easier to keep in hand and work with. He is halfway through the math curriculum already - so I gave him 2 weeks off; we'll pick it up again on Monday. I have used that time to dig deeper into his Lego Education unit...oh, the joy. School with Legos. It truly doesn't get any better than that. This past week he's written a story about some Secret Agent Lego adventures that he's now revising (those would be the play Lego sets, not the school ones).

Miss C...Oh, Miss C is beginning to thrive in new ways. This summer we began some holistic treatments for her food allergies (NAET). She had reached the ripe number of 12 foods she reacted to, so we were way past time to test the waters here. At the moment, she does not eat the peanuts or milk intentionally (and we plan to wait until she's an adult for that), BUT when she ate them entirely by accident (both were in the same food - leave it at a very hectic week where I blundered in a purchase big time), she never reacted at all! This is my epi-pen girl I stay terrified of rushing to the ER. She is also now able to eat carrots, and we're waiting to hear about honeydew, canteloupe and watermelon. The neatest part is that as we are strengthening her immune system in these treatments, she is beginning to have way more energy, be more bold and outgoing, and blossom like a radiant flower. It's lovely to behold!

Then there is Baby J...going on 2 in a few months, which takes my breath away. So not ready for that. He's added a hefty list of allergies to his little self as well, and we can't afford to treat them yet (my hubby has developed a few of his own...the life we live is...interseting...), but after a year of agony, I have finally got this boy sleeping through the night - by taking out those foods that the allergist said were "too low (on the bloodwork) to really call allergies". Boy howdy, the difference in our lives when the boy sleeps is amazing! I had not slept 6 hours straight in a very, very long time.

Of course, HIS allergies are not at all the same at Miss C's, but my husband and Little B both have some of the same ones that he has...so if you want to know where I've been, I've been trying to figure out what these people I claim as family CAN eat. Dinner anyone?

A new endeavor I have is a book on allergies and what to do when they happen in your family...interesting, large project for a mom with 3 kids and not enough time. But, it's what I know and I do know most of it quite well! And none of the books I have come across really lay it out simply and chase away all the confusion. That is my goal.

Off to chase a few more cobwebs away but I'll return. Really. If you come along for the ride...