Can I say just how much I LOVE having a doctor that not only feels that Kaiden's weight and size is just fine (he's a tiny little guy, 23lbs dripping wet at 3 1/2 yrs old), but believes in and supports what I'm doing for Kaiden?? Not only that, but takes the time to think about it, and suggest new things to try. That, my friends, is priceless.
So, for awhile now I've suspected that Kaiden's nervous system is too "noisy". Eliminating nightshades went a really long way to calming that down. At Kaiden's last doctor appointment (July 25th) we talked about Carly, the girl with autism that everyone thought had the mental capacity of a 6yr old, but once she found a way to communicate (typing) instead it was discovered she was brilliant. Carly said that her autistic behaviors are from her needing to create sensory output to cancel out the massive amount of sensory input her nervous system lets in. While Kaiden has never been even so much as suggested to have autism, he displays many of the same behavioral traits. Hearing Carly say that it was to cancel out the noise . . . that made so much sense. That's what Kaiden's doing, and I was right! Well, so was another doctor that wrote a little-known paper about it . . . funny how autism gets all the publicity, and Down Syndrome falls by the wayside. Personally I think that is because autistic individuals look "typical" whereas Down's individuals have certain facial characteristics. Humans at their very basest instinctual level, do not like individuals that look different. Neither do wolves, who have a very similar society structure. But I digress . . .
After we talked about Carly, it was like watching the lightbulb click on and Kaiden's doctor said, "What about taurine?"
Taurine an acid containing an amino group that among other things that does quite a bit for the body. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurine. "Taurine is essential for cardiovascular function, and development and function of skeletal muscle, the retina and the central nervous system." It's been useful for epileptics. I have yet to understand it all, but at any rate it is supposed to help calm a noisy nervous system. It's also essential for normal skeletal muscle function among many other things.
He gave us a bottle to try, and since it didn't contain any excess ingredients that Kaiden can't have, we started it the next day. I didn't notice much of anything that first day, but the next day, Kaiden began free-standing and taking steps again, which while he does at preschool, he hasn't done at home since November of last year. His comprehension, performance, and attention has continually improved. When he stood up and hit his head on the table (LOL, he's getting taller!), he put his hand to the injured spot and whimpered a little. When given the drain cover for the tub at bath time, (he knows where it goes, but rarely gets it in the right place), he moved all his toys out of the way and made sure it was *exactly* in the right spot. When bathtime was over, he gave me every bath toy in the order I asked for them. When he had a tantrum at breakfast and pinched me (and received a verbal reprimand), he stopped, gave me the big "I'm sorry" eyes, then gave me a hug. When he indicated he wanted to watch a video (he likes "Your Baby Can Read" and "Teach 2 Talk" videos), he not only sat thru 1 video, but wanted to watch more and more and more, and didn't lose interest until the 4th one!
This is what I've been saying all along . . . I KNOW this kid is in there . . . it's just a matter of getting his body to cooperate.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
June 2012 update
Kaiden is currently attending the summer school program for preschool. And he loves it!! He's been willingly walking from the truck, thru the parking lot, up the sidewalk, into the school. He's never wanted to do that before (Mama, carry me!!!!). Once in the classroom, he goes straight to the trampoline to play. He's been practicing bouncing at home, in front of the bathtub. Not jumping yet, but at least bouncing - which is good, he needs to bend those little knees more! When he walks, he forgets to bend his knees and walks stiff-legged. He can walk with one hand on a handrail, or one hand attached to another human. He'll take independent steps at preschool, but not at home. He was up to 6 steps unassisted last November, but by January he decided he didn't want to do it anymore for whatever reason.
One thing he's learned that I am so proud of him for - he's finally found a way to communicate his needs. This kid WILL NOT sign (nor will he point or finger feed, or do anything he doesn't want to do with his hands, yet he can use them to play just fine!), and although he is very vocal, he is non-verbal, meaning he doesn't make specific words or sounds for anything. Now, he will bring me things he wants. Need a toy turned on or fixed? Bring it to Mama. Need a diaper change? Take a diaper out of the cabinet and throw it at Mama. Hungry? Grab a bib (or something food related) and bring it to Mama. He's been doing this with books (Mama, read to me!) for quite some time, but now it has progressed into communication for all sorts of things. He even attempts to throw Lola's toy to get her to chase it. He can throw things with some weight, but the lightweight things don't go very far.
I've been told recently that in order to get the word out there about the effects nightshade foods have on those with Down Syndrome, I need to do it thru the blog. Well, I'll never delete any of the info, that's for sure! I may forget to update it as life with a 3yr old takes over, but we're still here! Kaiden's made a ton of progress in the 2 years he's been seizure free, but is still delayed. Aside from things that are muscle-tone related (mobility and speech), he's on par with a 2 yr old cognitive level, which puts him about a year behind. And since he lost out on about 9 - 10 months of development when he had the seizures, he's doing pretty darn good!
One thing he's learned that I am so proud of him for - he's finally found a way to communicate his needs. This kid WILL NOT sign (nor will he point or finger feed, or do anything he doesn't want to do with his hands, yet he can use them to play just fine!), and although he is very vocal, he is non-verbal, meaning he doesn't make specific words or sounds for anything. Now, he will bring me things he wants. Need a toy turned on or fixed? Bring it to Mama. Need a diaper change? Take a diaper out of the cabinet and throw it at Mama. Hungry? Grab a bib (or something food related) and bring it to Mama. He's been doing this with books (Mama, read to me!) for quite some time, but now it has progressed into communication for all sorts of things. He even attempts to throw Lola's toy to get her to chase it. He can throw things with some weight, but the lightweight things don't go very far.
I've been told recently that in order to get the word out there about the effects nightshade foods have on those with Down Syndrome, I need to do it thru the blog. Well, I'll never delete any of the info, that's for sure! I may forget to update it as life with a 3yr old takes over, but we're still here! Kaiden's made a ton of progress in the 2 years he's been seizure free, but is still delayed. Aside from things that are muscle-tone related (mobility and speech), he's on par with a 2 yr old cognitive level, which puts him about a year behind. And since he lost out on about 9 - 10 months of development when he had the seizures, he's doing pretty darn good!
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
more thoughts
I've been doing lots of reading (so what else is new??). Recently finished "The Body Electric" which by the way, is an incredibly fascinating read, and am a little over 1/2 way thru "Your Health, Your Choice". Add those to all my holistic/natural health reference books, plus the articles/studies I find online.
I'm starting to learn about *why* my hunches have been correct. I didn't know why, call it mother's intuition, but felt I was right in the decisions I've made for Kaiden's health. Every time I've gone against my hunches, it spelled disaster for him.
Back in Nov of 2010, the pedi said Kaiden wasn't gaining weight fast enough, since he'd lost so much weight becoming active after the seizures stopped. She told me to double his meats. I was doing about a 1:1:1 ratio fruit/veggies/meats for lunch and supper, with breakfast being mostly fruit with a little sprinkle of nuts/seeds and a little coconut milk, about a 4:1 ratio. So, against my better judgement, my intuition telling me not to do it, I doubled his meats. And within 2 months he developed lymphedema and a nasty diaper rash. Reading up on the holistic solutions for lymphedema (there are none for western medicine), I gave him only fruit for 3 days, then slowly added back in veggies, then white meats. And it worked! Did some diet experimentation to find out the cause of the lymphedema: it was pork and beef. MEAT. And each time I tested this theory I got the same results. Why did this work? Meat produces an acid-ash residue when it's digested. Some is good of course, the body needs protein, but too much acid ash causes the body to use its alkaline reserves to buffer the extra acid ash. When too much of the alkaline reserve is used, health issues arise. Eating fruit/veggies replaces the alkaline reserve by way of natural sodium (and other good stuff in there). Not table salt - the sodium naturally found in fresh fruits & veggies. When the body runs out of natural sodium, it turns to calcium. Think osteoporosis, or any other calcium-deficient health issue.
It's recommended for general health to eat 75% alkaline-ash forming foods, and 25% acid-ash forming foods. Books specific to lymphedema recommend an 80/20 ratio. From all the research I've read, too much acid ash uses too much sodium and/or calcium, so the cells that need that to work no longer function as well as they should. This includes tissue/cell permeability, ability to move fluids thru the body. If fluids can't move thru like they should, they build up = lymphedema.
Interesting: nightshade foods are acid-ash forming foods. I already knew that Kaiden's body needed more calcium when I tried a calcium supplement and had overnight results in his cognitive activity. This was before I discovered that nightshades caused his seizures. So it should come as no suprise that the previously known knowledge that nightshades can strip calcium from the body - this is WHY. They are acid-ash forming foods. An overabundance of acid-ash forming foods run the body down on natural sodium, then goes for the calcium.
Just over a year since the lymphedema & diaper rash cropped up, we're still not 100% back to normal. The lymphedema is gone but the diaper rash issue remains. We began another elimination experiment - what was all causing the diaper rash. And the results: apples, plums, all citrus, all fruit juices, and all dried fruits. I had noticed that incorporating peaches back into Kaiden's diet - we had been doing frozen fruits for breakfast, but switched to all fresh, and peaches were not in season - calmed down the diaper rash. Apples are considered for the most part to be alkaline-forming foods, as well as citrus. The rest on his diaper rash list have an acidifying effect. So, I don't yet understand the apples and citrus part of the diaper rash. Books on lymphedema recommend specific food combining, and have recommendations for both sweet and sour apples.
Things like this make me very thankful that we cloth diaper, and for the diaper rash. If Kaiden were still in disposables we'd never have this particular diaper rash, and would never know there was a problem. Disposables trap the urine in gel, keeping it away from the skin. In fact, I read many accounts of people giving up on cloth diapers for a rash issue that won't go away. Rashes with cloth diapers can be caused by many things - diapers not getting clean enough, sensitivities to the laundry detergent, sensitivities to certain fabrics, etc. And of course, there are those kids who are sensitive to the chemicals used in disposable diapers. When the rash started I didn't suspect food. And he never had diaper rash, even in cloth, until I doubled his meats. I suspected my washing routine which is the usual culprit. I tried so many different things with the wash routine, but nothing helped. Then someone suggested removing apples from his diet, and things progressed from there.
If we had simply given up on cloth and gone back to disposables . . . he'd have gotten sick and we'd never have known why, and western medicine would blame it on Down Syndrome. The "we don't know why, but it's more common with Down Syndrome" crap I hear. Since this is all urine-related, part of me is really looking forward to toilet training so we don't have to deal with diaper rash anymore. But then, I won't have a trusty gauge of how is body is doing. When he's rash-free, I know I've done it right. When he's not, I know there's still an acid/alkaline imbalance. We're not 100% back to "normal" yet, but we're certainly a lot closer!!
I'm starting to learn about *why* my hunches have been correct. I didn't know why, call it mother's intuition, but felt I was right in the decisions I've made for Kaiden's health. Every time I've gone against my hunches, it spelled disaster for him.
Back in Nov of 2010, the pedi said Kaiden wasn't gaining weight fast enough, since he'd lost so much weight becoming active after the seizures stopped. She told me to double his meats. I was doing about a 1:1:1 ratio fruit/veggies/meats for lunch and supper, with breakfast being mostly fruit with a little sprinkle of nuts/seeds and a little coconut milk, about a 4:1 ratio. So, against my better judgement, my intuition telling me not to do it, I doubled his meats. And within 2 months he developed lymphedema and a nasty diaper rash. Reading up on the holistic solutions for lymphedema (there are none for western medicine), I gave him only fruit for 3 days, then slowly added back in veggies, then white meats. And it worked! Did some diet experimentation to find out the cause of the lymphedema: it was pork and beef. MEAT. And each time I tested this theory I got the same results. Why did this work? Meat produces an acid-ash residue when it's digested. Some is good of course, the body needs protein, but too much acid ash causes the body to use its alkaline reserves to buffer the extra acid ash. When too much of the alkaline reserve is used, health issues arise. Eating fruit/veggies replaces the alkaline reserve by way of natural sodium (and other good stuff in there). Not table salt - the sodium naturally found in fresh fruits & veggies. When the body runs out of natural sodium, it turns to calcium. Think osteoporosis, or any other calcium-deficient health issue.
It's recommended for general health to eat 75% alkaline-ash forming foods, and 25% acid-ash forming foods. Books specific to lymphedema recommend an 80/20 ratio. From all the research I've read, too much acid ash uses too much sodium and/or calcium, so the cells that need that to work no longer function as well as they should. This includes tissue/cell permeability, ability to move fluids thru the body. If fluids can't move thru like they should, they build up = lymphedema.
Interesting: nightshade foods are acid-ash forming foods. I already knew that Kaiden's body needed more calcium when I tried a calcium supplement and had overnight results in his cognitive activity. This was before I discovered that nightshades caused his seizures. So it should come as no suprise that the previously known knowledge that nightshades can strip calcium from the body - this is WHY. They are acid-ash forming foods. An overabundance of acid-ash forming foods run the body down on natural sodium, then goes for the calcium.
Just over a year since the lymphedema & diaper rash cropped up, we're still not 100% back to normal. The lymphedema is gone but the diaper rash issue remains. We began another elimination experiment - what was all causing the diaper rash. And the results: apples, plums, all citrus, all fruit juices, and all dried fruits. I had noticed that incorporating peaches back into Kaiden's diet - we had been doing frozen fruits for breakfast, but switched to all fresh, and peaches were not in season - calmed down the diaper rash. Apples are considered for the most part to be alkaline-forming foods, as well as citrus. The rest on his diaper rash list have an acidifying effect. So, I don't yet understand the apples and citrus part of the diaper rash. Books on lymphedema recommend specific food combining, and have recommendations for both sweet and sour apples.
Things like this make me very thankful that we cloth diaper, and for the diaper rash. If Kaiden were still in disposables we'd never have this particular diaper rash, and would never know there was a problem. Disposables trap the urine in gel, keeping it away from the skin. In fact, I read many accounts of people giving up on cloth diapers for a rash issue that won't go away. Rashes with cloth diapers can be caused by many things - diapers not getting clean enough, sensitivities to the laundry detergent, sensitivities to certain fabrics, etc. And of course, there are those kids who are sensitive to the chemicals used in disposable diapers. When the rash started I didn't suspect food. And he never had diaper rash, even in cloth, until I doubled his meats. I suspected my washing routine which is the usual culprit. I tried so many different things with the wash routine, but nothing helped. Then someone suggested removing apples from his diet, and things progressed from there.
If we had simply given up on cloth and gone back to disposables . . . he'd have gotten sick and we'd never have known why, and western medicine would blame it on Down Syndrome. The "we don't know why, but it's more common with Down Syndrome" crap I hear. Since this is all urine-related, part of me is really looking forward to toilet training so we don't have to deal with diaper rash anymore. But then, I won't have a trusty gauge of how is body is doing. When he's rash-free, I know I've done it right. When he's not, I know there's still an acid/alkaline imbalance. We're not 100% back to "normal" yet, but we're certainly a lot closer!!
Saturday, January 14, 2012
2012 ~ Happy New Year!
Yeah, time flies! Got super busy with the Etsy shop holiday sales in Nov/Dec, then had a nice vacation with friends down in Missouri. Got home just in time for Kaiden to start preschool . . . yes, that's right! Kaiden's in preschool!! He's not even 3 yet! Close, anyway, in a few weeks he'll be 3.
Kaiden's up to 5 walking steps unassisted; he doesn't do it often though. But, with preschool 3x per week, he gets to be around other very mobile kids and should pick up some motivation and skills from them. He has 5 other classmates, 2 boys and 3 girls. I sat thru Kaiden's first day (fairly out of his sight) just in case he had any issues. He did pretty good; they have a good program and the kids stay busy all the time.
We are still working on self-feeding; Kaiden will easily feed himself as long as we provide the loaded spoon. He isn't yet scooping the food himself and still refuses to finger feed. He'll touch the food and pick it up, squish it and throw it or feed it to Lola, but will not bring it to his own mouth.
On the cookbook front, I think I have enough recipes to publish, but now I need to get a few nice place settings so I can start photographing the meals to go with the recipes. It's going to be a long process! I doubt everything will have a photo, but I'll provide as many as I can.
Right now I'm trying to sit back and take it easy; the last few months have been such a whirlwind of activity and taking a few days off and doing pretty much nothing sounds very appealing! Whether or not I can sit still that long . . . I don't know. I already have a list of stuff to do piling up!
Kaiden's up to 5 walking steps unassisted; he doesn't do it often though. But, with preschool 3x per week, he gets to be around other very mobile kids and should pick up some motivation and skills from them. He has 5 other classmates, 2 boys and 3 girls. I sat thru Kaiden's first day (fairly out of his sight) just in case he had any issues. He did pretty good; they have a good program and the kids stay busy all the time.
We are still working on self-feeding; Kaiden will easily feed himself as long as we provide the loaded spoon. He isn't yet scooping the food himself and still refuses to finger feed. He'll touch the food and pick it up, squish it and throw it or feed it to Lola, but will not bring it to his own mouth.
On the cookbook front, I think I have enough recipes to publish, but now I need to get a few nice place settings so I can start photographing the meals to go with the recipes. It's going to be a long process! I doubt everything will have a photo, but I'll provide as many as I can.
Right now I'm trying to sit back and take it easy; the last few months have been such a whirlwind of activity and taking a few days off and doing pretty much nothing sounds very appealing! Whether or not I can sit still that long . . . I don't know. I already have a list of stuff to do piling up!
Monday, October 17, 2011
So it appears my bathroom has fleas.
Not what I expected! YUCK!! Weird thing is, the dog doesn't appear to have fleas. My couch doesn't have fleas. Both her beds, upstairs and down, don't have fleas. The rest of my house doesn't have fleas. But my upstairs bathroom where she rarely resides? I caught and flushed 2 fleas this morning! To be fair, in early September Lola was outside in a known flea friendly area and I hadn't treated her before or after. So the plan for today: run to Walmart and get a spray bottle. Then I am making a natural flea repellant for the dog and the house. This is supposed to work on ticks and mosquitoes as well. I sure hope it works on those horrible little black biting bugs that are out enmasse right now.
Essential oils to use in a recipe I found:
Lavender
Citronella
Cedar - I have cypress, that should be close enough
Peppermint
Eucalyptus
Lemongrass
I think I'll add some tea tree, oregano, geranium, and rosemary. Depending on the scent, I may add some sweet orange, but the lemongrass and lavender should react nicely with the oregano essential oil. That one, while highly useful, in my opinion, stinks!
I gotta say though, this is a benefit of raw feeding. With all our other dogs, they were all on kibble and every one of them had dry flaky skin and could definitely use a bath at least once per month, preferably more often. They would get that greasy buildup and dander - but Lola? Not since switching to raw feeding. Her skin is beautiful, no greasy buildup, and even better - she smells rather pleasant and not dog-like! This is probably why I found only 2 fleas and not 1,000. :)
Essential oils to use in a recipe I found:
Lavender
Citronella
Cedar - I have cypress, that should be close enough
Peppermint
Eucalyptus
Lemongrass
I think I'll add some tea tree, oregano, geranium, and rosemary. Depending on the scent, I may add some sweet orange, but the lemongrass and lavender should react nicely with the oregano essential oil. That one, while highly useful, in my opinion, stinks!
I gotta say though, this is a benefit of raw feeding. With all our other dogs, they were all on kibble and every one of them had dry flaky skin and could definitely use a bath at least once per month, preferably more often. They would get that greasy buildup and dander - but Lola? Not since switching to raw feeding. Her skin is beautiful, no greasy buildup, and even better - she smells rather pleasant and not dog-like! This is probably why I found only 2 fleas and not 1,000. :)
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Evolution or De-Evolution?
More from my "I'm wide awake in the middle of the night" thoughts . . . Is the human race continuing to evolve, or are we de-evolving?
With all the advancements in modern medicine (hey, I don't hate it ALL) look how many people are able to lead happy healthy productive lives and produce children of their own . . . people that without medical intervention would never have survived to procreate. Since we value people so highly, most people think this is a wonderful thing! And it is. :) But thinking about it strictly from a Survival of the Fittest approach . . . what kind of genetics have those people passed on to the next generations? Some genetics don't seem to matter too much while others do.
Look at all the kids born in today's world that become autistic, have Down Syndrome, ADD, ADHD, or any number of other issues that I can't remember the acronyms for. Looking back at the last 100 years or even further, we didn't use to have THAT many of these kids with issues. So . . .what's causing this? Is it strictly genetic, strictly environmental, or both? Well, with the discovery of autism related genes and we know that Down's is the extra 21st chromosome (that most agree now happens at conception but still don't know WHY it happens) . . . let's go genetic.
But, seeing how going back to the basics of GFCF, Specific Carbhydrate, and nightshade free diets, along with the help of therapies and supplements, has helped so many kids recover significantly if not fully recover . . . it has to be environmental too since they get worse on today's Standard American Diet that doctors so highly recommend.
So how did we get here? Did we evolve to have those genetic predispositions by way of helping those to survive that under "Survival of the Fittest" would otherwise not have survived? Is it that the older generations adapted to the new processed foods, but it changed their genetics giving rise to these new genetics? And can you really call it "evolution" thinking it means moving forward when we have to go back to basics to heal our kids . . . should it be called de-evolution because we need simpler, unprocessed foods?
Yeah, this is the kind of thing I think about when I'm wide awake at night . . .
With all the advancements in modern medicine (hey, I don't hate it ALL) look how many people are able to lead happy healthy productive lives and produce children of their own . . . people that without medical intervention would never have survived to procreate. Since we value people so highly, most people think this is a wonderful thing! And it is. :) But thinking about it strictly from a Survival of the Fittest approach . . . what kind of genetics have those people passed on to the next generations? Some genetics don't seem to matter too much while others do.
Look at all the kids born in today's world that become autistic, have Down Syndrome, ADD, ADHD, or any number of other issues that I can't remember the acronyms for. Looking back at the last 100 years or even further, we didn't use to have THAT many of these kids with issues. So . . .what's causing this? Is it strictly genetic, strictly environmental, or both? Well, with the discovery of autism related genes and we know that Down's is the extra 21st chromosome (that most agree now happens at conception but still don't know WHY it happens) . . . let's go genetic.
But, seeing how going back to the basics of GFCF, Specific Carbhydrate, and nightshade free diets, along with the help of therapies and supplements, has helped so many kids recover significantly if not fully recover . . . it has to be environmental too since they get worse on today's Standard American Diet that doctors so highly recommend.
So how did we get here? Did we evolve to have those genetic predispositions by way of helping those to survive that under "Survival of the Fittest" would otherwise not have survived? Is it that the older generations adapted to the new processed foods, but it changed their genetics giving rise to these new genetics? And can you really call it "evolution" thinking it means moving forward when we have to go back to basics to heal our kids . . . should it be called de-evolution because we need simpler, unprocessed foods?
Yeah, this is the kind of thing I think about when I'm wide awake at night . . .
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Serious stuff for the day
I was reading a blog interview with the creator of Crappy Pictures (which are totally hilarious, by the way!). She talked about seeing that "perfect mom" in the grocery store who is always put together; her kids are spotless and well behaved. Huh. This just made me think a little since Kaiden is getting much more mobile and is very store-shelf grabby. Right now I think he's fun to shop with . . . although I'm sure that's going to change and soon I'll be begging people to babysit just so I can spend a few peaceul moments by myself at the grocery store!
Sometimes I feel like I try to project that Perfect Mom image. When I get dressed for the day, I try to look "put together", I like it and it makes me feel like I can accomplish more . . . I don't know why, but everyone likes to look good, right? So when I think Kaiden's going to be messy, I don my apron to save my clothes - which really is just because I don't care if the apron gets stained, but I don't want to have to do special laundry for a stained shirt. I'm lazy like that. And my apron is pretty, so of course I like wearing it. I do make sure Kaiden is clean before we head out the door anyway. Or at least in a clean diaper with a clean face. And Kaiden is fairly well-behaved in the stores . . . as long as I keep the cart moving.
But this isn't my point.
My point is, back when Kaiden was having seizures and wasn't doing much of anything at all . . . it was easy to look like that Perfect Mom. But little did anyone that saw us know how frustrating life with a special needs child can be. While that was a really rough time, I am thankful for it since it makes me REALLY appreciate how Kaiden is now.
So, the next time you see that Perfect Mom and think she's got it all and you sometimes wish you had that life . . . remember that things aren't always what they seem.
Sometimes I feel like I try to project that Perfect Mom image. When I get dressed for the day, I try to look "put together", I like it and it makes me feel like I can accomplish more . . . I don't know why, but everyone likes to look good, right? So when I think Kaiden's going to be messy, I don my apron to save my clothes - which really is just because I don't care if the apron gets stained, but I don't want to have to do special laundry for a stained shirt. I'm lazy like that. And my apron is pretty, so of course I like wearing it. I do make sure Kaiden is clean before we head out the door anyway. Or at least in a clean diaper with a clean face. And Kaiden is fairly well-behaved in the stores . . . as long as I keep the cart moving.
But this isn't my point.
My point is, back when Kaiden was having seizures and wasn't doing much of anything at all . . . it was easy to look like that Perfect Mom. But little did anyone that saw us know how frustrating life with a special needs child can be. While that was a really rough time, I am thankful for it since it makes me REALLY appreciate how Kaiden is now.
So, the next time you see that Perfect Mom and think she's got it all and you sometimes wish you had that life . . . remember that things aren't always what they seem.
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