Whew, things are starting to turn around!

HELLO!
It has been too long since I have worked on my blog and for that I apologize. Things in our house were a little rough the last couple of weeks. Somethings are starting to work out and we have solved some problems (which I will address) and I finally am feeling right again. I have a couple things I want to address, so I'm just going to start.

My Life: 
The last few months I have felt, off. It is hard to describe, just not me. Tired, exhausted (physically and mentally), confused, stressed, and uninterested in the things I used to enjoy. I tried to find other things to do. I picked up a new hobby and I am loving it. It is part of what is making me feel good again! I'll write more about it in another post. Here is a peak at what I love doing these days!

Home Life:
Blue Eyes started physical therapy once a week. He is doing fantastic! My stress level about his physical development has been greatly reduced! Wanna see him "work" at PT?

About 2 weeks ago he broke out in this awful rash that covered a good portion of his lower body. My Facebook friends and family all had ideas but were stumped and confused. Of course my kids get sick on weekends, so the hospital it was. I ended up taking him to the ER to get it checked out. Once I pulled into the parking lot it was gone! Mysteriously gone! I already knew that they were going to think I was the crazy mom, luckily we got a doctor who listened to me and looked at the photos I took of him. (Gotta love my iPhone!) Turns out he had a viral rash.

The doc also wanted to do a chest x-ray since I mentioned he had had an on and off fever the last few weeks. (I should also throw in that he was at his regular pediatrician just a few days earlier. It was a bad appointment and I left so frustrated and upset. I cried in the truck on the way home. Needless to say we are looking for another doctor.) They strapped my baby in this awful contraption to do some x-rays. I didn't think much would turn up on that. But I was wrong, I'm a mom not a doctor. Turns out my little dude had pneumonia! I'm so glad I followed my mommy gut and took him in. They caught it in the early stage and he was sent home with some medicine. So now we got that kid straight.
Mr. Destructo has a whole different set of things going on with him. He has been so out of control lately. He has some pretty intense tantrums. Not just the typical toddler tantrum. Throwing, hitting, kicking, crying, screaming, violent, destructive tantrums. If he got mad or something didn't go his way, watch out! He would run around and swipe everything off the counters, desk or table. Then run off and throw his toy box, then push his brother down and probably hit him. Then he'd tip over some chairs and throw things across the room. Here is a photo of what my living room looked like one time after one of his tantrums. Notice the cushions thrown about, the coupon piled everywhere, the laundry basket dumped, the toy box emptied and some other mess.

It really was very scary at times. There were some days I would put Blue Eyes on the other side of the gate to protect him. All of this would start up in a split second and be over in just a few minutes (although at the times it feels like forever). There was no talking him down or stopping him. I googled some things and came across a few articles about Red Dye 40 sensitivity. They described my Mr. Destructo perfectly! The only way to know for sure was to eliminate Red Dye 40 completely. That very next morning we started a Red Dye free diet. I saw changes with in just a few days! I was convinced! It was great! My husband was still skeptical though. It wasn't until the day of that awful pediatrician appointment, did he believe me. That day was about a week since he had any red dye. He got a hold of some candy that morning. At the doctors office he was awful! He kicked the trashcan over, threw some chairs, cried and screamed. Luckily we were in the exam room and nobody saw it, but the looks I got from the nurses, I knew they had heard it all. When I asked his doctor about it, she pretty much blew me off. Well my own eyes don't lie! I have seen what Red Dye 40 does to my child and nobody will tell me that it's in MY head! My husband has now seen what happens and these days if Mr. Destructo gets the slightest bit of red dye in him he goes crazy. Way worse than ever before! But now that we have gotten him under control things are going much better! That was also a component to why I was not feeling right. Now that I am not physically exhausted from my child, I have the energy to do some of the things I love. I don't feel as drained any more. I finally have my happy, excited, smart, curious, talkative, loving, Toy Story addicted 2 year old back!

I hope that everyone is having a great spring, even though here it feels like summer! I'm excited to work more on my new hobby and I hope to share that with you soon too! That will have to wait another day. My husband and I built our own fence today and we are proud but tired.