Dairy allergy?!

My youngest

We had a busy week full of blessings. The kids and Seth were all sick with a cold. Brighton and Owen had well checks at the pediatrician and both were very healthy despite having a cold. At 13 months, Owen weighed 32 pounds and was 32 inches tall. That put him in the 95th percentile for height and above 95th percentile for weight! He is a big boy! My other two were always below the 25th, so this is new for me. lol

This nasty cold has actually been a blessing, because it helped us to discover that Owen has a milk allergy or sensitivity. I have always thought that Owen just had a really sensitive gag reflex because he can't eat many solids yet, and he throws up ALL THE TIME. While he had this cold, I went and bought him organic coconut milk to help with lessening mucus production. Well, even with a cold and choking on snot, he never threw up. I couldn't believe it. He's even been napping for 3-4 hours at a time. Last night we tried giving him some yogurt and he threw up within 10 minutes. So, we are very excited that we have discovered this and I am confident that it will make our lives so much easier. Akins carries the coconut milk. Here is the website with a store locator if you're interested in a dairy, soy free milk option. I really like this stuff. It tastes really good and is very creamy. ETA: I just learned how to make my own coconut milk and it is so easy! Here's a short 2 minute video to watch on how to do it. http://www.freecoconutrecipes.com/recipe_HomemadeCoconutMilk.htm

After spending close to $50 on diapers for the month for Owen, Seth and I were discussing how we could get around spending this much every month. No solutions were reached. We had cloth diapered until Owen grew out of them. Apparently, most children are potty trained by the time they're his size. :) As much as I dislike disposables, we feel like we don't have much choice. Well, yesterday afternoon, I sat down at the computer and opened my facebook and there was a status update from my favorite store, Vitacost.com. They were clearing out their Huggies inventory and all Huggies products were only 99 cents!! I was able to buy boxes of 80 count, size 6 diapers for 99 cents! I cannot tell you what a surprise blessing this is. I calculated that this has saved us close to $500 on diapers over the next year. God is good!!

Since the kids have been on new insurance, we've been taking full advantage of it and taking them to see our chiropractor a couple times a week. I desperately need regular chiropractic care, but the insurance I have doesn't cover it. I have had chronic neck problems for almost 10 years. The Lord blessed us again when our chiropractor offered to treat me as well, free of charge, while treating the kids. Our church has this thing called the 3 month Tithing Challenge, "a money-back guarantee of sorts. Essentially, it's a contract based on the promises of God in Malachi 3:10-11. We commit to you that if you tithe for three months and God doesn't hold true to His promises of blessings, we will refund 100% of your tithe. No questions asked." We've never registered for this, but the principle of it alone was enough to convince me that God would prove faithful even when I knew the numbers wouldn't work for the month if we tithed. Every time we are unsure and think twice about tithing during the month, but do anyway, we are randomly blessed every time. And it is usually for an amount at least double what we tithed. I am just always amazed at how God fulfills this promise in our lives every month.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! We will be taking it easy and hoping to get the kids back to normal by Monday!