Fairies and Rainbows

A recent trip to nearby Hahndorf, pics at a fairy shop. The picture with Tigger is of Bayan, Amy and baby Ethan, as the kids call him. We've been getting together on fridays for a moms get together. I really look forward to these friday chill/craft sessions with some fabulous mamas!
Did i mention we're(danny) into rainbows at the moment?

The allergy story continues...

For as long as i can remember, allergies have been a part of life, not so much for me but for those around me. I can still hear the sound of Dad blowing his trumpet/nose ten times a day, due to years of severe hayfever type allergies, the raw food diet he went on etc. Then Vahid with his eczema, and when Danny made his grand entrance, allergy was a word that took on a whole new meaning. Below is yet another serious case of hives, after possibly eating something at my grandmas that had a pumpkin seed on it.
The search for solutions has seen us take him to specialists for skin-prick tests, whichgenerally don't do much except tell what you are really sensitive to, then a course of homeopathy when he was 2, which helped a lot to reduce sypmtoms, and now once again, i'm on the trail looking for help. I don't believe in antihistamines for ongoing use, because they simply suppress the allergy and can lead to asthma. We've recently had talks by a Baha'i chiropractor on holistic healing and spirituality issues, and some of what he said made so much sense that i decided to go see him. Dr Reza Samvat is a neurological chiropractor who specializes in sleep issues and just about everything else you can imagine, and his take on Danny's allergies was that there are two aspects to it, one is to do with retained reflexes, and the other with phenolics. Phrases that i had never really heard about, but the way he explained it made sense. Basically retained reflexes affects 95% of people in some form or another, so its worth doing a search on if you have any chronic health problems. Phenolics are naturally occuring substances in a large number of foods that trigger allergies in some people, and one way to overcome it is through desentising the brain by exposing it to small doses, like a vaccine. Also known as homeopathy.
Over the last few days i've been asking lots of questions of my good friend Google, and learning A LOT. It still sounds a bit out there and complicated to me, but i think there might be some solutions here.
Meantime, its a bit of a challenge to feed a family with various food allergies, such as dairy, wheat, seeds, food colouring and sugar. Not fun for a candy-lovin 5 year old.

people who make me smile

Danny with his K-nex invention, my darling Aunt Jaleh and Grandma, who live together at the moment and are my pillars of support with the kids, cousins Vafa and Parisa, recent imports from Canada and Texas and fabulous with kiddos. I just feel so appreciative of family now, after being away for 2 yrs. And even more blessed to have my aunt and her family living here, after years of geographical separation. Vafa is THE best cousin ever, still with the exuberence and some of the innocence i remember from Cameroon days, and SUCH a gentleman now. Helps with missing Lessan less, in a way...

Random activities

Facepainting
Dried flower press after a nature walk, using bags below which i made last year from jeans scraps.

Iran

I don't generally give a hoot about politics or the news for that matter, but i do hope what's happening in Iran will bring about some much needed positive change. Rather than comment, I'll let you read this from one of my favorite blogs, The Little Travelers. Angelina made a trip to Iran last year with her girls, and her views are very unbiased and refreshing.

A dawn party!

This year for Amy's 3rd birthday, we decided not to have a party. Many reasons. Main reason being cultural/faith views on the concept of birthday parties. Generally speaking, i don't much enjoy kid's birthday parties where the child is the centre of attention, gets to open presents in front of everyone, kids get filled up on sugar and junk, produce huge amounts of waste and get sent home with more of the darned rubbish. I'm sure we all do it with the best of intentions, to celebrate, bring friends and family together, an excuse to get together etc, its just that consumerist society has turned it into something so superficial and ego boosting, in my opinion.
I really don't have all the answers yet to the dilemma of what to do instead, but here's what we did this year - Nothing. Until last night. Spur of the moment decision to set up a surprise breakfast for the family. Some special occasion felt crowns (thanks to soulemama's book) i made earlier were placed on their spots, some candles to blow out, and voila! Her majesty was absolutely thrilled with the table next morning, as was everyone else! Cake for breakfast, yummm! Brought out their baby scrapbooks, told her story of the day she was born, lots of attention from everyone, and at the end, she helped clear up and on her own, thanked me for the 'party'. I even got the thumbs up from my dad, who is the brianwasher behind all the above fluff. happy mommy. happy birthday girl.

@ Home day

We're trying to have Sundays as family day, where we touch base and do all the many things we could do at home, when we get to use all the books and toys and crafties that i keep collecting. It takes a special effort especially for me to give on my 'getaway' time, but the results are sooo worth it. Rainy, cold winter days makes it a LOT easier to stay put...
Here's what we did last sunday, all together.... apple pie, from scratch!

Bit of this and that

I've given up trying to edit this page - blogger is impossible - apologies for the mixed up layout.


Danny wearing an apron I made, with a bit of inspiration from SouleMama, complete with his name on the front. (i adapted the waist strap to include velcro so kiddo can put without help)
But boys and aprons don't seem to go too well, he decided it would be more fun as a cape for his superhero stunt jumping off the couch. Ouch. boys.


Amy with a salad she made, and yes, sharp objects of the 'knife' type were used in the manufacture of this product.

Amy looking a bit chinese - with Aunty Nushan. These 2 go way back..

Ridvan celebration at Sarih's house. She has this wonderful tradition of a world cake with international dolls around. Its yummy chocolate on the inside. Also on the table are handmade flowers (with coffee filter paper).

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope all you awesome mamas out there had a lovely day. It was a special one at this end, the first time the kids really got into the whole mothers day thing. Danny coudn't contain his excitement all week about having made a surprise for me at school, and 'mommy just don't look in my bag, okay?'
So the minute he woke up this morning, i was greeted with, ' By the way, Happy mother's day!!' and the biggest warmest hug ever, instantly followed by a most gorgeous card with a spinning flower which he'd carefully cut out. Inside was his message in his neatest writing ever, not bad at all for someone who is still learning the alphabet...so proud of the little man:)
Oh... lest we forget her majesty, she insisted on getting a card too, but big bro was not interested so she had to make it herself.
Photo by Amy.

A harsh reminder

Last night was a harsh reminder of how fragile life can be, and how thankful I should be for the 'ordinary'. Right after dinner, Danny started having a few red spots on his face, nothing unusual for this allergy-prone kid. After 10 mins, more spots on his neck, and his ears went bright red and were extremely irritable. Hmm, maybe some antihistamine should fix that, I only give it when he's really miserable. One dose, and redness is getting to his mouth, swelling developing around the eyes, inside joints...okay maybe i didn't give enough medecine, here's another dose, now go to bed and get some rest, you'll be fine Danny.
15mins later, he comes back this time his face doesn't look good at all, he can't kep still for all the itching, i'm starting to panic. One last dose of Zyrtec, and this time i'm keeping a very close eye on him, checking his tongue for swelling (none obvious), can u breath, yes mommy.
Finally, about 45 mins since the first sign, there's Vahid, me and my friend Sukriti who happened to be over, getting very worried and decided it was time for the hospital. But wait, he has an Epipen, shouldn't i be using that now? After a frantic search in a very panicky state of mind, i finally found it in the fridge, where its supposed to be anyway.
By now Danny is not his usual bouncy self and has slowed down a bit, still getting worse.
Quick, get this adrenalin into him. How? never done this before.... Easier than i thought, Epipen is as easy to use as a needle gets. Press blunt plastic end into thigh, hear click sound, needle has magically popped out, delivered its life-saving carge, and out in 10secs.
Releif.... Lets go to hospital just in case.
Within a few minutes, swelling subsides, redness dimishes. Life saved.
Whew!
Now to figure out what on earth CAUSED it!!! He IS allergic to quite a few things, but i've been super careful the last 5 years, i THINK i know everything he's allergic to, but apparently not.
I still can't figure it out. So for the second time in his life, it takes a life-threatening event to get a decent referral to an allergist to get tested.
And to think that the night before, Vahid and I were have a big fret session about how slow his reading is compared to his peers, how shy he is at school, the really 'important' stuff u know...