A May of Many Firsts!

Judah ripped off his sunglasses precisely 2 seconds after this was taken.

it was a May of Many Firsts..

-Judah got his first tooth

-Joel got his first set of stitches (see below)

-Judah said his first word (see below) 

-The Hollidays had their first baby (see below)

-Joel III was in his first wedding (see below) 

-We managed to finally get out our first draft of Joel's newest book, "7 Lies Almost Every Teen Believes" (see below)

Around the time that Judah was learning to crawl and therefore getting himself into more trouble, Joel was having some troubles of his own.  First, he was having a terrible time getting over a bad ear infection.  Second, he got pinkeye in both eyes. and then Finally, He split his forehead open in the back of his grandad's truck. He did very well with the 3 stitches (with the help of some oral versed;) and so far it has healed up well.  We did have a close call 3 days later where a large hard and heavy swing hit Joel so hard that it forced him to the ground.  Oh yeah, and did I mention that it was literally 1 inch away from his stitches? Thank the Lord we didn't have to deal with those opening back up.  At that moment we began to wonder if 'natural selection' was  trying to eliminate our clumsy toddler.

taken after stitches were put in.. very relaxed boy!

scar has healed nicely.. less than 2 weeks later

Judah said his first word "da da" at the beginning of the month.  Since then he has picked up two more.. "na na" for me (Ma Ma). and "ahh da." for all done.  I know it sounds like I'm making this up but when you are around him all the time (like me) its easy to distinguish purposeful words from babbles.  I also think we are just more in tune this time around and not as dumb surprised to how fast they learn things!

This kind of messy results in...

This kind of cleaning!

Ryan and Emily had their sweet baby girl, Whitney on May 10th.  Emily's labor went extremely well and Whitney is just a beautiful baby!  Whitney has very LONG fingers and arms and big feet.  She is a great sleeper and eater and the Hollidays are pleased with how well things are going.  Whitney came over the other evening and Judah was obsessed with her.  He kept staring at her and trying to grab her and stuff.  Whitney also had a reaction about the new surroundings.. each time Joel III yelled or cried or did something loud Whitney would stop whatever she was doing, open her eyes and look around with a strange look on her face like.. 'Wow. I haven't heard noise like that before!' It was cute.

Is this perfection or what? Baby Whitney rests and looks pretty.

on May 14th my brother Mike and his fiancée Lindsey got married! I was honored to be a bridesmaid and Joel III was also a part of wedding!  He was very excited about 'playing dress up' to get into his cute silver vest, hat and black pants to be a ring-bearer.  BUT, walking down the aisle was a disaster different story!  He was a little hesitant and upset at the rehearsal... however after lots of practice and some jelly bellies Joel performed very well at the actual ceremony! 

you can see the video of Joel III with his cousins, Indy and Justin as ring bearers below

The wedding was actually a ton of fun for us.  Joel and I were able to stay out two nights in a row without kids!  Michael and Lindsey had some nice touches including a chocolate fountain, planted herbs as favors, handmade programs and invitations and fresh hydrangeas everywhere! My dad put together some videos and they were a hit! (as always) All in all it was a great time and we are especially thankful it was in Columbus!

It takes a lot of effort to get a family pic these days.. this was the best we got!

 We finally got out Draft #1 of Joel's 2nd book "7 Lies Almost Every Teen Believes."  The book will take the non-Christian teen all the way from Relativity/Pluralism to obeying your church elders. (yeah, crazy I know!) As with many of our projects together (Main Event '06, Main Event '08 and Stand Your Ground) it was so awesome to spend so much time together and work on such a huge task.  It is much more fun around this time though, I must admit, when the project finally comes together.  Right now we have a large (around 25 people) 'editing team' that will serve to mostly comment and give overall feedback on our arguments, stories, scripture illustrations, etc. We are really excited to see what they have to say! 

Joel's mega C trial Day #3

amount of 'vitamin C candies': 16 plus 1 emergen-c packet
dosage: 9,000 mg
results: we didn't get any C into Joel until around 11am. Also, Joel hit his max of 17 'candies' by 4pm yesterday so he had gone a while without any C. So, Joel had a runny nose this morning BUT it was mostly clear. There was 1 wipe that was green.  Still, a massive improvement compared to Amoxicillin or Z-pack or any other antibiotic that he has been on.  The amount we gave yesterday seemed like a good number since Joel has not had any diarrhea since.  His nose seemed to run consistently throughout the evening.  But the drainage was clear and not copious by any means.  He has had a wet cough for months and that has not gotten much better (if any).

conclusion: high dose vitamin C seems to help clear up Joel's sinus infection.  It has not eradicated all of his issues (wet cough remains, clear drainage from nose persists) but has definitely helped.  Most of the anecdotal stories I am reading seem to indicate dropping to a 2,000 - 4,000 mg 'maintenance' dosage after the 'mega C trial.'  (this shouldn't be too hard with the 1,000 mg emergen-C packets and chewables) I will start that tomorrow even though his symptoms aren't fully gone.

I am going to keep the cabinets stocked with Vitamin C chewables and emergen-C drink mix (which, he LOVED, by the way, oh and only 6 mg sugar in each).  I am very pleased with the results. So much that I have started taking lots of C myself in the hopes that my every-other-month sinus infections will cease or become once-a-year sinus infections.  We will see!

update: I have kept Joel on 4,000 mg of C for 2 days since the trial, honestly bc he just keeps asking for it and it seems to really be working.  His mucus is not totally cleared up but each day is noticeably better.  Also, he has become MUCH more talkative this week since we started the C.. more singing, more sentences, more conversational.  This could totally be coincidental bc I know toddler's brains develop at such rapid rates.. however, it does make me think that some sort of congestion was affecting his ears and that has cleared up as well with the C.

update 10-30-11: Joel has not seen the Dr. once for a 'sick visit' since this introduction of Vitamin C.  (6+ visits from January - May 2011) He has been sick and also had symptoms of an ear infection.  However, these illnesses actually go away in a reasonable period of time and typically do not turn into something worse, like an ear infection and/or wheezing.  We keep Joel on 500 mg - 1,000 mg of Vitamin C per day when healthy. When sick that usually increases to around 4,000 - 6,000 mg.  I also give Joel niacin in his yogurt when sick and restrict his milk and allow him to eat as much fruit as he wants.

Joel's mega C trial Day #2

Posts I have read about this say to 'titrate to tolerance.'  The indicator: diarrhea.  Joel III experienced some bad diarrhea this morning and for his nap (his usual poop times). So we decreased the dosage.

amount of 'vitamin C candies' : 17
dosage: 8,500 mg
results: Joel woke up without any snot and very pleasant.  Pretty soon though, the green snot showed up again and man it was plentiful! I was disappointed.  But quickly I noticed this snot was different: it was MUCH THINNER. Which explained why it seemed to be more plentiful and more frequent.  I continued to wipe and wipe until nap time.  Joel woke up from his nap and played (did not cry).  This is very rare.  I am pleased.  I go in to get him up and notice something else weird: no snot.  I am very pleased.  The evening continues on with minimal nose-wiping.  I literally wiped his nose only 1 time and it was clear!  Joel said he did the same thing in the evening. Now we are talking!

Joel is wearing an orange tank top to honor his "Mega C  Trial"

Tomorrow I am excited to try a new drink called Emergen-C that supposedly does not contain as much sugar as regular vitamin 5 chewables.

Joel's mega C trial Day #1

After 6 round of antibiotics, 5 months of green snot (this is not an exaggeration), wheezing, and 2 very persistent ear infections Mommy decided it was time to try something new for Joel.  I just wasn't sure what it would be... a few days ago.. at the grocery store.. I got my answer.  Vitamin C.

Why Vitamin C you say? Well.. I'll tell ya..

Joel III and I were shopping at ALDI and I picked up some lemons for Joel to squeeze into his water (I'm such a great wife, I know).  Joel III immediately said "see those lemons! see those lemons!" not an uncommon thing.  I handed the mesh bag of 4 lemons to him.  A few minutes later I noticed something strange.. silence from a toddler! Wow. Why was he so quiet? oh...  only because he was sucking and chewing on a lemon rind (through the mesh bag) so hard that he was drooling all over the cart! It was as if he was thinking to himself  "Oh if only I could actually eat one of these..!"

Thats when I started to think to myself....  Perhaps he is deficient in Vitamin C!! Duh! you think?... every thing that has C in it he woofs down immediately: strawberries, citrus fruits, berries.  We never give him juice.  We give him a vitamin gummy bear in the morning.. he loves it and never forgets about it.. sometimes he sucks on it so that it lasts even longer!

So I decided to go with a Mega Vitamin C trial for Joel.. a few days of high dose vitamin C and then a maintenance dose or taper.. depending on the results.

I realize this might seem crazy to you.  However, the toxicity level of vitamin C is remarkably low.  The benefits could be amazing.  I have read some crazy good testimonies. And (here) Also, we know that having a child on 6 courses of antibiotics in 5 months isn't good... Yeah, I'm gonna give it a go.


amount of 'vitamin C candies' - appx. 20
dosage appx. 10,000 mg.
results: by the end of the day Joel was very happy bc he was high on sugar.  I noticed that the total amount of thick green snot he was having decreased a little bit.  But not enough to get me excited.