Thursday, October 4, 2012

Gluten Free Dairy Free Banana Bread Muffins


Banana Bread Muffins

I have been tweaking this recipe and think I finally have it. My kids love the muffins for breakfast or as a snack in their lunch. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

3 ripe bananas mashed
4 beaten eggs
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup agave
1/2 tea liquid vanilla stevia
3 Tablespoons Coconut oil or Grape seed oil

Dry ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut flour sifted
1/4 cup tapioca flour
pinch of sea salt
1/2 to 1 tea cinnamon
1/2 tea. baking soda
1/2 tea baking powder

oven temperature 350 degrees

In your mixer mash bananas, then add eggs and mix. Add honey, agave, stevia and oil. Mix thoroughly. In separate bowl mix all dry ingredients together, don't forget to sift the coconut flour first. Add dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients and mix.

Place cupcake liners into your muffin tins and add mixture until its 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
 

Hard for people to understand




I was talking to my good friend who is also our pediatrician's nurse. I was saying that it is so hard for people to understand, because looking at Liam you would never know what his body is going through. Most people think he looks normal. What they don't realize is his little body is attacking itself. They normally don't see the episodes of diarrhea he has, because we both do a good job at hiding it. He will hold it as long as he can so people don't know. People don't realize how skinny he is, because he wears big clothes. If you were to see my little guy naked you would be shocked. He has tiny arms and legs, especially during a flare up. They see a round face and think "oh he is healthy". Little do they know that is called a "moon" face and its from the medication. Liam is able to manage his behavior at school (which amazes me to this day), but when he gets home it can be awful. He will scream, cry, get extremely hyper and not know how to control himself. He will be running to the bathroom 5 or six times after school and will cry because he hurts. He will not let us hold him or touch him. He will refuse food or will act like he isn't getting enough food. Its hard on all of us. I think it can be the hardest on his sister. She has to deal with his annoying behaviors and ups and downs too. She often gets into trouble, because she is so frustrated with him she will just punch him, instead of asking for help. I am trying my best to intervene and help her before it comes to that, but I am not always able to. 

Today, I had a freak out moment, because my friend was taking her daughter to get the nasal flu spray vaccine. Kids who are on long term prednisone, usually have low immune systems. When Liam was two we were told to stay away from people who got the nasal flu spray. I felt so bad, because I panicked and told the child and mom that Liam and her should not play together for a few days. I must seem like a crazy mom. I did not mean to sound crazy or upset anyone. Its just so hard, because we have to think about things that most people don't. I did not handle that situation very well. I feel bad. I hope with time I can learn how to handle things like that, instead of freaking out and scaring someone. 
I just don't want Liam to get the flu on top of dealing with U.C. UGH!!! So in talking with my nurse friend she told me that if I hear of a lot of kids in his class getting it or if lots of kids are getting sick I need to pull him for a while. So now I wait and see what this fall cold and flu season looks like. 
Has anyone had a freak out moment where you looked like a crazy mom?????

6 Months Remission


Well we had a great run for a while. Six months remission, I will take it any day. Liam was able to gain a healthy amount of weight keeping him at 50%.  His height went from 50% to 75% which we were thrilled about. We not only saw those improvements, but we saw him gaining muscle which helped him become more agile, coordinated and strong. Liam got three colds during this time and was able to fight off two of the three. It was amazing. The last cold he got, turned into bronchitis and he was put on Zithromax. His little gut surprised us and handled it great. He did not get a flare up like he normally does from antibiotics which Mike and I were thrilled about. I was so happy his UC was holding its own. 

Liam started transitional kindergarten this August at H.O. He is so happy to be at school with sissy. They love seeing each other in between recesses. He is thriving and loving Nikki his teacher. About three weeks into school Liam did start to have loose stools. I kept an eye on him, making sure we did not deviate from healthy eating. I thought maybe I could get him through with the diet, but no such luck. After two weeks I realized he was getting worse. I started him on 5 mg of prednisone, because usually a tiny dose can get him cleared up. Unfortunately it did not work and he got even worse. After talking with his doctor we bumped him up to 10 mg hoping that would do the trick and again he got worse. We bumped him up to 20 mg and did stool samples, blood work to see what was going on. Liam was such a trooper. He cried when they put the band around his arm and was very nervous. I asked him if he wanted me to cover his eyes. He said "yes". As soon as I did that I started talking in his ear telling him to take slow deep breaths. I did not know if it would work, but he went for it. Slowly he started to calm down and breathe through the whole blood test. We were so proud of him. Even the nurse taking his blood could not stop telling him how brave he was. She said "Liam I wish all kids were as brave as you". I think he was proud of himself. 
A week went by and the doctor called to tell me everything came back fine. I told her we had a new symptom that morning. Liam woke up at 5 am screaming in pain. He cried for about 45 minutes until he threw up about a cup of mucus. We did not know what to make of it. Liam looked at me and said I all better mom and curled up in my arms and fell back to sleep.  She suggested we start him on Flagyl and see if we can get him over the hump. She could not explain to me why Flagyl would work, nor why he threw up,which upset me a little. I hate giving my kids medicines without knowing why. 
We started Flagyl and within 24 hours Liam started having completely normal bowel movements. I am so happy for him, but worry we might be back to square one once he is off of it. By that time though we will be seeing his doctor for a check up, so we will go from there. She said he would have to be scoped for that visit. Not sure how that is going to go. When he got scoped last time he was put to sleep. This time she is doing it in her clinic. I hope he stays calm and we don't have to pin down a screaming child. I don't handle him screaming very well. 

I don't know how other parents give their kids medicine that is in pill form but here is how we do it:
I crushed the prednisone and now Flagyl with a Pestle and mortar. I then pour the medicine on a spoon. Then I pour a few drops of Orange Juice or Pineapple Juice and have him take the spoon full. He then chases it with a shot of juice. We try to make a game of it and see how fast he can do it. He is so brave and never gives me any grief. If you only knew what these medicines taste like, they are awful. I would love to know how others get their kids to take it, just in case he decides one day to refuse taking it. 

Some side effects he is having from prednisone are:
Moody
Emotional
Moon face
Extremely hungry
Angry
At times does not want to be touched
Hyper
Joint Pain in knees
Hairy back