
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Wordless Wednesday Pictures

Andrew's Christmas Wish
(Shu-Hong was an orphan from Taiwan that lived with us over the summer)
Monday, October 26, 2009
Sugar is the Devil ~ Guest Blog Posting From Imagination Soup!

Sugar. Is. In. Everything.
I really had no idea.
It’s as addictive as cocaine. Okay, maybe not cocaine, but it’s pretty addictive.
I consider myself to be well informed. I’m gluten-free, I watch out for unsaturated fats, I buy organic. I’m not an idiot. And, until last week, I thought my kids were eating well – all except for vegetables.
My four year old struggles with chronic fatigue, lack of energy and seizures. Sugar happens to be one option I’m exploring to improve her health. When my herbalist told me to take her off sugar, I had no idea the hell it would be. (Hello, cocaine?)
www.rawfoodexplained.com calls the major symptom of Sugar Withdrawal “mood changes.” I like to call it give-me-ear-plugs, my life sucks. For us, the off and on crying bouts and tantrums lasted about 5 days. Now we are back to peacefulness and bliss. Well, you know what I mean.
My Sugar Detox Life Lessons That You MUST Learn, Too
A-ha #1: Maltodextrin and malted barley = SUGAR. (Read the labels, maltodextrin is in EVERYTHING – pasta sauce, breads, crackers, everything!)
A-ha #2: Other more obvious sugars are high fructose corn syrup, fructose, sucrose and honey
A-ha #3 : White sugar has little to no nutrients .
A-ha #3: The only sugar substitutes that don’t mess with your glucose levels are agave, Stevia and Xylitol
A-ha #4: Although, I never feed my kids cookies or candy, most days, they were consuming over 80 grams of sugar and on bad days (French toast + syrup days, 2 juice boxes) it was more like 150 grams
A-ha #5: I was a sugar pimp! Nutritional experts recommend no more than 35 g of sugar per day.
A-ha #6: My life will not be the same
A-ha # 421: If I keep my kid eating too much sugar . . . well, sugar + my kid (might) =
- Hyperactivity
- Concentration difficulties
- Depression in children
- Drowsiness and decreased activity
- headaches
- food allergies
- hormonal imbalance
- fat storage
Seriously? All that! And I’m complaining about 5 days of sugar detox?
Life is hard. I’m not going to make this sound easy but cutting sugar means better health for her, for me and for you. Think about it, please. I’m begging you. Don’t be a sugar pimp like me!
For more information, check out this article: http://www.scribd.com/doc/2080801/Sugar-and-Liver-detox
Melissa Taylor writes Imagination Soup (www.imaginationsoup.net,) a fun and easy learning activities blog for parents of inquisitive children. She brings her former life as a teacher to everything she does to try to help kids love to learn. She’s also a freelance writer (http://melissatayloronline.com) and mom to two adorable girls.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
What Is Eosinophilic Esophagitis?

This raised a lot more questions! We had eliminated everything from his diet that he was allergic too. He had not eaten anything that day, so what caused the anaphylaxis reaction? So we went to see Dr. Yoshii who told us that there must be some trigger factor that we are not finding. So he referred us to the GI clinic at Children's Hospital Orange County.
When I went to see them Andrew told them that he is still in a lot of pain in his stomach. The Doctor wanted to put him on lactulose to soften his stool & periactin (an allergy medication & appetite stimulant). She wanted to try him for one month and see if he improves. After a month we went back to see her and yes, there was an improvement but not enough. She then told me that she wanted to do an endoscopy on him. The thought of it frightened me and relatives were telling me not to go through with it. My husband and I talked to the doctor and decided that it was the best for Andrew.


Daddy was even able to take the day off of work to be with our little guy!


This is the picture that the doctor gave us from the scope. He said that it looked like he might have Eosiniphilic Esophagitis by the looks of the picture, but the biopsy would be the final determining factor. If you look at the picture in the top right you can see the groves or valley's along the side of the skin before you enter the hole. Those groves are like "burn" marks in the skin from the allergic reactions. The example of Eosiniphilic Esophagitis that the doctor gave me was, "eating an allergic food to a child with EE is like pouring bleach into their bodies." Their bodies react on the inside much different than it does on the outside ~ so skin testing would never be accurate with a child with EE.
Last night it was a week and a half since the endoscopy and they called with the results. The results were 50 found in the lower esophogus and 40 in the middle of his esophagus. Anything over 20 is a high amount. The immediately put him on priolsec and are going to send him to a EE Clinic where we will get more answers and information on how to help Andrew.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Wordless Wednesday ~ My Dad "The Dora Monster!"
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Michael Jackson's Ghost Seen on Larry King Live
Make sure and listen really close...you can actually hear it!
**New** Cat's Color's Felt Board Story & Giveaway!!

Because we love this story so much and the detail of our new felt stories we are giving away to one of our favorite readers (choosen by random.org) a copy of the book Cat's Colors and this beautiful felt story to go along with it! ($18.99 value).
Giveaway will end at 11:59pm PST on November 15! This offer is open to Worldwide residents!
Monday, October 19, 2009
**NEW** Is Your Mama A Llama Felt Board Story

New Felt Stories Coming Soon...
Make sure and visit our two main websites to purchase these new wonderful stories!!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Uprinting.com Video Commercial
So~ Enjoy!! Be prepared to get a good laugh!!
Ps! Please leave them some comments! The kids love to read them!!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Uprinting.com 250 Business Cards Giveaway!!

Uprinting has such wonderful high quality Business card printing available! You can get them printed in various sizes with some examples of 2 x 3.5”, 2 x 3”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.5 x 3.5” (skinny card)!
Uprinting is so generous and is giving me 250 free business cards! (Thank you Uprinting!) They are also letting us off another set of 250 free business cards to one of our loyal readers!!
Tweet about Greeting Cards @uprinting!!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Read For The Record! Help Support the Early Literacy Program (ELP)

Barnes and Noble, Metro Point – 901 South Coast Drive, Suite 150 Costa Mesa from 10a.m. to 2p.m.
Pretend City Children’s Museum - 29 Hubble Irvine, CA 92618
On Thursday, October 8th, the first 100 families to sign up for Westfield’s WFamily program at the Westfield Main Place Mall will receive a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Volunteers will be reading to children, giving away books, and sharing literacy tips with families. *only at the Westfield Main Place Mall
Giveaway Winners!!
Sew Suzanne Pillowcase
(jamie said...
The pirate pillowcase is my all time favorite!!!
jamiehslp@yahoo.com
September 8, 2009 7:23 PM )
True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 34 Powered by RANDOM.ORG
Sugar Lump Designs Necklace
(Anonymous said...
What a sweet gift this would make. Your necklaces are beautiful. I love her picture frames.
gooserama@cox.net
thank you.
September 11, 2009 7:00 PM)
True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 1 Powered by RANDOM.ORG
Sweet Sally's Soap
(BPR Designs said...
I am now a blog follower!
September 22, 2009 1:09 PM)
True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 9 Powered by RANDOM.ORG
Uprinting.Com Large Format Poster
(KSP said...
I want to win a poster because I have this awesome picture of my son playing hockey on his team. Plus I love the blogger. She has the best info!!!!!
September 25, 2009 8:13 AM)
True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 1 Powered by RANDOM.ORG