Tis the season to be jolly

Wow. It's certainly the busy time of the year. Christmas lights, Christmas drinks, Christmas busyness...

I'm still working out what my son is reacting to food wise. Heck, have I even mentioned this in my blog? I've been so flat out with everything I've been falling into bed at night exhausted without having any energy to type, so perhaps not. Well, a friend pointed out that my son is reacting to food (her son does too) and in hindsight it is incredibly obvious that he is. I am finding many things to which he is reacting and I've basically come to the conclusion now that he's going to have to go on a full elimination diet so that I can work out exactly what he can and can't have. He's reacting to all of the obvious numbers - the 200's, the 600's etc - as well as natural food chemicals, such as in bananas (amines)... I reacted to bananas as a kid, so I can't say I was surprised by that one. I've been doing my best to cut his load and tonight for the first time in a long time he only took 15 minutes to get to sleep (previously it's been over an hour, usually close to 2 hours each night - which I can tell you has made me one tired and cranky mumma!). What a relief. He was such a joyous, helpful little boy tonight. It warmed my heart to see him back to his 'old' self again. He was such a joyous little boy and his behaviour has been slowly deteriorating over the past year. It's been breaking my heart, to be honest. I know he's a sweet little thing, but to see him reacting to food and showing aggression is so heart wrenching for me. Now to know I can do something to help him feel better is SUCH a relief. Sure it'll take some work, but it'll be so worth it. Tonight he ate up really well. I think he wants to feel better too.

Otherwise all is well. I got back into my last unit of study today and got quite a bit done, which was great. I have been distracted lately with a new love of jewellery making, but I HAD to get this last unit done and out of the way before JB is on holidays, so I didn't have to miss out on all the Christmas and holiday festivities. I've decided next year to take a break from study and concentrate on getting my jewellery and the coffee website businesses going properly. I've had such a busy three years and I need to STOP doing so many things and concentrate on what I need to get some cash flow going. I've also got to learn to put some boundaries onto a couple of my friends. I'm not good at saying 'no', as I've mentioned, and I have a couple of friends who are taking advantage of that atm. This week I was so tired and cranky I almost answered the phone with 'Debbie's babysitting service' before biting my tongue... I am completely happy to babysit and help out a friend when they need it, but when I become the free babysitter while they go out and get paid to work on a very regular basis, with no notice, even on the days my own children are at school and daycare so that I can work, is a bit rough. I'm quite annoyed actually that someone would take advantage of me in that way when they know how much I have on my plate. *sigh* I WILL learn to keep those boundaries... I said 'no, I can't , I have to study' but they pushed me and wouldn't except my no. I must admit this morning I rang and cancelled and said I wasn't feeling well. WHICH I wasn't, because I'd had a cr*p night's sleep worrying about the fact that I needed to study and was having to babysit someone elses baby for the second time in a couple of days. Tired, cranky, in huge need of some personal space. That's not too much to ask, is it? *sigh*

Anyway, after having a champagne today I've decided that I'm going back to the abstaining from alcohol thing... I feel really awful after having alcohol. I need to detox, I'm just feeling yuk. I had a few (literally 3) drinks on Saturday night at a 30th and I felt terrible after that too... I wonder why I do? Maybe it comes down to the whole sensitivity thing that my son (and daughter) seems to have inherited.

Well it looks like I'll be doing the whole food elimination diet with Master M too. We all will, although my hubbie will be able to add the 'normal' things like fruit and tomato sauce etc to his. The fact that Master M was so good tonight even though I hadn't had him on a full elimination diet yet suggests to me that once I've reduced his chemical load from the packaged food for a while he'll probably be able to eat a fairly normal home-cooked diet without any problem. Which is fantastic.

So to end the night, what am I grateful for? I'm grateful to the universe for supplying me with the necessary book on food chemicals previously so that I had already read up on it and had it as a resource for this time, on hand. I'm grateful for several bits of information I have been receiving from various sources lately that come at the precise time with the information I needed just then. I am grateful for seeing my child feel better, calmer and happier. I am grateful for having a husband that supports with this. I am grateful for catching up with an old friend today that I haven't seen in a while. I am grateful for having a gorgeous little daughter who has grown into a delightful little girl. I am grateful for a cool night after a HOT day today. I am grateful for a nice warm bed into which I'm about to curl up.

Good night!