Gavin is doing very well! He seems to be gaining weight. I can tell this not from the scale, but from how long it takes my arms to get tired when I’m holding him. (It’s significantly shorter before achiness sets in now.) He’s very vocal, but doesn’t say many words yet. He loves to make all kinds of noises though. He has taken one step on his own, and likes to walk around while we hold his hands. He also has started climbing. Into milk crates, onto boxes, wherever he can reach.

He cries when his Dad leaves to go to work and squeals in excitement when he sees Dad coming home. He likes to flip through his books on his own and he loves to drink out of his cup with a straw. He likes to try new foods, but especially loves sweet things. Grits with maple syrup for example. That’s one of his favorites.

He’s pretty good about going to sleep on his own since we cut out the hidden dairy in our diet. He still wakes up often during the night but usually is able to go back to sleep after eating a little.

Gavin loves it when I’m putting laundry away in the bedroom and he can play in there. He loves to open and shut the dresser drawers, pull clothes out, “help” with the laundy folding, look in the trash can (this is discouraged), pull all the tissues out of the box (also discouraged), lie down in the cat beds on the floor, try to look out the window, open and shut the bedroom and closet doors.

He still loves the feel of the wind on his face like he did at three or four months old, and kicks his legs in excitement at the taste of yogurt (soy!) in his mouth. When he smiles at me I think: how could I have ever had any doubts that I would love being a mom? All the stinky diapers don’t hold a candle to all the fun we have. Chris and I spend much of our time together saying “He is so cute!” or “Look at Gavin. Isn’t he the best?” etc.

As I spend time around Gavin, the looks of amazement and delight blooming on his face remind me of the magic in the world. I don’t mean wand-waving and potions with rat tooth and eye of newt. I mean the feeling of inherent goodness in people and the world in general.

This was a prevalent part of my childhood. The thrill and sense of well-being in myself and everything around me when I picked flowers or saw the moon rise orange and change to white, grew sugar crystals in a canning jar on string hanging from a pencil, or cooked something that was a brand new invention by my sister and I. I still find this magic sometimes in my adult life, but less frequently. I can tell Gavin feels something like what I remember of being a kid. His eyes light up that way. The grins are too full and ecstatic to be anything else. I think this must come from love. Our love for Gavin. Our love for eachother. (He likes watching Chris and I hug.) His love for us. I consider myself very lucky to have experienced life in this way, and to experience it in again with Gavin. And I thank my Mom and Dad, and my sister for sharing that magic with me when I was a kid and also now, in Gavin’s life and at times in ours.

(Note to self: grow sugar crystals with G when he’s older.)

here’s gavin just finished with watching the bird and getting into his toy chest and on his way over to pull videos off the shelf and steal his dad’s computer mouse

So, we have been working on figuring out which foods are not good for Gavin for the last six months or so. It’s been very complicated and frustrating. At some points it’s been downright nerve-wracking. I’ve come to feel there’s not much worse than your baby being uncomfortable or in pain and you not having a clue what you can do to help.

I went on various elimination diets and kept a journal and watched Gavin closely. Sometimes other things interfered with the process of figuring out what was happening, like teething, or trips, or hidden ingredients.

His symptoms were not as serious as some of our family, which is a relief, but also made it harder to figure out which foods were ok and which were not. He gets a stuffy nose and painful tummy when he eats wheat and dairy. The color of his poop changes to green when he eats wheat. When he eats dairy or casein he goes poop more frequently than he should and has mucous in his diapers and has trouble sleeping at night, seeming restless and in pain. (This bit is mostly for long-term future reference for me.)

After many different trials we think we may have figured out the majority of his food issues now.

Crossed fingers here

So Chris and I thought it would be good to try to put in in an accessible place for later reference and other people to see.

Here is the list of food that causes problems for Gavin:

**wheat, other glutenous grains (barley, graham, rye, and in some cases oats)

**dairy (specifically casein, but we are avoiding all of it)

**egg

We are avoiding nuts too, in case he’s allergic. We will give this a try at some later point.

Foods we’ve tried and are okay for him:

**rice, corn, potato, soy

**tomato, strawberry, other berries, peaches, onion, squash, bell peppers, carrot

**chocolate without dairy (he hasn’t eaten this himself yet)

So we are scouring ingredient listings on packages for hidden wheat, dairy and egg.

Some of the sneaky listings:

wheat: spelt, graham flour, durum, seitan, bran, kamut, gluten, glutenin, bulgar, edible starch, modified food starch, malt, prolamin, semolina, natural flavor

dairy: artificial butter flavor, casein, caseinates, whey, lactalbumin, lactoglobulin, lactose, lactulose, milkfat, nougat, rennet, yogurt, chocolate, flavorings, margarine, lactate, lact-anything, caramel color, caramel flavor

egg: albumin, globulin, livetin, lysozyme, ovalbumin, ovoglobulin, ovo-anything, vitellin, silici, albuminate

these are ok:
Lactic acid (however, lactic acid starter culture may contain milk)
Calcium stearoyl lactylate
oleoresin
Cocoa butter
Sodium lactate
Cream of tartar

Very confusing! However, Gavin is feeling much better since we’ve cut out all casein that was remaining in our diet. So we are feeling very encouraged.

I’m feeling much more confident about cooking without these ingredients now too, which is a relief. I am collecting (and composing) gluten free, egg free, dairy free recipes that actually taste good. Chris seems to think they’re okay too. Being able to enjoy a blueberry muffin, or pancake or pasta! every now and then makes going gluten/egg/dairy free a choice I can live happily with.

Also, a small side note is that both Chris and I feel overall more healthy since cutting out dairy, specifically. Less tummy aches, etc. Yay!

to have a face as cute as this to look at daily!

gavin is getting into everything these days! he’s very curious about the bird, any food or drink, magazines, clocks, windows, and plants. he drags chairs around the living room and drops dvd’s over the baby gates into the kitchen. he’s a very energetic little guy.

he’s also very cuddly. he likes to be held, hugged and kissed and in the morning, especially on weekends he comes into our bed with us and smooshes his head against his daddy’s and then plops down on top of me for some good cuddles. he’s just started doing this of his own accord, as we have been subjecting him to cuddle time for over a year now. it’s very sweet and i feel very proud and happy that our son, our little boy is enjoying getting and giving physical attention. i’m glad he’s such a cuddly little guy. i’m loving the baby hugs!

here are some of Gavin’s favorite activities!

here he is petting Frida…they get along fairly well, unless he goes for the tail.

here is Gavin with Daddy. Gavin crawls down the hallway and then Daddy runs after him and scoops him up and runs back to starting line. Gavin thinks this is hilarious!

Gavin loves baths/swimming pools. He has a great time splashing and dunking toys under the water.

and this is him in the pool doing his silly scrunched-up smile.

Chris and I have noticed that Gavin is making a new sound, especially when he’s looking at a cat. It sounds like “Ta” or “Ata.” We think he’s working on saying “Cat.” Before now he was only making “ba”, “da” and “ma” noises, mostly. This morning he saw Radar and kept saying “Ta” over and over very excitedly.

Seems his first word might not be “Meow” after all. Ha ha.

here’s the birthday boy opening some presents

here are some of gavin enjoying a cupcake!

and here’s gavin having fun in his baby pool

A whole year on the outside…wow!

It’s so fun to watch the workings of his little mind growing and learning. He’s learning new things every day now. He’s taking his time with the big stuff like walking and talking but I think that’s because he’s so busy! He likes to cuddle with Mama and Daddy now, but only for about five seconds before rushing off to play with something or go somewhere. He still loves being outside and he’s very interested in touching flowers and plants now. He loves musical things…chimes, birds, toy piano. He is always interested in fans and lights…ceiling lights or lamps, or our little colored lantern lights.

He is so much fun! And he has so much fun too!

Happy Birthday Gavin! I love you so much!

*Snuggles*,

your Mama

Baby G is on his way to get the camera….Yay!

“Mom is gonna do something funny any second now…I know it.”

I love this picture of Gavin from behind, lit up by the sun.