The Gebhardt family

Nicolas story on supplements

2011-03-07T07:31:00.000-08:00

Many of you follow our blog for years to see how Nicolas and his family are doing. Thank You for that. We have tried so many things to make him get better and life a normal life like we know it. We started with GF/CF diet and put supplements into his diet: There where probiodics, minerals, multivitamins, detox agents and many more. By one point, when we detoxed him from aluminium in his body,a he was on 20 different supplements. To have a good outcome we had to break them down over the day, so he had to take some every 30 minutes. This was a hard time and i really appreciatet the support of Nickys school back in the States. They had a great classroom nurse who just followed our instructions.
Why i am writing all of this? Well we cut back a lot, we are now only on basic supplements. For one reason it`s about me. I couldnt keep up with it. Reason #2 is finances. Buying all these very specific supplement has a huge inpact on your monthly budget. By one point we spendt around $400 per months on supplements and special products for Nickys diet.
So you want to see some huge improvement to support the idea of biomedical intervention. And there was never a doubt that we would do everything, even going bancrupt just to help our son to get better. But the huge change didn`t come...
Two years ago we cut down to just probiodics and enzymes and that was it. But after a while i saw that some things would change: The chewing on books, the drowling, the stimms and the screaming. So back to Zink for the chewing and magnesium to calm him down. And just recently i found that Nicky was dry during nights two years ago . It was so good that we made it without a diaper for an hour or so. I asked myself what it was that helped him to stay dry.
I knew Omega 3 fishoil was good, not just for him, for everybody. So i gave it a shot and got back to 1 tsp. a day and within a few days we saw a difference: Dry most nights, didn`t happen for a long time.
A month ago Nicky started to be very agitadet. He is very loud, stimmy and he screams at the busdrive again. I havent found out why but i am back in my autism books.
I thing he is coming a long way and his improovement here in switzerland is great. But its mostly because of therapies and the love he gets. For us supplements are not here to help him to loose his Dx, they are here to be able to be himself and focus on the learning as much as he can.

I am writing this during school vacation, and its a hard time, b/c Nicky is used to his school routine. He waits for his bus in the morning and can not understand the meaning of vacation time.

Have a great day and thanks for following us.
Cheers
Karin

Red beets - not really fun...but....

2011-02-01T08:28:00.000-08:00

When i was a child red beets was a common sidedish at our table. I liked it, but just with salad dressing. Every other cooking variety and you just saw my backlights while i was running.

Just recently i was browsing about what to eat when you feel very tired and get sick a lot. And i came over red beets and the benefits are great.
Here are some numbers:

Per 100 gm beets you will get

Vitamin A : 20 I.U.
Thiamine : .02 mg
Riboflavin : .05 mg
Niacin : .4 mg
Vitamin C : 10 mg.
Calcium : 27 mg.
Iron : 1.0 mg.
Phosphorus : 43 mg.
Fat : .1 gm.
Carbohydrates : 9.6 gm.
Protein : 1.6 gm.
and only 42 Calories

On top of boosting your immune system during winter months red beets are also known for following benefits:

It is believed that red beets when used eaten regularly may help against certain oxidative stress-related disorders.

The fiber in red beets help reduced serum cholesterol by 30 to 40%.
Beets can help in normalizing blood pressure.
Beets helps to keep the elasticity of arteries, when consumed regularly it can help prevent varicose veins.
The iron content of red beets, though not high but is of the finest quality that makes it a powerful cleanser and builder of blood. This is the reason why beets is very effective in treating many ailments caused by toxic environment and surrounding.
Beet root is recommended for pregnant women because it contain folic acid that can help lower the risk of spina bifida and other neural tube defects in newborn infants.
Beet juice helps stimulate the function of liver cells and protect the liver and bile ducts.
Beet juice is highly alkaline which makes it effective in the treatment of acidosis.
Drinking beets regularly can help relieve constipation.
Beet juice and carrot juice when combined is excellent in the healing gout, kidney and gall bladder problem.
Red beets can also help in the following problems; Headaches, toothaches, dysentery, lumbago, skin problems, menstrual problems, etc.

Today we made a great combination of 6 oranges, 1/2 beet root, 1 Carrot, 1 apple and the kids did`nt even taste the beets in it. You can do the same btw with broccoli or spinach, they don`t taste the veggies in the juice :)

Say CHEESE

2011-01-18T08:03:00.000-08:00

About cheese....there is a lot to say.... Let`s start where i started: Basic, really basic, didn`t touch too much of soft cheese like Brie, and god forbit sheeps cheese. I ate Emmentaler cheese and Parmesano on top of my pasta, that was pretty much it...till...
That all changed when we moved to Cheese country. My first addiction was for Gruyère cheese, you can buy it at different ages and its flavour changes with age. I like the sligtly salty taste. Gimme a piece of Gruyère and some bread and my meal is made.
Some change i thought i would never make in taste came up with sheeps cheese. I am not a Sheep lover when it comes to meat, i don`t like the sheep taste. So i never really touched sheeps cheese. But recently i come closer to love it. With garlic, pure, or some Cranberrys. Its a great taste and the best thing, Nicky can eat it too, no cows milk !!!
Another "rule" i had before was "if it stinks, i don`t eat". That has changed too, i am going to the cheese shop now and try different cheeses and i am always taking a stinky one too. They are so great in taste, melting in your mouth ...mmmhhh...very yummy.
And if you add a great bottle of wine, more a milder one ...it rounds a great evening up.

More to come from cheese country :) Have a "cheesy" day.

Grüezi from cheese country

2011-01-04T09:43:00.000-08:00

It has been way too long since i posted. Today I want to write about our new home country Switzerland, the country I fell in love instantly and finally feel like I arrived in my life.

It will be a year in February that we moved from Germany to Switzerland, to this tiny village just outside from Basel; where you can find probably more cows and sheep around you then people. Where life is slow and the air is filled with silence and the taste of nature; and where people count vine, chocolate and cheese as basic foods.

I have to say that I discovered my love for cows J Not that I want one, but I cannot pass by and not look at them. The different kinds and the fact that they spend most of the year outside up the hills gives you the good feeling of being the closest to nature you can get.

Today I went horseback riding and it was so beautiful. I went all the way up on the hills overlooking our valley. I stopped there and it was the feeling of freedom you only can get on the back of a horse. The view of little farms, villages, busy farmers on the fields, cows and sheep are something I wish I could share with you, it’s indescribable.

I want to write a little more about food and wine within the next days, so stay tuned.

Chai Latte - it can be REALLY healthy...

2010-10-03T07:49:00.000-07:00

It has been too long since i posted, and a lot has happened with Nicky and the rest of the family. Hopefully i will find the time to post more in the next weeks.
I just wanted to share a super-dooper recipe about a chai latte i am making myself for a few days now. Its all natural incrediences and great if you want to loose a few pounds and feel full of energy. Here it comes: Cook 1 1/2 liters water and brew the following incrediences for 6 minutes:

5 slices of fresh ginger
1/2 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
5 cloves
1/4 tsp. cardamom grounded

After 6 minutes add 1 Tbsp. green tea and let it sit for another 4 minutes. DONE!

Add milk and honey for a great taste. You can drink it cold or hot.

I love the taste of cinnamon and cardamom. Ginger is GREAT for your health, so is green tea.
Hope you enjoy it like i do :)

Wrong diagnosis?

2010-04-05T05:22:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I posted and a lot happened. First, we moved to Switzerland, and even it was a smooth move it was some hard work to get our stuff into a house only the half size than what we had before. But we love our new (own!) house very much, the surrounding is so beautiful. The hills named Jura are right in front of our door and just lovely. The main issue is the language Swiss German! Its so hard to understand even it is German, its totally different. But slowly we are getting to know our new country and we loved it from the beginning.

There where some changes with Nicky right after we moved it. He was very badly constipated for over a week. We know he is reacting with constipation to big changes, he always did. This time it was very bad and he was in so much pain. The whole thing lasted till I saw a doctor two weeks ago. I was driven by the idea to finally fix that problem. And not to let any doctor to only look at the autism plate and not going any further. B/c that what was happening the last eight years. I was just to scarred now that the insides from Nicky are totally hurt.
So by accident I found this pediatrician who is also a Professor and had some publications about Celiac disease. And he has his practice just 15 minutes from our house. When I called him he told me that he is booked out completely but he would love to see us the following Saturday morning. He told me right away he can not help us with autism, but with the constipation he can. GREAT! That sounded like my kind of doctor.
The following morning we saw him. And he was so different from all the other doctors we saw (and there are many trust me!). He didn't want to hear Nickys history, he just looked at him, took some measurements. He also consulted another doctor who is a neurologist. Then he sat down with me and told me a plan about the constipation. He also told me that Nicky has the wrong diagnosis but he has to read a bit more. Then he send us home with a 9-day-kit to take care of the constipation.
The cramping where gone within 24 hours, Nicky was happy again and so was the rest of the family.
We just saw the Doctor last week and he read ALL paperwork I brought him over. That a foot high pile of paper. He told me he is pretty sure Nicky has a condition called Rubinstein-Tabi syndrome . He told me its a genetically condition and we can run a test. Unfortunately no health insurance is covering and its about 2700 USD if you still want to run it. I said no thanks to the test, b/c it doesn't make a difference in his therapies and there is no cure.
After so many years how can it be nobody ever looked into this condition and this one doctor just took the time to look at my son and see it?? The autism diagnosis comes with the Rubinstein-Tabi dx, it very often does, so does the constipation part. It all fits. I am glad I found this doctor, he takes his time and he told me right at our first meeting. I like that.
I asked the doc if we should should continue with the gf/cf diet and the vitamins. He said I should skip glutenfree and see if there are any changes.
Since this weekend Nicky is eating his first gluten since 2006. So far he is alright but we know it can change soon and then we know he is better off then with.
I keep you posted, this whole thing is spinning in my head, did we go the wrong path? I don't know, but I know we always tried the best for Nicky and we will continue to do so!
Happy Easter!

Are you really cleaning?

2010-02-11T10:26:00.001-08:00

Just a short post about cleaning. When you think you clean and desinfect remember following:

The active ingredient in most antibacterial products TRICLOSAN not only kills bacteria it also has been shown to kill human cells.

Lysol and other products that makes you feel safe about bacteria are really not good, especially not on your kitchen counters, tables and childrens toys.
Also the use of bleach. Already the smell makes me pass out (always a good sign from your body something is not right!). There is no bleach available in europe, b/c of health issues!
Next time try all natural remendies like Vinegar (kills germs, bacteria and is GREAT on mold) and Lemon juice.

Here in europe most people clean now with vinegar. You can find 100s of cleaners just made our of simple soap and vinegar. It also smells great.

Happy spring cleaning.

Update on the teeth grinding and zinc supplementation

2010-01-26T23:15:00.000-08:00

This is a short update on the teeth grinding (see the post from last week!):
Since monday morning we supplement with zinc again. I didn't expect to see a change so fast but by yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon i saw much less teeth grinding with Nicky. So i guess it worked, hurray!

Teeth grinding and the Zinc supplementation

2010-01-22T07:02:00.000-08:00

For the last week Nicky does this very bad teeth grinding. You know the kind where you get the goose bumps and you just have to cover your ears because he makes this grinding sound. So i wonder where it comes from out of the sudden. I know that something is going on with him when his behavior changes like that. We have tippy toe walking when there is yeast overgrowth. We have magnesium missing when he eats paper and every book. We have eye rolling, itchy skin and hand flapping also for yeast overgrowth. I know my Nicky buddy, after four hears on diets and biomedical treatments I can tell right away. It's like a switch you can turn on and off.

We had to get him off zinc b/c the brand we used (Kirkman, yes the moms with kids on the spectrum all know :)) had too high amounts of antimony in it. Within two days off zinc he started the grinding and i had to wonder if his zinclevels are really so low that he reacts like that.

So I ordered another brand i got recommended by my fantastic Yahoo Group in the UK (thanks ladies), it came in today. I have to wait another two days to find out if the zinc is getting rid of the grinding. Wait b/c on weekends we do heavy metal chelation and you don't give good metals during rounds.

But I just know him, he will be fine by mid of next week.

I will keep you posted! Have a great weekend

Karin

Chin up!

2009-12-31T09:05:00.000-08:00

All moms with kids on the spectrum come to the point where they see no light on the end of the tunnel. Hope is gone and you sit in the corner and cry your eyes out. Everything seems so impossible to do. You hope to get your child better all year long and here you are again: The end! And yet - NO!
After all, he is your child, you love him, he is a tough boy and he has his will. It's almost impossible to get through to him, but when you do, you know it was all worth it. The smirkes he gives you instead of saying, "I love you". The face he has when he knows he is in trouble and you can not longer be mad with him and instead you squeeze him tight and pray that some miracle will happen soon.
Days are hard most of the time, it is also hard on your marriage and the siblings too. But you pull it together, b/c you know you get the sunshine days too.

To all moms (and dads too) out there who fight this horror every day, i know how you feel. You do a great job and keep going.
To a miracle year 2010. It's going to be our year and i will fight every minute for it.
Love to you all!

Gesundheit!

2009-12-02T00:20:00.001-08:00

I am happy to say that both boys have been healthy so far this winter season. Both in Nickys school and Philips kindergarten half the classes are missing b/c of flu, cold and even some scarlet fever. There are some rules in our house they seem to work :

Always wash your hands right away when you come home. Wash them as long as you sing the ABC-song.
If you are in a public area, like airport or train, take some desinfection wipes with you to use after washing your hands

Drink your orange juice in the morning

Take your gummy-bear vitamins (i don't have to push them to that rule :) )

Eat your vegetables

Wear a hat if temps drop under 45

If you are cold, take a warm bath right away

With the first sign of a cough, sore throath or runny nose i try to get rid of it right away. Here are some first helpers with the sign of a cold:

Runny nose: Inhale steam; even better add a little menthol.
Drink hot elderberry juice for cough and sore throat.
Drink lots of fluids, f.e. teas to losen the mucus.
Take Vitamin C and Zink, even better, eat foods with this vitamins: Citrus fruits, red peppers, Kiwi, Sunflowerbread, Turkey, Cashews, Gouda-Cheese...

Bless You - Gesundheit!

Amazing healing

2009-11-02T02:53:00.000-08:00

I have been reading a lot about homöopathic treatment and overall natural healing. I use it more and more with me and my family. Some things work, some not. If it comes to treating a cold, cough, sneezy nose and sore throath most of the treatments help.
For example for Philips cough (and he catches it like that) i use a home remmedy with onions. Just cut it in pieces, put it in a jar. Then 2-3 Tablespoons of honey over the onions, finished. Drink 1-2 teaspoons of the honey, you don't have to eat the onions :)
Actually Philip loves it, and he knows it helps him. It helps very good at night, when the cough sits deep. Try it, it's quickly made and inexpensive. And: No meds where you always feel a little guilty to give it.
I also read about the 27 different tissue salt, invented by Dr. Schüssler. He believed this natural salts are the only things we need . I bought them all (they are very inexpensive) and try them with the whole family. The great thing with this salts like all homöopathic treatments: There are no side effects, the doses are so little.
So i tried them with fever, cough, allergy. Last weekend i got a very bad lumbargo while i tried to lift Nicky in the Radio Flyer for Trick or Treating.
It was so bad i couldn't move at all and my husband had to lift me up from the couch saturday night.
I took three different salts, No. 3, 7 and 9. Every hour for 4 hours. When i got up the next morning from bed i already felt better, so i kept going with the salts and by afternoon i couldn't feel almost any pain any longer. It amazed me.
Usally if you have this kind of pain you get a shot or you take pain killers. I guess i found my remmedy for my back.
Try it, it's worth a shot!

LEAD and autism

2009-10-06T07:33:00.000-07:00

I just got back Nickys last blood and urine lab results. Every half a year we usually test him for yeast and missing nutrials. It always gives us a view what his body can process and what's missing.
Usally the test comes up with lots of yeast problems, but also Nicky’s problems with getting rid of toxins.
When is saw our DAN two weeks ago i decided on making a heavy metal test, b/c i felt something else is going on with Nick and i wanted to find out.
So we made the test which means Nicky has to take a capsule of DMSA, that kind of sucks the toxins out of his body and shows it in an urin sample we collect for the rest of the day.
The test before we gave the capsule showed already lead levels twice as high as safe.
The result of the second test, where all urine gets collected after the capsule, showed (are you sitting?) 13 times higher than they say its safe.
WOW!
I am very proud and happy that after 5 years doing biomedical intervention i just know there is something going on with him.
BUT, I am sad that two years after doing chelation we are back on the heavy metal issue. Even I keep every possible toxins away from him, Nicky’s body has not the ability to detoxify himself. And let’s face it: It's everywhere, every day. Your air, your water, your food, the clothes you just wear.
For us moms with kids on the spectrum, we just have to detox them with meds and supplements and just hope the pollution of our world will get less.
Writing this my beautiful boy is sitting in the living room shaking his head, spinning wheels and screaming out of his lungs......
1 in 91 children is diagnosed with autism, 1 in 58 boys (!!!)......

Swine flu vaccination

2009-10-02T04:17:00.000-07:00

Lately there have been a lot of people asking my opinion on the swine flu vaccination. Most of you know my standing on this controversy. It's a straigt NO. There are different reasons:

One: I have a child who got probably autism by day one when he received his Hep.B. shot at the hospital

Two: This swine flu vaccination has not been testet long enough in my opinion, if you read about cervical cancer vaccination there has been some discussion lately.

Three( And this is the most important part of it!): Both companies who produce the serum for swine flu vaccination add a preservative called Thimerosal . Most of you never heared from it, but every mother with a child on the autism spectrum is at war with this preservative. It's simple said mercury.

Side effects of this vaccination are rarely known, b/c it's so new, no clinical studies have been made!

So see youself as a ginnie pig when you go get your shot. Your doctor will probably ask you to call in if you feel any side effects accouring. YOU are the STUDY!

Writing this makes me really mad, and i know how hard it is to watch the news in the United States and don't get sucked into the hype about vaccinations.

Think about it and decide wisly. Have a healty flu season!

Obama Announces Breaking News: $92 Million in Stimulus Funds for Autism Research

2009-10-01T07:46:00.000-07:00

I am sitting in tears while i am writing this. Finally the government is doing more than looking the other way. I just hope they listen to us parents too in the future.

Please read along...

President Barack Obama announced a plan on Wednesday to spend $5 billion on medical and scientific research, medical supplies and upgrading laboratory capacity, as part of an overall $100 billion Recovery Act investment in science and technology. Importantly, Obama's announcement also included a commitment to funding $92 million into autism research. In his speech to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Obama said “And finally, we'll also provide the largest-ever infusion of funding into autism research. Across the country, grant recipients will have the opportunity to study genetic and environmental factors of a disease that now touches more than one in every 150 children. What we learn will hopefully lead to greater understanding, early interventions, more effective treatments and therapies to help these children live their lives and achieve their fullest potential, which is extraordinary.”

Autism Speaks played a vital role lobbying NIH for $100 million of the economic stimulus package.

View the full speech on the White House website.

Read a press release on the full stimulus package announced here

All natural food delivery and getting ready for fluseason

2009-09-08T10:20:00.001-07:00

One of my favourite days of the weeks are absolutly tuesdays. Every week we get a box full with natural foods delivered by a natural food store. It's full with fresh veggies and fruits. Everything looks so yummy. Even Philip get's now all excited when the delivery man rings on the door. With fluseason just around the corner i want to "drug" my kids with as much possible vitamins as possible.

It starts in the morning with fresh squeezed orange juice. It goes trough the day with different fruits and veggies for supper. I mix some seabuck thorn juice in their applejuice to raise the vitamin C level in them.

I for myself drink a glass of vegetable juice very day. It's full with carrots, red beet, sauerkraut, spinach, bellpepper, cucumbers and more stuff. Sounds yummy, hum? I just put some salt and pepper ontop and it's not as bad as you think. It counts as a meal instead of lunch and fills me the whole afternoon.

I am not a fan of swineflu-vacinations, b/c i think it's a big hype and nobody knows of late side effects. So this is how we prepare for the winter. I also can see a huge difference in philip beeing more calm and concentrated.

Try it, it's fun and if your kids help you prepare fruit salad they like it even more.

First week without daddy

2009-09-04T05:19:00.001-07:00

The first week without wolfgang comes to an end. It was ok, but we miss him dearly. Especially philip askes about him all the time. Yesterday he had his daddy on speakerphone and played in his room with Lego while talking to him. It was for him important to share everything what he was doing right there with wolfgang.
I was very busy this week: I checked out different schools around Basel. I also contacted a new organisation that helps parents of preschool-kids with autism to find the right schools and therapies.
People in switzerland seem very nice and helpful so far and i am looking forward to go with wolfgang sometimes within the next weeks.
And i started running again. It was a good feeling to "be back". I ran around our lake on tuesday, with is about 4K. Tonight i will run my first roadrace. It's in Wetzlar and called the bridge-race. I will run for Nickys school and it's going to be fun. Hopefully the rain will stop while i am on the road. Keep your fingers crossed that i will make it to finish-line before they all leave :)

The smell of hay

2009-08-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

This is a great summer, at least august is hot and feels like summer. Since the warm and hot days started, the farmers are out on the fields to get the harvest in as long as it isn't raining.
So for the last two weeks you see tractors everywhere, they get the wheat crop in and leave the hay on the fields. Later they make big balls of straw to keep it for their animals.
They also harvest the grassfields and dry the grass to hay. And this is where my sensitive nose comes in.
I love the smell of harvest, of hay, the busy farmers. It reminds me of my childhood and that we played all summer outside.
Here in germany, farmland is between villages and citys, cows and horses are everywhere. It's beautyful for me. Seeing my children growing up in this peaceful landscape, where field meets forest and forest meets village is a very good thing for them. It makes you appreciate the simple things in life, it shows you how beautyful the world can smell if you just open your nose :) Train your senses and taste the world.
Cheers!

Light on the end of the tunnel

2009-08-13T03:03:00.000-07:00

The last months where hard on our family. A lot happened i don't want to explain here, but i think it was the hardest we ever experienced except finding out about nickys dx of autism.
Well since i am a positive person i always knew, the rocky way will have an end.
Wolfgang will start a new and exciting job september 1st in basel, switzerland. That means we will move within the nex half year.
Schools in switzerland are much better for Nicky then the one in germany. They offer includet therapies, sometimes even ABA. We have to find that perfect school.
Since switzerland has french, german, italian and english as languages, this will be the perfect opportunity for Philip to eather go to a german-english school or learn frech. Holy cow, i guess i have to learn with him!
This is exciting, i love to move. But i fear Philip beeing so sad of leaving his friends, especially Kim, his little cute girlfriend. I will miss our friends Andrea and Jens, they grew so close to our hearts. But i know we will find friends and we will just have a big circle of friends around the globe!

Everything is happening for a reason, and since we where never really happy with nickys school and Philip's daycare i see that as the reason. There is more to offer for our kids!
I keep you updated.

FDA Changes Tylenol Warnings But DoesnÃ¢Â€Â™t Tell You How to Take it Safely

2009-07-21T23:27:00.001-07:00

FDA changes Tylenol warnings but doen't tell you how to take it safely:

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Cranio-sacral therapy

2009-06-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

OK, this has been too long since i posted. I started a job, nothing special, just job lease, but it has been very busy here. I am leaving early in the morning and getting grocery-shopping done during my break. Then i rush home at 4 and get to play with the boys and the day is done. It's crazy but its probably only till end of June. We will see.
Anyway, I wanted to post about Nick's new therapy. We are seeing a Homeopathic Therapist for the last four weeks. After knowing Nicky's history he started him with cranio-sacral therapy. This special therapy he is using is called Bow tech (no it's not the fitness gear!). It's specific pressure points on his muscles the therapist massages to straighten the body and makes the body stronger. We where very sceptical (like you are right now, aren't you?). But we wanted to give it a try. Especially i had a look into homeopathy itself and i just wanted to try different things.
So we went one time, twice, three times.....and......Nicky started to make new sounds, he is pointing at things he wants, he is very aware and reacts right away on any commandos. Yesterday, for example, he helped me to set up the table, he put the place mats on the table and the utensils.
Today he came to the kitchen, opened the fridge and made the sign for drink. OK, he can do that for years. But today he pointed to the water pitcher. I asked him if he wants some apple juice with the water; he shook his head. WOW, this is huge. We had a CONVERSATION.
So we will go on with that therapy and i will keep you posted.
Sorry for not doing so many postings right now. I always have a lot in my mind to write here, but i do not have the time right now. Keep checking back.
love - me

What a (beautiful) weekend

2009-04-27T02:26:00.000-07:00

Just a short post. We had a great weekend, Nicky was happy and calm. We where very busy and spend Saturday and Sunday all day outside. On Saturday we first went on a walk to the beautiful spring-forest, afterward the kids got their horseback-riding-lessons. Nicky loves this part of Saturdays most. No matter how terrible his mood was before, as soon as he sits on the back of a horse he smiles and enjoys the breeze that goes on up there :)

Saturday afternoon Wolfgang and me tried to get some stuff in the garden done while the boys where riding there bikes. It was too funny, while Philip was trying to draw with chalk on the street, Nicky tried to ride his bike over it. He even got of his bike and tried to hopscotch :O) On the on of the day our ice cream-truck comes and delivers some homemade ice cream for all of us. We had late supper with stuff from our grill (yummy!).

So yesterday, after the boys slept very long, we decided to take them with the bike trailers on that beautiful bike trail that starts in our city. Its all flat and goes through beautiful landscape. Nicky enjoys sitting in the trailer.
We brought stuff for a picnic and found a nice place in a meadow full with bright yellow dandelions.

After that break we went back home, but wanted to make a quick stop at a local hotel here. The hotel is directly on the lake and has a beautiful outside eating area with a playground for the kids.

When we arrived there we saw my new friend with her daughter and husband. The daughter Kim is also Philips best friend, so the both where happy seeing each other and off they went to the playground. Nicky enjoyed a snack and then he was also on the playing equipment. So whats a parent to do when the kids finally offer some time: Sit, chat, have a beer, coffee or whatever. We stayed for three hours and had just such a good time.

When we finally arrived home, we both knew, this was a very special, happy weekend. And even Philip came over to me and said 'Mama, this was a very good day" . Sweety-pie.

Have a great week.

Exposure

2009-04-20T23:15:00.000-07:00

We went on a little vacation to a village called "Sun Park" just two hours from here. It's really fun for the kids there. You life in little but spacious houses in a park that includes a big water park and an indoor playground.
Nicky and Philip had so much fun at the water park. It comes with a canyon where Nicky just loooved to drift around. He looked like a smiling cork, really cute. Compared to the days we had before he was just a different child.
The park also had this indoor playground with the usual stuff you find there. It also had a stage, where once a day there was some animation for the kids, like dancing, theater and so on.
As soon as the music started, Nicky was right in the middle of the activities. First the animation people where a little unsure, but they didn't mind. BUT, they other kids ;O) . Some stopped dancing, just being amazed by Nicky and his behaviour.
As a parent you tend to pull him out there, but i think, every exposure to typical children is the best you can get both sides of the kids. I am always open to answer questions to both kids and parents. But parents don't ask, they just look. We are used to that sort of exposure. It still hurts but you just grow that shell. You ask yourself "When do people realize that something is wrong with him?" . Maybe when he starts to wiggle with his hands, maybe when he screams out of joy (for them it's probably more the scream of an animal). Maybe when he starts his crazy dance till the sweat runs down his temples.
You get that almost every day. Even we try to avoid the crowd, we also train with him to go shopping and to places where it can be loud.
But with a child on the spectrum, you never come unprepared. You know where the exit is, you know you have to pull something good out of your pocket to get him out of a favourite activity. You know when his limit is reached.
Today school started after two weeks and he looked very happy seeing his bus driver Heike this morning. We have to think about summer vacation, six weeks can be very long. We have two months to think about it ;o)
Have a nice spring day today! It's beautiful here, everything is in bloom and the different shades of green are amazing.

Spring and school vacation

2009-04-15T00:07:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since i posted, the reason is simple: School vacation. It means for most of us parents NO vacation, it means stress and bored kids. For us, it runs from a bored 5-year old to a hyper boy on the autism spectrum. That exactly means that the house has not seen a mop in over two weeks, my washing machine is on vacation too (b/c i have no time to even fill it). We wake up, we eat, we keep the kids entertained, we eat again, we try to keep Nicky quiet, b/c all windows are open due to the temps. We do all the things kids love and still he is so unhappy right now. It's depressing for us, we are not moving an inch forward.
So, it's been hard, but the weather is great, temps in the 80's, we eat outside on our little terrace, or we sit on our balcony over viewing the lake while watching the kids.
I have to admit, with the nice weather and spending the evening on the terrace, i am back to enjoy 1-3 glasses of Riesling wine. It's just sooo good, and it's my treat for a long, hard and frustrating day. No worries though!
And i have Wolfgang, who fights with me through the day, who makes me lough, even when i am close to tears. Did you know 80% of parents with autistic kids getting a divorce or getting separated....?
A Roller-coaster this last two weeks; we are going on a short trip Friday through Monday, let's hope Nicky is doing o.k. with it.
Happy spring!

Eating paper

2009-03-21T00:41:00.000-07:00

We finished the second week without any supplements. Everything is good. But i see some bad behaviour slowly coming up again.

One is eating paper (also called PICA) and chewing on everything like crazy. I also see an increase in head stimms during play. Nicky also chews a lot on his clothes again.

I know that it can be a high blood level of lead, it also can be that his body has iron-deficiency anaemia or that zinc is missing.

So, because we do not eat any more fish any longer (full with lead!) and Germans haven't used lead in ages in their houses, we can ignore the lead problem for now (we also had no high lead levels in the last test anyway!).

And when it comes to iron, it was not in Nicky's supplement program. So i guess it really is zinc that's missing.

So i hope that the next issue of InStyle magazine will be left for mom and not for the mouthing Mr. Nick.

Sundays, sundays

2009-03-15T23:35:00.000-07:00

We had some very good days with good sleep. Nicky ate very good and no bath room issues. On Saturday we went to the city of Wetzlar, where we spend the day with Anna. It was very peaceful and Nicky kept walking with us up and down the hills of the city. We even sat down in a street cafe for half an hour. Nicky was just very good. Even the drive in the car was good.

But then came Sunday. And just like last Sunday Nicky was a different person. He was loud, restless, uncooperative. We had to give him Benadryl again. But that didn't do the trick right away for him. After 3 more hours he finally calmed down and even fell asleep on the couch for a nap.

So what is going on with him? Is it something he eats or does on Saturdays that pushes him over the edge on Sunday?

Well my birthday is next Sunday, i just want my love bug Nicky feeling good.

Wednesday march 11th and Thursday 12th

2009-03-13T00:04:00.001-07:00

The last days where uneventful. Nicky was mostly calm and contend. On Wednesday he had issues with falling asleep and he woke up a couple times during the night so w. had to stay with him the whole night. I think the pomegranate juice made him hyper, i will give this another try in a week. Pomegranate juice would be so great for him.
Yesterday he fell asleep on the couch at 7pm and slept through the night without once waking up.
We absolutely will go back to supplements, but we will watch it closely.

Today our friend Anna from the US is visiting us for the weekend. She is in Denmark for a semester right now. We are all very excited. We will have some "Wiener Schnitzel" tonight. Everybody loves them and they are SO typical for Germany. Tomorrow we will visit Wetzlar and Sunday Frankfurt. Philip is jumping in circles right now, he can't wait.

March 10th, first day "Without"

2009-03-10T10:57:00.000-07:00

Just a short update like promised: This is the first day without supplements and herbal teas. Nicky did good in therapy session, no stimming, no craziness, no loud noises, good visit on the potty ;O) . He fell asleep without melatonin and through the night.

Starting over

2009-03-10T00:20:00.000-07:00

Once in a while we do a "Starting over" with supplements and treatments for Nicky. It gives us answers what really helps him and what not and especially what makes him crazy and stimmy. This is the perfect timing right now: We got the test results back last week (see post) where we saw some improvements and some things we have to fix, like the uric acid problem.
We had a terrible weekend with Nicky and couldn't figure it out why. He was loud, unhappy, restless and just kept us on our feet for hours. On Sunday noon, i finally gave him some Benadryl. It was the only thing i knew would help him. And it did, he finally sat down for two hours before he started all over again.
It brakes your heart, and the worse is, there is NO one out there who can help you. It really could be that he is in pain, but there is no way to figure it out. Last night he woke up, sweating, screaming, and i almost heart an "Aua" . It can be everything, just a nightmare, his stomach, his liver, his kidneys, it could be life threatening.
But we have, like almost all parents with kids on the spectrum, given up to talk to pediatricians and neurologist about test results. They don't give it a look, i saw it last week at an appointment in a children's hospital. The doctor was really nice and good, very sensitive and helpful, but he doesn't care about biomedical stuff.

Well anyway, today we start with "No Supplements at all" and i will use this blog as a dairy on his behaviour. I will especially look into sleeping patterns, behavior (stimming, craziness), constipation problems and how therapy sessions work.
See ya later!

Is it GOUT????

2009-03-04T11:05:00.000-08:00

We got Nicky's last Urine-Blood-Stool-Test back. We do this once-twice a year to see where he has deficits in different areas: Liver, Fatty acids, Vitamins, Gluthation and especially yeast issues. I will tell you more in a posting later this week. But i just came over something interesting. since we make this tests for the last four years, Nicky always had problems with uric acid and also citric acid. So our new DAN here in Germany gave us some meds to lower the uric acid. After half a year we made the test again in January '09. I was sure we are in a better place now and was full of hope.But not so! The test came back with uric acid levels still elevated, better then in august, but still very elevated. So??? You think you have it under control and then it just hits you! Can it be gout? Is it a dietary issue after all? Nicky always had big problems with gross motor skills, he had three times a hip infection in his life (ever had one or know one? No? Same here, till our son came along!). His tests always came back with elevated uric acid. Does that makes sense? YES if you read about GOUT. There is a recommendation in diet:

Here is a partial list of foods high in purines, which have the highest concentration of purines and should be avoided by those who are prone to gout or are already suffering from it.
Beef * Pork * Bacon * Lamb * Seafood * Foods that are made with a significant amount of yeast such as beer and bread * Alcoholic beverages While these foods high purine levels can also aggravate symptoms of gout, they can sometimes be enjoyed in moderation by those who usually follow a low purine diet.
Asparagus * Cauliflower * Mushrooms * Peas * Spinach * Whole-grain breads and cereals * White poultry meats, such as chicken, duck and turkey * Kidney and lima beans.
And finally, here are some foods that are safe to include in a low purine diet, though they should not comprise the entirety of your eating plan.
Green vegetables and tomatoes * Fruits and fruit juices * Breads that do not use yeast (check the kosher section or a health food store) * Nuts * Milk and milk products, such as butter and cheese * Chocolate * Coffee and tea.
If you suffer from gout or have a family predisposition to the disease, it is a good idea to steer clear of low carbohydrate diets such as the Atkins and Protein Power diets. Their recommendation to eat large amounts of foods high purines such as meats and dark vegetables is almost certain to cause problems in those predisposed to gout.

AHA, low carb diet is not good if you suffer from high uric acid. But that's what SCD is all about, isn't it? So i have to ask myself what do i want to treat? His uric acid problem and with it probably joint pain on every step he makes? Or constipation, which comes back when we go back to Carbs.
Stay posted, i haven't figured it out, i am still in shock and denial.

Stimmy, Stimmy ...and how to get that kid asleep

2009-02-27T00:34:00.000-08:00

So we are in a "Down-face" right now. The last 1 1/2 weeks where hard on the whole family. Nicky is very loud, stimmy and over all just very uncooperative. You see it on little things during the whole day that something is bothering him.
That starts in the morning when he has to get dressed: He doesn't put his hand through the sleeve itself, he kind of fights it. It's a struggle.
But the worse is his sleeping pattern right now. He wakes up screaming during the night, he want the light on or somebody sleeping next to him. He also has a hard time fall asleep.You think he should be exhausted by the end of the day, especially with all the stimming and loud noises he makes. But hell NO! He is up, loud. And even he falls asleep, he wakes up after two hours, sitting in his bed. and seems like he is is done with sleeping.
So the first thing you look into as parents of an autistic kid is, "What have you changed that pushed him over the edge?" . Supplements are always a good guess, but also food could be the reason. Another is (and that's actually something good) that he is dumping toxins like yeast or heavy metals. In this process called Herxheimer reaction the child is feeling worse for a few days before an improvement occurs.
Because he is on a couple new supplements for over three weeks already i don't think is a Herxheimer reaction, it might be that the supplements itself (Olive leaf extract, artichokes and other nat. herbs) make him stimmy and sleepless.
So i left it out for three days and we already saw an improvement in sleep in the first night. Last night was actually good, he didn't wake up once after midnight and woke up for his normal school day time at 6 o'clock.
I also changed a few things in his bedtime routine. We give him Trytophan, which has Magnesium in it, along with other ingredients. Magnesium given at night makes you all sleepy and your body relax.
I also give him some herbal tea, called the Lazy Tea by Janosch with verlian, Anis, fennel, peppermint, Lavender. Very soothing, and he loves it so much, he drinks a full pot full over the late afternoon and evening.
Another thing is giving a bath with verlian herbs. I just bought the herbs in the pharmacy (welcome to Germany, where you get all nat. stuff!) and make a big pot of tea out of it.Beautiful calming bath essence.
There is a big section about sleep in one of my all-time-favourite autism books "Autism, Effective Biomedical Treatments" by Jon Pangborn . He talks about all this things and more, one is for example, that your body can not produce Melatonin, a hormone, that makes you sleep, as long as the lights are on. WOW! Nicky loves the light on at night, but he also has trouble to sleep through. As soon as we removed that bedside-lamp his night was so much better.

I am sure that there is so much more out there and if you want to share it with me, i would love to learn about it.

Let hope for a calm weekend, it's supposed to be sunny here temp's in the upper 50's.
Have a great weekend!

Holy ginger

2009-02-15T06:02:00.000-08:00

So i made some ginger root-tea yesterday. I read in the Body ecology diet book that ginger root tea has some contracting effects on your intestines. Contracting is what we are looking for b/c of the constipation problems we are facing. So i boiled several slices of fresh ginger (love that taste of that root) and cooked it for 15 minutes. The recipe asked for Stevia to sweeten. But somehow Germany still doesn't allow that sweeter. Which is just bull, this is a natural sweetener and everywhere else in the world available. But i have a source (Hi Dr. F.!) to get it. So soon the sugar-trap will be gone and we will get more and more in the BED. The BED (Body Ecology diet) is a little tricky, but it all sounds so reasonable to me and for Nicky.

So anyway, i made that tea, sweetened it with honey and tasted it for myself. Well,YUMMY, spicy and it is a real thirst quencher. Nicky had half a sippy cup full, even he didn't like it first, he came back for more after having a sip.

This morning after N. woke up, he went successful to the potty. Never happened before in the a.m.

There are little things on the BED you can follow from the beginning. But there is a 80/20 rule (http://www.bodyecology.com/07/01/04/80-20_rule_essential_to_diet.php) i find hard to follow. But by time i will find a way. When we started SCD i thought, this is impossible to do. It's not, it's your child, and you would give your life for them. So cooking is just a walk in the park :o)

Have a great Sunday.

For all mac and cheese lovers - "Enjoy"

2009-02-14T10:41:00.000-08:00

This is adapted from one of my favourite blogs, the SCD-girl http://scdgirl.blogspot.com/

Artificial colors and flavors? Ew.
You know, I've often wondered why artificial colors and flavors are illegal, but then I realized, by wondering, that I'd answered my own question. What ARE they, anyway? You don't know. I don't know. And that's why we can't eat them, because we have to know what a food is in order to know if it's legal or not. And let's face it -- artificial coloring and flavors are not food. We only eat food on the SCD. Perhaps this should be our slogan: The SCD: We eat food! In case you were wondering what prompted this post, well, let me tell you. I spoke with an acquaintance of mine recently who used to work at a large food manufacturing company. One of the items they produced was a macaroni and cheese-type recipe. The recipe called for two parts cheese, one part yellow food color. No, that's not a typo. So, for example, a batch would include 500 pounds of cheese...and 250 POUNDS of powdered yellow food color. The thing of it was, said my acquaintance, is that the food color cost just as much as the cheese! It was EXPENSIVE! You really wonder what's in our food supply, don't you? And people think we SCDers are the crazy ones...

After all i am glad we can not buy Mac and Cheese any longer - no more toxins for my kids!!
Enjoy your meal :o)

In a good place

2009-02-03T23:05:00.000-08:00

I have to say i am getting used to the ups and downs in our life when it comes to Nicky. I know by now that even he has some "stimmy" days, he is either dumping toxins or just getting used to a new supplement. After some tough days he comes back in such a better way. Yesterday Philip, our 5 yrs. old was almost chocking on some food and he tried to cough it out. Nicky, sitting across him on the table, just started to copy coughing. It was too funny. I said to Philip "You got a frog sitting in your troath? Ribbith!" Guess what: Nicky started to move up and down while sitting in his chair. Just like that. We all started laughing so loud and Nicky clapped his hands and started also giggling. It was all spontaneous and he knew we are laughing with him. He had this big grin all over his face.

Moments like that keep me going. I know he is a hard nut to crack when it comes to diet and biomedical interventions. But we make steps forward, never back. We keep fighting yeast and we do antiviral therapy. I am also reading about the Body Ecology Diet (http://www.bodyecologydiet.com/). It sounds just so natural, like people should eat and how they did before industry started to "make" food. Toxins are in our body and cleansing your body is a good way to fight infections.

I put Nicky on a supplement that is all natural. It has ingredients like Pomegranate, Lavender, Thyme in it. It tastes a little strong, but i think it helps him.

Our DAN doc told us he is thinking out a Hyperbaric oxygen chamber in his office. This is a very new way to treat the kids and the result are stunning. I will be the first going in with Nicky, i can't wait!

That's from us, you see we doing good. Still fighting with the school system, but i hope i change one thing at a time.

As long as Nicky keeps smiling we are in a good place.

Yummy Yummy SCD legal Clementine cake

2009-01-17T07:19:00.000-08:00

This is a yummy recipe from one of my favourite websites, the smitten kitchen (smittenkitchen.com). When i read the ingredences i thought, wow, this is SCD legal. And it sounds very moist and easy. So here it goes, just use honey instead of sugar! The original recipe is from Nigella, my favourite cook in the US.

Clementine Cake

Adapted from Nigella Lawson
… Oh right, I forgot to mention that this cake was darn good. I am not going to tell you that it is my favorite cake ever. It wasn’t. But all of the things I was worried would go wrong — it would be too bitter, it would be too tough, nobody would eat it — I couldn’t have been further off about. It is ridiculously moist, not bitter and surprisingly popular at a dinner party. You know, until you tell people they’re eating a cake of boiled rinds.
4 to 5 clementines (about 375grams/slightly less than 1 pound total weight)

6 eggs

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (225 grams) sugar

2 1/3 cups (250 grams) ground almonds

1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
Optional: Powdered sugar for dusting, or for making a glaze

Put the clementines in a pot with cold water to cover, bring to the boil, and cook for 2 hours. Drain and, when cool, cut each clementine in half and remove the seeds. Then finely chop the skins, pith, and fruit in the processor (or by hand, of course).
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
Butter and line an 8-inch (21 centimeter) springform pan with parchment paper. (I used a 9-inch, it worked fine.)
Beat the eggs. Add the sugar, almonds, and baking powder. Mix well, adding the chopped clementines.
Pour the cake mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 50 minutes*, when a skewer will come out clean; you might have to cover the cake with foil after about 20 to 30 minutes to stop the top from over-browning.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool, in the pan on a rack. When the cake is cold, you can take it out of the pan and dust it with powdered sugar. I made a glaze of powdered sugar and a tablespoon of clementine juice because I was convinced the cake would be too bitter. It was not necessary. Nigella says the cake is best on the second day, but ours never made it that long.
Variations: Nigella says she’s also made this with an equal weight of oranges and lemons, in which case the sugar is increased to 1 1/4 cups.
* I am very unclear on the correct baking time, as you can see. Nigella’s recipe says it will 60 minutes. When I checked on it at 40 minutes (because I think you should start checking on any baked good at the 2/3 mark) it was done. Very done. Dark-brown edge-level done. And my oven runs cool. But I had made the cake in a one-inch larger pan, which made it slightly thinner. Which is all to say: Start checking at 30 minutes. Better to check too often than char your cake.

Nicky loooved the cake, and he is always sceptical when mom is baking :o). Enjoy!

A b@$ch called constipation

2009-01-16T10:01:00.000-08:00

So here we are again, fighting constipation. Once a month she finds us and there is no escape. You see her crawling into your sons body, she makes herself comfortable and then she hits him. Usually on day three. This is after you have tried everything to make him go. Walks, swimming, Oxypowder, even in double doses. Nothing helps, because by now its in our sons head. He knows, she is there, waiting to hit him hard and painful. so he is trying to avoid pooping at all, because its painful. Of course he doesn't understand that it doesn't help, that he has to do it. Otherwise it's getting really though on him.
This for us most ugly condition named constipation came to us when our son still was a baby, just 10 months old. I remember going to our pediatrician after Nicky didn't go for a week. They kept telling me, this is OK, "Just give him prune juice" (he hated it by the way!) and he will go tomorrow. So here i where with a baby cramping, crying so hard, he was purple. I screamed with the fre@$ing doctor, that i will NOT leave this office before he hasn't helped us. So guess what, he got some gloves and took care of it. My poor baby, i spear you details. But this was the beginning of a long and endless road of constipation. I think, me and Nicky spend at least 6 weeks of our lifetime on the potty, just fighting and pushing. I tried everything, GI docs, enemas and of course medication like Mirolax. And guess what, Mirolax helped, but was that the way i wanted to treat my son. What was causing the constipation? Why was nobody asking the same questions. Till i met Pam Ferro, she was great, told me about SCD. And she said no more Mirolax. I was nervous, but after a week on the diet i felt we don't need Mirolax any longer. And she was right, Nicky went twice a day and we didn't had any more problems with constipation. Till we decided to give "only" GF/CF another try. Since then our problems started again, and i just knew we gotta stick to SCD. Even we didn't get rid of the yeast with it, the constipation part is the biggest thing, its the most important thing to take car. We know now how and we learned our lesson.
Let's go fight that yeast, it's a b&$ch herself, but we will win this fight also.
Sorry for strong words here today, this is not usally me, but sometimes (and moms of kids with autism know that) you get really angry with the world.

An Au Pair called Jurie

2009-01-12T07:39:00.000-08:00

After it turned out i am getting a job (which endet up that i didn't because of the financial crisis the company had a hiring stop!) we decided to go with an au pair. We already had one over in the US, but it was different. She was more like a nanny, because she was from the US, talked our language and knew her way around (in the US).
This time we found a male au pair from Moldavia(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldavia). We where actually not searching for a male. But it turns out with a special need child you are not as popular for young chicks from the UK or the US. Nice, huh? Everybody just wants to have fun while babysitting a bunch of kids. That's how most of the girls see it.
So i guess we had a good pick. Even i was very nervous....and just think about my husband, hehe. Having a male as an au pair also makes sense for us too. He is strong, that's a very positive aspect. Nicky tends to go the other way when you want to go this way. Within the last year it got harder and harder for me to pick him up, get him out of bed or the bathtub and so on.
Also i have to say about Moldavia, this is a very poor country in the south of the Ukraine. People go to Western Europe to find a job, get some money and some way to stay here for longer. So we thought it's good to have somebody who is more motivated to work with us.
So here he is, he arrived today after a 2 1/2 day ride (yeah roadtrip) in a minibus with 8 other people who want to try there luck here in germany. Seems like we are the golden country. He is shy, but i guess he loved the ride through munich, the german autobahns (highways). And the best: Philip loves him. He thinks it's the coolest thing to have a big playbuddy he can comand around. At least for know we let him think that.
And for Nicky, we let the two connect within the next days. I know it's always strange for everybody to meet Nicky the first time. But then they just figure, he is cute, all smiles and not so strange at all.
And for me, i have to find a job, this drives me crazy :o)

Happy 7th birthday to my sweet Nick

2009-01-08T00:28:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow will be the day, 7 years ago, you came along. The day i was waiting for my whole life. It was hard work, the day you where born. You decided to pull the plug at 7am. After we arrived at the hospital we went from labour to active labour to almost having a C-section. It was all very tough on us. And then at 9.09 pm, you finally arrived, after 12 hours of labour. You where perfect, so little. You cried, quietly, not like your brother two years later. He was loud :o). When i was holding you the first time, you looked up to me with your big eyes. Your papa said "Hey, he looks like E.T.", because your eyes where filled with some drops they put in newborn eyes.
Here you where and i just held you and couldn't believe the luck we have. After everybody was gone i pulled your little bed right next to mine. And i just looked at you the whole night. When i fell asleep for a little while i woke up ad checked on you. I still couldn't believe you are mine. So beautiful, so perfect.

Since we brought you home you light my days. It's been a blessing that you are with us. Even in dark times when we went from doctor to doctor and finally got the diagnosis PDD-NOS, i always felt you are a special assigned task for us. Something that always waited for us. To fight for you. It's you that keeps me going every day. I can not wait till you come home every day from school. A smile by you makes my heart melt.
I hear very often what burden we got in life. NO! That is not what you are, you are special, you are the biggest cuddle-buggler ever. You love to spend the day with us, you grab our hand when you feel unsafe. You cry at night, because you would rather be with us then alone in bed :o)
You give kisses. I love you little Nicky-Noodle, Happy Birthday my sunshine!

Autism and a cold - a "not so good" combination

2009-01-05T04:22:00.000-08:00

So it goes around, the flu in Germany. I heard every 10th has some kind of the flu or a cold right now. You just can not escape it. And so our family got it too. First me, then Wolfgang, then me again, now the kids.
And you know when kids are sick, it is always heartbreaking. They have a high fever and still want to go out in the snow to play. you give them a fever reducer and hope the temp. will not come back so high again. With Nicky it usually helps, back stays the cough though. Philip has fever very often and it makes me wonder if he has some kind of an infection in him or sensitivity for something (like food).
For the last two days we are sitting inside, both children are having fevers, cough and no appetite. With Nicky being so thin anyway (42 pds by age 7) it is always double as hard for me, when he refuses to eat. This morning i had success feeding him pancakes with applesauce on the couch, he ate four, hurray!
The other bad side is that because he is not moving for days, he tends to be constipated. So even he feels better after a few days, you have to get a grip on that problem too.
Keep your fingers crossed, that by Monday next week everybody is back to normal and we can send them both back to school and Kindergarten.

Autism Night Before Christmas

2008-12-23T08:07:00.000-08:00

Autism Night Before Christmas
by Cindy Waeltermann

Twas the Night Before Christmas
And all through the house
The creatures were stirring
Yes, even the mouse

We tried melatonin
And gave a hot bath
But the holiday jitters
They always distract

The children were finally
All nestled in bed
When nightmares of terror
Ran through my OWN head
Did I get the right gift
The right color
And style
Would there be a tantrum
Or even, maybe, a smile?

Our relatives come
But they don't understand
The pleasure he gets
Just from flapping his hands.

"He needs discipline," they say"
Just a well-needed smack,
You must learn to parent..."
And on goes the attack
We smile and nod
Because we know deep inside
The argument is moot
Let them all take a side

We know what it's like
To live with the spectrum
The struggles and triumphs
Achievements, regressions...

But what they don't know
And what they don't see
Is the joy that we feel
Over simplicity
He said "hello"
He ate something green!
He told his first lie!
He did not cause a scene!

He peed on the potty
Who cares if he's ten,
He stopped saying the same thing
Again and again!

Others don't realize
Just how we can cope
How we bravely hang on
At the end of our rope

But what they don't see
Is the joy we can't hide
When our children with autism
Make the tiniest stride
We may look at others
Without the problems we face

With jealousy, hatred
Or even distaste,
But what they don't know
Nor sometimes do we
Is that children with autism

Bring simplicity.We don't get excited
Over expensive things
We jump for joy
With the progress work brings
Children with autism
Try hard every day
That they make us proud

More than words can say.
They work even harder
Than you or I
To achieve something small

To reach a star in the sky
So to those who don't get it
Or can't get a clue
Take a walk in my shoes
And I'll assure you
That even 10 minutes
Into the walk
You'll look at me
With respect, even shock.
You will realize
What it is I go through
And the next time you judge
I can assure you
That you won't say a thing

You'll be quiet and learn,
Like the years that I did
When the tables were turned.......

Back to square one

2008-12-10T23:49:00.000-08:00

On my way back to Germany i had plenty of time to read this new book i got "Hope for the autism spectrum" by Sally Kirk. Its about their journey on the spectrum, biomedical interventions and diets. So i read about all the stuff i already know but also find a lot of new things and helpful guidance with probiodics.

After finishing the book i couldn't help but wonder if we are on the right path. We stopped SCD a couple months ago and went back to "only" GF/CF. In the beginning all was good, Nicky was happy to got his cereals and rice milk back. But a couple weeks ago the problems started again. Constipation, twice in a week and on top of it: Eczema on arms and legs. Big ones. So seeing all this going on and still facing the yeast issue, we obviously don't can get rid of it, i think we are better on with SCD. On top of that i want to try the rotation diet and acid-alkaline diet. The rotation diet regulates how often a food is eaten. The low acid-alkaline diet avoids food that are high in acids, like oranges, tomatoes etc. I know it all sound like this poor kid will not get anything to eat, but we did the GF/CF/SCD and all was good. He was happy and he didn't had any poop problem. I don't wanna use enema any longer, he hates it, and who doesn't.

I also have to switch with probiodics. We give him SBoullardii now twice a day for the last 3 months after doing a round of Nystatin. He does good on it, but i know i have to rotate probiodics. Today i started with SCDophollus and want to build it up. Let's see how that goes.

I also want to contact a local homeopathic practicioner, who also has a son with autism. I want to go the natural way as much as possible with Nicky.

It's good to be back!

Welcome to wonderland

2008-12-05T03:06:00.000-08:00

So we decided mom needs a little break and can open her Christmas present even before Christmas eve: A flight to the US to visit our friends and do a little Christmas shopping. And so i arrived with little flipper in tow on Wednesday. Writing this at 4 o'clock in the morning means that we are still suffering jet-lag. But life could be worse. Yesterday i spend with my best friend Jen doing shopping at Target, Homegoods and TJ Maxx. Having a lunch at Panera bread and walking through the isles of Shaws supermarket felt like wonderland for me. Oh how i miss them all and this country. Its so much fun, but dangerous, with all the deals in the stores and the Christmas decorations all over the houses. A few impressions, maybe not everybody understands:

"Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus lane..." is one of my favourite Christmas songs, i even had it on my cell last year as a ring tone :O) .
Spiced apple cider, yummy, no more to say..
Little candle lights in every window, just beautiful
Rockefeller Plaza and its huge christmastree, what a show, 30.000 lights
Salvation army man standing in front of the grocery store with its bell asking for money for the hungry and poor, our Philip just has to put something in, i love that kids learn here early that giving is sometimes better then getting
Reindeer nose and antlers on cars, just a classic :o)

I could go on and on, its beautiful. I am so happy to be here, it refills my batteries after an exhausting year. I am glad Wolfgang and Nicky are doing fine in Germany, only that can make me relax, knowing my family is o.k. I know for sure that our Flipper is SO o.k. right now, having an all day play date with his friends Kate and Livie here.

Well, i gotta go, i am seeing so many friends today i miss so dearly. It's going to be an exciting day. Happy Saint Nikolaus day!

A happy day - for mom

2008-11-12T05:34:00.001-08:00

Happy days are rare for us right now. Everything seems to be so hard and i often feel somebody is putting some big rocks always in our path. I feel not treated right, unfair. Things with school are hard. The fact that services here in Germany just suck (excuse me!). You have to have a prescription for every therapist and have to fight with Health insurance and doctors who is going to cover. On top you need of course stuff for your kid (like diapers, a special car seat and communication devices in our case), you want some funding to get some income relieve, because one of us will always be a care giver or you have to hire somebody for that. So life was hard on us, since we moved in, and very often you feel you can not go forward any longer. And then comes a day like today: I found out that we get

this special car seat for Nicky, so he is finally safe
the communication devices we waited for for so long

We also found somebody who is making its masters in special ed. and especially in TEACCH. Nicky will be her child she will study in this. That gives US the opportunity, to learn more about TEACCH, which is the learning method in Nicky's school.

She also will probably watch Nicky for a week, while i am gone with Philip to see all our friends back in the US.

And i started the day on a beautiful horse, riding through this peaceful landscape and feeling just free. The biggest luck of the world you find on the back of a horse a german saying is. It's so true, this is my therapy, who needs a shrink when the horse is the better therapist for you.

Happy "special-mothers-day" to me !

November 9th - what a date in german history

2008-11-09T23:15:00.000-08:00

While i was watching the news yesterday it hit me that two mayor milestones in German history happened on the same day. The "Reichskristallnacht" or the Night of Broken Glass happened November 9Th-10Th in the year 1938. At that night over 200 synagogues burned and Jewish businesses and homes where destroyed. In this single night 30.000 Jews where arrested and deported to concentration camps. From this night on Jewish people had to wear the star on there clothes. This was by far the darkest night in Germany's long history. And even its been 70 years since then, people in this country know the details and they live on with that thoughts and just know how horrible this part of German history is.

On the exact day just 19 years ago, Germany had the happy day where the wall in Berlin fell. People danced on the wall, they hugged each other after being separated since 1961. When the East German government announced on November 9, 1989, after several weeks of civil unrest, that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin, crowds of East Germans climbed onto and crossed the wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, parts of the wall were chipped away by a euphoric public and by souvenir hunters. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which was formally concluded on October 3, 1990.

A little help from Mr. Flipper

2008-11-05T03:50:00.000-08:00

Enjoy!

Just autism

2008-10-31T00:13:00.000-07:00

This is a very sad post, but i feel to share it with you. I went to a parents-meeting from Nicky's classroom yesterday evening. It was a nice evening talking to this parents and learning about their kids and the problems they face everyday. I found out, there are two kids in the classroom with a disorder called Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses (NCL).
Late Infantile NCL begins between ages 2 and 4. The typical early signs are loss of muscle coordination and seizures along with progressive mental deterioration, though afflicted children may show mild-severe delays in speech development well before other symptoms appear. This form progresses rapidly and ends in death between ages 8 and 12....
On my way home i just thought, what they must go trough every day, just seeing the child slip away more and more.
You ask yourself why? ...and then you go home, hug your (just) autistic boy in his sweet dreams and cry.....

Turning things around

2008-10-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

The last weeks we made some changes around Nickys diet. It took me a long time to finally go for it. The first thing we did is changing back to "only" GF/CF and leaving SCD behind us. the last results on Nickys tests came back with very high levels of Yeast in his gut. After all this work over the last 10 months we couldn't get rid of the yucky yeast. And after the decisions for me to go back to work we needed a plan where everyone can cook for the kids. With SCD its a little tricky.
The other thing was a medication called Nystatin. Its good for all kinds of yeast infections through your whole body, from mouth to the "rear end" :O).
The first days on Nystatin where tough, lots of die-off-reaction, with tantrums and sleepless nights. It was tough on us, exhausting and you feel you have to give up on all the intervention you do with him. But then comes the light on the end of the tunnel and you see your child crawl through it. It happened last weekend, we went to see Wolfgangs family. Nicky was in good spirits, he walked miles through the autumn-forest, without being pushed or pulled. He smiled at Onkel Walter and he sniffed on everybody (his new thing for saying "I like you!).

We also started with auto-immunizations. Its a serum, a lab makes out of nickys yeast-overgrow. He takes it and his own body builds up antibodys. He also has reactions on that, but seems to be in a better mood already.
There are plenty things you have to try if you go on the biomedical train. some work on your child, some don't. I am sure we will find the right path soon.
We will start with Tomatis Therapy next year and antiviral-therapy. There is a believe that kids on the spectrum are born with viral infections or they got it early in life. I believe Nicky is one of them, just thinking of the Hip-infections he already had in his life (4). Anybody here with a typical child who had that???? Get the idea?
Well, i keep you posted, stick with us and your good spirits will always support us.
Lots of love
k.

Welcome to Holland

2008-10-19T22:56:00.001-07:00

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this…
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!" you say. "What do you mean, Holland?" I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy.
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to some horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy a new guidebook. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
The pain of that will never, ever, go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.
But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.

Quote of the day

2008-10-16T06:45:00.000-07:00

"Genetics loads the gun, environment pulls the drigger!"

Out of Jenny McCarthys new book "Mother-Warriors" on the cause of autism

Just saying HI and we are still alive ;)

2008-10-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! We are still alive. Life just cought up with us and we trying to catch a breath here and there. A lot has happend in the last three weeks and i want to put it together here. First of all a few pictures from Mr. "Noodle" Nicky beeing the partyboy of the day while his school celebratet its 40th birthday. Nicky had so much fun dancing with his much bigger friend Lars.

On a different note: I applied for a fulltime-job at a big hightech company, just 20 minutes from here. And i got the job, i am so excited! Its in their export departement, where i am responsible for China, Middle East and India. I fitted the profile exactly, especially my english was in my favour :o). If you want to check them out: http://www.rittal.com/.

I am starting november 1st and till then i have to do tons of work to get this family ready for this step. We are in the search of a nanny right now, but probably have to cover for a few weeks with babysitter and family. Keep your fingers crossed that we find soon somebody who fits to our family. If you know somebody, let me know.

We are going on vacation next saturday. We will go to the Northsea and the Frisian Islands, just five hours north from here. Its going to be cold and unfriendly, but we will be there in our winter gear and enjoying the fresh air. We will make long bike rides, going on a carriage ride along the shore, where usally is water, they call it the "watt". We also plan to visit one of the islands and some more things. We will stay at an old Windmill with vacation homes.

We are all looking forward to this break after a hektik year. I will post pictures when we'll be back.

Love - The Gebhardts

Eating Fish

2008-09-17T23:50:00.000-07:00

Living on the US-eastcoast brings lots of positve aspects with it. One is that fresh fish is always available. And the prices are mostly fair. Moving to the very middle of germany means "No fresh fish at all" . You can buy frozen salmon and other fishes that swim in the northern sea from germany. If you go to a bigger grocery storey you usally also get it fresh. But not this variety. You just buy what you get. Pretty sad you say. That was my first and second thought too. Till i looked on the packages of frozen fish where it comes from. So i read Vietnam, which is about 3 billion miles away. And guess what - its the cheapest fish you can get here. That always stunnes me, that goods that travel so far are the less expensive ones.
So beeing me ,and following my resolution to only buy regional, i am not buying that fish. I will buy some fresh trout or other fish that comes from hatcheries in the area.
And looking at that link here http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=17694 we learn more and more that all our fish is toxic, full with mercury.
So, yes i miss the fish-variety, but i just lost my appetite in fresh fish.

Mealtime prayers

2008-09-11T00:17:00.000-07:00

There is a saying in germany which translates like that: We came to ......, like the virgin marry to her baby. And that's what i think every time we sit down to eat when Philip is forcing us to a mealtime prayer.

"We came to mealtime prayers like the virgin marry to her baby"..... Totally unexpected! We usally have to hold hands and ey!: There is no giggeling and god forbit that you say the wrong words. We are very proud that he just picked it up from kindergarten like nothing. Enjoy it.

With love from the Gebhardts

The weekend in K-town

2008-09-07T06:57:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Erikas house to celebrate her birthday. She turned 77 and we organized a sitter to go out for a nice dinner at an italian restaurant in her town. We had a great evening with too much wine and prosecco. The food was good and everybody ate too much.
The next day turned out beautyful and Wolfgang and me decided to go to the "Landesgartenschau" , the gardening show in Kaiserslautern. Kaiserslautern is also named K-Town from the americans, because the Airbase Ramstein is close by.
The Gartenschau is a beautyful place from spring till autumn. Thousand of flowers everywhere. They have special exibitions, for example about water or fishes. Philip always has to see the fishes, its a dark house so you can see the fishtanks better.
There is a big playground area, where you can spend hours. It's the usall stuff like swings and slides. But the slides are build on big wooden treehouses, which makes it little scarry. Philip never got on them so far, but he tried it this time and was very proud that he made it. The swings are huge, they look like big coccoons,

There is also a water-playing-area, where kids can pump water up and follow it down on the rocks till it ends in a little river, called the "Lauter" . There are waterfalls and a little pond and Philip was busy following this little river down to the lake. Of course IN the water.
The reason i like this waterplace so much is that at least half of the visitors and their children are americans. You see kids in Lands End clothes and daddys in John Deere caps. I feel very much home there and Philip is always excited to find kids who understand him :o)

Nicky enjoyed the afternoon sitting next to the waterfal and watching the flow of the water.

I guess for next year we will buy a year-round-ticket, because this is already the third time we went this year. I hope some of you will be able to enjoy it when you visit.

Have a great sunday .... and Go Pats!! :O)

A batch of joghurt

2008-08-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

Well, for most of us, joghurt is just another form of snack. And usally its also very healty for our tummy-area. In the last years you see commercials about joghurt that has some "good" bacteria, so your intestians do a better job for your overall health. All true, but you don't have to buy that "special" joghurt, that is double as expensive as normal ones. Just buy FAGE brand, its yummy and has all the good bacteria you need.

The reason i am writing this is that in the SCD diet homemade joghurt is the best resource for healty intestinals. And because Nickys intestinals where severe damaged from whatever it was (antibiodics, milk, gluten, suger and other food he was not tolerating) we waited for this day today for about half a year. Nicky is milkfree for over 19 months, so he hasn't eaten any products that come from a cow, sheep or goat.

So, i made my first batch of homemade joghurt. I found my old joghurtmaker in my mother-in-laws house and tried it. It was not hard to make. Just cooking some organic(BIO)milk, putting in some good joghurt (FAGE) and then it had to ferment for 24 hours in the machine. It has to ferment this long to get rid of all the milkstuff that could hurt Nicky's tummy again.

anyway, the result is YUMMY.

So i gave Nicky one teaspoon this afternoon. And now we wait, for a reaction, a good one (hopefully) or a horrific one.

Keep your fingers crossed that he sleeps well tonight and just tolerates the Joghurt .

The picture also shows my first batch of homemade applesauce. I got the apples last week from a friend; all organic apples, Philip picked them all :)

Autism and Potty training

2008-08-15T22:30:00.000-07:00

When it comes to autism, there are many things that just don't come easy. One of them is toilett training. I read many books and talked to many people about it. But for us there was never a good timing. Because toilett training means you have to life after the clock. Every hour or so you gotta run with your child to the bathroom.

My favourite ABA-Verbal Behavior author is Robert Schramm. In his book he has a whole section about Potty Training. He writes about skippig the diaper at all. From first day on, and night. That did sound impossible for me a year ago. But Nicky is dry every morning now, so we decided we could give it a shot.

So for the last 4 days we are without diaper, means Nicky, but we are with him: In the bathroom every hour. The timer is always ticking. And you have to leave everything what you are doing right now to go with him.

So far we are doing good. And YES we have accidents. Yesterday was a not so good day. But i am not giving up now. I see that he enjoyes beeing without diaper.

Nights are still accident free, that makes me most happy.

Well keep your fingers crossed. The funny thing is, that now that we are in germany, we would get diapers paid for from health insurance, lol.

Nickys first day of school

2008-08-06T12:37:00.000-07:00

What a special day for us! Nicky's first day of school. It was very sweet and we all got dressed up for this special event. The new school, the Friedrich-Froebel-Schule in Wetzlar (http://froebel-schule-wetzlar.de/) made a special welcome party for the new six students in first grade. After a warm welcome and music, the kids had a chance to see their new classroom, where muffins and a cute decorated table waited for them. The parents had to leave... We had some coffee and wondered how the kids are doing in there. Some shy connections between parents. Everbody was nervoes, even me. But our little, big Nic did great. He just sat down on this table and waited till somebody will start the party :O) . He was so cool and a pro. I think he is glad to be back in this routine.

After exchanging some words with the teachers and caregivers the first day in the new school was over. We celebrated this beautyful day with a trip to our lake here in Niederweidbach. The kids (Nicky, Philip and my niece Laura) had a blast. The lake even has a sandy beach. It's not Horseneck beach, but close, lol.

All about energy and environment in germany

2008-07-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

We went to my husbands familys home last weekend. It's a two hour drive. We had wolfgangs mother with us, who stayed a few days at our house. So i had the chance to sit in the back with the boys and just look out the window and enjoy my old home country.
While we where driving i had the idea for that article today: All about henergy and environment in germany. And i have to say i did'nt realize in what specific way the germans are taking care of that matter. I knew that they HAVE to sort out all recycable material for many years back. I knew that the cars are very gas-efficient, because, the most of them are very small (i guess an american would freak out driving with this high speeds in a little car). I know you don't get a plastic bag on the check out for free (1 Euro!).
But there is so much more going on i didn't know of. Did you know that germany is the country with the most windmills in the WORLD? This little country...i was stunned to learn that fact. You see them everywhere, on every hill; and it's o.k.; they belong to our countryside, they are not disturbing at all. At the G8 summit in Hokkaido back this July the leaders of the world asked for more nuclear power. Germany made a contract 10 years ago to END all nuclear power programs within a certain amount of time (i don't know the year know) and get energy out of other resources. I like that a lot, i hope it can stay that way.
Well back to germany today. There is the fact, that every house in germany has an energy pass. It tells the owner how much energy his house needs. You can get an energy consultant, who advises you how to safe more money. Cool huh?
CARS: Gasprices in the US are high, but back here the gallon is (are you sitting?) $9. Most of the cars are very efficient now, mine for example goes 38 miles with a gallon of gas. You can image that heating oil is pretty much the same in price like the stuff you get on the gas station.
Since this year, cars have to have a special sticker on their windschield. It comes in different colors (red, yellow, green) and depending on the level of the exhaust emission you are allowed (or not) within citys, schoolareas and so on. So most of the big trucks for example are not getting within citys any longer, except they have special papers for delivery and pick up.
I found that very interesting. There is a city very close to our town that wants to make it a rule that every house has to have solar panels on its roof. Well, i think that's a little harsh to dictate people what they should put on there roofs, but i guess they also offer good funding for that project.

As a result of this policy germany has kept it's clean drinking water in most areas. The soil is free of chemicals and stuff that would end up in our food.

We had our scandals too, trust me and they are still happening. We have our industry here, close to homes. But the regulations for that kind of business are hard .

This is a very clean country and hey....just come and check it out :)

Now, i gotta go, sit on the patio with a glass of GAVI and enjoy the quiet time without pollution (and kids, lol)

Good Night!

Love

Artwork

2008-07-21T04:51:00.000-07:00

Well the weather is not our friend since we moved in here. Rain and cold and no end in sight. Philip keeps busy with drawing everything that comes into his mind. He loves the ROBOTS movie, so he started with drawing robots. He surprises us with drawings of music notes and also with him writing words without our guidance. Here are some excamples he drawed (and wrote) all by himself while we where still in bed sunday morning.

Oh where, oh where...

2008-07-17T08:05:00.000-07:00

Moving here from the US has many positive aspects. I think i named them all while we celebrated our farewell. But all good things have negative aspects too. Unfortunally. Going through the grocery store is cute here, you are through in 15 minutes and you saw all isles in the store :)
I find myself searching for many things, but especially for BEEF! Yes, this red meat is very rare here and i ask myself why? Is it that the americans own the burgers? Is it that the best cows live just around G.W.B.'s ranch's corner? Is it true that germans are pork-eaters and can not handle a good, bloody steak (hmmm, just stop thinking about it and the craving will pass....).
It's not that you can not find beef here, its just very expensive, not affordable is better described! NO WAY to have beef 2-3 times a week. NO WAY!
I bought some beef the other day for stew (It was already precut, i guess germans would not really know how to handle a steak!). And while i was washing the meat i almost lost myself in thoughts about this great steaks, burgers we have enjoyed the last 8 years. Without appreciation that was.
So, you americans: Next time you rush down your preformed burger patty (what a heavenly invention is that anyway) or your medium-rare steak (let's just dont think about this Sirloin strips that sceam eat me when you remove them from the grill) , yes, next time you have this bite of soft meat and the smoky juices in your mouth, think about us. Us, eating pork, previosly frozen fish and the chicken.
And if you still plan to visit us, prepare yourself: This is the land where we eat different. Not bad different, but beef-less!

MAHLZEIT (ENJOY YOUR MEAL/T )

Getting settled

2008-07-13T10:16:00.000-07:00

The last week went by so fast. Philip started with Kindergarten, which goes every day from 7.30-12.30. Next week he will go three days till 2.30 and two till 4.30. He will eat his lunch there and will have a little resttime. I will report how he is dealing with the longer days. Even he loves his new Kindergarten, he of course has trouble to communicate with his new friends. But kids can talk,even without the same language. Philip already brought home a few new phrases and words, like "Los gehts". That means "Let's go". With that phrase he is rushing me out of the house in the morning :)
Nicky still enjoys his lazy mornings. He sleeps till about eight, then a little TV, then his breakfast and then we do something fun.
Nicky lost his two front bottom teeth last week. Both where never found, you can guess where they endet up :( He looks funny now. It made me sad, he is growing up.....

Yesterday and today we made walks in the nearby forest and fields . Its so beautyful; i was stunned. It felled like vacation in tuscany. The air is filled with sounds from the birds and is full with smells from flowers.
There is a path going from our town to the next one, about 2 miles away. The path is named ''Hochzeitsweg" which means ''Wedding-path". It goes through forest and fields. The fields are not belaboured, so many butterflys, bees and birds feel home here.
Philip found a watchingtower, but look for yourself.....

Dance with the Backyardigans - Moves by DJ Nick

2008-07-08T08:50:00.000-07:00

While is was preparing dinner today, Nicky found the treasure chest of toys that is always hiding in some of my kitchen drawers. As a mom of an autistic son you sometimes have to hide very noisy toys. Its then more a surprise when your child finds them and has fun with dancing. This is new with Nicky. He dances, he shakes his bum and he sometimes even lifts his arms. Hey, does he have that moves from his father? Enjoy!

A new friend for Philip

2008-07-06T00:29:00.000-07:00

Since we moved in on the 4th we've been busy getting everything back on its place. We had 482 pieces. Most of it are boxes, but also furniture or stuff like bikes.
Our house is on three levels, lots of stairs, very good excercise :) Its an up and down of boxes and stuff to finally find the right place for everything. And since we moved in without any closets, all our clothes are in baskets right now. What a mess. But we are starting to love our new house, we find ourselfes in the old routines in the morning, like snugglebuggeling in our bed with the boys :)
Jerry the cat finally found her home now too. After almost two days outside not beeing seen she showed up yesterday evening beeing hungry.
But the best treasure happened to Mr. Flippy. He found a friend. The neighbours son, Timon showed up yesterday with his sister and their bunny and cat in tow. Both are blond like swedish kids.
I paid our neighbors a visit and found myself talking ENGLISH to a canadian-german very sweet couple. Both are music teachers and life the very organic way. Their house is build completly out of wood and has many features i loved in an instant. They have a vegetable garden and a big pond with a waterfall.
Well needless to say, we didn't see a lot about Philip for the rest of the day. He followed Timon, who is eight wherever he went.
Wolfgang and me asked ourself why we out of the sutten let Philip go without going with him. But it is this little village we life in now. Its sleepy, quiet. Everybody knows everybody and everybody watches over the kids.
It was funny, while i was talking to our english talking neighbors, all other neighbors just came out and said hello. Everybody told me where i will get what for shopping, how things work. When school is starting. It was very funny. I felt includet :) It made me really happy.
I found out a few nice things here: The bakery comes almost everyday and stops with a delivery car right in front of the house. There is a lady who deliveres eggs once a week, and the chicken are happily scratching outside the barn :) She also sells turkeys on christmas.
Wolfgang got the TV fixed yesterday, that gives us a little brake in the evening. It stayes bright till about 9 o'clock, so the kids stay up later.
We also have a playground just around the corner, Nicky already knows the way there. It has some climbing bars and Nicky is always on top of it. He already wanted to hang upside down on one of them. We where very impressed.
Tomorrow Philip and me will check out the Kindergarten right across the strees. He is very excited.
Love you all and have a great sunday!

Welcome to germany

2008-07-03T10:56:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been a month since my last posting. A lot has happened in the last four weeks.
On June 25th we had the closing at 11 Kingsley Circle and it was time to say good bye. It was hard, but the excitement was stronger. We got on the plane to germany with eight pieces of luggage, four of handluggage and Jerry the cat with us. Thank haven for a big minivan ;) We had a flight with Iceland Air over Reicjavic, which is four hours from Boston and then another three to Frankfurt. When we arrived in Reicjavic it was midnight there, but with midsummer there it was still bright and sunny.
We arrived in Frankfurt the next morning and stayed at my mother-in-laws for a week.
We learned that the container with our stuff will not arrive before friday, so we decided to move in today (Thursday).
Philip was excited to finally see the new house. When we arrived we had to go through all three floors to check everything out. He counted bathrooms and he had to see his and Nickys rooms "under the roof" .
Nicky had a harder time to adjust. Well its a very empty house, nor furniture, so the echo is very loud.
Tomorrow morning the container comes. Long waited for and many hundret thoughts how to make things, here is the day. Moving-in-day!
Wolfgangs sister comes to help and hopefully we will manage to get the house kind of organiced by tomorrow evening.
Well, i gotta end here, our take out pizza is ready to eat. I will post soon.
Love to all and i miss you guys!

Wash in Cold Water

2008-06-06T06:55:00.000-07:00

June 5Th was World Environment Day and here is a great tip from a new website i just found: Its planetgreen.com and they just have the best stuff you can do around the house, garden, beauty, food and so on to safe on energy and safe the planet.
Here is my tip for you next trip to the washing machine: Turn the heat down to cold-cold. Switching to cold water can save you upwards of $100 a year in reduced energy costs! In situations where hot water is necessary, for example, to kill dust mites in bedding or to clean heavily soiled items, use cold water in the rinse cycle.

Lance squeeze over - here comes Philip

2008-06-02T09:13:00.001-07:00

Jeah, you better be careful Lance, here comes the "Tour the france" winner 2020! Philip is riding his Bike without trainingwheels. We just took them off this saturday and off he went. No holding on to Mama, no fear. He just went off, we are very proud, but it makes you also sad. He grows up :(

Homemade Bug Remedies

2008-05-28T05:02:00.001-07:00

If it comes to gardening you can face the evil and the mean bug in every shape and color. And within a blink, your flowers and shrubs are only half their size and the beauty for this flowering season is gone.

I always got very angry as soon as i saw bugs sucking on my beautiful roses and i killed them in an instant with very aggressive bug killer. Yeah, get this, bug!

Not so this year and never again. Just imagine the stuff you breath in while you are happily spraying. Ever wondered why people get more and more allergies? There lies the answer.

Well anyway, yesterday, while i was strolling through my lovely garden, here they where: Green mean bug on my huge rose bush, red ones on my black eyes Susan's, white ones on my annuals. I got angry...and decided, that poison is not the answer for us any longer. I went in my kitchen and after an hour of cooking garlic i started spraying . Get that, stinky bug!

The recipe is easy, just chop a dozen garlic gloves, cook them, strain and pour in a sprayer.

Another one (and very effective): Put a cup of chili peppers such as jalapenos in a blender or food processor Add four cups of water, and puree the mixture. Then strain the stuff and pour it into a sprayer. You've got a non selective spray, so use it to target only the harmful insects. Be extremely careful to not get this spray in your eyes or even on your skin.

Another thing you could do is hand picking, like with Japanese Beetles. For the last 7 years we have the same fight. They can chop your garden down in no time. There are traps available and in some gardens, if the wind is right, they might work. Didn't do it for us, unfortunately. Because i am going through my garden every day, i know every leave that grew that day, i just pick them by hand. Just put on some rubber gloves and have fun attacking them :) . It works for us very good, our Hibiscus are still in full Bloom by the end of the summer!

Happy bug hunt!

Tested Seventh Generation products

2008-05-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

I changed a lot in my household. If it comes to cleaning, i only use baking soda and vinegar. There are still things i have to change, like the detergent for the dish washer. So i tried the Seventh generation brand i found now at Shaws markets. I bought it, used only half what i use usually and i have to say, my dishes are clean. I find now peace that my dishes are not cleaned with toxic detergent.
Here is there website with coupons:
http://www.seventhgeneration.com/coupons

Another thing i found is trash bags that are made out of 70% recycled plastic. The brand is Earth Sense . Yes they are not the cheap brand, but for me its worth it.
There are many "earth friendly" products in the cleaning isle. But don't be fooled by brands like Lysol. They want to "hop on the organic wagon" . Go with products that used recycled content or with the USDA organic label.
Happy green shopping!

The german version of a rhubarb cake

2008-05-20T11:33:00.000-07:00

Well, it is rhubarb season and my cake is always a hit, its easy to make and super yummy. I even made it for Nicky with almond flour and honey and he is addicted to it now :o)

2/3 cup soft butter
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 package vanilla sugar (Shaw's has it, if not just use a few drops vanilla extract)
6 eggs
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
rhubarb
lemon juice about 1 tsp.

Mix butter and about 1/2 cup from the sugar and the vanilla sugar. Add three egg yolks one after the other, then add the 3 eggs. Keep the egg whites, you need them for the topping later. Mix flour and Baking powder first and add it slowly to the butter mix. Oil a spring form and preheat oven to 350 Degrees. Wash and cut the rhubarb in inch long pieces.
Now put the dough first in the spring form and add then the rhubarb. The original recipe says just cover the dough, my husband loves to have the double from the rhubarb, the cake gets a little more soaked. However you like it.

Bake for 35 minutes. In the meantime take the 3 egg whites and beat them till they are completely stiff. Add the rest of the sugar and the lemon juice. Avoid kids around you at this moment or they eat that part of the cake completely :)
After the 35 minutes pour the egg whites over the cake and bake another 30 minutes or until the topping is brown.

Tastes better when cooled down and out of the fridge.
Enjoy!

Going organic in your garden

2008-05-19T07:27:00.000-07:00

Gardening season has just begun - here are some hints and tips you easily can follow even without being a big gardening person:

Fertilizer - do you really have to? That's the question i am asking my husband - and the answer is no - you don't. Just the thought that my kids are running right after fertilizing barefoot in the grass and rolling in it makes me sick. You also bring it in the house and lets face it - its poison for you, your kids, for your allergic nose.
Sprinkler - most of the time it is not necessary to sprinkle the lawn. most of them are over watered anyway. Safe some money and water!
Plant some shady trees and shrubs around the house - safes big on A/C.
Use the cut from the lawn (but only if you didn't fertilize ;o) )under mulch or in your vegetable garden. I did this last year in my vegetable bed and the weeds are so much more under control. And it brings in some very good worms, which are so important for healthy soil.
Plant bee friendly flowers: With the bees dying mysteriously we want to make there life easy and keep that honey coming, here are some flowers, that are easy to take care of: Alyssum, Ornamental Strawberry, Marigold, Zinnia, Bottlebrush, Eucalyptus Ficifolia "Red Flowering Eucalyptus", Native Eucalyptus, Wild Mustard, Flowering Plum, Flowering Pear, Sage Brush, Toyon, Escallonia, Mexican Sage or Salvia leucantha, Cotoneaster, Orange tree, Lime Tree, Lantana, Ceanothus, Hibiscus, Albizia Julibrissin "Silk Tree", to name just a few.
Start a compost and you will have you "homemade" food for flowers and vegetables.
Use cows or horse manure. Roses grow crazy with horse manure. Also crumbled eggshells and coffee grind mixed in Roses soil are a great fertilizer.

Happy spring to all!

The new house in germany

2008-05-17T06:01:00.000-07:00

I know this posting will be hard for my best friend here in Attleboro (Hi Jen!), but i thought to post some pictures about our new house in Germany. My father was driving by the other day and i asked him to take some pictures. I need to make myself and my family virtually comfortable and want to imagine how we live there.

Its a small town northern from Frankfurt. Just 3000 people live there, very cosy. It has a bakery, a butcher, a little grocery market, an elementary school and, this is very important, a soccer club :) . The street where we live has other family homes, so Philip will have many friends to play with. The school where he goes is just across the street. Unfortunately Nicky's ride to his school in Wetzlar is at least half an hour.

We live in middle of nowhere, the end of our street ends in the fields and the forest. I imagine myself running there every morning (Yes Paul!) and hopefully convince my husband to do the running with me.

I haven't seen the house, Wolfgang visited in march and i think he did a fine job to find the right house for us.

Well, see for yourself. Nobody lives there right now, which means nobody mows the lawn :)

Special Olympics - What a special day for us!

2008-05-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

Hi, i haven't writen a few days. It's been just a busy week. Today Nicky's School attended the 20th Annual Special Olympics here in Attleboro. What an emotional day, we are so proud of him. With over 500 Athletes it was packed on the Attleboro High school Football fields. It started with a parade, where police departments from different towns came with their cars and motorcycles. What a sight. While Philip and Wolfgang watched the parade, Nicky and his class got ready for walking into the stadium. Everybody cheered! I felt that Nicky was very proud of himself. He smiled and was very happy. He was not bothered by the sounds and people. He did very well.

A girl was singing "Somewhere over the rainbow" and that was the point where my emotions cooked over :) Two Athletes lit the Olympic fire and the games where on!

Nicky finished second place each in Softball throw and 10m assistant walking. He RUN! We got home exhausted, but with two medals. I love this country and what they do for Special People.

Enjoy the pictures!

"Shaky Banana Pancakes"

2008-04-25T05:52:00.000-07:00

Well i thought about it for days: Nicky loves his Pancakes in the morning. They are yummy made out of almond flour, eggs, honey, vanilla and baking soda. But the problem is (and i just learned it while i was reading a new book on the diet) that almond flour is very hard to digest and can slow down the healing process of the gut. So are raw vegetables, fruits, onions and so on.

There is an intro diet and i wanted to give it a try.

I got up this morning and made him mashed banana pancakes. Just Banana, eggs, Honey, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon.

The reason why i call them now shaky banana pancakes is, because i was shaky when i put them in front of him. First he didn't look to happy, but then he shoveled in . That's my boy ;) . This will be his diet only for a few days. If he is doing better without the almond flour we will not reintroduce it for a while, which means i have about 10 pds. of almond flour in the basement :(

I am glad Nicky is a good eater. Every change we made so far he was just fine with it. Thank You Nicky for sticking with Mommy's experimental cooking :)

News on the house

2008-04-24T05:27:00.000-07:00

Well we had the inspection last Sunday. After a list of doable and no so doable things we are a step further now, going through attorneys list. Its kind of exciting, a roller coaster i would say. One moment you thing the deal is settled and the next moment you are not sure about that any longer. But we are positive and we know this family loves our house. And hey whats not to love ;o)
But i guess by the end of the week we are safe, closing date is 27Th of June.
The boxes in the house are getting more and more, now i have them in every room. Whenever i am in a room with the kids i can fill one or two.
Well its a beautiful vacation week with the boys. We don't do a lot. In the morning Nicky rides his tricycle and Philip builds castles. In the afternoon we move with the sun and splash in the little plastic pool on the deck. I just finished the Kite Runner. I haven't finished a fiction book in a long time. Very good book, i loved it and can not wait to read the newest book from the author.

Happy Earth day!

2008-04-22T05:36:00.001-07:00

Its Earth day, even our little Philip knows. I like the waking up of a country that produces nearly a quarter of the worlds greenhouse gases. I like to see that every grocery shop is know selling there reusable bags, that more and more organic foods is moving from the natural food section in the "normal" isles. I like to see more Prius cars, they make me smile. Its the every day that counts, its everybody who counts. Its on you to teach your children now about taking care of there environment.
I was thought very early in life that we do not throw trash just in the bushes, our of the window. We rather take it home and throw it in the trash can, because every piece of trash you just trow out of your car window is hurting some animal and lets face it: It looks horrible. Just have a look around you next time you wait for the green light. Dunkin donuts joins Mc Donalds. Welcome to the Fast food world.
Don't get me wrong, i looove this country, but the green thinking is just on the starting line.
It started about 20 years later than the Europeans did. We do not have plastic bags in our grocery stores in Germany , well only if you want to spend a buck for one. Maybe you don't want to travel now to Europe any longer :) ?

Well and because its earth day, i have a few things for your every day life you could change little by little:
Did You know that the dryer is after the fridge the appliance the average US household uses the most. Safe some energy and just hang your clothes on drying racks or hangers. I do that with my boys pants and shirts. They dry there and i just have to hang the hangers in there closets. Voila, easy! Yes i still put all my towels and smaller laundry in the dryer. But on a normal washing day i have about 5 loads of wash, but only 1-2 for the dryer. Hanging the cloths outside on a drying rack is also very healthy, you don't need any fragranced drying sheet, mother nature smells so much better :) Oh and in the winter i hang the boys hangers in there closets when the clothes are still damp. Works great in the dry air during heating time. Yeah i know, drying racks outside are a sign of poor people, at least thats what people think here. Well, lets have a look to Europe (Yeah, again!) and these people are not poor, they are just very smart, they just use mother nature for them. So, yes it is ok to hang your clothes on a drying rack. You dont have to do that in the front yard...... :)
Something about cleaning supplies:

Next time you make the trip to the store to by all this fancy, expensive, full of poison cleaning supplies think about this: Is it safe that my kids touch the table after i cleaned it with a cleaner that has an ingredients list longer than this article today?
Do i really need a room fragrance spray or is it enough to open the doors?
Try baking soda next time if you have a blogged drain, it works great and its cheap!
Well i discovered Microfiber clothes . And in a combination with vinegar your stainless steel will shine better than with every other cleaner.
Try natural stuff on the toilette, you can do either a combination of baking soda and vinegar or you buy the natural stuff in the store that smells like you are standing in middle of the Rock Mountain forest :)

Try to avoid spray bottles whenever possible. I found for example a great shaving cream in the natural section, it comes in a tube, smells great and its supercooling on your skin. Its from ALBA and costs just a little more than the other stuff.

You wonder why i am writing all this. Well here is my thought. I believe that my son's autism is an outcome of the environment that surrounds us. He doesn't have a genetic disorder, his brain looks just like ours. He was born with autism, it didn't come later after his first year or so. He was autistic from the beginning. His condition is an outcome of the air we breath, the water we drink and the food we eat. And don't get me wrong, i was careful like every mother is when she is pregnant with her child, but there are things we can not change.

But we can for the future of our children and there children. Please start today, plant a tree. Or check out Today's item about Earth day: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24243346/.

Celebrate our blue planet. Happy Earth Day!

SCD Popsicles with Mango and Pineapple

2008-04-21T06:02:00.000-07:00

I decided to give Popsicles a try. I felt sorry for Nicky not getting that kind of treats any longer. And with summer just around the corner the time had come. Nicky loves all fruits, so i just took a pineapple, a mango and some orange juice. I blended it in a food processor and stuffed the Popsicles forms. Off to the freezer, and here is what came out :

The boys looooved it :)

A break from autism and selling the house

2008-04-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

We took a break yesterday from our busy life and took the Vette to Cape Cod. We had a sitter and left at 3.30. After getting over the bridges we took Route 6 through Sandwich and Dennis.It was so beautiful. No tourists yet, but all art galleries and gift shops where open. Everybody was out and about to buy flowers and breath in the spring.

Driving slowly through this old towns with the roof down on the car was amazing, you could smell the air, every flower, the ocean breeze.

We remembered an Italian restaurant in Chatham from our stay on the Cape a few years ago . Its on route 28 and its name is BUCA's. We wanted to end the evening beautiful like it started. Oh wow, there food is amazing, the service great. You just keep eating, nobody rushes you. Perfetto!

I still can not believe it :)

2008-04-17T05:50:00.001-07:00

It's been a few days that i posted on our blog. We had some very exciting days but i have to add this good news now. Our house is under agreement (Yeah, i learned some new words from the realtor world :) ) Anyway, after our open house on sunday (Remeber, we went to Bass Pro shop to get out of the house, what a lucky trip) we got an offer on monday. The offer was not very good and we got very frustated. But hey, this is the market right now and people are trying. I would too, if i would be a buyer. Anyway, we came to an agreement yesterday, which is very good.

I woke up this morning and thought this is a dream, i couldnt believe it. But it is true. Now we are going trought inspections this sunday. I think our house is in great shape and there is nothing to fear, but we are still nervous, something could come up.

I keep you posted whats going on at the Gebhardts.

Getting closer to the move

2008-04-15T06:25:00.000-07:00

Well, you all know The Gebhardts are moving end of June back to Germany. Right now the work is kind of overwelming. Lots of phonecalls to make things right in Germany: getting registered, getting the cars to the right time on the right place, making shure the kids are fine at school . Lots of organisation with the moving company, tons of paperworks. We have to get all medical records for Mr. Nicky and us.

The month of May is going to be crazy. By the end of the month the moving company with the container will come. By that time we will be without ANYTHING. Scary thought, we will camp on matresses in front of a borrowed TV (thanks Jen :) ).

Its getting so close and it scares me. Leaving our friends and starting new. I hope this will be the last time in our lives that we have to start new. I am not a big mover and i hate to leave my friends.

2008-04-14T14:06:00.000-07:00

I just talked to our DAN doctor, Pam Farrow. She encouraged me to keep going even we have difficult days with him. The stimming in Nicky always comes when he tends to be constipated. We give him Oxypoxder from GI ProHealth. I love that store, its products are made especially for autistic kids on the SCD diet. The Oxipowder works naturally. Not like Mirolax, which is so bad for these kids guts.
Well anyway :) We are going to increase the amount of Boullardii during the April vacation week. Nicky gets very stimmy with 3 caps. a day but Pam thinks its good for cleaning out his system. What a great week we will have , ha ha.
On May 1st we will see her to get the first B12 shot. I am hoping to get some more sounds our of him after this.
That's for today. While i am writing this, Nicky sits on his chair in front of the TV and shakes his head like crazy. Looks like we are having a long Epsom Salt Bath today :)

What a fun afternoon

2008-04-13T13:32:00.000-07:00

On Friday after i picked up the boys from school, i let them play in front of the school on a little fenced in area. Lots of kids play there when they come out of the school. Philip always enjoys to play with all his (girl-)friends. Nicky usually just watches or looks at the American flag. Not so last Friday. He was running after Philip and was laughing loud. He looked at the parents standing around till he found me in the crowd. Then he smiled and walked up to me. These are moments that make everything worth.
There was something else: Nicky tried to walk around the fence towards the parking lot. Very slowly. I said "Nicky, you have to walk back here" Well, my smartypants-son turned around and walked backwards toward the parking lot. How smart was that. Everybody laughed out . His smile was so cute and bright.
He is doing amazing, he understands a lot. He remembers his signs if he needs help or has to go to the bathroom. He has his own will. Today we went to the Bass ProShop just to spend a few hours. When we walked in, he heard the water and that's where he wanted to go. He took my hand and pulled me through the whole store till we arrived at the fish tank. That was his will and does not every kid have that, most of them a strong one.
Well i could get on with my little stories. The progress is steady, but we always have days where Nicky is not doing well. I think we have to cut out tomatoes, i think they make him very hiper.

3 months on the SCD diet - it's hard

2008-04-09T05:46:00.000-07:00

I created this blog for using it as an diary for my son's changes after we started the SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet). We've been so busy that i barely had time to do so. Here is an update on his condition:

Nicky is diagnosed with PDD-NOS since age 2, he is now 6. With the last tests in school he was at a stage like a 1-2 year old. He is non verbal and still in diapers (probably will for a few more years!).

In November 2006 (Nicky was almost 5) we decided to see a DAN (Defeat Autism Now) doctor, who recommended a gluten and casein free diet. He also recommended some supplements, to go after the Yeast, that showed after testing Nicky. I cut Nicky cold turkey and oh my god...he was like a drug addict the first days. He never ever had tantrums like that before. After three days he finally calmed down, i almost gave up :)

We saw an increase in concentration and less stimmings. He accepted all new foods we offered and after a while we figured out how to get all the supplements into his mouth :)

By about march we tried out B12 shots but couldn't see any improvement. Little did we know that Nicky's yeast just didn't go away with the supplements we gave him (Probiodics). Feeding him with starches and Rice milk and sugar made it even worse.

But he did some new sounds which just was worth so much more and weighted in so much more than the stimming stuff he did.

By summer our DAN doctor recommended Nicky needs to to chelation. I read allot about it and was not sure if this is the right thing. But after the test came back with high results on mercury and other heavy metals i was ready for the treatment. We started very slow and every time we wanted to increase the amount of chelation meds Nicky stated stimming allot. So we stayed very low with the thought that we might do that for years now (getting up every weekend to give him the meds avery 4 hours). We tested him again in November 2007 (thanks for my curiosity :) ) and the result came back with a big surprise: The heavy metals where gone. It was weired, we don't know how it happened. But hey, we where happy, especially because of the fact that Nicky got worse and the stimming came back allot.

In November 2007 we tested again for yeast. The test came back with even higher results for yeast as it was before GF/CF. During chelation we gave Nicky extra supplements for treating the yeast, because i knew that chelation feeds the yeast.

After that results i had it. I wanted to start all new. By that time, Nicky was on about 15 different supplements and nobody except me didn't even dare to get into that system any longer. I could not leave him with somebody.

That was the time when i read allot more about SCD and Enzymes. I took all supplements away for 1 week and started then to give Nicky only Enzymes before every meal . Oh wow, i got calls from school that he is doing so good. He was happy and was able to sit for an entire hour for his ABA sessions.
I decided to give the SCD diet a try. By Christmas we did cut off all potato, rice and pasta products. Christmas vacation was not good for us, very bad, lots of stimming and constipation issues.
Beginning of January we changed DAN docs and saw Pam Ferrow. I loved her instantly. She gave me hope again. It was a hard year for us, lots of ups and downs. Pam suggested to go after the yeast first and start with SCD right away. The next day i started.

Well since then its been 3 months, mostly improvement. His eye contact is so good, his receptive language is by that point where you have to watch what you say (Never say gummi bear in our house!).
We started with Boullardii 3 weeks ago very slowly (1/2 caps./day) and increased to 3 caps./day. I believe he can not tolerate 3 caps. only 2/day. He just stimms more and is very unhappy.

But i have to say the big issue with constipation is gone. It only came back one time right after we started SCD and thats normal, like i read in diff. forums and the tons of books i am bringing home every week :)

More stuff to safe the earth

2008-04-02T06:28:00.000-07:00

While i was going grocery shopping the other day, i was paying closer attention to food that comes in big plastic containers. So i decided to make a list of products i will eather avoid or buy less any longer. Here they are:

Juiceboxes: Buy bigger containers and refill your kids waterbottles (like Sigg) instead of juiceboxes.

Prepacked salads: If it has to be prepacked for you, buy the ones in plasticbags, not in the hard plastic boxes (like boston lettuce)

Orange juices: Buy only in cartons, not in plastic.

Eggs: Paper, paper, paper. If your grocery market allows, reuse them (Very popular in germany at the weekly farmers market).

plastic bags for produce: If you have only two lemons or one avocado, skip the bag!

Another thing i wanted to mention is the use of a compost. There is space in every garden for a compost. If you are afraid it will stink (it doesnt if you follow some simple steps), just buy a plastic one you can close tight. Here are the pros of a compost:

Your own organic soil for your vegetables and flowers

Less trash that starts to stink on humid summer days

You safe tax money for reducing trash - with less and less regular trash your town hall doesnt have to encrease your taxes

SCD White Fish Fillets Amandine

2008-04-02T06:22:00.000-07:00

I just tried this recipe last night and my whole family just loved it very much. If you are (like my son) on the GF/CF/SCD diet just do coconutoil instead of butter and roll the fish in almond flour (tastes even better):

2 pounds skinless pollock fillets 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon seasoned salt 1 teaspoon paprika 1/4 cup melted butter 1/2 cup sliced almonds 2 tablespoons lemon juice 4 to 5 drops liquid hot pepper sauce 1 tablespoon chopped parsley leaves
Cut fillets into 6 portions. Combine flour, seasoned salt, and paprika; mix well. Roll fish in flour mixture. Place fish in a single layer, skin side down, in a well greased 15 by 10 by 1 inche baking pan. Drizzle 2 tablespoons melted butter over fish. Broil about 4 inches from source of heat about 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. While fish is broiling, saute almonds in remaining butter in fry pan and allow to turn a golden brown, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add lemon juice, hot pepper sauce, parsley; mix. Pour over fish. Serve at once.

Earth right - help safe our planet

2008-03-31T11:13:00.000-07:00

Yeah, i know its almost April, but its never to late to make some resolutions.

In the last weeks i am trying to do more and more for our planet. Here are some things that are simple but have a good inpact on our carbon footprint:

BYOB - Bring your own bags. By using your own bags you safe oil and reduce the waste in landfills. If every american would BYOB we would'n use 36 billion bags/year!

Use your own water bottle. Skip that plastic bottles. Buy a Britta Waterfilter and a Pitcher (or use a Filter directly on the sink) to get great drinking water without the nitrates and clorin. Get reusable bottles from SIGG . They last forever and stay cool for a long time. Did you know that americans send about 25 billion water bottles in water fills. Scary!

Don't get "Take out" in plastic containers or ,even worse, styrofoam. Bring your own and if the restaurant refuses, don't go there any longer!

The same for your lovely Coffee on the run. What an american way to get coffee. And what a waste of this coffee cups every moring. Bring your own !

Change this light bulbs finally into energy saving ones. Our own electric bill comes down every month compared to last year. Yes, they are more expensive but they last FOREVER! And turn the lights off when you leave the room. It is a fairytale that switching on and off costs more energy!

At the grocery store: Buy smarter, buy local. If you dont get local, buy the produce that was grown closer to your town: For example: Pick Georgian oranges before you gor for South African clementines, See also http://www.fruitandveggismorematters.com/.

If you can not aford organic, just pick the fruit and vegetable with thicker skin: Bananas or Granny smith apples and Peppers for example.

Buy bread from a local store: Packaged breads tend to be bathed in preservatives to extend there shelf life. If you buy at the local bakery no energy has to be wasted for the transport.

Buy petite fish. Big fish like tuna, Swordfish and Shark have higher levels of mercury. Go to blueorcean.org.seafood for a list of healty fish. You are safest with wild salmon, halibut, talipa and sardines. These are also very high in Omega 3 Fatty Acids.

Buy meat only organic. Unlike like poultry, some cows are given hormons. The organic lables ENSURES that the meat is free of those.

Start today little by little. You'll find to love it and see that you even will save some money.

Bath solution for those hyper kids

2008-03-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

I found a great healty bathing solution for my kids. It calms them down and helps there body to relax:

1 cup Epsom salt (CVS 5pd bag $4),
1/2 cup Baking soda
a drop of lavender oil.

The epsom salt is also good if they have bruises or muscle ache from sports. It kind of dissapears.
The lavender oil is very calming.
Drinking the water is supersafe.

This solution helps also if you have a wart somewhere. We where dealing with that last summer on our six year old. We tried every solution we found at the pharmacy (which can be very stingy!) with no success. After a few Epsom salt baths the wart dissapeared and never came back.

Appliances for sale

2008-03-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

Due to our move we have to sell all our appliances: Here is a list of some. If You are interested contact me:
Krups Il Caffe Duomo
Philips Senseo (just 4 months old)
Krups Aquacontroll filter waterkettle
Krups stainless steel panini maker
DeLonghi Deep Fryer
Osterizer Blender

All are in working condition. We will list more stuff over the next weeks. A lot of tools.

SCD honey glaced salmon w/carrots

2008-03-10T15:05:00.000-07:00

i just tried this receipe and the kids looooved it. nicky just wanted to eat the salmon, but i got some carrots into him too:
For the salmon:
1 lb. fresh salmon fillets 2 tbsp. olive oil 1/4 c. honey 1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp. chili powder
Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the salmon and saute until nearly done. Meanwhile, mix the honey, garlic and chili powder. Just before the fish is done, pour honey mixture over it. It will bubble up in the olive oil and form a glaze you can spoon back over the fish. Serve at once. Serve with a slice of lime.
for the carrots:

HONEY GLAZED CARROTS

1 lb. sm. carrots Boiling salted water 2 tbsp. butter 2 tbsp. honey 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground ginger 1 tsp. lemon juice Toasted sesame seeds
Wash and peel carrots; slice diagonally. Cook covered in 1-inch of boiling salted water until almost tender.
In medium skillet, melt butter with honey, salt, ginger, and lemon juice. When blended, add drained carrots and cook, stirring frequently, until carrots are glazed and tender. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired.

The weekend after the open house

2008-03-10T14:08:00.001-07:00

Friends, it was a crazy weekend. but we made it and had 9 couples in our open house on sunday. Lets keep that fingers crossed to sell our beautyful house.