R.O.C.K.

With so many things going on in our lives...we decided to add one more. This one however will benefit not only our family but many others who are going through similar situations as ours.

R.O.C.K (Raising Our Celiac Kids) is a support group chapter that was started by Danna Korn. She is a well known author of several books including Raising Our Celiac Kids, and Living Gluten Free for Dummies. This support group is recognized nation wide, with many chapters located within states across America. However, the closest one to us is in Connecticut I believe.

We'd love to meet other families with children close in age to ours or have gone through some similar situations. So, in talking with Dr. Hofley, (the boys GI Pedi) we discovered that a support group was in desperate need. However, Dartmouth Hitchcock's CHAD department just doesn't have the manpower to organize it. Enter Mike and I. We contacted Danna Korn and for a one time registration fee of $30 we are now nationally recognized as the ROCK leaders in New Hampshire, (and New England as well).

We have set up our first meeting for November 3rd at the Dartmouth Hitchcock clinic as they will help support us with rooms for meetings, mailings, and anything else we need to help keep the support group going. The response so far has been amazing. We receive emails and phone calls every day from people who want to come and are very excited about it. The room we've reserved only holds so many people, so if we end up needing more room we'll see if we can change the room size. At the rate we're going, we may have to.

Basically the meeting's will be unstructured. We'll have a Registered Dietician who represents Elliot Hospital and Hannaford supermarkets here in Manchester. Dr. Hofley will also be there as well as the possibility of several other medical professionals. We are trying to see if Trader Joe's will supply us with lists of the gluten free food choices as well as several samples for the guests to try. After all this food isn't always cheap and for those of you with toddlers, it doesn't matter how much the food costs, you hate finding out after you bought it that it's not pleasing to your picky little eater...gluten free or not!

The meeting is open to anyone who is interested in or currently living a gluten free lifestyle. We hope to share recipes, ideas, stories, suggestions and support to one another as our children and our lives continue to change daily with regards to what we can and can't eat.

If your interested in attending any of the meetings please feel free to post a comment to a current post, and I can send you my the ROCK email and website information.

Moose

Most of you may think of the large easy going mammal that lives up in the Great North Woods of New England. Large rack of antlers, big, furry and cow like as they mosey along their way. No real predators to deter them, and of the ones we see no real concern for the passing motorists. (Hence the reason for so many being killed in the roadways!)

However, there is a new Moose in town...


...introducing Moose our (now 11 week old) Red Bone Coon Hound! He is purebred, AKC, UKC, champion lines, blah, blah, blah. More importantly he is a cute puppy who is not only a great addition to this family, but yet another challenge to my sanity!

Why would a 23 week pregnant mom of two very active boys decide to invest time, energy, (and money) into this little guy (18 lbs. now but will get to between 55-60 lbs.)????

Well, several reasons.

First, we've accepted the fact that we will be in this house until the spring at least. The house market is just dead, and we've had absolutely no bites on ours. So, my husband decided he would feel better, especially during our sometimes long winter months, if we had a dog around as an added bit of security and companionship. That's why we got the puppy now, hoping that by the time Rebekah comes along, he will at least be a potty trained, if not a well established member of our growing family.

Second, is because of Ethan. When he was about 2 or so, he got knocked over by a little dog that wasn't trying to hurt him, just play. He never forgot that, and since then has always been very nervous around any size dog. Although, he does seem to do better with larger older dogs. So, we figured what a great way to help desensitize him to his fear of dogs, but at the same time teach him to respect them as we certainly don't want him to get knocked over again.

The other great thing is that Moose and Ethan have the same energy level, temperament, and lack of impulse control. (I'm pretty sure though, that the dog will be housetrained before Ethan is potty trained). As you can see they can play together nicely. Ethan loves to play "tugger" with Moose, which is basically a game of tug-of-war. It's actually a great workout for Ethan's upper body muscle tone. He gets tired really quickly...usually about 30-45 seconds! So, it will help him to develop some of that upper body strength he needs.

They also get each other wound up, and that's when one or both of them get into trouble. The difference is that Ethan will just stomp off all offended when I tell him to stop and take a break. The dog goes under the table with his tail between his legs, leaking pee the whole way like we're going to beat him. The vet says this is normal for the runt of the litter. He had 8 brothers and sisters and was most likely low doggie on the totem pole. So, if we raise our voices he cowers. He should grow out of it once he becomes more comfortable in our family. Unlike Ethan who challenges me every step of the way, knowing my bark is a lot worse than my bite!

So, there you have it. Some people have called me crazy, insane even. Well...their right! However, my husband is sleeping better at night, my oldest is getting a good upper body workout while learning how to respect animals, my youngest is learning how to squish low to the floor to protect the belly from the "ggie" (that would be doggie), and I'm beginning to appreciate how much easier it was with just the two boys before we had the dog!!! What am I going to do when the new baby comes along???...get frustrated, cry, be aggravated, question my sanity...but most importantly love my growing family as each child, (and animal, yes we still have Kitty Spice), most blessedly deserves. After all, I'm crazy in love with all of them!