Soybeans. Hate 'em.

Well we've been doing Canon's food elimination thing for a while now.. we started with all forms of soy (protein, oil, lecithin, you name it). Well the GOOD news is, I think soy may be the culprit. Canon's rash is completely gone for the very first time in his entire life! I am so happy for him and his poor little tush.. finally, his bum is as smooth as.. well, as a baby's butt! He still has scars from previous awful rashes, but not one speck of redness to be seen. I'm beyond ecstatic and just so relieved and happy for him that I could cry. Okay, I won't lie - I have cried. (almost every time I change his diaper!)

Now the bad part..
I spent a good chunk of money on this allergen-free spice cake mix for him (I mean like, 8.00+ for a cake mix! geez.). I was so excited to finally be able to give him a little something sweet, since he hasn't had anything tasty or interesting since we started his allergy-diet. Both kids finally settled in and went to sleep last night, so around midnight (yeah, still up..) I decided to make the cake into muffins for a delicious breakfast treat when they woke up the next day. It's a really yummy smelling mix, reminds me of gingerbread.. you just add oil, eggs, and water and bake it.. I was thrilled for Canon's tiny little tastebuds.
So I mix it up, get it in the oven, and start cleaning up the mess. As I put the vegetable oil away, I read this on the back of the bottle:
"INGREDIENTS: Soybean Oil"
WhaaaaaaaT!?!? Since when are soybeans a vegetable!?? They're a legume - a BEAN - which is a protein and more closely associated with the meat category than the vegetable one! I would've never imagined that vegetable oil would be made of soy. This is just getting ridiculous!
I could've used applesauce instead of oil, if I had known! But I didn't. So now this delicious cake that I put a lot of money and thought into making just for my poor little no-dairy/no-soy baby.. he can't even eat. Cry.

Add to that frustration, the night before that I was eating mini-marshmallows that are chocolate coated. Well I dropped two and Canon grabbed them. I could've yanked them out of his mouth but my first thought was "well it's only two tiny marshmallows, what could it hurt? Just don't let him have any more".. yeah, nice thinking Jack. He wakes up in the middle of the night, screaming his head off and is inconsolable. I get him out of bed and start to take him to the living room, since that usually calms him down. Well halfway between the bedroom and the kitchen, the poor thing pukes all over me, himself, the floor.. and he just keeps puking. Finally he gets a break and I strip him down, get him cleaned up and changed and we go to the couch. Pitiful little thing, he keeps trying to get comfortable but you can tell he doesn't feel well. A little while later, he starts screaming again - so this time I put a bowl there and he pukes some more. This keeps going most of the night/early morning. He'll be sick, then he'll try to rest but can't, then sick again. Finally it seems to be over for the most part and he seems to be able to rest now. We sleep on the couch together and he dozes pretty weak and icky feeling most of the day and into the next evening. He has diarrhea, bad gas, a little more puking, and is just hot and sweaty. I feel like the worst mother ever. I knew he can't have milk, and yet I still didn't take them out of his mouth. All the pain and discomfort (and fear, he was so scared because this has never happened before) he had to go through was my fault. I could just kick myself.

Sigh.

Well in an attempt to add something positive to this post, I found a great forum this week! It's exactly what I'd been looking for, though I wish it were a bit more active.. maybe it needs more time, not sure how new or old it may be..


The Soap Making Forum