A House Divided

           After two days of eating gluten, Mr.  Blue Eyes began calling for me in the wee hours of the morning.  The next morning brought an even earlier wake-up call (2 a.m. Boo!). After listening to his phlegmy cough and breathing get worse, we took gluten back out of his diet on Wednesday evening. By Friday, he (and I) were sleeping happily again. Charles also noticed a thickening with his reintroduction to gluten, so he has joined the baby and I in our special food (everything I find on the web indicates that gluten can pass through my milk; so until I can verify, I am abstaining as well). A good friend told me that her gastroenterologist told her that gluten needs to be out of your diet for a full month to feel the full effects. Looks like we were a little shy of the full effect by a couple of weeks. No one else seemed bothered by the reintroduction though, so here we are a house divided.  It's so hard to tell if it's the weather or something else that is responsible for the difference.  The weather in Illinois seemed crazy, but Missouri seems even crazier. My weather app can barely keep up with predicting what is going on. Needless to say, it has been a long time since Charles has been able to function this well at the end of April. For that, I am extremely grateful.
             Some of our family may be eating different food, but it feels like this adventure has brought us closer together. Matthew 12:25 says, "...Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand." We made the decision together to try gluten-free free eating, and it's been a positive thing to talk about how we should handle the results. We may even do the gluten-free thing during the allergy season. We make jokes about our food now (like yesterday when Charles used his cabbage-leaf wrapped burger to talk to the girls as if it were a clam...which led to a Spongebob reference about "People Order Our Patties" ). Although we are eating different foods from each other, we are reaping the benefits of better health as a family. Less coughing for Mr. Blue Eyes, means a better night's sleep for him and me. More sleep for me, means a less cranky mommy.  Less allergy symptoms for Charles, means more time together having fun. I'm liking the spring here a whole lot more --except for the Chiggers that Gracie and I found are alive and kicking. (The poison ivy Charles and I "found" last week was a little annoying as well, but we're old pros at that from Illinois.) We may have new pests, but we are loving the field behind our house for some kite flyin' yesterday. We are be divided on how we eat, but we are united in our love for each other.