Getting There..

I went to see my GI yesterday for my follow-up appointment. My levels have plumetted - a good thing, but they have not yet returned to normal levels. The antibody level is supposed to be less than 10 (or close to). Initially, my levels were in the 1300's. Now, they're at 62. I'm feeling like a new person but really want to get back down further. I'm not sure what else I can do though. Will it just take more time? I'm coming up on 5 months of being gluten free. I've become more stringent in my routine cooking than ever before. For example, at the beginning I was excited that I could still eat Doritos. Now, however, I know that they still might have some cross-contamination issues so I stick to Rick Works chips. Not quite the same cheesy flavour (given they're Salsa flavoured..) but I'm just not willing to risk it.

We're master gluten-free cookers and bakers now. One day I'll get even more adventurous and try some of the pastas from scratch I've seen of-late. But for now, I'll stick with my GF scones (YUM!) and oatmeal-chocolate chip muffins (made with Pure Oats).

In other news, The Boy is now up for surgery May 22. He's an overnight stay kid as they've discovered sleep apnea but we're optimistic about the prospects of him being able to breathe at night, swallow food, speak properly and hear once again. Please keep your fingers crossed for him!

Silly silly blogs

This is the second time I'm blogging - the first time I had this long "I'm back" post going on and bam.. it wouldn't save and then I lost it all - including the patience to re-write what I had written.

I've taken a break from everything other than my immediate family lately. I felt like I needed to settle down and pay attention to my kids for a while. They're both missing me and I get that - I miss them too. So I've been awol.

I miss my menu plans too. The Husband did such a wonderful job while I was down 'n' out taking care of us but I need my menus back. I really hate sticking my head in the fridge at the end of the day and trying to figure out what we might have for dinner. So, we'll be back to planning this week. Hopefully that will save the 7 trips to the grocery store, too.

Speaking of which, what is your absolute favourite, relatively easy dish? It cant' have nuts or shellfish in it, but anything else is fair-game. I want to make some new stuff this coming week. I think I'm going to make Beef Strognoff for the first time, but we shall see if that sounds like something the fam might eat.

I'm almost recovered. I start physiotherapy on Monday which I'm looking forward to immensely. It'll be nice to be able to get moving again. And slowly but surely, I've been able to lift The Girl now and again. The Boy is still too heavy as he's upwards of 35 pounds which is over the 25 pound limit I have right now.

The Girl had her ear surgery too last week and has recovered wonderfully. It's as if nothing ever happened (other than sometimes loud, unknown noises freak her out). We'll find out on Thursday if the Boy needs surgery too (which we assume he does given his speech, breathing, swallowing and hearing problems.

All in a day's life :)

Gluten Free Menu Swap

I allowed the husband a week off in our menu planning but our grocery bill suffered for it. So this week, I insisted that we reinstate the menu planning. We start our menus on a Saturday so I'm a bit late, but eh.

We have a fridge full of leftovers that need to be eaten but much other goodness should be consumed. It is FINALLY spring here and our backyard has only a few specks of snow left. Our front yard on the other hand faces north and so still has 2 feet pondering whether or not to leave for a few months or not. But, we bought both kids rubber boots this weekend and they have been essentially living outside so I hope this encourages the last of the snow to melt away.

Without further adieu, my menu.

Thai Food - Curry Beef and Sweet & Sour Chicken with noodles and coconut rice

Another meal of the Gluten Free Lasagna baked for us by a friend as a get well gift

Pasta (go figure!)

Leftovers (shocking!)

Polenta with moose meat, red peppers, onions and mozzarella cheese

Tacos - this is one of 2 meals that I can consume a ridiculous amount of food during. I think I had 4. They were perfect.

And I'm missing something.. I wonder where the husband put that list.

Wendy at Celiacs in the House is hosting this week!

Yummy eats, cool treats

Did you know that Dairy Queen ice cream is gluten free? I'm so happy. I love a good DQ in the summer and although I can no longer get my go-to small mint oreo blizzard, I can sure as heck still eat some good ice cream. But anyway, already it's the beginning of the post and I've already digressed.

My husband is a good extraordinaire. If he weren't in school for his phd, I'd push for him to be a chef. Maybe at a cozy B&B somewhere in interior BC.. or the Bahamas.. or California.. or anyway.. he's a really good cook. And he just whips these things up with a great amount of mess in the kitchen (which currently I can't clean given my healing back so I can't complain too much) but an even greater amount of yummy-ness on our plates.

I even took pictures. You see, my favourite Thai restaurant in Edmonton is Hoang Long. And I believe that tonight, my husband became the restaurant. I said I wanted take-out thai. He said he could cook it. I said he's no Hoang-Long and I think that set him out to prove that he was. And by golly, he is. He made 2 chicken dishes. One was sweet & sour with onions, bean sprouts and sesame seeds on top; the other a coconut curry with chickpeas and chicken. Plus, I got 2 kinds of carbs - rice noodles and coconut rice. It was divinity in a bowl. My mind had to try to slow my hand down from shovelling in this food..



I love gluten-free living.

Out of a drug induced haze...

I feel that I am more coherent. There are no longer things crawling on my walls (that i can see anyway) and I'm slowly emerging from the fog that has been my life for the last few days.

I have a picture of the incision. It's gross but I'm totally posting it one day this week. It's still covered in steri-strips though. The Husband changed my dressing this morning so we gave it the once-over.

I stopped all my pain meds except for Tylenol. Sunday was a complete haze for me with the remaining anesthetic wearing off and my painkillers taking their toll. I think I'm okay to remain on just tylenol for now and hope that it does the trick. I'm not in that much pain anymore - stiff from being in bed so much but today I got in my first walk down the street. It's going to be a long recovery. I am not the greatest at remaining sedentary by any stretch of the imagination. And, while I'm enjoying very much the first season of Gilmore Girls and have high hopes of scrapbooking my kids' lives up until now, I think that by day 5, I might be going stir-crazy.

I can only hope that the temperatures remain above freezing and continue to melt this winter ice castle around us so I can breathe in the amazing spring air as I walk. The Boy came on our walk today and we compared footprints. We decided that daddy's footprints were giant and his were small. I'm not sure where mine fit in but I love the mind of a 3 year old.

And so, I am now ready for a snooze. Maybe I'll crack open my first issue of Delight Gluten Free magazine or read some of Eat Pray Love (great booK!!) before I drift off...

7 things and post-surgery

I feel like I've been kicked in the back by a large horse. I've never actually been kicked in the back by a horse before but I imagine it feeling rather similar to this. The surgery went well and i have no pain in my leg for the first time in over a year so this is a big step. I haven't seen the incision yet as it's covered by a rather large dressing but that needs to be changed on Monday so I'll see it then. And I'm going to have The Husband take a picture too. I might as well scrapbook a page about this right? :)

Anyway, Wendy over at Celiacs in the House tagged me to come up with 7 random things about myself and I've been thinking about this so here it goes:

1 - I co-own a baby store and information site online. It's based out of Alberta and is a year old now. It's a culmination of BFF-N (my partner in business) and my favourite things for our kids. www.naturalurbanmamas.com

2 - I loathe ironing. I cannot tell you how much I hate this appliance. I have owned 1 iron in my life and it was a gift. I think I've lost it. I'd rather wear wrinkled clothes than iron.

3 - I am just about an accredited La Leche League leader. I have 3 more classes of sorts and my preview and then I'm done. I should be officially accredited in early May.

4 - I have no idea what I want to do with my life. I have a computer science degree that I don't use at all and don't plan to use again. I write here and there for different things and was really loving my job in sales before kids but given that I don't plan on going back to work for a while, I think I have some time.

5 - I am a perpetual worrier. I worry about everything. I worry that I've upset people with my open thoughts. I worry about my kids. I worry about my husband. I worry about people in other parts of the world who might be suffering. I have a difficult time disconnecting myself from things and I'm working on it.

6 - My pain meds make me hallucinate. I've seen a lot of really crazy stuff over the last 24 hours. Most things crawling on my walls. It makes me laugh and certainly makes me aware that I am not yet ready to drive, or go back to my normal life just yet.

7 - I have insane obsessions with kicking the winter dirt off of wheel wells. You know that sludge that builds up behind the tires that's a combination of snow and dirt and ice? I have to kick it off our cars all the time. And I have to seriously resist the urge to kick other people's cars. I have thought of starting a self-help group for people like me but feel it might not be seen as a true issue..

And that's that. :)

Surgery

I'm nervous. Or downright scared - I don't know which. Friday morning at approximately 9:45 they will be removing a part of a disc that is pressing on my sciatic nerve and has been causing great amounts of pain for about 17 months now. While I'm looking forward to the pain relief, I'm nervous about the surgery and the impact it'll have at least temporarily on my kids.

Plus, I've packed my own food in case they don't have good celiac friendly options for me.

All this to say - if anyone can spare good wishes Friday morning I would great appreciate it.

It's been a yummy week so far..

I really like food a lot more than I used to. I used to pretty much hate food to be honest. I ate it because I absolutely had to in order to stay alive but other than that, I didn't see the point. Nothing tasted good to me, nor did it feel good afterwards. I can pinpoint one of my celiac flare-ups to my late teens. I also battled depression at the time, but I literally could not keep anything in my stomach. I dropped 20 pounds in a month and my weight dropped dangerously low. Looking back on that time makes it shocking to me that I actually LIKE food now. I don't feel terrible after eating it and I can enjoy cooking it as well as eating it as a result. It's a whole new way of life.

This week food has been yummy. Our pork tenderloin was fantastic on Sunday night. Monday's Artichoke Pork was not the same as the chicken - both The Husband and I agreed that we liked the chicken better, but the pork was also incredibley good. Tonight we had a vegetarian friend over for dinner with her 2 year old. We made a lovely spaghetti dinner. I threw together an impromptu veggie sauce which turned out to be wonderful. I finely chopped (try Pampered Chef's food chopper! It really makes it much easier to finely dice things) carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and roasted peppers, added some crushed tomatoes and tomato paste, lots of spices (sugar, paprika and cumin are wonderful in sauces), and tossed in some fresh spinach. YUM! It was perfect over our brown rice pasta.

Tomorrow night will be pizza night and Thursday night will hopefully be the moose meatloaf. our fridge is getting full but it should work out that leftovers are there for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Husband will start cooking again on Monday but I want to get us through the weekend without having to cook. Some friends have offered to bring food as well post-surgery so I think that will be a big help.

3 days and counting..

The Cake

I meant to post a picture of the Boy's cake. A GF cake (Glutino white cake) in which I added white chocolate chips and some lemon zest. I made the icing myself, and the spikes are white chocolate dyed orange hand done by me too. He loved it!

Gluten Free Menu Swap

It happened. The Boy turned 3. I'm not sure how three years have already gone by but they have. And, just like 3 years ago, this weekend was filled with a snowstorm. Oh how I love living in Canada sometimes.. this time we're only supposed to get 20cm or so, but still. It's nearly the end of March.

Anyway, this is my first time participating officially in the Gluten Free Menu Swap, hosted by Weird and Suprisingly Good. Her theme for the week is Latin food but I went to my cupboard and thought our theme should be "food you already have in the house" so I scrapped Latin and went with my own. And, I might add, that the only things we need to purchase for this week's menu are: a bag of spinach and some mozzarella. Everything else we have in the house.

So here we go:

Pork Tenderloin with Maple sauce, rice (leftovers), carrots and peas - we had this tonight and it was fab. I kept dipping into the maple sauce. Mmm. The Husband = very good cook.

Brown Rice Tinkyada Spaghetti with Pasta Sauce already made in the freezer.

Moose Meatloaf with peas and potatoes - we've had this moose meat in the freezer for a long time and seriously need to use it up. If I don't have enough, I'll combine it with some ground beef.

Pizza (Pamela's crust) with onions, leftover meat, and whatever else we have in the frige.

Spinach Garlic Soup as a starter followed by leftovers.

Artichoke Pork with Broccoli and Rice or Potato

And finally.. leftovers :) We have to have at least 1-2 nights of them or else we waste food which is not the point of menu planning.

My surgery is on Friday so I'm guessing that leftovers will be Friday/Saturday this week.

Memories of Three Years

It's as though a tidal wave is overcoming me today. The Boy turned 3 today. He's now a "Big Boy" (even with potty training issues he's still a boy now, no longer a toddler). I can't believe how much life has changed in three years and how much I've gone through personally.

Three years ago yesterday I went into labour 4 weeks early with a baby who was breech, feet down. Three years ago early this morning I had a cesarean to remove said baby. Three years ago this morning The Boy was transferred to a different hospital without me because he wasn't doing very well. He had been recusitated and couldn't keep his own oxygen levels up. Three years ago this evening I was finally transferred to the same hospital after the head nurses at the 2 hospitals went behind the doctor's back and transferred me. Three years ago tomorrow my baby came to live with us in my room after being released from Intensive Care. Three years ago tomorrow I fell in love with a new man and three years later I still feel that love and can't remember life before him as being much fun.

I went through post partum depression, surgery recovery and more after that day, and yet still, I wouldn't change a thing. The Boy is challenging every day and yet each day, I laugh out loud at least a dozen times by his actions and words. That kid cracks me up. Like tonight when he told his Grandma that he got lots of tiny presents.

It's the day of 3s here.. 3 months ago I started my new diet and 3 months later, I feel amazing. I almost never have sour stomach anymore, I'm pain-free, and my digestive system might actually be working. It's been amazing this diagnosis.. I can't even imagine what the next 3 months, years and further have in store..

Menu Planning

I'm going for week two of menu planning and I'm quite excited. Here's what we have on tap:

1. Pasta - a staple in our house. It'll be Tinkyada Fetuccini this week.
2. Polenta with sauted onions, peppers and maple sausage, covered with provolone cheese.
3. Artichoke Chicken with Carrots and Baked Potatoes
4. Coconut Mango Chicken
5. Leftovers
6. Burgers
7. Meatloaf

This is the last week before my surgery so I wanted to make it a big cooking week for me.

We start on Saturdays so I've already made the Polenta - taken from Wendy's Celiacs in the House on Saturday night. The Husband was skeptical - we've never had Polenta before and it was SO good!!! I added some pasta sauce that had to be finished and this gave it a nice flavour too. I think it would have been good without but mmm. The Girl inhaled hers (which is big given she refuses to eat most things these days). The Boy actually ate sausage (he typically doesn't eat meat) so overall I think it's a meal we'll totally repeat.

We also made Artichoke Chicken and it's amazing as usual. It's a mix of mayo, artichokes chopped up, garlic, and parmasean cheese. Coat the chicken in a rosemary seasoning, and fry the chicken until basically cooked. You then put the artichoke mixture on the chicken and broil it for about 5-10 minutes (until it's golden brown). It's so fantastic.

I'm excited for most of the meals this week but I'm not sure what to cook on Tuesday. I know it's St Patrick's day but it's also The Boy's Birthday! He's going to be 3 - how did that happen already???

14 more days..

Two weeks to surgery. 5 weeks until The Girl's surgery. hopefully this will make our summer much healthier than winter has been.

It was leftover night here tonight. I *LOVE* leftovers. I can't rave enough about leftovers. They're just so yummy - all of the great food you make through the week needs to be consumed before garbage day and mmmm.. it's just perfect! So tonight we finished up the Shepherd's Pie (which, by the way in french is Pate Chinois - or Chinese Pie.. how does that translate properly??), most of the potato chickpea curry, and the scrumptious corn-coated chicken nuggets I made last night (even The Boy eats these and he generally gags on most meat products)!

I'm planning next week's menu.. I know for sure it's going to include Polenta something because I'm wanting to try it, and the Mango Coconut Chicken that didn't get made this week.. and hopefully a slow cooker recipe or two.. hmm.. time to peruse the cookbooks!

On another note, it's above zero here!!! We hit record lows on Monday and Tuesday (Mondays' new low was -42.7C - in MARCH!!!) so seeing +9C out there today was bliss - the kids got soaked with all of the snow melting (and given that they're big fans of playing in the sandbox in the middle of winter, it was wet sand stuck to their snowsuits) but they had a blast. Now what should we do in the +3C weather tomorrow..? I feel like we need to take advantage of this weather in case it goes all crazy here again!

Menu for the Week

What a week it's been. It's Thursday and I'm just getting around to posting my menu for the week - but, we've followed it! IT made grocery shopping.. well, somehow i still spent a ridiculous amount but I also bought our tax software for this year, an outfit for The Boy and new sippie cups. So I guess realistically looking at it, I did pretty well and spent about $140 for the week.

Anyway, we decided to do:
Pasta 2 nights
Rosti with Ham, Sundried Tomatoes and Provolone cheese
Leftovers 2 nights - this will be switched to 1 night
Shepherd's Pie
Chicken with Corn coating
Mango Coconut Chicken with Rice

The Rosti was amazing although I don't recommend cooking it in a pan that isn't very non-stick. I ended up switching pans halfway through just to make sure it wasn't a total disaster..

The Shepherd's pie was also wonderful - a new variation than what I'm used to - I added some tomato paste and carrot to it but it was so delicious and has served many lunches this week with its leftovers.

Tonight is corn/chicken and I'm looking forward to this. For years I thought I was allergic to corn because I seemed to react to it. Well, since diagnosis and diet change, I can totally consume corn again without any reaction, so we're taking full advantage of this.

I got a call from my GI's office for a followup appointment which means I'll also have to go for my followup blood work. It's going to be a busy few weeks.. I have surgery at the end of the month on my back, The Girl has surgery to put tubes in her ears April 17, the Boy has a sleep study April 1, and then a followup with the ENT on April 30. Whew! We'll survive and then at least it will be spring!!

Menu Choices, More Reviews

Well I'm in a bit of a funk right now to be honest. It's been so well, BLAH this winter. It was beautiful well into October (the Boy was running through the sprinkler October 1 - Unheard of in these parts!) but then november hit and it's been downhill from there. I'm really in need of some spring though our temperatures for the week certainly don't indicate that's happening any time soon.

I'm having surgery March 27 on my back so I'm trying to get some things in order before then - some meals prepared ahead of time so our temporary nanny or The Husband can heat them up easily, the house cleaned (that's a losing battle these days), books set up to read during recovery, and an exercise plan for afterwards. So far the plan consists of: walk as much as I can and when given the okay, start running again.

I also go towards the end of the month for my first set of blood tests since diagnosis - I'm anxious to see the bad levels come down and the good nutrient levels go up. I think I had a "stupid" moment on Sunday and ate hot dogs which made me rather ill.. they didn't say they contained wheat - only that they might so really, I should have known better.

The Girl is just finished her 6th round of antibiotics after another ear infection. She's having tubes put in her ears in April.

And now:
Riceworks Chips Thai Curry flavour - I just don't like them. I think other people will but I just didn't. I like the Salsa ones and that Chili ones though!

Nearly Normal Flour - I think we've found a winner here. We've used it as a substitution and also in Jules Shepherd's own recipe. It's been wonderful.

Glutino Pretzels - Holy Hannah. These are better than any pretzel I've ever tasted. WOW.

I have a couple of other new products I've tried and loved that I'll have to review on when I'm downstairs and can see the labels which I've saved.

And the Gluten-Free Menu Swap people always intrigue me with their menu plans so the HUsband and I decided to give menu planning a bit of a try.

Tonight: Artichoke Parmesean Chicken with leftover spaghetti squash, corn and leek risotto.

Other nights this week:
- Steak & Onions with Rice & grilled veggies
- Potato & Chickpea curry (stolen from Celiacs in the House) but I will add chicken or pork to it served on rice.
- And reheats. Our fridge is way too full of leftovers right now and we're just wastign too much food.

Now if anyone has tips on potty training a rather stubborn 3 year old who can go for days without an accident and then decide he just doesn't FEEL like using the potty anymore, that'd be great. Speaking of the almost-3 year old - I registered him for preschool yesterday and soccer! How is my baby boy so grown up already???

Bread Glorious Bread!

I seriously need to start taking pictures. So I made bread. From scratch. All of my other efforts in this area have been, well, pitiful. That might not even be a strong enough word for it. But the Gluten Free Mom posted a wonderful bread recipe. I had just purchased some sorghum flour and I was ready to go. I made a few changes due to a lack of certain ingredients (such as using 3T of apple juice instead of 1T+2T cider vinegar because I didn't have any cider vinegar). and I'm pretty sure I let it rise too long so that will be something to change for next time. All that to say that today, 2.5 months after diagnosis, I had my first grilled cheese sandwich GF-style. It was wonderful. I *LOVE* grilled cheese. And yesterday, I had a tuna salad sandwich on my bread. Seriously, this could open some wonderful new possibilities for me, no?

I made bagels again this week. Aren't I just the baking queen?!

The Girl has ear infection #6. I may consider hiding under several rocks for the next 2 months or so until the snow melts (speaking of which, we don't get a lot of snow up here because it's so cold in the winters but in the last 2 days we've had 25cm and it's still -20C!! Some form of respite would be greatly appreciated!). Needless to say, she's on antibiotics round #6. The good news (there's good news in that?) is that we see the ENT tomorrow for both kids. We'll know more then. Anything at this point to get them healthy would be much appreciated. I try to do things as natural as possible, and don't like tons of medications, but I'm pretty much at the end with The Girl.. and the Boy come to think of it, but I'm worried about her.

In exciting news: The Girl started WALKING today!!! SHe's been walking since about last week here and there but today she decided it was no longer easier to crawl! After about 11am, she crawled maybe once. She's adorable while walking! She'll be 16 months at the end of the month and it's just so sweet. The Husband and I had quite a number of giggles.

The other giggle we had was at the post-supper table (after a wonderful GF pizza complete with pulled pork on top - pulled pork makes everything better) when we had family colouring time (we all coloured dinosaurs which is the Boy's current obsession). The Boy likes to show off his work being almost 3 so we dutifully said "Wow" after he showed us, at which point the Girl held up her scribbles and said emphatically "Wooooowwwwww". Nothing makes me smile more than toddler antics. :)

Rut-a-tut-tut

I've been in a blogging rut. The kids have been sick for the gazillionth time as have I. I'm still exhausted and wonder if I'll ever catch up on sleep. I'm hoping that the cloud of fatigue lifts soon but I was thinking about it the other day and I don't think I've had more than 5 hours of sleep in a row since sometime in 2005. Is that sad or what??

I've tried some more products that I think deserve some recognition:

Rice Works chips - Yum-er-ific. Holy moly (or as the Boy says these days "holy smokes".)

Celimix muffin mix - this is pretty good! I added some ground flax seed and 2 bananas to the mix for some extra nutrients but they're quite good. The Girl consumed 3 mini-muffins and the Boy consumed 4 - all in one sitting! So, I think I'd call that a hit and a half!

KinnickKinnick bagels - these aren't as good as the Glutino ones in my opinion. They were a bit drier. And stickier in the mouth. And they had that gluten-free grainy taste to them that I've learned can very much be avoided. I still prefer the Pamela's recipe from the Amazing Bread Mix as the best GF bagel ever.

And now a thank you to my husband. Valentine's Day he made cupcakes filled with marscapone cheese and strawberries. They were to die for and a nice reminder from last year when he made them for the first time. The Boy helped and he loved every minute of it (hence why we do so much baking in the house - he loves it)!

BFF-L and I have been going to the farmer's market most Saturdays. It's ncie to be able to stock up on fresh produce even in the bitter cold of our northern winters. On top of that, many of the meat-guys have GF sausages (the Mennonite chicken sausage is to die for), and there's tons of GF baking including one exclusive GF baker who's family is all GF. She makes wonderful banana bread that we have not yet been able to replicate.

Alas, I shall try to get back to blogging more often.

And Now..

The Boy has croup.

Can we catch any kind of break?

First the Good News, then the Bad

I'm so happy! The blood tests came back for the kids and both were Normal! No celiac there! If I hadn't been so uncomfortable and weak, I might have attempted a cartwheel. Though, now that I think about that, looking around my bedroom, there is definitely no room for a cartwheel.

That was the good news of the day. Then I called the Pediatrician about The Boy's throat. His tonsils never really went back to normal size after his last bout of infection and our Ped told us it was a matter of time before infection set in again. Well, lo and behold yesterday the Husband sees white spots on the tonsils. This morning I saw them too. When I told the nurse, she immediately thought strep and got us in to a replacement doctor given our Ped is away this week. Sure enough, it's strep. These poor kids can't catch a break. The Boy's 3rd infection since the beginning of November. Sadly, the pharmacist now knows us by sight.

And on a GF note, the Husband made the most divine cookies last night to cheer me up (even though I couldnt' eat them last night for fear of tossing them up later). They are from the Gluten Free Family Cookbook I think it is (i'll have to check that later) and they taste like a cross between brownies and fudge. They're soft and chewy (an absolute must in a good cookie I feel) and so divine. Then when you bite in there's these little chunks of chocolate inside. I can't even speak when I'm eating one - I have to concentrate on savouring it because it's so good.

Might I just add that the GF baking might have actually worked??? Are we on an upswing? If only our health would follow that same path...

A Day From Hell or a Learning Opportunity?

I'd say that today was more a day from hell than anything else. I'm exhausted on every level imaginable. I've managed to stave off infections and colds and flus this season as my family has been plagued with them. Until today. (And excluding the stomach flu that got us all. Darned norovirus (insert shaking fist here)).

Today I woke up at 3am. Well wait, rewind to yesterday when I seriously think I peed 97 times in an hour. Leave it to the wonderful Husband to suggest maybe it was infection. Anyway, fast forward back to 3am when I'm lying awake thinking that somehow I've missed a pregnancy and I'm actually giving birth again. The pain was out of this world. It made me wonder how I went 43 hours without any drugs when in labour with The Girl. By 7:30 I was curled up in a fetal position on the bed praying for time to move faster so I could call the doctor. The Husband took me to the hospital instead where I waited for 2.5 hours but in that time I got all the results. A Bladder infection that has spread most likely to the kidneys. Oh joy of joys! How perfect is THAT?

So I'm on some medicine now. And I took a painkiller too because man those kidneys can hurt. Ultimately I think I'm fairly run down after our not-so-wonderful 2009 so far (I thought this year was supposed to be better?). So I'll let the meds do their job, hopefully avoid the IV antibiotics and rest. I plan to sleep all day tomorrow as I have someone watching my kidlets. BFF-L was kind enough to let me know her regime of cranberry extract and vitamin C to stave off future infections so I'll be starting that tomorrow too! Tomorrow should be good I think.

The Girl is finally back to being her hilarious self. She's still not walking yet (15.5 months) but I'm certain it's coming. Then again, I said that in December.

Oh, and The Husband should win Celiac-Support-Husband of the year I think. Two nights ago he came home with GF beer for our pizza night (thank you thank you thank you!) and this evening while I was napping, he and the kids made GF cookies. And you know what? They taste like fudge!! GF baking WORKED without a mix!! WOW! Progress has been made.

Now I leave you with 2 things:
1 - Check out this amazing GF Blog List! Wow - The Crispy Cook has seriously gone above and beyond here!

2 - Check out Matt Logelin's blog. I came across this blog through BFF-H. It is amazing. It's written by Matt who's wife had a premature baby on March 24, and on March 25, his wife died suddenly (27 hours after giving birth) from a pulmonary embolism. He's just started the Liz Logelin foundation to support other people financially in similar situations. It's amazing and I think everyone should visit his blog.

More Reviews and the Kids

I've had the opportunity to try more things. I have to retract my complaint about Enjoy Life's chocolate bar things too. I think the first time I had one it must have been at the beginning of my wheat-free days and it probably tasted funny. I only had the one and did not like it at all. Well, the other day I was desperate and had one as the box was in the car. And? I loved it. Not at much as the Caramel Apple and sunbutter bars, but it was really quite a lot better than I expected.

Pamela's Amazing Bread Mix - this bread is exactly as it says - amazing. I actually made bagels from it due to a fellow blogger saying it was actually easy. And you know what? It was! And they were fantastic!! Even the Husband and the Kids loved them - the Husband liked them better than wheat bagels! So, I've ordered 6 cases of the stuff (that's 18 bags!) for bagels, bread and pizza dough.

El Peto Bread Machine Bread Mix - meh.. it was okay. It was good with dip, and really good when it came straight out of the machine, but I found that overall, it was quite heavy. I would make it again and will probably keep some in the house for when I'm desperate for bread (which I'm not generally) but I won't go running out to buy a case.

The Kids are officially getting tested tomorrow or Thursday. I'm a bit nervous about it - I'm not sure how the Boy will react to a needle. He's not great with them. the Girl is pretty laid back about most things although I'm sure she's not going to be begging me to go out and do more testing. At least we'll know and we can go from there.

The Boy is potty learning right now. It's pretty hit or miss although he's getting better at a) holding it; b) telling us when he has an accident; and c) actually using the potty.

The Girl is trying to talk! She says "Spider" because Itsy-Bitsy spider is her favourite song to sing, and she tries to say Beaver and Bear (they went to the museum this weekend :) ). I love when kids start to talk!!

Gluten free baking

Will I ever get better at this? Is there some secret to GF baking that no one has shared with me yet?

the Husband is trying with all of his might to master it (I think it frustrates him more than me frankly). The muffins he made were really quite grainy but with a bit of butter and warmed up I don't mind them. He also made some butterscotch bars which I think were amazing, but again, the base was a bit drier than the chewy bottom layer he expected.

I think part of my issue is the flour blend I'm using. I'm going to change it up for next time based on other people's successes that I've met but alas, let's hope that it helps.

Any tips?

The blanket

For Christmas I wanted a heating blanket. Ever since the Girl was about 9 months, I no longer have my internal furnace that always kept me toasty warm for the last 3 years (from pregnancy with the Boy onwards). the Husband couldn't find one he liked so instead he bought me the squishiest soft chocolate brown blanket he could find. the second I opened it I wanted to curl into bed with it. It's been on my bed since christmas other than laundry days, and I can't tell you how much I adore this blanket.

I sit here typing in bed while under the blanket and I feel peaceful. Wednesdays are tough days for me as I work at a dayhome next door with 8 kids including my own 2. By the time I get home I'm spent, so even though it's 8:14pm, I'm in bed and quite content here. This blanket is pure bliss.

My poor girl is sick. I could hear the Husband bringing her up the stairs she was snoring so loudly. Please pray or wish or whatever it is that your family does that my Girl gets better soon. She's on her 5th round of antibiotics in 3 months.

Countdown

The kids are getting tested on Thursday. I keep speculating as to what the results will be, but I have to wait and see I think. I just keep searching for answers as to why my children are so sick right now. It all started in november with strep for the Boy and a ruptured ear drum for the Girl. Multiple rounds of antibiotics later, they were "better". Then Christmas came and so did the colds.. then the stomach flu, then more ruptured ear drums (on both parts) and a throat infection for the Boy. Rounds of antibiotics later and we're on to the next illness, barely a week after the meds ended. I'm certain that there's still something up with the Boy's tonsils.. they're frankly quite repulsive. And the girl? She woke with a fever last night and was lethargic and pitiful all day. What is going on??

The Husband made such a wonderful dinner tonight. I don't even know what was in it to be honest, but whatever it was, he tossed some into a seperate pot, added some broth and blended that baby up into a lovely soup for the kids - jam packed with veggies and even some chicken (typically the Boy won't eat meat). The Boy downed the whole bowl and I'm hoping to get some into the Girl tomorrow. I think soup might be on the menu for the rest of this week.. these kids need some serious immune boosters.

Food Reviews so far

I've been trying everything and anything I can get my hands on just to try things out. Here's what I've found so far.

Glutino Bagels
Holy man these things are good. They taste like the real thing to me. So far I've tried poppy seed and sesame seed and they are both fantastic! Highly recommend these babies.

Enjoy Life Bars
I cannot stand the Cocoa ones.. they're so gritty. But I really have grown quite fond of the Apple Caramel and the Sunbutter ones. They are great to keep in my purse or pocket for when I desperately need something but can't just stop and grab anymore. Their cookies leave something to be desired. I'd rather make my own.

KinnickKinnick White Cake Mix
Holy man. This cake was out of this world. I couldn't taste any difference from gluten-filled cake at all! Oh wow it was good. We threw in a cup of coconut for kicks and that was awesome too. What I personally liked about this mix was that The Boy could do most of it himself - something he's big on as he approaches 3.

As for breads, let's just say we've had a couple of failures and a few so-sos but really, I'm not going for much bread these days..

In our life, things are as usual. I have to go for a Bone Density scan to get a baseline given the higher risk of osteoperosis when you're celiac.. I go for my 3 month blood work in March so I've still got some time before that but I'm anxious to see those levels of antibodies going down and the levels of nutrients going up.

The Boy had croup this week - my least favourite illness of his since it creates such a difficult breathing time for him. His inhalers have been getting a workout these last few days but I'm hoping we're over the worst of it.

Beauty in Sleep

I adore my kids. Without sounding like a bad mom - I love them when they're sleeping. (I love them loads when they're awake but..) There's something so peaceful and beautiful about a sleeping child that you just don't get until they're asleep. Their lips, their cheeks, their hair all over the place.. I could sit and watch my children sleep for hours (and sometimes I do).

The Boy last night had a hard time going to sleep. Something is going on with him and I'm not sure what it is. I'm not sure if he's cognitively growing given he'll be 3 in 2 months, or if physically something is off. He's battled strep throat and a throat infection and an ear infection all in the last 2 months, so I'm sure there's some healing going on. But anyway, I went up to check on him as I told him he would and I asked him why he was still awake. His response? "I don't understand why I'm not aslsep mom. I think it's because I'm still little sometimes." I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The Boy IS still little and I forget that sometimes. It's nice to be reminded.

I held him in my arms and cuddled him, rocking back and forth shushing as I did for so many hours when he was an infant. I nearly started weeping as all of the memories came rushing back. My boy still loves a good cuddle and for that, I am so thankful. The Husband went in and read him some stories and the Boy fell asleep promptly (isn't that always the way..). I went in and watched him for a couple of moments before bed (and listened to the sound of the motors coming out of my child's mouth.. the snore is a pretty good indicator that something's up I think). Smiling, I headed off to sleep myself.

As an aside - the cake was amazing. I added some coconut to it. The Husband wasn't sure he liked the coconut in it, but the rest of us loved it!

And, the kids are being tested next week for celiac. We get the req on tuesday so it'll be off for the blood test shortly after that.

Oy Gravy

So I definitely discovered that gravy is not so easy to make without gluten. I made gravy at Christmas and it was pretty good, but the gravy I made last night was awful. I ended up throwing it out so we wouldn't have to eat it.

I'm not sure if I didn't have enough drippings, or if I used rice flour instead of GF all-purpose flour.. but it was gross. It had no taste and well, I'll have to figure out how to make it better. Any tips?

It's been beautiful here for the last while (finally, after a month of -30C temperature) and we got to spend some glorious time outside today. The kids had a blast and I only wish it woudl last, but alas, it's dropping back down this week. It'll give us a chance to start some of our crafts that we've been wanting to work on. The kids need to make some new paintings, and we'd like to try some new felting techniques too!

We made our first gluten free cake today. The Boy helped to ice the cake - he requested purple icing. It looks beautiful. I added some coconut to it (at the request of The Boy - he loves coconut) so I can't wait to taste how good it is after dinner. It was the KinnickKinnick cake mix so we'll see how it turns out!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

I'm a month in...

Tomorrow marks a month from when I was diagnosed and I think I'm doing pretty well. Other than New Year's Eve's mix-up, I've managed, I think, to avoid gluten. I've learned these few things in my short month:

1 - I'm still paranoid about cross-contamination, but I'm managing. And, it's okay to be paranoid about it.

2 - I really need to learn how to do GF baking better.

3 - Meals are actually pretty easy for the most part. GF cereal is growing on me. Dinners are really good and I can't tell the difference when something is coated in GF flour as opposed to wheat flour.

4 - Lunches are still sucking. Unless it's leftovers, I'm still feeling at a loss.

5 - Bread is not the same.

6 - I'm getting there and I should be proud of my progress so far.

Hopefully in the next month I'll get even better at things. Already it's seeming to be a routine and not something I am forcing myself to remember.

Anti-panicked or utterly confused?

It's a toss up really. Tonight's Anti-Panic session on celiac disease went rather well. I connected with other parents and we chatted about our paranoia of cross contamination. I'm told that although my paranoia will likely always be there to a certain degree (a good thing I think!), it will subside as I find my own ways and my own groove. It was helpful to know that I wasn't alone in my feelings. Especially about playdough.

It was set up with poster-boards of labels. I took pictures (which I'll put up tomorrow) of "safe" products. I found it interesting that Linda, the leader, calls things "celiac-friendly" as opposed to gluten-free unless they are labelled that way. We talked about labelling laws and how they have to get better - and how gluten really needs to be included in the list of common allergies to have it labelled on the package.

We also talked about the huge difference in acceptable levels of gluten in Canada vs the USA. Here in Canada, an acceptable gluten level is 20ppm. In the USA? 200ppm. That's 10 times the amount! Why is that? Apparently (I have no proof here, this is total hearsay), the WHO is trying to make a standard level and that level would be 200ppm. I wonder what affect that would have? It will certainly make me think even more (I don't think I've used my brain this much since university) when reading labels..

If anyone actually reads my blog, what do you think about the difference? Does that make you uncomfortable?

Will the black cloud looming lift soon?

We're having a bit of a rough go around here. The stomach flu is clearing up, but ear infections are abound with both kids having them as far as rupturing their ear drums. Plus The Boy has a throat infection. And no one is getting much sleep. I don't mind being a sleep deprived mom (though today at my eye appointment I had several "stupid" moments and had to explain that I'm not really an airhead), but I have a limit to my sleep deprivation. Last night, The Boy was up from 2am until 6am. Why? According to him, he just didn't want to be asleep. Needless to say, I'm a bit tired, and fatigue cramps any hope of creative thinking.

I've just finished reading (yes, reading, as in cover to cover) The Creative Family by Amanda Soule (she blogs at SouleMama) and I have a list of projects to start with my kidlets, but alas, I can't even think how to tie a knot let alone sew something right now.

I'm looking very forward to Wednesday evening. My local Celiac Association Chapter is putting on an Anti-Panic session for us to learn about how to be a normal functioning celiac in a grocery store. The Husband does 95% of the grocery shopping, but we need to know more about what to look for and what not to. I'm hoping that they cover some of the issues of labeling that have been popping up lately. Even though I'm in Canada, we still have most of the same food to read the labels of.

Label reading isn't new to me.. I've been allergic to shellfish for years, and always had a sensitivity to MSG, so I've been an avid label-reader for a long time. What's definitely changed now is HOW I read the labels. I used to just look for a specific ingredient, but now I look for warnings and "may contains" and "gluten-free" and "produced in a nut-free facility" type prints all over the box. It's the may-contain that drives me up the wall. Can't you just tell me if I can eat it or not?

It's especially getting difficult to try to explain to an almost-3 year old why some things are okay and others are not. He knows that he's allergic to peanuts (you say: What are you allergic to? He says: Peanuts!) which is the first step. But, at this age, he doesn't understand the gravity of it. Plus, for us, we have to avoid ALL nuts. We don't even know if he's allergic to any other nuts but our pediatric allergist doesn't like to test too many things because of false results (which I'm quite happy with) plus he adds that at this age, a nut is a nut and kids can't tell or know the difference. So, we have to be careful. But that means trying to be careful everywhere else to and therein lies the problem.

People try to be wonderful about our food restrictions, but unless you are the parents of an allergic kid, label-reading just doesn't come easily. I can't tell you the number of times I've had someone say to me "it's okay, I checked and it doesn't have nuts" only to turn the box over and see "may contain traces of..." in small print. Will I get used to it?

Please tell me Pukefest is coming to a close...

I hate the stomach flu. Loathe it with every inch of my being. It's not only disgusting (I absolutely hate puke which is why i could never be a doula, midwife, nurse, or anyone else who sees puke), but it's heartwrenching. It's bad enough when mama has it, but when the kidlets get it too? Oh my..

It's been, as a result, pretty gross and pretty sad in our house over these past few days. It started Thursday night with The Girl, Friday was my turn, then The Boy had his own set of puke-a-thons (though we actually think it might have been coincidence as we found out this morning he has a throat infection and ear infection and fever.. all of which could contribute to the puking). Thank goodness The Husband didn't get it since he has been taking care of us all like mad.

And, this was my first flu as a celiac. Why is that relevant? Well, shockingly, you need to think more when you have the flu as a celiac! Think of it - chicken noodle soup? Out. Saltines? Out. Toast? Out. Good think I very much like rice crackers because 5 of them were my intake for yesterday.. and then tonight I finally consumed some actual food: rice and rice pasta. I will get through this celiac thing!

I knew I was in trouble too at 4am - I was feeling better and couldn't sleep (given I had probably slept about 10 hours yesterday during the day never leaving my bed), and I went to read some of my favourite blogs. This one is one I frequent the most but I saw the food at the top of the page and had to make a run for it.. ugh. Not ready for that yet apparently! :)

But alas, we shall all make it through and hopefully be stronger for it. And maybe Monday I can actually start to accomplish all of the things I want to do..

The antics of 2 year olds

The Boy is the funniest boy ever. He comes out with these phrases that just make me laugh out loud on a daily basis. Here are a few from the past 2 days:

The Boy: I'm still little right?
Me: Yes, that's true.
The Boy: Why?
(as an aside, we're in the why phase)
Me: Well, because you're 2.
(then I swear he said this next line while rolling his eyes and sighing loudly)
The Boy: I'm 2 and a HALF mom.

Episode 2:
The Husband: Do you want some of my spaghetti?
The Boy: No thanks, dad.
(large pause)
The Boy: Thank you for offering to share with me. It was really nice of you.

And one of my personal favourites from sometime early fall:
Me: I love you.
The Boy: I love cars, mom.

Oh he loves cars. How nice. He has since told me many times how much he loves me but oh how that wrenched my heart!

When I'm not having the best of days, he's still there to make me laugh out loud.

As are my BFFs. I'm one of the lucky girls who has a crew of girls she is proud to call her BFFs. Yesterday, I was on the phone with BFF-H who was feeling rather body image un-friendly. We had a nice chat about her awesome bod, and she complimented me on mine. The funny part? All the parts she complimented me on are the ones I'm the most self-concious about! It just goes to show you that a) you're usually out of your mind when thinking of your own body; b) we really care too much and; c) BFFs rock.

First Time for Everything

I did it. I ate outside of my house at a restaurant. My girls and I headed out to brunch to say farewell to our NYC gal, J. She leaves in the morning so we needed to do something easy, and given that the majority of our kids are sick, we opted for a Girls-Only outing to brunch. When I went in, I was the first one there. I told them I had celiac disease and they told me there were options! Sure enough, on the menu were items labelled "Gluten-free". I loved it. I made sure to mention that I had celiac disease to the waitress too and she said not to worry. And you knwo what? No reaction. No pain, no bloating, no running to the bathroom this afternoon. I did develop quite a horrid headache this afternoon but I'm fairly certain the two weren't linked.

For supper it was wonderful rice pasta with homemade spaghetti sauce. And I made The Husband buy parmasean cheese so I can make risotto tomorrow. As long as I think of things in terms of normal-every-day living, the whole celiac thing doesn't scare the bajonkers out of me too much. It's when I start to overthink that some paranoia sets in. That and I'm insanely sleep deprived since The Boy has been having 2 hour wakeful periods in the middle of the night (where he's in and out but I'm awake the whole time, or The Husband is), and The Girl is sick and is waking up not so much a happy camper.

Thank goodness for Rescue Remedy. I've been taking 3 drops each night and since doing it, I've been once again able to sleep. It's 9:26pm and my eyes can barely remain open already. Am I old?

Funkytown..

I'm in a funk. So much is swirling right now - The Girl is super-sick, and I'm finding some of the info I'm reading a bit overwhelming right now.

I have this little pocket dictionary with ingredients in it that tell you if something is safe or unsafe (genius I tell you). I also have this other book with safe products. So you can look up "preserves" and it'll tell you which jams are gluten-free. Of course, you need to read the labels to make sure the ingredients haven't changed, but it certainly helps with things.

All that aside, there is a lot of information coming out that things that were labelled safe are in fact, not safe. Companies are taking advantage of the booming gluten-free industry and are causing those of us with celiac-disease to be eating foods that could be compromised (I think in translation, this means my doritos are out..). I have felt safer making my own food anyway as opposed to buying pre-made foods, but where does this leave any sort of convenience? Or indulgence? What's a celiac to do?

Then I'm back to my whole cross-contamination issues. The husband pointed out today that when I do play with the kids I don't seem to have a reaction (unlike NYE when I did react to the soy sauce), but does that guarantee that I'm not getting gluten? How much is too much? Will my gut heal if I'm around so much wheat still? Right now the Husband is home on holidays, but what happens when he goes back to work? Should I really be feeding The Boy soy-butter sandwiches on whole-wheat bread? I feel like I'm scrubbing him down after chemical exposure when I'm cleaning his hands. And the backs of my hands now have eczema from so much scrubbing on my part. And let's not even talk about trying to clean up the playdough (which is labelled: Contains wheat). Again, what's a celiac to do?

This is such a huge learning curve. Please tell me that one day I'll figure it all out.

It's a New Year and I screwed up already..

Seriously, how does that happen? I guess technically I screwed up LAST year since I accidentally ingested gluten last night and not today, but I'm certainly feeling the effects today.

We went to a neighbour's house for new year's and I had been reminded many times to ask about ingredients. Well, I guess I forgot one dish and after 30 minutes of feeling rather terrible and in pain, I found out there had been soy sauce in the sauce. Soy sauce. My former favourite sauce is laden with wheat. Good thing there's the alternative tamarin sauce but still. I'm feeling it today with a bit of a sour stomach - and this was after starting to feel better on a regular basis.

For some reason, it got me down a bit too. I was doing so well! I know it's going to happen, but I still feel like a shmuck for having it happen so soon.

I'm quite concerned right now about cross contamination. My kids are still eating whole wheat bread and playing with wheat playdough and my hands are getting insanely dry from scrubbing them so much after feeding them, cleaning them up, or cleaning the table. I'm not sure yet how to avoid this other than stop feeding them bread.. if tonight's ciabatta bread is any indication though, I certainly won't mind not having wheat bread - man that ciabatta bread was good! Oregano and basil and parmesean all in a lovely loaf that has pea flour in it for some protein and fibre! It was excellent!

It's a new year and I have 2 goals: 1 - I want my son to be using the potty sometime this year. 2 - I want to be healthy by summer. Exercising again and feeling great and having this diet down pat!