6 Months

I have been free of the majority of allergens for 6 months today. I have come a long way but there are many times that I just want cheese, gluten, or something else that has allergens. I am a lucky one. Someday I will eat these foods again. There are many people who can not say that.

We are still trying to introduce milk to Peter. Today we tried with ice cream. He would not touch it at all. It is amazing how allergy kids just get a sense of what is bad for their bodies, even when they are so young. Anyone have any ideas of what else to try? I am thinking Cheetos.

GF Rolled Oats

I love Quaker Oats Oatmeal but I have learned today that real rolled oats taste nothing like that. Real rolled oats from Bob's Red Mill are thicker and tougher to chew through. I think they will be wonderful but will have to take some getting use to after all of my years of Quaker Oats. Some of the great benefits through are 4 grams of fiber and only 3 weight watcher points. I added just a bit of maple syrup to them for sweetness. I am very mixed on the idea of having them daily. They were cooked in the microwave and maybe that is my problem. I guess I should cook them on the stove tomorrow to see if they are better. Time will tell if this is the kind of oatmeal I want to eat but at least I know I have the ingredients for some yummy cookies.

On a side note, still no success at trying to get Peter to drink cow's milk. I snuck 2oz. of skim milk into his sippy today and he would not drink it. I have a call into the doctor's office to see if they have any ideas.

Milk

Yesterday I started trying to give Peter milk. Last August, the allergist said that he was no longer allergic. We did not want to test that during the school year. Then we had the baby and he had eczema, so we held off until everything got settled. Now that Carlie is 8 weeks old and the eczema seems to be doing better, I though we should try again. Yesterday, I put some in his cheek and nothing happened. Today, after he drank his milk at breakfast, I realized I had not given him cow's milk. I put some in the sippy cup but there was not much rice milk to dilute it. He gave me an awful look when he tried it. I tried to pour it in his cereal and he stopped eating his cereal. My goal was to have him drink an ounce today. I guess I will put half an ounce in his rice milk at lunch and see what happens. I am fine having him drink rice milk but it would be nice if he could drink milk at daycare. Plus, it would open up more of the world to him like cheese. Maybe some day he could have ice cream. I have high hopes that this can lead to a more normal life. We will see how his body responses.

GF Rolled Oats

We went down to Oregon last weekend for the holiday weekend. Things went very well. We were not traveling during the day, so meals were not an issue. We did have a play date with our friends and they made a wonderful meal of hot dogs and hamburgers plus lots of fruits and vegetables. I love friends who understand and care about the precautions you need to take with an allergy family. Plus, my in laws have been wonderful about the allergies and were always making sure I could eat everything. They even made me my favorite brownies, The Craving Places Ooey Gooey Chewy Brownie Mix for our family get together. Plus my sister in law had the most wonderful fruit salad, but Peter could not have it because it had berries (I had not had a chance to tell her that he can't have them). Peter had lots of melon though, lots and lots of it.

On top of all of the wonderful family and friend time, we got to go to Bob's Red Mill in Milwaukie, Oregon. I just love going there because they have so many wonderful flours. We had to stock up on all of our favorite gluten free flours. My extra special treat was when we were walking in the door, my husband looked in the window and saw GF Rolled Oats!!! I was so excited. I have been wanting to make oatmeal cookies and they had been out of these for a very long time. They had a contamination issue that stopped processing for quite a while. They don't even have them back up on the website but I got my hands on some. Now I just need to take the time to cook!

Bye bye Soy

My sweet girl is projectile throwing up. This is so hard to watch. It really does fly, like a foot or two. It has gotten worse the last few days except for taking a 36hour break but it has now returned. The doctor thought it was something surgical, which you can read about on our family blog, but the ultrasound came back negative. The doctor and I decided that I would cut soy. After the negative ultrasound, the doctor's comment was to be "more careful with my diet". My question is, how much more careful can I be???

Therefore, I am going to journal my food, her feeding times, and her spitting up. I am also going to make sure she is fed with at least 2 hours between feeds except for her evening cluster feeds as that gets us a full night of sleep. I hope we find a pattern. I think the issue is over supply for me but I would love to figure this out.

Trying

My dear husband has been trying so hard to make me good meals and help me do this diet. Yesterday I sent him to Marlene's Market, a whole foods store in our area, so that he could get some Grapefruit Seed Extract to help Carlie, my daughter, and I get over thrush. While he was there and I called him to tell him to pick up Brown Rice Tortillas that I seen on their website in the Gluten Free Section. He came home and was so proud of himself that he gotten this for me. The price was even great, under $3. Well, today, after the excitement wore off, I looked at the package. It is wheat tortillas. Oh no! (as my son would say) At least he tried to make me happy. I hope he enjoys them, as he is the only one eating wheat in the house at this time. I guess next time I will go to the store and try to get it on my own.

Two side notes.
1. My beautiful little girl is a month. If you want to see how well she is growing, you can check out our family blog. She is free of most allergens and loving life if we could just get rid of this evil thrush.

2. I called Bob's Red Mill yesterday. Still no Gluten Free Rolled Oats. They said to wait another 3 weeks. I doubt it will be available then either. I am so bummed.

Walmart, Chex, Picky Eater

Today, after trying to convince Peter, my 2.5 year old, that he wanted to go to the store for 45 minutes, we were finally on our way to Walmart. I hate this place but I kept hearing that they had an allergy section. I don't know about the rest of the world of Walmarts, mine does not have a specialty section. They did though have some JellyBeans that are gluten free. They also had the new Rice Chex!! I was so excited to get my hands on them. I wonder if they taste any different. Plus the price was very right. They were less then $3 a box. Now, if only I liked rice milk. That is the only time that I really miss cow's milk.

When we got home, Peter had lunch. I have been trying to get Peter to branch out in his food choices. At this point, he eats simple foods. Usually a meat like chicken and then a piece of fruit. I am trying to get more grains into him. The challenge is his allergies. He is allergic to milk and wheat. Because of this, he has not been able to eat the same foods as us like most kids. 3 months ago, I started this diet and just recently he has figured out that he can eat my food. He is starting to do it but not foods that are mixed, i.e. meat mixed with veggies. If anyone out there has advice on how to get my picky eater to eat a real meal, I would love to hear it!

Why? The question always asked.

The last 10 days has been very interesting. My daughter was born on April 3 at 1:44pm. She was 9lbs. 1oz. and 22 inches long. Yes I did say 9lbs. 1oz. and that was on an allergen free diet. Here is the best part, I have lost almost all of the baby weight by just having her. I have 2 lbs. left to lose. Isn't that insane? How did that happen? It truly is the diet that I am doing. It is all about healthy eating. Everyone though ask me, "WHY?" They want to know why I would be insane and do this kind of diet. I got that question so many times in the hospital, it was insane.

The answer: By cutting out these allergens, I hope to not have to deal with a very fussy, "colicky" baby. (By the way, I do not believe in colic!!!) I am breastfeeding and will continue to breastfeed until my child and I decide together that we need to stop. Everything that goes through me, goes into her. By cutting out these allergens, I will get to know my daughter as she is rather then how she may feel horrible because of what I ate. This is the experience that I had with my son. He was considered "colicky" when the reality was, he was allergic to milk and I loved to eat dairy.

So far, it seems to be working. I have a sweet girl that actually sleeps and has only been fussy three times in 10 days! She is a dream for me. I don't know how to deal with such a pleasant baby after my experience with my son but I truly am loving it! Plus, I can almost wear my non-maternity clothes.

I stink!

I truly do stink at blogging! I am addicted to so many wonderful blogs. Like Gluten Free Girl, Gluten Free Steve, and Gluten Free Gobsmacked. They all have amazing recipes and tips. Plus the pictures of food will make you salivate. I wish I had recipes but I guess that is the next part of the experiment. I have to learn to cook better for my two children, yes my daughter has been born, and myself.

One more thing, there is an amazing Gluten Free community that has been started. It is the Gluten Free Network. Right now they are throwing a contest where you can win 2 new gluten free cookbooks! Check them out!

Gluten Free Lists

Oscar Meyer List - http://www.penny.ca/Oscar.htm

Kid Celiac List - http://www.kidceliac.com/top50.htm

Frito Lay - GF and Diary Free - http://fritolay.com/fl/flstore/cgi-bin/ProdDetEv_Cat_351852_NavRoot_306_ProdID_352992.htm

Hormel Foods - http://www.hormelfoods.com/brands/glutenfree/default.aspx

GF Info list - http://www.glutenfreeinfo.com/Diet/glutenfreeinfo.htm

Costco

I love Costco! We went to buy a rotisserie chicken a few weeks ago and the guy cooking it said that he did not know if it had any hidden allergens. Today, we read the new label and it specifically says that it has No MSG, gluten, preservatives, artificial flavors or colors! Therefore, I had a wonderful chicken dinner this evening. We are also set for most of the week. The only downfall is that it has soy but that is the one thing that I have not completely cut out. Thank you Costco!

Still Going

Sorry I have not posted but we lost our grandfather a week ago. We had to go to Oregon for the funeral. It took a lot of work to stick to the diet especially because we were doing family dinners every night, but my husband is amazing and always made sure I had food. I was very jealous though because my father in law made his amazing cinnamon rolls. I am almost caved but I did not.

I am feeling frustrated right now about food though. I feel like there is nothing to eat and I know better. I am loving my gf waffles that we make from Cooking Free by Carol Fenster, M.D. I really want to have mac and cheese along with many other dishes that I have gluten, dairy, etc. Tonight my husband is making hash browns and sausage with BBQ sauce (the homemade kind). I can't wait until dinner. Tomorrow is going to be some great Tomato soup.

A Week In and trip to the Whole Foods Market

I have been doing this diet for a full week and I am not starving so that is a great sign. Cooking all of those lunches at the beginning of the week really did help and it is what we spent out day doing again. My husband helped a lot more today because my hips have been hurting so bad. He made me the soup and Pad Thai. I made waffles. Then, together, we made fried chicken for dinner. I did the chicken in two batches. I made mine with corn flakes that are gluten free and I smashed them myself. They are a lot chunkier then I am used to. Peter, my son, and my husband's are made from Kellogg Corn Flake crumbs. Peter, as a wheat allergy kid, has been fine with them this way but I can't do the barley malt because that is not gluten free. I can't wait to see what mine taste like, already knowing what Peter's taste like. I will just miss my dipping sauce of ketchup and mayo.

Yesterday, my friend Christie and I went to Bellevue for shopping which is about an hour away. We went to a posh baby store called Merry Go Round and Whole Foods Market. I was hoping to look a the diaper bag I think I want, the Skip Hop Via Messenger but they are arriving on Monday. Guess I will have to go back. I did get some Bumpkin bibs for Peter that I am just in love with along with some for Carlie, our soon to be daughter. Then we headed over to the Whole Foods Market. I had my list of Gluten Free and Casein Free list that was cross referenced with the Dairy Free list. You can find these list on their Special Diets page. We used it to start our shopping. We had a great time shopping and even bought some chocolate. While looking at the chocolate, Jan, the customer service representative ran into us and was able to share a lot of allergy information with us. The most important thing for our knowledge was that most chocolates are gluten and dairy free. You have to look out for milk chocolate of course along with peanut cross contamination. That makes this pregnant woman very happy. I do have to say that Christie was a real life saver and very helpful throughout this trip. I don't know many people who have friends that will read every label for them. I just love her.

Day 3

Today I started off the day with Rice Crunch'Ems (I think that is what they are called but mainly gf Rice Checks) with rice milk and banana. It was not bad. I think it is the rice milk that makes it different for me.

We then went grocery shopping for some basics for me and for a Pad Thai recipe I had. $104 later at Fred Meyer's and we were done. We came home and got Peter fed and napping and then I ate steak with some tortilla chips. It was pretty good. Then the cooking began and lasted for the next 4 hours. We made Black Cherry Jello with pineapple in it, 2 batches of gf waffles from our Cooking Free Cookbook, Chicken Rice Soup from Swanson's website but with Pacific Chicken Broth, and finally Pad Thai from our Cooking Free Cookbook. In between cooking all of this with my husband, I started a Kaboodle list of what I would like to get to eat. I thought by starting a list, I can start figuring out what to get next. Today's cooking should set me up for a couple of days. At least I know what I am taking for lunch tomorrow when we go to visit my husband at work.