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!