Elimination Diet: Reintroducing Shellfish

On Thursday night we made prawn skewers for dinner. I marinated the prawns (well, my prawns) in the Annie's Italian dressing. I marinated the rest in regular old Italian dressing. They were really yummy. I served them over a bed of brown rice. I totally meant to take a picture, but I forgot.

I am admittedly a bit frustrated with the elimination diet. I feel like there's nothing in the house I can eat unless I go out and spend a ton of money at the specialty stores. I waffle between feeling that way and being adventuresome trying new foods. Bubby is still a bit fussier than he was before I reintroduced wheat. It's also been very hot out (well, hot for the Pacific Northwest) and I do believe he is teething. His diapers have been a bit on the yucky side -- sometimes way more so than others.

I guess I'm just frustrated that when I re-eliminated the wheat that he didn't go back to how he was before. I'm sure it may take a bit to get out of my system, but it's been a week so I was hoping for more I guess. I just want him to be a little happy camper again.

I would like to reintroduce another thing in the next day or so, but with his diapers being so yucky still I wonder how I'll notice the difference. I wondered if it was all in my head about the wheat, but Glenn said he notices that Bubby is definitely doing better now. He said, just like I had noticed, that it didn't seem that the wheat bothered him right away, but rather that it was like a build-up over those couple days and Bubby got progressively worse. Good to know it wasn't all in my head -- I'd definitely wondered with him still doing so poorly this week. It does seem though that within the last couple days that he is only fussy when tired, so that is a marked improvement again.

Next on the list to reintroduce is eggs or peanuts. I wasn't surprised that the shellfish did not pose a problem. I've always assumed that the problem allergens were things I consumed often. While I had shellfish here and there before I started the elimination diet, it wasn't a regular menu item, that's for sure.

I have a few products we've tried that I've been meaning to review...hopefully I'll get around to it soon!

Park Etiquette 101

Today we met some new friends from our mom's group at the park for a play date. It's a park we especially like -- fully-fenced so Beanie can run and I don't have to worry about her running into the street, sandbox, swings, lots of grass, and play equipment. Awesome park. It's also nice because most of the time the park is fairly quiet. But, with temperatures forecasted in the 90's again for today the park was busier than usual. Not busy per se, just busy for that park.

I was chatting with a couple other moms as Beanie played in the sandbox. All of the sudden my mommy radar went off as I heard Beanie crying. I whipped my head around and saw my very upset girl and a little boy throwing sand all over the place. The same boy who not ten minutes before was throwing wood chips all over the place. Nice.

Another mom said, "She got some sand in her eye."

Wrong.

Your kid built a fricking sand castle in my kid's eye.

I walked towards Beanie and she walked towards me. She had her hands over both eyes and was crying. Her eye was full of sand. Not "some sand" like Oh, my kid accidentally got a little crazy with the sand like her eye was full of sand. Her hair was full of sand. Her ear was full of sand. She had sand stuck to her arms and legs because I had lathered her up with sun lotion.

Okay, I'll give the other mom a pass and think she may not have realized just how much sand her kid had managed to shovel into Beanie's eye. But maybe (just maybe here) when she was laying on the blanket screaming and crying while I was pouring water in her eye for ten minutes you might've gotten a clue that it was a little worse than you previously thought. I mean, I would've come over and made sure your child was okay. I would've made my child come over and apologize, even if it was an accident. But, obviously, I don't parent anything like you.

My poor girl took it like a champ. She was very upset, don't get me wrong. I thought it was surely the end of our play date. She was very upset I was pouring water in her eye. We finally got all of the sand out of her eye and she sat and ate a little snack before playing some more.

My friend said, "Wow, you handled that a lot better than I would've. I would've been so angry. Maybe you were..."

And I was. But by the time I was sure my daughter's eyeball wasn't going to be scratched because of the amount of sand in it the other mom and boy were gone. I don't know that I would've yelled. I'm not really the whole make-a-scene type of person, but holy hell, I was upset. I kept apologizing to Beanie as I was rinsing her eye out and she said, "It wasn't your fault, Mommy. It was my friend's fault." And by friend Beanie means the kid who just happened to be playing at the same park as she was.

It was her "friend's" fault. Accidents happen, but I truly believe that how you react and how you teach your children to react is really important.

It's a good day.

Ah, the sun is out. Beanie is running around in the backyard. Bubby is snoozing and I'm taking the opportunity to drink a bit of coffee and have a bit of time to myself. Once there's a little more shade out, Bubby and I can go out back and enjoy the gorgeous weather too. Glenn said he wants to go do something fun after he gets off work, so we're trying to make plans for the afternoon.

I love today.

I had a glimpse of feeling guilty that Beanie is out in the back by herself, but I really need about two seconds of time to myself. And, I'm in the dining room with our huge windows cracked. I can feel the breeze and hear her playful laughter. Nothing brings a smile to my face more.

I've been having a rough time lately. I know some people have it much, much worse than we do, but it's been hard. I've been down. And anxious. Having bad dreams. Lonely. It's been hard. I'm trying to keep an eye on things because I do have a history of depression and anxiety. I want to make sure we notice the signs of post-partum depression should they be arising.

I miss my hubby. I appreciate that he's working so much so that I can stay at home. I feel bad he didn't get a day off in almost 3 1/2 weeks. It was hard on him. And me. And Beanie. I'm jealous that other families go out and do fun stuff on their weekends while we don't seem to have the time (or energy or motivation or whatever).

I've recently gotten more involved in my AP mom's group. It's really nice. Everyone is so welcoming and friendly and everything. I have a hard time forging good friendships anyways, so it's nice to fine a place I feel "at home." It helps to have a super outgoing three year-old who makes friends wherever she goes. I'm excited to meet more people in the group & make some long-lasting friendships.

Well, gotta run. Bubby is up. Beanie is singing, "It's a happy day...I feel okay..." (Thanks Caillou).

It's a good day and I'm quite thankful for that.

Carnival of Nursing in Public.

Join in the Carnival of Nursing in Public. Celebrate & support breastfeeding mothers. More info here.

Sharing snacks with Mama.

Beanie loves to share her snacks with Mom or Daddy. Lately, of course, I can't eat as many of her snacks as I used to. She sometimes seems sad and I try to explain that I can't have it because it might hurt Bubby's tummy.

The other day, clear as crystal, she said, "Oh, because it gets in your milky?"

Smart kid.

Adventures in Allergen-free baking

Okay, this post has been long promised and I am just now getting around to uploading our pics and having the time to write it out. I posted the recipe and etc earlier, but for the sake of having everything in one post (and because the recipe from Spark People was not exactly the same as my cookbook) I'm going to post again. The other post did have caloric and nutritional info for the original recipe, so if you want that click here. This recipe was adapted from Deceptively Delicious.

Applesauce Muffins

Topping:

2/3c old-fashioned oats (I used quick oats because, doy!, we didn't have any old-fashioned ones)
1/4c firmly packed light brown sugar
1tsp cinnamon
2Tbsp Earth Balance dairy free soy-free buttery spread

Batter:

1 1/2c rice flour
1c old fashioned oats (quick oats here again)
1tsp baking powder
1/2tsp baking soda
1/2tsp cinnamon
1c unsweetened applesauce
1/2c rice milk
1/4c canola oil
1 banana

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with baking cups.

To make the topping, stir together the oats, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in the buttery spread.

To make the batter, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large ziploc bag or mixing bowl and stir or shake to mix. In a 2nd bowl, mix the applesauce with the milk, sugar, oil, and banana with a wooden spoon. Add the flour mixture slowly, stirring just until moistened. Do not overmix -- batter is supposed to be lumpy. (I'll be completely honest here -- this time making these I totally spaced on doing the batter separately and just threw everything in one big bowl and stirred.)

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle with the streusel topping. Bake until the topping is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the muffins, 18-20 minutes. Turn the muffins on to a wire rack and serve warm or cool.

 My little helper.

They turned out great. I really liked them but was a bit worried when Glenn said, "I guess if you were on an elimination diet they'd taste pretty good." He then said he was joking and they were good. Hmmm. I took them to Beanie's birthday playdate and everyone seemed to like them and said how good they were, so unless everyone was lying they really were a hit! I made three dozen and only brought a handful home.

And, bonus, they really boosted my milk supply although I really didn't need that at the time. Something to remember for later I guess.

Oh, and another bonus, the streusel topping is good enough to eat right out of the bowl with a spoon :)

Wheat is Prime Suspect #1

After thinking about how things have been going the last few days I have come to the conclusion that Bubby likely has an intolerance to wheat. Since I reintroduced wheat on Wednesday Bubby has been:

-- having yucky diapers
-- extra fussy
-- not sleeping well at night
-- been having the "I'm in pain" cry again

This morning his face was a little broken out & his bum was red.

Could it all be coincidence or related to teething? I suppose, but I'm not going to take that chance. Sigh. I have re-eliminated wheat from my diet. I'm going to hold off on any new reintroduction for at least a few days to see if/how he improves.

Any gluten-free tips are greatly appreciated :)

The Guessing Game.

On Wednesday I reintroduced wheat. Yesterday Bubby had a few yucky diapers. He had been a bit fussy the night before. It's so hard. The diapers seem to be getting a bit better. He's also teething right now which I remember caused changes in Beanie's diapers. I'm going to wait and see how he does. May hold off on the next reintroduction or, if it seems necessary, re-eliminate the wheat and see if there's improvement in the diaper situation. He's in good spirits today.

I feel like it's a guessing game right now. Yesterday morning I was pretty convinced it was the wheat, but with the improvement I just don't know. I wish he could just say, "Hey Mama, *this* is what's bothering me!!!"

I'll be honest. I really don't want it to be wheat. It would be hard. I would re-eliminate it in a heartbeat if it would make him feel better, but wheat is a biggie. As I posted the other day, reintroducing wheat opens up a lot of things into my diet. I've been trying to stay away from other possible tummy-upsetters (like we didn't have spaghetti because I wanted to be able to identify wheat solely as the possible agitator, not tomato sauce). I'm trying to keep the diet fairly the same minus the reintroduction of the wheat to rule out as many variables as possible.

I guess we'll see how things go from here.

PhD in Parenting: I won't ask you why you didn't breastfeed

I've found a few new blogs I really like. A while back my mom's group had a discussion about who they "like" on Facebook. I've always been a fan of Kellymom on facebook (look them up -- she posts awesome links!) but have since added a few more. Mothering, NPR, Scientific American, my local LLL (I went to my first meeting ever today -- yes, this crunchy mama really had never been to a LLL meeting).

One of my new favorites is PhD in Parenting.

This great entry was linked by Kellymom on facebook today. I tried to "share" from the site, but I must've done something wrong. Oops. Here's the link:

I won't ask you why you didn't breastfeed

Okay, more later but I'm typing one-handed right now while singing/chatting to Beanie while she falls asleep. Too much multi-tasking ;)

My heart aches.

I posted here about my friend's son who is battling cancer.

Unfortunately, after multiple rounds of chemotherapy & six weeks of radiation Christopher's cancer has progressed.

I really have no words. Just heartache and tears.

You can read more about Christopher in his Caring Bridge journal here.

Just make sure you have a box of Kleenex handy.

Please continue to keep them in your thoughts & prayers as they continue this next difficult portion of their journey.