We made it!

We did it...tomorrow marks 1 full month of eating gluten free! (Ok, ok, *I* haven't been totally GF, but my guys have). For the first week or two, I was skeptical. It was a lot of work, and while James reported feeling a bit better, I didn't notice much change in the kids. Then around the 2 week mark, I noticed that Emmett was much more energetic. He always seemed more lethargic than other kids his age, and I would really have to encourage him to get off the couch and be active. Now, he spends his days running loops around my kitchen, jumping and watching himself dance in the mirror. ;) His teachers at school have noticed a real increase in his energy levels too. I would also say he seems happier - he's laughing more, he runs to the school bus every afternoon, etc. I think he's just feeling better in general. Seth was never lethargic, but he's had chronic eczema since his was a small baby - at times he would have huge patches all over his legs, arms and stomach, and his elbows and ankles were always really bad. He hasn't had an "outbreak" all month, and he just has a few tiny patches on his arms that are almost gone. James says his stomach pain is gone, and it's a lot easier to get up in the morning.

Needless to say, we're staying gluten-free. It's been a real learning curve trying to menu plan, but I think I've got it down now. I'm getting pretty darn good at the baking aspect, too. (I can make rice flour sugar cookies that taste every bit as good as the real thing!!) Eating out is the most challenging part...Emmett really misses Wendy's cheeseburgers, but he's happy with just fries and a frosty, too. It's actually a good thing, because having very limited eating out options forces me to cook at home which is so much better for us.

I guess the other good news is that I think I've figured out that my guys don't actually have Celiac Disease, but "Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity". People with NCGS will test negative or inconclusive on tests for Celiac disease, but still have the symptoms and feel better off gluten. It seems like the non-celiacs have less problems with small intestine damage, malnutrition, anemia, etc, so that's good. Emmett was given some pretzels by mistake at school this week, and he didn't have any ill effects. Hopefully if we try our hardest to avoid gluten the boys won't suffer too much from any "oopses".

My boy has a "three kid scream"!

Yep, one house that Em went to expected to find 3 or 4 kids and were surprised to find out that the very loud "TRICK OR TREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAT!!!!!!" was just from one little guy! The kids had a blast this year. It was Seth's first year TOT'ing, and he had a pretty typical 1 year old experience I think. He didn't totally get what was going on, he forgot to carry his bucket half the time, but he enjoyed himself (for 3/4 of a block or so, anyways). Emmett was full on into it; running, laughing, screaming at each and every door. He went as "Super Emmett" this year and enthusiastically told everyone who asked that he had "the power to help!". He covered a few blocks and got a pretty big haul.

And as for the loot, I noticed some pretty distinct patterns emerging. Emmett is a "gorge myself on as much candy as possible as quickly as possible" kid. Seth is a "savour one tootsie pop for over an hour" kid. I predict in future years that Emmett will blow through his stash in less than 48 hours, and Seth will still have some candy tucked under his bed come Easter.

Quick Update

Well, we've survived a week without gluten. :) The first day was rough...it was a busy day and I didn't have time to bake, so the kids had to make do with rice cake sandwiches. Em took it in stride, Seth just about lost it. Once I got the hang of things though both kids were fine, and have happily accepted my homemade substitutes for their favorite foods. So far I've made cheesy biscuits, muffins, pumpkin spice bars, pie crust and bread. Bread has been the trickiest...my 1st attempt was a dry, blobby, half-baked failure (although my carb-starved kids attempted to eat it anyway), 2nd attempt produced something that actually looked like bread but didn't rise (kids still gobbled it up and begged for more), and my 3rd attempt produced two nicely risen loaves that look and smell like real bread!! My homemade loaves cost an estimated $2 a piece to make, (which seems excessive for homemade product) but when you factor in the (much) more expensive ingredients and the fact that a store bought loaf costs more than 3 times that, I figure I'm doing pretty well!

Going gluten free

A few months ago some routine blood work that we had done on Emmett came back showing he may have Celiac disease (intolerance to gluten). He had a biopsy done on his small intestine, which came back negative, but they told us he needs to have the blood test every 6 months because he's still at risk of developing the disease. I've since learned that the biopsies can be unreliable, and some chronic (mild) health problems that James and the boys have may be due to gluten intolerance. So, we've decided to go "gluten free" for 4 weeks (starting tomorrow) to see if anything improves.

Although I'm the only one not suspected of having a problem with gluten, as the family shopper and cook I've now got a whole bunch of extra work to do! Gluten is in almost all baked goods - bread, cake, muffins, etc, as well as in pasta and a lot of pre-prepared foods (bye bye cream of mushroom soup!). You can buy a gluten free version of pretty much everything, although you're paying a premium (a small loaf of gluten free bread runs around $6.50). We'll be buying a few snack type GF products (for in the car/preschool/nursery), but mostly I'll be cooking and baking everything from scratch. Yesterday I went to bulk barn and stocked up on rice flour, potato flour, tapioca flour and potato starch. We've also got xantham gum (makes GF baked goods taste more like the real thing) and rice pastas. Of course, there are tons and tons of foods that are naturally gluten free that we can still eat...we're just going to have to be a lot more careful about things. The thing that really worries me is Em getting upset if he can't eat the same snack as his friends at school, or that he won't understand why he can't get a cookie or muffin from the bakery at the end of a grocery run. I suppose he'll just get used to it.

Now I've got to go pack up all of my flour and pasta and get ready for "G Day" tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Wait...why am I doing this again?

Kid 1 likes grilled cheese sandwiches, but not tomato soup. Kid 2 loves tomato soup, and will eat grilled cheese but usually just nibbles at them and throws most of it on the floor. Gave kids 1 and 2 their preferred meal items for lunch. Kid 1 refuses to eat anything and wanders off. Kid 2 sips at his soup until he spots kid 1's abandoned sandwich. Kid 2 decides grilled cheese sandwiches are now his FAVORITE FOOD EVERRRRRR and pulls the tablecloth toward him in order to obtain said sandwich. In the process the now neglected (and rather large) bowl of soup hits the floor in such a dramatic fashion that it could have been recorded and played in slow motion in a paper towel commercial. Kid 1 of course must investigate the crash and wanders straight into the soup mess while I'm scrambling to clean up.

Stick a fork in me, I'm done!! Of the past 21 days, I've been sick for about 19 of them. I'm pretty sure I managed to pick up another virus literally a day after I recovered from the last one. I was starting to improve but I'm feeling worse today. I'm just tired and cranky and apparently about to send kid 1 off to preschool with an empty stomach. Sigh...

Mr. Simpson? Gary spilt his ear medicine.

Man, have we been a family of "Gary"s lately. James and I have been miserably sick for the past 4 days and we've been shelling out for all kinds of pills and potions promising to subdue our misery for a few hours. James has discovered that combining Sudafed with his daily dose of ginseng tea gives him the kind of euphoria normally reserved only for those on speed and 12 year old girls at a Justin Bieber concert. I've discovered that using a Neti Pot (go ahead, google it) is quite effective, although a little awkward and highly unattractive.

Emmett has managed, miraculously, to avoid this plague, but Seth is suffering along with us (and without the aid of OTC meds). To add insult to injury, he's rashy from head to toe and now has 4, count 'em FOUR, different ointments that need to be applied at various times throughout the day. For a child that can barely stop moving long enough to eat, you can imagine how well all that "greasing" is being received.

I'm not really sure what the point of this post is, other than I haven't blogged in awhile and have absolutely NOTHING going on in my life right now other than trying to keep my sinuses from imploding and trying to make sure the right cream is going on the right parts of my toddler. We've got to get better eventually, right?

13 going on...13

My mom brought over a big bin of my childhood and teenage keepsakes yesterday, and I just went through it. The items ranged from the adorable (my little brownie uniform, complete with sash, belt and dues pouch!!) to the absolute cringe worthy (various diaries from 1993-2000, the worst of which was the one from 8th grade). I discovered that I was just as naive, shallow and overly dramatic as any other 13 year old. My best friend was Stephan, who I apparently had a bit of a crush on! ("Stephan and I are going trick or treating as an old married couple. It's going to be so wicked! PS. I (heart) Stephan. I hope he (heart)'s me back.") My family was investigating the church at the time, and I ranked all of the missionaries who taught us according to hotness...how deeply spiritual of me. ;) Oh, and every time I got punished or my parents wouldn't drive me to the store, my life was ending.

Some of my favorite excerpts:

August 1994: "I had a bad dream about school starting last night. I dreamed that my math teacher was Hitler."

July 1994: (on vacation) "There was a cappuccino stand, and they wanted $1.25 for a pack of gum...what a ripoff!!"

January 1993: "I learned that they have clear Pepsi now. To be honest it doesn't really taste like Pepsi but its still pretty good."

Ah, memories. ;)