Back Again

It has definitely been way too long since I last posted. There is no one to blame, but myself, a very dirty house, a very adorable almost 2 year old, and a very tired and overworked hubby. 

Life has been so busy, but in a good way lately. I think both Brent and I are loving this stage of toddlerhood and I am so looking forward to my time off with my girl this summer.  I have a few things planned for the two of us from swimming lessons to play dates and hopefully a lot of gym dates in between. I figure since I basically am forced to eat even healthier than I already did since finding out about this wheat allergy I may as well help my self along and just get super fit before the big wedding in March. 

I do for see a lot of days like this and hopefully a lovely tan to go along with many hours outside blowing bubbles and soaking my feet in a plate baby pool. 

Please forgive my absence poor little blog bad I have a few posts in the works so don't feel left out my little piece of the Internet. 

Mother Mother

I have been doing this mom gig for almost 2 years now, but I still feel like there are somedays where I have no clue what I am doing. Every stage brings something completely new and i feel like i am always trying to figure out what is the best way to approach each new situation. We are on the cusp of what some may call the terrible twos and while I have seen a few glimpses of what might be to come I can honestly say I am thoroughly enjoying this age. I may have no clue what my girl is babbling  about 95% of the time, but I think we have some pretty intensely deep conversations. I don't want to rush time, but I so look forward to the days when we will get to talk about boys and what she is going to wear to the school dance. Now I know this may be wishful thinking that she will actually be talking to me when she is a teenager, but a mother can dream about a Gilmore Girls type relationship with their child can't they? 

This year we celebrated 2 Mother's Day celebrations since my mom was leaving for her first beach trip since the one we took right after her cancer diagnosis. Last year at this time we hadn't found out  my mom had been diagnosed yet so this Mother's Day was pretty special. I still can't believe it has almost been a year since everything started and now it is all almost over. It has all gone by so slowly yet everything has flown by and I can't believe the end is near. I know it doesn't feel that way for mom, but soon this will all be like the bad dream we keep saying it has been.

We decided to skip the Mother's Day brunch either day since we knew anywhere we went it would be crazy. Instead Saturday we hit up our Local Greek Fest for some good food and music. Bad news was we ended up leaving the house a bit late and our lunch coincided with one very sweet Little Ladies nap time. Needless to say she wasn't a sweet Little Lady for very long and all she wanted was her milk cup. Sadly after sending daddy back to the car for the milk cup I thought I accidentally lefty we soon realized there was no cup to be found because it was inside the bottle bag I left hanging on the closet doorknob where I had placed it with the diaper bag so I wouldn't forget it. We see how well my planning worked out. 

The next day we  headed over to Car Car and Nonni's for a Mother's Day cookout. Brent's uncle sadly passed away a year ago on this day so we were also celebrating him as well. Besides kicking my kid in the face by catching her with my sandal clad foot when her tights got caught on a chair and she almost smashed her face on the concrete it was a great day. We grilled out and ate lots of yummy food and spent a lot of time with people we love. I unfortunately was very careless about what I was eating and have been itchy and miserable ever since. This has not been a good 2 weeks with the gluten free lifestyle, but we shall talk more about that a little later.

 I of course told my husband I wanted for nothing which of course he didn't listen to at all like he always does. What I got though was exactly what I wanted. Something to eat (Gluten free pumpkin pancakes with maple syrup and gluten free cupcakes with an iced caramel mocha c/o a little friend at school).

My hubby also knows music is the way to my heart and he got me the new Lady A album. You see, I am a simple girl with simple needs and even when I say I don't want anything he still knows exactly what I want. I wear the same jewlery every single day so he knows that would be a waste of money (except my Pandora charms). Our house is teenie tiny and we can't fit anything else in it so house gifts are a bust. I think my favorite thing which I told my husband I didn't need was the card. Yes it was funny, but it was what he wrote that meant the most. I know it was only my second Mother's Day and I have so many precious hand made gifts from my girl to look forward to, but this has been my favorite Mother's Day so far.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the AMAZING mothers in my life. I love you all so very much.

Cut It Out

I wrote a few months ago about wanting to make some changes and get healthy again, but I wasn't sure where to start. It took me about a year and a half to lose all of the baby weight, but I still didn't feel as good as I knew I could. I had counted points and tried starting new diets over and over again and I just couldn't seem to stick to anything. I wanted to try something new and the Paleo diet sounded interesting, but after about a month I discovered that this particular diet was not for me. I did some more research and decided that Clean Eating was a much healthier alternative for myself and my family. This meant cutting out all processed foods, eating whole foods, and natural sweeteners. Basically if it has 3-6 ingredients or is made by my own two hands I eat it. I can honestly say I feel better then I have ever felt in my life. I am well below my pre pregnancy weight, I have more energy, I am sleeping better, and food just tastes better.

I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything because I was still able to eat basically anything I wanted as long as it was "Clean". This meant making everything or finding products that were made from whole healthy ingredients. The only thing I hadn't added back into my diet was carbohydrates like bread and pasta. I hadn't had the time to try making my own and hadn't found any products that were Clean enough.

Then all hell broke loose in my life and I kind of went off the deep end. People were bringing me food and I was just trying to keep my head above water. And my body started reacting. I think it was a combination of things, but I just didn't feel right and I knew something had to change. I finally broke down after my husband urged me to see my Dr. who wanted to treat my symptoms (swollen lymph nodes, head pain like my skin was going to crack open, swollen itchy eyes, neck pain) as an infection and gave me antibiotics which I begrudgingly took for the allotted time.  Along with my new pills I started getting back to my clean ways and a few days after finishing my medicine I finally started feeling better. And then it hit that maybe something I had recently changed like my diet was what was affecting my body. I have always had allergy like issues, but after being tested and testing negative for all  indoor or outdoor allergies I just went about my merry way and never thought about it again. I never thought my issues could be from something I was eating and that something seemed to be gluten or wheat.

So for the next week I cute everything out and only ate gluten free foods and I started to feel normal again. Then all hell broke loose on Race Day at my school. Each year we have a big fundraiser and a big school wide race and cookout. I knew we would have an option of a hamburger/hot dog, chips, and oranges. After researching my options I thought if I ate the burger patty and Ruffles chips (gluten free), and the oranges I would be ok and all seemed to be fine until I got home that evening. All of a sudden my head felt like it was going to crack open again and I knew something I had eaten must have had some sort of wheat product in it.
It only took a little digging to discover that almost all pre made frozen burger patties are held together with some sort of wheat product and I knew then and there I would have to start researching the foods I ate.

I finally had my follow up with my doctor and after talking everything through she believes that this is more than likely the cause for my discomfort. I still have to watch and make sure that my lymph nodes do not become swollen for no apparent reason (This could be a bad thing), but with my perfect blood work it would be highly unlikely anything else could be the cause of my issues.

So long story short I have a wheat allergy that causes some discomfort, but isn't anything serious. I have already tested a few gluten free foods and have found things that are actually delicious. I will basically go without most of the time, but if I get a craving for a grilled cheese or some spaghetti I know what brands to buy. I will say It has taken a little taste testing and not all GF products are created equal! I can tell you Pamela's baking mix is AWESOME! I have eaten a lot of pumpkin pancakes and muffins. Ener G rice bread is not good as sandwich bread, but if made into a grilled cheese or french toast is ok. I am not going to lie I am pretty excited to try my Udi's bread tomorrow. I am thinking about having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Pure excitement I know!

Redo

I have no clue what I am doing when it comes to blogging and blog design. I started this blog to document my pregnancy and my little lady's first years and it has developed into so much more. I never thought I was a writer and I am not a good write by any means, but I can honestly say I enjoy writing now. 

I have wanted to revamp my little piece of the internet for quite some time and I might finally get the chance if I win This giveaway from Our Journey and Grey Loves Design.

I have had a difficult time finding my words lately and maybe this will help me get back out there and get all of these feelings inside my jumbled mess of a brain out. 

I hope I win. I could use a little happy in my life these days and this would definitely be a good happy.