Living dairy free...and hating it.

So I have had to give up milk products, after realizing that they were upsetting Edward's stomach. All babies are gassy to some extent, but this kid was really gassy, and often at night you could actually hear his stomach making horrible noises while he screamed in pain. We were giving him the gripe water, but wanted to find the source of the problem rather than just constantly treat the symptoms. I tried a blander diet (absolutely no spicy foods, garlic, onions, beans, brocolli, etc.), but it didn't help that much, so, after some research, decided to try giving up dairy. Apparently some babies have extra sensitive stomachs that have a hard time breaking down the proteins in cow's milk. First I gave up just milk - I was drinking about 24oz a day (I love milk!) - and saw some definite improvement. So then I gave it all up - cheese, yogurt, ice cream, etc., and voila - gas problems gone. No more churning stomach, no more arching back in pain - done. And then I started to mourn the loss of dairy in my life...

I never realized how much dairy I ate until I had to give it up. No more cereal in the morning, or cream of wheat, pancakes, or waffles, or french toast (ALL made with milk!!). It was either eggs or toast - boooooring. Also, no more yogurt for my daily healthy 3pm snack, no more grilled cheese, no more quesadillas, or lasagna, ice cream, hot chocolate, pudding, cheesecake (not that I eat these last couple of things everyday, but STILL). No more cheese on my egg sandwich or tacos, or deli meat sandwich, no more tall glass of cold milk with dinner (insert sobs here..), etc.

What the heck am I supposed to eat?!! Not to mention where am I going to get my calcium?!

Well, I've started taking a calcium supplement (lame, but better than nothing), and have researched which fruits, vegetables and legumes are good sources of calcium.

And, I've started drinking this:
I have always found soymilk to be mildly repulsive, especially its freaky unnatural color. But, after WEEKS with no milk, I finally caved after my mom sent a carton to my house. It was just too tempting - the thought of being able to have cereal again in the morning...

...and believe it or not, I have grown to like it! Weird. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and if you go long enough without something, a close substitute starts to sound pretty dang good. The cereal covers up most of the taste, and I've even gotten to the point where I can drink it straight...in small amounts...and out of the container, so I don't have to see the weird brownish-grey cast that it has.

Anyhow, it's expensive, and way higher fat than my old skim milk, but it's a great source of protein, has calcium in it, and now, after a I have a couple of cookies or a PBJ, I can wash them down with some nice creamy milk.

And all in all, it's a small price to pay for Eddie to not be uncomfortable all the time. :)

Next adventure: vegan ice cream...

Weird, yet good

Here's a nasty snack that you would never think is good, but soooo is.



Take these:

Spread them with a thin layer of this:

And sprinkle them with this:

Yes, I've just described saltines with butter and sugar. Now I KNOW this sounds gross (not to mention totally unhealthy). I remember my Mom telling me she loved these when she was PMSing and I thought she was nuts. But I tried it out of sheer curiosity one day, and it's got this whole yummy sweet and salty thing going on that is really kind of great.

So if you're feeling adventurous sometime, and have a craving for sweet and salty, give it a try - you just might like it!

Do you have any odd snacks that you eat?

Upgrade!

As you can probably tell by my recent posts, I've been a bit down in the dumps lately. Well on Valentine's Day this year Lou did a great job breaking me out of my slump. We don't really make a big deal out of V-day most years. We're not some of those Anti-Valentine's people or anything like that. We just like to keep it simple. Anyhow, Lou outdid himself this year...

First he gave me these:

He said he felt cheesy doing the "box of chocolates" thing, but he's never done this before, and little did he know that I have secretly always wanted a big heart-shaped box of chocolates, so I was thrilled with this "cheesy" gift.

He also made me a wonderful dinner of steak, shrimp, bread and peas - yes, he was grilling outside in the middle of February - gotta love this guy!

And here's the big daddy. He gave me my new, upgraded engagement ring! Here's a picture of the original:

It's hard to tell in this picture, but this ring was VERY fragile. It was an estate ring, and though very beautiful, very fragile and always getting bent and beat up. You can see in the picture that the left side stone is missing. The darn ring kept cracking and the stones on the side kept getting lost. Lou finally had enough and said I was getting a new ring - I didn't argue. :)


Here's the new ice:

MUCH stronger, sturdier, and sooo beautiful. The center stone is the one from my original, but the rest is all new!

He had the old circle side stones replaced with a baguette-cut, which I love.

Here it is with my wedding band

And again, but flipped the other way. I have never before gotten diamonds on Valentine's Day, and although I'm not a big "give me jewelry" person, I have to say, I was ecstatic when I saw this ring!!

My last gift came from my Mom and kids. My Mom and Dad were nice enough to take the girls for the day, so we could have some time alone (well, when Edward was napping, anyway). When Maria came home, she had a mysterious paper bag that she and Nana had been working on. She told me that we needed to stay out of our room for a few minutes while she finished our surprise. This is what she did:

Her and my Mom cut out all the hearts that afternoon.

Cute, huh?

So how can anyone feel depressed after a day like that? It was just perfect. The only imperfect thing about it were the almond-paste cookies that I attempted to make for Lou (he loves almond paste). Yeah, they didn't turn out so great - hence why there are no pictures...

Oh well, Lou ate them anyway, giving me the whole "it's the thought that count's" bit, and I was okay with that.

Anyhow, thank goodness for family who boosts you up when you are feeling down. Happy Valentine's Day, loved ones... :)

Am I the only one #22

Am I the only one who feels hopelessly inadequate sometimes? (well, most of the time, nowadays...) I somehow felt like, with my third baby I would be this seasoned, wise mother who could just do it all and take the setbacks in stride, but I feel like I just keep coming up short nowadays, for everyone in my family. I am trying so hard to help Edward with his sleep issues (and to no avail, by the way), so I am spending a LOT of time in his room, trying to either get him to sleep or get him back to sleep. This means that Josephine (and Maria, when she's not in school) is spending a LOT of time alone, which makes me feel guilty to no end. I feel like I can't attend to the needs of one child without neglecting the other. If I want to play with the girls, color with them, read stories, etc., Edward does nothing but scream the whole time unless he is nursing at the time, which makes me feel guilty, too. And just forget about keeping up with the housework - it's all I can do to keep everyone in clean clothes. I just don't know how to do it all with any semblance of success, and it has me really down lately. I just think it's really sad that I've been a mother for almost seven years, am on my third baby and I still suck at this...