Babies. Oh, and zombies.

This may or may not apply to parenthood.

Hey, so remember when I said something along the lines of ‘Gosh, second babies are a piece of cake!!” Well, as it turns out, this is mostly true.

‘Mostly true’ being the operative term for when that second baby is really little. The older and older wee second baby gets, the less like a piece of cake they become. They get more complicated, more along the lines of a tiramisu, or a baklava. Way more layers, more intricate and difficult and way sweeter too.

They are not content to just lie there and gaze adoringly at their mother. Although, in hindsight, this is mostly happening in baby magazines and not at all in real life.

They want to do THINGS. And they are unsure of what these THINGS are, and so there is a lot of crying while they discover what kind of THINGS they like to do. THINGS may or may not include: grabbing ones toes, stuffing hands in mouths, pooping, eating more, wiggling, rolling everywhere. You get the picture.

And while this has all been going on, I’ve been trying a lot of new things:

A mild form of the Paleo-diet.

Cutting out wheat from my daily intake.

Crocheting a damn blanket.

Major addiction to the Zombies! Run app for iPhone. (This is a sad addiction, but it’s pushing me to exercise almost daily. And I delight in being chased by zombie mobs. DELIGHT.)

My random delight in the fact that not only did I love John Carter, but my discovery via an awesome high school friend that it was based on books. Books that I’ve downloaded and am now obsessed with.

Hanging with my soccer moms. Weekly dinner parties have assured that, for practically the first time ever, I have a social life.

I’ve been gazing longingly at my laptop, dreaming of quiet moments to type away. I swear my laptop has been gazing back at me… It’s being dreaming of me stroking it’s keyboard again. There are a lot of distractions lately…

Zombies, fun elimination diets, cool old sci-fi stories, soccer moms….

Yup, life is busy and great.

And I promise to share more of it with you…

xoxo a.m.

Wheat

Now that we have moved completely away from formula in the last few months and well into the land of Dairy, we are going further than that.

As you may or may not know, V is allergic to Wheat and Peanuts. I capitalize them because it is necessary. I need to take notice of all things Wheat and Peanuts in his (and our) world. They are Important. Especially the Peanuts. Peanuts are a super huge issue. A ‘turn his face red and hot to the touch’ issue. Wheat is an issue, not as severe, but one that still necessitates careful monitoring.

So we have embraced a Gluten-free lifestyle for Little Man. I know we will eventually for us as well, but haven’t yet. Wheat=Bad

We decided to try and integrate it into his diet to see how his more mature system reacts to it. Perhaps, since it’s been almost a year since we discovered the issue, his little body would have developed a tolerance to it? That’s what we were hoping anyways. And our Pediatrician agreed that it was a good idea, done in moderation that is.

So we started introducing Wheat Chexs as we felt that it would be the safest . A few during breakfast and dinner…carefully monitoring his reaction day by day.

It took about 12 days before a reaction showed up. Itchy red cheeks and dry skin patches on upper back. Total wheat reaction. However, he went almost 2 weeks before anything really showed up. This is a bonus!! Before it used to be instantaneously!

So based on this, I feel confident that gentle steps towards increasing the amount of Wheat will gradually improve his tolerance. And as he gets older, just imagine, he might even be able to eat a piece of toast. Or a piece of pizza. Or cake. The types of ‘pieces’ he could eat… oh my brain goes wild at the thought…

And then I grow sad at the thought that my bi-monthly trips to Whole Foods would be eliminated…

It’s a double-edged sword.

Charles Schultz

This morning I took a trip to Whole Foods. Have I mentioned before that it’s my favorite place ever? Well, if you didn’t know that, you do know.

I love Whole Foods. I would move in there and set up a tent in the produce section. I went there this morning without makeup and also pre-shower and not only that but my hair was barely brushed. V, of course, looked immaculate and flirted with all of the ladies.

And of course in the state I was in, I randomly ran into an old co-worker I hadn’t seen in a year and a half. That is just the way that Life throws it these days. Good times.

So as you may know from previous posts, V has some allergy issues. Wheat and peanuts. They are sort of mid-range in strength. According to my pediatrician the peanut allergy is ‘partially my fault’ as I ate too many peanut m&m’s post-preggo. I 50-50 believe this. I did eat a lot of peanut m&m’s. A LOT. But whether it’s totally my fault or whether he would have had allergies anyways? Who knows.

Anyways, it was easy-peasey to deal with when he was young, but as he gets older it gets trickier. Toast, sandwiches, cookies, cake, pizza, chips, sauces, fast-food etc etc. Wheat is my enemy. Sometimes it’s hard not to get frustrated with it all. A few weeks ago, one of the girls at daycare wanted to share her cookie with V and did it behind Ginette’s back. A few hours later, his face broke out in an awful rash. *Sigh*

Anyways, Whole Food’s has a Gluten Free section that I am all over. Today I found cookies, cookies kinda like Oreos, but gluten-free. Awesome. And cereal, sadly though it was made in a factory that also processed peanuts so that’s a no-go as far as I am concerned. Dedicated factories are the way to go baby!

When I find things like this, it makes me feel like I can bring some kind of normalcy to V’s diet. Make it less of a ‘big deal’ to feed him a meal or organize lunches for him. I totally high-five myself (mentally) and am pretty sure that no-one is as excited as I am to find gluten-free mac and cheese and tapioca bread. But I expect you to be. Just so you know.

With his 1st birthday on my mind, birthday parties weigh heavily on me.  I keep thinking about the years to come, his little friends and the dietary issues that will arise at sleep-overs, sports events, parties etc etc.

Challenging is not even the right word to describe it. Even more so with his Italian background. How will he enjoy Great-Grandma’s lasagna or eggplant parm? Or even Gramma’s? I have a feeling that rice-lasagna noodles either don’t exist or aren’t as good. Man.

So anyways, from time to time there will be more allergy related posts. I am fascinated by wheat and peanut allergies, dedicated factories and gluten free products. It’s quite interesting.

Anyone with interesting tips on sites with products that are wheat and peanut free, or allergy info in general…. I am looking for more sites, info, blogs, anything…. please email me with any info.