Ava's First...

...piece of pizza!

WHAT WHAT!

So, as you all know by now, Ava has been fighting a long battle with a total dairy intolerance. The allergist we saw said it wasn't a true allergy and that she should outgrow it by three, but no luck so far. That is, until now.

I'm at the D's all weekend, watching the girls while they try their luck in Vegas, so we ordered pizza for an easy dinner last night. Not wanting Ava to feel left out and wanting to test and see, we offered her a piece of pizza and crossed our fingers! Not only has she not reacted yet - about 20 hours later, but she also loved it SO much she ate two pieces! Wowsa!

Let's hope that she doesn't react and we're looking at the end of her dairy intolerance and the beginning of a whole new world of foods she can eat!!!!

Taking a Deep Breath!

Today was our consult with the Pediatric GI - the chief, to be precise and fancy! - and it went great!

There will be no endoscopy.

There will be no bloodwork.

There will be no torturing my child endlessly and/or needlessly.

We'll just "wait and see". He's about 12903810293% sure she'll outgrow it, though unsure when, and so until I wean A - which could be a while - I just avoid dairy. Which, compared to the alternative, is so 100% FINE. BY. ME.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As a side note, Ava is nearly 31", and 20lbs. She's lost a pound, but we're keeping an eye on it. It was a different scale and she was naked, so that probably is why :)

Happy Monday, everyone!

And Happy 1st Birthday, Asher!

Happy Friday to Me!

This post was initially going to go something like this:

Today sucked. The end.

But then, right before the end of business day, I got a call from a pediatric GI contracted with our insurance (for lack of a better way of putting it), and we have been successfully referred with an appointment set up for Monday at the not-even-remotely-dramatic cost of our $30 co-pay. Praise Jesus.

So, to recap. Monday. 1pm. Me, D and Ava have a consult with a pedi GI.

Now the real stress begins...wish us luck!

Good News, Bad News.

Good news first:

Ava's blood test was negative for the igE factor for milk and eggs. In other words, she does not have a true, a therefore lifelong, allergy to milk or eggs. For that matter, she isn't allergic to peanuts, shellfish, or anything else. WHEW!!!!

Bad news:

We're being referred to a pediatric gastroenterologist at Dell Children's Hospital. The doctor thinks - and perhaps the bloodwork suggests - that Ava has one of two things. Either she has FPIES, the more severe of the two he suspects, which is also known as Food Protein Induced Enteropathy Syndrome, or she has Dietary Induced Enteropathy Syndrome (I don't particularly like this acronym...). While both mean that at this point in time her stomach cannot digest the proteins in certain foods, which causes a gastrointestinal reaction, FPIES is a more severe form, which additionally causes a sharp decrease in blood pressure and lethargy. While I feel like it's more likely to be the latter - the dietary-induced (though since both are due to food proteins, these names really don't make much sense to me...)- since she doesn't seem to be showing changes in temperament or energy levels, if it does happen to be FPIES, it could be severe enough that if she consumes dairy or egg products, she could potentially end up in the hospital due to the drop in her blood pressure. Needless to say, despite my relative confidence that it's the less severe form, mama is a nervous wreck.

There's more. Dell Children's has the only pediatric GI doc in Austin, and, ridiculously, they also don't take our insurance. W.T.F. Are you kidding me?! They're a nationally renowned children's medical hub, and they don't take our (great!) insurance?!? I spent the whole of this day on the phone with a.) our insurance, b.) the allergist referring us, and c.) GI specialists in Central Texas who take our particular insurance, hoping one will see a not quite 1-year-old.

Which brings me to...the horror that is this doctor's visit. While I have yet to find a doctor and cannot confirm that this is what's going to happen, there is a high chance that the reason for the appointment will be a consult so that they can ultimately do an endoscopy on my baby. Yes, they may have to put A under general anesthesia, insert a tube down her tiny baby throat and into her little tiny baby belly, and do a biopsy. And THAT, my friends, is more than this mama can take :(

Of course if it is ABSOLUTELY necessary and critical, I will allow it - I would do anything for her. But in that anything is included that I will protect her and shelter her from anything and everything within my power, and if there is any other way they can go about this, they're not getting near my baby with a scope.

I'm really starting to hate Tuesdays :(

Anyone with experience with these kinds of things? Ever had your baby put under? Know of any ped. GI specs in Central Texas who see kids and are awesome? Know anything about either of these potential conditions? Have Dell Children's-accepted insurance and care to marry me so I can have Ava seen there by the best? Ok, ok, kidding about that last one...kind of. Either way, if you have any advice, I'm all ears!

A Quick Update.

Whew...how have four days gone by since my last post? Geez, time flies.

We've been up to a lot of cool and exciting stuff, and this mama has been pulling some major OT at work! I actually offered to step in for the D's so that they could go to New Orleans for their tenth wedding anniversary, and so I was at work from Friday morning to Saturday late night, hauling 3 little girls to basketball practices, basketball games and birthday parties, as well as trying to get (and keep!) the house clean, bake brownies for Mr. D's birthday Saturday, and generally not lose it after something like 40 straight hours at work. It went well considering how stressful it could've been, but I'm glad it's over. Definitely not feeling like I got much of a weekend, though!

Then, there was this pesky little time change. Normally I'm down with the whole "fall back", taking full advantage of that extra hour of sleep, but Ava didn't get the memo, and woke up early just the same. To top it off, her nap schedule has been all over the place today, with her falling asleep in D's arms before she'd even had breakfast, and then napping again right before we were supposed to head out to run errands. Oh well - A's nap takes precedence over just about anything, since it directly correlates to my sanity!

After she woke up from her second nap, we ran some errands, including hitting up Toys R Us to start on A's Christmas and birthday shopping! Considering the two are days apart, I think we're going to be better off starting our purchasing out early like this in order to spread it out a bit, but we knew that we wanted something extra special for her birthday, and we just couldn't wait to pick it up for her! Check out what we got our little lady for her first birthday:

Awesome, right? We got an insane deal on it, between a merchandise credit we had, a $20 off sale and a 20% off coupon that came on our mailer! We're planning to do this for her birthday, and then the rest of the things going for Christmas/stocking stuffers/Santa :) I'm so excited!!!!

In less exciting news, A had a reaction to the yogurt we tried with her, which makes me super sad. I've been easing dairy back in - sometimes successfully, less successfully with other forms - and it's gone well enough that the doc suggested that we could try yogurt with her, as the milk protein is the most broken down in yogurt. We tried it, in a very small amount of YoBaby! Yogurt Blends, and the poor doll had diarrhea for over 24 hours. As such, no dairy for her - or I again!! - until after 1 year. Anyone have any good vegan frosting recipes to pass my way to accompany her vegan chocolate birthday cake?!

A's still on her antibiotics, and let me pass a little tip along to those of you who may also have a baby who isn't down with the refrigerated antibiotics. A is a champ medicine taker when it comes to Motrin, etc, but anything the doc prescribes, she fights like hell. So...at my wits end, I've started taking it out of the fridge an hour before she needs to take it in the dropper, and letting it settle to room temp. Voila! She takes it just fine!

Alright, that's enough update for now - time to go cuddle my little baby bear! Hope you all had a great weekend!

Slow Cooker Carrot Cake

Did YOU know you could make a cake in a slow cooker?! I surely didn't! That is, until I ran across this *amazing* cookbook, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger, and found a whole section on desserts, some of which were dairy-free. Eager to stuff my face and silence my inner fat girl, I scoured my pantry, came up with a few choice items, and went to work. Here's a recipe I hope you'll enjoy as much as I do!

Slow Cooker Carrot Cake

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 c. water
1/2 c. oil
2 eggs
1 1/4 c. shredded carrots (2-3 medium carrots)
3 tbsp. chopped walnuts (optional)

*Notice the lack of dairy!!!*

Directions
-Grease a medium or large slow cooker bowl - I used my large capacity cooker for this.
-In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the water, oil and eggs. Incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry, making sure the dry ingredients are fully moistened. Add the carrots and, if using, the walnuts. Pour into the crock pot and cook on high for 1.5-2 hours, until puffed and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
-Top with powdered sugar, eat plain, or frost with decadent cream cheese icing.

Enjoy! This is one tasty cake!

So What Do I Eat?

That is, when I'm not spazzing out and shame-eating half a dozen cookies.

I get asked a lot what I do eat, seeing as how I'm limited in my selections by A's dairy-free restriction (and yep, she did react, though not with the intensity or as quickly as normal, so I'm hoping that's a good sign that she's starting to outgrow it???). For any in my same boat, any vegans out there, or those just looking for some new snack ideas, here's a few of my new faves:

*Better Oats! Maple & Brown Sugar Oatmeal
Packed with whole grain goodness and served up in a environmentally friendly package, this is a surefire way to fill up and stay full through the morning. I would say to
do yourselves a favor and skip the sugar free version of this. Yeah, it might be healthier, but man is this oatmeal tasty, and relatively low-cal to boot. Great for breakfast or that after-dinner snack, and for an added bonus? It is rumored to help boost milk supply in breastfeeding mamas, and I would have to say that it does. I've been super-producing recently, and I've been eating this oatmeal on a nearly everyday basis.

*Fig Newton Fruit Crisps
Let me preface this by saying I HATE Fig Newtons...they gross me out. These 100-calorie fruit crisp snack packs, though, are delicious. The apple cinnamon are reminiscent of pop-tarts, though instead of packing in 400 calories, they're a nice, shiny 100-calories. Who doesn't like that? This is one of my favorite things to grab when I'm needing a quick snack and am walking out the door.

*If you happen to be a fellow Texan, head to HEB to indulge in their line of fully cooked products. One I particularly like is the Sweet Chili Chicken Breast. Delicious. I heat one up on the stove until it's a bit seared, slice it and throw it in a whole wheat tortilla with spinach and red onion, and a bit of olive oil and vinegar dressing....yum! If you don't have an HEB nearby (you poor things!), most grocer's carry similar fully cooked products - just look for a flavor that appeals to you.

*I eat a ton of fruit. I make sure to buy things in season, and then slice them up and have them ready to go. Right now I have some cubed watermelon sitting in there, grapes in a bowl where I can just grab them at any time, and an assortment of berries. Grape/cherry tomatoes make wonderful dairy-free snacks also.

*If you're having a snack attack and fruit won't cut it (isn't that the case about 99% of the time), I LOVE the Nabisco Lorna Doone shortbread cookie 100-calorie packs, and they're 100% dairy-free :) Tasty!

*Beans. I seriously eat like a can of beans per day. At least. How I managed to get through 25 years of my life before discovering the tastiness of beans is beyond me. I eat black beans, baked beans, and my favorite, jalapinto beans (pinto beans with jalapenos). TASTY. Plus, they're a great source of fiber and keep you feeling full.

As much as I complain about missing dairy, if it weren't for a few choice items - pizza, sweets and the like - I actually wouldn't mind eating like this. I definitely make some wiser choices and eat less processed foods, which is a major bonus. I sure would like a slice of Austin's pizza and a Mighty Fine milkshake, though!!! Soon enough!

*

And The Award For Worst Mother Goes To...

...me.

I have a confession. Yesterday, in my stressed out, deprived state, I ate some cookies. Half a dozen to be exact. Yes, I ate SIX cookies. In one sitting. In, like, five minutes, to be exact.

It all started at a one-year-old birthday party. Doesn't everything? ;) Anyhow, we had a great time at the party, with the exception of the dad who was so into his 12-wk. old baby it was laughable. I'm all for excited, present dads, but this guy was over-the-top, recalling with great detail his wife's labor - he may or may not have used the phrase "pushing her out" 100 times - waking the baby up (when will people learn this is a NO-NO!), and just generally being so ridiculously involved I frequently wanted to turn to D and have a good inside joke head nod...except he wasn't there :( A managed to have a great time, get tons of compliments on her party outfit, and swim with a bunch of boys twice her age and yet have a nice, neat little pile of pool toys in front of only her...

Anyhow, we had meant to leave by 5:30 to keep with our nightly routine, but we ended up staying an extra hour to partake in salmon burgers, chips and homemade salsa and delicious sangria, so when I left, homegirl was feeling a bit feisty. Seriously - when am *I* going to learn not to mess with our routine??? Seeing as I was still feeling a bit stressed from the day before and my missing money hangover, and now my baby was fussing the entire way home - I did something no dairy-free mama should do: I ate the bag of cookies sent home for D as a party favor :(

I know it was terrible. I just feel so deprived on a daily basis, unable to eat cheese or chocolate or ice cream or anything I LIKE, and I totally caved, scarfing the cookies like a child hiding sweets from their parents at fat camp. It was not my finest hour, to say the least.

As of right this minute, though, by some miracle of God, Ava has yet to be sick. It's been 20 hours, and no blowout diapers. No poo at all, actually. Could this have been the moment I've been waiting for since the dreadful day we realized her milk allergy back in March?????

On the other hand, however, mommy paid dearly. I was up half the night throwing up, and it surely wasn't from the teensy tiny glass of Sangria I had. I can hardly look at a cookie right now without wanting to hurl all over again, and slept the second half of the night with a trash can by my bed. Either I managed to get food poisoning somehow - which I doubt - or my body is rejecting dairy and punishing the hell out of me.

Better me than A, though!!!!

Another Easy Dairy-Free Dinner Idea...

First off, go enter my book giveaway if you haven't already, which many of you haven't :) As of right now, your chances of winning are high - haha...

OK, so as the title promised, here's yet another dairy-free dinner idea for any of you with milk-sensitive babies. If you keep kosher or pork just isn't your thing, see this post for the first recipe in this dairy-free series - delicious stuffed peppers!

Cherry Coke Pork Roast:

1 2-4 lb. Boston butt roast
1 can Cherry Coke
BBQ Sauce of your choice - I like local brand Stubb's sauces or Cattlemen's Smokehouse

That's seriously all you need. Easy-peasy, right?

Put roast in crock pot. Salt and/or pepper to taste. Pour cherry coke over roast. Cook on low 8-10 hours, depending on your needs. The longer you cook it, the more tender the roast will be.

When the roast is finished, shred with two forks. Pour BBQ sauce over shredded meat and mix until moistened. Serve either on hamburger buns or in tortillas. Serves 2 for a week, or a houseful for a weekend!

**For a completely dairy-free meal, we eat this with black beans and rice (sans butter).

Enjoy!

Dairy Free's The Way For Me.

...not really. I'm just trying to psych myself out so I don't feel as defeated and forlorn as I do right now, looking down the barrel of a dairy-free future.

OK, OK, so maybe that's a bit dramatic, but if you think so, YOU try abstaining from all dairy for the past nearly four months, with no end in sight.

Not only can I not have dairy, but I just read this entire article (and many more afterwards that said the same thing) saying that I should avoid peanuts and peanut butter since A has a dairy allergy, so as not to predispose her to a peanut allergy. WHAT?!?!?! First off, that's news to me, and as such I've been stuffing my face with peanut butter for the past six months. Seriously, I cannot get enough of the stuff. Second, WTF. How am I going to live without dairy OR peanut butter? Geeeeeeeeeeeez.

OK, done crying now. I'm getting over it. It's the best thing for her so that I can continue to breastfeed and give her every advantage of breastmilk, which is important to me. More important than ice cream, or chocolate, or apples and peanut butter. Kind of.

Anyhow, seeing as how I'm stuck in this dairy-free lifestyle until I (or A, really) choose to discontinue breastfeeding, which isn't in the foreseeable future, it's time to stop whining and start making some fantastic dairy-free food.

Here is a dish that has been a favorite around this house of late:

Stuffed Bell Peppers (serves 2)
2 large bell peppers, shaped well for standing and being stuffed
1/2 lb. ground beef, give or take
1-2 cups rice (your preference - I like more)
1 14 oz. can tomato sauce
1/4 diced white or yellow onion
1 clove garlic, diced
A splash of Worchestershire sauce
Salt & Pepper to taste

Preheat the over to 400 degrees. In a medium skillet, brown the ground beef. Drain. Add onion and garlic to the pan with the meat, cook on medium heat until fragrant.

In a medium bowl, combine meat mixture, tomato sauce, worchestershire sauce and salt and pepper. Add rice. Mix until moistened.

Slice a straight, clean line into the tops of the peppers. Set the tops aside. Remove hull and seeds, and set pepper "shells" into an 8x8 pan. Fill with an inch of water. Scoop filling from bowl and stuff into peppers, packing tightly. Place tops back onto peppers, and place into your preheated oven for one hour. Enjoy!

Here's our finished product:



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