Category: Our Lives

Hello everyone! We are going to take a detour from our home tour to talk about EoE.

Eighteen months ago, I could have kicked out any meal without a second thought.  Today, my life, really I should say our life, has changed so much that meals can be extremely difficult for me to plan.

In October 2016, I found out I was allergic to wheat, nuts, egg whites, dairy, sesame, and soy.  But that wasn’t all of it, I already had several food allergies that included lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. So, what’s a girl to do when you have just been told 75% of the foods you eat are making you sick?  You react and maybe not in a good way.
In the beginning, I created meals just for me.  They were crazy, and I just couldn’t keep going.  Everything had to be made right before I ate.  Talk about time consuming.About 6 months into my diagnosis my doctor was concerned about how much nutrients I was getting because of the loss of so many healthy foods.  I met with a nutritionist and she gave me ideas to try.

Friends, if you are a bread lover like me, fake bread just doesn’t work.  I’ve tried a lot. And cheese–oh please, fake cheese is just bad.  So, my thought was if I have already removed these foods and I don’t like the fake version, I must find something else entirely.

I eat a lot of grilled foods, soups and chili’s in the winter, and rice.  But after months of eating the same thing, you need a change.  So, I have begun a bigger search. Once you start reading every label of every box and package, you realize that soy is in everything–it’s used as a filler. Wheat is in a lot of foods.  Gluten free products use nuts to replace ingredients.  I cried HELP! My search has led me to reach back to our past. Back to a time where everything was scratch made, but not necessarily time consuming.  As I look at cookbooks from the past 20-30 years, there are some really great recipes that I can eat!  This is such a relief to be able to plan meals that our whole family can eat.  We will be grilling soon and that will help also.Today, I have a meatloaf baking, Beef and Bean burritos in corn tortillas are being prepared, as well as an Italian Dish that I can use my gluten free noodles with- one on the only gluten free substitutes that tastes good when made right.  Yeah! Success!  When I crave a sweet, I do have options. I either go for a fruit cup or some times of of these gluten free brownies  Have you ever tried Enjoy Life Foods?  For people like me (and there are a lot of us!), this was a nice surprise. Click here to their website.

Enjoying Life! What a fresh concept. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

XO,

Susan

 

 

Wow! Now that was fast.

I hear this all the time.  Living in the moment is something that I truly strive to live by. With a large family comes a whirlwind of activities and life events.  I wouldn’t trade these days for anything.  So, lets focus on this beautiful day!

As we look back at where little man has come from, I always thank the Lord for our precious, precious gift.  Little man was born at 30 weeks.  It’s a long story, but both of our lives were at risk.  There were no options and there was little time to think about the only option.

In what seemed like a blink, but also a lifetime of minutes, little man was delivered.  A beautiful baby boy weighing in at 3 lbs 4 oz.

Today, he weighs himself daily.  His one true goal is to reach 80 lbs so he doesn’t have to use a booster seat in the car.  Well, 80 pounds is a long way off, but Lucky 8 has finally arrived and that booster seat is out!

Little man is kind hearted, generous, a true friend and a very busy follower of his siblings.  He loves to play games, ride his dirt bike, play baseball, play with friends and eat cake and ice cream.

Today we celebrate this milestone.  Eight years old! We have big plans that include a trampoline park and an endless amount of ice cream and toppings.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!  And don’t worry, I won’t be jumping on any trampolines–at least I hope not!

XO,

Susan