One Year

We are alive I promise.  I have felt like I needed to focus on my family for the last couple weeks and you know what I have loved it.  It has bee such a good family and I have been present for it.  My phone and the internet have come second and it has been exactly what I needed.  Today is Rose's one year since diagnosis.  I cannot believe it has been a year already.  Can you?

August 6th, 2013 will always be remembered in our house.  I have been reflecting on how far we have come in one year.  It is amazing.  Last year at this exact moment I thought life was great.  We had just moved to a new apartment, my husbands job was going great, my sister was in from Cincinnati and we were on top of the world.  Rose had some pain while urinating and was wetting the bed 3-4 times a at night.  I had scheduled an appointment to go see her regular pediatrician one year ago at 9:00AM.  One thing that I have noticed about Type 1 diabetic families is that you never forget the date of your diagnosis.

After going to the pediatrician we were told to rush down town tot he children's hospital because Rose might be a type one diabetic.  I remember sitting int he car after my doctor had told me this and just trying not break down in tears.  How in the world could my perfect happy little three year old have Type 1.  This wasn't supposed to happen.  I was supposed to happen.  I never thought as a child that I would ever be a mom to a child with a disease.  I was freaking out.  I started to freak out with my mom on the phone and I remember her telling me " Ashlee, you need to hold it together until you get to the hospital.  Rose can't see you freak out because then she will freak out."  I took a deep breath and drove.  10 minutes later we were at the hospital waiting for my family to come pick up James (who was one year and two weeks old) and my husband.  We met my husband in the parking lot and walked up to the fourth floor. We were the first room on the left and as we walked through the doors of the pediatrics unit we could see our room all prepared for us.  There was a princess pillow on the bed.  Rose was so excited to hear that, that was her pillow case and she could take it home with her.  Rose still sleeps on that pillow case.  We will be forever grateful to the person who donated that princess pillow case

Staying at the hospital was a whirlwind.  There were some many people coming to visit Rose, we were not sleeping because we were up every four hours checking her blood, and we were learning how to take care of Rose all over again.   I remember my having a headache for most of the time with all of the new information they were giving me.  I never thought I would ever get used to this new way of living.  I thought I would spend the rest of my life calculating our carbs and insulin dosage.  It was so overwhelming.  Luckily with time it has become second nature.  I can tell you on average how many carbs are in everything that we have ever eaten.  We can also do shots and check Rose's BG with out any tears from either of us.  And we can also change pump insertions with a little help with incentives.  We have come miles in just a year.  This has by far been the hardest year of my life but we have grown closer as a family and I have come to realize that my Rose is my hero.  She is a remarkable little girl and I am so proud to be her mom.

Rose has changed a lot in one year but I have changed as well.  Because of Rose's diagnosis I was forced to face my fear of needles.  I no longer get panic attacks when I have to get my blood drawn.  I have found a closer relationship with my Heavenly Father and I have found meditation.  I am off of my depression medication and I am more easy going.  A year has changed us for the better.  Type 1 Diabetes is a hard and horrible disease but we have grown and I look forward to what this next year holds for us.

Gluten Free and Egg Free Flat Bread

Gluten Free Flat Bread Dough 
6 c. Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
2/3 c. Powdered Milk
2 t. Sea Salt
5 t. Yeast
6 T. Olive Oil
2 t. Apple Cider vinegar
3 c. Warm Water

Mix wet ingredients in a mixer with the yeast.  Let set 15 minutes.  Add the dry ingredients.  Mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the mixer.  Use more Gluten Free All Purpose Flour until the dough is at a consistency similar to regular bread dough. I never roll mine out with a rolling pin.  I use my hands to flatten the dough.  Spray your hands with non-stick spray and take golf ball size dough and flatten with your hands.   Put on a pre-greased cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

 I have also fried these and made Navajo tacos.  They were delicious. Or if you want to make individual pizzas cook them for 10 min, pull them out and add toppings.  Continue to cook them for 15 minutes.  You could also freeze the pizza crust and toppings to make your own frozen pizzas.  This dough is amazing.  I love that I can use it for so many different meals.

All Purpose Gluten Free Flour

When we were first diagnosed with celiacs I was dying because I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to have a chocolate chip cookie ever again.  Well that all changed when I came across this gluten free all purpose flour.  I have yet to find a recipe that I couldn't replace regular white wheat flour with this gluten free flour.

Gluten Free All Purpose Flour

7 c. White Rice Flour
5 c. Tapiocaflour
1/4 c. Xanthum Flour
1 oz unflavored Gelatin
1/4 c. egg replacement
1/2 c. sugar

Mix well and place in an airtight container.  You can freeze this or let it sit out on your counter.  I like to double my recipe so I don't have to mix the flours every week.  When I double the recipe it usually last me about a month.

Gluten Free Lemon Squares

These are my absolute favorite gluten free recipe I have made. I am not usually a big fan of lemon but man these hit the spot during the summer for me.  I loved them when they were loaded with gluten but I love them even more now.  Rose loves them too. they might not be the best thing for her Blood Glucose but every once in a while it is nice to have a treat.


 Lemon Squares
Gluten Free Style

2 cups All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Replacement
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup melted butter

Combine and pat in lightly grease 9x13" glass baking pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until just golden brown around the edges of the pan. While this is cooking start working on the custard.

2 cups Sugar
6 T. Lemon juice (You can squeeze your own or use concentrate)
1/4 c. All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Replacement
4 eggs

Beat together well in a bowl. Pour over the right after the 15 minutes is up.  Put the pan back in the oven for another 25 min.  Take out when the edges of the pan are slightly brown around the edges.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Let cool and then cut into squares.

***If you don't want this recipe to be gluten free just replace the all purpose gluten free flour with regular white flour.  It is a cup for cup replacement**** I have also used half the GF all purpose flour with almond flour to add more protein to the recipe.  wither way these lemon squares are so good.***

Let me know what you think of this recipe. My family loves them and they are so easy to make. I dare you to just eat one.

June 2014

Why does life go by so fast?  I can't believe June is already half way over. It has seriously flown by.  We have been so busy, which has been good, but it certainly doesn't leave me much time to write on my blog.  Here are some of my favorite pictures from June so far this month.  The first one is of James sneaking chocolate out of my diaper bag. He has such a sweet tooth it is so funny.  He hears, sees, or smells anything sweet and he is all over you.

The next picture is of Rose and her first dog Champ.  My husband and I got Champ a couple months after we got married from my Brother.  He has been such an amazing and we love him.  When we had to move into an apartment we gave him to my husbands family.  They have loved having him around.  In February he was diagnosed with a type of face cancer.  This last month we have decided that it is time to let him go.  He is becoming more and more uncomfortable and having a hard time eating because of his tumor on his face.  We will miss Champ so much.  

 I have been making a ton of new recipes this month with the gluten free all purpose flour.  Every Friday night we have gotten to go back to making our own pizzas which the kids love. They are so good too.  I will have to post that recipe soon.

 These are tow of my best friends kiddos.  My kids love them and love hanging out with them.  Which is good because we are over at their house all of the time.  We have been working on a garden together and taking swim lessons together.  We love them.

 This is the small garden.  The bigger garden we have been working on is three times as big.  We might be crazy having that big of a garden, but we have been loving it so far.

 These are the goats at my friends house too. They have been so much fun for the kids to play with.  Rose loves them and loves going into the pasture to feed them grass.

Computer is on the Fritz

I have loved being off of facebook but I haven' been able to keep up on the blog because my computer is on the fritz.  We are all doing great.  Rose had another endo appointment and got a 7.3 A1C.  Perfect score.  I was so excited.  Rose has been doing swim lessons and is loving it.  We have also all been working in our garden and enjoying the wonderful weather. I celebrated my 26th birthday.  I am getting so old.  We had family in town and got some family pictures taken.  I love them and I was so excited for them.  It has been a long time since a family photo.  Thank you Carrie you did a wonderful job.  Well hopefully I can get my computer fixed, but until, little short updates will have to do.

Memorial Day 2014

I have loved everything about not being on Facebook this last week.  I have been so much more productive and I feel so much less stress.  It has been wonderful.  I have also gotten along with my children so much better these last couple days because my life revolves around them and nothing more.  It has been wonderful.
On memorial day this week we took our friends four wheeling out at my husband's parents house.  To say it was fun is an understatement.  We loved every minute of it.  We have been so blessed with wonderful friends lately.  After four wheeling we headed back to their place for a BBQ.  It was so good.

We are all so blessed to live in a country were we are free.  I am grateful for the men and women who have died to make this country a place where my family is free.  Thank you for your service and determination.

Rose Passed Out

I have not wanted to write this down, because I have been hiding it but I finally think I am ready to let go of this experience.  Even now thinking about it starts a panic attack and I can't believe I actually lived through it.  I should probably give you some background on my personality and why I am so afraid of what happened. When Rose was diagnosed last August with Type One Diabetes, they told us to watch out for lows because Rose can pass out  and die if her Blood Glucose goes too low for a long period of time.  Everything else with diabetes was hard but I could handle that.  The low blood glucose and her passing out scared me too death.  I have never been good with dramatic incidents.

 If you ask any of my family members how I react during a crisis it would be that she starts having a panic attack and freaking out.  I can remember very specific incidents in my life where I don't know how to react except to start yelling and having a panic attack.  One of those experiences is when I was in a car accident with my brother.  We weren't hurt but we had a collision with a car that pushed us into a 8ft chain link fence.  I was screaming and having an all out panic attack where I couldn't even breath.  My brother was so fed up with me that he had to tell me to "shut up" so he could help the other car.  The other memory that comes to mind is when I was in labor with Rose.  I labored with her for 12 hours and finally my doctor came in and told me that it was time for a c-section.  I was so scared and panicked, I burst into tears and couldn't control my breathing at all.  My husband, my mom, and my dad all had to calm me down.  I do not deal well with crisis moments. When the doctors warned me that my daughter had a higher possibility of passing out it scared me.  I never wanted to experience it.  Well this last week I did and surprisingly I didn't start screaming, I actually knew what to do.

Now that you know more about how I react in a crisis you can understand why I was so afraid of Rose passing out.  With every fiber of my being I did not want us to go through that trial.  I begged and begged not to have to experience something like that. Now being on the other side I know that my natural instinct and adrenaline kicks in and I can get Rose's Blood Glucose back up.

Last Friday, Rose was complaining of her ear hurting.  She kept tugging on it.  I kept telling her that we needed to wait for Daddy to get home before we could do anything.  We waited and with in one hour of the ear starting to hurt she started crying in pain from it.  I left James with my husband at home and took Rose to the after hours doctor.  We had to wait for 30 minutes to get in and by then Rose was a complete disaster.  She was crying and begging me to take away the pain in her ear.  I couldn't do anything except try to distract her with my phone.  Finally we got to see the doctor and sure enough she had a double inner ear infection.  He prescribed her an antibiotic, ear numbing drops, and codine to help ease the pain.  We then were in a hurry to get to the pharmacy to pick up her prescription to ease her pain and discomfort.  We dropped the prescription off and I told Rose she could have ice cream to help distract her.  She kept crying and screaming in agony as we picked up the ice cream.  Then we headed back to pharmacy to wait.  The pharmacist told us it would be ten minutes, well fifteen minutes later they still weren't done.  I was so frustrated that I had this screaming four year old and the pharmacist couldn't hurry any faster.

Rose all of a sudden started to calm down and her eyes kept rolling back into her head.  I kept telling her to wake up and tried to talk to her to keep her awake. She wasn't at all coherant so my gut told me something was wrong. I started to look for her Blood glucose meter to check her blood. Of course she had forgotten to grab her bag in our hurry out the door.  Which meant I had no candy, glucagon pen, or glucose tabs to get her blood sugar up.  I frantically moved the cart down several isles, trying to find anything with sugar to get her blood glucose up.  I finally found some glucose tabs and started breaking them up and putting them on her tongue. In between her eyes rolling back into her head I was able to talk to her enough for her to start chewing the tablets.  After about three tablets I knew she should start feeling a little better. After about five minutes she started to come to.  My adrenaline was pumping so hard that I didn't even notice the pharmacist telling us that Rose's prescription was filled. Rose was still pretty tired from everything but she wasn't on the verge of passing out anymore.  We got our prescriptions and headed home.

When we got home my husband kept asking me what happened and what I did.  Honestly to this day I still don't remember much of what happened.  I know that I was being led around the store and told what to do, because I don't act well in a crisis.  The good news is that we are fine.  Rose didn't remember anything and she had no idea how freaked out I was.  Which is such a blessing.  I don't want her to take on any of my fears about diabetes.  She has enough to worry about then how her mother is terrified of this stupid disease.

On the other side of this incident I am grateful for several things.  First I am grateful that James wasn't with us.  Rose had all of my attention and I didn't miss a single sign of her low blood glucose.  Second I am grateful I was in a pharmacy when it happened.  They had everything I needed there, even if we had forgotten out diabetic back pack at home.  And third I am grateful for my mother's intuition that I knew something was wrong with out even testing her blood glucose. I hope I never have to experience it again, but I made it through it and I am stronger because of it.

Gluten Free Chicken Salad Sandwich

My husband loves chicken salad sandwiches.  He has missed them so much since we have have gone gluten free.  So this week I surprised him with Gluten Free Chicken Salad Sandwiches.  They are so good.  I use this bread recipe to make pizza dough, pitas, and even flat breads that I put PB&J on for lunch.  Rose has really missed her Pb&J sandwiches.  P.S. There are a lot of steps to making these so I hope you don't get lost. Without further audieu...

Gluten Free Chicken Salad
Six Sister's Cafe

1/4 cup white vinegar
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)
1-1/4 cup mayonnaise
1-1/4 cup sour cream
4 stocks celery, chopped
1 bunch green onion, chopped
4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts; cooked and shredded

Directions:
Mix vinegar, salt, pepper, mayonnaise and sour cream together.  Mix celery, green onion and chicken in separate bowl. Mix all ingredients together. Let set overnight or for a few hours for the best flavor.  Serve on buns or rolls.

Easter 2014

I love Easter.  I love spring and I love everything that goes along with it.  Easter has always meant a lot to me.  I love celebrating with my family the day that my Redeemer was resurrected. I have a testimony of Christ and I am so grateful for His atoning sacrifice.  Because of Him I know that death is only a transition from this world to the next.  I know that I will be with my family forever and that one day my little girl will have a perfect pancreas.  (This is the picture that is hanging above Rose's bed.)









We were lucky enough to be at  my friends house watching her dog for Easter this year.  My kids loved being in a house and I loved the space.  We also went to church and then headed over to my brother's house for some celebration with my family. Easter is all about families and what Christ did so that I might be able to be with them for eternity.

Gluten Free Easter Pancakes.

Thai Meatball Lettuce Wraps

Thai Meatball Lettuce Wraps

Adapted from Abundant Bowl’s Recipe

Anne Woodhouse, CHN

Boise Natural Health

Anne@AbundantBowl.com

208.867.6612

1 ½ pound ground turkey meat

2 green onions (White and Green parts)

2 cloves garlic 

2 T. Parsley

1 large egg, lightly beaten 

2 Tablespoon olive oil 

1 ½ Tablespoons Asian fish sauce,

½ t sea salt 

Preheat oven to 350 F. 

Finely dice the onion and the garlic, keep separate. Wash and finely chop 

parsley. Sauté the onion in olive oil over medium heat until soft and sweet. Add 

the garlic in the last minute and cook just until fragrant (1-2 minutes). 

Combine meat, onions, parsley, beaten egg, and seasonings in a bowl and mix 

with a spatula or your hand until combined. (Note not to over mix or this will 

make you meatball tough!) 

 Cover and leave in the refrigerator for half an hour or several hours for the 

flavors to meld. Note, more time, more flavor. ( I freeze mine for up to a week.)

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment or foil and scoop out a tablespoon 

of the mixture. Roll in your hands to form the meatball and place on the lined 

baking sheet. Have a bowl of cold water beside you to dampen your hands 

with; this helps them not get too sticky for rolling the meatballs.

Bake the meatballs for 20-25 minutes until cooked through. Remove carefully 

and drain on several layers of paper towels for a couple of minutes before 

transferring to a serving platter. While your meatballs are cooking make your Nuoc Cham Dipping Sauce. I serve my meatballs with lettuce and brown rice. 

Nuoc Cham (Dipping Sauce)

Adapted from Abundant Bowl’s Recipe

Anne Woodhouse, CHN

Boise Natural Health

Anne@AbundantBowl.com

208.867.6612

2 Tbsp. maple syrup 

½ cup water 

¼ cup fish sauce 

1/3-cup rice vinegar 

1 lime juiced 

1cloves garlic, minced 

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes 

1 green onion, thinly sliced 

 Combine all ingredients together in a small jar. Store in refrigerator until ready to 

use. The sauce will keep in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks. 

Quinoa Bites

Can life please slow down?  I am running around with my head cut off and can't seem to get caught up.  So the blog once again gets neglected.  We have been finding some really good recipes lately that we love.  Here is the one from this week.   It is once again from Mel's Kitchen.  I told you I love her food. She is amazing.  This is the original recipe.

Cheesy Ham and Broccoli Quinoa Bites

Adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

YIELD: MAKES 2-3 DOZEN MINI BITES

INGREDIENTS

3 cups cooked quinoa, chilled or at room temperature

2 eggs, lightly beaten

8 ounces deli ham, chopped fine (about 1 1/2 cups)

1-2 cups finely chopped steamed broccoli

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup shredded swiss cheese

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, stir together all the ingredients except the cheese until combined. Stir in the cheese until well-distributed. Lightly grease a mini muffin cup tin. Scoop the quinoa mixture into the tin, filling the cups all the way to the top and lightly pressing to pack the mixture a bit. I found it helpful to use my cookie scoop (about 2 tablespoon size) to scoop the mixture into the tin.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, until golden on top. Remove from the tin and repeat with the remaining mixture (you can scoop it into the warm tin and bake again). Serve warm or at room temperature.

BBQ Chicken Salad

I have been collecting gluten free meals for about four weeks now.  I have come across ones that I have loved and ones that I can't even eat.  It has been so hard on my husband how much food we have been throwing out but it is such a learning experience.  One of my favorite food blogs is melskitchencafe.com.  I have loved her recipes for years and she even has some gluten free recipes I have been using.  I am going to try and start documenting what we eat all day and help everybody out with how we went gluten free.  honestly it hasn't been that bad and we have really found meals that we have loved.  Tonight we had leftovers from last night.  It was so good the first night I was craving it again tonight.  Here is the link for the regular recipe.  Below is my Gluten Free version.

Mel’s Kitchen café’s

BBQ Chicken Salad with Creamy BBQ Cilantro Lime Dressing

Note: this recipe calls for already cooked chicken so plan ahead! I like to cook my chicken in the crock pot, using a whole chicken. I usually melt 2 Tablespoons of butter on the bottom of my crock pot.  Then I take out all of the innards of the chicken and stick an apple in the cavity.  Then I rub it with Sea Salt, Garlic Powder, and a pinch of cayenne. I put the chicken in my crock pot on high for 4 hours.   It is really easy and so cheap.  We eat all of the meat usually within a couple days and then I make a bone broth with the left over bones.  I also make my own beans once a week.  I put them in my crock pot one night and then I don’t have to purchase canned beans.  Another way I have found to save money eating Gluten Free.

INGREDIENTS

Chicken and Salad:

·         3 cups cooked, shredded chicken

·         2 cups BBQ sauce (Make sure yours is Gluten Free)

·         ½ head iceberg lettuce, cored and chopped

·         2 romaine hearts, chopped ( I use 3 cups Spinach)

·         1/2 red onion diced

·         ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

·         1 1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed

·         1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained

·         4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, cubed small or shredded

·         4 ounces Monterey jack cheese, cubed small or shredded

Creamy BBQ Cilantro Lime Dressing:

·         1 cup mayonnaise, light or regular

·         1/3 cup milk

·         1/3 cup buttermilk ( I make my own Buttermilk by putting lemon Juice in milk)

·         2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped

·         1 tablespoon lime juice

·         1 teaspoon white vinegar

·         1 teaspoon granulated sugar

·         1 garlic clove, finely minced

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

·         1/8 teaspoon black pepper

·         1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

·         1/4 to 1/2 cup BBQ sauce

DIRECTIONS

1.   For the salad, combine the cooked chicken and BBQ sauce in a medium bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use.

2.   In a large bowl, toss together the iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, red onion, cilantro, corn, black beans and cheese. Toss the mixed salad with about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the dressing, if desired. Otherwise, you can serve the dressing on the side. Place salad on plates and top with the prepared BBQ chicken and additional dressing.

3.   For the dressing, combine all the ingredients together and whisk (or shake, if using a jar) vigorously to combine. You could also run this through a blender to make it even more smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

NOTES

Make Ahead Instructions: All the components of this salad can be prepared up to a day in advance (the dressing can be made up to 3 days in advance). Store separately in the refrigerator and toss before serving.

Catching up...

We have had a ton of things going on lately and I have been horrible about keeping the blog updated. Rose is doing exceptionally well with eating gluten free. I know she doesn't like eating gluten because if given the choice she always chooses not to eat the gluten. I have given her the choice when we are surrounded by cake, bread, and other things that have gluten. It is easier on both of us if she is the one choosing not to eat the gluten. Then I don't have to feel guilty and she doesn't keep asking because I said "No."

Let's see what else have we been up to. We are doing another fundraiser for JDRF on this Monday so we are in full planning mood around here. I am not sure what I was thinking but this week I also decided to rearrange our home, moving every piece of furniture trying to make it feel bigger. It looks a lot better but man it has been a ton of work. My computer was taken down to move and I still haven't put it back up. Hence the reason why I haven't blogged in so long.

Oh and our insurance finally came through. Yeah! So we are pumping once again. Rose was excited to pump again but the last two times we have changed her insertion she has been very scared. We try to comfort her as much as we can but the truth is I don't blame her. I don't know if I could even have enough courage to put the insertion in myself. She is remarkably brave and courageous. I am constantly amazed at her determined personality. I will get my computer up soon and tell you all about what we have been eating and all the recipes we have liked and hated.

Happy Birthday Rose!!!

We celebrated Rose's 4th birthday on Sunday, April 6th.  We had a ton of fun with family and Rose blew out her candles on top of ice cream. She thought it was so cool that she had candles on ice cream.

If you would have told me ten years ago that I would have a child with celieacs disease and is a type one diabetic I would have thought you were crazy.  I never imagined having a child anything less than perfect.   But the truth is I am so proud to be the mother of Rose.  She is the bravest and most determined child i have ever met.  She is beautiful inside and out.  I am so blessed to be her mom.  She has great things ahead of her and she is not going to let these diseases hold her back. Happy Birthday and we love you so much!!!!

2 Weeks Gluten Free

It has been exactly 11 days since Rose was diagnosed with Celiac's.  It is crazy how fast time goes by.  I barely starting to feel like I can manage it. But then there are times right before I feed the kids that I wonder what I am going to feed them.  The biggest change for me is the fact that it takes me atleast an hour to prepare food, eat and then clean up for each meal.  We eat three meals and two snacks a day, that means I spend over five hours a day in my kitchen cooking.  It is a ton of work but Rose has been feeling so much better.

We have been fundraising for JDRF the last two weeks which has made us super busy.  A week ago we raised over $400 for JDRF selling hot dogs at Walmart that were provided to us by Coco-cola.  On April 14th we are going to be doing another fundraiser, but this time with my favorite place to eat... Costa Vida.  So excited for it, but it does mean a ton of work for me. So I am going to make this post short and tomorrow my post will be a special spot light on Rose.  She turns four tomorrow.  Not sure how I feel about being a mom of a four year old.

Celiac's Disease

Rose was diagnosed officially with celiac's disease on March 25, 2014.  It has been seven months since her diagnosis of Type one diabetes.  I have been preparing for this diagnosis for weeks but the last couple days have been so hard on me.  I am trying to work on all the emotions that come with a new disease diagnosis for my three year old.  It is a hard thing to swallow.  In a perfect world my children would be perfect physically and mentally.  But the world isn't perfect unfortunately.  I haven't wanted to post much on my blog, answer my phone, return text messaging or even get on Facebook.  I need time to feel all of these emotions, so I will post when I am ready too.

 But I did want to let you know that I we are adjusting slowly but surely.  Rose is thriving not being on gluten.  No more tummy aches and her Blood glucose has been perfect the last couple of days.  I have heard going gluten free would help out with Blood glucose but oh my has it changed it.  I feel confident it is what our whole family needs, so over all it is good.  just really hard right now.  But I can do hard things and I will be stronger because of this new stumbling block placed in my path.  thank you for all of your love and support. We have truly felt the prayers of everyone and help from the other side giving us peace and comfort.

Gluten Free Diet Plan

We are pretty good eaters but going to gluten free is going to be a challenge.  I have crazy cravings and I am not very nice when I don't get what I am craving so this will be hard.  Good in the long run but hard.  I had the wonderful opportunity to talk to Anne Woodhouse at Boise Natural Health about how we are going to make the switch.  I met her once before through JDRF.  She has an adult daughter who is a Type one and she is gluten intolerant. She was wonderful and I got of the phone with her and felt like I can actually do this. Now it would be nice to talk to her everyday just so I have someone telling me that I can do this.

I have had so many questions about our game plan is so here it is.  Our first priority when we take care of Rose is diabetes, then gluten intolerance, and finally cholesterol.  When we know what the order of priority is caring for Rose it makes it a ton easier to make decisions.  First is diabetes.  Luckily I have that pretty much under control.  Of course we have our highs and lows but for me it is completely manageable at this point.  Next is the gluten intolerance.  If you don't know a lot about gluten intolerance here is a little information to make it easier to understand.

Gluten intolerance in an auto-immune disease too.  It has over 300 symptoms and is almost always misdiagnosed.  Rose was complaining of stomach aches every time that she would eat. That was really the only symptom that I noticed with Rose at first.  Now looking back I can see some of the other symptoms.  Here is the whole list of symptoms.  The thing about it, is that most of these symptoms can be anything so it makes it almost impossible to know for sure if your child is gluten intolerant unless you get a blood draw or take gluten completely out of your diet.

What is Gluten? Gluten is a protein that gives elasticity to dough to help it rise. It is in just about everything.  It is in things from bread to certain types of drinks. When you are intolerant to gluten your internal organs get inflamed and you have several of the previous symptoms.  Gluten intolerant is kind of hard to understand because it is at a molecular level.  I am still learning about it and I haven't gotten a full grasp of it.  One thing that I do know is that when you are gluten intolerant it can affect your cholesterol levels.   Which was great news for us.  We are hoping that if we go gluten free that we will be able to lower Rose's cholesterol with out cutting out all animal bi-products.  YEAH!

After talking to Anne here is our game plan.  We are hoping to start our new gluten free life on April 1st. We will be very strict with no gluten replacements for the first 4 weeks.  We are trying to clean out Rose's body and get it back to it's natural state.  After 4 weeks, we might start trying new things such as potato flour and rice flour. But until then we are going to eat things that are naturally gluten free.  Such as vegetables, fruits, brown rice, quinoa, legumes,poultry, nuts, and seeds. Anne made it easy for me.  So stated that the first thing I need to do with every meal and snack is start out with two vegetables that are two different colors.  Now for breakfast we might substitute veggies for fruit.  Then we need a protein such as nuts, seeds, meat, or legumes.  We also need to have a complex carb, such as a low fat dairy product, brown rice, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and quinoa.

The other thing we need to add into our diet is a Bone Broth.  I haven't gotten a recipe for this yet basically you boil bones from chickens or beef and get all of the minerals our of the bones.  This bone broth helps to rebuild Rose's intestinal lining and replenish her system of the much needed minerals and vitamins she hasn't been able to get with her internal organs being inflamed and also not having insulin to digest her food properly. We will also be switching to every thing organic.  That way we can give Rose the purest form of all of her food.  That includes milk and we will be finding someone local to buy eggs from.  My sister says that Costco has a ton of organic products and also sells organic milk.

These is the plan now I am trying to figure out meal plans for four weeks.  Our 28 days with gluten free breakfasts, lunch, dinner, and two snacks a day.  I will post them when I get them done.

Update

We have been running around with our heads cut off around here.  I am just trying to keep sane so blogging has fallen to the way side.  We have not gone gluten free because we have to wait for our appointment with our gastroenterology (GI) on the 31st of March.  We are in limbo and it is so hard.  Every time I feed her gluten I know it is making her feel sick but I can't go gluten free until we meet with the GI.  So we wait and I am trying to collect as many meals and snack ideas I can find.  I am also trying to plan four weeks of gluten free so that when it comes time to change I can just focus on changing my eating habits not what I am going to fix for dinner.  There are so many great recipes out there and I am getting excited about it.  Hopefully tomorrow I can start posting some of my plans about how we are going to change our eating habits and my daily eating plans.  But today I just wanted to catch up with some pictures of what we have been up to around here.

First Little Princess Rose had some fun with some scissors.  She cut a ton of hair off.  I was so upset, but I was also so glad that she did that after we had met with all of those businesses last week. Here is the damage that was done.  Hair spraying the top of her head and doing a side ponytail covers it up pretty well.

 James was not so innocent this last week either.  He is such a monkey.  He gets into everything around my house.   The first picture is of his painting he did on his face with whiteout.  He got some in his mouth that he was not so happy about.

 We have construction going on outside of our window across the canal.  Well this is where I will always find James.  Not just looking at the tractors sitting nicely on the couch but in my window sill.

 We took James to the pediatrician for his 18 month check up which ended up being good.  We found out that he has his first ear infection and they gave him an antibiotic.  Literally two seconds ago Rose came in yelling that James was in something.  I went to my kitchen and this is what I found.  James opened up his child proof medicine cap and dumped it all out on the counter.  Apparently child proof isn't so child proof for James.  I don't even think Rose could open it up.  Crazy boy.

Oh and if you haven't noticed James is in a diaper in all of these.  He refuses to wear his clothes and when I get his clothes on he takes them off.  So he wears a diaper in the house.  Even keeping his diaper on is a fight most days. It isn't worth the fight most of the time. 

We have also been going to the park as much as possible as a family.  The kids love it and I can take a breath and not be afraid they are going to get into something they are not supposed to.