Trader Joe's

Mom, the little boys and I went to Trader Joe's today.  Mom and I have been meaning to go down there since sometime last year.  We've heard they have a great selection of gluten free foods, and that they aren't really that expensive.  Well - now that Dawn has been showing signs of being at least gluten sensitive if not gluten intolerant, I figured now was the time to go down and check it out. I'm going to be making the household 99% gluten free.  I don't want to make it 100% gluten free, and I'm not sure I'd be able to successfully be able to do it 100% all the time so why try to?

It was a long drive down there today, I'm not sure if it was just because of Gordon having a fussier day today or what the deal was, but it seemed to take forever to get there, and equally long on the way back.  The car accident on the way home didn't help either.  At one point of our trip home - there's a certain stretch that takes 15 minutes to get from one exit to another - it took 40 minutes.  It seemed longer then that when Gordon picked that time to start screaming bloody murder. Yesterday I ate some cheese by accident and I think that helped contribute to his fussiness. Going Casein Free/Dairy Free is a lot harder then I thought it would be, more so then going Gluten Free originally.  Not sure why. :(

In some ways it was worth the time and drive to go down there to check out Trader Joe's.  It reminded mom of an old fashion grocery store. It doesn't have any or very little processed foods. The fresh produce was very yummy looking and low prices.  A thing of bananas was $0.19 and organic ones was $0.29.  Normally in our local grocery store regular ones are $0.59.  Their Brown rice pasta was almost 1.00 cheaper, and there were a few other things too. The Almond milk that I've been drinking was also a 1.00 cheaper here. So I bought a couple.

I was a little disappointed though. I was expecting for them to have a larger selection of GF flours and baked goods. Even more GF crackers and breads. They had only 1 kind of each.  They had a HUGE print out list of GF foods, but they aren't in one section of the store, you have to look for a G symbol on the packaging.  So we'll see. Mom and I are talking about coming back down to check it out again...but without Cyril with.  lol.  It's not that he was naughty, but he was everywhere trying to "help" us grocery shop. Every time I turned around he was putting stuff in his cart, that he thought we'd want. It wasn't junk food, just gluten food. lol.

 It was good for us to go down, because we've always heard about how people just LOVE to go to Trader Joe's, but I just wasn't so sure about it, and if the benefits out way the drive down there.  The jury is still out on that as far as mom and I are concerned.  But it was interesting getting people's opinions for or against Trader Joe's on my facebook account.  So far it's all been positive.

God Bless~

7 weeks already!

Times sure seems to fly during summer break, and when you add a newborn it seems to fly even faster.  Gordon was 7 weeks on Thursday. I can't believe it!!! Where has the time gone. He's getting bigger every day, and it's been neat seeing the changes in the kids in regards to Gordon.  Last Wednesday, he was weighed for an appointment and came in 13lbs  5 oz. He measured in at  23 inches.  So, I guess momma's milk is working well for him.

Nursing is getting better, but it's still a challenge at times. I'm really glad that I made the decision not to take on any new children under the age of 2 this summer because I wasn't sure how things would go with him. It would have been really hard to nurse him, and take care of a young toddler or infant.  One of my daycare families had to stop coming, because their dad last his job (damn economy), and I was really sad.  Mr. E was just on the verge of taking his 1st steps and I've missed that big milestone.  It's turning out to be a blessing though that he and his sister is not here, considering the challenges that I've had with nursing Gordon. 

Plus Gordon is turning out to be a fussier baby then Cyril was. He's more like his sister Dawn at this age. So that's been a tough on all of us.  Mom has been a HUGE and I mean huge blessing with him, especially during the work week when Jessie is gone.  I'm not sure what the kids and I would have done with her.  She says that Gordon looks so much like me when I was a baby at that age, only he's a lot bigger then I was ( I was only 7lbs when I was born. lol.)  So that in a way is a blessing, because she's really bonded with him, I wasn't sure if she would.

I discovered something very interesting in the last couple of weeks.  Since Gordon has been so fussy almost colic like (Dawn has colic. Ugh, that was hard), I've been on the hunt to find out if there was a cause.  He also has eczema really bad.  I read an interesting article about fussy babies/colic babies and milk sensitivities.  These babies also tend to have the acid reflux eczema, and, are also the spitters too when fed formula. (Breastfed babies spit, but not as often and most certainly not as bad.)So at this point I was ready to try anything. So I cut out the cow's milk and dairy products I was consuming, in hopes that it would help.  And that has seemed to really help things, and his eczema has disappeared almost. Why did no one tell me!! So as of now I'm GFDF or GFCF depending on who you talk too. (DF=Dairy free or CF = casein free) I'm getting used to almond milk in my coffee. I haven't been brave enough to try it in my cereal. I will not do soy milk, because of what Soy does to the male body.  I figure Gordon's already getting enough soy products from the foods that I eat, and he's getting enough synthetic estrogen already from the environment...why the hec would I add more? He's also proving to be sensitive to gluten products.  Up until recently I thought that I had been able to eat gluten products without having any attacks on my body the 2years I nursed Cyril. I know, I know - dummy me. Recently that was proven wrong to me, and to top it off, the same days that I had gluten products, Gordon was fussy and had extremely messy diapers, worse then what a normal breastfed baby has.

I am missing alot of the dairy products, but it's not forever.  I figure I'll try in back in my diet in 4-6months and see what happens. If' he's still the same, then I will continue to avoid till after he is done nursing. After I started doing this, my mom reminded me that my cousin Jess was lactose intolerant or had a milk sensitivity as a child.  Plus Cyril is sensitive to milk too.  We haven't taken him off dairy though, and I'm starting to wonder if we should.  So we'll see what happens for Gordon.

God Bless~

Craving something sweet....

Well this week, I have had horrible cravings for something sweet. It's crazy how I can't seem to get enough sweets...maybe if I indulged in some, I'd stop craving them. I just don't want to add anymore weight to this body. ha! So anyways, I saw a recipe that sounded really good in one of my emails. Called Amish Bob & Andy pie. I adapted it so it would be GF, and I even made the crust GF too. It sure smelled really good, but Jessie and I don't think it tastes that good. Dawn loved it, Spencer & Cyril wouldn't even touch it. Here is the finished product.

I was bound and determined to have something sweet tonight. So I cooked up a Betty Crocker GF cake mix and am trying Pamela's Vanilla frosting mix....so far the frosting tastes great in the bowl. lol.

Here's the frosting in the bowl, ready to go. Not to bad tasting, very sweet.I think I made it a little to thin, now that I spread it on the cake. It just looked really thick when I was mixing it. The kitchen now smells like almond extract. Note to self remember to put caps back on things right away.

Just wish the cake didn't look so dense. I miss that about gluten cakes, they don't look dense like their gluten free counter parts. The Betty Crocker mixes taste in my humble opinion taste the same....just wish gluten free ones weren't so expensive.

Here's the finished product...it didn't turn out so bad...

Now where's a tall cold glass of milk when you want one....

Side note=I've finally joined the ranks of other bloggers who add pictures to their blogs. I finally figured it out. lol...guess I was slow to change.

God Bless,
Carlena

It appeared!

The it that I'm talking about is our federal tax refund. Compared to years past it's a small one this year, but we are just thankful that we didn't need to pay into taxes for it or have it taken for child support for the twins, like our state stuff is. (Which is fine - a whole long story about that.) This year, knock on wood we didn't need it for car repairs...yet. And with Jessie having only been able to work less then 1 month since the beginning of the new year, it came at a perfect time for us to get things catch up, and get some things that we needed too.

As a result we were able to treat the family to dinner. We took the kids out to eat at Mexican Village restaurant and it was a great time. I was nervous to take the kids out to eat on a Saturday night in this town. If your town is like ours on a Saturday night it's CRAZY!!!! lol. We actually didn't have to wait to long (30-45minute wait @ around 6:30), and service was great! I love going there because they have a good gluten free menu for me to choose from, but they have stuff equally that everyone can eat. The only down side was that mom wasn't able to come. That's her favorite restaurant, but she was in Rochester visiting my relatives there, and they all went to the near by town that my uncle Greg is staying at.

Back to the restaurant, Cyril was funny, while we were waiting to be seated. He has been becoming more of a chatterbox every day, and he loved telling me what color birds where hanging in the lobby area. lol. And if had a lot of colors, his hands get spread as wide as he can make them, and says "Lots and lots of colors mom." :) All three of the kids were pleasant to be with, and another miracle accord with Dawn & Spencer....NO ARGUING!!! :D

I'm so glad that the evening ended on such a great note.

God Bless~
Carlena