Let's Do This!

Ok, these past few months have been pretty terrible. Lots of different things to deal with (more on that here), and basically blogging was the last thing on my mind. However, I think it's time for an update.

Two weeks ago we went in for Levi's 3 year appointment and things did NOT go well :(    To be fair, he was barely getting over some nasty stomach bug and he hadn't eaten much (if anything!) in well over 4 days. He was well hydrated, though. Anyway, so he only weighed in at 27.2 pounds, landing him somewhere between the 5-10%. Boo.  It's quite unfortunate that he got sick right before his appointment because I'm quite certain he was well over 30 pounds. Oh well.

Naturally, his pediatrician freaked out (rightly so) and referred him to a GI specialist and a nutritionist. Ugh. To make matters worse, apparently Eva didn't gain enough weight either (but she's in the 40%) so she was referred to the GI specialist as well. AND when she checked her throat it looked pretty red, so she had her checked for strep and tested positive! AAHH!!

All in all, a horrible appointment. I honestly just wanted to sit down and cry. Fortunately, I have an incredibly level-headed and supportive pediatrician mother who came over after work and completely made me feel better. We'd just take things one step at a time and both kids would be fine.

Turns out she was right. I weighed Levi yesterday and he's 29.6 pounds (that's almost 3 pounds in just 2 weeks!) AND he's 39.5 inches tall; he grew over an inch! Eva is over her strep (never once showing any symptoms) and she has gained weight as well :)  Great way to start the new year!

Here are a few pictures of Levi right after his Dr. appointment:

My poor little guy. He's filled out CONSIDERABLY since then. I had to let out 2 buttons from each side of his jeans :)

Happy, healthy boy eating a pickle on Christmas morning.

And here's the Gluten Free Monkey Bread I made Christmas morning:

It was amazing! If you haven't tried Better Batter you absolutely HAVE to! It's the most amazing substitute for wheat all-purpose flour. You can buy it here. 

Monkey Bread

1 recipe Super Versatile Bread Dough

1 Cup cinnamon sugar

For syrup:

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a bundt pan and set aside. 

With well-greased hands, make small balls of dough and roll them in the cinnamon sugar. I actually used a very small ice cream scoop (well greased) to make sure all the little balls were even. Drop them around the bundt pan until all the dough is used up. 

Cover pan with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft-free place. Let rise until doubled in size, approximately 40 minutes. 

Mix brown sugar with butter and pour evenly over the top of the risen bread dough. Cover with aluminum foil, and bake for approximately 40 minutes. 

When done, allow it to cool for a few minutes before inverting on a platter. Enjoy warm!

I'm a horrible blogger!

Cut me some slack, we've been busy! A few things have happened since my last post. First, we moved! We're loving the extra space and a room for each kid. It's awesome and they're sleeping much better! Second, David got a new job! Woohoo! I especially love it because his new company sponsors the Dallas Mavericks, Texas Rangers, and Dallas Cowboys, so he gets a ton of perks. If you know me you know why this is so important :)  The third huge thing is that Levi has gained 3 pounds and grown 2 1/2 inches so far! Exciting stuff. I think the diet is working :)

In other news, we're loving this fall weather. It's been rainy and much cooler in the mornings. The days are also gorgeous and mostly sunny, so we spend a ton of time outside. Time to renew our zoo membership!

Since no blog post is complete without pictures, here are a few recent ones:

4th of July and other adventures

My parents have been on vacation for almost 2 weeks, so we've been out and about even more than usual.

Here are some of the meals I've remembered to photograph:

blueberries, hummus, Lentil Crackers, potato salad, grilled corn

Asian pear slices, baby carrots, green beans, Tomato and Mozzarella Pasta al Forno, Udi's Whole Grain Bread with butter

Melon balls, baby cucumbers, beans, quesadillas, cottage cheese

For my dad's birthday I made Gluten Free cake! Turned out really  well and super yummy :)

My uncle Ben and aunt Connie came to visit from California, so we had a great weekend. We didn't do much for the 4th of July, though. Just grilled some burgers and corn and ate some of my uncle Ben's delicious potato salad. Good, low-key day :)

Hummus
1 15 oz. can chickpeas (or 2 cups cooked chickpeas), drained - reserve liquid
1 Tbs. Tahini
1 Tbs. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 garlic cloves
Salt to taste

Place all ingredients in food processor and add reserved garbanzo liquid until preferred consistency is achieved. Season with salt to taste.



Potato Salad*
Cooked potatoes
Hardboiled eggs
Pickles
Finely diced onion
Finely diced celery
Vegenaise
Mustard
Salt and pepper

Mix everything together and refrigerate until ready to eat.

*I don't give any quantities because we just "wing it" every time depending on how many people are going to be eating. It's all pretty much to taste anyway :)

I'm back!

I've sort of been neglecting this blog, but we've been busy with family. This past week we've been going to walk/ride bikes every morning at 6:30 for a couple of hours. The weather is absolutely beautiful! The kids are up anyway, so we might as well go. Well, David doesn't go because he goes in to work at 7:30...but my parents are on vacation so we've been going together along with my Aunt Debbie (my dad's youngest sister), Uncle Sem (dad's younger brother), and my grandma (dad's mom). Fun times.

Here's Levi in the bike trailer. His snacks are some blueberries and Honey Nut Chex.

Here's what he had for lunch....I think on Friday? Can't even remember. But he ate this at some point last week: Red apricots, Ian's Chicken Nuggets with ketchup, zucchini with corn, rice with saffron

Last week I also made gluten free bread. This is the recipe I always use.

In other news, Sophie can now sport a tiny ponytail :)

Zucchini with Corn

3 Roma tomatoes, grated on a cheese grater

1 medium onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

4 zucchinis, cut into chunks

2 cups of frozen corn kernels

1 jalapeno, washed

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet, heat some olive oil and cook onion until translucent. Add garlic, tomatoes, zucchini, and jalapeno*.  Continue cooking until zucchini is almost tender. Add corn, salt and pepper. Cover and cook until zucchini and corn are cooked completely. 

* Add the jalapeno WHOLE. It just gives flavor without making it spicy. If you do like it spicy (like we do!) dice another jalapeno and cook it with the onion. 

Busy!

Ok, so I didn't take pictures of food today. Ha. I honestly can't even remember what he had for breakfast. For lunch, though, we went to eat at Gloria's Restaurant for the first time and had a great gluten free experience. Ok, to be fair, I don't really know if everything we ate was really gluten free....because I didn't ask. BUT, I made sure everything we ordered was as plain as possible and no reactions so far. Yay :)

Good thing Levi can't read menus yet because I know for sure he would have wanted the chicken tenders. On a tangent, it's so annoying that kids menus are full of gluten. What's with that? Cheeseburgers, nuggets, chicken tenders, mac and cheese. Ugh. This one had one option, though! Yay! Levi had a grilled chicken breast with french fries....I know, no veggies, that's another "kid menu" annyoance....

I had possibly the most delicious fish I've eaten in my life: Pescado Acajutla. SO good! For dessert we had vanilla and chocolate flan. My absolute favorite dessert.

So I definitely give this restaurant a HUGE thumbs up. The food was delish and I found plenty of food Levi and I could eat. Definitely recommend!

Bittersweet

So my paternal grandfather passed away last night. We all have heavy hearts but cling to the blessed hope of being reunited again. Far beyond the sun...

On the "sweet" side, we had a wonderful weekend. Sophie was dedicated by her grandfather, we enjoyed beautiful music at church and wonderful company for lunch. Sunday was busy. We had a special brunch at home to celebrate father's day and also our anniversary! Yay for 6 years! In the evening we went to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens for concerts in the garden. We had a fabulous time despite not being able to enjoy fireworks to to high winds. Boo. A great time was still had by all  :)

In other news, Sophie had her 6 month appointment today! She's 17 lbs and 26 inches long. Growing well and meeting all her milestones. Great appointment. Her pedi talked to me about keeping her gluten free - what did I think? I'm not going to risk it, so she'll be gluten free too. No biggie, it's not like she eats much anyway. All fruits and veggies are gluten free, thankfully, so she can eat normally.

Oh, and as a side not, she also got her shots. She did so well! Screamed for less than a minute, then she was all smiles. Brave girl :)

Levi has now been gluten free for an entire week. It was pretty easy, honestly, because we usually eat naturally gluten free anyway - mostly whole foods, not too many processed items. The biggest changes were his crackers. He LOVES Wheat Thins and Triscuits. Poor guy, I think that was his biggest bummer. Although he also really likes the crackers I gave him, so it helped him get over it :)

Here are some pictures of our fun weekend:

Sophie's Dedication

Marissa, Me, Krystal - He Knows My Name

Levi playing with my cousins Brandon and Paola

They turned the office into a bounce house....

We got them to sit still with Veggie Tales :)

After her shots

Today's lunch - pasta salad, goat cheese, blueberries, hazelnut Nut Thins

Pasta Salad

16 oz. cooked and cooled elbow macaroni (we use Tinkyada or Bionature)

Half of a red bell pepper, finely diced

Half of a yellow bell pepper, finely diced

1/4 of a red onion, finely diced

1 cup sliced black olives (or to taste)

1 stalk celery, finely diced

Half a bottle Italian Dressing OR Caesar Vinagrette (this is what we always use)

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate until ready to eat. 

Day 3

I'm really hating these super hot days. We haven't been able to go outside too much because it's scorching by noon! Good thing Levi likes puzzles. They keep him occupied for hours.

So this weekend Eva will be dedicated! David's parents will be here and his dad will be doing the honors. My baby cousin, Liam, is also being dedicated by my grandfather Sabbath afternoon so we will have a lot of family over! As excited as I am about everyone being here, I'm also a tiny bit nervous about all the extra people who like feeding toddlers.

I don't think anyone will give him gluten maliciously, but if you're not very familiar with the issue you might not even realize how many things contain gluten. It's easy to weed out the obvious: bread, pasta, cookies, cakes, basically anything made with flour. But the hidden stuff is hard: soy sauce, condensed soups, some seasonings, gravies, etc. I really hope we make it through the weekend unscathed!

Breakfast: Brown rice cereal with blueberries, sliced apples, hardboiled egg, milk

Snack: Chobani Blueberry Yogurt

Lunch: Jasmine Rice, garbanzos, corn, blueberries, cherry tomatoes, Potato Cracker Thins

Snack: Apple Juice

Dinner: Quesadilla, cottage cheese, beans, baby cucumbers, melon balls

We also had a some overripe bananas that no one was going to eat, so I made some gluten free banana bread. Yum.

Fresh out of the oven 

Day 2

Breakfast: Oatmeal with cranberries, sliced strawberries, garbanzos, milk

Snack: Apple

Lunch: Curry with cauliflower and chicken, jasmine rice, cherry tomatoes, pineapple, baby cucumbers

Snack: Chobani Pomegranate Yogurt

Dinner: Egg salad, Hazelnut Nut-Thins, Kumquats, red and yellow peppers, milk

Just in case you're wondering, Levi does eat all that food! Sometimes he asks for seconds, especially the fruits and veggies. I can ALWAYS count on him eating whatever fruit or veggie I give him. Proteins...maybe. Grains? Not so much. Unless it's rice. He likes rice :)

Egg Salad

2 Hard boiled eggs

1/4 cup vegenaise (you can, of course, use regular mayo)

1 to 2 Tbs. sliced green olives

1 tsp. mustard

salt and pepper to taste. 

Mash or use a cheese grater to grate eggs and combine with remaining ingredients. 

*This is a very basic recipe. I sometimes add very finely chopped onion, celery, or red bell peppers. It's always yummy :)

Day 1

Fortunately, Levi is a great eater. I can't really think of any food he doesn't like, and he'll usually try anything new we offer. I try to make all his meals as balanced as possible, so you will notice most of his plates will include a protein, grain, veggie, and fruit. 

Breakfast:  Sliced strawberries, Greek Gods Honey Strawberry Yogurt, Vans mini waffles, a scrambled egg, and milk. 

Snack: Horizon Strawberry Milk

Lunch: Pineapple, red and yellow peppers with broccoli, ranch dip, rice, oatmeal patties. 

Snack: He didn't really have a snack. He slept most of the afternoon (he didn't sleep well last night) and when he woke up he just wanted some milk. Which is strange since he doesn't usually ask for that. Anyway, he had maybe half a box of Horizon Chocolate Milk. 

Dinner: Cherry tomatoes, mango, arroz con leche, Udi's Cinnamon Raisin Bread with strawberry cream cheese. 

About a Boy

I decided to start this blog to keep track of Levi's gluten free journey and also to help out anyone who might be faced with a similar problem. Or at the very least commiserate. Let me give a little background.

I'm gluten intolerant. I have been on a gluten free diet since I was 3 years old and have done really well. I feel amazing. I've been tested several times for Celiac Disease and received negative results, but if I so much as go near anything remotely similar to wheat (I'm looking at you, Spelt) I have a reaction.

What reactions do I have? Well, my symptoms have evolved over the years. When I was younger it was bloating, stomach cramps, and nausea. In recent years my number one symptom has been a migraine accompanied by dizziness and fogginess. If for some reason I had a large quantity of wheat, my symptoms would also include stomach cramps, nausea, joint pain, and sometimes numbness in my extremities.

Since the symptoms vary so much it is very difficult to diagnose Celiac Disease or any gluten intolerance. In my case it took years and many doctors until a gluten free diet saved my life. As long as I stay away from wheat, barley, and rye, I feel amazing.

Enter Levi. As a baby he was always at the top of the growth charts, especially for height, but he usually hovered at the 50th - 60th percentile for weight. He was a big, chubby baby who loved to eat. I started noticing the weight loss around his first birthday, when he was fully eating solids, but the doctor explained some weight loss was normal since he was more active and walking around. Fine. Well, by his 18 month appointment he had dropped to the 15th percentile in weight (and he was still in the 90th for height), and looked pretty scrawny.

By this time we had moved to Fort Worth and his new pedi was a bit concerned but told us to give him more protein and made sure he didn't eat empty calories (he doesn't). We pumped him full of full-fat yogurts, cheeses, milks, proteins, and pediasures three times a day. By his second birthday he reached the 25th percentile! Yay!

Sort of. Today we went to his 2.5 year appointment and he had only gained 2 oz. Ugh. Really? Back in the 10th percentile for weight. Now his pedi isn't too happy. Neither am I.

I discussed with her the possibility of a gluten intolerance, since it runs in families and I've been dealing with it my whole life. She asked me if I wanted to take him to a GI doctor, or if I wanted him tested. Nah. There's no point, really. Let me tell you why: If I test him and the result is negative, I'm still going to wonder if it could be a false negative (like mine) and try a gluten free diet for a few months to see if it makes a difference. If the test is positive, well, he's going to be on a gluten free diet anyway, so it makes no difference. Either way he'll be gluten free.

So, for 6 months Levi will be gluten free and by his 3 year appointment we'll see if it makes a difference.

Wish us luck!

Here is an overview of his stats:

Birth: 8 lbs. 10 oz. 21 inches
2 months: 13 lbs. 2 oz. 24.5 inches
4 months: 16 lbs. 8 oz. 26.6 inches
6 months: 18 lbs. 3 oz. 28.5 inches
12 months: 22 lbs. 1 oz. 33 inches
18 months: 23 lbs. 4 oz. 35 inches
2 years:      26 lbs. 9 oz. 36 inches
2.5 years:   27 lbs.          37.5 inches

My skinny little boy at 27 months