Life’s Little Challenges

I really am still here! This post is ALL OVER EVERYWHERE, so please hang with me…Just trying to catch up.  I think I need to learn to tell myself NO every now and again.

The month of March is called “March Madness” at our house.  Not because of basketball, but because we celebrate my daughter’s birthday, my husband’s birthday, our anniversary and my birthday all in 2.5 weeks.  You would think after 10 years of marriage and 3 years of our daughter being around I would be a little more prepared for the chaos every year!  Some how it just sneaks up on me.

Well this year, little Missy decided she wanted a “castle cake with lots of princesses”, to quote her.  So that is what she was going to have!  When I made plans to make this cake (in my head) it seemed like NO big deal.  Well let me tell you….it was!  An almost 72 hour BIG DEAL.  I enjoy making cakes, but this is not my area of expertise.  Since she was born they have become increasingly more complicated every year.  So next year…we will need to decide on something a little more simple.

This cake weighed at LEAST 25 lbs! What was I thinking?

 To add to the chaos of the birthday baking process, my daughter and I are now on a gluten free diet.  I’ve spent the last 3 years thinking my body was simply falling apart at the ripe old age of 36 (did I really just admit to my age? I think I did.) And for the past year we have been in and out of the doctors with my daughter trying to figure out intestinal issues. I had accepted all the strange things that kept happening with me and that no one and no test could explain as “old age”, but when Naomie would cry EVERY night at dinner time and fight us when it was time to eat and complain of her tongue, tummy and back hurting…I decided it was time for some research.  What 3 year old complains of a back ache?  After reading many articles and flipping through a few books, I decided maybe it was time we both gave the gluten free diet a 6 week chance.

After all, It was only 6 weeks…I could give up nice-soft-fluffy-white-bread-that-wraps-itself-around-your-mouth-with-love. Couldn’t I?  YES, I can! (at least that is what I was telling myself).  Naomie doesn’t seem to miss the gluten laden things the same way I have.  But after all…she is only 3 and really only been eating solid food for 2 years.  I had at least 35 years under my belt and knew EXACTLY what I was missing out on.

Let me tell you…it has only been 4 weeks, and I will never look back!

Naomie is eating again and no more tears!  Dinner is much more peaceful. She is not complaining of a tummy ache, back ache or tongue pain.  And more importantly…what is coming out of her doesn’t look quite as strange.  I won’t go into detail here!  I will spare you from that!

I, on the other hand, FEEL LIKE A WHOLE NEW PERSON!  The numb hands and feet…practically GONE, the pain in EVERY JOINT in my body….GONE.  The head-aches (stress as they were labeled) that I have had for almost 6 years now….GONE.  The planters fasciitis that I have had in my right foot for 3 years and could NOT get rid of….GONE.  The hip pain that came out of no where and I spent 8 weeks and $3000 in physical therapy…BETTER (remember…it’s only been 4 weeks…better is an improvement) Chronic fatigue…the kind that you couldn’t sit down in the evening for just 5 minutes…say good-bye because chances are, I had fallen asleep.  This had STOPPED.  For me personally, this is reason enough to give up nice-soft-fluffy-white-bread-that-wraps-itself-around-your-mouth-with-love.

OH how my mouth does love gluten, but I love life much more than bread and to feel like a person again is worth the sacrifice and extra work and cost that this has created for our family.  In the past 4 weeks I have been reintroduced to my kitchen in ways I never thought would happen in 2012.  We are baking EVERYTHING from scratch!  The bad news is, this has taken a ton of time from The Pauper’s Castle, the blog, The Indianapolis Promise Walk for Preeclampsia and a few other things I have on my plate.  The good news is, we are feeling better and eating better than we have in a very, very long time!

PS—I have a little announcement to make in the next day or so!

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