Catching Up

I had every intention to keep at blogging from when I wrote my first post, but life had other plans for me!  No matter, I am back.  :)

Now, the past few months have been SUPER busy.  Mostly with moving, followed immediately by little man's first birthday party, and then some health issues that I had to deal with.  Moving is done (completely unpacked!!), the party is over, and I am on track with my new diagnosis--and feeling better than ever.  So much so that hubby and I have signed up for not one, but TWO 5k events!!

Z's first birthday was wonderful, but extremely stressful.  Thanks to Pinterest, I was feeling like the most uncreative mommy on the face of the planet, not to mention lazy.  I mean, I am a SAHM, so I should be able to do all of that, right??  Mind you, I did not live up to the party I modeled after, but I did go for the "Winter One-derland" theme.  I am still very proud of what I DID do, and I will share a few pictures of my creations.

Me with one of the two food tables.

The Picture Tree

Marshmallow Snowmen (found here)

Snowman Nutter Butters

Revamped S'mores

Z's first birthday portrait and some of the food labels

Food labels

One table of food, mostly done

Cupcakes, round two (my batch failed)

Second table of food (mostly done)

Finished first table

Birthday boy eating his cupcake!

I made 17 dishes, 5 were gluten-free (we had some guests that have Celiacs, and I really didn't want them to feel left out), and I had to buy the cupcakes.  I had planned on making some awesome sounding blue velvet cupcakes in these cute snowman paper wrappers that made them look like they were melting snowmen.  However, they flopped big time, and I was rushing to the store at 10pm the night before the party, buying 6 dozen mini cupcakes since that was all they had.  I hadn't planned on making so much food, but there were three main issues:  (1) I had people that had specific dietary needs, and had to make food that they would be able to eat,  (2) I wanted to make sure that there was a balance of savory foods and sweet foods, and (3) we had invited 70+ people to this party, and not very many people RSVP'ed like they were supposed to (meaning I had NO CLUE how many were going to show!).  In the end, we had 30-35 people come, plenty of food, and a very happy (and very tired, once it was over) toddler! :)

After breathing a sigh of relief that the party headache was over (technically four migraines), I launched my never-ending quest to figure out how to make my life healthier and rid myself of prescription meds--and be done with pain.  I'm obviously not getting any younger, and soon we are going to want to start trying for another kiddo.  I won't do that while on prescription meds, as it scares me to go thru pregnancy again and running the risk of hurting our future child.  Now, because we were having guests at the party that were gluten free, I wanted to make sure when I was making the food that I was doing it correctly.  I started researching what gluten free meant, why people would want to take gluten out of their diet, and how to prepare food without gluten while still having it taste good.  It was rather interesting reading, and I noticed that a LOT of the symptoms of gluten intolerance/sensitivity were problems that I had.  I emailed my doctor right off, and she said that it would be worth checking out.  A few days later my little guy had an appointment, and I piggy backed to get a blood test done (we have the same doctor).  I was very eager to get the results, but all it said was it wasn't Celiacs.  But I had already decided to go gluten free (GF), and had been for a week.  Already I was feeling better, so it was decided by her that I was "non-Celiacs gluten intolerant." 

So now I am navigating the new waters of a lifestyle without gluten.  It isn't always easy, and I will say I get frustrated at times.  But I can't deny that there has been a major change in how I feel.  I am no longer on fibromyalgia medications.  I can walk without the pain that I had come to expect, just a feeling of normal.  I don't dread getting out of bed in the morning, or wondering how I am going to keep up with my child.  Instead, hubby and I are getting back in shape, have registered for two different 5k's, and I am a LOT more active than I used to be! Plus, I plan on sharing my favorite recipes, the ones I fail at making, and anything else that comes to mind.  :)

Happy Tuesday!!