Our Gluten-Free Life to Be

You may recall me mentioning a while ago that Jon has been sick. Last summer he started running a high fever and it continued for weeks. Doctor's said it was the flu. I don't think so. He has lost 30 pounds since last May, has digestive issues, no energy and vomits if he pushes himself too hard at the gym. NOT NORMAL. So with my urging, he finally made another doctors appoitment to get this figured out. After 3 doctors visits, countless viles of blood and "other type" samples, and an Endoscopy, he has been diagnosed with Celiac Disease! For those of you who are not well-informed of this auto-immune disease, I'll let the Mayo Clinic explain:

"Celiac disease is a digestive condition triggered by consumption of the protein gluten, which is found in bread, pasta, cookies, pizza crust and many other foods containing wheat, barley or rye. If you have celiac disease and eat foods containing gluten, an immune reaction occurs in your small intestine, causing damage to the surface of your small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients.
Eventually, the decreased absorption of nutrients (malabsorption) that occurs with celiac disease can cause vitamin deficiencies that deprive your brain, peripheral nervous system, bones, liver and other organs of vital nourishment. This can lead to other illnesses and stunted growth in children.
No treatment can cure celiac disease. However, you can effectively manage celiac disease through changing your diet. " --- http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/celiac-disease/DS00319

So Jon had to say goodbye to all of the goodness that contains wheat, barley and rye.


But do not be alarmed, ICE CREAM is gluten free. Life is still good.

We are very excited that they have finally been able to figure out what is wrong with him, and SO glad it's something as simple as Celiac Disease. No medications, no surgery, just a drastic diet change he will live with for the rest of his life. I am so happy it was nothing more serious and am very excited for his new life and way of eating. But be warned, we might be taking out loans to pay our weekly grocery bills. GOOD heavens. This healthy, gluten-free stuff is dang expensive.

I'm up for any tips, advice, store locations or anything you might know about how to make this new lifestyle a little bit easier. We've got a lot to learn!

Randomness

I'm completely in love with So You Think You Can Dance. I love it because everyone is SO GOOD!!! The entire show is incredibly entertaining and I'm not sitting there critiquing everyone, and I rarely cringe through an entire song. If you know me, you know I'm FAR from being a coordinated dancer, but dang I love to try. So watching this makes me feel inspired to dance! Yes, you should be scared. I've started taking ZUMBA at my gym and I pretend I'm in full costume and make-up as I'm hopping and twirling my way across the floor to "Boom Boom POW". Great class. Anyway, so here's a link to one of my all time favorite performances on the show. Prepare to be amazed. I just love Kayla. Everything about her is beautiful and she is such a joy to watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrXrfCnChCc

In other news, my belly is starting to pop out, and I'm definitely looking large. I want to get a shirt that says: because this point in pregnancy is just not attractive. I'm sure everyone thinks I've just let myself go. PLUS my skin is all broken out, and my hair is falling out, not to mention I'm miserably cranky!!! My poor husband. Oh well. Everything seems to be going good with our little fetus from what we can tell so far. I'm 14? weeks. Actually going in next Tuesday for a growth u/s to see how far along I really am.

Sorry I don't have any exciting new pictures. But it doesn't mean life hasn't been exciting! LET ME JUST TELL YOU the excitement that happened in my house yesterday. So my DARLING child Jack right, was happily entertaining himself in the dryer while I was working. I'd go back and check on him every little while, but he was just so happy and singing to himself, so I just let him keep playing. Then he starts to cry so I go to rescue him. And OOOOOOOOH MMMMMMMMY GOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!! That child had gotten all the slimy POOP out of his diaper and had painted the ENTIRE DRYER along with himself. So I got poop all over ME trying to pull him out of there!!! What is the sanitary method of cleansing a child that's covered in poo??? I wanted to just take him outside and spray him off with the hose. But seeing as that would've required exposing ourselves to the neighbors, I opted for the bathtub and a lot of wipes. Luckily, I've had quite a history with poop, so this wasn't the most disgusting experience of my life. But it very well could've been. Anyway, disgusting. I guess I'm a real mom now huh??

Other than the poop incident, Jack is doing great. He's very into climbing things and has injured himself quite a bit lately. He turns up with these bruises all over his legs. He's a wild man! His vocabulary is growing and his favorite things right now are: birthdays, strawberries, book, planes, cup, Elmo and Thomas. That's what he requests the most. His other method of requesting things is just screaming. Must be so frustrating to know what you want and not be able to communicate it to the person with the means of getting it for you.