New blog

I'm going to attempt a secondary blog devoted to our search for allergy-friendly foods that score a "yum" on the tasty scale. Basically, a place to post my successful recipes, and little tips I learn as I go. If you're at all interested it will be located here http://everythingfreeallergyeating.blogspot.com/.

Good Morning Fall

Time: 6:30am
Setting: Handsome- out with guys for breakfast and disc golf; monkey #1- waking up to Monster's Inc.; monkey #2- sleeping in

...she pulls back a curtain covering the large front window and takes in the beauty of a rainy October morning in Oregon... 

...and is inspired. 


"Pumpkin waffles. Today's the day." 


Fortunately, she's been obsessively pursuing her favorite foodie blog, http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com, and yesterday found just such a recipe. Yum. Pulling out the dozens of necessary ingredients for successful "everything-free" baking, she fights back dark memories of foiled attempts at gluten-free waffles past. This time will be different....


Twenty minutes later she may or may not have broken another waffle maker.  

"Bother."


Not to be deterred by failure, or long distracted by the cute confusion of her son mistaking the baby's denim skirt for a pair of shorts....

...she adds a bit more water to the mix and resurrects pumpkin pancakes from the (literal) ashes of failed waffles. Ohhh- Perfection. 

Rainy morning, Peet's Coffee, pumpkin pancakes, and maple syrup. Does October get any cozier? I submit that it does not.


Good morning fall.

feeling kinda bummed...

Well, despite my high hopes, I'm going back on my insane allergy diet again. That means until further notice I will not be eating
Almonds
Bananas
Cantaloupe
Carrots
Celery
Chicken
Eggs
Garlic
Hazelnuts
Melon
Green Peppers
Dairy
Onions
Oranges
Peanuts
Pears
Soybeans
Strawberries
Tomatoes
White Beans
Potatoes
or Wheat

*sigh* These are all things that showed up on the blood test I had done not long after we found out about Westly's allergies. The symptoms disappeared during pregnancy, which is good because eating allergy friendly foods made me really sick. But, unfortunately, they have been slowly returning- which for me looks like migraines, back muscles constantly knotted and incredibly painful (pain killers and muscle relaxants don't even begin to bring relief), and extreme fatigue- as in going to bed 8pm and feeling even more exhausted when I wake up. I've been trying to just deal with it, because facing this diet again really doesn't sound like fun, but the pain and fatigue are interfering with caring for my family and are becoming more than I can handle.

So, you ask, what can you eat? The answer.... not a whole lot. Corn tortillas, lettuce and turkey, plain rice cakes, apples, grapes, some home-baked everything-free goods. The prospect is less than exciting. What concerns me most though is how to feed my family. I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed at the idea of making three separate meals.

The good news? God is still on His throne and I am His. I'm just passing through this life, on my way home where I will spend eternity with my heavenly Father.
Also- it looks like the baby weight will be coming off a lot more quickly than I anticipated! :)

Please be praying that I will be Spirit-led through this. I don't tend to do well hungry or in pain, and until my body adjusts to less food and works the allergens out of my system, that is where I will be.

Isn't she beautiful?

I know I'm a bit partial, but I think my baby girl is pretty. God gave her such a lovely personality; so sweet and smiley and loving to anyone she's with- even at just 2 1/2 months. None of us can help being in love with her :) 

Check out those eyelashes. She's so fair you can't see them unless you're close. 

We are so thankful God chose you for us Briella :) I can't wait to know you more as you grow into the girl He made you to be!

Some Big Praises

Yes, we are still out here, and we have been doing more than taking a few pictures and posting them with no explanation at all :) These past 3 weeks have finally seen a resolution to the health issues I mentioned in an earlier post. After going on a diet free of dairy, wheat, eggs, and avoiding onions, peppers, beans... for weeks, and with absolutely no result, we made the hard choice to switch to formula. We tried regular, soy and lactose free, and found a winner in the last one. No more diarrhea, vomiting, bloody diaper rash, hours of screaming, or facial rashes. Sorry, reading that I realize it's a little graphic. She is doing wonderful now. Sleeping better and growing a lot faster than Westly did. She's now 10lbs and 23 inches, and so sweet and smiley :) Even though I do really miss nursing, I feel good knowing we exhausted every option before making the switch, and seeing how much better she's doing now.

us playing with photo booth tonight :)

My insane diet for her sake wasn't in vain either, in the process we figured out some combination of wheat, eggs, and dairy were causing my killer migraines- which for a few weeks were an almost daily occurrence. I am so thankful to feel healthy again, and to have a healthy baby. Her first month and a half were full of some pretty intense trials, but now I feel like although I may not be able to totally keep up with Westly (he is two, after all) I at least stand a fighting chance :) God's timing is perfect too, this week is the kick off of our ministry year, we will be working with the mid-high youth group and are really excited!

Now for the biggest praise of all..........
We found out this afternoon......Paul got a job as a Sales Rep at Aramark!!!! He starts in two weeks and will be working under Aaron Greene. We are fully aware of how hard it is to get a job in this economy, let alone begin a career path within a month of graduating college, but God has provided both, along with an awesome boss, and we feel so blessed.

Thanks for all your prayers these past few years. It feels like we are beginning a new stage in life. To God be the glory, we would be a wreck without Him and the family of believers He used to supported us!

Baby Love

Here are some pictures of our last few weeks!

Three Years!!!

These past 2 months have held a lot for Paul and I- the birth of Briella Rose, his graduation from college, and our third wedding anniversary. Our anniversary was actually on the 18th, but life has kept me from blogging earlier :)

We had an amazing time out together to celebrate, made possible by the Williams' generously giving us many hours away from the kiddos. We went for a bike ride at Mento Brown (one of my favorite things!). The weather was perfect and Paul planned it- he's so sweet :), had a long quiet dinner outdoors, and caught a late movie. Sooo relaxing. Our first real date after the baby.

I thought I would post a few wedding highlights :) It feels so funny to look back on that day after so much life has passed in such a short time! Wonderful memories, but I do feel a bit like I don't know the people in the photos anymore!

Quite possibly my favorite wedding picture

Check out Paul's hair! I loved it though :)

My entourage of best buddies. So much fun :)

First moments as husband and wife

Love isn't love without kissing and cake :)

I'm so glad God brought us together when He did. I can't imagine life without my best friend, favorite person, perfect match, lover, leader, and soul mate.