Eye opener

Since Lydia's diagnosis of Celiac Disease I have been reading every single food label. This has been extremely eye opening! The "fake" ingredients that are added to foods is ridiculous. I have a new attitude about what our family is consuming. I have started buying local meats and even started buying some organic produce. I would love to grow our own organic garden this year, but we are attempting to sell our house so our efforts may not be able to be enjoyed. For this reason, I decided to join a local CSA. I chose Shoestring Acres which is located in Clearville. I picked this CSA because they allow you to choose your produce. I was excited to also spend some time this week learning about freezer-to-crock pot cooking. My goal is to use some of this fresh organic vegetables to make lots of freezer meals for the winter.

On a different note, Lydia got sick yesterday. :( Because she is so young it is difficult to determine if she is actually sick or if she ingested something containing gluten. She ran a fever Friday night but then seemed fine over the weekend. While I was at work Monday I got a call that she was complaining that her stomach hurt and then she vomited. My husband picked her up and she slept for several hours in the afternoon, but then she was fine. She continues to have diarrhea and occasional stomach pains but she spent the day keeping up with her older sister. This is the second time she has had an episode like this. I obviously take every precaution possible to avoid gluten so this is very frustrating. I think about how much school she may miss someday from not feeling well. I hope that it gets easier as she gets older and she can help tell us how she feels.

Easter

Easter will be our first major holiday since Lydia was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Besides the religious aspect of  Easter, it also means spending time with family and eating lots of delicious foods. My family offered to send me recipes so that I could make suggestions about making our family favorites gluten free. Because this diagnosis is still so new, I found it very difficult to trust others making Lydia's food. (I hope that as Lydia gets older that I am able to deal with this better). So, I decided that I would take Lydia her own food. Today I did a crockpot of ham, green beans, and potatos and plan to take this to my Grandma's for Sunday dinner. I also have some brownies frozen that I will probably take. I will be keeping a close eye on her this weekend lots of Easter candy. I have printed a list of GF Candy and hope that it helps. Luckily, Lydia is adjusting very well and always asks before she eats anything. I'm hoping that we can make it through this weekend without her getting sick.