Max and Wheat: A story about true love

I never updated on the situation in Max's belly. And I know, inquiring minds want to know.

Max was taken off wheat In June. Max has had reflux his whole life.  It might or might not be the reason he has recurrent ear infections (refluxing so high it gets in his ear canals). So, after an all clear EGD, an all clear Upper GI (swallowing barium and looking at his innards while he was sadly strapped to a table, we both needed valium after THAT), and an all clear on testing for Celiac Disease, the doc wanted to try certain foods out of his diet that can cause reflux.

The first two are dairy and wheat. He'd been off dairy for a year. So, next was wheat. Life off of dairy and wheat is tough. Planning is tough. Eating out is tough. Snacking is tough. Grocery bills are high. Taste is low.

Well, 3.5 weeks off of wheat, Max audibly refluxed ALL. DAY. LONG. Either you could hear him swallowing fluid nowhere near a drink or food, or he had painful sounding hiccups. All. Day. We woke up Monday morning, fully intending to finish our 4 week plan and Rob and I both agreed that he was so much worse. PLUS, the poor baby (WARNING: I'm about to talk poo) was stopped up like never before!

We told gluten free food to SUCK IT!!!!! We gave him an Eggo waffle and a dose of Miralax and didn't hear a hiccup or reflux all day.  He then went to his Grammy and Papa's house, went straight to their Golden Grahams that he loves to eat at their house and ate maybe 7 bowls. Noodles at Chinese restaurants are back! Nutra Grain bars are back! Pancakes are back! Soy sauce is back! Max is happy!

 I feel like, after we saw the GI doc and he put M-train on twice a day reflux meds at a higher dose that he was probably the best he'd been in a year, reflux wise. He had gained weight and grown 3 inches. But when he got another ear infection, we decided that it was best for Max to rule out the option that it was wheat related.  I talked to the doc, since I just so happen to work in the GI department, when I choose to be a nurse that makes money, not a poor stay at home mom, and he agreed that we would know by now if wheat was the culprit. Basically, he said I was a genius. That's what I heard, anyway.

Because his reflux got worse, we've tried to decide what he could have possibly had MORE of during his time off wheat that would have triggered it. All I could think of was nuts. It was an easy snack to give him a baggie of almonds or peanuts, or a rice cake with peanut butter, or granola bars with nuts in them. Our next venture is giving Max a ton of nuts over a few days and seeing if it causes reflux. He'll be in heaven. Unless it turns out that this gives him reflux, then he'll hiccup for a day and never eat a nut again. I hate reflux.

 We love that little dairy free/wheat included kid so much and want the very very very best for him.


***I have a list of restaurants and what to order that I made from our dairy free/gluten free time if anyone wants it, let me know and I'll email it to you.

My kids rock my face off

Wow. We have had a rockstar week. Last week, we didn't leave the house all three days I was off and we had a pretty low key weekend as well.

We made up for it.

Like, a lot......

Sunday, I wanted to look at fabric at Jo-Anns because I'm trying to give our ugly table a face lift and the chair cushions are the worst offenders. Max and I had a Mommy and me outing. He came with me and acted like an angel while I fretted over fabric and eventually left empty handed. I swear, naming my kids was easier than picking out cushion fabric.He was so good, he deserved a trip to the train table at Barnes and Noble. I would say free fun, howeva, mama got a hankering for a coffee and my pick was almost $5. 

Nicely done, Sara.

Monday, we hosted Zac, a friend from MOPS. Zac is in the top 5 funniest people I've ever met. He loves doing pretty much any activity, any action figure, and Disney princesses. The kids were playing in water. Mud got involved after this shot. The water hose took care of the ick soon after.

 They played for a solid 5 hours.

Wish I had pics of Tuesday. We went to story time with my friend Jacki and her kids. After story time, we went to Chick fil A and let the kids play while we chatted. Our kids acted like prize children and had so much fun together. They just moved back from Virginia and we are so glad they are here. 

Because story time and CFA wasn't enough, I decided to chance all chances and run errands with my kids at naptime. Shoe Carnival, Jo-Anns (its really becoming a sickness at this point), and Hobby Lobby (yep, just in case they had magical fabric that called my name). They. Were. So. Good.

 I did buy them facepaint AND Skittles. It might have helped.

Wednesday we were feeling really magical, so we went to the park with our MOPS group. The heat index was 103 by 11am, so it was really cozy PLUS I didn't pack us anything to take to said PICNIC. So, we came, sweated, and left and went to McDonalds. CFA and McDonalds? 

We are obviously not cleansing this week! 

When we got home, GRAMMY AND PAPA CAME!!!!

And we took them to the Museum of Discovery. We had the best time. The last time I bought a membership, Max was 1 and Rylan was 3. They liked it, so did I, but it was always a little crazy. Now at almost 3 and 5 (I just threw up a little) they are so much more in to the exhibits. 

It helped that there was not many people there.

Obviously their life sucks sooooooo bad. 

Being a stay at home is hard. Its awesome but its hard. There are days when either me or Rob ask "why don't you just go back to work?" This blog post. This is why. Because I have two kids that will be young ONE time in their lives. And they are good kids. And we have worked like demons to be able to afford life on one income and getting a week where all we do is party like rockstars and go to parks and museums and have friends over and host family mid-week is our reward. Well, my reward. Sucks being Rob. So why not stay home if I can? Cause for every "your a bad mommy" I get a "mommy will you snuggle me?" 10 times over. 

No I need to clean the house and do the laundry I neglected and catch up with Rylan's therapy and get back to regular stay at home mom crap. Oh, and work tomorrow to pay for all the Chick Fil A and McDonalds and Museum memberships and such.

Advocare 10 Day Cleanse Yay! Or Nay!

The cleanse is over, was actually over on Thursday morning. Want some results? Wanna know how I feel about it? Couldn't care less? Nobody's actually reading my blog anymore because I keep putting off blogging like the true procrastinator that I am?

Rob lost 7 pounds in 10 days.
I lost 3. Whomp whomp whomp.......

I wasn't doing the cleanse to lose weight, so I'm not upset, any loss is a loss and I'm happy with the scale going in the right direction. I just would have liked to have been a little closer to the guy that had Happy Hour and an appetizer platter on Day 5. And liquor. He had liquor too. I'm not naming names. It rhymes with Cob.

Overall, I'd say the cleanse was a success. My biggest wish was to get rid of Fat Brain. Fat Brain needed to go out with the trash. And I think it did. I really do. I don't think about food 24/7. I don't feel like I need "treats" all the time. I have made healthy choices at restaurants and not been sad about missing out.

A big part of eating healthy is cost. It does cost more. At least at first. That first trip to the store to stock up. Its frightening, really. Especially for the girl that was buying a million items for $100 with all the coupons. Very few coupons are for healthy stuff and I've had to become okay with that and know that the extra money is going to the right place. I still use coupons when I can. If you use a store, like Kroger, that has a store loyalty card, your card shows what you buy the most of. So, at the cash register, after you pay, it often prints out coupons for you, and they are magically for things you buy often. For me this is stuff like Almond Milk, eggs, and yogurt. They also send me coups in the mail and they seem to have trended towards stuff that I have started buying, like protein powder. Basically Big Brother is watching. If Big Brother wants to send me coupons, let him.

When I packed Rob's lunches for the next day (yes, that little bumkin is spoiled. It happened well before I was a stay at home wife/mom, sue me) I've started putting my own together. Even if it isn't a day I'll be working. Its nice when lunch rolls around and I have a salad or something all put together. Nothing makes you decide against a salad or healthy fare like having two little tykes yelling at you for a hot dog and being too overwhelmed to chop up fresh veggies. When these two boys get haingry, they get HAINGRY!!!!!

Lean sirloin, mashed cauliflower, peas

I really need to work on food pics. They don't do the food justice

Protein Pancakes

Sausage Corn Italiano
The cleanse says corn is a no no. Rob and I concurred that we didn't get larger than we'd like eating corn. Seriously. Its a terrible pic, but so delish, recipe down below.

Grilled chicken with tons of Cavenders, peas and corn on the cob for the chillens.
We had Roasted Brussel Sprouts. The kids ix-nayed the Brussel Sprouts.
Well, Max ix-nayed being awake for this meal.

Sweatfest at 5am, party of 1? I love days when I get myself out of bed and do this. Its hard. I'm not gonna lie. I suck at the actual, out of bed thing. This is a kettlebell workout. I bought this kettlebell and it came with a free dvd. The dvd seems so freakin easy until your legs nearly buckle and beg for mercy.
 So, obviously its working something.

All in all, I'm glad we did the cleanse. I'm not sure I would do it again, though. I'd do the cleanse in theory, just maybe not pay for the Advocare one. Its a tiny bit pricey (for 2 cheapskates) for a fiber drink and senna laxative pills. And, not to get too personal, but those little pills kind of worked opposite for me. Like, I didn't "cleanse" persay. I kinda had the opposite happen. I just went 10 days without a lot of my vices (no sugar, dairy, alcohol, coffee) and shook off some sweet tooth, craving type problems. So, next time I'd probably do the 10 days without those foods/drinks and maybe just drink some Miralax twice a day and save some $$$$. 

Now for a recipe. We got this recipe from Rob's sister, Staci. He actually made it before there was a Sara in the Rob and Sara scheme of things.

Sausage Corn Italiano

2 cans corn (drained and rinsed)

1-2 green bell peppers chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 package Turkey Sausage link, diced

3 tbsp Italian Seasoning

3 tbsp Parmesan cheese (we omitted this for the cleanse)

Heat up a large skillet. This is the one time I actually use my gigantic cast iron skillet. While it heats, chop up your bell peppers and onions. Cook them till soft. I do Pam (or the cheap version) spray to cook them. I spray the pan and put the veggies in, then do a spray on top of the veggies for when I flip them. When the peppers and onions are cooked, add the sausage. This is cooked before its packaged, so it only needs to be browned/warmed. When the sausage is cooked, add the corn and Italian seasoning and stir it through and allow it to warm. If your kids are not dairy free, like ours, this is the part where you quit stirring and add Parmesan cheese all over the top. About 3 tbsp. Rob and I just sprinkle it on our own plates after serving. 

Make this, make it soon. Your house will smell like Silver Dollar City and your kids will eat it because it has "hot dogs" in it!