Adia's half birthday has been pretty fun. She started the day in a pretty good mood. She played with Scott and then we had breakfast. After breakfast, Adia took a long bubble bath. She wasn't too happy when I washed her hair though. When she decided it was finally time to get out, she cuddled up with me. She was being so sweet!


After getting dressed, we headed outside. I wanted to get some cute 18 month pictures of her. She loved her fairy wings and tutu. She ran around, twirled and had fun. She wanted to go down the slide, so we headed that direction, but a bird had left a huge present on the slide. Maybe it will rain and wash it away since she really loves the slide.












We came inside and had lunch. Adia gobbled up some apples and peanut butter, but wouldn't eat anything else. We played with her Little People and then I grabbed the crayons to color with her. We're still working on the whole coloring technique. She normally just likes to eat them or put them in the box and dump them back out. She colored at first, but it didn't last long. She ended up drawing all over the table and in one of her books. That's when the coloring ended and Adia melted down while I tried to put the crayons away.






I eventually got her to take a nap, but it was a lot of work. Luckily, if I sing her "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan, she calms down and usually falls asleep. It worked last night and it worked today. She only napped 2 hours, but it gave me enough time to put the meatloaf in the oven. Adia's favorite food used to be meatloaf, but I'm not so sure about that anymore. She looked at me like I was crazy when I put a plate of meatloaf, potatoes and peas and corn in front of her. Amazingly, she actually ate some of the peas and corn. I think they may be the first veggies that have ever passed her lips and stayed in. She even used her fork for the meatloaf. I have discovered that she doesn't like ketchup even though I bought her some gluten free kind. She got to have some M&M minis for dessert, which she loved.


She definitely needed a bath after the chocolate. She didn't stay in long, but she seemed to have fun. After her bath, we played until she decided it was time for night night. I read her a bunch of books and then sang her to sleep. She was all cuddled with her baby, which is the sweetest thing in the world. Scott might have tomorrow off, which will be fun to hang out with him. Gamma might be visiting too. It should be a good day for Adia.

Happy 18 Months Adia!

We've made it to 18 months and you're everything I could possibly want. You walk, talk, follow directions (when you choose to), climb and give the best hugs and kisses in the world. I admit, there are days when you make me want to tear my hair out, but I wouldn't change a thing. These last 18 months have been the most amazing months of my life. We've both learned and changed so much. I can only imagine what the next 18 months will be like.


Brand New


6 months


1 year


Today

You've come a long way baby.

Gluten free, what exactly does that mean?

Adia's been gluten free for 6 months now and it's made a huge difference in her growth, personality and sleeping habits. She's a brand new kid without the never ending diaper rash, constant whining and lack of sleep, but what exactly does that mean? It means paying $4.25 for a small loaf of bread that comes vacuum sealed with a silica pack and once opened, must be stored in the freezer so it won't turn blue in a matter of hours. I kid you not, I've had it happen. It means reading every single label, multiple times to make sure there's no hidden "caramel coloring" or "malt flavoring" or "modified food starch". It's usually the malt that bites us in the ass. She can't have rice krispies or frosted flakes or crunch bars because of it. It drives me nuts when I can't buy her a cereal made out of corn or rice because they HAD to add malt flavoring to it. Luckily, there are other cereals she can eat. Cocoa Pebbles are one of them, but not Cocoa Krispies. Strange, I know. I have gluten free vanilla extract in my kitchen and gluten free bubble bath in my bathroom. (Adia likes to drink bathwater) I can even find gluten free mac and cheese (one of Adia's favorites) and the rice pasta isn't that bad either. The gluten free lasagna I made a few months ago tasted better than the regular kind.

We're lucky to have a grocery store nearby that also bakes gluten free cookies and scones. I've even seen cupcakes and brownies there. Adia likes the gluten free marionberry scone and chocolate chip cookies. We buy them every once in a while, but they're spendy and usually expired.

Avoiding gluten is similar to any other food intolerance or allergy, except Adia's not going to go into anaphalactic shock if she comes in contact with a speck of gluten. Instead, she'll have diarrhea, develop a blistering diaper rash and be incredibly cranky for a couple days. If it was long term exposure, however, the outcome could be much different.

When we go out to eat, I generally bring her own food from home. Now that she's getting older, she's not so happy about that. She wants what we're eating or her own meal. At places like P.F. Changs, that's a little easier. They have a gluten free menu. While the choices are limited, it does include the chicken lettuce wraps. Each time we've gone, I've ordered them, but Adia hasn't been too wild about them. We went to Red Robin yesterday and DiDi mentioned Adia's "wheat allergy". It seems to be much easier to call it a wheat allergy as opposed to gluten intolerance since gluten is left with many blank stares and "What?"s The manager brought us the wheat free/gluten free menu. He had alerted the kitchen too so they would thoroughly wash their hands before touching her food along with washing the area her food would be cooked in. Her fries would be unsalted (their seasoning contains gluten) and cooked in a separate fryer. He was so helpful that it will make eating there so much easier and safer for Adia.

While I do buy most of Adia's gluten free foods, like her crackers, bread, animal crackers, frozen waffles and, in the past, frozen pancakes, I'm starting to explore gluten free baking. I've made cupcakes and cookies using Cherrybrook Kitchen's gluten free mixes. They make great sugar cookies that are gluten, nut and egg free. Actually, all their mixes are nut and egg free. Today, for breakfast, I made gluten free pancakes. They turned out really delicious. The first batch I used plain yogurt. They were ok. They had a good texture, which is hard to achieve with gluten free foods. They were just too plain. For the next batch, we used raspberry flavored yogurt and the pancakes were delicious. Adia even approved them. I can't wait to make them again.

Gluten Free Pancakes from "The Wheat-Free Cook" by Jacqueline Mallorca
1/2 cup brown rice flour
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 large egg
1 T oil
1/2 cup fruit flavored yogurt (we used raspberry)

Combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until smooth. The batter will look thick and puffy.

Heat a heavy nonstick skillet or griddle over medium-low heat, but do not grease it. Add the batter by the heaped tablespoons, spacing pancakes about 1 inch apart and flattening the batter a little. Cook until golden brown on both sides, 2 minutes or less.