Is it really mid-April already? I think I blinked and a month went by. This week is a special week for us…my “baby” girl turns 4!!! I think back to when this whole journey started in 2006 and everything we’ve been through. Now I have this smart, funny, healthy little girl that will be 4 on Tuesday. God is good.

Last week was pretty crazy with errands, Dr. appts., KM, MOPS, soccer, family visits, etc. This week will be busy too. More so in the house than out of the house, but still busy. Today is church, and Justin has an orchestra concert. Monday I have nursery cmt. Tuesday is Kindermusik and birthday. We aren’t going anywhere or having a party. We’ll be celebrating at home just the four of us. Wednesday Rebecca has her four year check up. Friday my in-laws are coming (they’ll be here until Sunday). Saturday we have soccer in the morning. In the afternoon Rebecca will be surprised by going to a Pinkalicious show with Daddy and Grandpa and Grandma. In the evening Justin and his parents are going to the Grand Rapids Symphony. Lots of fun stuff…although I’ll be home almost the whole day (aside from a half hour of soccer). There is a chance of a playdate. And a chance the energy audit people will come back (they had to cancel last week).

In the kitchen last week I made s’mores ice cream, sour cream, yogurt, breakfast cookies, Rebecca’s birthday cake (she helped…it’s in the freezer now ready for decoration!), and I finally started my sourdough. This week I have a lot to do with birthday and guests. I will continue to feed my sd starter. It should be ready on Thursday. I can’t wait to make some sd bread!! I will be decorating Rebecca’s cake. She requested a Lego Friends cake. We’ll see what I can come up with 🙂  I also want to make sour cream, ice cream, pesto, baked oatmeal and food for the weekend. I finally got out some patterns yesterday for stuff for Rebecca and her doll. The doll clothes look pretty simple. I know I won’t have time to work on them this week, but maybe next week.

So, last week I saw my colon surgeon. It’s been 3 1/2 years! He did confirm one pressing issue that I thought was going on. So I have some medication for that. And sadly he put me back on the miralax 🙁  After working so hard for so long to stop it. But I know that God is in control. For now I need to do this to get past certain problems. Maybe some day down the road I can try again. But for now I guess I need it. I go back in a month for another check. After that we’ll see about more testing to see if there are any other issues going on. In the mean time, I haven’t been feeling good at all lately. I think I’m still working through the die off phase. I think I’m on the upswing, but it’s hard to say. It usually lasts about 2 weeks. It’s been over a week already, so I hope it’s over soon. My weight continues to go up. And I don’t like it. It’s not so much where I’m at. It’s the fear of how long this will go on. When will it stop? Some days I feel hopeful. Other days I feel so worn out and totally lost. It seems like no matter what I do/eat I don’t feel good and I keep gaining weight. I know part of it is the die off and the issue I’m treating. Thankfully I’m in the process of dealing with those. But aside from that I get lost. As I think about my current diet the only major difference over last year is that I eat a fair amount of wheat now. Maybe too much? Maybe I don’t handle it as well as I thought? Maybe with my gut out of balance my body is not tolerating it that well at the moment? It’s an idea. So I think I’m going to scale back a little on wheat this week. Not eliminate it. But not go quite so bread crazy 😛  This is another reason I’m anxious to try my sourdough. I mostly eat soaked wheat, but even that is harder on your system than sourdough. I have also read some stuff about pork and how it can impact your system/health. I ate quite a bit of pork last week (not intentionally…that’s just how it went with meals and leftovers). So maybe I need to give both beef and pork a rest for a bit. Or at least really limit them. They are just so hard for me to digest. I also want to reintroduce more fiber. Because of the pain I’ve been in I haven’t been able to eat any raw food or much fiber of any kind lately. I’m hoping to add some back in this week and see how it goes. So for this week I want the bulk of my diet to be vegetables and healthy fats. Sufficient protein of course, but from easily digested sources like eggs, dairy, etc. I’m not going to eat low carb. That is not my goal. But I am going to be careful about going overboard with grains. I want to get my gut back in balance as quickly as possible, so I need to give it a break.

I think that’s it for this week. Here’s what’s on the menu.
——————-
S (prep breakfast, prep lunch, feed sd, church, CCS, prep smoothies, make pesto)
  B – banana walnut yogurt parfait
  L – cp sweet mustard roast w/ sweet potatoes, peppers and carrots / salad w/ beets, olives, avocado and cucumbers
  D – soaked veggie cheese cups (w/ salmon?), fruit, peas

M (make cake decorations, feed sd, crumb coat and frost cake, nursery cmt)
  B – smoothie, toast w/ pb
  D – (early/prep ahead) – leftover veggie cups / leftover hot dogs

T (decorate cake, skim cream, feed sd, KM, make ice cream, birthday, soak oats)
  B – pancakes w/ syrup, fresh fruit
  D – pizza balls (Rebecca’s request/idea…I will be experimenting), peas, cake/ice cream

W (prep breakfast, feed sd, make mayo, Dr. S., strain kefir)
  B – baked oatmeal w/ milk and bananas
  D – tacos bacon pesto panini, roasted asparagus, fruit / veggie cups

Th (feed sd, food prep – bake sd bread, make vanilla wafers, chop veggies, make muesli, make mud balls, soak beans , cleaning)
  B – baked oatmeal, smoothie
  D – roasted eggs or zucchini cakes,leftover pizza, broccoli

F (food prep – bake cinnamon raisin bread, cook beans, make caramel dip, make fruit salad, make pesto, make hummus, Voogts)
  B – roasted egg w/ toast or yogurt, fruit, baked oatmeal
  D – grilled burgers, roasted brussels sprouts and cauliflower, chips, fruit salad
  Des – birthday cake/ice cream

S (boil eggs, make yogurt, prep dinner, Voogts, soccer, Pinkalicious, GRSO)
  B – muesli w/ vanilla yogurt, fruit salad, cinnamon raisin swirl bread w/ pb
  L – egg salad sandwiches, tortilla chips, peppers, carrots and cucumbers w/ hummus, apples w/ caramel dip, mud balls, vanilla wafers
  D – pork roast, sweet potato wedges, beans, applesauce
  Des – cake/ice cream/mudballs/vanilla wafers