Happy New Year (almost)! Christmas is over. Time to focus on the new year…oh wait, not yet! We still have round four of Christmas celebrations this week 😛  Even if our tree and all of our decorations are already down.

Last week was a mix of Christmas activities, doctor visits and family time. This week will be about the same.

This week we have one more extended family Christmas. I have an appt. with my psychologist. And Justin and I are venturing out on another “date”…a wine and appetizer party with people from church. Should be interesting since I can’t drink alcohol or probably eat most of the appetizers. But I look forward to the socializing. And hopefully the kids do well at home. I suppose at some point I should figure out what I’m bringing!

This week kind of kicks off a month of being busy!! I’m calling it the month of doctor visits. As of right now we collectively have 9 doctor appointments. And who knows if it will go up. We are also starting swimming lessons again with Rebecca. And possibly some yoga classes. At the end of the month Kindermusik will start back up…but for the first time it will be for both kids.

I kept plenty busy in the kitchen last week making two batches of dairy free brownies for parties (members of both sides of the family are DF), banana bread, granola, sugar free cookies, cinnamon cranberry bread, hot fudge and soaked graham crackers. I don’t have too much on my agenda this week. Time for a little post-holiday break 🙂  We’ll see how long I can handle that before I’m anxious to get back to my usual busyness in the kitchen.

We found out yesterday that the people we share milk pick up with have decided to stop their share. So now we are trying to figure out if we can find someone else to do it with or if we’ll have to take a break from it ourselves. It’s disappointing, but I just can’t commit to making the drive to the farm every week. We’ll see. I’m torn about it. I trust that God will give us direction. We’ll either come up with someone else to share with or we’ll go back to pasteurized (non-homo) milk. Maybe it’s good timing (God’s timing is always perfect :). We’ve barely been getting by on our 3 gallons of milk a week. I’ve had to stop making as much yogurt, sour cream and ice cream as I’d like because we need all of our milk to drink (now that Abram drinks quite a bit). If I have to buy milk at the store I can buy as much as I need for that week. It also could be an opportunity to try dietary changes. I’ve heard many people recommend casein free diets. It’s something I’d consider trying for Rebecca at some point. I LOVE our raw milk. Especially for myself with such a sensitive tummy. And becuase Abram has only ever had breastmilk or raw milk. But we’ll see if we have to go without for a while. It would definitely take some stress out of my life (and Rebecca’s…she hates the drive). So maybe it’s a good thing. Just thinking about having a break from it actually puts me at ease a bit. I don’t know yet. But I do know God is in control.

I had a doctor appointment last week with a more holistic doctor. She talked with me for an hour about all of my symptoms/problems. Then we decided what tests to run. There were a lot. I don’t even know what they all were. I know we checked thyroid, did a CBC, adrenals, minerals/metals/toxins, allergies and candida/yeast. But there were plenty more. They took 7 or 8 vials of blood (at least I think…I had my eyes closed the whole time). That’s pretty rough for me…and ended how I expected…me almost passing out (nausea, sweating, things going black, etc.). I’m glad that’s over. They also had to take a hair sample, and I had to do a saliva test. I go back in two weeks for the results. I’m so anxious to find out!! Who knows, maybe it will show I’m allergic to dairy 😛  The doctor suspects food allergies and yeast.

The doctor did recommend probiotics (of course). I’ve been taking probiotics for a long time…on and off. I recently ran out of them. So I got a new kind (remember that whole rotation/variety thing I’ve mentioned? Yeah, it’s probably good to do the same with probiotics). I’ll probably start them next week. She also suggested eating yogurt daily (of course). I usually eat yogurt a few times a week. But I try not to eat it every day because of rotating foods. But I have actually eaten it for the last five or six days now. Partly based on her suggestion. But partly just because I didn’t have many other options in the house 😛  And now it seems that my body is starting another round of die off 🙁  I haven’t had die off in a while. And this is definitely BAD timing. But there isn’t much I can do about it. Yesterday the mystery headache started. And then the acne flair, mouth sores and messed up digestion. For now I just try to eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and drink plenty of fluids to try to flush things out as quickly as possible.

I also had a couple days with quite a bit of anxiety last week. It has come down since then, but this week will test it again. I’m looking forward to next week when everything is back to “normal.” Justin is back to work, Rebecca is back to school, etc. My OCD does not like vacation.

I guess this post is getting long enough. If you just came to check out our meal plans, sorry about that 🙂

I’m going to do the opposite of what I’ve been doing and not plan breakfasts and lunches this week. It’s an experiment in listening to my body. I need to eat what my body is craving. If I just want salty stuff one day. Fine. If I want mostly sweet. Fine. My body’s needs change every day. So I have to listen. I’ll see how this goes and decide how I want to plan things next week. I’ll probably keep planning Justin’s B/L at the start of each week. But not sure about my own. It is easier to rotate foods when I plan them out. But then I’m not listening to my body’s cues. So we’ll see.

Here’s the menu. A very simple one. What’s on your menu this week?  Do you think it helps or hurts to plan out your meals?  How do you listen to what your body needs?
________________________________________________________________
S (prep lunch)
  D – chicken nuggets, broccoli

M ()
  D – pork chops, carrots

T (celebrate Christmas with family)
  D – turkey, potatoes, veggies (MIL preparing)

W ()
  D – (easy/quick prep) – fried eggs on toast, broccoli, bananas w/ milk

Th (skim cream, make kefir, clean, prep dinner, Dr. V., yearly budget review)
  D – (prep ahead) – sweet and sour meatballs w/ vegetables over rice

F (strain kefir, make yogurt, Meijer, make ice cream)
  D – egg muffins, beans, toast, fruit

S (prep appetizers, wine and appetizer party)
  D – eat at the party (J/M) / grilled cheese, broccoli, applesauce (kids)
   (bringing brie en croute and bacon wrapped dates)