My sweet Bella. She is the middle child, the pleaser, the brown noser, the little mother, the "good" child". And with all that sweetness we have found a couple things about her health that so many of you I am sure have found with your own children. Food Allergies or Intolerances. When we discovered her lactose intolerance issue I was fine with it. We could all use a little less dairy and cut it out once you find out what all the bad stuff that is in it just to get it processed in all the many different yummy ways we eat it. Plus Greyson's eczema issue is triggered by dairy. If I have had this conversation with one of you then you know you have heard me say this, "I would freakin die if I had to be a label reader and buy my kids special foods". :Yep I have said that many of times.
After dealing with her lactose problem and eve buying the lactaid pills for her to take when there are moments we cant avoid (all ice-cream shops need to offer dairy free options, now days there is practically one in every family. Baskin n Robbins only has 1 sorbet. ONE! and it is daiquiri ice. YUCK even adults don't eat that sh*t) anyway, the pills have worked. But then we started noticing that her tummy hurts anyway. Husband and I started even rolling our eyes anytime she would tell us she had a hurt stomach. How bad is that? Like it was her fault. I know, we suck. Dave even said one time that it was in her head. I disagreed to that and just told her that maybe she just has gas. She does. A lot. lol That's just my family for ya. Dave had no idea what he married when I let one rip for the first time. lol.
I started talking to my dear friend who has chosen a gluten free diet for herself when I started questioning if her problems were a result of her eating wheat. I took it upon myself to once again research it a little. Just like my friend said, Bella's stomach is in knots cause the wheat is tearing it up and it is inflamed, resulting in her aches and pains, her diarrhea and her gas. I talked to Dave and he gave me the go. I bought some gluten free basics so we could do a tester for a few days and see how she reacted. She was completely GF for 3 days and there were no tummy aches, no pepto pills to be taken cause her bathroom issue. She didn't complain at all. Then I had made something in our dinner that contained wheat of some sort. I can't remember what it was but she was in tears going to bed that night with her stomach hurting. I felt horrible. What was I doing to my poor baby? I thought that one little bit of what I gave her was going to be fine, but she wasn't. I felt so bad and held her in bed while she cried. I said a special prayer with her. I asked the Lord that he would guide me and help me make better conscious food decisions for her. I started to cry a little in my prayer as I could here her turning in her bed holding her stomach.
My next day's activities consisted of grocery shopping again so I went to Sprouts. Bella and Greyson accompanied me and our Sprouts trips are usually quick cause the store is small. We went through everything on our list and decided to ask the stocker lady where we could buy already made bakery GF stuff. She was right there un packing it. She showed me the best sandwich bread and some tortillas and such. I was so grateful to her. I turned to Bella with a happy voice and said "Bella you can EAT now!!" as soon as I said that little tears had come to my eyes. I had tried making stuff on my own but it was so gross and was sad that she was going to have to "get used to it". We walked away and headed to the checkout line. That same lady came up to me with an armful of GF brownies and cookies individually packaged and said some sweet words to me. I started crying again cause I was so grateful. I know how expensive that stuff is and this just gave us a little treat cushion for her when we have treats throughout the week after dinner. Right then I had realized that my little prayer from the night before was answered. I explained to Bella and she recognized it too. I was sooo happy and comforted. She enjoyed her sandwich that day without the tummy ache.
I know that the Lord is aware of us. Especially of those who are so dependent on others like Bella is of me. She has no other choice. She wouldn't survive if she had no one to cook for her. He helped me help her. Now I turn to you. How have you coped with this GF world? What are some things you learned and what recipes do you love? Please leave a comment or shoot me an email. bellapiadesigns@yahoo.com. Thank you!!
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