My first personal blog http://thestoryofmylittlecaramellatte.blogspot.com/ was my therapy during the wonderful journey to becoming a gluten free mommy. After the birth of my son, I contemplated returning to this blog. The blog felt finished in a way though. I may continue the story following my son as he grows, but for now I decided to start a new chapter.
Anyone who has kids in their lives knows that your life goes from busy to plain insane with the addition of a baby! Add to this going back to work, being gluten-free, a part-time student and you'll think it couldn't get any harder...but it can! At 4 months old, my son was diagnosed as milk allergic which for those of you who are not familiar means mommy can't even LOOK at a cow without junior reacting! My life went from crazy to "please tell me the men in the white coats are outside to pick me up!"
Anyone who lives gluten free understands the challenges inherent in this lifestyle. When you're working full time, you have the additional challenge of finding a place to eat out or having to pack lunch, snacks etc for the day. Now I have to follow a dairy free diet as well. There went my ThinkThin bars...there went my Amy's mac & cheese...there went my yogurt and string cheese and ice cream and... Well you get the point. Right after I found out I had to be gluten free for the rest of my life I had a meltdown. A "I can't eat anything, my life is over" meltdown to which my (now husband) fiance spent 2 weeks pouring over the Internet finding EVERYTHING I still could eat to prove me wrong and get me out of my funk. The meltdown this time was darn near catastrophic! It took a good month to finally come to terms with the fact that I would have to give up my love affair with ice cream for the safety of my child. And don't get me wrong, I was 100% commited to the safety of my child from day one, but my selfish side that needs a mommy ice cream fix occasionally was not. Now, techically I'll only have to be dairy free while feeding my son, but considering the fact that he'll still have to be dairy free after he's weaned, it's only fair to stay dairy free in our home for his safety.
The new phase after meltdown is the "Fix it" phase. This is where I pick myself up, learn to live with the hand I've been dealt and find little pleasures in the journey along the way. I decided to share this journey with all of you so you won't feel alone in this gluten free dairy free life. Plus it's more fun when you share any journey with someone else :) Thanks for joining me!
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