July Birthdays

[July 3 2014]



It is so fun to live close enough to family to celebrate everyone's birthdays together. One Sunday we had candles and presents for R and our niece A, in advance of their actual birthdays. Then a few days later we went out to dinner to celebrate R's birthday on the actual day. We have done fairly well at Chili's lately, because they have a lot of variety on the GF menu and our kids LOVE the quesadillas.



They also LOVE their mom. She is a sweetheart and we all love her dearly. Happy Birthday!

Gluten Free Rice Krispies

When R was diagnosed as having a gluten intolerance, she had to abandon her beloved Shreddies and Mini-Wheats in favour of cereals made from corn or rice -- grains that contain no gluten. Armed with this information, we immediately set our sights on Corn Flakes, Corn Pops or Rice Krispies from the cereal aisle. But alas, every one of these mainstream "corn" or "rice" cereals contained a wheat ingredient.

Instead of buying from the big companies, we ended up buying our all our cereal from Nature's Path, which only puts corn in corn cereals and rice in rice cereals. However, a recent trip to the grocery yielded a box of this new offering from Kellog's: Gluten-Free Rice Krispies.

Snap, Crackle & Pop -- you are now welcome in our home again.

We tried the new cereal in bowls with milk and in squares with marshmallows and found it is essentially identical to the offending gluten-laden versions in every way except the colour of the box. So why did it take so long to figure out what Nature's Path has been doing for years?

A Sudden Reminder

A small pang of sadness this weekend as a calendar reminder popped up on my phone for October 30:

"Due Date"

Nearly nine months ago I wrote the following post, which I held off publishing until we were ready to share the exciting news with the world. Seven days later the story had already ended and the unpublished post languished in my "drafts" folder:

February 22, 2011 - "A Big, Big Surprise"

You might be surprised, but nobody is more surprised than me.

R went to a natureopath for a consultation last week and was recommended several supplements to help improve her general health and her energy levels -- including an B12 injection. The natureopath said that she should come back for another shot when she feels it wearing off. She wondered how she would know if it had worn off, but she was told it would be pretty apparent from her energy levels.

Well, for the last week she has felt more drained than normal, making her wonder if the B12 was having the opposite effect. Then last night we took some stuff up to the attic for storage. Some boxes with picture frames, some maternity clothes that R's sister borrowed -- just stuff. Something about those boxes made her start counting days and wonder about the calendar: 30 days. Hm, a bit late.

Today came and went and she realized she was several days later than usual and she started to get anxious. Various ideas flashed through her head throughout the day as she considered the possibility. Finally, when evening came and the kids were in bed she shared her suspicions with me. 15 minutes later I was back from the drug store with a home pregnancy test kit.



What?! Pregnant?! Us?! I thought this wasn't even possible! How is this possible?! This is fabulous news, but how is this possible?! Amazing!

You know, we always joked that we might have a surprise baby, but we didn't think it would happen so soon! We suspect it is probably because of the gluten-free diet. Either way, this news is more than I expected on a Tuesday evening. I thought I might eat a snack and watch some TV. Wow. Totally shocked. It's so weird that we didn't have so much time to anticipate the news. It's a very different experience, this "surprise" stuff.

For the record, I'm predicting a girl.

We spent the evening talking about how our life was going to change. We had just sold our Jeep and bought a different car with the assumption that we'd likely not expand beyond a family of four. We started mentally reconfiguring the rooms of our house to fit in another bed -- and thoughts went to possibly moving those beds to an altogether different house. The next morning, Katie took her first steps and things were pretty exciting. Alongside the puzzled jubilation were concerns about R's health. The latest pregnancy had been pretty tough on her and we were working with a natureopath to try to improve her overall health -- another pregnancy so soon was going to mean more destabilization before we could really make any progress. Still, we realized the huge miracle that this sudden pregnancy represented and we mostly just looked forward to the future.

Eight days later, on the morning of March 2, R sent an email out to the family with the sad news:

Hello family,
Just wanted to let everyone know that I had a miscarriage last night. I'm glad that we told all of you the exciting news [last week] so that we don't just have to tell you the bad. Obviously, I have torn emotions about this. Half of me is a relieved and the other half is a little sad. At least we didn't have to go through fertility treatments this time and the miscarriage happened early. I think that will make it easier to cope with. I'm already feeling a lot better today. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Love, R

Just as quickly as it began, it was over. We were definitely sad, although there was a bit of relief that we could work on R's health a bit more. Significantly, we felt a lot of uncertainty. Previously, we had felt pretty certain that our chances of having another child were near zero, and we had accepted that reality and had started moving forward with our lives. Suddenly, we had this new possibility thrust upon us and we still have no idea whether it might happen again.

Honestly, I haven't spent that much time thinking about it the last few months, until suddenly the notifications popped up. In addition to the official Oct 30 due date, I had one labeled "likely delivery date" set for Oct 17th, since we have been two weeks early both times. Seeing those reminders this month brought back thoughts from this original posting, thoughts of gratitude for our two cute kids, and thoughts of wonder:

What will the future hold for us?

biopsy: negative?!

Can it be true?

R had her biopsy almost a month ago. I took her to the hospital and waited while they wheeled her off to the endoscopy room to be heavily sedated and have a probe go down her throat. She was most worried about the gag reflex. I was most worried about watching the I.V. inserted.

Once they wheeled her off, the whole thing probably took less than 20 minutes before she was back. She was pretty groggy, but not groggy enough to get much of the sleep the nurses recommended. For the next 24 hours she was legally impaired, and then the waiting started.

They said that the results would be available in 7-10 days. They didn't say that the nurse was going on vacation for another 7-10 days after that, and no one else could disclose the results. The outgoing message on the answering machine was adamant that we should not call back or leave a second message. You know, "Don't call us, we'll call you."

Finally, this week the verdict came. Negative. No sign of Celiac Disease.

What?!

Eight months ago, when R was still pregnant, the Celiac blood test came back positive. That test is considered 95 percent accurate, so it's all a bit perplexing.

R says it's all because pregnancy does crazy things. She has a friend who says she was allergic to apples until her first pregnancy, when she suddenly wanted nothing else. Similar stories, but the other way round.

We will hear the opinion of the specialist soon, but we may find we can eat gluten again -- at least, until another pregnancy comes along to defy science once again.

How do you like them apples?

Gluten Moon Begins

On Friday we kicked off the gluten-eating binge in proper fashion, getting two medium pizzas from a favourite local pizzeria. The crusts there are so thick and tasty, it is definitely the sort of thing you can't get gluten-free.



We followed that up on Saturday by eating French toast for lunch and hitting up Wendy's for dinner -- that is hardly "easing" back into eating gluten, but we were out watching the SuperTrain exhibition and there was a Wendy's just across the street.

Scott really enjoyed the SuperTrain exhibition, although he is hardly the train fanatic that he was last year at this time. He has diversified his interests into things like trucks, cars, soccer balls and Spiderman, but he still loves to watch a train in motion.

The exhibition was mainly hobbyists (often representing hobby stores) who were displaying their very elaborate train models for the benefit of other hobbyists and young children. It was interesting to be an event that is primarily focused on elderly men and young boys. There are few such venues.

While boys seem to gravitate toward trains, there was plenty to captivate the interest of any child -- including a huge play area stocked with Thomas the Tank Engine tracks and trains. Apparently, there are three such play areas at a hobby shop in the small town of Nanton, Alberta (this shop provided the toys for the expo). We drive through Nanton every time we go to the US to visit family, so we should add that one to our list of possible stopping points.

Another such point is the gluten-free pizza restaurant in Okotoks. You see how all this fits together. Gluten-free pizza and trains are very closely connected. In fact, we picked up some prepackaged frozen gluten-free pizzas from Coco Brooks to try, since it was only 3 blocks from the SuperTrain show.

It must be the Gluten Moon.

Spicy Hut: Ginger Beef is Back!

I had heard from a coworker about a little Chinese restaurant in Bridgeland (just NE of downtown) that can do gluten-free ginger beef on request. Yesterday we had to go pick up a kijiji-purchased birthday present in Bridgeland, so we decided to hit up the Spicy Hut.

My friend at work refers to it as the "Shady Hut", but he does so lovingly. The neighborhood is older and the decor is nothing that would be featured in a design magazine.

All shadyness aside, it was exceptionally friendly, and exceptionally tasty. The cashew chicken was quite good, but the ginger beef was the highlight. Even without any gluten, it was some of the best ginger beef I've ever tasted -- and the plate was huge.

Who needs gluten when you've got the Spicy Hut?

IKEA's Freezer is Secretly Gluten-Free

Since the prospect of playing in the ball pit at IKEA is what motivated Scott for potty training, we took him to the "big blue store" on Good Friday for his big debut. We expected it to be busy. We expected to have to wait. In that respect, we got what we expected.


Sadly, when we moved through the waiting throng to the counter, we saw a sign that said "The ball pit is closed until further notice." The rest of the play area was open, so we still went ahead and signed up for a time slot.

I asked the attendant what was going on with the balls. He said that somebody had peed in there earlier in the day.

Outrageous.

Scott still enjoyed it, even without the balls, and R and I simply wandered around the store during his 45 minute shift.

We recently read on a Celiac blog that IKEA has a gluten-free dessert that is pretty good -- good enought that the blog author said she buys several to keep in her freezer. Since we were there anyway, we thought we should check it out.

With our 45 minutes of freedom, we taste-tested the "Almondy" cake in the cafeteria upstairs and found it to our liking. It's amazing, in fact. It is this almond-based tart with a creamy layer and a chocolate topping with Daim candy sprinkled on top.

We bought 4 of those and 2 of the Blabarskaka (blueberry).

So Scott didn't get his romp in the ball pit, but he got to climb on a hippo thing, eat another ice cream cone and enjoy Blabarskaka for dessert after dinner. Being diaper-free has its benefits.

Gluten Moon Begins April 16th

The Hellenic calendars, the Hebrew Lunisolar calendar and the Islamic Lunar calendar started the month with the first appearance of the thin crescent of the new moon.
- "Month", Wikipedia

This year, April 14th is a new moon. It closely coincides with the beginning of a one-time, 34-day feast in our house that will be observed starting on April 16th. We will call this day Gluten Day, and the period until May 19th will be Gluten Moon.


Back in October, when R was pregnant, she was a diagnosed with a gluten intolerance following a blood test. However, we've held onto a dim hope that the intolerance was brought on by the pregnancy, rather than Celiac Disease. Normally, a positive blood test is followed by a biopsy to make an accurate diagnosis for Celiac Disease. You have to keep eating gluten until the biopsy, but R had to get off the gluten immediately for the sake of the pregnancy, so the biopsy was scheduled for May 19th. In order to make a conclusive test, she has to eat gluten for several weeks leading up to the test -- our doctor said about a month.

Technically, a lunar month is about 29 days, so we're stretching it a bit. But who can blame us? If you were given one last chance to eat gluten, you would want to make it a good one.

R is going to make a ranked list of things that she will miss the most and we are going to make sure we hit as many as we can without making her terribly ill. Because some things are harder to replace than others, there are some items (that aren't necessarily her #1 favourites) that will make the list just because she'll likely never get to eat them again (at least not quite like she is used to):

- submarine sandwiches & restaurant club sandwiches
- hamburger buns & most fast food fries
- pizza (especially delivery)
- German pancake, French toast and Cora's Surprise
- ginger beef and lemon chicken (but we've probably found a replacement)
- fresh-baked rolls, pastries, cookies, etc
- angel food cake and a host of other desserts
- flour tortilla burritos
- regular, flour-thickened beef gravy (ie: Sunday dinner & poutine)

Nine Years Later

Subtitle: Anniversary weekend in Cardston, Alberta.


Nine years ago this week we stood on this same spot for wedding photos. Strangely enough, there was no snow on the ground that day either -- a miracle. While the weather appears the same, we certainly look different than in our wedding video that we watched again (an anniversary tradition). R's hair is darker and curlier. She also has a prego belly. My differences are harder to pinpoint. I've got about the same haircut, but I look older. It seems like I have moved a little further along the continuum which has younger me on one end and my dad on the other end.


We spent the weekend childless, leaving our progeny in the capable hands of his aunt J and his uncle L, where he reportedly put all his energy into playing with hotwheels cars on a track. On the way out of town, we hit an opening day showing of "New Moon". The movie was actually better than I expected -- the special effects were leaps and bounds ahead of the previous film. I guess that's what you get with a bigger budget.

The absolute best part of the whole thing was the audience -- hearing the collective gasping and swooning when the male lead characters first appeared, and then the mania when Jacob pulled his shirt off. You can't duplicate that part of the experience at home, and I'm glad I was there to witness it.

I'm also glad that I didn't have to wait in line. We were able to walk right in for the afternoon show, but we saw throngs of fans lined up outside the theatre for the later shows when we came out.


Another stop on our way south was the Pizzaberger Cafe in Okotoks, which offers a gluten-free crust in addition to its wheat-flour mainstay. While we were waiting for our order, we saw quite a stream of customers coming in and out, including a couple who often drives the 40 minutes down from Calgary to get their pizza fix, as well as an Okotoker who says he gets the 2 for 1 takeout special every Friday. We had no idea this little spot in an otherwise sleepy strip mall was such a local gem. We understood the passion once R dug into her hawaiian feast.

You see, people can deal with a certain amount of change in their lives over 9 tenths of a decade -- hairstlyes, pregnancy, children -- but pizza is pretty tough to give up cold turkey.

Thank goodness for Pizzaberger.

RIP Aunt Jemima

After the first trimester, a pregnant lady should start to feel a little better. That's how it was in R's first pregnancy, but it has not been the case for this pregnancy. When people ask me how R is feeling, I have to say that she's not doing so hot. She's continued to have some serious tummy troubles for the whole 2nd trimester. Horrible pains, five times in five weeks.

After a while, she started wondering if it might be something she was eating. In the past, we have suspected she has had issues with a few foods (Ccocolate: not so good; lettuce: don't overdose on it). Well, she wasn't eating either of these things. Then R's mom came up with a possible diagnosis.

R's mom has a friend who has some striking similarities to R. She had stomach problems. She also had abnormal iron balance, which is interesting. This lady was eventually diagnosed with gluten intolerance, called Celiac Disease. Until last week when I learned that such people are called Celiacs, I referred to it them as "unlucky", or "those people who can't ever eat anything."

R and her mom became particularly suspicious about the Celiac hypothesis, since R's grandpa was just recently diagnosed with the disease. R decided to consult with her midwives, who were somewhat dismissive at first, but became increasingly convinced of "The Hypothesis" as R laid out the evidence. After first consulting with our dentist over a souvlaki dinner, R met with our doctor to get a requisition for a blood test. The blood test results came back today.

Unlucky.

I guess we'll now be one of those families that can't ever eat anything.

Well, there are tons and tons of great things that we can still eat (including buckwheat!), but there is a whole world of readily consumable foods that we can't eat. Basically, R has been suddenly yanked out of the Great North American Fast Food Culture. Well, she would have been -- had she liked any of that stuff to start with. She joked that her grandpa has appeared somewhat disappointed as he's been "deprived" of his favourites, but she really hasn't lost many of her real favourites. She's a fruit and vegetables lover, and those are still on the table.

Although R has had hints of Celiac symptoms previous to pregnancy, it seems like pregnancy was the trigger. It could disappear as soon as it appeared. R has her fingers crossed for that, but she has to deal with it for at least the next few months, and prepare for the possibility that Celiac is here to stay.

Despite the optimistic attitude, we must mourn our loss.
No more Kraft Dinner
No more Little Caesars $5 pizza
No more Submarine Sandwiches
No more Aunt Jemima Instant Waffle Mix

RIP Aunt Jemima