Well, This is Christmas!

This has been a year of many changes. 

We've grown as a family. On JR's birthday in January, Milo was born. We've moved half way across the world.....literally. We are finally settling in to Weybridge and taking a breath to stop and smell the roses that are the blessings in our life.... Our baby girl (who is about to be 1) is experiencing her first Christmas of many...2011 was filled with a few challenges and several blessings. This year God has given us a love that we could never have imagined, which makes God's love for His children much more real. Our Prayer for 2012 is that God will permeate through our family and enrich us spiritually. Life is busy and hectic and complicated. Hopefully we can all take time this Christmas to enjoy our family and friends....and remember it's not about the gifts or Santa. It's about love....the love we have for one another.....and the love that God has for us. So much that he sent his precious child to save us. 

Father Christmas: Milo's Meets Santa

Welcome to Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park....

The Winter Wonderland fair  has food booths, a craft market....rides, games....and most important--Father Christmas. 

The little elf recommended holding Milo for fear that she may pull Santa's beard and spoil the surprise for all the other kiddies waiting in line. I obliged. 

Milo Just looked at him like he was crazy dressed up like that. She played with his beard and robe

She is not crying in this picture..she's going "ooooh!" 

All in all I think she enjoyed it... even if the only reason was that Santa looked crazy. 

Keeping it short and sweet today because I've got some present wrapping and stuff to do. I have been making a ton of gifts. I wish I could share them with you, but it would kinda spoil the surprise... but I will tell you late and you can make them for birthdays, hostess gifts, or just for the heck of it. 

Gluten Sensitivity: My experiment

I couldn't decide if I was gonna post this or not. I mean it's a little boring.... but then again, this is a blog about my life and sometimes my life is boring. But, to make it a little interesting--and in true masochistic fashion... I will share a few of my favorite Gluten filled recipes.

Since giving birth, I've been having some issues. People don't tell you all the things that happen to your body once you have a baby. Not only is there the obvious, but there are smaller things..... like the fact that I am now allergic to gold.... I have old lady hips... It's impossible for me to sleep without a pillow between my knees due to pain....and then there are the digestive issues. Acid reflux, major bloating, nausea, general ugh feeling after eating certain foods.

These Pioneer Woman Rolls are to die for. I could eat the dough raw... People always flip when I make these.

In an attempt to lose some baby weight I began eating Paleo (AKA the caveman diet). The Paleo diet consists of Veggies, meats, nuts, fruit. That's it. No dairy, No wheat, No Corn, No Grains of any kind, no Processed foods. There are also a few other things like No beans and no starches (like potatoes) except for sweet potatoes. I ate this way for 3-4 weeks. It was nice. My digestive issues were gone. When I started adding other foods back to my diet, I learned that Grains seemed to be a problem and dairy was questionable.

This is my FAVORITE food discovery in the UK so far. This is amazing on a toasted bagel.

This past week, I went gluten free to as an experiment. The results are conclusive. I am gluten sensitive. Luckily, it seems as if its mild....and I'm 99% sure its simply gluten sensitivity and not Celiac Disease. I don't plan on being completely gluten free. I do plan to cut down a lot. This week, the gluten free diet actually wasn't bad. I just ate potatoes, rice, or quinoa instead of bread or whatever. I did find that I was more hungry. I seemed to get the munchies often.... and I had a hard time with my evening snack...or dessert. Since we are up like 5 hours after dinner--I usually have a bagel or dessert of some sort in the middle. I couldn't really figure out what to eat at that time that was gluten free. Also, I lost 1lb. I am 150--the weight my driver's license actually says...lol. Now that's an achievement.

Naan... oh how I love Naan with some hummus.

I plan to keep my gluten intake pretty low and limit dairy as I have been. I really don't know why I am writing this or why you might be interested, but I am. And if you made it this far, I am extremely impressed. If you are out there reading and think you have similar symptoms, you should really look into it more. I have felt great this week! More energy (the days I wasn't sick), no bloating, no ughh feeling, no acid reflux. There are other things I have found in my research that I think could be related such as my anemia (unresponsive to iron), recurrent tonsillitis, skin irregularities, and more... but those are more long term things.

PW BBQ chicken pizza.
In case you haven't noticed, I'm a huge PW fan. I make this with shredded pork
minus cilantro.

I think JR thinks I'm crazy. Maybe you do too. I just wish that I had read about it earlier. I only stumbled upon it because I happened to be doing that diet. If not, I would have just continued to pop tums or take the pills the Doc prescribed.... And although the extra calcium from the tums is probably good, unnecessary medication is no bueno. So, I hope that maybe me sharing this here will help some of you that have been having strange symptoms. Supposedly around 10% of people have some form of sensitivity to gluten.

As I type, I am having some yummy cookies--at the request of my sick hubby. How could I say no?! and How could I make them and not eat some?! But here it is.....that ughh feeling.... although they are worth it. Completely delicious. Click on the image for the recipe....

And just to leave you hanging.... Milo met Santa today. Pictures to come soon.