What? Wheat?

This is what Ginny can eat:

• Fruits (8): Pears, apples, strawberries, blueberries, mango, bananas, avocado (yes, it's a fruit) and peaches
  
• Vegetables (3): Spinach, broccoli and carrots
  
• 'Grains' (2): Quinoa and millet
• Meat (2): Grass fed beef and salmon (we think, although we never really got her to eat enough to be certain)
  
• Milk (1) including yogurt and cheese
• Other ingredients: honey (in baked goods), cream of tartar, baking soda and canola oil
  

That totals 16 safe foods if you count the salmon. Some days, that seems like a lot. Most days, it's still pretty limiting to try to feed her. Fruits and vegetables can only take you so far. She doesn't want much pureed these days, unless it's in a smoothie, so she gets things raw, freeze dried and cooked. The quinoa flakes are a one-meal-a-day staple and the quinoa flour (and some fruit) has made its way into muffins for G, but there are just as many days that she refuses these as days that she's willing to eat them. The quinoa pancakes, apparently, didn't pass muster. The millet puffs we have remaining in our house are one of Ellie's favorite snacks, however, Ginny isn't interested, and the millet flour in cookies was a notable futile attempt at getting her to eat millet in another form. She gets ground beef cooked. I have no idea how else I might feed this to her really. I once tried a patty and she simply, repeatedly chucked it across the room Frisbee style. Milk is a wonderful addition to her diet, along with the yogurt and cheese. I know there are other dairy products out there but we haven't made it through them all yet - and most have so many crazy additives (xanthum gum and carob, sigh....) that it can get tough finding brands that will work for G. I'm open to recipes and ideas, of course, but my own brain seems to be in a fog and unable to think creatively with these ingredients these days.

So, in an effort to expand Ginny's diet and relieve my frustration, I intend to do a wheat trial. Other FPIES moms have inspired me! My mind is made up. If I type it here and make it public, I can't go back, right? I had considered corn but it's simply not as nutritious. I'd like to try potatoes some day too, but wheat wins. I have no idea how she'll get the wheat to eat, but she will. Soon-ish. Wheat. Wow.

Time Marches On...

Ginny is working on stair climbing. More accurately, she's obsessed with climbing stairs as if magnetically attracted to them. This kills me. Kids and stairs make me very nervous. But... Ginny wants to climb stairs and I'm letting her, under my close and watchful eye/when I am right behind her. So, it was on one of these trips up the stairs the other day when I had one of those movie-like-memory-sequence experiences. Do you know what I mean? It was all over in a split second, but I swear I saw a million little pictures flash by showing how time has marched on. It took my breath away, left me grinning and choked up all at once.

As Ginny climbed up the stairs I saw, in my mind, a 15 month old Ellie climbing the very same stairs, turning and grinning at me and then hurrying to catch up with Buddy, who was waiting just a few steps ahead, for her to catch up. When Ellie was at this stair-climbing-stage, we still had our Buddy Dog (our best-dog-in-the-whole-world-rescued Buddy-Spaniel who passed away the August before G was born), so Ellie never climbed alone. Neither one went up or down without the other. I saw Ellie and Buddy climbing the stairs. I saw Ellie learning to slide back down and Buddy trying to keep up as he grew older and slower. I saw Ellie jumping in puddles, soaked on a Spring day, reveling in the rain and her lady bug raincoat and rain boot ensemble. I felt the 'weight' of a tiny newborn Ellie in my arms.... and then, without pause, I remembered that Ellie has recently outgrown that once-over-sized rain gear and that Ginny is growing into it. I remembered a tiny newborn Genevieve coming home for the first time and how big Ellie seemed that day- how much bigger she seemed after having been away from her for just 48 hours. I realized that Ginny will never climb stairs alone either - and will always have a willing partner next to her when she slides back down. It was a split second. The briefest of moments. I saw both of my children and felt them in my arms as infants - and knew how fast the time has flown by.

Ginny kept moving up the stairs and I followed behind, ready to catch her should she fall; just where I'll always be for both of my girls. Time is marching on.

Eloise, July 2007

Eloise, January 2011

Genevieve, January 2010

Genevieve, January 2011

I Quit. I Give Up.

I'm with you Edie Brickell and all of your New Bohemians. I quit. I give up. I am done. If I wasn't afraid of offending too many people or shocking some family members, I would cuss up a storm tonight. Recently, some friends have remarked on 'how well I'm handling things.' I'm about to screw up my track record. I'm about to whine and complain and forget all the reasons I have to feel blessed and lucky in this FPIES mess. #*(@!*& (#%( *$)%_+$()$( ***#*$@)*. That's right. I just said that. Grrrr.....

A Big Deal

Today is Valentine's Day. We don't really go schmoopy-crazy around here. Besides, like every other holiday and celebration and occasion, this has turned into yet another opportunity to make fun themed crafts, fun food and give fun little gifties to the kiddos. But I will get flowers from John, which I love, and John, Ellie and I will 'make' and eat a fondue dinner together tonight, which will be fun and possibly very dangerous what with the fire, hot liquids and sharp pointy sticks - and Ginny will get milk. That's right. Milk. As much milk as her little milk-lovin' heart desires. That's why you're reading, right? Not to hear about our Valentine's Day but to hear about Ginny?