If only I could post on here by osmosis.  I think of posts all the time, especially when I’m falling asleep (those are the best ones, even though I rarely remember to actually ever post them), but I can’t be bothered to log on and type what I’m thinking most of the time.  Sorry.    One day I will blog interesting things again.  One day.  For now, you’re stuck with my mundane update lists, which I add for posterity’s sake. 

• The pregnancy is going well.  I’m not nearly as sick as the last time I posted, but have gotten glutened twice and caught a cold from a couple of the kiddos.  I’m starting to feel human again, though, and my nausea is down to a wave here and there throughout the day instead of constant 24/7.  Thank the Lord, because that was really starting to get old. 
• Justice finished the basketball season, and Jarvis’ first spring soccer game is this Sunday afternoon. 
• Paige just keeps getting cuter!  She repeats so much of what the other kids do (which they think is awesome), and she is talking more and more.  Her little voice and the way she says things is adorable.  And her outlook on life is hilarious.  She gets so serious sometimes and so silly at other times.  She’s cuddling more, which we LOVE, and she still thinks drawing is the best thing ever – on paper, on her legs, on the walls – anywhere… she’s not picky. 
• Brittany and I tried Z Pizza yesterday, in Cary.  It was good – I loved that most of their ingredients are organic.  I did not love the price, but gluten-free pizza is never cheap.  Best of all – it did not make me sick!  Score!
• We should, according to the IRS, have our tax refund a week from tomorrow.  Looking forward to paying some things, buying some things, and of course, looking forward to the shopping that goes along with “buying some things”.  I love to shop, but alas, with six children, most of my shopping usually consists of trying to find affordable shoes for them or trying to keep our pantry stocked.  It’s so fun when we get a chance to do a little ‘extra’. 
• Not sure if I mentioned it here or not, but we finally seem to have figured out Darby’s digestion issues.  The culprit is dairy.  She seems to be able to handle small amounts in baked goods, but too much milk or cheese and she’s in major pain and having all sorts of stomach issues.  I’m glad for her sake it isn’t gluten – I think dairy is a little easier to avoid. 
• The jury is still out on Paige… I think she has some food issues, unfortunately, but I’m not sure yet what they are.  She doesn’t eat gluten very often because I can’t have her contaminating me with her messy gluteny hands and face, but when she does have it, that’s not really when I notice any issues.  I may just have to wait until she is older.  She has some digestion problems sometimes, but not all the time like Jacob did when he was little, and she has some ‘patchy’ dry skin issues (which is almost always food related, though it could be environmental, but I use very pure detergents, etc., so probably some sort of food bothering her). 
• Speaking of issues – I have read and heard in multiple locations that pregnancy is supposed to ease the symptoms of celiac disease, however, I seem to be MORE sensitive when pregnant.  Also, I have heard that fibromyalgia symptoms are supposed to ease up while pregnant as well – um, no – mine are MUCH worse.  Of course, my masseuse is in Iraq, so that might have a little to do with the fibro symptoms being worse.  Still… I really do hate the head fogs, and I’ve had a lot of them lately, whereas before the pregnancy, I was really having them less and less.  And the pain… don’t even get me started. 
• Not to sound like a complainer – I really am very blessed, and so far, have not had to be on bed rest for this pregnancy.  With Jacob and Paige, I had to do some bed rest during the first trimesters for bleeding.  I did have some spotting last week, but I laid down for a full day and a half, and then everything was fine again with no issues since!  I’m hoping and praying that I won’t have to be on bed rest for the third trimester, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.  I try not to think about the third trimester too much, because it hasn’t been long enough for me to forget about the third trimester with Paige, which was absolutely the most brutal thing ever – well, aside from her delivery, but I’m pretty sure this baby can’t top that one!  At least I hope not!!    Too bad I can’t go back in time and appreciate my first four pregnancies more than I did – and I thought I had things to complain about THEN – ha!! haaaahhhaaaaahahahaaa!!!!! 
• Speaking of trimesters, I’ve got about 5 days left of the first trimester.  I’m already starting to have a bit more energy – ya know, when I’m not glutened or down with a bad cold.  I’m hoping to get some projects around here done – hoping! 
• We plan on taking a trip to Atlanta in a month or so.  Can’t wait to see everyone, and to do some shopping with Andrea at H&M Maternity and Buy Buy Baby!
• I get to see my friend Ali tomorrow in Raleigh!  She’s coming to town for a wedding, so we’re going to meet up for lunch before the festivities start.  Can’t wait!  I wish we lived closer!
• Then, we’re (me and the kiddos) going to hang out in Raleigh and let Jarvis pick the activity, since tomorrow is also his 12th birthday!
• And I’ve zoned out – time for some netflix and snacks!

• I got glutened the other day.  I haven’t had this bad of a gluten attack in a very long time.  I’m on my 3rd day of a migraine and major intestinal issues (among the other symptoms that go along with me consuming gluten).  I’m only blogging now because I finally gave in and took a Goody’s powder (it has aspirin, and I’m pregnant, so I had been avoiding it – even though it’s the only thing that’ll take any of the edge off a migraine like this… it was just too much though, so I decided to go ahead and take one today).  Hopefully tomorrow will be better…
• My first OB appointment is at 9:00 tomorrow morning.  I’m not even sure which doctor I’m seeing.  I requested one, Tricare assigned another, and they weren’t clear who I was seeing when they called to tell me when my first appointment was.  I’ll just go to whomever they assigned, and if I don’t like them – I’ll be sure to switch.  I just hope it’s a woman!  I used to see male OB/Gyn’s, but it kind of creeps me out now, and I prefer to stick to women.  I’m also hoping for an ultrasound!
• Andrew is alive and well on the other side of the world.  We have thankfully gotten to chat on the instant messenger pretty much every day, and have even gotten to have a few short phone calls.  Being able to communicate with him regularly helps us get through this time apart.  Continue to pray for him, please. 
• Paige’s favorite show right now is The Backyardigans.  She copies their dance moves, and sings along with the theme song.  To ask to watch it, she will sing her version of the theme song, which sounds kind of like “yah-ah-gan” in her sweet little singing voice. 
• Justice is halfway through his basketball season and he is doing great!  He started off his 2nd game this past Saturday with a 3-pointer.  Woo hoo!  I love watching him play!
• I am 8 weeks, 1 day pregnant, assuming I have my due date correct, which I’m pretty sure I do.  I still have approximately one million weeks to go.  At least, that’s what it feels like.    I’m still ridiculously nauseous and exhausted.  Hoping this passes with the first trimester – another month to go! 
• Justice and Jarvis got all but two pieces of furniture moved out of the office/school room in the basement.  I’m hoping to feel good enough to get down there with the older kids and get some work done, eventually.  It would be SO nice to have a place for all our school stuff, a place for my bill stuff, a place to do scrapbooking and cards, etc.  I may let the older kids have at priming the walls themselves… we’ll see.  lol
• We gave away one kitten (the orange one), and we are giving away the fluffy calico one this week.  That’ll just leave us with Chili (the mom), and Odin (the 3rd kitten).  Chili is actually in heat again so she is forbidden from going outside!  Pretty sure I’m going to work getting her fixed into the near-future budget! 
• I have so many photos to share – hoping to have the focus to be able to go through them and post them in the foreseeable future.  Stay tuned.  I’ll try to add at least one photo to this post. 
• I’ve been watching more TV than usual since I got pregnant.  When I’m feeling awful, it helps to just zone out to senseless nonsense.  I enjoy the show Lie to Me and am nearly caught up to the current episodes.  I just started watching the first season of the Duggars, 17 and Counting, two days ago, and I’m already addicted.  I didn’t realize I would enjoy it so I never even gave it a try, but I saw it on netflix and clicked it, and ended up watching several episodes already.  I started watching Law & Order: Criminal Intent again too – I abandoned it in the middle of the 2nd season when I was pregnant with Paige and on bedrest, but it’s time to bring it back.  I don’t really love the show, but I love Vincent D’onofrio’s character. 
• Jacob had a blast at his 5th birthday party last week!  It was his first “friend” birthday party, and he was definitely a fan.  I posted the photos on facebook already, but will try to add a few on here eventually too (so that they’re here when I print my blog into a ‘book’ for the kids). 
• I’m pretty sure it’s nap time. 

Darby with her new bangs that she's so proud of

Jarvis’ cat, Chili, had kittens the day before Thanksgiving.  They are so adorable!  Kittens = perfection.

This was on my camera when I downloaded the Thanksgiving photos.  Jacob told me Jarvis took it and that he is sitting on the ceiling.  He thought it was hilarious. 

Ah, the beautifully moist stuffed turkey.  Yum!

Counter full of food (menu at the end of the photos)…

Mmmmm…

I love Thanksgiving.

An intense (and long) game of chess. lol

Paige the maniac

Tired party-goers.  They were up early helping me cook. 

It was a great day full of delicious food and wonderful friends and family!  More photos of some of the party-goers shall appear on facebook in the near future, but there’s only photos of about half of them.  I gave Jarvis the camera and told him to take pictures of everyone, but he missed some people.  Oh well, without his efforts there would only have been photos of the food! 

The Thanksgiving menu:

Roast turkey (I used a Trader Joe’s kosher turkey… I’ll post how I do the turkey sometime, it turns out flavorful and moist every time)

Stuffing and dressing (I used this recipe, and it was amazingly delicious – at least *I* thought so [for the GF bread, I used Whole Foods brand sandwich bread])

Ham (I love the hams from Trader Joe’s, and my awesome glaze is a trade secret… )

Deviled eggs (I only mix mayo/mustard/onion powder/salt/pepper into my eggs, and they are normally to-die-for, but this turned out to be the worst batch I’ve ever made (it was late the night before and I was being careless with the amounts of salt, apparently)… however, they still got gobbled up, so I guess that goes to show how good they NORMALLY are… lol!)

Mashed potatoes (I went out on a limb and used a new recipe this year.  It was really good, but I think it needed a little more butter and salt than what I added. Oh, and I didn’t use leeks. I will definitely use this recipe again though… )

Homemade gravy (from the juices of the turkey, a bit of chicken broth, rice flour, and salt and pepper.  So good! And there was not enough of it.)

Two kinds of sweet potatoes (simply sliced and roasted.  One with olive oil and salt, one with butter and brown sugar.  Pretty good, but I think they needed to cook a bit longer as they weren’t *quite* soft enough.)

Green beans

Steamed carrots with butter and brown sugar

Corn on the cob

Steamed zucchini with butter and salt (Josh made this for me – so good)

Steamed squash with butter and salt (Josh made this too – yum)

Fruit salad (brought by Lisa, and oh-so-delicious!!!)

Pumpkin bread (I adapted a recipe to be gluten-free.  I got it from my sister-in-law, Carolyn, several years ago.  It was really good!  I didn’t try it on Thanksgiving because it didn’t look delicious, but then the next morning Andy was like “that pumpkin bread ROCKS!” and I tried some and oh my goodness – it was so good (especially for being gluten-free)!  I’ll be making it again!)

Banana bread (I got the recipe from our friend, Jeff, when they were visiting last year and I’ve made it a million times since – so good! [recipe shared at the end of this post since so many people have requested it])

Gluten-filled yeast rolls (brought by Lisa, and thankfully received by all of the gluten-eating peeps )

Desserts (of which there were no photos – sorry)…

Two apple pies(gluten-free and adapted on the fly from a recipe online that my mom gave me.  I used a pre-made crust from Whole Foods.  They were good, but I’ll try another recipe next time.)

Snickerdoodle cookies (using a GF sugar cookie mix we get at Lowe’s Foods, Brittany makes these and rolls the cookies in cinnamon and sugar to turn them into snickerdoodles.  I love them.)

Chocolate-oatmeal no-bake cookies (I eat way too many of these whenever I make them!)

Cherry cheesecake (brought by Lisa, full of gluten, and LOVED by my gluten-eating men!!!) 

Apple pie (brought by Alison, also full of gluten, and it looked SO pretty and I’m sure it tasted a million and four times better than my gluten-free ones. lol.)

Organic whipped topping (bought from Whole Foods and it was DELICIOUS) and Vanilla ice-cream to top the desserts

Recipe share:

Jeff’s banana bread turned gluten-free (just use regular flour to make this gluten-filled)…

Banana Bread
(Approximately 2 medium loaves)
Ingredients:
1 ¼ c. organic cane sugar (I use Domino brand usually)
1 stick real butter
2 lg. cage-free eggs (preferably brown and organic )
3-4 ripe bananas (the riper the better)
1 tsp. vanilla (I use Trader Joe’s organic alcohol-free vanilla)
½ c. organic 2% milk
2 ½ c. all-purpose flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put sugar in bowl.
3. Melt butter. Add, mix together with spoon.
4. Add eggs. Mix with spoon.
5. Add bananas. Mix with electric mixer.
6. Add vanilla and milk. Mix with mixer.
7. Add flour, slowly fold in with mixer.
8. Add salt and baking soda. Mix again with mixer.
9. Bake for approx 30-45 minutes, depending on your oven, until fork comes out clean.
10. Top of pan should be in middle of oven for even baking.

I know you like to hang out here, but you have overstayed your welcome.  You give me headaches, make me stiff and sore, and put my brain into a fog.  On the rare occasion that you step out for a day or two, I get so much done!  I think clearly, am able to communicate without forgetting normal words, and can even go up and down the stairs without feeling like an arthritic 80 year old lady.  It’s nice, and I want to feel like that every day.  So, please leave, and take your squatter friends Myofascial Pain and Celiac with you.  Actually, I don’t even mind if Celiac stays – he’s easily controlled by not feeding him gluten.  But you and Myo are not welcome anymore.

Sincerely,

Petra

Last night, Andrew and I went on a ‘real’ date that didn’t include grocery shopping, but an actual restaurant with cloth napkins and everything – plus a bad experience at Maggie Moo’s and browsing Barnes & Noble. We had a blast! I’m so glad he’s home from the field!!! I hate it when he’s away. Of course, once he gets through with school, he’ll be deployed 1/2 the time, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

We ate at the Bonefish Grill. We’ve known for a while that they have a gluten-free menu and were wanting to try it, but alas – we have six children and a military income, so eating at places like the Bonefish Grill isn’t usually on the menu (no pun intended). Anyway – our entrees were only so-so, we’d both order something different next time, but the side dishes and our saucy shrimp appetizer were completely fabulous!!!! I was so stoked to be able to order off the menu and not have to say “leave this off” and “please only steam everything” and “can you cook mine in a separate place”… I enjoyed rich, tasty sauces and did not get ill! Fabulous. Oh, and I enjoyed the first adult beverage that I’ve had in two years (since before I got pregnant with Paige). It was yummy.

Our 'saucy shrimp' appetizer - I didn't eat any chunks of feta or kalamata olives, but the shrimp was absolutely delicious!

 I’ve been watching ’24′ lately. We figured out how much we were spending on the redbox and it averaged to about 10 bucks a month. Well, netflix is 8.99 a month. So we decided netflix was the better option – we can watch all the instant stuff on our TV using the Wii, plus we can have one disc at a time out. So far, we’re thinking it was the right choice. Anyway, ’24′ is on the instant play list, and everyone goes on and on about it, so I thought I’d give it a try. Here’s my review so far (about 20 episodes into the 1st season)…

The acting? Not so wonderful. I mean, there are a few people on the show who can act, but some of the main characters are really bad actors, such as Jack’s wife (whose name eludes me at the moment). The story of the senator who is running for president annoys me. His wife is a complete jerk (for lack of a better, appropriate word). And everything involving them is way over-dramatized. There are many contrived and “yeah, like that would actually happen” moments throughout. But… the story kind of sucks you in, and I want to know what happens. It’s a neat concept and an interesting storyline. I’m thinking season 2 will be better, so I’m sticking with it for now. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Paige’s 3rd molar finally poked through, and the 4th is pushing hard against the gums. She’s sleeping better, after my new methods which were implemented this past week while Andrew was gone. I’ll go more into that later once I’m sure it’s working. For now, though, here’s an iphone photo of her I took this morning (excuse my unmade bed). I got this tank top at Target for $1.50 the other day – I love their clearances!!! And, as you can see, she’s still enjoying her new shoes (which are almost too small – not going to get many uses out of them before I need to get the next size – oh well).

Cutie patootie!

Oh, the getting ‘glutened’: I got careless, plain and simple. I know I have celiac and that I’m SUPER sensitive to the slightest hint of gluten and that I need to be careful all the time. We still have 5 people in the house that eat the stuff, so it’s around. And Paige has been eating gluten since she turned one. So on Saturday, I made her a sandwich for lunch and I washed my hands thoroughly afterwards. I usually avoid contact with things such as gluten-filled bread, but I figured “eh, I’ll just wash my hands”, and THEN Saturday night, Paige was up for about three hours in the middle of the night (fun stuff for me) and she was hungry, so I gave her some gluten-filled cereal to snack on. I thought I got her all cleaned off, but then when I was holding her she grabbed my mouth, I tasted cinnamon, and thought “I hope that doesn’t do any damage”… then Sunday morning I woke up with a migraine but went to church anyway. By the time we got home from church it was completely awful, I couldn’t see straight or tolerate anything louder than a whisper, and then my stomach started cramping up, I got nauseous, and proceeded to spend the next two days having um – ‘indigestion’ – problems. Ugh. Some medicine finally worked on my pounding head by Monday afternoon (thank God!), and my stomach finally feels better this morning.  All from a crumb that Paige put in my mouth. So – I’m cutting back on the amount of gluten that Paige eats since her hands are still near my face so often. I definitely won’t be feeding it to her, and if she does eat it, someone else can clean her off! That was the worst I’ve felt from gluten in a while. It was a bad one!

I pretty much did nothing on Sunday, other than going to church, but on Saturday and Monday I got ridiculous amounts of things done!! I had to force it on Monday, but I drugged up and pushed through. There was a time that getting ‘glutened’ would have put me on the couch for four days, not just half of a day! I definitely think my immune system is up and that taking dairy out of my system was that last key. I’m still figuring out a few things that I need to not eat more often than once every few days, but other than that my diet is going well, and I feel like the elimination diet worked (is working – there are still some foods I haven’t added back in yet).

In other news, we’ve been ripping out the carpet in the basement. And by ‘we’, I mean Andy and Justice. My job was to clean everything (and I do mean everything – cat urine was on my desk, on my leather CD case, on my scrapbook table – UGH!!!) and I moved all the furniture and things off the carpet in the office area.  They got the carpet off the stairs and out of the office, and now we only have Brittany’s room left. Andy said the carpet in the office area was SO nasty underneath and it wasn’t just from our cats. The people who lived here before us had a big dog that stayed down there and it was kind of stinky – now we know why!!! I didn’t see that carpet, as I was upstairs cleaning kids’ bedrooms and getting the floors and beds ready for vacuuming.

Both cats live outside now. Luna hasn’t ventured beyond the deck and under the deck. We go out and play with her and she is SO much more pleasant to be around now that she isn’t spazzing out and climbing in the ceiling and peeing everywhere (and her fleas are completely gone – yay!). Chili, who was our favorite inside cat, took off as soon as we let her outside and we haven’t seen her since (*sad face*).  We’re hoping she comes back!!! She was always by the window trying to get the birds and squirrels though – she is such a hunter, we could tell. So I’m sure she is having a blast exploring the woods behind our house. It’d be nice to see her and know she’s okay, though!

Sometimes 9:00 am until noon is the only *real* sleep I get. I’m so thankful that I can actually sleep then when I need to!! Paige’s bottom molars are RIGHT under the gums poking up; I’m sure they’ll be cutting through any day now. And I cannot wait! And Jacob is doing better about sleeping in his bed all night, but last night he did not do well – Paige actually slept better than Jacob last night. Instead of letting him sleep in a “bed” on our floor though, we made him go back to his bed and he cried, but then finally went back to sleep. Hopefully he’ll learn that it is actually okay to go right back to sleep in his bed if he wakes up to go to the bathroom or stirs out of his sleep for some reason. He has had more nights lately, though, where he doesn’t wake up at all – hopefully that’ll become the ‘norm’ before too long.

I totally got spoiled with Brittany – from the time she was 5 months old, she slept 12 or 13 hours every single night and the only time she ever woke up is if she was sick, which has been extremely rare. Justice slept through the night by 6 months old, and once he was in a big bed and could climb out, he’d sometimes come get in our bed in the middle of the night (and wouldn’t wake up when we carried him back to his own bed), and that ended when he was 3 years old. Jarvis had a similar story to Justice, as did Darby – only she came into our bed in the middle of the night until I was pregnant with Jacob – when she was 4 1/2. Jacob is 4 1/2 and he’s never really slept through the night on a regular basis. Ever. And Paige seems to be following in his footsteps. I’m old now – don’t they understand that? I need more sleep now than I did when I was 17 and Brittany was a baby!! Yeesh!!

I have so much laundry to do. I kept it going ALL day yesterday and changed my last load around midnight. It’s going again and I’m *hoping* it’ll be done by tonight. Washing ALL the bed linens and all the throw blankets and the stuffed animals, plus the regular laundry from six people (Jarvis and Darby are still in Knoxville), will create large piles needing to be washed though. We do NOT want to have to keep treating for fleas, so are determined to do it right and get rid of them. We’ll spray again in a week to make sure we got any flea eggs that were lingering and didn’t get killed and then hopefully we’ll be done. We didn’t have a big infestation on the main and upstairs floors though, and the carpet where the cats ‘lived’ is mostly gone (and will be all gone as soon as we get all Britt’s furniture out of her room and rip that up – planning on doing that today). Am I talking about fleas again? Sorry.

Okay, I feel like this has been the most boring post in the world. I’m falling asleep writing it, so if you are still reading, I feel like I should say something witty for you – to reward you for getting this far, but honestly, I’ve got nothin’. Other than this nugget: The next time I go to Wal-mart, I am totally going to dress like a complete and utter freak. So I’ll fit in. I took Paige and Jacob there last night while the flea spraying was happening (had to get the little ones out) and while we were wandering the toy aisles, we saw some real winners. I mean, some people must not have mirrors in their houses. And I don’t mean the people who are just trying to be comfortable or who obviously don’t have a lot of money for clothes. I mean the people that are putting real effort into looking as insane as possible. But you’ve all been to Wal-mart. You know.

Oh, speaking of Paige and toys. I let Paige and Jacob each spend a couple dollars on toys (I’m so generous – I know ), and Paige picked out a baby doll (and yes, SHE picked it out) and she hugged it all through the store, all the way home, while at home, and she went to sleep hugging it last night. She LOVES it. She has been hugging little stuffed animals and one of Darby’s dolls lately, but she needed a soft baby doll that she could sleep with, and now she has one. And she thinks she is it’s mommy. It’s the most adorable thing ever. SHE is the most adorable thing ever. Of course, I said that about all my babies. But seriously. She’s cute. I’ve got to videotape her dancing – she has a wide range of moves and she mixes it up during songs – so cute.

Apparently I’m chatty this afternoon. I’ll stop now.

Here’s two photos to make up for the rambling. It’s the only things I could find to take pictures of right now.

Um yeah, this is blurry. But Jacob wasn’t holding real still. And I didn’t feel like multiple tries? But he’s still a giant cutie. And yes, we are still in our pajamas. We’ll get dressed in a few minutes before getting back to work – gotta get the rest of that carpet ripped up!

And Luna. We brought her back into the woods a couple of times, thinking she’d enjoy it if she’d just venture over there, but she comes back to the deck every time. She likes being around us, apparently. lol

And now, I’m really stopping. Goodbye!

Basically, I can only eat certain foods for a while (probably between 2 weeks and a month, depending on how long it takes for my symptoms to disappear), then I’ll be able to add in one food at a time to see if it bothers me. Since intolerances, unlike most allergies, sometimes take a little while to show symptoms, I’ll be introducing each new food twice a day for about four days before I can move on to the next new food. I’ll keep a chart, and if it bothers me right away, I obviously need to never eat it, if it bothers me the 2nd day, then I can probably have it once every four days, and if it bothers me the 3rd or 4th day, then I can probably have it once every other day. It’s not as complicated as it sounds. lol. I’m actually excited to figure it all out. I’m going to keep a record of it all on the blog for those who are interested. If you aren’t, then you can just skip these posts.

The symptoms I’ve been experiencing lately are these:

• more frequent headaches. They had slowed down a LOT after getting rid of the gluten. However, a lot of people with celiac have other food intolerances as well. Getting the gluten out of my system was wonderful, but then my body became more sensitive to the ‘smaller’ (for lack of a better word) things that were bothering me. I got rid of the chemicals next, then the corn. Now that those are out of my system, whatever else is bothering me is amplified. So the headaches are back. Not like they were a couple of years ago, but enough to where  I’m ready to do something about them.
• more brain fogs. These are usually due to the fibromyalgia, but fibromyalgia can be controlled by diet, and I notice that the fogs get worse when I have something in my diet that does not belong. If you’ve never had a brain fog, trust me, you don’t want one! Your head feels full of pressure and is sometimes accompanied by dizziness, you can’t concentrate on anything, you become irritable, it’s hard to focus or even get out complete sentences, it takes much effort to try to remember simple things, etc. Not fun.
• my fibromyalgia pain and also my myofascial pain are worse than ever. I’ve had to take pain killers much more often lately, and I wait until it’s really bad before I start popping pills since me and chemicals don’t really get along.
• arthritis-type pain, which accompanies the above – it’s not actually arthritis, it’s from the fibromyalgia, but it’s been super bad lately.
• I’m tired all the time, and seriously lacking in energy.
• I’m irritable (and it’s not just me being moody – I’m only irritable when my health is uncontrollably causing it).
• My senses have all been heightened lately. Noises are louder, smells are stronger, the sun is brighter, etc.
• I’m sure any digestion/stomach issues I’ll ever have now or in the future will never compare to what they were before I gave up gluten (!), but my stomach has been bothering me more lately in the form of (warning: tmi ahead) gas and constipation.  Woo hoo!
• Trouble falling asleep, trouble staying asleep, trouble waking up once I finally do get into a deep sleep. This has always been an issue for me – my entire life, but it’s been worse again lately.

That’s all I can think of at the moment, and many of the things I mentioned are bothering me right now. Some of my issues I know are due to a lack of sleep, but I’m sure that there are foods that are still bothering me. I’m crossing my fingers it’s *not* dairy. I think that’ll be really hard to give up – as hard as giving up gluten.

Starting June 16th, I will only be eating the following foods that I stocked up on yesterday and today:

• lamb
• wild fish, not farm-raised (I bought several types)
• a myriad of vegetables, but no white potatoes, tomatoes, and a couple others that I’ll have to consult my list again to see
• some fruits, but no citrus fruits, and no bananas
• sea salt
• extra-virgin olive oil, sesame oil
• sunflower seeds
• a few spices

A couple of nuts are allowed on the diet, like almonds and, I think, pecans, but just the thought of consuming those makes me want to hurl, so yeah – I wont’ be eating them. Yuck. I SO wish I loved almonds, but alas, I do not.

I have never eaten lamb before, so I just bought one package of it, which is supposed to be about 4 servings. I’ll let you know how I like that.

Basically, my plan is to eat for breakfast – fruit, some fish, and my daily garlic, for lunch – a salad and a fruit smoothie (not my old recipe, which included yogurt and milk, but an all-fruit recipe) and probably a handful of sunflower seeds, then for dinner – fish or lamb with lots of veggies. I’ll snack on veggies, fruit, and seeds. I’m planning on feeling very hungry, especially at first! lol. Today, I ate lots of things I love and will miss, like gluten-free pancakes, Trader Joe’s bacon, Kettle barbecue chips, White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter, and an extra glass of green tea. I figured I’d go out with a bang. I think my morning green tea will be difficult, but the stuff I read about the diet gave a convincing argument that I needed to eliminate all that sort of stuff and start from scratch for this to really work. I don’t think green tea bothers me, so I’m sure I’ll be adding it back in as I believe the health benefits of green tea far outweigh anything negative from the caffeine.

Wish me luck, or rather, pray for me. I’ll need it!