Chatter

My brain is all over the place today.  We’ve been up since 5 am and we are all sick.  Sleep has been so out of whack this week.  Example: P passed out on the floor of the toy room at 9:30 am on Tuesday while I changed V’s diaper before we set off for library.  I tried to wake him but he was out.  So he napped there on the floor of the toy room!  For 1.5 hours!  Now I really wish I’d followed through and gotten a monitor in the toy room.  He woke up at 11 as if no time had passed and asked if we were leaving for library.  So sweet.  Even though we missed story time I took him then anyway so we could (a) return our books and get new ones and (b) get out of the house.  He ended up taking another 1.5 hour nap that afternoon too!  He hasn’t done two naps for AGES.  It was good though because we had soccer that night, which starts at 5 pm and he never ever ever would have made it til then without the additional snooze time.  And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  Monday was a no nap day.  Thursday was a 4+ (but very interrupted) nap day.  On top of that, we have pretty much beat the sun in rising on a daily basis.

But I seriously feel like an a** hole complaining about this stuff because my best friend is going through some serious sh!t right now that makes my problems seem so very lame.  I try to think about this every time I want to feel sorry for myself.  I have it good.  I am blessed.  I need to focus on the good…because there is SO MUCH GOOD.  Sigh.

This will be a stream of consciousness kind of post.  And probably not so heavy on the recipe/meal front.  But yes to food and life chatter.  There’s your warning.

Sweet things I’ve been digging.

TJs nails it in the dessert/chocolate category.  Always.  My sis brought me that dark chocolate and it’s really really good.  The grape kombucha was an impulse buy when I had GI issues this past weekend.  It’s part cough medicine flavor, part fizzy booze, and part sugary juice.  I really liked it!

Another impulse win.  There are other varieties…I’ll let you know if/when I try them.  Suffice it to say, this one was great.

These are really really good but I think they may be hurting my gut and causing pretty significant symptoms.  I have been having mega GI issues lately (worse than they’ve been in a really really long time – basically since discovering the low fodmaps diet and implementing it post elimination).  The root of the issue is complex, and I think there are multiple factors at play:

(1) I am completely exhausted 99% of the time due to the lack of sleep/stress of caring for a baby and toddler.

(2) I have gotten three colds (1 of which morphed into a sinus infection), a clogged duct, food poisoning, and gastroenteritis in the last 7 weeks.  I am guessing my immune system is not at full capacity thanks to point #1.

(3) My diet isn’t as “clean” or low fodmaps as it typically is.  This is due to convenience and cravings and I have no real excuse for it beyond the earlier points.  Hashtag newmom.  I’m hungry all the time and even though I am doing a pretty good job keeping healthy things on hand and choosing quality whole food options – I’m still eating lots more fodmaps in a day than I used to (i.e. hummus, beans, lentils, apples…healthy delicious things, but fermentable carbs that upset my lower intestine nonetheless).

And so, accordingly, I’m sure my GI bacteria is in a state of complete dysbiosis and I’m on my way to full fledged SIBO (again).  My mild and tolerable “flair” symptoms are now my baseline, which sucks.  And really, the solution is an elimination diet that I’m just not ready to tackle yet.

So there you have it.  I am going to have to go back to a stricter lifestyle down the road, but until then I’m just going to keep eating healthy fare and dealing with the consequences.  At the very least, I’m nourishing my body, even if my digestive tract isn’t as keen on my food choices.

I found the cookbook section of the library!  Why oh why didn’t I think of this sooner?!?!  I’m really excited to have a free way to sample so many recipes now.

I made crackers with this recipe (again) and have been using them to shovel x, y, and z into my mouth.  Unfortunately (fortunately?), P is also a big fan of these so we are kinda fighting over them come lunch time.  It’s basically fat, salt, and carbs, so duh.

And OF COURSE the second I blog about patty-cakes being over eggs he requests them two days in a row. Ha!  Kids are something else.  I’m sure now that I’ve written this, it will stop again mañana.

Parenting is hard.  Seriously.

I haven’t strayed from my smoothie breakfasts for weeks.  They keep me full and taste delicious so why would I?  I did buy a plantain recently though, so I may end up doing something with that.  Probably the same thing I always do though (blend eggs + plantain to make a batter then fry in a skillet to make a huge pancake/bread thing).  I wrote half a post about all my smoothie creations and the various powders and add ins I’ve tried lately and it’s just sitting in my blog’s dashboard waiting for me to finish it.  I don’t know why I haven’t yet…I think I just lost interest in the topic because after trying a bunch of flavors I got behind.  And catching up seems so futile.  Especially when my options are between that and sleep.  Or watching The Good Wife with Kyle.  Or going in the hot tub.  Oh my gosh I finally went in the hot tub again after 10+ months of time away.  I missed it.  It’s one of the only pregnancy rules I obeyed (because my OB was pretty adamant I don’t go in).  I didn’t think overheating was that real of a concern but she is fairly lenient on most issues and said no, so I stuck to her orders.  Sushi and runny eggs on the other hand…bad patient.

How annoying are the avocado bags that leave green crap everywhere when you cut them open?  It’s slightly irrational how much it bothers me, but it does.  There has to be a better way.  I hate finding those green things all over and since we go through, like, ten avocados a week, we have bags upon bags upon bags.

I used to use avocado and mayonnaise interchangeably, but now I use them both in the same recipe for the same purpose.  Fat.  I like it in egg salads, chicken salads, tuna salads, tofu salads, as a base for dressings…basically straight up with a spoon.  Pretty soon I’m going to be eating an avo and mayo salad.  I joke about it, but I’m also kinda serious…

My friend gave me a mini bottle of Califia’s cocoa noir almond milk beverage to try and now I have been working my way through every flavor.  They have caffeine, which I don’t really do much of (aside from chai tea), so that’s the only thing that keeps me in check.  Otherwise I’d likely house the whole 48 ounce bottle in a single serving.  Because I reallllly live on the edge, I add some to (one of my cups of) decaf coffee instead of plain almond milk or coconut milk.  I love what Califia is coming out with!  They have some really fun and delicious flavors and I know I’ll eventually try them all because hi, I adore coffee and all it’s cousin flavors.  Mocha!  Salted caramel!!  Have you tried the creamers??  Tell me, tell me everything.