Exploring the World of Faux Food

Yesterday afternoon, I went shopping. My objective: locate non-dairy foods that claim to be dairy-like and determine the accuracy of said claims. I read labels carefully, and was not pleased to discover that many of these products contained casein. I decided that, since Felicity seemed fine when I had a little butter on my toast, I would try products that listed casein as "2 percent or less."

When I got to the checkout, I realized I had forgotten to read the label on my pretend cheddar, which, I then discovered, contained a notable amount of milk solids. If you could/wanted to consume milk solids, wouldn't you just buy real cheese? The only reason I can imagine for eating soy cheese that still has milk in it is masochism.

So, after returning the cheese to the "dairy" case, I purchased my soy yogurt, soy sour cream, buttery vegetable oil spread, soy pudding, rice milk, and coffee creamer and headed home to put them to the test! You can look forward to my product reviews in the future, if that's the sort of thing you look forward to...

I like cheese

So, Felicity has been having very broken-out, red skin and screaming a lot, and Peggy (my lactation consultant) said that it may be an allergy to something that I'm eating. On Friday, I started an allergen-free diet. Read: no DAIRY, CHOCOLATE, soy, eggs, wheat, peanut butter, or corn. It seemed like Felicity was cheerier Friday and Saturday, but Saturday night she was cranky again as well as this afternoon.

Well, this afternoon was a small Mary Kay party at Robin's house, and she served wine along with various cheeses. After drooling for awhile (and probably annoying everyone at the party with my out-loud arguments with myself), I decided to go ahead and have some and see what happened. And dang nabbit, that was some good cheese!

I was greeted with this when I got home this evening:

Two of my favorite people having a wonderful time playing together! It's great how much Dan enjoys Ariel. They really have become best buddies, especially lately. Apparently, Ariel put her daddy's hat on backwards all by herself. She's got a real sense of style!

I've nursed Felicity twice since coming home this evening, and each time, her face has gone from relatively clear to this:

So.... I think she's allergic to dairy. Which totally sucks, because dairy is pretty much my life. I have to "run a few more tests" to be sure, but I really don't know what I'm going to do if this turns out to be the case. It doesn't seem like there's a good answer. Give up dairy? I'll be so miserable! Wean Felicity? I'd feel guilty forever! Eat dairy anyway? I'd be torturing my kid!

If anyone knows some really good substitute dairy products, please post brand names and where to get them in the comments section!

A sentence of her own

Ariel made up a sentence all by herself yesterday - first time! She had been disobeying (imagine that!), and I decided to give her a time-out. She had been in her playpen in the other room for maybe 45 seconds when she started hollering, "I'm in here! I'm in here! I'm in here!" Sadly, she had stopped by the time Dan got the camera out, so no video. It was SO cute, though!

How awesome is this!?!

Oops!

Haha! It's funny the stuff that you don't find out until you've already done something dumb! Like last week I learned that nut butters shouldn't be kept for more than a couple weeks, even in the fridge (this is pure nut butter, of course, not the hydrogenated stuff). The week before I had fed 2-month-old (at least) almond butter to Ariel. Today we had a lunch that included hummus. I thought it didn't taste quite the same as before, so I just looked it up. 1 week max, apparently. This stuff was 3 weeks old at least. And yet, she's still alive. Say a little prayer for our stomachs as I venture further into the realm of unpreserved foods! I really think this stuff should be printed on labels more often...

Good moms make smoothies, right?

Probably my greatest culinary failing thus far has been smoothies. Every time I try to make one, it turns out tasting funny. At least I think it tastes funny - maybe I'm not supposed to be comparing them to Jamba Juice?

Anyway, my SIL suggested I change yogurt brands, so I did, and today I tried making a smoothie from strawberry-flavored Mountain High Yoghurt, fresh blackberries, vanilla, milk powder, a little milk, and a little ice. It turned out ok. Dan says it would have been better with honey, but it was too late, plus I was trying to deny my own sweet tooth. I tried giving some to Ariel in a sippy cup, but, not surprisingly, it wouldn't go through the little holes. So I took the lid off and gave her a straw. Then, after watching her try to use the straw like a spoon, her daddy thought she would have an easier time with a bowl and spoon. The results?


I think she looks like an unshaven Alec Baldwin. The resemblance was clearer in person. Not only does she have a little mustache and goatee, she even has a tie!

So, healthy or not, my daughter is NOT ready for smoothies, because I'm not ready for the mess. She went straight to the bathtub, where we put a bath fizzy in the tub that she got as a gift (coincidentally, also from my SIL). Well, seeing a ball fizz under the water and make orange bubbles was apparently a very traumatic experience, and Ellie went from nervous whining to outright crying. She was too upset to stay in the tub, so we washed everything but her hair. Oh, well!

Milk Face

I said I'd post it, so here it is...


And, also for your viewing pleasure:



I'd say she's completely warmed up to him. At first it was 100% Mommy, but now I don't think there's much favoritism going on apart from when she wants to nurse. She naps on his chest almost every day, and they often fall asleep together at night and then I take her when she wakes up to eat. Very sweet!