oh boy, no soy...

Today marks 5 weeks of our gluten-free lifestyle for Caroline. (And oh, if we could only go back to ONLY being gluten free! Now that seems soooo easy! Can ya believe it?) I (Amy) told y'all we made the switch off of milk products and onto soy about two weeks ago, and we have not seen any improvements since the switch. (to be somewhat graphic, her diapers took a turn for the worse with the soy plus her eczema/skin issues are as flared up as ever.) SO, as of two days ago, we're now gluten-free, dairy-free, AND soy-free.

That pretty much leaves nothing left to eat!! :) (except applesauce and carrot sticks...)

Dinners still feel somewhat "easy"-- bake a fresh meat (fish, chicken, beef, etc. with basically no seasoning), rice, a vegetable, and some fresh fruit. (Shouldn't we all eat like that?) But it's the convenience foods-- the animal crackers, the snacks, the salad dressings, the mac-n-cheese that every kid wants, the things you pack to give them when you're out & about, & all the packaged things that almost ALWAYS have some kind of trace of wheat, milk, or soy.

Everyone seems to mention Trader Joe's or Whole Foods to me. What I wouldn't GIVE to have one nearby! But of course we live in a small town that has neither. (Whole Foods is over an hour away in Charlottesville, Trader Joe's is almost 2 hours away in Richmond. I know that doesn't seem too far away, but with our schedule & with a two year old, that feels like a physical impossibility.) Plus it seems like every time I stock up on convenience foods she CAN have, the next week she CAN'T! Oh, I do NOT want to see our grocery bills...

Granted some of this is somewhat self-inflicted. No doctor is following us around saying "you HAVE to get off of milk!" "You have to get off of soy!" But through this elimination process we are trying to see what might be triggering some of her skin & tummy issues, not to mention help strengthen her immune system to grow some hair!

No time or energy to write more. I've got meals to figure out. I know I'm doing everything I possibly can for my baby girl and all of this will take TIME, but at the end of the day, it's just hard. Thanks for praying, friends.