The Wheat Free Experiment

I've been reading the book Wheat Belly over the past month. It was of particular interest to me as my mom was diagnosed with celiac disease about 4 years ago. For anyone who hasn't heard of celiac disease, it is an autoimmune disorder that is aggravated by digestion of gluten. This is different than a wheat allergy but both encourage sufferers to go wheat free and celiac sufferers go gluten free.

In the book, the theory is that we can feel better, sleep better and lower our blood sugar (among other things) simply by saying goodbye to wheat and other whole grains. One of the most interesting things that I learned from the book is that a snickers bar has a lower glycemic index than 2 pieces of wheat bread. Think about that one for just a minute, you would have a lower blood sugar by eating a candy bar?

What's to blame for this? According to the book, it's the mutation of modern wheat.

I'm not quite sure how to feel about this book but I do think there's some truth to it. I followed Weight Watchers successfully before my pregnancy and lost over 30 lbs. However, it's been really hard to get back on the bandwagon nursing my son, going to graduate school and never getting a full night's sleep.

So starting tomorrow, I'm going to try to go on a wheat free test. Hopefully, if I'm successful I'll be updating with good news in a week that I actually lost weight. I'll post before and after pics and hopefully have good information on what to expect and how a wheat free lifestyle feels.

Til then I'm going to enjoy my dinner, grass fed steak tacos! Happy eating!

Fun with the Water Table!

So as everyone knows, I'm a stay at home mom and recently taken on the role of intern! Luckily my awesome mom is able to watch Jack when I need to go intern.

Recently, she bought him a water table and we got to watch him play with it on the first day!

 

Some more action shots-

 

Later on in this week, we finally got Jack in the pool for the first time!

Jack's First Petting Zoo

After lunch on Saturday, we were driving back when we noticed a petting zoo in front of the local T-Mobile. Since we had decided Jack was probably too young for the real zoo right now, we pulled in T-Mobile and stopped by!

 

All of the animals were really friendly. Me being the fearful first time mom was hesitant about letting Aren put him any closer than absolutely necessary!

 

I was more okay with Jack being closer to this little one-

 

We stayed until they rounded them up to head home. Jack really enjoyed it and we're hoping to venture out to the real zoo maybe later this year!

May 12

So we kicked off this Saturday like we do every Saturday at Little Gym! On the agenda, flips...

 

Parachutes...

And exploration....

 

Jack hadn't taken off walking just yet so I snapped some pictures of his attempts to stand getting bubbles :)

 

 

Getting Back to Normal

So the last month has been extremely busy with wrapping up school and various other things going on with our little family so I will be updating with pictures as quickly as I can catch up.

 

Aren was off the first part of May right around mother's day and we enjoyed a lunch with my mom and grandfather. Jack's favorite part of the lunch? Eating sugar packets.

Jack loves playing in the back of his Paw Paw's truck. He is now beginning to notice all trucks and thinks it's his responsibility to play in all trucks!

After we ate lunch, we went to the mall and Jack had some fun playing with the mirror at Macy's.

 

More to follow!

Deactivation

So about a week ago, I deactivated my Facebook. Why? You might ask, well there were several reasons:

1. I felt like I was spending more time "hearing about it on Facebook" than actually spending time with my real friends.

2. I felt like the more I played armchair political pundit, the less I actually spent really helping in my area.

3. As I move into the next phase of my school. internship, I need to focus more on the actual problems of others vs. worrying about the latest "he said/she said" drama on Facebook.

I am torn about the decision to reactivate. I have enjoyed not knowing the intimate details of my friends on Facebook but yet I really miss some of the groups I have been involved in and hearing about what's going on with some of my other friends (who I don't know in real life, shh don't tell Mark Zuckerberg that I am friends with people I don't actually know in real life).

Anyone have any thoughts? Do you have a Facebook at all? What's the longest you've gone without Facebook? I feel like the more I'm away the more likely I am to actually do productive things (like find things I'm doing to blog about, study, etc) and feel more focused on my family and my friends in real life.

 

Summer Is Upon Us

Lots had been going on this week around our house but first I'll start with Jack and his love of all things ice cream....

 

It has been interesting watching Jack's tastes develop. So far we have discovered he loves sweet tea (my favorite) and foods with flavor (Aren's favorite). But Jack loves ice cream the most. This was taken after Jack just enjoyed some ice cream at Chick Fil A.

 

Jack hasn't taken anymore steps yet but he is finding creative ways to get around without independently walking. This was taken after he pushed a chair across the kitchen and was trying to get around.

 

Jack has started finally using crayons to begin writing/coloring. The only problem is keeping them out of his mouth!

Jack has gotten more comfortable going out on his own at church including crawling down the hall after church. This past Sunday night, he saw his Bible class teachers walking in and went to them thinking that it was time to go to class again. He was devastated when he couldn't go to class :(

Thursday, we enjoyed a trip to El Paseo with my mom and dad. Jack eats tortillas like a champ! He also enjoyed checking out the fountain in the waiting area with grandpa.

After dinner, we went to Spring Creek to pick up signs for Craig Bickley, who's running for County Commissioner in Tarrant County.

 

Jack loves Sid the Science Kid. I got him this a few months ago but he had us laughing when he used Sid as a phone to call Grandma.

I have more pics to come but will save those for tomorrow when I have time to blog. Good night for now!