No Birthday Cake for Me...

It was a sad, sad day yesterday as we celebrated my mom and my birthdays at my parent's house.  They had bought an absolutely stunning looking cake from The Home Bakery in Rochester with buttercream frosting and marble cake and I had to just sit there and watch everyone else enjoy it, but me.  Instead, I munched on a Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie I had snagged at Whole Food's that afternoon.  It was no birthday cake.

Earlier this week, Evan was "diagnosed" with a milk protein allergy.  I use quotation marks since it's not an official diagnosis.  Their basis for this are his constant green, watery stools that sometimes have blood in them.  The pediatrician tested his diaper I brought in from the day before and the one he was wearing and they both tested positive for blood, even though you couldn't see any.  She informed me that this typically indicates an allergy to the dairy that I'm consuming.  As if breastfeeding wasn't challenging enough as it is, I now have to eliminate all dairy from my diet in the hopes that this will cure his gas, fussiness, and yucky diapers.  The things we do for our kids...

So, I left the office and came home to read every website I could find on my iPhone while I nursed Evan to educate myself on how to read labels at the grocery store and what foods I couldn't eat.  It was depressing.  I cried.  I looked in my pantry and fridge to see what I actually could eat.  I cried some more.

To name a few of the big no-no's...

• Butter
• Cheese
• Cream cheese
• Pudding
• Milk
• Sour cream
• Chocolate
• Yogurt

Those are the big ones and it's alarming how one or many of those products are in soooo many things that I would eat in a typical day.  I had to go to both Trader Joe's and Whole Food's to stock up on dairy free products and artificial dairy products like Almond Milk and Vegan Cheeses.  $120 later I hope I have some foods that are actually edible like chocolate ice cream made out of coconut milk.  I've learned that I can still eat things like french fries, potato chips, chinese food, and beer.  Hooray!

Thank God for Matt's Chocolate Chip Cookies and Earth's Balance Buttery Spread because today on day three I'm feeling more positive that I can survive this and ::gasp:: I may actually lose weight doing so.  Now...how do I survive the holidays dairy free??