Being A SAHM Makes Me Want To Work!

I read THIS article tonight and it was exactly what I needed to hear.  It's all about how being a Stay-At-Home Mom (SAHM) isn't exactly what you had envisioned and is so much harder than you thought.

Well, AMEN sister.

Add to the mix a special needs child that goes to therapy 4 times a week, always seems to be sick with something, loves to pull your hair REALLY hard and needs constant supervision.  Then add in a very talkative and inquisitive five year old that never slows down and you have one worn out Mommy.  A Mommy who if she is being honest wishes she was working outside the home (more) again.

I know, that sounds awful.  What kind of Mommy wishes she was working outside of the home instead of being home with her kids?  Well...I wouldn't want to work 40+ hour weeks again, but part time would be pretty great.  A Mommy just needs to feel human sometimes, you know?

Today I did get a break.  In fact, it felt like a vacation day.   How?  Well....I went to work of course.  I only work a handful of days a month and it is seriously good for me.  Even though it was a very busy day at work, it felt so good to be a "normal" adult for 6 hours.   I didn't have to take Parker to therapy, I didn't talk to a single Doctor's office, I didn't have to deal with toys all over the floor and a house that is a mess.  I didn't have to see the piles of laundry that need put away or the dishes in the sink.  I didn't get peed on or have to deal with blowouts.  My hair didn't get pulled and my back didn't hurt from all the lifting.  I didn't have to answer a million questions or come up with a new craft project.  I got to put on nice clothes, do my hair and wear makeup.  I got to talk to adults that were nice and asked how I was doing.  I even got to listen to the music I like in the car.   Wow!!

So, thank you to the Mommy who wrote THIS article.  Thank you for making me feel somewhat normal for not thinking being a SAHM is completely wonderful all the time.  I don't feel so alone and will try not to feel so guilty about enjoying my "vacation days".

Arbor Day Farm 2014

This past weekend, everyone in our house was healthy.  Well, healthy-ish.  This was pretty amazing considering our track record lately.  The weekend before was spent with Parker in the hospital since he had both a UTI & an Upper Respiratory Infection that required IV antibiotics.  Good times I tell you.

Well, since everyone was feeling well, we decided to take a day trip to Arbor Day Farm.  The weather was absolutely beautiful and we had a very nice time.  We took lots of pictures so I thought I'd share them.

The majority of our adventure was spent on Tree House Trail.  They have a lot of nature activities for kids

Parker thought the Xylophone made out of wood was pretty neat

Alexa had fun too

Paul got brave and climbed on the giant spider web with the kids

Then we all made fools of ourselves trying to walk on the "tight rope"

Paul is pretty good at setting the camera up to take automatic pictures of us.  Surprisingly, we got some good ones.

Once we were all red and sweaty, I thought it would be a perfect time for some close ups. Hmmm...perhaps I should've taken these when we first started our adventure when we looked a bit "fresher".  

All in all it was a good day.  We decided to pull the car over for one last stop on our way out of Nebraska City.  We had to ride on this merry-go-round you see.  Parker loves to spin so we thought he would like it.  I think the jury is still out though.  He liked it when he was on Paul's lap.  When we tried sitting him on it alone he wasn't so sure if he liked it.  I guess we'll need to investigate this further.  This will be a to-do list item for the summer I suppose.  

Low Fructose/Gluten-Free Oat-Banana Pancakes

Recently I was diagnosed with Fructose Malabsorption (also called Dietary Fructose Intolerance).  I had not been feeling well for years but assumed it was due to female-related issues.  Well, I had mixed emotions getting this diagnosis.  Part of me was relieved to know what was wrong and glad that I could feel better by "simply" changing my diet.  The other part of me was devastated.  I have always liked to cook and bake and it seemed like all of my favorite items to cook with (flour, sugar, onion, garlic, tomatoes, apples, pears, etc., etc., etc.) were either off-limits or needed to be greatly limited.  I had no idea so many different foods contained fructose or fructans.  This diagnosis also greatly limits the pre-packaged foods/processed foods that I can have because so many things have high-fructose corn syrup, honey, lots of sugar, or other no-no ingredients.  BUMMER.

Well, I've been on the search for recipes that are low-fructose friendly and let me tell you it's not that easy.  I have found quite a few recipes but a lot of them sound very unappealing to me.  I've also tried some that I thought sounded good and did not turn out at all.  So...I thought as I found good recipes, I would share them here.  This will help me keep track of the good ones and may also help someone else out there facing this same struggle.  *Note:  apparently everyone with fructose malabsorption has different tolerance levels for certain foods.  So not everything I use will be tolerable for everyone else.

I really wanted pancakes today but since my go-to pancake recipe consists of wheat flour (contains fructans)  and sugar (which is made up of 1 part glucose and 1 part fructose so is tolerable for some in small amounts only) I needed to find an alternative.  I ended up finding this recipe for Banana-Oat Blender Pancakes from Mountain Mama Cooks.  It sounded pretty good but I ended up needing to make some substitutions since I can't have honey and only had regular skim milk to work with (luckily I am not lactose intolerant!!).  I also wanted to make sure the pancakes were sweet enough so that's why I made some of the substitutions I did.

Here's my Recipe for Low Fructose/Gluten-Free Oat-Banana Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup oat flour
1 1/4 cup milk
2 small ripe bananas (that's what I had)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 Tablespoon real maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 large egg
Butter for griddle

Instructions:
1) Place all ingredients (except the egg and butter) in a blender and mix until smooth (what a great idea from Mountain Mama Cooks!)  Add egg and pulse a few times until mixed in.
2) Heat griddle to medium heat. Melt some butter on the griddle.  Scoop the batter onto the griddle and heat the pancakes until they are golden brown on each side.
3) Serve hot with real maple syrup.

These really were pretty good.  They tasted a lot like banana bread.  Paul and Alexa even liked them and this says a lot!