Whole Foods

On Thursday I drove out to St. Louis by myself with both girls for Franny's DAN! doctor appointment. All in one day! I am ridiculously proud of this and consider it a great accomplishment. I think I even said to my Dad, "Am I a rockstar mom, or what?" He was like, "what does that mean?" And I was not really sure how to answer. I'm not terribly confident in my driving (or my ability to stay awake for that matter.) I'm also not familiar with St. Louis at all and haven't made many trips by myself with the two kids. It went really well, though. Actually, what really helped was Justin Pace watched Sophie for me while we were with the doctor. I think that made a huge difference.
This is a picture of Franny with Dr. Davis' daughter. Thank goodness she was there because she kept Franny entertained while Dr. Davis rocked my gluten-free world. This totally made my day: Franny can have whole wheat now! She can't have processed wheat, so that still means that this diet is totally inconvenient and expensive, but it will allow for a lot better quality and more creativity and of course more variety when I'm preparing her food. The sad news is, no more bacon, hot dogs, or pepperoni (sodium nitrites). And still no dairy, but we are so happy about the whole wheat and oats and barley! YES! After I picked Sophie up at Justin's house, we headed a little deeper into the city to make a stop at Whole Foods for some gluten-free goods we can't get here where we live. I love that store SO MUCH. I could feel my children growing more and more agitated and as I let my eyes linger over all the tempting cheeses in the display case. There were so many that I haven't ever even heard of! I decided that each time I go, I'm going to try a new cheese. This time I was safe and picked up some gouda. (That is what inspired my latest poll. I'm curious how this concoction sounds to other people.) I also picked up some delicious French Vanilla almond granola which Sophie and I enjoyed this morning mixed into some raspberry yogurt. That is a great grocery store. I am very excited to have access to it when we move to St. Louis. The best grocery store I've ever seen is Central Market in Austin, TX. This is a Texas chain, and there are only a handful of stores. I wish desperately that it was a national chain. They shouldn't call it a grocery store. It's more like a grocery museum. It is FABULOUS. My dear friend Annie took me there when I visited her a couple of years ago. She knew I would love it.
I didn't get on the road until about 8:30 pm, which is dangerously close to 9 pm and when I become narcoleptic. So I stopped at a gas station and picked up one of those energy drinks that are loaded with caffeine. I couldn't trust diet coke because I have one of those every day and I'm still narcoleptic by 9:00. They work. I was up until 2 in the morning and I am finally caught up on sleep now.