Only a love this strong...

For 10 long months I stayed away from many, many things that I love.  Ice cold Corona with salt and lime.  La Crema.  Santa Margherita.  Zydeclaw's boiled crawfish.  Miyako's delicious and irresistible sushi happy hour.  Various Hebert's spicy stuffed chickens.  Front Porch Pub.  Sleeping on my back and stomach.  Sleeping.

I told myself it was for the good of the child, even though I knew my child wanted me to be happy.  I thought those days of child-forced deprivation were gone. 

WRONG

Caroline is a gaseous little thing.  She's far from lady like when her stomach is full of air.  Sometimes, it's like the wind section of the New York Philharmonic is playing in our house.  This is kind of what it looks like when her stomach is sorting out food from flatulence:

We found ways to alleviate her pain and our giggles by giving her Mylicon.  That stuff is amazing!  But, being the Science based nerds we are, we thought it's better to stop the problem before it starts.  I talked to other nursing mothers, Luc googled it, and both agree that cutting out spicy foods and dairy are the way to go.  The spicy part I understood - even during her stay on the inside, she hated spicy food.  So I've cut spicy food out.  I skip the crawfish and the Tony's.  The Tony's was a hard thing to cut.  I didn't realize it until now, but I put it on everything!  Oh, Mr. Chachere, I'll miss you...

Dairy is another thing altogether.  I love cheese.  I love cheese and crackers and wine.  I love a good, sharp cheese and a crisp white wine.  I love a good queso partnered with a Mexican beer.  It's a meal (dairy, grains, and veggies...).  I also can't get enough of the ice cream place down the road, Culver's.  I dare to say it's better than TCBY. Gasp!  I know!  See, Culver's has this thing called their Flavor of the Day, or FOTD in text messages between Luc and I.  It's something new and delightful every day, and the calendar on our fridge tells us what exciting flavors we can experience with $3.00 and short drive down Timber Forest.  I've been using Culver's as my excuse to get out of the house (topic of future blog post) and have grown accustomed to sampling their delicious ice cream on a regular basis.  It's delicious, just ask all of Eagle Springs.

I've been so blinded by the blended creamy goodness of dairy products that I failed to see that the majority of Caroline's gas issues happen after I eat Culver's ice cream.  Or snack on cheese and crackers.  Boo, Caroline, boo.  So, I've decided to bite the bullet and forgo dairy for a couple of weeks to see if that clears up Lil C's issues.  We'll see what happens.  Keep your fingers crossed and your noses pinched...

Goodbye, cheese.  Goodbye, ice cream.  Goodbye, yogurt.  I'll see you guys next year!

I must love that little girl a lot...