Happy Birthday!

Well here we are. Gremlin turned 1 today. I can't quite believe it. A whole year of PKU survived and, to a point, mastered. Gremlin is doing fantastically well and hitting all her developmental milestones. Her blood phenylalanine levels have been more in range than out of range. She enjoys her food and eats a very varied and interesting array (within reason) very proficiently. She is inquisitive, sociable, funny, kind and loves her big sister more than anything (except possibly strawberries). I am so proud of her and the way that nothing phases her. I am also increasingly amazed at the ever brilliant Moomin who, at only 3 and a half herself, has a very good working knowledge of PKU and always checks whether Gremlin can eat things and how much protein they contain. Gremlin is very lucky to have such a fantastic cheerleader and supporter looking out for her.

Gremlin has taught me so much in the last year and I feel I'm a better person for it. My life has been completely transformed by her and, despite my frequent bursts of PKU related frustrations, I wouldn't have it any other way.

We had a little birthday tea party with all Gremlin's grandparents and it was lovely! It was full of tasty food and almost completely PKU friendly. I made a cake (Fate mix available of prescription) and covered it in butter icing and vegetarian jelly beans. I found some vegetarian jelly crystals in Holland and Barrett and used the website on the packet to find out that they were 0.3g protein per 100g so transformed them into a cat and mouse jelly. We also had Loprofin pasta (prescription) with homemade simple tomato sauce for a salad, pku bread (prescription) and jam sandwiches, cucumber, tomatoes, grapes, plums and, of course, the PKU favourite QUAVERS, in 3 flavours now! It does take a lot of organisation and planning but managing the PKU diet is possible and needn't be too different, as this party showed to all of us.