December catchup!

It's been forever, sorry! There's lots of fun photos from the past month to tell a bit what we've been up to and I'm just to lazy to really detail it all right now, but wanted to post a quick update. For those interested in the pictures, I commented on most of them so just click on the slideshow above to be taken to the bubbleshare website to read my comments.

If you've seen the cartoon "Over the Hedge" and remember the squirrel voiced by Steve Carrel who has dizzying energy, that pretty well sums up the past two weeks of me on high doses of steroids and finally feeling much better! YAHOO!!! I've been buzzing around catching up on my life and getting Christmas things together, just having fun! I feel like every mom should be given this wonderful gift in a bottle just before Thanksgiving because not only do I have everything done I wanted to do, but I had the energy and desire to do it through the most crazy season of the year! Gotta say though, the side effects aren't all that hot, so I think the "eat right, get enough sleep and exercise" thing would probably be much better holistic advice. I'm working on that - even began tracking everything I eat, all my symptoms, and all my meds daily on a worksheet I made myself! I'm telling you, me on high doses of steroids - watch out world, I'm taking over! (Watch out, I jump topics w/ wreckless abandon from here on out - another side effect, just ask Ryan or Janelle who've witnessed my very buzzy behavior lately!)

Oh how I've loved the Christmas season! Too much to say about this, but just know I am loving reconnecting with the reason for the season -- Our Heavenly Father's gift of His Son and our Savior's gift of the Atonement in order that we may have the gift of eternal life. I feel so blessed to know of the plan of Salvation! I'm learning so much right now about getting back to the nitty-gritty basics of the gospel as I try to be a good mom and teach my boys the true path to happiness. I found a great article about Christmas that took me back to my Holy Land Study Abroad 1997 - totally worth the read to learn maybe some lesser known universal symbolisms in the nativity story. Click here - "Tasting the Bread of Life."

Looking at the pictures of the past month, Easton is front and center in my thoughts. Our "SuperEaston" has turned 4 years old this past week. He is such a sensitive, contemplative boy who proclaimed this week,"We're a silly family!" I love that I can discuss with him how he and I can help teach McKay to be a good boy by sharing, not screaming through tantrums, saying sorry when things happen . . . it's great to have a partner in crime and my just Easton gets it!

This was the first year we've had a birthday party with friends his age over and we only began this year because it mattered to him. It was a real low key event but the boys had fun. It was really a glorified playdate but they seemed to really enjoy it. I was just so pleased with myself because I didn't stress over it and the cake and food we ate was eaten and enjoyed by all three boys who are very picky! HURRAY for me!

Within an hour of the party being over, Ryan and I were off to enjoy Ryan's Christmas / birthday gift to me. A getaway to the Goodstone Inn B&B of Middleburg complete with a tub soak finishing up "A Christmas Box", professional one hour massages, dinner at the Red Fox Inn c. 1724, journaling by the fire, FABULOUS scrumptious late breakfast, and perusing the cute shops of historic Middleburg. Ryan and I just had such a great time chatting and being in love - ah we just love quick getaways to refresh ourselves! I say the best gift you can give a young mom is to let her be pampered, fed extravagantly, and engaged in great conversations. I'm just so lucky to have a husband who picks up on my greatest needs! It helps me be the woman, mother, and wife I want to be!

A Merry Merry Christmas to YOU!!!

Just Thankful

The past month has been a roller coaster for me. That the ride is slowing to a more manageable speed finally. For those that I didn't already share this with, I've had a horrible flareup of my ulcerative colitis for the past month which we found out was due to being pregnant. We were so thrilled!!! However, I was so sick the entire time we had all our Thanksgiving guests that I feel like I missed out on good times! I miscarried early last week and am still working with my doctors to get well. Ahhh, life is such a never-ending learning process!

But in the midst of all these challenges, I felt so blessed. I have a caring husband who is always willing to help me in any way I need him without complaint. My two little guys smother me with love when needed and remind me of the simple joys found in life, many times in just sharing a smile.

New Faucet
Our kitchen faucet has been in such a state of disrepair for awhile now. We got a new one on Saturday which Ryan promptly installed (I LOVE THAT ABOUT HIM!). When Easton pulled up to get himself a drink, he exclaimed, "Whoa Cool! Is this one of my Christmas presents?"

Nativity
I'd told our little preschoolers the nativity story with our nativity and I've been pointing out all the nativities in town to Easton. On our way home from church, we pass the courthouse's nativity, the Catholic church's nativity sign, and a few lawn nativities! How fabulous!!! Last night we went to the DC Temple to see the lights and Easton really liked the partially live nativity. His comment was, "I like that baby Jesus story and they had swaddling clothes too!" It never ceases to surprise me what details kids pick up!

Farm date with Easton

After the morning family outing to take in Leesburg's Court and Market Days, we headed home for some lunch and put McKay down for his mandatory nap. It just so happened to be the Farm Tour Festival in our county which I don't like to miss so I took Easton on a date and Ryan got a nap. All were happy!

As we pulled up to the farm, I see that they've newly installed a playground. Easton's thrilled, but I was a little dismayed because we frequent parks a lot and I came here for the farm experience! So I let him know we'd do the playground after we found ourselves some pumpkins. First we stopped to see the wheat harvest demonstration which was pretty cool!

The farm had a bunch of pumpkins laid out for the non-patch people. Easton ran to it and started checking out the mighty gourds. Then he saw another kid roll over a pumpkin and holler a delighted, disgusted "Ewwwww!" Easton LOVED it and began turning over pumpkins to see if he could find any fabulously rotten ones to squeal about. Such a boy thing!

Then we took the hayride to the pumpkin patch which was fabulous on a sweatshirt and shorts weather day! We hopped off the hayride and other patch people with their arms overflowing with beautiful pumpkins and decorative gourds began climbing aboard. Easton proceeded to pick up the nearest discarded pumpkin which was probably left by some mom telling her kids they had to pick their favorite. He looked up at me and said, "Playground now?" What a schemer! Here I was, dreaming of a fabulous afternoon discovering all a pumpkin patch can hold with my son and he was thrilled to check off the task and head for the playground! So rather than fight him on it, we grabbed his pumpkin and boarded the hayride before it had even left. I totally should have held my ground and made it a fun game hunting for treasures in the patch, but with a bad case of hayfever and a sore leg from the current health ailment - I was okay giving in.

As you can see from the pictures, Easton is in need of a serious hair cut and me seeing pictures of said hair condition hope to address it very soon. However, hair length did not impede this kid from haivng a great time at the farm and the playground. I still get such a kick out of seeing him look for me before and after he does something like those slides. It means that he still thinks I'm the most important person in his life and reminds me I need to soak it up!

The both of us are really enjoying our current Joy School setup and I was his teacher this week. It was so adorable to hear him open the door for his friends and say, "Welcome to Joy School, come on in!"

A word to the current health ailment on my leg. It's a condition called erythema nodosum and is rather repulsive. If ya google the condition, it's an inflamation of the fat cell layer. I lovingly refer to it as my elephant leg condition because my affected leg swells from the knee down, has a red hot spot the size of a good bruise, extremely tender, and I loose all shapelyness of said leg and my ankle disappears. It's a condition that runs its course in 3-6 weeks and is an outward manifestation of my ulcerative colitis, cuz apparently having UC diarrhea isn't enough. However, the UC symptoms are doing MUCH better on this whole modified diet I'm trying to stick with (some days better than others) so I'll keep with it to try to avoid going back on prednisone steroids.

YEAH for ME!

I'm on day 14 of 21 on my "cleanse" program. It's been an effort to naturally heal my ulcers without going back on another round of steroids. The alternative to trying this natural route was ramp up to the next medication and be done having kids. YIKES!

This weekend marked a huge personal victory for me! For a whole 2 1/2 days now I've been symptom free of ulcers!!! This is the first time EVER in 9 years to do this without steroids and all their side effects. A really HUGE deal for me!!! Monumental, really and I had to make a few shout-out calls to celebrate and let others bask in my sheer joy! Being symptom free opens up so many possibilities in my daily life, it's hard to express. YEAH FOR ME!!!

The diet has had its ups and downs but the high points far outweigh the hard times. I've realized my greatest motivator for sticking with the diet in those really tempting moments hasn't been my health, having more kids - but the fact that I PAID a significant amount of money to do this cleanse diet. Hmmm . . . very enlightening!

This past week was wonderful diet-wise because I was able to add lean meats and eggs! Hurray, some flavor finally! The first week was just the protein shakes and fresh fruits and veggies. I'm so grateful to my new doctor who talked me through a rough weekend when things weren't looking so good! She ROCKS!

Aloe Life juice seems to have been instrumental in my turn around. Just as Aloe helps soothe skin after a bad sunburn, it helps heal bodies internally as well! Who knew?

The greatest benefit of this diet has been stable, sustainable levels of energy each day. It's been remarkable! Not being hungry between meals is a great bonus as I learn the right amounts of good fats, proteins and carbs that will satiate me til the next meal. And to tell the truth, loosing a bit of weight wasn't all that bad either!

I've realized that as a high school athlete, I developed a warped sense of what foods to load up on each day. I haven't been an athlete in quite some time, so some big changes are way overdue!

I've been researching all sorts of gluten-free, dairy-free cooking websites and learning more about making yummy, healthier food for our family. It's about time I learn to eat right! We'll see in the coming weeks if this is really the route I have to take to keep me healthy, but I'm all about preparing myself for what's coming next.

Gettin' Healthy, I hope!

Tired of battling my ulcerative colitis and not seeing sustainable results with medications, I'm trying something new. Confession: I'm 30 and have never gone on a diet before. There's been plenty of times this bod' could have used it, but I've never been motivated to deny myself of my favorite foods.

After eight months of predictably being on/off prednisone, a steroid that has served as a bandaid for my flareups, I saw a new doctor with an integrated holistic approach. I've now finished day two of twenty-one on a cleansing diet which will also serve as an elimination diet. Essentially, I'll find out what foods I may be allergic or intolerant to once they're reintroduced one at a time. YIKES! Dairy and gluten are the probable culprits.

I must say I approached this diet with great anxiety. Could I do it?! Last week I ate horribly eating up all my remaining favorite snacks in the house. At the store on Friday and on Saturday, I succumbed and bought my peanut M&Ms and cheetohs. On Sunday evening, I remembered I hadn't eaten the M&Ms so there I was in bed, cruching away at those M&Ms at 11pm! I went and did a session at the temple Saturday night to bolster my confidence and pray for strength. Ryan giggled saying he didn't know anyone went to the temple to start a diet. Ah well, this gal needs all the help she can get!

If you were to look at my kitchen counter with all the diet's supplements and stuff, you'd think a geriatric unit took up residence with us! In the morning, all the pills barely fit in my hand! I also got a full-blown sinus head cold yesterday which served to limit my tastebuds and appetite somewhat as the first "shake" went down, but I still gagged. I even called the doctor's office to ask if there was anything I could do to improve the taste. Ryan says it's not as bad as some of the shakes he's downed during diets, but it was still pretty traumatic for me.

It hasn't been so bad so far because the shakes really do satiate me til the next one. I have a pretty strict list of fruits and veggies which I can eat fresh or briefly steamed. Next week I'll be able to include some lean meats and eggs for days 8-21.

I'm indebted to a handful of women in my ward that have shared information and served as great sounding boards! In all, I KNOW I CAN DO IT and that's a great feeling!