Allergies

I went to a new doctor about my allergies last month. This doc is a chiropractor, nutritionist, acupuncturist, and holistic doc. He's busy!
He ran a lot of tests on me, and determined that I was allergic to all fruit, most veggies, all nuts, and shellfish. I knew all that. He also determined that I'm allergic to all soy products, refined sugar, MSG (which I think everyone should avoid anyway), and milk. Milk! I drink milk all the time, I love milk! I told him that I've been drinking milk my whole life, to which he replied, you've had allergies your whole life! He pointed out there is a major difference between a lactose intolerance and an allergy.
So I have a whole new diet. And by that, I mean that I can eat even less than I could before, which is pretty much nothing! Do you know what's left after you take out sugar, milk, and soy? Not much, that's what!
I can eat any kind of meat, potatoes, eggs, green beans, whole grains(ugh!), butter, and some cheeses. That's it!
To substitute milk, I can have rice milk. I haven't drank it straight yet, but I've cooked with it, and eaten cereal with it, and it's not bad. I've been drinking Sprite Zero to wean myself off of carbonation, but it has aspartame, which isn't good for anybody. I've found sugar free syrup, which tastes the same, and sugar free cookies, which do NOT taste the same. It's a learning process. I'm going to buy a bread maker and start making my own bread, subbing in the rice milk and stevia, but using regular flour. I just hate wheat, and I'm having a hard time choking it down.
Hopefully, after a while, I can start integrating some of these things back into my diet, slowly, with a lot of trial and error, I'm sure.
The other tests he ran confirmed that I'm allergic to pretty much anything that grows, dust, mold, etc. He found problems with my ovaries, probably cysts, and some adrenal gland issues. He also did some blood work and found that my blood is sticky, would be the best way that I could describe it. My red blood cells don't float freely, which means that they aren't functioning properly by getting oxygen to the rest of my body. They're not clotting, which could be really dangerous. Just sticky. It explains why I'm so tired all the time.
So. To fix ALL THAT, I'm on a series of supplements and drops. I take 34 pills broken up over 4 times a day. I take 15 drops under my tongue 4 times a day as well. And, of course, the adjustment to my diet. I really think it's working. Besides the almost 15 pounds I've lost so far since I don't eat (that's a nice little perk.) Unless the wind is blowing really hard or one of my neighbors is mowing, I really don't have much allergy trouble during the day. I still have some trouble first thing in the morning, that's always been the worst time of day for me, but it's not every day now. Over time, I should be able to cut back on the pills and drops, and maybe be able to eat a little more, like I said. But if not, if I have to jump through all these hoops for the rest of my life, I think I would. I've been miserable pretty much every single day of my life, and I think I've finally found what's going to help me. It's expensive, all these pills, and holistic medicine isn't covered by insurance, but I think it's worth the expense, for now. We'll see how long I feel that way :)
The only think lacking now is a little bit of energy. I don't know if I need to get more exercise, more sleep, or if I need to eat more. My body is getting very little fuel right now. I'm sure it's a combination of all three.

These are all my pills, sorted and stored. I have to sit and sort once a week, which is a pain. This little thing is actually for jewelry making, but it works pretty well.

Let me back up a little

I have about two months worth of catching up to do. And not just any months, March and April, two of the busiest months of the year for us. So here we go!
~Our sixth anniversary was March 12, and Cameron got me a spa day at a ritzy salon in Midland. While the girls were in Iraan, I got a massage, a facial, a brow sugaring (totally awesome, look it up!)and a mani-pedi! He did a great job, it was awesome! For supper, we went to a great Italian restaurant. It's the closest to the food we had while we were in Rome for our honeymoon. We realized that, by accident, we had eaten Italian for almost every anniversary so far.
~The next weekend, for my birthday, we went to Gruene for the weekend. We love it down there. I like all the eclectic shops, though I wouldn't buy 90% of the stuff in them. I just like looking. We ate at the Gristmill, and saw Roger Creager saturday night at Gruene Hall. Cameron and I were front and center. I literally could have held his microphone for him! My love for Roger predates my love for Cameron, but we hadn't seen him since before we had kids. It was a great little vacation.
~When we picked up the girls on the way home, we picked up Allie, too. After the first traumatic day, I'm happy to say that Allie is fitting in nicely around here. Cameron rigged up part of the old fence, so she now has half of the yard to roam, instead of just that little pen. She's growing so fast! It seems like she's twice the size she was when we brought her home! She's really a good puppy, but we're having trouble with her biting and jumping when she's excited. It's just puppy playing, but the girls don't like it. They try so hard to be brave, but they're still a little scared of her. Especially Brynna. She's so funny, she yells at Allie, calls her by name and holds out her hand for her to come, but as soon as Allie starts heading her way, Brynna sprints back to me and climbs straight up my legs. D'Laney is a little better with her, but doesn't like the jumping.
~We've been doing a lot of work on the backyard. Cameron poured a sidewalk that leads to the dumpster, and we have the new garage/patio marked off. We still have to tear down the old garage, but we're having a hard time finding the equipment. Tearing it down isn't the problem, but hauling the old wood off is. Our little dump isn't open on the weekends, and Cameron has been too busy to take any time off during the week. I'm afraid we're just going to have to hire someone to get it done.
~We've been to baseball games, soccer games, and track meets this spring. I love that my girls are growing up around sports and competition.
~Are you still there? I know, it's a boring post!
~We spent Easter in Angelo. I loved, loved, loved the dresses I found for the girls! They were beautiful! I tried making Bakerella's cake pops, and they tasted pretty good, but they didn't look all that great. And it was an all day process! I definitely learned a lot for the next time I try to tackle them.
~Brynna had a well baby check up, and got a gold star! She weighed 20 pounds, and is just under 30 inches tall, both putting her in the 25%. Dr P was very impressed with her vocabulary and her signing. She got two shots, and did pretty well with them.
~It's been a busy time in our prayer lives as well. Fires have ravaged the Concho Valley, coming within a few miles of my parents' place, both of my mom's parents have spent some time in the hospital, and baby Harper made her grand debut and spent a few weeks in the NICU in Lubbock. I'm happy to say MamaDeere and PapaDeere are both home and doing much better. Harper is also home for the time being, but will soon have to return to the hospital for major heart surgery.
~I went to a new doctor about my allergies. I'll post more about it later, but let me assure you, all these hoops that I'm having to jump through sure better be worth it! I think they will be, it's just really hard to tell right now because of these horrible winds that we've had.
~We're kid free again this weekend. Cameron's mother was in town thursday, and took the girls home with her. We'll pick them up sunday when we go down there for mother's day and Cameron's brother's birthday.
~I guess that's about it. I'm sure only a couple of you are still with me! You know, I started this post about 3 weeks ago. I'm just still in a bit of the blogging blahs. I love reading other blogs, I just haven't really been up to posting myself. I wish there were some sort of technology that could take down what I blog in my head, cause I could keep up with that really well. I blog while I'm driving all the time, but by the time I get home, I've either forgotten, or simply don't feel like typing it all out.
~I'll try to get some pics on here later today, ok, Cadye? You can quit texting me that I need to update now!

Update: Allie is home!!

Yesterday was awful. It would have been bad anyway, but I was super sick from allergies and super emotional from, well, I was just super hormonal.
Around 7 last night, we got a knock on the door, and there were our NEXT DOOR neighbors. One was holding the flier I had made, and the other was holding Allie! When they were leaving for work yesterday morning, Allie was trying to get into their garage. Since she didn't have a tag and they didn't know who she belonged to, they were just going to hold on to her for a day or two and see if they could find her home. They had no idea she belonged to us! They said, we haven't seen her out in the yard with y'all, and I said, well, we just brought her home last night!
D'Laney was so glad to have her home, and Allie seemed to be glad to see D'Laney. After getting her situated in the bathroom, the girls and I headed to town at 8:30 last night (bad momma!) to get all the essentials for her that I had intended on getting earlier in the day. She now has her collar and leash, toys, and food and water bowls that didn't come out of our kitchen. I didn't have all that before we got her because she was a surprise for the girls, and I wanted D'Laney to be able to help pick her stuff out. I couldn't find any tags for her, but I'm going to try to find something cute and unique for them anyway.
Allie slept in the downstairs bathroom last night, and only cried for about 15 minutes, then was quiet for most of the night. When we got up this morning, the bathroom had ZERO puddles in it! No mess at all, aside from the food she had knocked out of her bowl. D'Laney took her into the front yard and she did her business right away. I think maybe this puppy is already house broken! Too bad she won't be spending much time actually IN the house!
I "fixed" her outside pen today. Can you say redneck?!

It is standard dog kennel, which she climbed out of, with a storm door on top, to keep her in and let the sunlight through. There is a pipe preventing the storm door from butting up next to the fence, so there is a box, anchored by bricks, and an old "for sale" sign on either side of the pipe to close any gaps. The long box and wooden fence are to break the wind and keep her from digging out.
It's worked so far. She's been in there for the better part of the afternoon, and she'll start yapping every now and then, but for the most part, she seems fine.
So we're happy at the Holifield house today! Now I just need to get to the housework that I was too distraught to do yesterday. Boo!

I'd love to introduce you, but...

This is Allie. She is the most precious little boxer I've ever seen! My mom picked her up for us last week, and we were finally able to bring her home last night. Because our fence is only half way completed, we rigged up a temporary cage for her to get us through the next couple of days, until Cameron gets home from a job and can finish the fence. When we first put her in it last night, she promptly found a corner and climbed right out. We put a portion of the old fence on top of the cage, cover the two corners that didn't butt up next to the new, wooden fence. We figured she couldn't climb a straight side and wouldn't be able to get out.
At 6:30 this morning, I heard her barking outside, and was so relieved that she was still there! When I went out to feed her at 8, she wasn't.
I don't know what happened. I think that she must have figured out how to climb out again. I really don't think that someone walked into our back yard and took her.
I loaded the girls up and we drove around for an hour and a half looking for her, with no luck. I thought I might ought to feed my own children, so we came home and while they were finally getting their breakfast, I called a friend that works at city hall. No one had seen her or picked her up, but she would sure let all of the water and sewage guys know to keep their eye out for her. I made some fliers, too, and put them up at the convenient store, grocery store, post office, and city hall.
Since we just got her last night, we didn't have a collar or tags on her yet. She didn't even have a name until Friday!
My prayer is that someone saw her running around this morning while they were leaving for work, and took her in until they could look for her owners this evening when they get home. It's now 1:15, and I haven't heard anything yet.
I'm just beyond devastated. D'Laney has been asking about her all day, although she hasn't cried about it (I can't say the same thing about myself.) She keeps saying Where's Allie? Did someone take her? She even told me that Allie would say to them, I'm not your puppy, I'm D'Laney's puppy! That one broke my heart.
Please, please say a little prayer for us. Pray that Allie is safe. Pray that no one stole her. Pray that whomever found her sees a flier and has a kind heart. That they return her and not decide to keep the beautiful, sweet little girl for themselves. Pray for me not to be angry with my husband for not finishing the fence in the 8 weeks that we've known that we were getting her. And mostly, pray that if we don't find her, D'Laney (and her momma) will handle it well.

I wonder who she takes after?!

I have lots to blog about. Our amazing anniversary weekend, Brynna hit 15 months, D'Laney is the funniest kid on the planet, our upcoming getaway to Gruene, and the new addition to our family, whom we will be bringing home sunday! (The puppy, y'all, no babies!)
But not today.
We are very well aware that Cameron and I each have a mini me, but you just can't grasp just how much until you see side by side, same age pictures.
I snagged a copy of a picture of Cameron as a toddler, and had to share it. I cropped it down, it's actually a picture of all three of the Holifield kiddos. Isn't he the most precious little boy you've ever seen?!



She is so pretty. It's kinda creepy to me how much she looks like her daddy. I'm absolutely thrilled that those blue eyes were passed down.



And, to show just how much D'Laney looks like me:

I was pouting a little bit wasn't I?


So is D'Laney. Even pouting, she's gorgeous. It's weird to me to recognize that D'Laney looks just like me, and think she's so beautiful, but not think that about myself.


I think Cameron and I are in for some trouble in about 12 years!

Favorite things

My vacuum cleaner finally croaked, and so I broke down and bought a Dyson, and I do mean BROKE! My goodness those things are expensive! I got it all put together and vacuumed just the two main rooms downstairs. Apparently, my old one had been going out for a while, because this new thing sucked up a whole lotta stuff!
It's pretty much stinking awesome! The attachments, WOW! And, it's red, which ups the awesomeness a bunch.
So, since it's my new favorite toy, I decided to do a favorite things. Chey-anne does them every now and then, and I always think it's a good idea.


I'm in love with this thing.


I'm feeling a need to take better care of my skin. I had the "mask of pregnancy" show up in the form of a big brown blotch on my left cheek. My skin is also a lot more blotchy than it used to be. So I'm using a spot remover serum from Clinic for the brown spot, but the thing that makes it the most effective is wearing sun screen every day. I found this one that has an SPF, and takes a little bit of the redness out of the rest of my face. It works pretty well, and my makeup goes on a lot smoother on top of it.


All four of us love these things. D'Laney calls them the leaf crackers, I guess that's what she thinks they look like.


This wind has been killing my allergies and sinuses. I've taken Advil PM every night for a solid week!


The whole wheat aspect of these yummy things is sort of canceled out by the amounts of butter that I slab on them.


I've always said that Jane Austen is my favorite author. I love her stuff, I'm a bit of a romantic. But I realized that I've only ever read one of her books, Pride and Prejudice. I've seen several movies based on her other books, but I've never read them. I hope to read her entire collection by the end of the year. I hope.

Are you gonna kiss me or what?

Have you heard this song? I think it's so cute. Thompson Square is a husband and wife duo, and while I'm not a huge fan of their style of "country" I like this particular song. It reminds me of us.
Cameron and I were on our sixth date is as many days when he very shyly and sweetly asked if he could kiss me. I was anxious, a little scared (serious lack of dating, thus kissing, history) and said, "would you, please?!" As in, get the first kiss over with, the anticipation is killing me!
Fast forward to our wedding, and when Steve Sherrod pronounced us husband and wife, instead of saying "you may kiss the bride" he turned to me and said, "Amy, would you please?" I didn't catch it at the time, Cameron told me about it later, but I thought it was the sweetest thing ever. Sweet that Cameron remembered, and that he asked Steve to say it during our wedding.
So I absolutely love this song.

Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not - Thompson Square - Thompson Square Videos