it's back...

While I was pregnant with Josiah my adult acnehad gone away. but it's back again. came back a few months ago. In fact the only time I think I've ever not had acne was while I was pregnant with him. and it wasn't through the whole pregnancy, just part of it. I broke out worse when I was pregnant with the girls, but for some reason with him it was a little better. I just wonder if I'm going to be dealing with these zits my entire life, or if they will go away... maybe when I'm a grandma they will be gone. Guess I'll have to wait 30 more years to find out.

Gluten Free update 3 weeks

It’s been a bit over 3 weeks since we eliminated gluten from Caylee’s diet. I really didn’t notice a difference in her personality or sleeping or eating until Saturday night. We went out to eat at Famous Daves and ordered her mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. What I didn’t know was that they give a little pack of oreos with kids meals…. The oreos started a break down that had half of the restaurant staring at us. She was way too hungry to calm down (unfortunately she gets that from me… there’s a certain point of hunger that nothing can be reasoned with). So we let her have an oreo, then made her eat some mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. she didn’t want them. She ate my corn muffin. then ate her second oreo…. that night she woke up about 8 times, Sunday she was way more whiny than normal too. Eugene at that point looked at me and said “no more gluten, EVER”.
So now I am certain, it does affect her sleeping, and her attitude. She’s not eating any better though, in fact I think she’s more picky. She is asking for different things though. We ate Easter dinner at a Mexican restaurant and she asked for a taco. we got her one with fries because I had my doubts about the taco. She wouldn’t touch it. but at least she ordered it! And yesterday on the way home we stopped at mcdonalds and she asked for a burger. I ordered her one without a bun. Again, she didn’t eat it, but I will happily give her food when she asks, even if she doesn’t eat it. I’ve heard you have to put food in front of them several times before they actually try it. One of these times she’ll try it.
This morning I made some pancakes out of a Pamela’s Gluten Free mix that my friend (The Natural mommy) sent me. I used coconut oil as the oil instead of canola or vegetable oil. She ate 2 of them, I ate one to try it. I think it was the best pancake I’ve ever had. I don’t know if it was the coconut oil that made the difference or what, it was SO good.
She’s still eating the GF substitute foods fine without noticing a difference, with an exception of the Van’s GF frozen waffles we got, she hates those…. I was really nervous when I made pizza though, because her pizza was square and ours was round, I thought she’d notice a difference in the shapes of the pieces and throw a fit. I’ve made pizza 3 times and she hasn’t said anything yet!

I was wrong.

not that it doesn't happen often, because it does... but a few minutes ago Lexi showed me this:

That's a clump of her hair. She held it in one hand, and the scissors in the other. That was her way of protesting that I took the glitter away. She now is without scissors AND glitter.  Luckily with her curly hair, it's almost impossible to see where she cut it from.

The reason I was wrong is because I really thought Caylee would be the first one to cut their hair... she's the more adventurous one. I just hope that she doesn't think you're supposed to do that now.

Gluten Free update

Caylee has been Gluten Free for a week and a half, so far I notice no difference in anything, other than the fact that she is peeing ALL over the floor ALL the time. but I don’t think that’s related to taking gluten out of her diet.
The only thing she’s been asking for that we haven’t found a GF version of is poptarts and toaster strudels. We found two different brands of GF chicken nuggets, she liked one, the other she wont eat. We’ve given her the GF waffles twice now and she wont eat those either. I had gotten some before that she ate, but for some reason she wont eat these.
It’s been pretty easy, some things we’ve just known to keep out of the house (like Oreos) I’ve yet to make any bread for her, but she hasn’t asked for a sandwich or anything so I guess it’s ok.
I made her GF pizza and she loved it. I was really afraid she’d notice a difference in looks and not try it, but she ate it, infact she ate three pieces. She also had the rice spaghetti and didn’t seem affected by the difference.
Hopefully next Friday I’ll start seeing some improvement in her behavior and maybe, possibly, her eating habits?
I did notice that she hasn’t said her stomach hurts as much, I think I’ve heard her say it once and it was immediately followed by “I’m hungry”, so I don’t know if it was a hunger pang or a hurting pang.

Consigning to sell

I really miss living closer to "action" there are not very many consignment sales around here, but I did find one small children's consignment store.  I've gotten several things there, all for pretty cheap. Last time I was in the store I asked about consigning there because I have several baby items I no longer need or want, the lady working handed me a paper to fill out and told me a few rules.

I've sold things in a few different consignment sales and did pretty good, one I was impressed with the other I wasn't. Both of them took about 30% of your profit, but one also had random fees and charges just for selling. I was VERY angry with that lady because it wasn't very clear that she took those fees, all in all I ended up bringing home about $25 out of $75. I was VERY MAD. The second one took only the 30% and I did a lot better at that one, I brought home about $140.

After reading over the letter from the store I don't think I will be selling with them, they take 50% of what you make, plus they price the items how they see fit.  To me that's a pretty bad deal. I guess if you are really desperate for money or have some items that you've tried to sell but can't then maybe it's a good idea. I have the things I want to sell listed on Craigslist, I'm hoping they sell, if not I'll hold onto them until fall when there is a consignment sale I can be a part of.

 I will say though, shopping at the consignment store is worth it! things are priced very reasonable for a buyer. I still like the consignment sales better though, there's nothing like hundreds of moms trying to sell a bunch of stuff all in one weekend!! You can snag some great deals, and you can find just about everything you are looking for. from clothes, to bedding to toys, furniture, shoes and I've even seen baby shower invitations there! Don't forget the big items like bouncers, walkers, exersaucers and carriers!

My search for the impossible

My mom is making the girls their Easter dresses like she does every year. Only this year we have a boy too. So she's making him a tie to match their dresses. We never dress up, but for Easter I like to have them look adorable.  So a Tie will be perfect. I figured it would be simple to find a pair of black slacks and white button up shirt. Boy was I wrong.

I've found some long sleeve white button ups, for a reasonable price, but finding a short sleeve one that is less than $20 is as impossible as finding a spa cover for a 40ft triangular spa. I've searched used and new and come up with nothing! I've got two people checking two different consignment sales for me, maybe one of them will find something, if not I've got a wonderful friend who has offered her long sleeve one that her son outgrew.  FEW! at least I know we got the basics covered. But seriously, if you're the maker of baby clothes, take note- Make a plain white short sleeve shirt for babies under 12 months and sell it for cheap. you'll make millions.

1 in 5

My husband and I met online, we've been happily married for the past 8.25 years. It's funny because everyone is always shocked when they hear how we met. Oddly enough, My mom and step dad met online too. Must run in the family (Eugene and I met first though!) I was watching a commercial yesterday that said 1 in 5 couples meets through dating sites.

I don't know what the statistics were 8 years ago, but I'm sure they were less. The best part is we didn't use a dating site, just a random trip in a Yahoo Christian Chat room. I can't imagine what they will be when Lexi is dating age (that's 30 right?)

Anniversary Moon

When we got married we did it kind of quickly and not the traditional way, we had no honeymoon, aside from a night in the Marriot. So now that we've been married almost 10 years were are thinking of taking a honeymoon of an anniversary trip.

We've thought long and hard and are still thinking long and hard about where we want to go. at first we thought somewhere warm and tropical, maybe a nice cruise where we can get some St. Thomas jewelry, or see some parts of Mexico. Now we are thinking more about Ireland or Scotland, or some European destination.

Heck, I don't care if it's the beach in Florida, as long as it's somewhere relaxing, fun and with my husband!

Tennessee for Easter!

I'm very excited that in 3 short weeks I will be "home" in Tennessee. Yes, we only lived there for a few short years and we've been gone longer than we were there, but to me it's home. It's the place I made the most friends, found a church family i loved like crazy, it's the perfect environment and has everything you need close by. I even have an adopted dad there. I wish we could go back and visit more often than we do, we never have enough time to see everyone and spend the amount of time we want with everyone.

I'm excited to go sit down around the fire pit in the back yard talking and warming up, spending times with my pops and letting the kids enjoy him. They don't get to spend enough time with their grandparents, soon Eugene's mom will be here so they will get to see her and their pap more. And in a month or so we'll get to visit with my mom while camping. Parents are great, whether by birth, marriage, or adopted. They aren't appreciated near enough.

Why do I even look?!


