More Thoughts

Today I decided to see if I have alpha gal. I will be giving up all dairy and meat products (except chicken) and seeing if I get better. If it is alpha gal, I am excited to find the reason behind all my increasingly bizarre symptoms. But I am also crushed, because I love cheese. And raw milk. And meatballs. 

Things have been getting worse lately though. I can't live with these constant hives, allergy attacks, fatigue, bloating, itchy throat and middle-of-the-night wake ups with severe runny nose and hives anymore! If this is the reason cutting out all meat and dairy should help me feel better. 

The kids are currently watching pepa pig and I'm trying not to panic over changing our whole eating habits again... what will I eat? I love vegetables, but I know I will miss a lot of dairy...how will I get iron if I really have this disease? I am not sure. But I do trust God! We have a whole day of homeschooling ahead of us and I need to go shower, and make breakfast and modify my next azure order for sure...I'll need dairy free yogurt and I can get rid of the large beef order I was making...I need to look into a milk alternative that isn't full of preservatives and additives, perhaps I'll start making my own coconut milk again. I love to have milk in my tea. 

This is going to be a process. I would love some prayers through the next few weeks! And some vegan meal ideas would be an added bonus. With two members of my family allergic to beans, and now me maybe allergic to meats, it's going to be extremely interesting around here...

But if I feel better...

Can I hope to feel better? I"ll take it. And I'm looking into options to heal myself too. But first, I need to get better and affirm I actually have this. Because the other option is mast cell disease and that doesn't sound any fun either. 

Also, where did I get this alpha gal from? I had Lyme back in 2020, 2021, and I have a chronic illness, but these hives/allergy attacks didn't start until...maybe postpartum with Esther (2023) at the earliest. I didn't have this stuff when I was suffering from Lyme in 2020 and 2021. And I don't have Lyme symptoms right now. 

I guess I'll never know the answer to how it happened...but if I can find the answer to my symptoms and heal, it probably doesn't matter.

Time to shower!

Thoughts

My days are so full now, I really don't know how I fit everything in. Also, I had hives on the top of my mouth basically the entire day. I don't know what is causing it but the top of my mouth and ears are quite itchy and it's very annoying. If I knew what I was eating...I mean, the first thing I had this morning was an electrolyte drink and...instant hives. They went away right before breakfast where I had a English muffin with egg and beef bacon on it. More hives, and these ones did not go away. It's been 12 hours since I had breakfast and I'm still itchy and annoyed. 

By the way, I have that electrolyte drink almost every day and am fine. Sometimes it gives me hives though. 

I don't know what is wrong with me. Maybe I have alpha gal? Maybe it's mast cell disease? Whatever it is, my body hates me. 

Anyway. We got through all of our school today except for math, which I plan to do tomorrow with Becky. Reuben will start back in math March 23 and we will probably do it all summer. But that's okay. He has had a 13 week break from math due to cognitive brain development and it was much needed. 

Oh, he has grown so much! His reading and writing have drastically improved! I am thrilled. I can't wait to see how it helps Becky and of course, to add the equipping minds program to our home-school days. It's been a blessing for me too. 

Becky read me a book that her and grandma wrote today. It was a dream come true to hear her read her book to me! She's come so far. Before we started the Barton Reading Program with her she struggled with recognizing letters and couldn't read at all. Now she can recognize all her letters, say sounds, and read some 3 and 4 letter words! She's thrilled and she should be, she's working so hard. Becky is on Barton box 3.

This week is packed full of all the homeschooling things. Tomorrow is piano, and we want to go swimming on Friday, and I need to figure out if we will join back into our co-op now that cognitive brain therapy is done...Today I took Esther to the park while Becky worked with grandma. It was interesting being out with only a toddler! We got some special time together... its sweet to spend time just with her. As a mom of three, I'm usually so busy it's all a blur and she gets lost in the mayhem. I need more moments like this with each of my kids.  

 The flu is still going around, I am praying hard I don't get it. 

Today we finished Treasure Island. And I have started reading Phineas Redux again by Anthony Trollope. It's been a good day I hope the Lord brings another one tomorrow. 

My heart is hurting over the news of war in Iran. I don't have anything political to say, only that war--necessary or not--always hurts innocent people. And that is what makes me sad. 

It has been A Week.

Like the title says! We started the week with temperatures in the low to mid 40s and now we are in the mid 70s! The high was 76f today and it was beautiful. Absolutely lovely. I have plans this weekend to clean out the herb garden (it used to be a sandbox!) and maybe the vegetable garden. Spring has sprung, at least for the foreseeable forecast. Planting might happens...soon!

We have gone to the park twice this week. It's been so beautiful. The kids have been loving the weather too.

Reuben is almost done with cognitive brain development. His writing is better, and his spelling a little bit too! His cognitive skills have improved. He has memorized over 30 presidents! And played a lot of games. We loved the Equipping Minds program and now that I have done it with a tutor for Reuben, I think I can do it at home with Becky and forgo paying for tutoring which will save us a bunch of money. My husband had a long talk with me yesterday about this and we decided I will do the program with her. 

I had reached out to Jill of the Einstein Reading Program and she finally got back to me and said her program is $3,800 for 40 lessons--one lesson each week. Well, I was excited about continuing her program since I only got 6 weeks of it from Kristal, our Equipping Minds teacher, but for that price point we just can't right now. I feel peace about it. I think I will try to save up this year and see if Reuben or Becky needs it next year, if Barton doesn't work out for them. Reuben will start the barton reading and spelling program since I already own it and have been doing it with Becky. Well, my mom is doing it with her. But you get what I mean.  

my cutie.

We also had a very crazy bit of news that went into my choice to stop doing the Equipping Minds program that maybe one day I will share, but not right now. I'm still wounded over it and need time to adjust. I don't know what to think and am gathering my thoughts. It does not involve our family so rest assured, we are all well and love each other quite amiably. 

God is so good. I am so glad I live where there is spring. I know soon it will be 700 degrees and I'll be wilting inside with ice cubes and ceiling fans but I'll take perfection when I can. 

I want to make time to paint today. 

The kids have requested mini-hamburgers and mac and cheese for dinner today! Since we have biscuits and gravy for breakfast and...bagels for lunch, I think a nice well rounded meal will be great for dinner. What is a mini-hamburger? I think most places call them sliders. But when we only have 1 pound of ground beef, tiny hamburgers are perfection. 

Esther is taking the greatest nap after our park day. She was so tired on the way home! I had Becky and Reuben chatting her up on the drive. She ate a bowl of cereal as a snack and started falling asleep at the table so I scooped her up and she's currently curled in Becky's papasan chair snoozing away.

 Bring on the ice cream and the fun, silly summer. I'm ready.