They're back...

Shelby's food allergies, that is. "What food allergies?" you wonder. Well its been since shortly after her 3rd birthday since we've had to deal with them and at that point we had no reason to believe that we would ever have to deal with them again. But, we do. Long story short, her intermittant abdominal pain that we thought was helped by following a lactose-free diet is really food allergies. Dairy, wheat and soy. We are starting by eliminating the worst one, dairy, right now. Its not much else to remove from her diet as she has not been drinking cow's milk or eating cheese since the spring. Its a matter of a new margerine, reading cereal, cracker, and every other label, but doable. We'll give it 2 weeks and see what her symptoms are like then. If we don't see an improvement, then on to removing wheat from her diet. Yeah, that one I'll have to get back to you on. I'm not sure how to do that one. Yuck. That's a lot of stuff. A lot of expensive foods to buy or to bake. Once again, we'll give it 2 weeks then possibly move on to the soy. That's a BIGGIE. She LOVES her soymilk (me, too!). Tonight we only told her about the dairy. We'll cross each bridge one at a time, thank you very much. Poor kid, she just wants to eat cheetos like her friends. I want for her to eat cheetos, too, but I also want her to be healthy. Feeding this kid really sucks. It always has been a challenge and this won't make it any easier. O.k., pity party done.

One foot in front of the other...and off we go!

(P.S. We will not make a big deal about this, but for a 6 1/2-year-old this IS a big deal. Please pray for patience and understanding for her. She just wants to be like all the other kids.)

Oh, and my college student did it again. Labs, test and homework for this week - he's still 1st in his class :) I'm going to brag as much as I want to!!!

I have to brag!

Doesn't this say it all?!?!? I'm so proud of him!
I LOVE YOU SCOTT!

My scrambled brain

So I was thinking that Tuesday morning I was feeling a bit better. I still had a headache, but I was better than Sunday or Monday. I started going about my business Tuesday morning and whoa, the dizziness hit. My ears started ringing, too. I was a wreck. I was not myself. Scott called back the ER and talked to the charge nurse and she said "bring her back in." So we spent most of the day Tuesday in the ER, too. They gave me some medication for the dizziness, which didn't help with the dizziness, but did put me to sleep. Basically, they said it's from the concussion and I am following up with a neurologist tomorrow. They said these symptoms could last 2 weeks to a month! I don't have time for that! Doesn't my head know that I am a busy mommy of 3 that works outside the home?!?!?! Guess not. I had Scott take me to the chiropractor today to get an adjustment. A lot of my dizziness has gone away since then, but my ears are still ringing. Its pretty maddening. Annoying. We'll see what the neurologist has to say tomorrow. I'm hoping I can return to work soon.

In good news, the girl who hit my van DOES have insurance - PHEW! We'll be getting that fixed very soon.

Enjoy our new family photos!

Me and my van...

are having a rough few days. It all started on Friday when I left work. I was headed to the post office and someone hit the side of my van. I was turning left, had my blinker on and had slowed down and this person tried to pass me on the right. There was a vehicle parked on the right side there so to avoid hitting that she swung back in and hit me. She hit me so hard that I was heading west and ended up facing north. Everyone was o.k. (Thank God I was the only one in the van), but the passenger side of my van is crushed in and the back door is useless. The girl did not have her insurance card with her and ended up getting 3 tickets. Let's hope she has insurance...

Then today as we were unloading the van after church I was shutting the back hatch and somehow clocked myself in the face. I stumbled back quite a ways (Riley's observation) and Scott found me sprawled out on the driveway. I was coherent then, but think that I blacked out for a few seconds. Off to the ER we went where a head CT revealed a fractured nose and slight concussion. I hurt. I have Vicoden.

Me and my van are going to try to avoid each other for a few days.

Mommy's New Toy

I (o.k., We) got a new WIRELESS printer/copier/scanner - LOVE IT!!! I loved our old printer, but it was too tricky to figure out how to use both computers with it. I'm so excited about the scanner part because we've never had one before. I can now post the girls artwork. My brain is pretty fried from work today, but here are a few things I practiced scanning. Enjoy!

Riley's artwork

Shelby's title page of one of her stories

Cute Kids!

I am so cute!

Shelby before school.

Mmm...spaghetti

I'd post a picture of Riley but she's too cool these days to pose for a picture. Most of the time she's not even paying attention to us - she's got her nose buried in a book. If I sneak a picture of her, I'll post it. Enjoy!