Park pics

Some pics that I thought turned out better than usual for me.

Spring soccer

Spring soccer has been a bit sparse this year. Several practices and games have been rained out. We missed a game because of our move and another one when my sister was here.

Despite that, LMS is doing much better this season. She hasn't asked to hold my hand once. This is a huge thing, since the last two seasons she wanted to hold on to one of us the whole time. Having depth perception is making such a difference. She's also running around much more readily.

We could have moved her up to the 5 year old team, but since we're trying to make up lost time we decided to keep her on the 3 and 4 year old team.

It can definitely be like herding cats.

Slightly better...

The next practice LMS was supposed to wear her orange shirt, but it hadn't been washed. Never mind that she'd only worn it for an hour or so, she was convinced it was dirty and wouldn't wear it. So she wore last year's purple shirt. It made it very easy to find her in the sea of orange.

Fun with meal worms

Springtime exploring class has brought new (fun) things to experience.

Meal worms.

Who knew, right?

The girls spent a solid hour first inspecting them and then playing with them.

I believe at one point they were even putting them to bed (??!!).

Sure wish I had an imagination that good!

Easter

Easter Sunday was beautiful. We hid eggs in the grass, then let LMS find them. Remember this post? Mr. M's mom sent LMS a box with an Easter basket full of Easter eggs and fun stuff for LMS. (Thanks!)

And the timing worked out well since having my sisters in town distracted me from my Easter prep and I didn't do much beforehand.

Love the hand holding the skirt up :)

Cool shot. Blurry, but cool.

Happy LMS

The non-edible Easter egg fun included rings, necklaces, stick on earrings, hairclips, some quarters, and even a dollar bill! I did give her a couple Cadbury mini eggs, but that won't be happening again. I keep holding out hope that we'll be able to eat stuff again, but chocolate is not on the list yet. The (week long) side effects are just not worth the fleeting enjoyment. LMS was definitely happy with her Easter egg haul and has had lots of fun making sure she's properly accessorized :)

Thoughts

It's recently been reinforced just how much of an effect what I take into my body has on my physical and mental well being. I managed to get into some poison ivy two weeks ago (it happens every year, and I never know where I get it- I swear I'm a magnet for poison ivy), so I went to the doctor to see if she had any suggestions. She had me do a round of prednisone and gave me a referral to an allergist so I can get some testing done- it's been almost 20 years since the last time I had a skin test, so I figure it's about time for another one.
I've never taken prednisone before, and I have to say it's not been a wonderful experience. I really hope the allergist has some better ideas about how to control my allergies. Yes, the prednisone helped the itching and the rashes cleared up way faster than they ever have, but the side effects stunk. I got a case of the raging munchies, which I haven't had since I eliminated all my food triggers, it knocked my sleep cycle off, and the mental fog reappeared. I HATE the mental fog. Anything that makes it come back is not a good thing in my book. It's a real struggle to get anything done because my brain just kind of checks out- it doesn't want to do anything that requires thought or effort, which is pretty much everything.

The really wet spring has been great for keeping the yellow tree pollen from killing me. Until last night. I was cleaning up after LMS' birthday party that we had on the back deck and I must have gotten some pollen on my chin because it started itching. The itching has gotten progressively worse since then, and I now have hives across my chin, jaw, neck, chest, and ears. And I can't take anything for it. Allergy meds knock me out (I get completely non-functional even with the "non-drowsy" versions), and I've got the allergy appointment this week and can't be taking anything that will affect the results of the tests. I really hope the hives and itching stop before then. I very rarely get hives, so this isn't a normal experience for me.

In the last few weeks I've realized we still haven't identified all our trigger foods. Between family visiting, Easter, and birthday cakes, I've done more baking in the last couple weeks than I have in the last four months. Not neccessarily a bad thing, except that the mock cornbread I made for Easter used both millet and sorghum and at least one of those is a trigger. I made the mock cornbread for Thanksgiving and noticed a reaction then, too, so it didn't catch me off guard this time around. However, you're only supposed to introduce one new food at a time so it's easy to identify the problem. We didn't do that well at all- millet, sorghum, oranges, bananas were all introduced within a few days of each other, and I know at least one of them is a problem. The chocolate cake I made for LMS' birthday didn't react well with her, so I made a coconut cake that used sorghum for her birthday party. That didn't react well either, and I had a very pronounced reaction to it, which I haven't had for quite some time- I've been using LMS' reactions as our main barometer.

So what aren't we eating these days?
Gluten, oats, corn, dairy, egg, soy, nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, potatoes), tapioca

Questionable, that we still need to determine for sure:
Citrus, bananas, strawberries, chocolate, millet, sorghum, peanuts

We've had to eliminate all the starches (potato, corn, and tapioca) except for arrowroot starch. This is a problem since gluten free baking requires a starch mixed with a flour. I'm really hoping arrowroot doesn't become a problem since then we won't be able to do any baking. The few commercial baked goods we could eat are now off the ok list since we had to eliminate tapioca.

When it comes to eating a healthy diet, less sweets is a good thing, but sometimes you just want a cookie or a brownie. Not sure how we'll work around it, but we'll come up with something.

The bright part in all of this is at least we don't have an anaphylactic reaction to these foods- the most common effect of eating something on our list is really bad diahrrea that can take days to clear up. And while it's doing that, our intestines aren't absorbing nutrients properly. If we aren't getting the nutrients we need our bodies aren't growing and functioning properly, so the incentive to keep the intestinal walls healthy is strong. Being healthy really is worth all the hassle.  (must remember to keep telling myself this...)

Monticello

We also took my sister to Monticello. I didn't take a lot of pictures since I took a bunch last time we went. We did luck out though- my sister got in free since she's from out of town and I had my local id. Bonus!

LMS trying to hold Thomas Jefferson's hand.

Little Miss Sunshine snuggling with the statue.

Kinda weird, but what can you do?

More sightseeing

Another of my sisters came for a couple days and we went to the DC Temple.

The next day we did some sightseeing in DC.

The White House

Outside the White House

At the Lincoln Memorial.

With my sisters at the Lincoln Memorial.

Looking at the Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial. The reflecting pool is being overhauled, so it wasn't terribly picturesque, unfortunately.

A cool view of the Washington Monument and the Capitol building from the side of the Lincoln Memorial.

It was colder than we anticipated, and it rained more than expected, but we still had a good time. There weren't tons of people on the sidewalks, though the museums were super-crowded. We planned our route out and used our metro passes as much as possible, but we still did a lot of walking. I did end up carrying LMS for a bit later in the day, but once again, she did really well.

Hiking

While my sister was here we went to the nearby national park to do some hikes.

This was on our way to a waterfall.

LMS and I in front of the waterfall.

Just the waterfall.

We then did a second hike that went to this old hut. We passed the stone foundation of another old hut as well as a collapsed log cabin. The interesting thing about these huts is that people lived in them. They were easily a mile off the main road (and miles and miles away from any towns), and the trail to get to them was not wide or well-traveled. You could take a mule on the trail, but I don't know that I'd take a horse down it. How did the original inhabitants do it?

All told, we hiked about 4.3 miles. However, half of each hike was uphill. The second half, of course. So it was a good workout. Little Miss Sunshine did really well- she walked the whole thing with only minimal complaining. Of course, I did bribe her with snacks towards the end, but it worked :)

Sightseeing

 One of my sisters came to visit for a week, so we did some sightseeing. One day we headed out to the coast in search of a light house. The one we found is on an old army base that's been around for a really long time. There was a museum at the base, so we stopped in to learn about the history of the area.

We also stopped to take a picture of LMS next to the tall pile of cannon balls.

Because, really, who doesn't want a picture of themself standing next to a pile of cannon balls?

The old fort just happens to be surrounded by a moat. How cool is that?

Some tall missiles in the museum. Yes, they are taller than us.

The actual lighthouse. It's been out of commission since the 70's (I think), and it's looking a bit worse for the wear, but it's still picturesque.

Little Miss Sunshine turned 5!

 

Our baby girl is growing up!

Don't you love all the green in the background?

All the rain we've gotten recently has really made the trees leaf out.