I’m in the middle of Whole30 or I would be drinking something delicious! Instead, it’s coffee, coconut cream and cinnamon — but at least that’s delicious. Amber is still on hiatus, but Erin has our coffee dates going strong.
If we were on a coffee date, I would tell you that our weekend was a little eventful. If you’ve been watching the news you’ll know that the south was slated to get a wintry mix this weekend. We were in the range for the highest amount of snow, but of course — we got nothing. We live in a weird little place and always avoid the most severe weather. There is certainly an upside to that (tornadoes), but my kids weren’t thrilled about missing out on the snow. Here’s the tricky part. Josh was in Philadelphia this week. He wasn’t scheduled to land in Birmingham until 10:40 on Friday night, but his flights were delayed numerous times before finally being canceled. He made it on standby and finally got to Alabama around 3 am, but then he got stuck on the side of the road trying to drive home. This is where I stop to tell you that I begged him to get a hotel room near the airport, but: men. A friend was able to pick him up early Saturday morning and we went back later in the weekend for his truck.
If we were on a coffee date, I would tell you that Ella swallowed a tooth. It’s funny because that happened to me when I was about her age. I was eating a doughnut and realized that my tooth was missing. I remember being so worried that the tooth fairy wouldn’t visit, so I wrote her a lengthy note about my ordeal. Ella was eating a piece of pizza and she just laughed really loud once and when I asked her about it, she yelled, “I SWALLOWED MY TOOTH!” She was so shocked that she couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry. Even though she knows all about the magic of childhood, she drafted a really long note for the tooth fairy and was rewarded with a $5 bill. I couldn’t resist.
If we were on a coffee date, I would tell you that we still don’t have any answers about Sophie. We had allergy testing in November and a full blood panel to rule out lots of things. They called with results late on Christmas Adam and we realized that they hadn’t run the celiac tests (the entire reason blood work was ordered). I cried on the phone and was so frustrated with our care. I know that mistakes happen, but we were really hoping to have her results before the holiday season. We had already removed gluten from her diet as a precaution, so it had been more than three weeks since she had anything in her system. For that reason, we had to give her several servings of wheat over the holidays and they drew blood again right after Christmas. We knew that (regardless of the outcome of her blood work) she clearly had an aversion to gluten. After several days, she started perking up, the black circles under her eyes went away and her demeanor completely changed. We have been so surprised to see the difference it made. After having her eat gluten before her bloodwork again, those suspicions were confirmed. She woke up the day after Christmas in a horrible mood. She was whiney and uncomfortable and didn’t sleep well. After a day of being on-plan, she was back to normal! We have an appointment with a pediatric GI doctor on Tuesday, so I’ll be interested to see if he has any additional insight.
If we were on a coffee date, I would tell you that my reader survey was a huge hit. It’s open for a few more days, so if you haven’t already filled it out, I would love for you to head right here. The comments and feedback I have received has been so helpful planning for this next year and I can’t wait to share all the dirty details.
If we were on a coffee date, I would tell you that January Whole30 is going strong. It gets a little easier every time and this has definitely be the best round so far. Granted, I say that a single week in, but the hardest part is over. My mom is doing it with me and Josh is joining in now that he’s back from Philly and partners always make it easier. We’ve discovered a few new recipes and tweaked some others and, man, it feels good to be eating well again. Don’t forget, I’m sharing weekly recaps every Sunday this month, so read up if you want to try a round of your own.
If we were on a coffee date, I would tell you that I finally booked our California trip. I am such a procrastinator and I refused to adult over the holidays. I had a lot of time on my hands while Josh was out of town this week, so I did important things like balance my checkbook and order tickets to Disney. Am the only one who dreads those things each month?!
If we were on a coffee date, I would remind you about Collaboreads and The Little Letter Link Up! I am so excited to partner with Rachel for a virtual book club starting this month. In case you missed our announcement, you can catch all the details here. The short version is: pick a book buy an author who shares your first name and join us in writing a review on January 24th. We’ll be linking up here and on Rachel’s blog. Doesn’t that sound fun?
And if you’d rather write letters than read books, you can join me this Friday for our first Little Letters of the year.
Just say yes to catch-you-up posts – I think we’re all caught up on the holiday happenings and can really start focusing on the new year! What are YOU up to this week? In case you missed it last week, I shared a recap of 2016, an introduction to our January Whole30, everything I read and wore in December and a reader survey for those of you who joined us here last year! I also shared the first of our Monthly Reports and the first sneak peek into our new house. It’s been a busy start to the year!
