This week has been beautiful so far!!! Time for my bits of highlights from the last post.
> Hubby gave a talk at a church baptism last weekend and I was so proud of him
> Finally got our car tag renewed (cough, someone was procrastinating)
> We’ve been thinking about potential vacation ideas!!!
> Helped my neighbor yesterday round up the 4 little outside kitties and got some battle wounds lol
> Got my blood drawn earlier today for a retest of my thyroid and iron levels
> Go back Tuesday to my Naturopath for the results!!!
> Fell in LOVE with the apple – cinnamon flavored apple cider vinegar drinks at Whole Foods
> Fall Out Boy’s new album = awesomeness. <3 I love "just one yesterday" and "miss missing you" > Watched the first eppy of the new season of Extreme Weight Loss last night! CHRIS AND HEIDI POWELL <3 I’m really trying to “listen to my body” and It seems like adding more clean carbs into my diet makes me feel better, so I’m going with the flow. Still having my protein shakes and a little healthy fats. I love my fooooods!! In fact, I can’t wait to eat the rest of my gluten free burrito with my dinner tonight! ^-^ Ummm, what else? Still haven’t had caffeine since the 10th, plus hubby also cut it out almost 2 weeks ago, but he’s really dragging/struggling with it, so I think I’m gonna give him one of my supplements that helped me when I first went off the caffeine. He really wants to give in, but he’s just gotta hang in there! Caffeine can become a serious addiction and his body was so used to it, just like mine. Not much else to report really! Just enjoying the warm temps… and wow, June is about to be here! I LOVE SUMMER <3

Highlights since last post:
– This last weekend was craaaaaaazy busy, since Brad and I had to go buy the rest of Katie’s gifts Saturday! We were going to get her a twin daybed, but um we didn’t have a way to get it home lol. Instead, we bought her a smaller bed (for now), along with the bday party supplies.
– Echo’s (our ferret) hammock got so hot in the dryer (woops) that it melted the hooks, so we had to buy her a new one
– Katie loved her birthday party Sunday! It was “mostly” My Little Pony themed, but also had bits of Minnie Mouse and Disney Princess / Fairies in it
– She got Disney Princess bedding, plus a new Hello Kitty and Disney Fairy poster! Clothes, a really nice Mickey Fairytale book, lots of various little toys, flip flops, few stuffed animals (including one of the My Little Pony stuffed animals), and a few other things. =)
– It has now been 14 days since I have touched caffeine! Really has helped and I was feeling a good bit better, until I ate some sweet potato tortilla chips…. ouch my gut. I knew better, but yeah. I still am working on healing my gut and have to be so, so careful with what I eat untiL i get it healed.
– I got a tiny bottle, full of tiny sea shells and a little sand… it’s so cute!
– I have fallen in love with caramel rice cakes = NOMS.
– Since I have been off caffeine it seems like certain supplements only make me more tired, or give me that “pill knot” feeling in my stomach, so I’m down to the ones I think I really need… I know too many vitamins can sometimes cause symptoms too
– Everything else is good! SO SO SO pretty outside – so much that I HAD to get outside earlier today, so I took Katie for a walk outside in the beautiful, sunny day and then let her play outside for a bit.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend <3

HAPPY FIFTH BIRTHDAY TO OUR KATIE D!!!!!!!!

5 years have gone by so fast, and I know that 5 years will once again fly by again – so I will just take it all in and love <3

HI HI HI. What a beautiful Friday we have over here in Georgia!!! Well, I am now on day 8 of no caffeine and yes I am telling a positive difference, but still have a ways to go. Like I mentioned before, I think it’s gonna be around ~2 weeks before I feel a huuuge benefit. I’m still kindof hazy/dazy in the mornings and feel a little like that now, but I have more motivation, little bits of time frames where I feel better “energy” and I was even laughing/joking around with Brad this morning, lol. VERY GOOD SIGN for me! Brad’s been in a real slump lately… he’s been taking niacin to try to combat his anxiety and he’s gonna start taking 5-htp again, since that helps restore seretonin levels in the brain. He tried one of my appecurb pills yesterday (has some 5-htp in it) and said it made him feel peaceful and dazed out. I just want him to feel awesome too, but I know he needs to kick the caffeine as well.

I CANNOT BELIEVEEE tomorrow is Katie’s 5th birthday! NO WAIIII. Got some of her presents already, but gonna buy most of them tomorrow and hopefully get her big girl bed, bring it home, and get everything set up and surprise her that evening. We’ll have a little get together at my Mom’s Sunday evening to celebrate and I’ll buy stuff for that tomorrow as well. 5 years, huh? I’ll admit that I’m not the best with kids but I’ve worked hard to be better for Katie. I’m super proud of her… she can count up to 50, loves to sing (like me), loves My Little Pony, dinosaurs, and being outside (like me). I’m really stoked for her to start school this fall because I know she will love it and she’ll get to be around lots of other kids, which she needs.

Our ferret Echo is doing great, getting bigger & heavier haha. She is a mess and loves to play play play play and gets pretty wild, lol. She’s currently zonked out on one of the top platforms of her cage.

What else… um started using the extra virgin coconut oil for my face! It was just sitting in my pantry, since I don’t eat it anymore (use MCT oil instead) and so I figured, why not try it out on my face, since I’ve heard a lot of awesome benefits for the skin and can’t wait to see what kindof difference it makes over time.

I’ve been keeping track of my weight and body fat and I seem to be staying within a range and slowly going down, so keep going!!!!!!!!!! I’m trying to set some small goals for myself, in all areas of my life and trying to get the courage to just DO THEM and I know when I do I will feel more alive and empowered, but everyone knows that facing fears/challenges is, well, challenging! I’m ready!

Time for an update! Been doing pretty good lately and got to go back to my holistic counselor today. I came to a realization that I need to completely get rid of caffeine in my food intake… and i usually have some twice a day. Not a good thing when I know I need to work on my adrenals. I told my holistic counselor about all my struggles still and she suggested 2 other tests so we could maybe “dig deeper”, but then she said that for now we should just wait and see on the next thyroid/iron test how things are progressing with the T3/iron supplementation and then decide what to do. I go back for a re-test on my thyroid/iron levels on the 30th (just go to a lab nearby) and then I go back to see her June 4th to get results and etc. She suggested I try resveratrol (antioxidant) – which she takes and she says it helps her and I took a little when I got home and felt a little lift! I’m gonna take my MP Amino1 mix instead of the Amino Energy because the MP Amino1 has aminos and hydrating ingredients, but no sugar/caffeine. I might experience some withdrawl but I gotta do this because I know it will make a huge difference with everything. Bought more supplements that I was almost out of, more of my breakfast detox protein powder, and a few of the protein bars she sells.

IT’S SUCH A GORGEOUS DAY!!! Feels like 84 right now and sunny, sunny. Love it. A month from tomorrow – I will graduate and get my Associate’s Degree in Business!! Then onto 2 more years for my Bachelor’s. Been loving fiddling with my Tumblr lately! Have made some new pages and fixed up my front page.

Besides that – just loving life! I’m so blessed.

Today was such a great day!!!!!! Why, you ask? I’m super happy because I have been waiting to get on the scale and see a certain number again. I know numbers/weight is not everything, but still. I used to be REALLY overdramatic about the scale number in 2009, but that was because I was a newb to weight loss and dealing with the ups and downs. However, 3ish years of health issues that made my weight go up helped me learn to cope with numbers on the scale. My goal in 2009 was to get to 140 … and I did that after 11 months and 16 days in December 2009. However, when my health started to go downhill my weight (I had gotten down to 135 and was wanting to get to 130) only went up, up, up. The lowest I have gotten since then was 141 when I did the juice fast back in June 2011, BUT that didn’t last because my weight went right back up. The HCG program I went on in February of this year, until early last month helped me lose 20 pounds and down to 142!!!!!! I’ve had some fluctuations because I know my body is still adjusting to the T3 meds and it’s gonna be a looooooong while to build it up completely, along with building my iron stores too, so I’ve accepted whatever happens will happen with my weight. It seems when I don’t over exert and let the T3 build then my weight and body fat go down. Got down to 141 and then over exerted and stalled.

I WOKE UP TO SEE 140 ON THE SCALE THIS MORNING and I am just so overjoyed after the battle I fought in 2009 to get to 140 and to finally see that number again? MEANS EVERYTHING. I know I will get to my ultimate goal weight and I will work on being as fit as I want to be. I’m so happy and SO THANKFUL!!!

Also, to add to today’s awesomeness? I bought a GAME OF THRONES t-shirt!!!!! *squeeeee*

HAPPY MAY!!! I’m super excited to be getting closer to summer! Counting down the days now until Mother’s Day then Katie’s birthday on the 18th.

Ummm just random highlights from recently:
– Since we’ve returned to the gym (about 3 wks), Brad has lost 12 pounds!!!
– This weekend I got new gym pants, sports bra, & pretty press on nails
– Yesterday made 2 weeks on the T3 thyroid meds
– Grr. I know I need to be on higher T3 because If I exert myself too much I feel worse and my weight / body fat goes up and it takes DAYS for me to get back to feeling “good” again… can’t wait to get my blood retested in 4 weeks so I can bump up the dose. I feel a good difference in fullness/warmth/symptoms/well-being if I keep everything to a minimum *sigh*, but if not… hello flare of symptoms and not feeling as full or good. Optiomal levels of T3 and iron are SUPER IMPORTANT for me to have full health and to feel awesome and right now the levels are still low enough that it’s a fragile line.
– The Bones season finale left me with major sadness!
– GAME OF THRONES = EPIC.
– I seriously love my spicy red pepper hummus… yummy, oh and a huge fan of butternut squash and sugar snap peas. MMM-MMM.
– I will be glad when my last week of Accounting 202 is done, so I can move onto my last course to complete my Associate’s in Business degree!

That is my random post update. Wishing everyone a great rest of the week and weekend!!!!! <3