Allergies and Sensitive Skin

A little back story is I haven't had a general doctor or general doctor appointment since before Allen was born. So going on almost two years. Now that everything has settled now that we're back in our hometown I decided it was time to just make a general appointment, find a doctor I was comfortable with and get some questions answered. It is confirmed that I have Celiac, no real big surprise there. There is about a 25% chance that the boys will inherit that lovely autoimmune disease from me. For right now we are steering clear from gluten in the boys diet until they are old enough and have enough words to tell us if they don't feel good. I absolutely love my doctor and one of my major questions what about my allergies. I took an allergy pill every day and have for quite a long time, but I didn't really know what allergens effected me. I was referred to an allergist.
Made my appointment and 5 days prior to my appointment I was to stop taking my usual allergy pill. Oh this ought to be fun. Day one wasn't too bad, but as the days progressed I became more and more miserable. I was allowed to take one Benadryl prior to my appointment and Saturday is the day I decided to take it and I wish I would've waited because the day before my appointment was THE worst! I wanted to scratch every single part of my skin. I itched everywhere! I was sneezing, had a scratchy throat, and a runny nose. Ya, it wasn't very fun to say the least. When my appointment finally arrived I was more than grateful to see what was triggering all these symptoms and to see if I could get a handle on them.
I met with the doctor and I really liked her. She was upbeat and kept the mood light which was nice. I was first given the scratch test on my back. I was then told to wait 15 minutes. While watching the timer in the quiet of the room very quickly my back I could feel was starting to get irritated and it took all I had to not scratch my back! I knew that I had to be patient and I didn't want to skew any of the results. The doctor came in and checked my results and I most definitely reacted to some of the proteins, but she wanted to go further and test a few more interdermally. Basically I was going to get little shots into my skin of a higher dose of the proteins to see if I reacted to specific allergens. This test had me a little freaked out. I was given 5 and the ones specifically tested on my arm were Grass, Mold, Trees, Dust F, and Cats. Almost instantly my arm started welting up. So the results were in...I'm highly allergic to dust/dust mites, cat hair, ragweed and tree pollen. I'm also slightly allergic to dog hair.
How in the world am I supposed to get away from dust!!!! The doctor said that the itching and irritated skin is most likely from the dust since the other allergens that I'm effected by are mostly seasonal and we don't have cats. Oh perfect. The suggestions I was given were allergen protectors for my bed and pillows, wash our sheets weekly in hot water and keep dogs out of the bed. I was also prescribed an allergy pill and nasal spray. Also to help with my sensitive skin it was suggested I use Vanicream, which is basically magic in a bottle. I also switched body washes to Dove Sensitive.
I am finally on the mend and the itching/scratching has gone down immensely. Still need to build up with taking my allergy pill. The doctor also suggested that I may want to look into getting allergy shots. This is something I am going to take into consideration, but we will see.
After all of this I don't think I will ever question where my boys get their sensitive skin from. Yep, they can thank their mama for that one. I am grateful to know what my triggers are and how I can help make myself feel better. I go back in two weeks for a recheck to see how all is going, and I do have one question that I need to ask. What is the likelihood of the boys developing allergies, since there's always that possibility.
I will be doing an update on the boys here in the next day or two. Or if I'm really ambitious and the boys more Abram than anything will work with me I may do two posts in one day. But I'm sorta thinking that most likely will not happen.

A Mama's Work is Never Done...

To say I have a lot going on right not is a complete understatement! A lot of the stuff going on is personal and I haven't quite decided how much I'm going to share.
We had a very relaxing weekend and it was exactly what the family needed. On the flip side not much housework got done...thus I have a lot of work to do and this is going to be a busy week.
I really think I'm going to create a consistent cleaning schedule because I really feel like my work is never done. I would like to feel some accomplishment with my cleaning. I think it will be really helpful. Do you have any cleaning schedules that you like to stick to?

At a loss for words

Well we've officially hit a speed bump when it comes to the house. Without getting into too many details we're just hoping and praying that the bank with work with us. After a long trip to and from Gurnee just to find out that we can be doing the work it left Adam and I completely frustrated and at a loss for words. To say the least.  I drove home so Adam could make some calls and the car ride was pretty silent for quite awhile. I was such a mix of emotions. I prayed a lot on the drive home and that left me somewhat even more angry. Weird. I don't know if I was looking for some aha moment but I didn't get one.
Well today I decided that it was a new day. I would get caught up on my bible study and have some quiet time with God. In my study I was met right where I'm at. Funny how that happens. I was smacked right in the face about quiet time, prayer, what I'm leaving out and trusting and know that I am human and He is God. Thank you for that one God. Didn't see that one coming but I appreciate it.
This led me to thinking am I spending enough quiet time with my Savior? Or am I just brushing it off thinking I can get to that later? I think right now i fall somewhere right in the middle. I think as a person, as a mother, as a wife it's very important to keep my relationship with God close and all of the others will fall right into place.
So in conclusion I'm left completely humbled, renewed, and thankful. I know God's upper story something great is coming from the stress and trouble going on down here in my lower story.