Wow have things changed

To say it's been too long would be an understatement. I have so many changes that have happened in our family that I need to add to this blog. I think one of my goals for this year, is that during nap time to try and get at least one post a week done. I don't know how many readers I truly have, but this is definitely a fun space for me to document the crazy little life that I have going. For now I will leave an updated family picture that just shows a little bit of the changes that have happened.

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.

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.

Our Life Currently

Allen is now 19 months old and showing off 10 almost 11 teeth. From the child who didn't cut a tooth until he was 13 months old to now having 10, it boggles my mind. He is the typical toddler with testing the boundaries, babbling his current favorite word...no, and is full of energy.
Abram is 3 months old. Wait...WHAT!!! Where has the time gone.
Even though Abram looks so similar to his brother in pictures they are on complete ends of the spectrum as babies. I think this has to do with a number of things. When Allen was a baby I was working full time. This time around I have the luxury of being a stay-at-home-mommy. I also believe that both the boys have completely different personalities. Allen is a funny guy just like his Daddy. Abram is a bit more serious. Allen didn't really have stranger danger much at all and Abram most definitely takes a long time to warm up to people. He is a ladies man as I like to call it and is more fond of women than men. Allen loved his paci and for the most part being swaddled. Abram is indifferent about his paci and more or less hates being swaddled. Allen was a side sleeper and Abram is a tummy sleeper. Now before you go trying to give me advice about how these are wrong sleeping positions for the boys I don't really want to hear it. I always go with my mommy instincts and whatever is comfortable for my children I am comfortable with as well. Are you starting to see the differences between the boys? I most definitely am. I have heard from some people that Abram is more fussy, I don't think this is true I just think he likes a little more lovin' and one on one time than Allen did. I do not feel that Abram is a colicky baby he just spends a lot of time with me and so that is his comfort. Okay I'm done rambling about the differences.
I recently read a post on a blog that I like to follow A Mommy In The City where Lauren the writer was seeing differences in her children and was finding that her recent son Macks was fighting with bottles. I think I'm starting to see the same things. My mind is somewhat programmed from what Allen liked and I'm slowly realizing that those same things might not and most of the time do not work for Abram. Abram is breastfed and 95-100% of the time gets fed directly from the tap. On occasion I like to have a break and allow others the pleasure of feeding him as well. We have Tommee Tippee bottles and Avent bottles. As I'm coming to realize he is not doing well with either of these. I think it may be a combination of he doesn't get a bottle often so he doesn't really know what to do with them and/or he's just not a fan of these two bottles. After reading the post mentioned above I think I may try out the Playtex Nipple Variety Pack and see if we can have any success. I'm interested to see what happens.
I recently did a post on how things have changed in our lives going from one child to two. Some other changes going on in my life is I have decided that I need to find the best me...weight wise and health wise. Thanks to mother nature and the warmer weather coming in I have been taking the boys on daily walks. I have for the most part been taking the same route every day as to see how the trek becomes easier and easier with time. I've been using an amazing app on my phone called MapMyRide and it's the coolest thing. It uses the GPS on my phone and tracks my route, counts calories burned, tells me how far I've gone and how long I exercised for. Since May 6 I have walked a total of 30.35 miles. Adam and I enjoy bikes rides together and we have rode a total of 17.54 miles. I've found that I have to rejoice in the little accomplishments that I make because some exercise is so much better than no exercise. I haven't been brave enough to start tracking my weight because for the time being I'm am going with how much better I feel and how my clothes fit. It's been a hard balance thus far because I don't want to overdo it since I'm breastfeeding and lose my milk supply, but I do want to see some changes. I'm hoping with time I will find a good balance. I would also say that I'm making healthy choices food wise. I know I need to up my water intake, I could always add more in. I've found that I haven't found excuses. The weather was moody as I like to call it yesterday so I didn't have a chance to take the boys on a walk. I decided that after the boys went to bed that I was going to walk/jog on the treadmill. I got 3.17 miles in. I'm not trying to brag by any means I'm just making do with what I have and trying my best to not find excuses to not do it. Here's to hoping I keep up the good work and will start to see some changes.

Well, well, well

Well I never finished the diaper bag series which is just plain sad. Truly my life has been in fast-forward and can anyone tell me where the pause or at least slow down button is.

I have lots of updates but the quick to the minute ones will be:
~I'm not going to go months and months without making a post regardless of if I have readers or not, I think this is somewhere that I can share what I'm feeling and share about my life.
~I should be able to make somewhat constant posts because I'm officially a stay-at-home-mommy
~Allen is a year old and is due to be a big brother here in February
~We moved

Since that all came out basically like word vomit within the next day or two I will catch everyone up what has been going on with the A-team and where all these changes have come from...stay tuned

Being pregnant makes things complicated...

Currently as I write this I'm 32 weeks and sicker than a dog, but let me back track a little.

Baby is the size of a pineapple.

How far along: 31 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 23 pounds

Maternity clothes: Still mixing a lot with my clothes

Stretch marks: Just a couple on my sides

Sleep: Sleep has been awful since I've been sick

Best moment of the week: My two week checkup with the doctor and hearing baby's heartbeat.

Miss anything: My easy going pregnancy. Since getting sick I'm miserable!

Movement: Baby is constantly moving

Food cravings: Chicken noodle soup, mashed potatoes, and cake

Have you started to show: Since my last doctor appointment my belly grew 5 cm. Holy baby bump

Gender prediction:These days I have no idea

Labor signs: Braxton Hicks every now and then 

Belly button in or out:Very close to pooping out

Wedding rings on or off: On

Happy or moody: Happy other than being extremely sick

Looking forward to: Feeling better

On Wednesday I had my usually two week check up with the doctor. Everything with baby is great. My belly grew 5 cm which is still so shocking to me. I went from 28 cm to 33 cm. I didn't realize I grew that much until I looked back at last weeks picture and this weeks and I really did grow. Doctor is overjoyed with my weight gain and says all baby has to do now is grow. Well I told the doctor that since Monday I haven't been feeling well and I have a cough that I know will eventually turn into bronchitis. Needless to say I know my body and know that it's that time of season for me to get my usual bought of bronchitis. She wanted me to go over to the walk in clinic, but I couldn't because I'm on referral to only see her no one else through Aurora Medical, slightly confusing but it's what I have to do have TriCare as my insurance. So she calls over and asks what they are prescribing for the symptoms that I have. I got prescribed cough medicine with codeine that was supposed to help me sleep. So I was recommended to take the rest of the day off of work and just re-cooperate and rest. I was also told that if I start coughing up anything or my symptoms get worse that I should see my normal doctor to get antibiotics. Well low and behold last night my symptoms got worse and this morning I was coughing up yummy green goodness. Gross I know. Can you tell I'm used to having bronchitis. So I call to make an appointment with my normal doctor and the earliest they can get me in is the 21st, well that's just not going to work and if I leave what I have untreated it will turn into pneumonia and then I would really be in trouble. So the appointment lines best thing they can tell me is that I can go to the hospital/ER. I'm not thrilled by hearing this. Well I head into work, stupid on my part I know, but I feel awful for calling in knowing that work is short-staffed and probably really needs me. So now I'm stuck at work feeling MISERABLE trying to figure out how I can go home early. My boss reworked the schedule and I was able to go home, being told that tomorrow I have to come to work. Not excited that I have to go to work tomorrow with as crummy as I feel right now, but oh well. So I call Adam who had today off from the office and he says that he will meet me at the hospital/ER. I get checked in and since I'm coughing I'm required to wear a mask now I really feel great. I feel like some infected person that they are worried is going to get everyone sick. I finally get to see the doctor and let me tell you was he rude and seemed like I shouldn't even be there. I know I'm pregnant, I know that you can't give me a chest x-ray, I know that there are only a couple of antibiotics that you can give me, but will you write me the prescription so I can start getting better. GEESH. He tells me I have bronchitis and wrote me a prescription for amoxicillin. This whole time I have  felt like the only person that has been listening to me is Adam, he knows my symptoms and knows that it can get worse very very quickly if I'm not treated. So finally after going through this whole mess I have an antibiotic and man do I hope it starts working quickly. I'm coughing like crazy and it's so painful I can't even describe it. Sorry for the medical rambling, but it was super frustrating that since I'm pregnant it seemed like no doctor wanted to touch me. Well how about you listen to me and I can tell you what's going on. Apparently I just need to be a doctor so when my usual bought of bronchitis comes I can write my own prescriptions. 

Through this all my husband has simply been amazing. Making sure I'm taking my medicine, making me drink tea with lots of lemon and honey, cooking me whatever I want comfort food wise and just constantly being there. Today we went to the grocery store and he asked what comfort food would make me feel better. My answer was chicken noodle soup, mashed potatoes, and cake. Random yes I know and semi-difficult since it all has to be GF. Well Adam made homemade GF chicken noodle soup, we bought a box of GF cake mix and while making all of this had mashed potatoes getting ready. Let me tell you yummy and everything hit the spot perfectly. I'm still feeling utterly miserable so I'm off to bed. This weekend I plan on uploading my week 32 picture. I haven't really been in the mood to take a picture to say the least.

Jamerson Testimony

The story is broken into Adam's story, my story, and our story. Our story is written by Adam with my commentary on the side so it of course has his humor tied in. Feel free to ask any questions if you want to hear any part of our side through my eyes.

Adam’s Side of the Story

I wasn’t born into a Christian family or raised Christian until it was the summer between fourth and fifth grade. My parents had gone on a marriage encounter and the Lord spoke to both of them at separate times, when they came back we didn’t have a choice it was “You are going to church.” Surprisingly I was ok with this. I attended Sunday School, went to service weekly and slowly, surely I started to let Jesus into my life.  I was baptized by my own choice, and confirmed through the church.  In high school I was active in the youth group went on the trips, the lock-ins, even met my two best friends in youth group.

            One of the most moving things that I got to experience was a youth gathering in Orlando, FL. It was something about 35,000+ Christian high schoolers all worshiping, learning and growing that made things just really click. Unfortunately I also think this is where the start of my falling away happened. It was not the gathering that did it, it was the church.  The group of chaperones asked to go on the trip to Orlando with us was not the best combination. Of the chaperones there was a Mom and one of her older daughters, and a pastor to be (we’ll talk more about him later.) Also in the youth were the mom’s two youngest daughters, and one of their boyfriend’s. Needless to say I watched the two daughters practically get away with everything while the rest of us were held to strict standards and often scolded for being typical high schoolers.  After we got back from the trip four of us on the trip had a meeting with the pastor about how we were wrong, unruly, impolite, and disrespectful without being able to share our side of the story. After this it seemed as if going to church was a struggle and a fight of will, as if I was judged and already sentenced to my fate.

Once I left for the Navy my downhill battle began to pick up speed. It was hard to practice a religion when in the middle of the ocean there wasn’t a service, a chaplain, or much time for yourself. The little free time that was offered was spent on sleeping for a few hours before the next day started. It was also hard being stationed in a country where Christianity is almost unheard of.  I would say that after about a year in Japan I hadn’t stopped believing in Jesus, but was not a practicing Christian.  Alcohol and cigarettes crept in and made itself almost a way of life for me.  I was spending over $700 a pay check on alcohol and cigarettes, and the only time I would be sober on the weekend was Sunday, and it wasn’t to go to church, it was so I could be sober to call my Parents after they came home from church.  As soon as the phone was hung up it was back to the alcohol.  

I finally started to come back to God prior to me going to Iraq. The same pastor to be helped me through this struggle. Ryan is his name and he is only about 6 years older than me so it was easy to relate to him. Ryan basically answered numerous amounts of questions and battles that I had. The hardest was how can I fight a war and be asked to kill someone that is fighting a war for his God.  Ryan was able to explain that war is not always right, but God commands us to follow your government’s rules and law, and if war is needed then war it is. A tough pill to swallow but off I went. While my bible went with me, it maybe only got opened twice while I was in Iraq. Once when I first got there, and second when I dropped it and it opened accidently. 

Soon after my return Aubrey and I got married, and I’ll allow Aubrey to share her story up until our marriage.

Aubrey’s Side of the Story

I went to church when I was little and I even went to a Christian preschool. Shortly after second grade we just stopped going to church. As I got older I always felt like something was missing and I couldn’t really explain what was missing. After Adam and I started dating I would go to his church every now and then. It was then that I came to realize that what was missing in my life was a relationship with God. I had no idea how to go about starting this relationship and it was just something that fell at the way side.

Adam and I had discussed more and more how we wanted something more for us and how we knew that a vital part was missing. We came up with excuses and kept on the paths we were going.

In January 2010 Adam and I were married. Our first year of marriage was difficult beyond belief! Our relationship had always been not a normal relationship. I married into the Navy, I knew what that meant; long hours, weird schedules, ups and downs of possible moves among other things. I was not only married to Adam, I was married to the Navy. Now add on top of that I was a full-time college student living down in Macomb, Illinois 4 hours away from here Monday through Thursday driving home Thursday evenings and spending the weekend to get some time in with my husband. I basically lived on the road and looking back at my college journey there is no way that I could have made it through all of the struggles without God looking out for me, I just had to realize he was there the whole time. Adam and I moved from our apartment into our current home in Zion and knew that once we were settled we were going to fill that gap in our lives that had been missing the whole time.

 Our Story

Prior to our arrival at CCC there were some struggles and mountains we had to overcome.  I was keeping a rather large and quite harmful secret from Aubrey.  Was I cheating, was I racking up debt, or was I being abusive? I wasn’t being any of those. I was going through a huge battle inside my head with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD.  What I wasn’t telling Aubrey is that I was battling the war still in my brain. This had been going on shortly after we got married and only progressively got worse. The first time I had an issue was in the winter of 2010. There was an earthquake in the early morning hours, well in the midst of sleep I was getting bombed and ambushed. Not even thinking I dropped to the floor starting looking for my rifle, which wasn’t next to my bed like it had been for the past 9 months, and ran outside, in the snow, in my pajamas.  After calming down and calling Aubrey who was at school, we agreed I needed help. After going to few counseling sessions it was agreed to keep pepper spray by the bed as my security blanket. All was well for the next year. Still no church, but we were well.  Then on weekend in the spring of 2011 I went to visit Aubrey at school for a charity bar crawl. Leave it up to college students to figure out how to drink alcohol and raise money at the same time. The bar crawl started out great until we went from a sports bar to night club.  At the night club Aubrey left to go to the bathroom, leaving me alone. Normally any guy would be ok with this, but given the low lighting, loud music, and over crowdedness. Aubrey came out of the bathroom to see me in a Hulk like rage about to beat some punk kid for bumping in to me. It was soon after I started going to counseling again, this time with medicine involved. It wasn’t until I was going to counseling once a week for an hour, and some serious doses of medicine did I realize it was our marriage that was affecting my PTSD.  Now it wasn’t Aubrey dressing up like a terrorist and running around the house, it was that I couldn’t be perfectly honest with her. Aubrey had little or no gray area when it came to us. It was either perfectly happy or crazy mad, upset, or violent. It’s hard to be happy internally if you can’t tell your spouse that their hair doesn’t look good.

Finally after going to counseling for about 6 weeks, and not telling Aubrey what was going on so I could heal, I broke the news to her one Thursday night after she came home from school.  After spending nearly 6 hours, talking, yelling, crying, laughing, screaming, and a little bit of silent treatment, our marriage was about to be over. From almost every angle we looked at it there was no way we could resolve the issues. Aubrey felt bad for making me have PTSD, I felt bad for hiding it from her.  Well we did one thing right that weekend. We agreed to go church on Sunday. 

            So now it’s Mother’s Day 2011, and our marriage is about to be over, and we walk into CCC. Not even having found our seats we are greeted by an overjoyed woman full of smiles and Christ, with a baby on her hip.  Heather introduced herself asked us how long we’ve been coming to CCC and informed us about what was to become Elevate. Not so sure how to handle this meeting, we sat quietly and marinated about it at church. While I can’t tell you what Pastor Ken preached about that day, I can tell you he reached deep into our hearts, with the power of the Spirit, and brought us both to Christ that day.  The next day Aubrey and I were talking and I discovered that she did not own a Bible. No sooner did we discover this we were in the car going to Vernon Hills Barnes and Noble to get a Bible. After about an hour of pulling every make, model, translation, and style I bought Aubrey her first bible. Now buying a book is one thing, but seeing the new life in Aubrey and I was well worth the price. From there on we kept coming to CCC, Aubrey got baptized, or as I call it controlled drowning at Lake Michigan, and we joined CCC. 

            Ever since that Mother’s day at CCC to now, our marriage has grown stronger, tighter, and better than we could ever imagine. Christ has always been there for us, we just never realized that he was, and boy are we glad he sent Pastor Ken, Heather and John, and Mike and Beth, and now Elevate into our lives to help us with this journey. 

Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend was pretty eventful. Nothing huge, but lots of good things came from this weekend. Our house was a zoo since we were dog-sitting for my parents. We had five dogs..yes you read that right five dogs in our house. So yep my house was a zoo. On Saturday Adam and I went grocery shopping and it was actually fun. I don't ever mind shopping for groceries when I don't have to do it by myself. We loaded up our cart where there was no way we could get anything else in the cart. Adam and I made bets on how much our bill would be and we were both off the bill was super low and now Adam sees why I love Woodman's sooooo much! It's also so helpful that all of our shopping can get in one trip since we can get regular food, GF food, and food for the pets. We also went and officially picked out colors for the nursery and if things work out hopefully sometime this week the nursery will get painted! I'm over the moon to agree with Adam on colors and ready to get more and more in the nursery set up. To sum up Saturday Adam and I decided to use a GF pizza mix that we got our hands on and  see if we made a calzone with it how it would taste. 

This is the mix that Adam and I bought and we were nervous to try it out.

This is what the mix turned into. Adam and I have yet to make a calzone that is actually completely covered, we get topping happy. The calzone was AMAZING!!! Adam and I are so happy that the mix is so good. After making this amazing calzone Adam and I started talking about our dreams about how we always have thought that we would be great to own our own restaurant. Then we started talking what kind of restaurant we would have and what kind of food we would make. Then our talk got serious and we are really thinking that we might be able to pull off having our own restaurant. I don't want to share too much because right now it's just a dream of ours and we know what we want to do if we really do go through with it, but it's something for us to always think about!

Sunday was great as well. We had amazing worship at ABF and at church. We then headed off to St. Charles to see one of my close mama friends Sarah to talk cloth diapers 101. The trip there was most definitely an experience bad weather hit the area and heading there we got to see all the damage that was caused. Once we finally got there I got to see Jordan (Sarah's son) and simply put he is adorable. He was being shy and was scared of Adam. I think if I was 13 months I would be scared of someone Adam's size too! Sarah showed me her stash and tips and tricks and Adam got to play around with the diapers. That made the trip! Letting Adam have a first hand experience with something that is not exactly the norm and him seeing how easy and user-friendly cloth diapering is, he's on board! All Adam wants is something that is user-friendly and easy to use. After playing around he is very happy and excited that it will save us money. 

I can officially say that I now have two diapers to start my stash! Thank you so much Sarah for having us over, sharing all you know, and of course for these two diapers! I can't wait to go out and start buying! 

To some my weekend may not sound exciting, but a lot of eventful things happened and I'm glad that the weekend was so great!

Officially an Alumni of Western Illinois University

Here's a picture to start the post off right. Yep that's right I graduated after 5 years of blood, sweat, and tears I'm done with college. Wow does that seem weird to say. I just have the beginnings of all of the pictures that were taken that day. Baby Jamerson was a part of it all! Through everything all 14 girls in my program including myself of course walked across the stage and now are all officially alumni!!! I am going to put up some of my favorite photos that I had on my camera. With all of my family that came I still have to get pictures off of 3 more cameras. 

This is my college wife as Adam liked to call her. This picture describes us to a tee and I'm so glad that this moment was captured. I love her so much and without her last semester I don't know what I would've done. 

What great friends I have made at school! These two girls were also some amazing friends that I made at school and have always been supportive. Amanda I can't wait for your wedding!!! Katie I love that we live so close to each other. 

Graduation was simply amazing and I am so happy with this accomplishment. What great things are ahead!

Baby Jamerson is doing great. I still have yet to gain any weight. This weekend while in Rockford I weighed myself at my in-laws and I'm still the same weight as my last doctor's appointment. Still looking forward to the 24th we get to see baby again! 

What an AMAZING Birthday Weekend

This birthday is truly going to be something to remember it has also turned into a birthday weekend which has been just plain amazing!!! Thursday was the get together with friends and yesterday we went out and had so much fun. The Bohringers, The Elliotts, and The Jamersons (Adam and I) had dinner at Lonestar Steakhouse which has a great GF menu. The food was delicious. We then went to a local bar and watching Gary and his band play. This was the first time that Adam and I had heard Gary's band play and we really both liked them. Today my parents came over to enjoy the day with us and they got me a Cricut! I was so excited and had no idea, which makes it even better. Hello bulletin boards and homemade cards. We ended up going with my parents up to the mall and spent some great time there. We ate at Ruby Tuesdays which also has a great GF menu. My food was again delicious and I love finding more and more restaurants that are accommodating. It still seems like a pain to eat out, but it's a learning process and I am sooo glad that I have Adam by my side along for the ride.

Some of my favorite photos from the weekend. 

Melissa did my hair and I loved it so much!

The girls 

Melissa and I did not plan this picture

My favorite of the night

My reaction after realizing I got a Cricut.

I also just had a though that is a complete side note, from now on I think I am going to start taking pictures of the GF food that Adam and I eat when we go out to eat and even possibly the food that Adam and I make. Sometimes just talking about the GF food I eat does not do the food justice. This is my new plan...

Some of my favorite things so far...

This is what I woke up to and it is so beautiful. I love the snow so much.

These are the flowers that my wonderful friends got me I didn't have enough hands yesterday to carry them in.

Lastly, a great quote that a friend told me that has been really helpful is "God is doing a thousand things we do not know and cannot see, he's always at work for our good."

Hey Hey Hey It's My Birthday =]

Where to even begin with how wonderful my day has been. I don't really think that I can put today into words. Adam got me an AMAZING watch and bracelet set that I am completely in love with, and of course it is golden for my golden birthday. Yep that's right 23 on the 23rd. Not to mention 23 is my ALL TIME favorite number and lucky number. This is going to be my all time favorite year. Adam then went on and cooked me birthday breakfast, yum yum. Went to school and my teachers got me a present and an adorable card. I broke in my very tall birthday shoes today at school so tomorrow I am prepared and ready. Came home to a spotless house and one of my favorite pasta dishes cooked and ready to eat. Found out the big surprise was cancelled actually more like changed because one of my really good friends who is pregnant had to go to the hospital. (All is well and I'm bummed she missed it, but I will hopefully see her soon!) Met up for my weekly coffee date with Melissa where Melissa's husband was our driver for the night, and then went to Heather's who I like to call my Aunt because she is family to me and got a surprise when I walked through the door by Heather's boys, Heather and Kathryn. It was great. There were balloons and banners and flowers. It was just simply amazing. To make the night even better they all accommodated me and had gluten-free food. It was the sweetest gesture ever! Adam made it to hang out after class and was highly entertained by all of our humor and girl talk. I know I keep saying this, but this was such an amazing night and I'm so blessed to have such great people in my life. I do not know what I would do without them. I love you all so much!!! Thank you again for all you did.