Sweet Marlee

I don't usually do stuff like this, but this is an unusual circumstance, so here it goes. I am asking all of you to keep Marlee and her family in your thoughts and prayers. Marlee is the 6 month old baby girl of some friends of mine from elementary school. They took her to 6 month appt yesterday, and the doctor noticed a large lump in her belly and sent her for a CT scan where they discovered that she probably has Neuroblastoma, an aggressive cancer of the adrenal glands. It wasn't there 2 months ago, and now it is the size of a tennis ball. They will be here in Portland today doing some more tests and will most likely be doing surgery by tomorrow to remove it, and will be following up with either radiation and/or a bone marrow transplant.
I have known Marlee's Mom & Dad since the 4th grade. I love them dearly. Please send them all the good wishes that you can muster up.
Blessings to you all......

Spring has arrived!!!

Mason finally got outside to play! He loved every minute of it, and threw little tantrums every time he had to come inside.... you know, for dumb things like eating, bathing and sleeping.
His love for our yard just makes me feel better and better about this house, especially as we start working on it! As you can see, we actually almost have a new front porch! Pretty exciting stuff!
Stay tuned, and Happy Spring!

Gluten Free- Day 6

I didn't post anything sooner as I wasn't sure if I would make it this far. I had been headache free for a couple of weeks when all of a sudden.... 5 day headache hit. Turns out the problem was simply my switching to a generic form of one of my preventive meds for my headaches... problem solved.
What it did make me realize is that I can't rely on medication alone... I truly need to make some changes. I had visited a naturopathic doctor before Mason was even a glint in our eye :) After a series of blood panels he had recommended a diet for me that is basically gluten free. Of course, I thought he was nuts at the time. What I wanted to hear is that he had an easy answer and that I could carry on as is and be cured.... and, 3 years later I am in the same situation, but now I have 13 month old darling that I can barely keep up with on one of my bad days.
So, I started on Sunday... my stomach has had its ups and downs, but it really hasn't been all that bad. Just a few adjustments in the menu. I live by the Waller blog, as Christen has been through this all before and is a great wealth of knowledge. I steal her recipes on a daily basis.
And, just to make life interesting... Mason is getting another tooth this week! We are having a great time together!

Mason's 1 year check up!

This is a tad behind, as we took him on April 3rd, but better late than never, right? Mason weighed in at 22.5 pounds (48th percentile), 30 inches (59th percentile), and his head circumference is 19 inches, which is in the 92nd percentile, which still cracks us up, as it has been on the higher side since he was about 6 months old! We were happy to have Dr. Josh tell us that Mason is right on track. We had taken him to a physical therapist upon the recommendation of his previous doctor at his 9 month appointment because of the fact that he wasn't going from tummy to sitting yet, and that is a milestone that he should have hit by that time. The PT showed us a couple of exercises, and by the end of that first day, Mason was already doing it. After the 2nd appointment, we knew that we didn't need to bring him back, but wanted to confirm it with our physician.
I honestly didn't think that Mason would be a crawler, but he has ended up crawling... it just proves that kids work on their own time frame, and you just can't predict what they'll do next! Just to prove that point... Mason surprised us by crawling up our stairs a few days ago... he crawled right up there like he'd known how to do it all along! He is the funniest little guy :)

Anthropologie has been out done!

Today while Michael and I were walking around in the Pearl, we wandered into a darling little shop called Cielo Home and found..... $70 candles! They must be made partially of gold??

Rambling.....

Mason and I needed to get out of the house today... so we headed down to the Pearl to enjoy all of the lovely shops. Lucy, Lulumon Athletica, Anthropologie..... I heart Anthropologie. Or I should say I did. I guess I used to love them when I could actually afford to buy anything in the store! It is the most adorable store on the planet. Very shabby chic, romantic clothing...ruffley skirts, aprons, anything you could ever want! Today I went looking for a candle. I found one! Sweet Pea Vanilla. Beautiful candle in a jar, it smelled fabulous, I turned it over to double check the price, assuming it would be around $15-$20 (an acceptable range in my mind). I was SHOCKED to find $36. Seriously? It is WAX! Wax that you will MELT into nothing! What in the sam hell is happening in this world that a candle can cost this much money??? Or, have I simply been on unemployment too long?