Post 170

Have I REALLY "wasted" that much time?!? 170 posts...man, oh man...

Well, to jump us up to speed on Cassie's allergies (since my sister-in-law must have missed the post about her reactions), Cassie gets a rash around her mouth...it spreads to her cheeks...her lips start swelling...her buccal mucosa (inside of her mouth) starts swelling...that's as far as we've gotten, but the natural next step would be for her throat to start swelling. It's just so bizzare. I can't figure it out, as there hasn't been any consistent thing that I can pinpoint. I'm just keeping the 'ol Benadryl handy and keeping a journal of events/foods.

Cassie has been LOVING spring. Even today, when it is way too chilly for ME to play outside (55 degrees with lots of wind), she was begging and begging for either "walking with Daddy," her way of asking to go on a walk or "pay outside with Daddy with big ball." She LOVES the outdoors (much to my dismay) and loves nature. I like it all...from the window. :) I have just never been an outdoorsy person, but she loves it, and therefore, Mommy loves it too... She and Daddy are out there right now playing with her big ball and such. She just absolutely adores being out there and thinks that Daddy is a lot more fun to play with outside because he plays more hardcore than Momma. :) The other day, I said, "Who's more fun to play with...Momma or Daddy?" She immediately said, "DADDY!!!"

So, Cassie and I ventured down to Emporia yesterday, which is about an hour and 15 minutes straight south of here. Mom, Dad, and Dani were there, as Dani was singing for State competition. So, we just thought we'd see them briefly and give Dani her graduation present. I've fully decided that I'm NOT going to try to go to her graduation. It breaks my heart, but I have to think of Conrey and my well-being and I really feel that it is best for me to stay put. When we were standing around waiting for Dani's turn, my dad...being ornery as ever...said to Cassie, "Hi, Ethan!" Without missing a beat, Cassie said, "Hi, Grannie!" HA! I just thought that was so funny. She caught the joke (not that it's a new one from Grandpa) and responded immediately. Too funny! She was really glad to see them, but really mad to leave them after only an hour.

As we got back into town, we immediately met some of Mark's family at the Deanna Rose Farmstead. It's basically a huge petting zoo of sorts. There is a dairy barn, a chicken house, goats, a goat nursery where you can feed the goats bottles of milk, turkeys, pigs, horses, etc. along with playgrounds, educational stuff, a fishing pond, and more. It is all outside (reference above) and Cassie had a blast. She even went down the slides all by herself (in the toddler area). We were pooped when we got home and got her right down for a nap. Then, momma laid down and we both slept really well. :)

So, we found the "magic" last night for my back/hip. After being completely fed up with all of the agony and lack of movement (I was pretty much completely paralyzed for a while on Friday night from my mid-back on down to my toes), I called my dad in frustration (he's a chiropractor if you are a random reader of my blog). There just didn't seem to be any options left. He had me do some stretching stuff (AWFUL!!!) and that sort of thing with little to no relief. Then, he had Mark come and dig his elbow into my piriformis (sp?) muscle...basically one of the muscles in your butt. It was one of those "he has to do it as hard as he can with you still breathing" kind of things. I had him do it as long as I could possibly tolerate...it was pure torture...no exaggerating. After he was done, I laid there and tried to get my breathing back under control. I seriously was doing labor breathing trying to get a handle on it. I then got up...literally, I got up. That is not a normal thing for me. In fact, it was quite a miracle. It was still sore (probably a good deal from the torture) and it wasn't completely gone, but it was the best it has felt since 6-1/2 weeks. I'm at 33 weeks today. All I can say is "PRAISE GOD" and "Thank you sooooooo much for the relief!" I now feel that I can make it to the end of this pregnancy without doing something crazy like buying a crochet needle to break my own water. :) HA!

Well, I guess that really about sums up our weekend besides church today, which was really good. I've been very encouraged by both our sermons and our class on Hope.

I hope you've all enjoyed my rantings and have a great week. Remember that God loves you and will never put you through more than He knows you can handle!!!