Home Improvements

As we approach the 1 year mark of home ownership we have been busy crossing off our home improvement list. We bought a foreclosure here in Colorado Springs which was in very good condition compared to most we had seen. We most recently removed all the flooring on the first floor and installed wood laminate to help with Cameron's allergies. Which seemed to help until we began drywalling our basement! We will be tiling the areas in the house that had linoleum and had the kitchen cabinets refaced to an dark mocha color. We are in the market for new counter tops and a tile black splash once we finally finish our taxes. Last summer we laid sod throughout the entire backyard and intended on having landscaping put in around the house. Things are moving along quickly which is good since we will say goodbye to this home in March 2010 and I hope to enjoy all the hard work my hubby has put into the house before our PCS!

Your Friends and Soberity?

Even when you are completely committed to your sobriety hanging out with others who are drinking or at bars is not conducive to your new lifestyle and dramatically increase your chances of relapse. You may find yourself with the choice of your friends or your sobriety! The real friendships will see you through recovery and all others will phase out. After all the lifelong effects of long term alcoholism on the bodies organs is worth sobriety in itself.

Alcholism the family disease.

Alcoholism is a disabling addictive disorder characterized by compulsive abuse of alcohol despite the adverse effects on health and social environment. Alcoholism not only effect the alcoholic but those around them. An alcoholic can totally disrupt a family and cause life long effects from there decision regarding alcohol abuse.

Early signs of alcoholism include established patterns, drinking in dangerous situations such as before driving. One may also black out, become irritable, angry and violent. The number one symptom of alcohol abuse is someone who continues drinking after their drinking reaches levels that cause recurrent problems. Alcoholics continue to drink in spite of all the problems it has caused in their lives. (DUI's , other laws, loss of employment, loss of friends/family/children) When alcohol abuse reaches the alcohol dependence stage, the person also experiences at least three of seven other symptoms, including neglect of other activities, excessive use of alcohol, impaired control of alcohol consumption, persistence of alcohol use, large amounts of time spent in alcohol-related activities, withdrawal symptoms and tolerance of alcohol.

I find it hard to think and rationalize like an addict. I do not understand how they can justify putting themselves in risky situations that could not only change their life but the lives of their child forever. The first step is admitting there is a problem and agreeing to be helped. At what point does ones family have no option but to step in? How do you make an alcoholic understand that rock bottom is where the first step to the staircase begins.....and sometimes family members have to step in and protect the others around them from the addiction. How do you make someone understand you know its a disease and not a faulty personality trait but you have to stop being the victim of the alcohol and be the resolution? I believe the best love at times is tough love. Co dependency contributes to ones fast decline and I refuse to be apart of this decline. I want to be part of the solution. I do believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel and pray the someone in my life who is struggling sees it too. I pray for the children who are living this life and the uncontrollable situations that they have not asked to be apart of. I pray that someone defies the odds and become the voice for those who cannot speak. That no matter what the consequences are that one loves that child enough to do whats right no matter what ridicule it may bring.

PCS News

Looks like we will be staying in Colorado Springs for one more year. This news was a relief to me since we are in the middle of several home improvement projects. I am anxious for the weather weather to return so we can start landscaping! We are 99.9% sure but we will know a definite answer next week. This would move our PCS date to March of 2011! So I will not be putting Cameron in preschool since it would only be a half year. Anyone who knows me...knows that I have been on the fence about the preschool subject! So he will start in our new location when he is 4 years old. I will gladly keep my little guy home with me for one last year.

The Cure of Eosinophillic Esphagitis

We recently had another scope done to see if the number of Cameron's eosinophilies had changed and to our disappointment they had increased. We did another blood allergen test and found out Cameron is now allergic to dairy, eggs, soy, tree nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, wheat/gluten, and beef. I have found that as scary as this diet sounds it isn't as difficult as I had feared. I have always been an in the closet tree hugger so changing our diets and going green has always been in my mind. I am feeding him 99% organic foods so preservatives will not be an issue. The first several days of this new diet (before we were off dairy, eggs, and soy) seemed to go well without the normal daily hives, rashes, gagging, vomiting and belly aches but after a few days he started reacting to something again. It is hard not to become obsessive over everything he eats because it kills me knowing we are feeding him something that is damaging his body. Things as simple as a birthday party are a major event as we attended one last night which Cameron loved but someone must have had a little frosting left on their hands because Cameron's face broke out in hives and a rash. You want your child to be able to experience the little things in life as all the other children are....things like going to an ice cream shop, getting a pizza, eating the same cupcakes at a birthday party but these sorts of things won't happen. I preplan everything we do so I am able to make his verision of what everyone else will be enjoying. There is a serious lack of reciepes that are free of the top 8 allergens. I have created alot of my own by experiementing and hope to someday write a cookbook with reciepes and tips on creating a normal life for these children. I hope for a cure someday so other little ones don't have to experience eosinophillic esphagitis.

PCS MOVE

Mike is in the process of reenlisting in the United States Army. I am so proud of the career he has held and I am very thankful of all the military has provided to us. It has been 5 years since Mike signed his life away to serve his country. Time does fly while traveling the world and meeting new people. The first 2 years of military life were miserable for me and I thought I would never ever miss the military life. As time has passed I have learned to not control the uncontrollable. I worried while pregnant what life as a military child would be like...but I am quickly reminded of all the experiences Cameron will have that would have been unreachable if we were not a military family. I am very grateful for the fact he has not deployed and pray for other families whose loved one is in harms way. If the military says it is time for us to meet the Army's needs in a new location we will go but dearly miss all the friends we have meet in Colorado Springs. We should know what the Army has in store for us next in the next week or so. I am exciting and nervous to know what our lives will be like in the next several months but it have realized you can not control the uncontrollable and just to enjoy the ride.

Solar System

On the way home from work last night I began reciting a saying I learned at a leadership workshop in Camp Inspiration....I see the moon and the moon sees me and the moon sees the somebody I want to see so God bless the moon and God bless me and God bless the somebody I want to see. When Cameron jumps in and says mom the moon can't talk its a planet. Cameron has had a new found obsession with the solar system. He has decided to forgo all the normal "big boy" room decor or trucks and trains and go for a space room. He might not know all of his letters at 2 yrs but he does know his planets! When we finished hanging all of his planets from the ceiling I was telling him what the name of each planet was and said this is planet earth this is where we live and he quickly responded no mom we live on planet Colorado and Oma lives on planet Ohio.