Migraines and Me

I received and e-mail message a few days ago from someone who followed my blog back when I had daily chronic migraine headaches. She hadn’t read in a few years, and when she stumbled across my blog again recently she noticed I no longer talked about my Migraines (can we get an Amen???). She asked what I had done to stop my migraines, or at least control them. When I was responding to her e-mail I realized there are probably a few others who might be wondering the same thing, and since most of my archives have been deleted (although I am considering bring them back) I should post here what worked for me and my migraines. So the following is the e-mail response I sent to the afore mentioned commenter:


I wouldn't say I'm cured of my migraine, but defiantly don't get them regularly or frequently anymore!! The first thing I did was switch my medication to a different daily preventative (which I can't even remember the name of anymore). Then I stopped taking birth control, and also started watching my diet. I cut out all caffeine (coke was a big one for me) and chocolate, processed cheese and other things that are clearly bad for you. Then I started going to a massage therapist weekly. This was a therapist that was trained in acupressure, and was very knowledgeable about headaches and how to treat them, so if you are going to try massage, make sure you shop around and get someone who knows what they are doing!
After about 6months my headaches were very rare, so I stopped taking the daily medication to see if I still needed it. Which, thank goodness, I didn't! Then I slowly started to spread out my massages, going once every two weeks, and then monthly, and now I only go when I need it (if my neck is particularly tense, or if I'm getting a few migraines or headaches in a row). It was at this time that I got pregnant, so the birth control was no longer an issue. After I was pregnant I went on a birth control where I only got my period once every 3 months, that way my body could get back into a normal routine and get used to the hormonal changes slowly. After my body was used to that, I switched to an IUD, so I have no artificial hormones and no meds right now!

I am so happy this worked for me, I am now at a point where I get a couple migraines every now and again, and they are usually well handled with my Maxalt or if it's a regular headache, I alternate between Advil and Tylenol so my body doesn't get used to one or the other.

This worked great for me, I really think my body needed to be detoxed, which is why the med change and then diet change helped me, my body had got into a rhythm of pain, and it needed something to break that cycle.

I'm at a point now where I still don't eat processed cheeses, but I can have coke and chocolate in moderation without getting a headache right away. I do still watch what I eat, try to eat organic and healthy and stay away from the crap.

I think for me it was very important to just start listening to my body, and learn my cues so I know what triggers a headache for me, and what I need to do to stop that cycle from happening.

Headaches and migraines are so very unique to each individual, so what worked for me might not work for you, but you can take bits and pieces of what worked for other people and create system that works for you.



*** I’d also like to take a quick second to thank everyone who has commented here lately. I since I’ve started posting here again, I sometimes wonder why I even bother, since I lost all my readers when I shut things down last summer. Getting comments really does motivate me to take better care of this space, and to keep writing, which is so therapeutic for me. So thank you! And to the troll comment left here recently, thank you as well! My first troll!! How proud I was to read that, because everyone knows you haven’t made it in blog land until you are trolled! ;)

On the Farm

My mom and I were lucky enough to be able to take Donovan to a farm just outside of town, and visit with a new baby calf and some real race horses.

Here are some of the best pictures from that day (click on any picture to enlarge)

The wise man..

built his house upon a rock...

Did you ever sing that song when you were little? I was one my of favorite Sunday School songs, the wise man built his house upon (up on ?) a rock, and the foolish man built his on the sand. Silly man.

Well from what the backhoe opperator told us, we are definatly building on rock! Or at least some VERY hard dirt, which I guess is just as good in building terms.

It's getting so exciting to drive out to the new house and see the progess! We still haven't sold our house, but have had some very positive feedback from people interested, so here's hoping that happens soon!

A couple pictures to tide you over, and yes, there will be more coming this weekend, because there are a bunch on my camera that haven't quite made it to the computer yet!

(and again, still no spell check in blogger, someone, anyone??? other then typing it in word and pasting it over here, is there a spell check shortcut that I'm missing somewhere???)

I cannot tell you how much fun I am having picking out paint colours. Markibly MORE fun then Jamie is incendently.

And I leave you with some picutre I took last weekend of Jamie and Donovan checking out the pond that our property boarders. I LOVE these pictures. My problem now is trying to decide which one I like the best!!

I Rock

Somedays I just kinda feel like I rock. And today, was one of those days!
You know the feeling that you get when you make, fresh from scratch Corn Salad and then when you are done you CLEAN THE KITCHEN, all while your child is napping?

No? You don't know that feeling? Well I do know that feeling, and today, right this min, I feel like I rock.

of Friends and Family

Well THAT was a longer break then I had anticipated! Sorry about that! Things just got crazy around here, and I was out of the habit of blogging, and well, it obviously just didn't get done.

Rather then drone on and on about what I've been up to (vacation in PEI, trying to sell the house, busy with both jobs), I'd like to just talk for a bit about something that's been on my mind lately.

I was raised to cherish my family, that family, all family, near and far are important, are THE MOST important things in our lives. Our families are what grounds us, family is what teaches us who we are.

I always thought that once you were family, you made an effort to get to know each other, to support each other, and to be there for each other. But I'm beginning to see that that's not always the case. I've found that there are a lot of members of my family, who are only "family" when convenient. Who are only there for you if they feel like it, or if it benifits them in some way.

I've been told a few times that I'm not invited to welcome to certain "family" event because it was an event only for "close friends and family". And I stopped and wondered, am I not family? I mean when does family stop? Is it only siblings, and our parents? Or do cousins count? If cousins’ count, do the people your cousins marry count?? For me personally, they ALL count, family is family, and I don't draw lines one way or the other.

I often feel like I have made an effort to get to know new members of my family, only to be treated as an outsider. Is it because I don't go to the same church as they do? Or, because I'm not Christian enough for them? I know it takes more effort to get to know me, if you don't see me once a week in church, but I always thought that family was worth it.

When they were hurting, I was hurting, I cried tears of sadness when they experienced tragedy even though I didn't "know" all of them. I’ve celebrated with them when they got married, or had babies. Why? Because they are FAMILY, because families are supposed to look out for each other, and be there for each other.

But the more I think about this, the more I believe that our friends are the family that we choose. I have been blessed in my life with some really good friends, friends who take the time to make an effort to get to know me, and friends who are there for me whether it's convenient for them or not.

I don't want to get jaded, and I don't want to put walls up and block people out of my life, but I sometimes wonder, at what point is it ok to stop trying? or IS it ok to stop trying? If family isn't as important to someone else as it is to you, then what?

I don't really know if this post is going to make a lot of sense, I'm still really trying to get everything straight in my own mind... but please feel free to add your input, or personal experience in the comments, I'd love to hear what you have to say about family, friends, and everything in between.

This is going to be quick, my to-do list is waiting...

in this case of course, the to-do list mainly consists of Donovan waking up from his nap, and well the time between "hi I'm awake" to "COME AND GET ME RIGHT THIS INSISTENT MOTHER" is well, limited.

The rest of the to-do list? The get house ready to be sold, and get selves ready to travel across the country, is actually down to a manageable level. Which is good, because we leave on Friday.

So I don't really have a lot of exciting news to share with you all, unless you count things like:

- In washing the walls, I made an interesting correlation, Donovan is approximately two feet tall, and ALL dirt grim and finger prints, are approximately in the bottom two feet of wall space... humm.... makes you wonder!

- Putting the oven on "self clean" is only really useful if you actually WIPE OUT the over AFTER self clean is over. However, if the next day, you still have not wiped out said oven, and then say, cook a pizza and it over flows, well you will have to clean the oven all over again.

- Cleaning the house while the above mentioned two year old is awake, well it usually ends up dirtier then when you started cleaning in the first place.

Ok, that's it for now. I probably won't get to post while we are away, but rest assured, there will be pictures when I return.

Phoenix

So, you may have noticed my absence last week? No? It's ok, my blogging hasn't been exactly regular these last few months (although I have been making an effort to blog more regularly, so you know, when you make the effort to click over here, there will actually be something new to check out).

Anyway.... last week Jamie, Donovan and I, took what would be his last free flight down to Phoenix (more specificlly Fountain Hills), Arizona to visit my parents at the vacation home they reciently purchased.

They bought this home last summer, and yes, it took them THIS long to convince us to go down there. You see, Phoenix was never on my "must go see list". For some reason I never really understood the big excitement about it. I thought it would be much better to go to Mexico for a week and relax at an all inclusive, or go to I don't know, there are a number of places Jamie and I have talked about, and Phoenix was never one of them.

That all changed when we got off the plane a couple Thursdays ago (my birthday actually) and felt that Hot Hot air on our skin (Jamie and I are both hot weather people), saw all the catus' and the rest of the beautiful environment, walked into my parents beautiful home, and then stumbled into the backyard to see this:

Of course, shortly after seeing that, we did this:

And we sat back, relaxed, enjoyed ourselves, and well, life was good.

And people, I am not lying when I tell you this, I am a Phoenix Convert. I LOVE Phoenix, and I can't wait until our next trip down there!

First a word or two about the weather. People, it was HOT, I'm talking +44'C (or 118'F) hot. And it was beautiful! The pool heater was turned off (obviously) and from just the heat of the sun, never dipped below 88' and most days stayed around 92' (one day it even got as hot as 97'). And it was WONDERFUL. We were in the pool, at least twice a day, and the first dip usually being somewhere between 6 and 8am, depending on what time Donovan got us up at, and how quickly we ate breakfast.

We spent most of our time around the house, which was perfect, as the intention of this trip was to relax and unwind. Jamie and I like to travel with no schedule, to get up in the morning and decide what to do that day. That by the way, drives my dad NUTS, and I think it almost killed him to not have a plan. So for his benift, we did make a tentive schedule, and would even go as far as to suggest what we might be doing the next day.

And on Sunday, that ment Jamie and I taking off in the morning on a little adventure.

(please note, these next few pictures are over exposed. Donovan dropped my camera onto the tile floor while we were down there. On inital inspection I thought just the UV lens had cracked, but after using the camera for about a day and a half, I realized there was some pretty serious damage done to the lens, which resulted in my loosing the last 35mm of the lens (it would no longer focus at that range) and also the sever over exposure of my pictures. I think a mechanisim jammed somewhere that caused the apature to be stuck at a wide open setting. Anyway, I really wanted to get this post up before things got too busy around here, so I haven't had a chance to photoshop these pictures into a better image. Also, after relaizing what had happened to my lens, I got a new one, so you won't have to put up with the crappy pictures for long).

Of course, we had to get a little shopping in, and I have been dying to get to a Carters Childerns outlet store for, well how old is Donovan? Two? Yes, well that's right, two years then! Being down in Phoenix, we finally had the oppertunity, and we made it to this one in Scottsdale. And people, it did NOT disapoint! Jamie and I had to practice some real restraint in this store, and even had to ban ourselves from the little girls section after getting our niece a couple shirts, had we kept looking, well she would have got an enitre new waredrobe.

That same day we decided to try to check out a boxing gym that was near by in Tempe. Unfortunatly the gym was closed, but since we had made the trip all the way over there, we thought we would drive around and check things out a bit. And we were THRILLED to find that ASU was mear blocks away from the gym!

We had a great time looking around the campus (or what we could see from it), only wish we weren't there on a Sunday, so a few of the buildings (read gift shop) would have been open!

Donovan took the liberty of learning how to swim while we were down there, which simply amazed us! I can't believe what a great water kid he is! I guess taking him to the pool when he was 9 weeks old started something! Becuase he absoultly LOVES the water. Every day he was larning something new, from just floating on his own, to doing the doggy paddle from one end of the pool to the other, to putting his head down and trying to swim (with eyes open under the water I might add) to LEAPING into the pool, he was absoultly GLOWING around the pool (and not just because we kept him covered in a layer of SPF70 sunscreen!)

Jamie and I also took another trip on our own to try to go to a boxing gym, that was, well you know, OPEN. And we were lucky enough to find the best gym in Phoenix, Central Boxing. It was a dream come true for Jamie to walk into the gym, and I almost had to drag him out by his ear to leave. It was the perfect boxing gym, both Professional and Amature boxers trained there, and Jamie was able to watch them train for a bit, to talk to the coach and Ms. Margret (who LOVED us) and to make some contacts. He is hoping to get down there to fight in the near future.

It was a wonderful week over all, and we can't wait to get down there again. Although somewhere along the line our baby turned into a little boy...

and I couldn't be more proud!

(also, I got to look at this all week, which wasn't so bad either....) ;)

(sorry, I just HAD to share that, lol)

Two Years

Two years ago today we became a family when Donovan was born.

Two years ago I learned that my heart could hold more love then I ever thought possible.

In two short years, he is growing up to be such a big boy. Swimming on his own.

Jumping into the water (sorry about the over exposed picture, my camera was dropped and the lens got jammed, and I haven't had a chance to photoshop yet).

And making our lives happier then we ever thought possible.

Happy Birthday Donovan! Love you and am SO proud of you!!!

Can't keep quiet any longer

The very first thing that went through my mind when I heard that Micheal Jackson had died, was "I thought he died when his skin started changing colour". I honestly meant this in a serious way, the Micheal Jackson the artist, the icon, died in the late 80's when he started to drastically alter his appearance. After that, he turned into a different person.

The news coverage got more and more frequent, and the praise got bigger and bigger. He went from the "King of Pop" to the "King of Kings" (which in and of itself is so blasphemous I can't even stand it) in less then a week. Throughout it all, I kept thinking, "but what about the molestation charges? Surely they can't ignore that part of his life?" but they did. Then I thought, "but what about the drug addiction, someones got to mention that???" and no one did. To top it off, I heard Lisa Marie's statement about how Micheal always thought, "he would die the same way Elvis died" and I waited, and I waited, and not ONE PERSON stopped to say, "well if you knew you were going to die that way, why not STOP TAKING THE DRUGS???" but the only person I heard saying that was me.

On Tuesday was the memorial service, and I hoped so badly that it would be a memorial to his MUSIC, a memorial to his talent and how he changed the way we listened to, and watched our music. I was so saddened to be wrong, as I watched the service (ok, not so much watch, but it was on in the background as I was doing other work) when I heard not only the much deserved praise about his music, but person after person talk about HIM, how amazing he was, how he exuded light, how he would "never hurt a soul", and my stomach turned.

Never hurt a soul??? Really? What about his admission to inviting young boys into his bed? The fact that HE didn't think anything was wrong with it, is irrelevant. As any pedophile in prison right now, and they too probably don't see anything wrong with their actions. Since when is "but I thought it was ok?" as a legitimate legal defence?

Never hurt a soul??? Really? Why then pay a family $20million dollars for the trail to go away? In my experience (granted I've never been on trial before) but innocent people don't pay for charges to go away.

Every time I heard someone talk about what an amazing person he was, my heart broke for all those boys that were wronged (again, I'd like to clarify, I don't know the extension of the wrong, I simply know, that locking yourself in your bedroom with a young boy for an entire day, and not allowing anyone else in with you, is wrong). Every time someone praised HIM outside of his music, I felt like those boys were being wronged all over again. Whatever indignity they suffered (whether they knew that's what was happening at the time or not) was being committed again and again with every word of praise for Micheal the man.

What must they be thinking? The emotions they have been experiencing up until his death would have been confusing enough, but then to see someone who wronged them in such a deep and personal level to be held up as a hero???

I'm sure there are people out there who disagree with me, in fact I've talked to some of those people. There are many people out there who choose to only look at his music and turn a blind eye to the rest of his actions. There are people out there who feel that the word "acquitted" or "not-guilty" are the same as innocent, and that is fine, they are entitled to their opinion as I am to mine. And I only ask that if you are out there and you disagree with me, please do so respectfully.

Finally, there are two lovely ladies out there who wrote about this same topic, and did so MUCH better then I did, so do me a favor, hope over to these ladies sites, and read what they wrote, then come back here and pretend that it was actually me who wrote that! ;)

One Crafty Mother wrote about his addiction and how the rest of us enabled it in her post "Just Calling it Like I See it"

And DaMomma wrote about separating his talent from his behavior in her post "Speaking Out".

Re-Design

It's not a drastic change, but I did mix it up a bit around here. Hope you like the "new" digs. Let me know if there are any suggestions you have for the blog design.

It's been a long day, and after a few nights of staying up too late, and getting up too early (I'm looking at you Donovan!) I'm tired. However, it was also an exciting day!

Jamie and I moved to Medicine Hat 4 years ago this week. Three years ago we bought a piece of land about 10mins out of the city. It's not a lot, about 5 acres, but it's ours, and we love it. The plan was always to build our dream house out there. About two years ago we started searching for house plans and designing our house. One year ago the final plans were drawn up, but we decided to put the project on hold while we got everything in place. This year, it looks like everything is in place and we are ready to move forward! (almost).

A realestate agent came over this morning to look at our house, and we will be meeting with him again on Friday to decide on a listing price and a sales plan.

We've met with the contractor, gone over all the little bits and pieces and finalized the price and plan.

It looks like this is going to happen! And going to happen soon! There is still the pesky problem of the bank, and it's not really a problem, just need them to say yes. In all honesty we haven't even approached them about a new mortgage yet, as we were waiting to get a final price on what the new house will cost and what we can sell this house for. So that's the next step. Once we get the "yes" from the bank (keeping fingers crossed, although it looks like it shouldn't be too much of a problem, as Canadian Banks are wanting to lend right now, we have steady income, lots of equity but little debt, and a good down payment) we will list the house and start this crazy process once again!

I keep thinking that this isn't really happening. We've been planning for the "future" for so long, it doesn't seem real that the future is here.

Of course, I'm trying not to get my hopes up, as we do still need to get the final ok from the bank, and then there is the whole, selling this house thing, and there are no guarantees as how long that will take, but tonight, tonight I'm hopeful, and tonight, I'm a wee bit excited.

Thunder Rolls

As I sit here typing this, Ruby the Brave is laying next to me, since the storm started about an hour and a half ago, she hasn't left my side.

Ok, that's not completely true. When the storm was rolling in (literally, you could see the front of the clouds rolling through) ((pic taken by a friend of mine of the storm tonight)

anyway, when the storm started to roll in, and I first heard the thunder, I left Donovan to splash in the bath, and walked over to the window (relax, he was in the bathroom that is attached to the bedroom, and the window was in the bedroom, so I could still see and hear him the whole time, it's not like I left him to bath alone and wondered away for hours) Ruby, walked in the opposite direction and curled up next to Donovan in the bathtub.

As I watched the first of the lightening strikes, the really scary kind, where there is sheet lightening mixed in with fork lightening (is it called fork lightening when it doesn't actually fork, but just goes STRAIGHT DOWN! ?) I realized the bath tub was probably not the best place for Donovan to be.

Much to Donovan's dismay, I scooped him out of the tub, (he tried to protest, that he wasn't done playing yet, of course he didn't actually SAY that, as you know, he still doesn't have many words) and I wrapped him in a towel. As I was wrapping him, a loud clap of thunder was heard over head and he perked up, "waszzz thaaa???" he asked as he looked around.

So sans diaper, I took my still somewhat damp boy over to the window so we could watch the storm unfold in front of us.

Donovan looked at the lightening and "ooooed" and then jumped to attention every time the thunder clapped with a big "wazzz thaaaa?" and we watched the storm together. He then looked at me like, "why have I never seen this before?" and I smiled.

Today wasn't exactly event filled, we didn't work on any crafts (other then his colouring book) and we never made it to the park, but today was a success, because today, today I got to experience a Thunder Storm with Donovan for the first time. And let me tell you, when you watch a thunder storm with an almost two year old, well you can't help but stop and realize how neat they really are.

"wazzz thaaaa????"

He's Home!

Thursday afternoon/evening Donovan and I drove up to Calgary, checked into our hotel room, and went to sleep. Around 4am I heard someone at the door, and at 4:01am, I jumped out of bed, and ran to give Jamie a big hug! He was home!

Yesterday we drove back to Medicine Hat and had a nice relaxing day together as a family, and today, we are doing much the same. The weather has been beautiful, so I was out in the garden getting my weeds out of the way so you can actually SEE the flowers.

Thought I would update with a few pictures I took on Canada Day.

The World of Art

Yesterday, in a fit of what can only be described as insanity, I took Donovan to the art supply store to buy some "kid friendly" (ie, none toxic and WASHABLE) paint and supplies.

Today, to further illustrate that I am slightly delusional, I took my not quite 2 year old outside, and said, "Ok Buddy, LET'S PAINT!!" at which point he looked at me like I was crazy, but decided to stick around and tag along for the ride.

It didn't take very long before Donovan figured out what this whole "painting thing" was about, and well, I'm no art critic, but for a not quite 2 year old, I think he did pretty darn good!

(ok, he's not excatly smiling in these two pictures, but trust me, he had a great time!)

I of course had to include the picture of him back in the house, still covered in (now dry, thank goodness) paint, and much to busy to stop and take a bath, because he had to stop and well PLAY on the way up!

It was a great morning, and I had a ton of fun! Although the cement pad in the backyard, well the paint hasn't exactly washed off of that yet ;)

Also, if anyone is out there reading this and thinking about trying painting with a toddler, a few helpful hints...

1 - buy the pre-pressed canvas's. They cost a little more then paper, but if you get them on sale and stoke up, it will be well worth it. First, they are hard and stiff, and stay in place while the child is painting (unlike paper that just crinkles and floats away) and second, they are easy to store (don't crinkle) and make a great gift for grandparents, aunts, and uncles.

2 - buy the cheap brushes. Your kid isn't Vango, and they will treat the brushes terribly, so the cheap ones are all you need.

3 - make sure you get the washable paint... trust me, you will be happy you did.

4 - don't leave your camera unattended while you go put away the "masterpieces" because when you come back, your toddle will have his still wet and covered with paint hands all over your camera saying cute things like "cheese!" and trying to take a picture. And well, then you will have to clean up the camera and pray there was no permanent damage done!

5 - do it, go insane, buy the paints and have fun! It will be worth the mess!

Sunday Review

Friday marked two weeks since I got my tattoo, which meant I had the all clear to start "soaking" and "swimming" again. So Donovan and I took full advantage and went to the swimming pool today. It was a lot of fun, the two of us haven't been there in AGES, so it was a nice change to our routine. The only thing is, poor Donovan wants to be bigger then he is. He had a good time in the kiddie pool, but really wanted to go into the big wave pool (the waves weren't on yet though, which was too bad, because he LOVES the waves). The only problem with the big pool? Well Donovan didn't want to be held, he wanted to be able to walk around like he could in the kiddie pool. So it was a battle of wills, before I finally let go of him, and let his head go underwater (at which point I picked him back up!) that he realized he couldn't touch. We did get to the edge of the pool where he was contented to walk around at chest height (the kiddie pool only goes up to his waist when he is standing). But I could tell he REALLY REALLY wanted to dive right into the deep water with the bigger kids. I can tell this is going to be a trend with him, wanting to do things before he is physically big enough to, well you know, DO them.

We also stopped at the store to buy some finger paints, which I hope to try out tomorrow. I'll post the pictures, and let you know if we have success or not!

After his nap today we went to my sisters house, and walked to the park near by. The park itself was a little "big" for what Donovan could do. But he did enjoy sitting with me and my sister on the teter-tauter. But the really fun part, was the running around in the trees and grass. In the area of town that we live in, well there aren't many trees, and if there are trees, well they aren't that much bigger then Donovan, so to be in an area that had BIG HUGE mature trees, will Donovan thought that was just great.

So my favorite part of the day was watching Donovan run around in the grass, he is just so full of spunk and life and energy it is truly mind blowing.

On the Go

Donovan and I sure missed Jamie today. Weekends are the time that we always hang out as a family, and even if we don't do anything special, well at least we are all together as a family. So today, well today was lonely.

To help break up the time, and to take advantage of the beautiful weather, we took a walk to the park. There were some people flying kites, and Donovan thought that it was the neatest thing. One kite even "fell" and the guy let Donovan come up close and touch it, so that was pretty cool.

We didn't stay too long at the actual park though. Unlike the usual mix of kids, there were a lot of older kids play rougher tag games, and Donovan really really wanted to play with them. You could just see the confusion on his face when they didn't want to play too. I felt so bad for him, and so we ran around enough to get the wiggles out, and then walked home again. On the way home, Donovan decided he was going to lead us, so we took the long way. Of course half way through the long way home, he got tired and I had to carry him. But it was still a great day.

(the pics were taken with my phone, so they aren't the greatest quality, but you get the idea)