Rheumatoid Update

I got so many positive comments after I posted about my RA a few months ago. And so many people have asked me about it since, so I know this update is long overdue.
After I posted about the RA a few months ago, it just kept getting worse. I went to see my rheumatologist but just did not have peace about getting on the meds yet. I wanted to try something else first, but I just didn't know what. One day Marc was at the seminary and ran into an old friend. He was updating him on our lives, including my RA. A girl sitting nearby starting telling him that her mother has RA and she has lots of stomach issues, and that they both did a diet and had tremendous results. The diet is called The Maker's Diet. Funny, several years ago I had purchased the book for $3 at Half Price Books just out of curiosity, but had never even opened it.

So I began to read the book and really just pray about whether or not this was what the Lord wanted me to do. And I absolutely had peace that it was. So I have been on this "diet" - really just an incredibly healthy lifestyle - for about 6 weeks and have had some really amazing relief from the rheumatoid. It has been just absolutely amazing to me to see how the Lord is using it to heal me. I am so incredibly thankful for all that He is doing through this new way of eating. He is using it to bring out a lot of things in my heart that need to be dealt with as well.

Lots of people ask what the diet is all about. Basically, I eat nothing processed, organic fruits and vegetables, grass fed beef with no hormones or antibiotics, free-range chicken/eggs, sprouted grains (Ezekiel bread), nuts, raw honey etc. The author's theory is that all of the pesticides, hormones, antibiotics etc that we put into our bodies is one of the main reasons we have so many diseases now compared to 100 yrs ago. And after seeing how much it has affected my health, I am a believer. It has opened up a completely new way of life for me, and it's so exciting. Some days I feel like I would kill for a Dr. Pepper or Chick fil A, but then I remember how much better I am starting to feel and that I don't need RA meds at this point, and it keeps me going. Besides, most of the food tastes so much better than what I was eating before. And as an extra bonus, I have lost 13 lbs so far!

The Lord is so faithful. I don't know if I will ever be completely free of RA, but I am continuing to feel better as I follow this diet. It is an amazing thing to see that He is my healer.

Karis Update

I love this picture of Karis! She's such a happy girl, and one of the best things about these few pics is that she's wearing an outfit my sister, Emily, wore as a baby. I just think that's really special. Karis looks so comfy in her Mimi's arms - completely stretched out - sound asleep.
She's 4 1/2 months old now, but just had her 4 month Dr. visit. Karis weighs in at 13lbs 9 oz, which is the 50th percentile for baby girls her age. It's funny b/c strangers stop me and talk about how they "just love those fat babies", but Caleb definitely had at least 2 lbs on her at this age. Anyway, she's doing great, sleeping pretty well and still fairly laid back. She's just such a smiley girl, which always makes my day when she looks at me and gives me that big, cute grin. The only quirk we're dealing with is that she won't take a bottle lately. Usually Marc could get her to take it, but last night she wouldn't even take it from him. It just makes it hard for me to get away for more than 2-3 hrs, but if that's all we have to deal with, then I'll take it. We are so thankful for this sweet girl. She is such a blessing and adds so much joy to our lives.

I think this is such a sweet picture of Karis and her Grammy.

She sucks her thumb sometimes - I think it's really cute.
Karis is trying to roll over from her back to her tummy, but she's not quite there yet. She's funny - definitely laid back. She tries a few times, and then decides to play with something instead.


I'll work on posting pictures more often. I know Karis' aunts would especially appreciate it! But I can't make any promises :)

Where to begin?! This kid just cracks us up constantly. The pictures are better than words. But here are some of the funny things he says/does lately:
- Caleb has only had about 4 spankings total in his short little life, and it's always something major that merits a spanking. Well, a few weeks ago he got mad at me for telling him to go to time out. In his anger he turned around and kicked Karis in the head (she was playing on the floor). She, of course, was screaming, and he, of course, had a spanking coming his way. So anyhow I took Karis to her bed to lay her down and told Caleb to wait in his room for me. As I walked into his room I saw him laying over his chair swatting his bottom saying "Caleb spank myself". I had to turn and walk back out of the room so he didn't see me laughing.

- When Karis is crying in the car (which thankfully is becoming much less often!) Caleb starts telling her "almost home baby girl, almost home baby girl". It's so sweet.
The other day I set Karis on the couch to run and do something in the kitchen. She started crying and Caleb came over to her and started patting her leg and saying "It's ok. Mommy be right back baby girl." He's such a good big brother!

- Caleb is really into baseball right now, and he can hit and throw really well. The funny part is that he always wants to wear his baseball cap AND his helmet, so this is what we get :)


Is this not the epitomy of summertime?!
We went to visit Marc and his students at the end of the school year. Caleb was such a ham and had lots of fun playing baseball w/the students.

Bluebonnets

These pics are from a couple of weeks ago, but I still had to post them. My fave is the last one of Karis. I don't know if you can tell, but her eyes are almost the same color as the bluebonnets!

Is this just the sweetest face you've ever seen?! I know it's been so long since I've updated everyone with pictures, and I've had several asking for some...so here's another marathon blog. Life has been pretty crazy in the Rose house lately. Karis is growing so fast. She was almost 11 pounds at her 2 month visit, and now she's almost 3 months old. I think she's about 12 pounds or so right now. Her first smile was the day she turned 6 weeks old, and she's been all smiles ever since. She's a very happy baby and still fairly laid back, though she doesn't seem to like to be in her carseat too much. She sleeps pretty well at night, thankfully, and not all that much during the day, which I am still trying to figure out!
Caleb is 30 pounds and just a bundle of energy. He talks non-stop in long sentences and keeps us laughing with the funny stuff he says. The other day he was sitting on the floor playing, stood up and announced "Caleb go poop. Under table. Bring train"! So he proceeded to grab his train and walk under the table to do his business. Too funny. He's also helping me to understand why they call it the "terrible twos". Don't get me wrong - this stage is lots of fun, but it's also really hard. He's very strong-willed (hmmmm....somehow I think he comes by this one honestly!) and is not easily deterred from what he wants to do. Some days I feel like all I do is discipline and send the kid to time out. But I know that the consistency will pay off eventually. It is so amazing to watch him absorb everything around him. The other day I was reading my Bible and he pointed to it and said "Bible. Jesus." Then later that day in the car he said "Jesus Loves Caleb. Jesus Loves Mommy. Jesus loves Daddy. Jesus loves Karis". Filled my heart with joy.

Ok, so here's our sweet Karis - getting to be such a big girl already
Karis and Pappi - sorry I forgot to rotate the picture!
Caleb loves to play outside. Playdough, color wonder, crayons, and the new water table are his favorite activities. Our "backyard" is keeping him happy and occupied.
Thanks for this adorable outfit Aunt Janice!
My sweet babies!
LOVE this pic - this was a dress that I wore when I was a baby! And what is it about ruffled tights that are so stinkin' cute?!

Easter egg hunt in Mimi and Pappi's backyard. We scored big this year - there was cash in the eggs along w/some jellybeans!

Caleb turned 2 at the beginning of April. It was a sports theme. I made this yummy cookie cake - I was pretty impressed with myself :)
Caleb even had a bounce house...thank you Grammy!

Get Real Mondays

So, my best friend, Tanna, gets a lot of comments from people that read her blog and say that her life is perfect etc. So she challenged herself and others to start a "Get Real Mondays" post where we are just honest about our lives etc. Now I don't get comments like that about my blog, but maybe that's because I don't post often enough to get many comments of any nature. ;) Regardless, I've been thinking about it for a while - thinking about the need to be more vulnerable with others. I'm not always very good at that. So I thought I'd give this thing a try. It feels odd to me to blog about how I'm feeling because I don't really like the idea of having all kinds of people read my thoughts and feelings. To me that is fairly private. And I still believe that there are things that need to be kept to myself or at least saved for a one-on-one conversation with someone. However, I just feel burdened that I should blog about what's been going on with me over the past 5 days.
So here it goes:

A few months after Caleb was born, I started having some weird symptoms, lots of pain and stiffness in my joints, especially in my feet. It was really bad when I would get up in the middle of the night to feed Caleb, and at times I was afraid I was going to fall because it was difficult to walk. Eventually I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and put on steroids and another med. The meds helped to a degree, and then my rheumatologist gave us an ultimatum: either get on the really strong meds or get pregnant w/in the year (if we are wanting to have more kids). Marc and I decided that it would be best to go ahead and finish having babies (atleast biologically), so that's how we ended up with 2 amazing children that are just 22 months apart. Anyways, I wouldn't change that for anything. During my pregnancy with Karis the rheumatoid went into remission (which it does for 75% of women during pregnancy), and we were so thankful for the relief. Marc and I started talking about praying and asking the Lord to take it away - that it wouldn't come back after Karis was born. My doctor had been preparing me that about 6-8 weeks postpartum I would have a bad flareup and need the strong meds (which I am very afraid of). Marc was asking the Lord for this, but I was having a hard time with it - I think because it's one of those things that hurts too badly if He says no.

So, fastforward, and I am now 3 1/2 weeks postpartum, and I have been having rheumatoid symptoms for about 5 days now, since last Thursday. It really took me by surprise. I just never thought it would come back so quickly after Karis was born. I thought I at least had the first 6 weeks. And so I have been grieving for 5 days, and scared to death for 5 days. Grieving because it seems as though I will have an autoimmune disease for the rest of my life. Grieving because it changes the direction of our lives. Scared because it's hard enough right now to take care of Caleb and Karis, but how will I do it when I can barely walk because I'm hurting so bad? Scared because I know that the RA meds are so strong and have some awful side effects. Scared and hurting. And I've kept this all to myself. The only person I've shared any of it with is Marc...until now.

I'm working on turning the grief and fear over to the Lord and just trusting Him with all of this - whatever it ends up looking like. I know that I can trust that whatever the Lord gives me is for my good. But I am also asking the Lord to take it away. I will continue to pour out my heart to him and ask Him to heal me, and I will wait for an answer. And whatever that answer is, I will trust that it is best. Because ultimately I want His will, not mine. But I think He wants His children to come to him and pour out their hearts and ask for what we think we need. And just like a good Father, He gives us what is best. He knows what I truly need. So if the symptoms get worse and I have moderate to severe rheumatoid for however many years, I know that I can trust Him in it. I just pray that I have the right attitude in the midst of the pain. I love the author Elisabeth Elliot. One of the most life changing phrases for me has come from one of her books. She says that in every situation, in every circumstance in life we have a choice of how we react. We can clench our fists at God and fight it and Him, or we can open both hands wide and accept, even embrace, what He gives us. I choose the latter. I choose to trust Him, hands open wide.

They're growing so fast

Sometimes I forget that Caleb isn't 2 just yet - he definitely seems older than he is in several ways. He turned 23 months old on Wednesday. But he is talking more than most 2 yr olds I know, and he's definitely been throwing the 2 yr old tantrums lately :) He is such a sweet boy and has been a big helper to me in many ways. He likes to help give Karis her pacifier, throw away her diaper, clean up his messes and many other things. It's also been a big challenge to have 2 kids under 2. We wake up in the morning and all 3 of us are hungry, both of them need their diaper changed, and both are crying b/c I can't do it all fast enough! I'll definitely be glad when Karis is old enough to get her on a schedule and I can stagger things a bit so that it's not so chaotic. Anyways, we've been loving this weather and have gone to the park to feed the ducks several times in the last week. Caleb loves the new stroller we got. It's a sit-n-stand, but the lightest one I could find (only 20 lbs when most are 40!) and it's more compact than the others. I love it! Thanks mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, and Kevin and Missy for the great gift!




He loves to give his big "cheese" face for the camera!
Caleb and his cousin, Grayson, wrestling. No one taught Caleb how to do this. How is it that boys just know how to tackle and wrestle?

Caleb also loves to get horsie rides from his daddy.
Another thing you don't have to teach boys to do - he just picked up the gun and knew to point and shoot!
Karis turned 3 weeks old on Thursday. She's doing well, still fairly laid back and sleeps pretty well. We've had a couple of scares with her, but she's ok. Last Saturday night she started spitting up and choking on it b/c it didn't actually come out of her mouth. So then she was choking and struggling to breathe and making this horrible noise. Anyways, she continued to have some trouble breathing for over an hour. But she never turned blue etc. We stayed up with her and debated taking her to the ER, but she eventually calmed down. Our pediatrician said that it's a form of reflux and that they will eventually catch their breath. She still does it and makes the noise like she's struggling to breathe, but I'm getting used to it, well sort of. As used to it as a mom can get, I guess. Anyhow, we are otherwise doing well and just trying to all get enough sleep! Karis doesn't seem to have a problem with that :)