Archives for March 2012

I’m in the car somewhere in Northern Georgia. We had our follow-up doctor’s visit today. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, let me refer you to this post. So here’s the results:

Emma’s liver is now testing clear and she does not need to take her liver pills anymore.
Emma’s emotional test was clear so she does not need to take her drops.
As for her milk, he still wants her to stay away from milk on its own. Cheese, baked goods with milk, etc are fine but if she’s going to have a glass of milk or a bowl of cereal, she should either have a dairy-free alternative OR he said he felt comfortable with her having drinking raw milk which I thought was interesting.
As for her gluten, it is better but she should continue gluten-free. I asked about a NAET treatment and he said it was not an allergy, but a sensitivity which is totally different. I had suspected as much after doing more reading these past weeks. He thought she may outgrow it though and could be tested in a few years.

Scott’s sinus is clear of the fungus but we haven’t seen much improvement. It turns out his other sinus cavity has a different fungus so he gave him a different anti-fungal medicine for that. He had indicated last time that might be the case so no surprise there.
As for his stomach, he doesn’t need the Amalyse anymore to help digest carbs but kept him on the Digestin. He ran out of that last week and his acid reflux returned immediately. He said his body is just not producing enough acid to break down his food.
As for his seratonin, he is also continuing that as we believe it could replace his OCD meds.

Overall, he said he could see improvement in both of them. I’m a little bummed we are sticking with gluten-free but it’s great to have the milk back. It opens up so many more Italian dishes and snacks she can have. We have found so many good gluten-free products. Oh, he also gave us a pill to take in case we did have gluten and it would help break it down. He didn’t see any need to see us again. He’d just check on Scott by phone.

Even though gluten-free is hard I’m so glad Emma is not suffering. While its no fun to miss out on some foods I think it’s better than hurting every time she eats and have no idea why. And even though Scott could be on that Digestin for years I feel better knowing it’s a homeopathic solution.

So that’s that. What questions do you have about gluten-free living? I’m just a baby gluten-freer but would be happy to help if I could.

I have had our Canon Rebel XT DSLR for years and all I’ve ever used is either Automatic or No Flash mode.  Every once in a while I’d catch a blog post of someone trying to teach ISO and aperture and all those manual mode words and I’d get courageous and turn the dial over to Manual to see what would happen.  Nothing but fail.  I just couldn’t get it together.

I’ve been a fan of Layla and Kevin at the Lettered Cottage for a while and when Kevin announced he had started a new online photography business with his friend Josh called Shoot FLY Shoot, well, I knew it was for me. 

And boy, was I right.  I SO enjoyed taking the classes.  Photography 101 is simply a set of 12 videos on a web page to watch at your leisure.  Kevin and Josh are super awesome.  They don’t assume you know anything and don’t make you feel stupid if you don’t.  They explain it in a straightforward manner but it’s not boring either.  In fact, the two of them are pretty charming if you don’t mind me saying.  The videos are sharp and professional and really just pretty, for a lack of a better word.  As a visual learner, I just couldn’t have asked for anything more.

The best thing is, I GOT IT.  I really, really finally GET ISO, aperture and shutter speed.  I get what that meter is for on the back that keeps moving back and forth.  Before, I knew that a high ISO would make the room brighter and low would make it darker but I didn’t realize I was sacrificing detail and really that’s not the thing I need to be messing with much.  I knew about bokeh but I was trying to change my aperture all on its own.  I’d heard about shutter speed but didn’t have a clue about how to change it and when.  It’s like I had some of the pieces but they finally put it together for me. I’m not an excellent photographer yet but I know the basics of what I need to do on Manual mode.  From here, it’s practice, practice, practice.

I have no other incentive to say this other than I mean it and you should know: help is out there and it’s 100% worth the cost.  If you’re scared of the “M”, go.  Go, go, go!

No blow-by-blow today from the weekend.  We spent a lot of time at home, some at the hospital to visit Scott’s dad and went out for little excursions like a milkshake treat at Cook Out while Emma was on a play date and we went bike-riding at the Riverwalk Sunday.  I had to work some on Saturday. And of course, I managed to get out late last night to catch The Hunger Games. 

I also spent a lot of time Saturday taking online photography lessons from ShootFlyShoot.  I want to dedicate a whole post to it when I’m done but thought I’d share some pictures I took over the weekend while trying to practice on Manual mode.   Yep, the big scary M!

I love baby leaves on our tree.

Lexi giving the “I’m watching you” signal.

Scott treated the girls to a soccer and volleyball this weekend

Emma is obsessed with inch worms right now.

We had nasty storms in Charlotte this weekend and I just had to capture this sky with the sun behind me.  It’s not the most aesthetically pleasing picture every but isn’t that blue-gray sky crazy against the sunlit green trees?

My flowers are coming back around my mailbox.  Love that I don’t have to buy new flowers this year!