Up and down, up and down...

The up and down feeling of being on a roller coaster is still here in my life...I can't seem to shake it. The lows are extremely low...and then it starts to head back up. I like the ride up, I enjoy the view and the peace I feel until I hit the crest and we start to race towards the ground again. I need to get use to this and accept it as our new "normal" I guess. 

So lets concentrate on the highs for a minute :)

My oldest two girls had birthdays. I am so blessed that they are good friends.

 

Paige turned 14 and couldn't be more excited to move on to the Mia Maids class in church. She had a birthday party with some friends. They ate pizza, did manicures, and watched a movie. She is an amazing daughter. She is like me in so many ways...sometimes that is a good thing and other times it's not such a good thing :)

Shawntell turned 12 just 9 days after Paiges birthday. She is beyond ready to leave primary and join the Beehive group of young ladies at church. She is so mellow, sweet, kind and understanding, many of the qualities I lack :) She is having her birthday party this weekend. More junk food, giggling girls and movies...it should be a blast.

Other excited news in the Ashby family...Shawn's parents received their mission call to Dejeon, Korea. They are very excited and so are we. My brother and his wife are expecting their third child. My other brother just helped his little girl celebrate her first birthday. Mom and Mike are filling out their papers to also serve an LDS mission later this year.

The lows...I guess there is only one, it just feels HUGE...always in the back of my mind. Austin and his Crohn's :( 

This last week has been a rough one for him. We have learned that some foods will trigger the symptoms more often than other foods. One of them is corn dogs...for me that would not be a big deal, but for Austin it is pretty traumatic. The other day he came home from school and this is the conversation we had.

Austin: "Mom, I am soooo sick"

Mom: "What did you eat for lunch?"

A: "Mini corn dogs"

M: "Um...buddy, you know those make your tummy hurt. Why would you eat them?"

A: "Um...because the only other option was raviolis, those taste horrible. So I would rather eat something that tastes good and feel horrible instead of something that tastes horrible and feel fine."

Yep...that is how a 9 year old mind works.

Crohn's is a very deceptive disease. You can feel fine one minute and balled up in pain 5 minutes later. This picture was taken this morning...and 30 minutes into his school day he had to call me to come get him because he was beyond sick. There are only so many times you can visit the restroom during school without feeling like it might just be better to be at home.

Here is the start of our  "DO NOT EAT" list:

Corn Dogs (too processed, his body just doesn't know how to process it so it flushes it out...quickly)

Grapes (too much fiber...it rips his insides apart and makes him bleed)

Refried Beans (fiber issue)

Pork and beans (ditto)

Ham (not sure why his body can't tolerate this one)

KFC fried chicken (his body hates fried things)

Cucumbers (fiber)

Cheetos (too processed)

Apples (fiber)

Carrots (fiber)

At some point this list will be so long that we will just start a list of "foods I can eat."

Sorry if this is long and boring...or too much information, but when I am stressed, I talk! or write in this case haha. All will be well, I know. I have faith we as a family are strong enough to rise above this challenge. But sometimes I just need to get it out...and then I feel better. So thanks for letting me :)