So They Says It's My........

So they say it's my Birthday, Happy Birthday to ME. LOL

So my last update was not so upbeat. I was stressed and beat down with a few things. I'm better now. I can't believe that I'm 28 today, man, I dont even feel old. I actually had to ask my Mom yesterday how old I really was. LOL. My sweet hubby planned a Family Birthday Dinner for me on Saturday, well it almost didnt happen. Two kids in Trenton's class had the flu and other went home with fevers, I was really hoping we would get through this sickness time without catching anything. Well we almost did, Trenton only ran a low grade fever, 100.6 and the cut off is 100.4, Friday and Saturday. Dinner was almost derailed because it got up to 101 but went down quickly with Motrin and after that never came back. Thank the lord for that one. We went to Rosa's for some yummy Mexican Food and cookie cake curtacy of my "Sis" Hollie and her sweet family. Then back to our house to hang out and enjoy each other.

Sunday was the beginning of the NASCAR season, which if anyone knows my family this is huge. We had the Ortowski's over for lunch, and I made some killer Potato Salad (that is what my hunny said, I don't eat it I just make it). It was nice to just hang out and not have to worry about being anywhere.

That brings us to Monday, yesterday, Jimmy and I fought most of the morning. We worked everything out, but man that makes for a bad day. I was upset that I wasnt going to get much of anything for my birthday since we are tight on money. Well my hubby pulled out all the stops and some how came home with a NOOK COLOR for me. This is what I have been wanting since before Christmas. I totally love, I think the boys will enjoy the Children's Books also. I can't wait to use it more and get some great books.

Now on to my sewing stuff, I actually got with the times and got a Facebook Fan Page for my little Addi Lyn Creations business. LOL I'm actually kind of excited about it. I have also added some new items to my list of things. My new thing is Pacifier Clips and Bibs. I actually created a really cute set last night.



For some reason it won't rotate but you can get the idea.

 I also created a pillow for Trenton's bed.



Someone please clue me in as to how I can rotate.

 Well not sure my I cant fix those but again you get the idea.

Ok well I'm off to enjoy my day. I hope you do too.

The Month of February

February is normally a super happy Month for me. I usually call it my Birthday Month and enjoy each and every day of it. Well this year it seems different to me. It isn't the age thing that is getting to me it is work and my strong urge to home with my sweet boys. That isn't in the cards for my sweet family right now, and I know the eduation they are both getting and will be getting (they are moving to Primrose Hickory Creek in June) is great and very important. I just feel lost I guess, I love my family more than anything in this world, I love my sewing business, but there is something missing and it isnt my hair. LOL.

On a "hair" note, I do have some growth but just not where I want it. I'm starting to grow stubble on my knees and arm pits again. Who knows if it will stay but it does give me hope of some day growing my eyebrows and eye lashes back at least.

Maybe my down feelings are because I'm not sure if we want to expand our family further or not. Just days after having Jack I had the urge that I wasn't done and that I didn't feel complete. After 18 months my answer has changed back and forth a few times. I feel complete and ready to start a new chapter and saving for family vacations but then that all changes in a second when I think about well what about adding a brother/sister to the mix. Maybe I'm just having baby fever since my best friend is prego. Who knows. We will see what God's plan is and go from there.

So yeah my birthday is in 7 days so I guess I will update again between now and then.

Sewing and a Runny Nose

This week has been filled with good things for the most part. If you remember from my one of my other updates I said we got our window shot out by a B B. Well my dad contacted his window company and they replaced it, get this, for FREE. There are still good people in this world. I was so happy that I cried. That saved me so much money and heartache.

As far as luck goes my week only got better. I got tons sewing orders thanks to my great friends that truly believe in me. This is the greatest thing in the world. I got 4 dresses done, one being a RUSH order, in less than 2 days. No small feet when you work full time outside the house, have two crazy boys, and a great Hubby. I did it, everyone loves their dresses. I already have a pretty full week for next week too, have to finish a Valentine's Dress for my Maleaha, make some great burp cloths for a sweets friends new baby, make a dress for a friend at work, and finish my boys tie shirts for an upcoming Cupid Party at school. I'm blessed to be busy and able to use my creativity in an affective way. I'm also going to start making something new very soon. PACI CLIPS. I'm so excited about these. I found and ordered for lead free suspender clips from a great site and even got them at wholesale price. I can't wait to show these off. They will be awesome. Oh and how can I forget to add this, I'm now an offical business owner. I got my Sales Tax and Use Certificate in the mail yesterday. So So So Excited. Addi Lyn Creations will hopefully be around for a long time to come.

So when I tell help about Alopecia I normally dont talk much about the nitty gritty details, I really try to save people the boring story. Well I'm going to give you some insight to the not so fun details. So when I was first diagnosed with Alopecia I just had the basic AA, Alopecia Areata, which means it is just spots on the scalp and can come and go. I can grow into other types, well mine did. At first we thought it had just moved to Alopecia Totalis, which is just a loss of the hair on your head. But quickly realized that wasnt it. What I have is called Alopecia Universalis, or universal hair loss (full body). So when a normal person gets  runny nose it tickles there nose hair before it gets yucky, well guess what? I don't have nose hair so when I have a runny nose (like I do right now) I can't feel it. I will spare you the rest of the details of that happens next. LOL. So if you see me whiping my nose quite a bit you will know why. The same goes for my eye, I have to eye lashes so I get stuff in my eyes constantly and have to carry eye drops. Simple things that I used to take for granted and now I just have to deal with. Oh well it is just hair. LOL

Hair (or lack there of) and Ideas in My Little Head

So I haven't put a picture up on here with me with hair (Pre Shave). So I figured today was a good day.

This Picture was taken on Trenton's 4th Birthday, exactly 1 wk and 1 day before we shaved my head. I still had my eye brows and eye lashes.

Now here is a picture of me 2 days before Christmas, Almost 4 months Post Shaved.

                        No Hair on my head, no Eye brows, no Eye Lashes. Just me, take it or leave it.

Now on to what I have been making soon. Snack/Sandwich Bag, Valentine's Tie Shirt, and a decorated Cloth Diaper.

                                                              Snack / Sandwich Bag

                                      Trenton's Valentine's Tie Shirt (don't worry Jack is getting one too)

                                                     Jack's decorated Cloth Diaper Blankie
Anyone who has seen Jack recently know that he has a new name and it is Linus, the kid carries a blankie around everywhere with his thumb in his mouth. It is so cute and funny. Oh yeah he does have a few new words; FOO BALL, Bus, Yes. So funny.

A BB Hole and Weekend with Friends

Saturday my lovely hubby got up and headed outside to take down the Christmas Light, yes we are that family, LOL, while I got the boys fed. He was almost done when he found something very odd.

At the top right of this photo you will notice something quite allarming. Yes that is a hole in the outside glass. If you look at the bottom middle of the photo you will notice a small goldish BB and glass. Ugh. Well at least it is just the outside glass and not the whole window, but stil a bummer none the less. Oh well. My Dad works in construction so I will give him a call and get a number for a glass guy. We have no clue when this happened, we had the blinds open the Sunday before to see the snow so had to of happened during the week last week. We don't live in the hood but man this makes me thing we do. LOL

That was Saturday morning, so after this we got ready and got out to get our errands done before meeting up with the Ortowski's. I got my AE jeans exchanged, zipper we messed up. Used Jimmy's Best Buy rewards points at Best Buy on some giftcards for ourselves. LOL. Got the list of things we needed at Target and by then had two super hungry boys and a flustered mommy. We headed to Rosa's for some lunch and then back towards home. Got the boys to lay down for a little while and then it was time to go meet the Ortowski's at Joann's for Hollie and I to pick out some crazy fun fabric for Valentine's dresses. I also got some fabric to make some more food safe water resistant reuseable lunch/snack bags and some cute outer cotton fabric to go with that. Then it was over to their house for dinner. Garlic Potatoes, YUMMO.

Sunday was Maleaha's 2nd Birthday party at the Ortowski's house. So we got up ate quickly and made our way as a family to the grocery store to get out list for the week. I started The Grocery Game this past week and wanted to put my knowledge to use. We ended up saving over $16 total at Kroger, not bad for our first time out of the gate. We will see if that total increases in the coming weeks. So far my coupons saving have paid for a month of The Grocery Game charges, in just one week. Bargin in my eyes. After that we showered and headed to the Ortowski's to help with party preparations. We ate pizza, watched Maleaha open presents and then she had had enough and needed a nap. So we had a few cupcakes and decided to call it a day when Jack start to get fussy at about 5:30. We went home napless so far for the day and just lounged for the rest of the evening.

Jack's words I forgot on my prevous post:
Pweese (Please)
Here Go (as in, Here you go)He says Here Go Mommy mostly
No

Jack A Doo

So I don't talk tons about my sweet boys so I figured would start since they aren't getting any younger. Jack, my sweet Jack, he is 17 months old and a character. I don't really keep up with his baby book like I should so I'm going to write about his "new thing" as they come. I will start with his words, the kid can talk. His first word, Da Da, which made his Daddy's day. I guess I will just list the words he can say.

Daddy
Mommy
Nannie
Papaw
Bob
Momaw (Mamaw)
Ky-yee (Kylie, a girl at his daycare)
Hi
Bye
Ears
Eyes
Hands
More
Milk
Fru Woops (Fruit Loops)
Dog (and knows the sound a dog makes)
Ma-yee (Maleaha, my "Niece")
Go
Kank Ew Mommy (Thank you Mommy, says Mommy even if Daddy does something for him)
Ut is dat (What is that, first sentence back in Oct/Nov)
Shoes (he says this with his lips all pursed up)

That is all I can really think of right now. He is so much like Trenton in so many way that it is funny and scary at the same time. They are so fun together, they love to play with each other and Trenton is a great help in keeping Jack entertained in the car. Jack is teething right now and can be some kind of cranky, we are working on K-9 teeth. So far we are at 14 teeth including his bottom K-9's, we are just waiting on those top to pop through soon. Hopefully teething will be over for a while after that.

He is growing up so fast that it makes me sad, he is still in his crib because I don't want him to get older. He still uses small sippy cups because I don't want him to get bigger. I am very happy that we are out of the formula baby baby stage though, it was totally fun while it lasted but I love love love seeing him learn something new every single day. I love my sweet Jack A Doo and I love life.

Alopecia

After breaking down last night for the first time in a long time I felt like it was time to write about Alopecia and me.

I was first diagnosed with Alopecia when I was 7 years old, after mom noticed some small bald patches on my scalp. From what I can remember I went to a Dermatologist at what was then Trinity Medical Center in Carrollton. I had two creams we put on it, one was clear and we used it in the morning the other was brown, smelled yucky, and stained everything so much so that I had to wear an old woman's night cap. LOL. I look back at my second grade pictures and realize that man I really was losing hair, I had a good size spot in my bangs, I really didnt notice it at the time though and my friends didnt either. After the spots grew hair we thought everything was ok and it was gone.

When I was 21 I had been in a very stressful, very abusive relationship for nearly 3 years by then. That is what I noticed some spots, I flipped out. I remembered losing my hair back when but I couldnt for the life of me remember even the name of what I had. So I found a Dermatologist who again told me what I had and explained a little more about it. Alopecia is a Auto Immune Disease that has no cure, but it only effects my hair follicules. The Dr I went to this time was in Irving, he decided that I needed to try steroid shots in my scalp (not just one or two but 10 - 20) and he also gave me some other creams and topical meds. The spots I had this time were small but were scattered on the left side of my head, which my hair dresser and I thought wouldnt spread to the other side.(Will get into this more later). The steroid shots helped but it also helped that I ended that extremely volital relationship. You see Alopecia is said to be brought on by stress or stressful situations.

After the end of that relationship I moved back home to Lewisville and then I had to find another Dr to take over my treatments. I found a Hippy Dermatologist in Grapevine. I had one spot that was stubborn and didnt want to grow, it got larger and was the size of a softball on the left side of my head by the time treatment started working. This time the shots were numbering close to 30 or more at a time. This caused me to have migraines. I then began noticing thinning on my arms and small spots on the right side of my head, the Dr wrote me a script for an Oral steriod to help with this. Every thing grew back and I only had a small spot here and there after that. During this treatment time I meet Jimmy but finially had my hair back before we got married.

When I got pregnant with Jackson in Nov 2008 I noticed my hair lose was starting again. It began as a thinning and then I started noticing spots on both the left side and the right side. I just thought it was a hormone change and would talk to my OB about it during my appt. Well she said I could go back to the Derma if it bothered me that bad. I decided that I was going to wait it out and see if it was just hormone related. I was blessed with a huge head of thick red hair so I really covered all the spots well. After Jack was born I experience the normal after pregnancy hair loss but for me it didnt stop at 5-6 months like normal. My spots got larger. I set a goal of hair growth by Jackson 1st Birthday, August 4, 2010. Well I didnt have any growth just tons more lose, so much so that I was sweeping the bathroom floor 3 times a week. I was growing tired of picking it off of everything so I found a support group and decided I needed to eduacation myself more on Alopecia. People suggested going to see another Dermatologist, one that specialized in Hair Disorders. I thought I found one, well I was dead wrong. They only use shots and I decided it wasnt worth the pain or expense for me. They also had a few other topical suggestions but i wasnt willing to damage my scalp to attempt to get hair back.

As August drew to a close I decided I was ready to take the plung and shave my head. Some people thought this was a really drastic move but I new that it was only a matter of time, my spots were show through so much that it would effect my self esteem and my boys. So on a Sunday afternoon, surrounded by my best friends, my boys, and my best friends famiy I cut my pony tail off by myself. I needed to feel like I was making this decision and that I was winning and not letting the Alopecia beat me. After this Jimmy shaved what I had left off. It was so different and odd at first. I cried a lot in the first two weeks, I just plain missed my hair. I missed the person I was, I missed being me. Jimmy always was there to pick me up and tell me, "Babe I married you, not your hair". This really helped. I explained to Trenton what Mommy had and that I was perfectly fine but I just didnt have hair. He was completely fine with this and loved rubbing my head. He even stood up infront of his Pre-K class and explained what Alopecia was and that he didnt like people talking about his Mommy. My sweet boy, he is so wise beyond his years.

Since I shaved the first time I had to continue to shave two times a week for about 2 1/2 months then it went to once a week. That brings us up to now, i havent shaved my head in well over a month, I have lost all of my arm, leg, armpit, eyebrow, and eyelash hair. I still have some fussy patches on my head but not many.

So before you ask where I am in treatment (people assume Cancer) how about asking how I am or even tell my I have a pretty head. Because I do. LOL