raw mom...

hi guys! hey if you are reading this blog...come check mew out on my NEW blog therawmom.blogspot.com

 i have all kinds of stuff going on over there!

 :) xoxox

wet brush...

have you tried this bad boy?? man alive! my pal told me about this the other day and i was like "what?!" she said it magically gets rid of tangles and snarled easily! she told me where to get one and i was there!! i bought it. i starred at it. and was antsy to open it. i made a video of it. i tried it. it. was. MAGIC! so it died to see what made it so amazing. i used it first on one of my daughters hair that is extremely long and easily tangled after the shower. it was a breeze! i thought hey maybe she just used a ton of conditioner. so. i tried it on my own hair. my naturally curl mop. it was so easy! i kept trying to figure out what it was...what made it so special...i think i have it figured out. 

the bristles are bendable. they aren't firm in their spots so i THINK it makes it easier to brush through.  it doesn't hook the hair and then yank through...it gently pulls through the knots. it doesn't press as firmly to my head while brushing, either. its just gentle! anyway...im a believer. my girls are happy. it wasn't too expensive and this might be a HUGE pain saver in this house!!  

{target has them for $5 or a larger size for $10}

adult braces...

These braces have honestly been such a great thing! I don't want to say I love them...but I DO! So, to sound like a normal person, I'll make a list of things I DIDN'T love...but then I'll make a list of things i did/do love!

DO NOT LOVE

-SPRINGS. I did NOT love the couple times I had springs. At one point I had two on the bottom and I thought my mouth was going to fall off. My head ached. I didn't want to eat. Can you believe that?!!

-NEW WIRES. New wires meant progression. So I DID like that but new wires meant new positioning usually of my brackets which meant...gishy goo. I would get new sores all the time in my mouth.

video about how to use gishy goo on my youtube channel

tinyurl.com/25treehouselane

-SORES. I have had so many sores I lost count. Sometimes they were so deep. Gishy Goo was the best most refreshing relief!

-REPOSITIONING. A few different times I had brackets taken off to reposition them. I didn't like that. :( 

There was one time when i had a bracket repositioned that the bracket WOULDN'T come off. The doctor had to YANK it off. i thought my tooth came out. My jaw locked up (dang TMJ) for an hour and i had a sore on my lip inside from the stress. 

-BRUSHING. Brushing and cleaning became one of the worst things I had to do. I literally took 20 mins the first few weeks figuring out my new mouth. By the end it was closer to two or three minutes. The better my teeth got, the easier it was to clean :) these goodies helped me so much!

-EATING. Eatting was SO difficult sometimes. Like SO difficult. I haven't eaten an apple normally for almost two years. Eating a hamburger or sandwich was a night mare, too. :(

DO LOVE

 MY SMILE!!

I have PLENTY of things that were not so great about braces but MAN! the pain only lasted for a bit. and each month i could see changes. Month after month i felt my bite change in a great way. Month after Month i was more confident with my smile! I mam20 months into these things and I am getting that itchy feeling to have them removed...big time! And wearing these bad boys can be rough when you go in for a job interview.

 But, I will always be grateful and always be glad that I was able to get braces...even if i was over 30 when i got them!!

check yourself...

I have been thinking about ways to share our diabetic experiences with anyone who will listen really, and  I thought hey...I'll make a youtube video of a few things! So, you can check out my video about checking yourself AND about late night lows @ tinyurl.com/25treehouselane {link is also in top right corner} .

When we came home from the  hospital with Sydney, after she had been diagnosed, we gathered our girls around the kitchen so we could use our new meters to check all of our children. We felt the need to check them all because we really had NO idea where this came from! NO ONE on either sides of her family has had Type 1 diabetes. We were baffled. We wanted to just make sure that we wee all cleared. We checked Emily first. the meter said HI which usually means the number is too high for the meter to read. the meters go up to 600. Andy and i looked at each other with a shocked confused this cant be happening look that i won't ever ever forget. We tried it again. It still said HI. My heart sank. Andy immediately went to panic overdrive. This COULDN'T be happening...could it? We JUST got out of the hospital where we watched our oldest daughter suffer in severe ketoacidosis, we learned a WHOLE new way of living and how to take care of our 8 year old daughter with a new disease. Please keep in mind we had a 3 year old and a 3 month old at this time as well, and that our 3 month old was put in the NICU a few hours after birth for a few days. To say we were exhausted was an understatement. We then checked Drew. Her number was okay. We then checked out tiny baby girl. She was okay. We looked at each other, I took a deep breathe and said we needed to pack a bag, don't forget the phone charger, lets read scriptures, say our prayers and i would take the drive to the ER with Emily.

Thats where my dad came to give a blessing while we waited to hear the news...Emily was ALSO diabetic. We were transported to the childrens hospital in town. When we walked in, the nurses had the craziest looks on their faces. They, too, couldn't belive we were back. That just days before, we brought out oldest daughter in and as we were taking care of one child, our childs body was going down hill.

 We spent a couple days there, again, and when we came home our new lives began. 

We now check each member of our family every so often. We don't know where this came from. We DO know that Type 1 can be diagnosed at any age. We check to be safe. We are SO extremely lucky that we checked Emily when we did. She didn't have to suffer the pain and sadness that Sydney did and we didn't have as much fear because she didn't go into SKA. 

SO. If you can...check yourself. :)

snow day??? SNOW DAY!!!

Here in St George, snow is rare. And when its  DOES come, it lasts the day...the whole entire day!! {lucky us} This storm hit just at the same time that school was about to begin so they called a snow day!! we literally were driving TO school when we got the message...so we turned RIGHT around and headed home for our pajamas!!

This is one of our FAVORITE things to do when it snows...

 MAKE SNOW CREAM! 

Its the aboslute MOST easy recipe...its as easy as making a slice of toast! :)

Gather up as much CLEAN non walked on snow as you can...because you all know the rule about yellow snow. It also applies to brown snow.  {gag}

bring your snow bowls in and pour this heavenly concoction all over it!  

The more you put it in sweeter it is...and sometimes it will just melt the snow so add a little at a time.

Eat that stuff right up...and share with a neighbor!! It will make them so happy!!

                                                                                                 xo-teresa

sunday is for sleeping...i wish

 

HI!! today was a such a whirlwind as my hubby and i were trying to figure out a new youtube channel, linking videos to this blog...should i even do a blog etc etc.  somehow we attended church, snuggled our kiddies, took a nap (WHAT?!!) and made video to post! with all that is going on, i finally decided that this blog will be about all sorts of things:make-up of course, hair, clothes, recipes you know...the usual girl stuff. but the focus of this blog will be finding happiness daily. we are all given struggles and trials. we all have many thins going on in our lives daily. we all have heart break, frustration, saddness, loss and worry. BUT we all have so much good and so much happiness. im hoping that through the silly posts and videos you can find a bit of happy each day! these are two things that brought happiness to my sunday. my new striped skirt (im a sucker for black and white) an these colorful delicious veggies ( all organic of course) ;)

while im still debating whether or not to post photos of my family...i will say this- my family is ALWAYS my first and number one source of happiness. fits, crying and fussing. they are my happy.

                                             xo-teresa

saturdays are for baking...and so are sundays

Oh man! I'm so excited its Saturday!! And THIS Saturday isn't packed with 800 things to do!! Just 300. Which is an easy day!! :) After I help with my uncles house, and take my girl to her pals, and feed the babes some lunch...I'm making THIS!! Gosh I love a beautiful treat!

                                                              xo-teresa

oh hey hi...

 

welcome welcome!!