Sunny Days

Wow, the last few days here have been so summery. The kids and I have been spending a lot of time outside the last couple of days. We even did some of our schoolwork outside today.

My shoulders were still very precarious and painful yesterday, and I couldn't lift my arms much or lift anything that weighed more than a pound or two. It's a good thing caring for small children doesn't involve much that requires reaching high. :) My dear friend Morning came over and helped with some of the things I couldn't do . . . putting my hair into a ponytail, lifting E-bee and pushing her on the swing, cutting up a cabbage for dinner, etc. That was such a help.

Today my shoulders and everything else (particularly one knee) are still very sore, but better. I can do most normal things all right. I lowered the swing for E-bee so she can get onto it herself, which she loves.

The interesting thing is that, besides the actual pain, I'm feeling so much better the last few days. I had read somewhere that a lot of fibromyalgia sufferers feel better when they go grain-free. I know that when I've tried going gluten-free in the past, it seemed to help me feel better, and I know that refined sugars, processed foods and dairy products don't agree with me. So I've been avoiding grains, added sugars and dairy products the last few days. I'm still fixing them for the rest of the family, but I'm just skipping that part of the meal or filling in with other things.

I don't know if it's that, the sunshine, the extra time I've been spending with God, the daily hot epsom salt baths, the combination of things, or something else, but I feel so much better. The brain fog and horrendous dragging fatigue has improved immensely. My mind is clearer, my emotions are more stable, and I'm just generally more functional (even though strictly physically, I'm not really all that functional at the moment). It's so much easier to connect and interact well, and to come up with good ways to handle the situations that come up with the kids and life. I'm not in survival mode.

There are so many more things I want to post about . . . cute things the kids did, progress we're making on finding a workable routine for our family, what we are learning in homeschooling, thoughts about various issues . . . but not right now. DH has the kids out, and they will be getting back fairly soon. I've just finished clearing up from dinner, starting the dishwasher, rebooting the laundry, stripping the bed, and starting a load of bedding in the washer. I still have a long way to go before I get caught up on things that have had to slide the last few days. But for the moment, it's enough.

A hot bath and a book are calling my name.