Austin

Our trip to Austin started at the OKC airport...Lauren was extremely nervous about flying~to the point that I was on the verge of questioning it myself. When we were waiting to board the tears started and she kept saying "this isn't a good idea, can we just drive, etc..." Our flight was a little delayed and it was extremely windy...Windy to the point that it was snapping tree limbs~not the best weather for the first flight that you will remember as a child! We flew to Dallas and had an crazy landing, but by that point Lauren's nerves had simmered down. After we landed she said "That was it?!", the lady next to me told her that was the worst landing she had ever experienced and she flies every week for work. Since we were delayed a little Lauren and I had to sprint in our flip flops (which we thought would be a good idea for going through security) to the next gate. We made it! We filled the last two seats on the plane and we were on our way to Austin.

Once in Austin, Mo's assistant Lisa picked us up at the airport and drove us to Mo's house. Mo was in South Carolina and wouldn't be in until midnight the next night. Lauren and I quickly heated up the best cheese pizza either of us had ever tasted from a store called Whole Foods. It tasted like they had picked the tomatoes and milked the cow for the cheese right before they threw the pizza together. It was so good! We had to hurry because Lauren had to start her fasting by 8:30.

Friday morning we went to Lauren's appointment where she had lots of tests run. The tests broke her body down to the cellular level. It was extremely interesting, nothing like she had completed before. The tests explained everything that was going on with Lauren's body from the inside out. Nina and Natalie the two women that we saw were so good with Lauren. After her appointment Lisa took us to lunch at a fun restaurant on Lake Austin called The Hula Hut . Lauren was on the lookout for Lance Armstrong and Kate Hudson since they had eaten there the week before~sadly enough they were not there! We sat on a deck over the water. Lauren quickly had a bird that would swoop down and wanted to share chips as we ate. Lauren had fajitas and I had a chicken and avocado wrap that was so yummy! When we finished our food Lisa decided to throw a few chips over for the turtles that were swimming beside the deck. They enjoyed the chips but then some large mouth bass decided to have some lunch too. They were the biggest fish I have ever seen in a lake! You could tell they seldom went hungry eating scraps from the restaurant! After lunch Lisa took us back to Mo's where Lauren and I enjoyed the afternoon basically relaxing and doing nothing. With Brian for the year at Fort Leavenworth having the opportunity to do nothing for an afternoon was heavenly! Lauren played tour guide in the backyard giving me tours of the deck and the amazing flower/plant garden trails in her backyard. I played phone tag with my good friend Candace who lives in Austin. We were hoping to see her, hopefully next time we are down we will be able to catch each other!

Saturday morning we woke up and had breakfast before Nina brought Lauren's results from her testing over. Nina came over at 9:00 and explained everything to us. She knows the human body inside and out like a mechanic knows a car. It turns out that Lauren has scoliosis. I always thought that scoliosis meant that your spine was curved. Actually it is the body's inability to absorb nutrients. The spine curving is just one of the side effects. The tests revealed that Lauren's biological age was 56! ....46 years older than she actually is~YIKES! The great news is that we now have Lauren taking different enzymes that will help her body break down the food she eats and absorb it. We are going to go back to Austin in a month to have Lauren retested where we should see great improvements. We cannot thank Brian's Aunt and Uncle enough for giving us this opportunity. We would have continued to believe that Lauren had fibromyalgia, which is just a list of symptoms but no cause for them. Yes, she has those symptoms, but we have now found the cause! It is nice to finally know 100% what is causing Lauren not to feel good.

Saturday afternoon Mo took us to the Oasis on Lake Travis. If you ever go to Austin you have to go! Sitting on the deck overlooking the lake is amazing! It looks like you are in Italy!!! It is so beautiful! It is called the "Sunset capital of Texas" and very rightfully so. We ate lunch and Mo surprised us by telling us that we needed to be back at the house by 2pm because she had a masseuse coming to give the three of us massages! Lauren and I were both so excited! We both love to get massages, but we had never had a masseuse bring the massage to us! She was incredible! Both Lauren and I fell asleep during our massages! I think we all felt like noodles after our turn. We ate dinner on the deck and then it was time for bed. Lauren is usually a night owl, but she was sawing logs within 5 minutes of laying her head down on the bed!

Sunday morning we ate breakfast and then headed to the airport. We had such a great time in Austin. I felt such a relief once I had seen the test results and could truly 100% believe what was going on inside of Lauren's body. She has been taking the enzymes for almost a week and seems to be feeling a better. The enzymes along with increasing her protein intake will hopefully continue to improve the way she feels. We are weaning her off of the other medications that the rheumatologist had prescribed for her. They were not taking care of the problem, just dulling Lauren's nerves to mask it. We are now fixing it! Our weekend in Austin would not have been possible without the generosity of Brian's Aunt and Uncle along with my parents offering to watch Brooke and Kara. That in itself is a BIG task! Kara will be turning 2 soon and is into everything! Brooke is still enjoying all that life offers. She is always the life of the party, busy making sure she doesn't miss a thing! Their bags were not on the curb when we pulled into the driveway which was a good sign! Hopefully next month you will be reading how improved Lauren's test results are!

Big Girl Time

With Brian away it is hard to squeeze in alone time for the three girls. They really thrive on having one on one time. Brian's Aunt Mo is flying Lauren and I down to Austin this afternoon for an appointment to see if there are some options to help with her fibromyalgia. We are so grateful for this opportunity. From the information I have received about her appointment they go into great depth when it comes to the human body breaking things down to the cellular level. Wish us luck!...not only at the appointment, but with the flight there. The nerves had set in last night as Lauren started questioning the safety of flying, etc. This will be her first flight that she remembers. The last flight she was when we flew back from Germany when she was a baby. I tried going through the speech of "flying is safer than driving, etc." but she was still worried. She obviously does not have the passion of flying like her Daddy does...of course Brooke was right there telling her that if she didn't want to go she would take her place! Lauren is very excited to have a few days with me by herself. We try to do one on one dates with the girls when Brian is home. Those have been far and few between with him away. It should be a fun weekend.

Brooke will have a fun weekend spending it with Kara at Oma and Opa's house. My Mom is planning to take her to a movie tomorrow afternoon while Kara naps at home. Brooke really thrives on her one on one time. She was asking me this morning when her turn would be to do something alone without her two sisters. I asked her what she would like to do thinking that she would say go to the Dollar Tree, take a bike ride to the park, maybe even go to the zoo...Brooke wants to fly to San Diego! You see they have a zoo in San Diego where you can go in the animal cages and swim with the dolphins. She also said that we could have our own apartment there that we could stay in before we came home...hopefully our one on one time when I get home will not be a huge disappointment for my little monkey!

Kara is mostly just along for the ride on most things, but she is definitely almost 2!!! She is wanting to use the big girl potty quite a bit of the time~I am definitely not complaining about this! The plan of attack for the potty training is to go full force next week. Hopefully by the end of next week we will only need diapers at night!

Well I have procrastinated long enough. I need to finish up a few things around the house along with packing our bags....and I almost forgot~wash the orange tattoos that Kara gave herself with a magic marker at some point while I typed on here...I knew it was too quiet!

First Posting...

I just read a blog from one of my good military friends, Sara Graham. Her family has been stationed at Fort Riley. They are in the process of pcs'ing (moving for you civilians ;) ) to the Citadel. She has been using her blog to keep their family and friends updated. What a great idea! With Brian stationed at Fort Leavenworth for the year, and the girls and I holding down the fort here in Edmond it seems like time flies and I don't stay in touch with everyone like I usually try to. I also thought it would be a fun way for me to jot down the funny things the girls do that I forget to tell Brian and their grandparents about. We'll see how it goes!