3 little Miracles

3 little Miracles

Friday, January 29, 2016

The VEIL of Migraine Pain

Do you suffer with migraines?  I don't mean headaches, most headaches can be fairly easily treated with over the counter medication, good diet and exercise, but migraines are a BEAST of a whole different nature.  I have suffered with migraines since I was in my mid-late teens and at times they have been very upsetting to my life and happiness.
Image Credit
Migraines are a debilitating illness a #silentillness that no one else can see but effects not only the person who sufferers from them, but also those around that person.  For those of us who suffer from migraines, we battle them ALL of our lives trying to find the right combination of medications, therapies, diets, and exercises.  Sometimes our efforts provide us a little success but other times they do not.  Finding the "trigger" is the goal, but most of the time even that seems impossible.

For many years I abused the over the counter medication of Excedrin Migraine, which kinda worked for me, but I had to take an excessive amount of it for it to work.  Sadly the abuse of this medication came at great cost to my liver in later years.  The makers of Excedrin Migraine clearly state on their bottle how their medication should be used, but I was so desperate for the pain to end that I was willing to take extra to make the pain stop.  (Let me also say that the damage to my liver was also caused my infertility treatments that I went through in my mid to late thirties in our efforts to have 2 of our #3littleMiracles)

During my college years I was prescribed massage therapy which sounds like a wonderful "medication" treatment but lets face it, when a migraine is creeping up on you, you can't summon the masseuse and ask him to set up shop in the middle of your college classroom and massage your head and back until your migraine is gone so you can get back to your studies. It just wasn't a successful treatment plan and the medications they wanted to prescribe would have made me useless as a college student because they has the side effect of leaving me drowse.

After college I stopped taking most meds and just suffered through the pain or when they struck at their most intense I would shut down for a few days in the dark of our home.  This system worked OK for the time before we had children but alas that did not work well when babies started coming along.  To say I could name EVERY medication I have tried through the years would be a lie, I can not, but I have tried too many to probably even name if I could.

At present I am taking 4 different medications, 2 of which are new to my migraine regime and COST me big time in the past 48 hours.

It has probably been two months since my last BIG migraine episode.  My migraines come in weird cycles, sometimes lasting for up to a month and sometimes going away for 1-2-3 months.  It is rare that I make it more then a month without a migraine, most of the time I have 2 sometimes 3 migraine cycles in a months time.  Anyway, I just saw my doctor about a week ago and this was our hot topic and she changed up my meds some to include a new drug that will literally knock me out for 12+ hours (depending on my migraine) and if that doesn't work, then someone is to bring me into her office and she will give me a shot that should get rid of the migraine.

Here is my Migraine treatment;
Daily preventative:  2 Topirmate at PM after dinner
IF a Migraine still manages to break through I take : Rizatriptan every 2 hours until migraine is gone (but NO MORE then 3 pills in day).  If on Day TWO I still have a migraine I move onto treatment 3
DAY THREE treatment of migraine is:  making sure I have another adult around to watch kids, take 1 Tramadol and 1 Promethazine as needed every 4-6 hours, this will literally knock me out. and hopefully on the other side of the migraine med fog I will wake up without the migraine.  If after all of this I still have a migraine the next day, I need to be carted off to the doctor for an injection that should make all the pain go away.

It's HORRIBLE living like this and I can tell you from very personal experience it effects your relationships and your kids lives.  In some cases it even effects your finances, your ability to make a living.  I know recently (as in the past 48 hours) it caused me to loose $1100.  I had entered a giveaway through #Instagram through @poshpaxdesigns who was very generously sharing a giveaway along with other sponsors for a $1100 from TARGET.  I love Target, I mean come on, WHO DOESN"T LOVE Target, I can drop some serious cash there and my current dream shopping list of update of home decor is pretty long.  FOR SURE I want some bar saddle bar stools and rug for my living room.  Well I actually WON, YEAH ME right!!  NOPE, not yeah me, I was at the end of a 48 hour cycle with a migraine and so I had very little contact with social media during that time other then quick glances at my phone to see if I had notifications that needed my attention.  When Mr. came home I took my DAY THREE pills and off to bed I went, I vaguely recall getting a lot of people "following" me on #instagram as I started to fall asleep, but nothing more.  I woke up to "OH HOW SAD", I had won but because I hadn't contacted them within 24 hours they moved onto another winner.  YEP my migraine literally cost me $1100!!!

So for those who say that migraines are a figment of peoples imagination and they need to get over it.  I am here to tell you they are very real and a silent terror in our lives and ripe away at us and tear apart the very fabric of who we are.  I don't like who I am when I have a migraine.  I don't like how inaccessible I am to my children I am or how my personality changes when I have one.  Migraines are a life stealer and the sad part is that from the outside a person looking at me can't tell I have one other then the pinch of skin between my eyes.

What is your silent illness costing you?


Monday, January 25, 2016

My Style Monday

The first BLIZZARD of 2016 has just passed the eastern part of the United States (sadly skipping dropping a few snow flakes on us here in ENC).  BUT all the snow pictures I am seeing from friends on fb is making me think of all the fun winter fashions that we mom's can share when we are out and about at the school drop-off lines, grocery stores, church, and kids A.S. activities.  Just because we are moms doesn't mean we can't look cute doing what we do and even in winter.  I will be honest and say I am not on top of my "game" all the time but I am much more so now that I am much more confident and happy in my body {update on that in another post later}.

I love this whole look from head to toe but more specific I love the necklace, sweater, and shirt.  I found a very similarly look over at Prep Obsessed.  The necklace is their Molly Pearl Bauble Necklace paired with the Jules Monogrammed V-Neck Sweater and Gingham Button Down Shirt, all found on Prep Obsessed at really great prices.


Other looks for winter that I truly love are straight leg jeans with boots, the plaid scarf, vests, and of course the classic pea coat.
Some of this look can be purchased HERE off Polyvore

Simply Bliss Boutique has a fantastic Navy Blue Buckle Up Quilted Vest that is a great matchup for this look.  Go HERE to purchase

HONESTLY, I am nuts for this whole look of the button-fly jeans, the boots, the scarf, and even the t-shirt.  Even though I am not a hunting girl my husband has taught me to sure appreciate a good piece of venison. But I would still wear this whole look from head to toes paired with a ls-tshirt and a vest and the amazing Amanda boots, which look so COZY, that can be purchased over at


This whole look can be purchased HERE off Polyvore, this is most often the look I will be in around the house and running the kids back and forth around town.

Finally I just love this quick throw together look with this Aztec style throw jacket and comfy jeans.

For these and more of my favorite fashion inspirations go to my Pinterest pages HERE

Your Promises are New Every Day!


The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
His merces never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3: 22-23 (ESV) 

Saturday, January 23, 2016

A Year Away from my Blog

It has been more then a year since I have sat down and committed to writing about our life with 3 little Miracles, who are now 5, 8 and 10.  It is very difficult to believe that life is flying by so quickly with children racing around us but what everyone has always told us is true . . . . life moves at a much faster pace with kids and EVERY moment is precious.

David Harkins
What has prompted me to come back into our blog and begin the process of catching up again, is that we have taken the step we felt God calling us to for a long time of homeschooling our children.  We have started only with our oldest son #DJr for now.  I felt I really needed to get the routine of school, the schedule, the curriculum, establishing my authority, etc before I add #J to the mix.  We have not decided at this time if we will ever #homeschool #R.  With #R's #downsyndrome we feel that for now she is better served by remaining in the school system and receiving the many wonderful services that are offered to her there.

On December 27th we officially began doing placement tests with DJr so we could be sure that he actually did place properly into 5th grade material.  We are using a Christian based curriculum called Switched on School House - Alpha Omega.  We selected this program not only because it was a Christian based program, but because it was a 5 subject computer program that did not require the purchase of a lot of extra books and materials.  The program does most if not all of the grading for you and at the end of the school year you can upload your end of school grades to your state if that is required, no paperwork required.  I will admit I am a bit of a organization freak and I do have a notebook that I have divided up into subjects and when DJr does not get a C or better on a quiz or test I make him go back and research and correct his answers and we keep that on file.  I have also assigned a book report on The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and he has had a few other projects assigned by the program which I am keeping hard copies of.  In addition, DJr keeps a 5 subject spiral notebook by his workstation for him to take notes from his lessons, he is allowed to use this notebook for reference during open book quizes and studying for tests but obviously I do not allow him to use it during a test.

We purchased the placement tests directly from the company but we were fortunate enough that my husband had a co-worked who had recommended the program that had the 3rd grade curriculum and shared it with us and I purchased the 5th grade curriculum off ebay for 1/2 the cost ($220). I will purchase the 4th and 6th grade curriculum over the summer so long as we continue to like the program sometime over the summer months.
DJr and Crocket working hard
To make sure that I am on par with teaching, I am doing the FULL third grade curriculum myself while DJr works on our new all-in-one hp computer on his 5th grade school work.  This way I have a full knowledge for the feel of the program and how he should be taking notes to be prepared for quizes, projects, and tests.  My plan is to roll right into the 4th grade curriculum over the summer so that when J is doing it in the fall I will be a bit ahead of him and know how to assist him when he has questions.

I did a lot of research online, fortunately there are many homeschoolers that share their resources online through sources such as blogs and pintrests (your can find my collection of homeschool resouces I have found HERE on Pinterest) and I have been able to establish a great schedule which served as our base which we adjusted several times over the first few weeks until I think we now have a good rhythm for us.  I KNOW we will change things up even more because I still am not over joyed with the spelling & vocab portion of our day, but I need to figure out the best way for either DJr or myself to pull those words from his lessons so their is a clear list to be studied and tested on.  BUT back to how we established a schedule in the first place.  As I was doing my research prior to us making the decision to do homeschooling, I stumbled upon this great blog called Confessions of a Homeschooler, she is so fabulous because for me she is so transparent and really shares tools and tips about how to be successful.  One of the best resources I have gotten from her so far was the SCHEDULE, AHHHHHHH!  I of course have modified it to fit our particular needs and life.
Click on Photo and go to Confessions of a Homeschool to Download
We start our day with devotional, we are not doing it together, David does 15 minutes by himself in a personal devotional and then 15 minutes with me in study of his T&T book from Awana.  From that we transition into prayer, Pledge of Allegiance, and going over our schedule or modifications of it for the day, then we press into our schedule for the day.  Bible, Math, English, Reading, Spelling & Vocab, then History and Science alternate days and Writing and Journal finish out the day.  Specials are fit into the week of PE, Art, LEGO Ed, and Library Day.  We have had to build into our schedule this year traveling in the afternoon to pick up R because she gets picked up from preschool at 2:15 and has therapy's on Thursday and Friday's (next year we won't have to deal with that). 

DJr working on his first Science project studying his skin cells
on his new microscope purchased from Amazon.com
I know that we will have many bumps along the road and many tests of my authority as teacher and mom but so far DJr says he loves that we are homeschooling.  I pray that J will be as blessed by this process.  With that next step in mind the Mr. and I are going through a class at church to try and change some of the ways we have established our authority at home and hopefully in the end bring more joy and peace to our home and place more responsibility for their joy and happiness upon the kids.  It is a challenging book to read because I really have to own my part in some of the messes we have created by trying to SOLVE the boys problems for them, but I think its is something many parents fall into trying to do.  Anyway, we have started our homeschooling journey and I hope that you might enjoy our crazy ride of finding out what does and does not work along the way.

Book by John Rosemond, The Well-Behaved Child, Discipline that REALLY Works