Monthly Milestones 2017 {12}

Today is the twelfth and last Monthly Milestones of 2017.  If you want to share a milestone post, just leave a comment below with a link to your milestone post, and I'll pop over and visit it and leave a comment, and hopefully some of my other readers will, too. :)  Normally, Monthly Milestones, where I will be giving you updates on how I am doing physically, mentally, etc., will go live on the first Saturday of every month, though sometimes I may be a day early or late depending on circumstances.

Here is how I am doing as of today:

1. My weight hasn't changed, but I'm thrilled to end the year with an overall weight loss of 26 1/2 lbs.!  I was really hoping that I'd have an overall weight loss to share with you this month, but I don't.  My weight has been in a yo-yo/plateau phase for the last 2 months especially, and I am just now starting to get that more in check.  I'm hoping I can begin the new year with a weight loss, but we'll see.  At least I can say that I'm 26 1/2 lbs. lighter than I was at the beginning of the year, and that makes me over-the-moon happy. :)
 
2. My activity level is not where I want it to be.  Due to weather, bouts of sickness with me and my family, and family/church activities, my physical activity has not been what I want it to be.  I'm working on finding ways to be more active even on bad weather days, but it has not been easy.  I'm going to keep working on it, and we'll see what happens.  The big thing will be forcing myself to get outside for at least a little while, even when it is cold.  Wish me luck!

3. We covet your prayers about a few things.  As I mentioned last time, my husband has been dealing with a lot of health issues lately.  He did go see the allergist, and the allergist has said no more allergy shots for my husband for at least the foreseeable future, and he wants him to go off of gluten for at least 2 months because, about 6 years ago, he did test positive for one of the antibodies they look for in Celiac's Disease (though not the one that is specific to Celiac's) to see if that helps some of his stomach/GERD issues.  My husband is also having a CT scan of his sinuses on the 11th of this month to see if there is anything going on there that warrants surgery.  If my husband continues to have health issues that none of these things answer/solve, more blood work and tests are in his future.  Prayers definitely appreciated as we go through all these changes and tests.  Thank you!

Thank you to those who prayed for my oldest's eyes.  He has recovered very well, and doesn't need to go back to the ophthalmologist until spring.  The issues he had before the surgery are gone, and any issues he has now are essentially issues that can even arise in those with "normal" vision.  We are so thankful!

My middle kid had his ibuprofen challenge, and passed with flying colors.  We are so glad he is not allergic to ibuprofen!  We may never know what caused his lips to swell, but my guess is that he somehow got a chemical burn (he'd eaten some spicy things, and had told me (the next day after he'd gone to the ER) that his mouth burned before he took the Advil or used the chapstick) that was made worse by applying chapstick, causing the swelling.  Either way, we're just glad that he is ok, and able to take ibuprofen if need be.

We still have a few other huge unspokens that I don't want to share the details of online, too.  Just know that we covet your prayers right now.  Thank you!

This has been a challenging year in more ways that one, but God has been so good and has been so faithful!  We are grateful for His protection and help with all of these things and then some.  Thank you for being part of it with your prayers and support.  They mean so much!

4. I am hoping to do some updating to the blogs soon.  I am still behind on the updates I want to do here and on Natural and Free.  I have plans to attempt typing up those recipe posts (and maybe a few others) over the next few weeks, but I have no idea if I'll be able to or not.  Every time I carve out a minute to do some updates, something comes up that needs my immediate attention, changing my plans.  We'll see if I can get those posts up sooner than later. *fingers crossed*

5. This may be my last ever official Monthly Milestones post.  I am not sure if I will continue with Monthly Milestones next year or not.  I'm still on the fence about it.  I still plan on doing updates, I'm just not sure if they will be in the same format.  I'm throwing some ideas around, and we'll see what happens.  There's a lot of reasons for this line of thinking (about ending Monthly Milestones) that I don't feel at liberty to discuss right now, but know that this decision will not be taken lightly.  Either way, I'll keep you posted about any changes as I can.

That's about it for now.  How are you doing?  Are you reaching your goals?  Have you tried something new?  Come up with a new recipe?  I hope all is going well with you, and I hope you will leave a comment sharing your thoughts and/or milestones (with a link to your post, if you wish).  As always, I wish you the best of luck in all you do, and hope you will return soon! :)

(This post was originally posted on my original site, Fibro, Fit and Fab!)