Lead Baby

This week has been an adventure for me. Something I ate gave me an alergic reaction, and I suffered from waves of full body hives for several days. We don't know exactly what it was (food testing in January for me) -- could have been peanuts, strawberries, walnuts or something the combination from the allergin cocktail I unwittingly ate for lunch. One idea is that winter strawberries have been sprayed so much with pestcides that get absorbed into the fruit itself - that could be it for sure. Until January, it's no eating out, no nuts, berries, chocolate for me.

As I watched the hives come and cover my body - I realized that sometimes you have to stop and breathe. I've been working hard to loose the baby weight (and the weight I had anyway) since giving birth -- and when all this came to a head this week -- it helped me to 'reunite' with my body a bit and rexamine how I feel about myself.
My body isn't something that needs to be whipped in to shape or looked at with shame. I'm grateful for clear skin and comfort. I am so very thankful for my body's amazing ability to heal itself & feed my son. The more powerful meds made my milk go away for a day -- weening by force wasn't the way I wanted it to come about. So I am even more thankful for being able to breastfeed the little guy and start to think about weening on our own terms. Sure I'm soft and squishy -- but when Victor runs to me -- he isn't noticing that I'm not sporting rock hard abs - he knows comfort is here with Mommy. I want to work to be in better shape so that I have energy to keep up with our firecracker. I want to be healthy to add years to my life.
I'm grateful that this wave of hives is under control now. I will be extremely careful about what I eat in over this Christmas season. I will hope that this was a one time reaction vs. a long term issue. I will enjoy snuggling with my little guy these chilly days -- grateful for the warmth and love that fills this season.