Moving to Connecticut!

In March 2012, we got the call from Cigna to move to Connecticut so Dustin could be apart of their management IT team.

We came up the end of March to search for a house after long talks over renting verses buying, after making the decision to buy a house, since our payments would be cheaper we moved forward. Met up with an awesome realtor, now friend Jessica Starr. She ended up showing us 11 houses. On the second day of looking she reccomended a house that was in forclosure and thought it would be a perfect place for us. It was!! We loved it and placed an offer on it at 11pm that night.

After 6 long weeks of going back and forth with this bank, we finally recieved the keys to our new "old" home, a 1930 Colonial! We were so excited!

Now to get everything packed and moved by the end of June, and we did it. With the help of my brother Bubba and his girlfriend Tocia we made 2 trips from PA to CT, in one weekend and got everything moved on our own. Also got to work on some much needed updating in the kitchen and bathrooms and laying bamboo flooring through out the kitchen and living room areas.

We love our house, and the longer we are in it the more we love it.

Gluten free for 14 months!!

Well it's been a while since I have posted and so much has happen since my last blog in 2011.

I made it through a year of being gluten free and feeling like a whole other person, no more problems....other than the fact that we are still not pregnant. But that will come when God feels we are ready.

Dustin has decided to go Gluten free with me and he is doing very well, he misses some to the gluten-ed goodies that he used to eat. But with time he will see they weren't all that good to begin with.

Sydney refuses to go 100% gluten free as she looks forward to her Little Debbie brownies in her lunch every day....wonder what would happen if Mom stopped buying them...hummm! =)

Becoming a Gluten Free Mom and wife.........

Where to begin..........

For the last few years I have had some stomach issues and headaches, hair loss, bloating, and dermatitis that has pretty much taken over my life, not to mention lactose intolerence that I had been dealing with too. Every time I would eat something, I had to wonder if I was going to be ok or having to deal with horrible cramps, nausea, and other things that I dare not mention on a public blog!  In the last year I have noticed most foods would give me all these symptoms and I would have many bad nights.  

We traveled alot during the summer and ate out ALOT, most days I was sick.  Finally after our Florida trip Dustin mentioned to me about finding a GI doctor and going to see what is going on. We went to Texas and as soon as I got back the end of August I went to the doctor.  The doctor asked me alot about symptoms and how certain foods make me feel, and after many many many tests and outpatient procedures. A diagnosis was made IBS+ Gluten Intolerence!! I didn't even know what gluten was until this doctor explained it to me. But after the diagnosis I went GLUTEN FREE FOR LIFE!

 It has been 1 month and I feel fantastic, I have no stomach issues, no bloating, no headaches, my dermatitis has healed and best of all I have more energy.  It is a very difficult life change, but from the results that I have had, I will stay gluten free.  I am learning alot about how to cook and prepare foods.  Dustin and Sydney are also eating alot of gluten free foods with me.  

I still cannot put my finger on how this all came about, but I feel like God has been on me to see a doctor, finally after so many many months of me being miserable I feel God put it on Dustin to mention to me about going. I prayed alot about what was going on and what type of diagnosis I might get and how I would deal with it.  I am so thankful it's not a serious disease, but still upset that I will no longer be able to eat fried chicken, biscuits, pancakes and alot more GLUTEN filled foods unless I make them with gluten free flour, which does NOT taste the same!! 

I feel that things are going to be better for me now that I feel better!!  

Matthew 14:31

Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

 

Back to the working world.............

So after many months of contemplating what I wanted to do after school started with Sydney. I decided I would go back to work. But I also decided that I would apply to a local community college to take 1-2 classes in the spring to start working on my associates degree in Liberal arts.

So, after a month of sending countless resumes and many interviews and call backs, I got an awesome part-time job with an Insurance consulting firm, I work 9am-1pm and I really like it.

I also got my letter of acceptance from Bucks County Community College, which is right up the road from us and I will be starting classes in the spring or January. I am looking forward to it.

Lots going on in the Bledsoe house, and it will be interesting to have Dustin and I both in College in the spring.

We feel God is giving us so many blessings right now and are so thankful for it!!

I have an 8th grader!!

Well, although I cannot believe it, but I have an 8th grader. Sydney started the year with a great attitude and very excited about the year!

She is playing volleyball and staying very busy with school work and homework. She is striving to make all A's this year and working towards a perfect attendance.

Way to go Syd!

 Sydney wanted me to let everybody know that these pictures were taken at 6:30AM and she wasn't quite awake yet....LOL!

 Zoey would not cooperate!

The 4th vacation of the summer was to TEXAS, where we picked up our new addition to the family..................Zoey!

Well our "driving" trip to Texas in August was a HOT one. We made it a 2 day drive there with no problems and Dustin got to come with us and spend a week with family. We spent 2 whole weeks trying to spend as much time as we could with family. The HEAT was horrible and we had a really hard time doing things outside and even driving from one place to another.  It was so dry too.

While in Texas we got to meet our new family member "Zoey" she is a mini Australian shepard. She is blue merle and has one blue eye and one blue/brown eye. She was 12 weeks when we picked her up from my Mom, who ended up keeping her sister "Sadie" a red tri mini.  Zoey did very well on the trip home, we did had Lily with us to show her the ropes and how to act in the car and hotel room. Both dogs did very well we were impressed. Once home we had to train Zoey how to ring the bell by the door to let us know she wanted to go outside and potty, it took her ONE WEEK to learn this and has done well ever since.  She is crate trained, doesn't bark, sheds very little, and is very smart.  She also has a ton of energy loves to jump up on you (we are working on that) and is very dominant over Lily, something we are also working on, having 2 dominant dogs is very difficult but we are making it.

 Sydney and Zoey in Virgina on the way back to PA.

 This is what Lily and Zoey do all the time, play fight, roll and bite each other.

Summer trip #3 Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

Well a week at Disney World can make you feel like a kid again and your feet scream at you....we enjoyed all the rides, shows and characters there.
Sydney and Dustin rode all the roller coaster's at least twice, they never got tired of them!!

There was so much at all four parks to enjoy, Epcot was more for educational purposes, a few rides to enjoy.....and lots of world education. Hollywood Studios, all about the movies and films, some great rides and lots of things for kids to do! Animal Kingdom was all about life and how to have fun and protect the animals, lots of animal education and rides!! Magic Kingdom, was the largest and the busiest, the rides were fantastic and the character spots were awesome for the kids to experience!

Universal Studios, I think was my favorite on this trip, simply because we got to see Hogwarts, from Harry Potter, drink butter beers in Hogsmead and go into all the shops on the street, the Harry Potter broom ride was awesome and there was no shortage or excitement going through the castle! Something I would totally recommend doing. We also got to see Jarassic Park, Dr. Suess-land, Super Hero town, toon town and much more....the rides we all very good and the lines really were not that bad....the whole park offered so much! Well worth the extra money we spent to go, and I would go again!!