What We’ve Been Up to the Last 1.5 Years

Hello! It’s been a long time. I really miss blogging, so I’m making a real effort to get back into it.

A lot’s happened in the last 18 months. Jesse graduated from his PhD program! We moved to California! Keira turned 2! We cooked lots of delicious food and created new recipes! I continued to struggle with health issues! (Okay, that last one’s not so fun.) Let me share the highlights with you.

Leaving Colorado for California

The day we left Colorado

The day we left Colorado

In October of 2014, Jesse finally finished up his 6 year PhD program and we moved from Boulder, Colorado to San Jose, California. First we moved in with my parents while Jesse was looking for a new job. In April, he found a job as a data scientist, which we were sooo happy about. We started looking for our own place and soon moved into a two-bedroom duplex in Mountain View.

We are really, really happy in California. The local food here is amazing. There are tons of options for organic produce, pastured/grass-fed meats, and grass-fed dairy, most of which are available year-round. And even though the general cost of living here is so much higher, I’m mostly paying the same or less for what I paid for the same foods in Colorado, since it’s just easier to grow things here. We love shopping at the farmers’ market every week. Even our Costco is better than what I’m used to; it has great real food items like pastured eggs (!!!), grass-fed cheeses, and sprouted seeds.

Jesse really likes his new job. He was very unhappy by the end of graduate school, so this is huge for us. He goes to work early, before Keira and I are even up, so he still gets to spend a lot of time with Keira and me in the afternoons and evenings.

July 2015

July 2015, at my sister’s wedding

Toddler Keira

Keira turned two back in August. It feels like she was born a long time ago, but at the same time I can’t believe that she used to be a tiny baby and is now a real kid who plays at the playground, arranges her Duplo people, pees in the toilet, and can carry on a conversation. Of course I intellectually knew that she would do all of those things, but it’s really something else to see it all happen in front of you.

October 2015

October 2015

Aside from the normal toddler quirks, she is a pretty great real food eater. She loves chicken skin, roast chicken, taco beef, tortillas, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, cinnamon butter bites, salad, and virtually every fruit she’s encountered.

We are also still breastfeeding. I had a really rough first few days of breastfeeding, so it makes me so happy to still be going strong 28 months in. We’ve dropped down to three sessions per day, but may end up staying there for quite a while longer, as I’ve yet to see her lose any interest in nursing before nap, bed, and in the morning.

Struggling with Health Issues

The only big downside in our life right now is my health. I have several persistent health issues that I’ve been attacking head on but just can’t figure out. I’ve been embarrassed to talk about them, both here and in person. I’m not totally sure why; I guess because I feel like I should have it all figured out? Or that people will assume I don’t care about my health? I don’t know, but in any case I’m trying to be more open. Reading about other people’s health struggles and successes has always been really helpful to me.

I’ve been dealing with chronic insomnia since my pregnancy. One to three times per night I wake up starving, and can’t go back to sleep without having a large snack. It’s horrible. Most nights I manage to sleep around eight hours, but I still feel exhausted most of the time. And in order to get those eight hours, I have to spend 10 to 11 hours in bed, since I’m usually awake for at least an hour or two in the middle of the night.

I’ve been actively trying to diagnose and treat my insomnia with natural health practitioners for almost a year now, and have yet to have any success. There have been many theories: toxin overload, hormone imbalance, magnesium deficiency, leaky gut, adrenal fatigue….and so far none of them have panned out, or at least attempting to treat them has not made ANY difference in my sleep. This has been incredibly frustrating, and of course incredibly expensive.

My other big health issue concerns my feet. For the last 12+ years I’ve been dealing with pain on the bottom of my feet, which occurs when standing or walking. The more I stand and walk during the day the worse the pain gets. Back when I first noticed the pain it was mostly an annoyance, but it has gotten worse and worse over the years. These days I try to stay off my feet as much as possible, because even a normal day of cooking, cleaning, taking care of Keira, etc. means that my feet really hurt by the end of the day. Fun outings like going to the zoo, a museum, or even to the park are completely unrealistic for me. I hate feeling so limited. I’ve spent so much money and time trying to figure out this problem, with no success so far. Everyone has their own theory, but like my insomnia, various treatments haven’t made any difference.

I’m also a lot heavier than I’ve ever been before. I was gaining weight before my pregnancy, then gained a bunch of pregnancy weight, and for the most part it’s all stuck around. I’m not totally sure what’s up with that, either, although my personal guess is that my body can’t lose any weight while it’s so stressed out from not sleeping well for the past 3 years.

A few weeks ago I started seeing a new chiropractor who specializes in craniopathy. He has his own theory (of course!), which is that I have distortions in my skull that are causing my foot pain AND insomnia. Which is fascinating. And also I really, really hope that he’s right. I’m so ready to feel better. And I really want to have another baby, but I can’t handle going into another pregnancy already dealing with chronic insomnia.

November 2015

November 2015

So….sorry to end on a down note, there. But that’s what’s been up with me. Life is good, except for health stuff, which hopefully we’ll have breakthrough in soon. Looking forward to seeing you all here as I get back to posting regularly.

Please, tell me what you’ve all been up to the last 1.5 years? 🙂

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7 Responses to What We’ve Been Up to the Last 1.5 Years

  1. Sarah says:
    Hey Meghan! It is great to hear how you're doing after so long - hang in there! It was so nice to follow you while you were on GAPS and I was too. Most of my health issues were resolved after GAPS except for my autoimmune condition: PCOS :(. Even after years of eating a traditional diet and more recently having a regular exercise routine, I am still dealing with it. One thing that has helped tremendously is homeopathy. Have you heard of it? It is like the missing key when you are eating a near perfect diet and avoiding chemicals. Joette Calabrese is an excellent homeopath and so is Dr. Banerji in India. Maybe you can try it? I have heard many stories of peoples' insomnia and other health conditions disappearing for good! God bless you and your family!
    • Thanks so much for your comment, Sarah! I saw a homeopath for a while a few years ago and it didn't seem to do anything for me so I stopped going. But I've heard a lot about it since so I will definitely keep it in mind. Thanks for sharing. :)
      • Sarah says:
        You're welcome! I can understand your frustration with homeopathy. However, the homeopaths I mentioned above practice "the Banerji Protocol" which is much more effective than classical homeopathy. You will see results quickly rather than more prolonged periods of time. If you are not seeing results with homeopathy, it is likely that the remedies were ill chosen for you. I have experienced this myself. I am still amazed at the healing power of it when I am taking the right ones! I hope you are able to find the right solution for you :).
  2. Nancy A. says:
    HI, so glad to see you back! You have a beautiful little girl!! Glad things are going good for you, except for the health part. Don't give up, we all are praying for you to heal! You are such a sweetie and I am so glad to get your newsletters again! Love the picture of the three of you, such a happy family. California sounds wonderful!
  3. Kylie says:
    I hear your health struggles! Almost identical to mine though the insomnia left me after my preganancy for chronic tiredness! You could look into HTMA (hair tissue mineral analysis) it has given me a lot of answers. It's still a case of putting the puzzle pieces together but it helps so much. My painful feet are no longer. I feel so much better understanding this information. I am beginning to understand I will function normally again. I started with DNA sequencing, then added HTMA and bingo! I had virtually no zinc, or magnesium (despite supplementing mag for years) and my unbound copper was through the roof. Good luck with it.

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