Good things

First, today I am FINISHED with progesterone supplements! Hooray! It makes me a little nervous to be off of them, but hopefully everything is as it should be and my body will stay right on track hormone-wise. I won't miss the icky, melty things one bit (although I was sure glad to have them!).

We told some of my husband's extended family our news last night (relatives were in town from California and we all went out to dinner together). The excitement and support we have received brings me to tears every time we share our new with another person. One of his aunts exclaimed that she got chills and another teared up over the announcement. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful family!

My mother-in-law gave us our first baby gift last night. The Bee and I both felt like, "Hey, this is really happening for us! For real!" So now we have our very first blankets, onesies, rattles, and rubber duck for Ponyo. Through our struggle to get here, we avoided purchasing baby things because it was too painful for us. It feels strange and exciting to have baby items in our home!

We'll be telling my Dad's extended family tonight. My cousin's wedding was Saturday and my aunts and uncles came from all over the country to be together. My Dad is one of 11 (eleven!) children and this was the first time in 22 years that all eleven siblings were in the same place at the same time! Tonight there is a family picnic and everyone stayed in town to attend so we are thrilled to be able to tell so many people in person.

I tried a new line of hair products designed specifically for curly hair and I am loving it! Here it is:

 

DevaCurl

It is all sulfate free, paraben free, and silicone free, which is awesome! Sulfates and parabens are yucky things that are bad for everybody (they mess with hormones and have been linked to increased risk in cancer [although I think the jury is still out on the cancer stuff due to lack of peer reviewed studies]). If you are wondering why they put that nasty stuff in our shampoos, it is because they are what cause shampoo to lather and feel luxurious. So, my new "shampoo" is actually called "No-Poo Zero Lather Conditioning Cleanser" and doesn't lather AT ALL. Although I miss the sudsy, lathery goodness of my old shampoos, I think it will be worth the sacrifice.

As far as I have read, silicone may be linked to cancer, too, but I know for sure that it is hard on curly hair because it causes hair products to build up on your hair over time. For straight hair, silicone makes hair shiny and smooth. For curly hair, it makes it frizzy and dry! So, these products are helping me make healthier choices for my body (right in line with my changes to diet and body products that I talked about here) and will hopefully provide me with many good hair days (which, sadly, are quite uncommon for me!). My hair was still a bit frizzy after using DevaCurl but I am guessing I still have silicone built up from all my years of using shampoo that contains silicone. I may try a clarifying shampoo to help remove it more quickly, otherwise it can take weeks to get it all out! I can tell it works for my hair, though, because my curl definition has been amazing! Like, way more defined that when I used other products designed for curly hair. So, if you have curly hair, I'd recommend looking into this stuff. It seems to work well, doesn't have all those gross chemicals and it smells great, too (and is made in the good, old USA!)!