Breaking Up with Diet Coke

Me and Diet Coke broke up at the beginning of March. We were apart for 43 whole days. But well, we missed each other. =0) For real though, this is a habit I'm really trying to break. I know that I feel better when I don't drink it & I have less headaches for sure. It's weird though, how a drink can be a "companion" of sorts...Feeling happy? I want a Diet Coke. Feeling sad? A Diet Coke will make things better. Feeling anxious? I need a Diet Coke. Feeling tired? Diet Coke will perk me right up. I think this is the definition of addiction, and I know that's not good. I've kind of always had this mentality of "well there are much worse things I could be consuming." But I know that's not really the best way to look at it either.

I really struggled in February and March with headaches and neck pain. I had an MRI of my brain in February, and thankfully everything was normal. I started a new medication, Topamax, to help with my headaches. I was really hoping it would work, because it is also a medication that can help people lose weight. Bonus! I did lose about 6 lbs in the first week of taking it...it makes you not hungry and it makes carbonated drinks taste like metal. Seriously, so weird and disgusting. So I took that as my chance to stop drinking Diet Coke. I went from drinking Diet Coke all day...literally from the time I woke up, to the time I went to bed, to having NONE...Cold Turkey. The first week or so, my headaches were off the charts and let's just say I wasn't the nicest person in the world. Caffeine withdrawal is a real thing for sure. But I was determined to break my Diet Coke habit, so day by day, I continued not drinking it. I was hoping that if nothing else, not having the Diet Coke would help my headaches go away. I made myself drink water and sweet tea, so I would still have some caffeine. I saved a lot of Sonic drink money and 2 ltr bottle money during that 43 days! After taking the Topamax for about 3 weeks, I realized that it was making me feel worse, not better, so I stopped taking it. On top of the headaches, I was also dealing with intense neck pain--like a horrible crick in my neck--that just wouldn't go away. I started going to a chiropractor 3 times a week, which helped a little bit, but not completely.

So from March 1st to April 12th, I didn't have a sip of Diet Coke! I was so proud of myself for this! I got so frustrated though, because I was still having headaches and didn't feel good at all. Not drinking Diet Coke was supposed to make me feel better, and it wasn't working. So in the middle of April I started drinking it again...for about a week...but I instantly noticed that my headaches were worse again. So I started over on April 20th. I can do this!!

Summer Update: I made it until my birthday, June 7th, without any Diet Coke. Summer came along and I just decided to drink it again. I can't help it...I just really love it. Ha! And I couldn't resist those cans of Diet Coke in the Green Room at camp!

I'm not giving up though...this is a habit I would really love to break for good. I am planning to give it a go again after summer is over. 

President Lincoln

The 3rd grade Presidential Tea is a big deal at CHA! Each of the boys dresses as a President and the girls a First Lady, and they do a research paper about them. Then they present it to their class, followed by the Presidential Tea for family and friends at the end of the week. The girls were in 4th and 6th grades when we started at CHA, so this was our first experience with it. It is now one of my favorite things ever about CHA...loved it so much! 

Since the beginning of the year, Jonah has talked about wanting to be Abraham Lincoln. They don't get to choose though, they draw names from a hat. Jonah was actually out sick in January when they drew names, so when he went back to school and found out that he got to be President Lincoln, he was so excited! He also really liked the fact that he didn't have a girl dressed as his First Lady, so he wouldn't have a wife. Hahaha! The teachers have carefully selected which Presidents and First Lady's they want the kids researching...Mary Todd Lincoln has some questionable things about her story, that wouldn't necessarily be good for this assignment. Jonah worked so hard at school and at home, on his research paper. He learned so many interesting facts about Abraham Lincoln, like that he is the tallest President and that he had 4 sons but only one of them lived to be an adult, and that he hid important letters and documents under his tall black hat. I thought we would have to buy a costume, but the school actually had most of this in the costume closet. Yea! I just added the black bow tie. 

Brian and I went to the school Tuesday afternoon for Jonah's presentation. Right before it was time for Mrs. Champion to introduce him to the class, he looked at me and grinned and said "I'm nervous!" He did so good though! He even got the pronunciation of Emancipation Proclamation right...that was a tricky one for him. He gave all of his classmates a penny with his picture on it, and he gave Mrs. Champion a picture of himself on a $5 bill and told her she could buy some Dr. Pepper with it. =0) She liked that! Owen (Herbert Hoover) was right after Jonah, so they had fun dressing up together. Jonah really wasn't wanting to wear his beard beforehand, but once he saw how everyone was dressing up as their Presidents and First Ladies, he didn't seem so worried about it. 

Jonah got an A on his paper & his presentation!

Good job, Mr. President!!

Backstage at Winter Jam

Mackenzie was invited to Winter Jam to celebrate her friend Grace's birthday. Brian told me a while back that he could get tickets if we wanted to go, so I mentioned that to Grace's mom and we decided to tag along. Brian's friend Shane Pruitt is the preacher for Winter Jam this year & he was able to get us backstage passes to meet the artists. So amazing! It's fun to know important people sometimes! =0) We kept this a secret from Grace, so this was a fun surprise for her when we got to the concert. Brian was late getting there because of the GoStudents Retreat, but once he got there and met up with Shane, we were able to go backstage. One minute we were sitting in the audience watching Tauren Wells sing "Hills and Valleys" and the minute he walked off the stage, we were standing backstage and got to meet him. Coolest thing ever! He was the nicest of all the performers, and his little boy was with him, which was the cutest. The girls also got to meet Shane, Ledger and the other girl Skillet singer, a rapper named KB, Megan Duke (and her kids!), some Disney star named Kevin Quinn that the girls were completely crazy over, and Colton Dixon----eeekkk! I was fan-girling over that one! It was all I could do to take this quick pic of the girls with him, instead of jumping in a pic myself! I mean--they were like 6 years old when he was on American Idol--I watched it every week! Big fan! He was on his way to the stage though, and we had to be quick...so I played the mom card and put the girls first. As we were heading back to our seats, Colton Dixon was onstage singing, and his wife was there to do a song with him. We got to watch from right there by the stage, which was so cool.

We all had a blast backstage! All of the artists wished Grace a Happy Birthday...I don't think she will ever forget this birthday! We have been backstage one other year at Winter Jam, but it was nothing cool like this. 

The one negative thing about this night was that I had a horrible migraine. Like, the worst. The noise in that arena was deafening, and it was all I could do to be there. The second we were done backstage, Brian and I headed home and left Mackenzie to ride home with Grace. I just couldn't take any more. The other kids were spending the night with GMa, so I took some sleeping medicine and went to bed as soon as I could. The girls ended the night with Capitals ice cream...I think its safe to say everyone had a great night!

We ate at Hideaway before the concert.