I’ve always had really bad skin. For as long as I can remember I would get these bumps all over my forearms. They were usually caused from dampness. Whether my cloths got wet and I didn’t take them off fast enough or my arms rested on a wet surface, it always happened. It even on occasion appeared on my stomach. It would itch and get dry. It wasn’t fun. When I got pregnant with Landon, it pretty much stopped happening. I think since I’ve had him it’s happened twice.

But even though that part of it has ceased to exist, I still have excessively dry and sensitive skin. Winters make it so much worse to because I can never find a lotion that keeps me well hydrated. There are times when the back of my knees hurt an itch to much. When I add lotion it just makes them burn. It’s a horrible feeling so when the opportunity came up to go to an in-store demo at Walmart for the #DialNutriSkin lotion, I jumped on it!

Chris was also excited because he works with his hands all day. This means most of the time they are beat up and rough. When he found out they had a lotion geared towards men, he wanted it immediately. He always refuses to use the millions of bottles of lotion we already have because of the way they smell.

Our Demo girl, Jen, was fantastic. She was very pleasant and was able to answer the questions I had about the lotion. I was also really happy that they also had the men’s lotion out to try. And after trying it, Chris wanted to buy some! I was also really glad that they were handing out coupons. A buck off is a buck off you know.

I have been using the Dial™ Nutriskin™ lotion for the last four days and I can already tell the difference in my skin. It feels smoother an healthier. It also drys decently fast on my skin. That’s another reason I usually can’t wear lotion because it takes to long to dry. The dampness with air makes me itch. But I haven’t had that problem once since using this lotion. It’s been nice being able to put lotion on after a shower instead of waiting a while and then forgetting about it.

You can check out our full shopping experience here! Also be sure to go by Dial™NutriSkin™ website or say hello on facebook and twitter!

“This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias All opinions expressed are true and my own!”

This week was pretty good. I didn’t do fantastic with diet but I did well enough. I started the couch to 5k again. When Chris gets home tonight I’ll go do day two of this week. I also bought some things that I think will help me significantly. I’m a gigantic music lover. Fast, loud music gets me in the mood to work my but off! It helps me so much but my current “Work it baby” is a little small. I can cycle through it in it’s entirety in about an hour which sucks.

So the first thing I got myself this week was some new music. I bought two songs from Panic! At the disco and one from a band called Breathe Carolina to join Jessie J and The Used. Let me tell you that the song Blackout from Breathe Carolina made me want to sing out loud while working it! It was a really great buy.

My next purchase was new headphones. I loved my old ones but if my daughter gets a hold of them she bites the ear buds off and chews on them. I know it’s horrible and gross. One day while I was in the shower she did just that. Well I never put the ear buds back on because I didn’t need them. Until I did need them and Chris threw them away thinking they were extra. Oh well.

Next on my list was the couch to 5k android app. I feel like apps help me so much especially because I use my phone while I’m working out. It’s easier to have to with me. Also it has a count down. Like when you have run twice for 60 seconds it says 2/8. Since I measure it in my head the same way, I love it!!!

My last purchase for this week was shoes. My current shoes were 15 bucks on sale. My feet and shins killed after each run. When Chris gave me the go ahead for some nice new shoes, I was beyond excited! I mean who doesn’t want awesome shoes that won’t hurt their feet. I first went and bought these.

They were comfortable and gorgeous. What wasn’t to love right? Yea well why I was doing a test walk around the house, I got a shooting pain in my left arch. They went back to the store immediately. Then I bought these amazingbeautifulcute shoes.

I know…I have to return them tomorrow. They’re too big and sliding all over my heels. This brand just isn’t for me apparently. Tomorrow when I go pick up my new specs(YAY!!!) I’ll be going to a runners store so they can help me because I am out of my league I guess. I need shoes that work and feel good but I can’t afford to waste money on a pair that I will have to give up in a month or so. I’ll let you know what I ended up with next week. Anyway below are my stats. At least I totally rocked the “I will lose one pound” from last week right?!

Starting Weight:302.4lbs

Last Weeks Weight:278.6lbs

This Weeks Weight:277.6lbs(1 lbs down)

1st Short Term Goal: Reached 2/7/12

2nd Short Term Goal Weight:255lbs

Exercise Time:28/180(I thought I did more than this but I guess not!)

Calories Burned:270/1860

How did you do this week?

Have you ever had those times when all you wanted to do or felt like you were going to do was cry? That’s where I’m at right now. I don’t know if it came with Landon’s test results, or if my anxiety and depression are seeping back in. It’s hard to say but almost everything makes me want to cry lately.

Obviously when I finally got the results on valentines day, it was hard. Not only did I cry but it also put me in a foul mood the rest of the day. I knew I wasn’t acting like my normal self. It sucked because my husband tried to be sweet and such but I just wasn’t having it.

Then all week I’ve been feeling the same way. A lot of the time I want to cry over things that really don’t mean much. For example Chris got off the phone before I could say I love you back and I got a lump in my throat. All of it has been just as ridiculous as that. I’ve also been more agitated with the monsters than usual. I guess these are the normal signs I start seeing when the anxiety and depression hit again.

I hate it so much. I wish it would just go away and never come back because I know what next. I’ll always be tired, I won’t want to do anything, and I will become an emotional mess. I guess all I can do is hope that going to the gym more consistently will help curve it a little.

I called for Landon’s allergy results on Monday. The nurse wasn’t in so I left a message. She called back while I was away from my phone and had said that the doctor hadn’t read the test results but he also wasn’t in so she would call me the next day when he did.

When nobody called by 10 I decided to call them again. This time luckily a nurse answered the phone and was able to tell me what the results were. I had to look up the levels after the test because she didn’t tell me any of that. She just said anything over 17 was considered a high allergy. The RASt(radioallergosorbent test) is a blood test determines if a person makes certain IgE antibodies. I guess that IgE is the antibody that is associated with Type I allergic responses. (I’m pretty sure this information is all correct but I’m no doctor and found most of this online.)

Anyway I was only told what Landon’s level’s where on dogs and peanuts. They both measured at 100. The test is from 0-100 from what I’ve seen. But again I could be wrong. The doctor ordered for them to test all environmental and all nuts. I know that he is highly allergic to all of the nuts, most of the environmental stuff and that he is moderately allergic to cats. The unfortunate thing that they can’t test for is the type of reaction a child will have from their allergy.

Some people had is explained to them on forums I’ve read that a level 1 on the test could have anaphylaxis while a level five allergy(50-100 on the test) could just get hives. It makes it all that much more scary when you kid has any sort of reaction. I thought I had prepared myself for it. I really did. I mean we knew he had the peanut allergy and I was pretty sure he had other nut allergies, which was why we never purposefully tried them. But as she told me that he was highly allergic to pretty much everything, it all came crashing down and I started crying. Of course I did it quietly so the nurse wouldn’t hear me.

When we were off the phone, I cried more freely. I was so sad. I was angry. I was terrified. I still am all of those things but to a less degree on the anger. The fear has really gotten to me. Especially because I clearly remember having a dream right after Landon’s first reaction, of Landon going into anaphylaxis and it didn’t end well. I woke up sobbing and couldn’t go back to sleep for at least an hour that night. But since then, since we have had to fight tooth and nail to get an allergy test, it’s really been out of sight and mind. Sure we carry our epipens and know that something could happen but the seriousness of it didn’t really hit us fully until we had the results.

Motherhood on it’s own is so hard at times. There are times when I want to give it all up because I feel like I can’t deal and when I learned about Landon’s allergies it kind of felt like that. I have always been responsible for him but when you kid is normal, it’s not a thought that comes up very often. I mean we push out all the what if’s in the world because if we didn’t we might go crazy. When we got off the phone, I wanted to quit motherhood. Not because I can’t deal with a child with an illness of sorts, but because I’m so so scared that something I will give him or a choice that I make for him could be life threatening. I know it will get better over time but for now it’s hard to feel like he’s safe.

Right now we are keeping Landon close to home, we’re being cautious. I won’t let others take him. I refuse to go to family events if they won’t become nut free completely. I’m scared and angry that my child will most likely always have these allergies. I mad that there is nothing I can do or help I can get to cure him of it and make it go away. I feel very helpless at the moment.

Someone in my family mentioned to me how it’s easy to avoid nuts but really it’s not. If you are a non allergy parent, have you ever looked at the backs of packages? There is usually either tree nuts or peanuts. Or they are processed in the same facility, which could have cross contamination. Or the item may contain tree nuts or peanuts. Sure it isn’t soy or wheat allergies and we can make do without those products but it’s hard none the less. I just will be much happier when the fear starts subsiding a little at least. I can’t wait for that day.