Home Sweet Home

Me, Jonathan & Ellie sticking her tongue out

As much as I love Christmas, I'm so happy the traveling aspect of it is over! Jonathan and I visited my parents for a day and a half and we had a wonderful time with them. The above photo is on their porch. They only live about 45 minutes away. After going home a few hours, we drove 2 1/2 hours to visit J's mom and her husband and stayed 4 nights, and then we drove 4 hours from there to J's dad's house and stayed 3 nights. It was our first big trip with Ellie and I was SO thankful that she slept in the car pretty much the entire time.

Being away from home for a week is stressful, and having to watch after Ellie made it even more so, as much as I love her. Surprisingly, I only had 1 headache during the trip. I was on my period (TMI, sorry) so I took Aleve the first 3 cycle days to try avoiding major cramps. Usually Aleve doesn't phase menstrual headaches/migraines, so the lack of headaches may have been because I didn't have school or work and was disconnected from technology and in the country. Plus I was able to walk Ellie every day and eat lots of good food!

A negative situation was that J's dad lives in a small house with no central air, and he smokes cigars in the house when it's cold outside without opening a window, so there's no circulation and the smoke is unbearable. Smoke has always bothered me, even before I started getting headaches, and the times I've stayed there in the past were days of constant pain. So this time, we got a cabin, and J's sister and brother-in-law stayed with me there while Jonathan stayed with his dad because he's old and needs someone there at all times. On Friday, J's birthday, his sis & BIL stayed with his dad so J could stay with me at the cabin, which was nice. Anyway, his dad was mad at us (except for J) for not staying with him in the house and particularly mad at me because he knew it was my decision. Eventually he got over it; in fact, one morning while we were at his house he waited for me to go walk the dog before lighting his cigar - though I was told that he mimicked me fussing at him for smoking inside while he smoked it, but I thought that was a little humorous.

I guess the whole thing just made me feel like J's family thinks I'm a snob for wanting to rent a cabin instead of staying with his dad, and I feel helpless trying to make them realize how awful cigarette/cigar smoke is to someone with headaches/migraines. I hate drama.

Of course now that I'm home, I woke up with a migraine this morning. I didn't drink last night so that's not it. It could be a letdown migraine from the stress of traveling/in-laws, the rainy weather today, or the city air. Who knows. I'm just happy I had a break the past week.

Here's hoping 2012 is a year for improved health for all of us! :)