Graeters, skin problems and a 100th birthday (somehow these all seem related, but they're not)

As is typical of living in the Midwest, the weather around here has been unpredictable.  A few days ago I was able to go out without a jacket; two days later it's snowing and I have to break out the heavy winter jacket again. :/
I've been having problems with my skin for almost a year now.  At first, I attributed it to postpartum hormones (why not? that seems to be the case with almost everything else that's wreaking havoc on my body!) but also experimented with diet changes to see if maybe I had developed a new allergy.  I stopped dairy, coffee, soda and exercised more.  Welll, of course doing most of those things would be good for anyone, so it was hard to say if that's the reason my skin made improvements or not.  And then I wondered if the weather had anything to do with it.  Sigh, well, recently it had gotten even worse, so I started drinking twice as much water and cut out caffeine altogether.  After 3 or 4 days of that, my skin started clearing up.
I suppose giving up caffeine isn't all that bad, right?

*Nooooooooooo*!!!!!

I'm making today the exception as my monthly friend made her visit; after today, NO caffeine.  I'll update on whether this makes a consistent contribution to my skin's health.  I know you're all on the edge of your seat waiting to find out if it does ;)

In other not so great news, my grandmother on my dad's side took a turn for the worst in the last few weeks.  Really, the last 5-7 years have been iffy:  she had lymphoma and underwent surgery to remove it.  It was very risky as she was 94 years old and the doctors didn't want to do it initially.  But my dad was pushy and she actually got better and resumed her normal activities, living a fairly independent (albeit in my parents' basement apartment) lifestyle.  Now she is 99 years old--soon to be 100 on the 17th of this month-- and she has apparently been falling a lot on her head and failed to tell my parents.  They only found out after finding bruises and bleeding.  They believe she had a series of strokes that led to the falling.  She now needs full assistance for even the littlest tasks like going to the bathroom, getting up, and bathing.  She can't eat solid foods.  I took Maddie there over the weekend to see her.  It was very strange to watch a formerly strong, healthy woman reduced to just a shell of a person.  She can't even talk, although she tries.  While it's wonderful how many years she's had on this earth, I still feel for my dad, as he's very attached to her.  He's been essentially watching over her for as long as I can remember.  Although he has two other brothers, they live out of state and still work and have their own families to take care of.  So he's gotten more attached by default.
We aren't sure if she has days, weeks or months, but we're all trying to make the most of it.  I am very thankful she got to see her first great granddaughter.  That's been very special.

As usual, I've been taking Maddie out either every day or every other day; sometimes we go someplace that has an indoor playground or play area, other times it's to visit a friend or go to the grocery store or Target.  Whatever it is, we have so much fun.  She is talking more, although during our speech therapy sessions, she tends to be shy and it's very frustrating as her mom to stand by while the therapist tries to coax her to say something, and when she doesn't, to hear the therapist say "I'd like to hear these sounds soon...".  I want to scream, "SHE'S MAKING THESE SOUNDS ALL THE TIME AT HOME!!!"  Soooo, at this point, we believe we are paying over $100 each session to persuade the therapist that our daughter can indeed talk.  So frustrating.

Some cute things she's been doing lately:

- Singing along to her latest favorite song, Twinkle, Twinkle.  She pipes in on the words, "Up above"('upabuh") "high", "Twinkle, twinkle ('kerkle, kerkle") and "star" ("kar") and hums along in rhythm with the rest that she can't say or remember.

- Favorite words to say are "Slide" ("eye") and "car" and "Bye"

Today we went to Graeters Ice Cream in Dublin after having lunch with my husband at a place called The Pint Room.  I'd read about this particular Graeters having a play area with lots of slides--perfect for Maddie!  She loved it and tried to run away from me when she saw me approaching her with her coat when it was time to go :P

I've also been trying to get back on the treadmill again, but it's sporadic, at best.  Sometimes I run if I feel like it, but mostly I just walk really fast.  I've always hated the treadmill.  I am so much slower on it, so I need to be watching something on my tablet to make the time pass by a little faster.

Between that and drinking more water, giving up caffeine and trying to eat healthier, I'm hoping my skin issues clear up and maybe my pants fit a little bit better by spring time :)  In the meantime, I went a little crazy on leggings purchases last month.  I may never go back to normal pants with buttons ever again. :P

Until next time...