Meet the Shaneyfelts

Archives for September 2023

Friday Favorites!

Happy Friday!!! LOTS of FAVORITES around here today since it’s been a while since my last update. Life has been busy and I’ve been pretty tired LOL

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We had our gender reveal on Sunday, September 17 and IT’S A GIRL! If you’re new around here, read this post about our announcement because literally everything about this pregnancy is a surprise ha! I did have a dream after I went to the doctor for my first appointment that it was a girl and I kept that to myself because it was a dream and not reality. And if you know me at all, you know that I did not care either way which gender this baby is. I love everything about being a boy mom so adding a girl into this mixture will be very interesting and we’re all excited!

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I LOVE this picture so much :). Harrison wanted to read Banks the Bible, so he grabbed the toddler one that we have that was a gift from our preschool ministry at church one year. He “read” Banks the Bible based on what he could remember from the pictures, and Banks really tried to “help” him by climbing in him or trying to put his mouth on the pages haha

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One of my best friends, Hailey, has been raving about the Lume deodorant for the past couple of weeks. She swapped because she hated the way her old deodorant would smell after wearing it all day. She’s really talked it up so much that I’m about to buy a stick and try it out. She recently bought a variety pack and this scent was included–she said it smells so good!

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I posted this picture the other day for National Sons’ Day (not sure if that’s even a real holiday LOL), but I really love being these boys’ Momma. I am so grateful every single day to God and their birth families for giving me this gift. They make my life so much richer just by being in it, and I cannot imagine my life without them. Even though adoption is born out of a tragedy, adoption is also beautiful because without it, these boys would never be brothers–and here they are, sharing a last name and their life together forever.

Friday Favorites!

Happy Friday! Today’s FAVORITES post is super short because I am sooo tired!

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First is our exciting (and really surprising) news that we got to share on Saturday! I think the shock has worn off more for me now and I’m getting more and more excited. We also now know the gender and will be sharing that on social media Sunday after we tell our immediate families!

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This past Saturday Dustin and I drove down to my old home LOL, Tuscaloosa, for the Texas game. It ended up being the WORST game, but my favorites were walking around campus reminiscing and getting to see my old campus minister! When I was in college, I always preferred night games and that’s still the same except the drive back home is pretty terrible. We got in bed a little before 2 AM and then got up a few hours later for church.

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This is a really fun FAVORITE!!! Dustin and Harrison surprised me with this Happy Everything platter this summer. I’ve always seen them with very bold prints and that’s just not my style. When I saw this subtle print this summer, I mentioned that I wanted it and they surprised me with it!! I recently added this fun fall attachment and I can’t wait to add more themed attachments throughout the year!

Aside from the Sovereignty of God, How I (Most Likely) Got Pregnant Naturally

Hi friends! First, I want to say THANK YOU! Your comments were so, so kind about our news that we shared on Saturday. Let me tell you, if anyone has ever doubted that God has a sense of humor, direct them to me LOL. I believe now more than ever my motto for life needs to be “Not my will, but Yours” because you would think that I would have learned that through our adoption journeys, but God is still teaching me things!

Also, for some reason I’m having weird email issues with my comments from WordPress. I had gotten 4 emails about comments that I replied to and then when I logged in, I saw that I had 15 more and I have no idea where those emails are!!! If you commented and didn’t receive an email back, I replied to your comment on my post. I think I may start doing that so people know where to look because I always reply to every single comment I get–I am so thankful for you taking the time to comment and I love talking with readers!

Okay, now onto today’s post!

I have been on an off of birth control for YEARS. I really hate taking it but every time I have gone off of it, I end up getting really sick when I’m on my period thanks to my stage 4 endometriosis. I actually was off of it the entire 2020 and was so sick that as soon as I got an appointment with my doctor in 2021, I went back on it just for my sanity. I went off of birth control again before Banks was born because I was so tired of remembering to take a pill each night and I had read a few articles about the dangers of birth control–and at this point, I had been on and off them for almost 20 years.

My periods ended up lasting longer and the days in between them ended up getting shorter. I did some research in May because even though I know a hysterectomy is in my future, I feel like I’m not ready for something so drastic at 35. Every single article I read about endometriosis recommended going both gluten free and dairy free. I’m not a huge dairy eater but I love my coffee creamer and adding cheese to my meals. So I decided to go gluten free as soon as summer started.

I did excellent at first. But as summer diets go, I would eat gluten at one meal every other day, so I wasn’t completely gluten free. My cycle in June ended up being very short (11 days in between cycles) and so long (8 days), and I felt so incredibly sick that I decided no more cheating.

Once I went all in, my skin cleared up on my cheeks (I used to have little red bumps that the dermatologist didn’t know how to get rid of) and my brain instantly felt clearer. I had more energy, too. If I happened to eat something with gluten, the next morning I’d wake up with a rash again on my cheeks–so I’m assuming I really do have a gluten allergy.

When I went to have my pregnancy confirmed at my doctor (at 9 weeks) and I told her what I had been doing, she told me she really does believe that going gluten free helped me to get pregnant. (I obviously know it was God, but also He gave me the wisdom to research and try a new food lifestyle.). She said gluten is extremely inflammatory and that her household is gluten free. She said there isn’t enough research to determine what it actually affects inside the body, so this whole time it could have been affecting my reproductive area.

I say all of this not to tell you how to get pregnant, but if you’re dealing with any sort of health issues, you may want to try eating gluten free. Is it fun all the time? No. I’ve really missed eating Crumbl Cookies or regular chicken from Chick fil A. But it’s totally been worth it! And before I felt extremely tired from the pregnancy, my energy level was up more than it ever has been. I’ve learned that it’s not hard to eat gluten free–we eat lots of chickpea pasta already–and I really do just go back to the basics of meat and vegetables for a meal.

Hopefully this has been helpful! Socrates said “Let food be thy medicine and medicine thy food” and I truly believe that!