Swollen lips and shaking hips!

What an eventful weekend. My husband and i traveled to southern ohio for a baton competition this past weekend. It was really exciting to have a little bit of normalcy back in our lives. Usually from January to May we travel monthly for competitions but these past 2 years have been very different.

I packed lots of healthy snacks to keep me fueled while staying in the hotel and to snack on during a long day of competition. On Saturday we at out for lunch and dinner. I made healthy choices and did the best i could to keep the calories down. I had grilled chicken and a small amount of gluten. Well by Saturday evening my top lip was swelling. This was concerning because (A) swollen lips are a red flag for an allergic reaction and (B) i can’t miss competition in the morning. I immediately took a second dose of Zyrtec, took a lysine vitamin and applied some Burt’s Bees lip balm. My top lip pretty much looked like i just had lip injections.

The next morning my lip was still swollen but not worse. We arrived at competition at 8am. My groups were first thing in the morning. My veteran groups went ok but definitely not their best performances. I think they had nerves getting back out there. We have lots of work to clean up their routines but i think knowing we have several more competitions this season a fire has been lit. My beginner group (who i was crazy nervous about) did so good!!! That group has a 3 year old and an autistic girl in it. I was super nervous but they lit up the floor as soon as the music started. I almost cried! The afternoon was filled with lots of my girls performing solos. They did amazing! It is so rewarding to see all their hard work pay off!

The girls on this team wore a bow in honor of karalyn who is home recovering from open beard surgery

I took my good camera with me and captured LOTS of action shots. It’s fun to merge my two passions in life and their parents all appreciate the fun performance shots i get of their daughters.

By the time we left the competition, my lip seemed to be some what back to normal. BUT Tuesday morning i woke up with another swollen lip. Is it the chicken? Is it the gluten? A long time ago i had an allergy to chicken, but as my body changed i grew out of that….or so i thought. I have a gluten intolerance but my doctor has always okayed having gluten in small amounts so it didn’t become a bigger issue. Maybe i can’t tolerate it at all anymore? The mystery continues and i will just keep a food diary and try to figure out what is causing this. It also could just be that my endometriosis is flared up and making me super sensitive to some foods right now. Life continues to be exciting!!!!