14/365 Love Your Belly

13/365 Blanketed Belly

Cuddled up in my blanket on the couch today.

12/365 One of my favorite Belly pictures

Feeling lazy today and decided to post one of my favorite belly photos that my son Connor took of my husband painting on my belly.

11/365 Cowboy Jammie Belly

It's a chilly Monday morning. I think I will just hang out in my cowboy jammies and curl up on the couch with a good book. There is nothing more comfortable than hanging out in my flannel jammies all day.

10/365 Sunday Dinner Belly

It is feeling more like March today so I am making a crock pot vegetable stew. It is also Sunday. Sundays to me should be days when family spends the day together. I remember when I was younger our relatives from other parts of New Jersey would pop over on the weekends for an afternoon visit. My dad always stocked up the frig with cold cuts, potato salad and coleslaw. The counter top would be filled with fresh rolls from Elmer's country store and some Entenmann's cakes. There was an extra pot of coffee brewing in the afternoon. It was always a surprise to us who would come. Us kids would get excited if cousins our own age would show up and sometimes a little disappointed if just the adults did. Except when Aunt Elda and Uncle Tom visited. Those visits I cherish the most. Uncle Tom would teach me boxing moves so I could defend myself from my brothers when they got too rough. He was a golden gloves boxer in the 30's. We would hear stories of my feisty grandmother Lucia who died when my dad was 5. I remember Elda would tell me with a smile in her eyes how much I looked like her sister Emma who died way too young.

It is rainy Sundays like today that I like to have a pot of stew or a dish of lasagna ready just in case someone shows up. It is rainy Sundays like today that memories of sitting around our picnic table sharing a meal with Aunt Elda and Uncle Tom fill my heart.

9/365 - Spread Peace Belly

My daughter's sign from a march she did with the Governor's Institute at SIT

I had the honor of marching with over 1,000 people yesterday in a peaceful anti-nuclear/Shut Down Vermont Yankee protest. I was moved by the feeling of community as I watched so many people greet each other with hugs.. I was especially moved by the commitment to protest peacefully and with respect for all beings, their property and the Earth.



I "believe that it is time to close the 40 year old Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor, and move Vermont towards a future that TRULY includes safe and green energy options." -Shut Down Vermont Yankee - As Scheduled in 2012

My favorite sign from yesterday's march. photo by Sage Maurer

8/365-New Moon Belly

Thinking about shadows, my shadow side and the New Moon today.

7/365 - Earth Belly

I spent the first day of spring in the garden with my hands in the earth. Spiders, earth worms, grasshoppers, and even mosquitoes joined me in the warm sun as they woke from their slumber.

One of my favorites books. A magical story of Mother Earth waking the root children so they can prepare for spring.

6/365 - HaPpY SpRiNg!

Usually spring in Vermont is more like winter but with a lot of mud. This year it feels like spring when I was a child in NJ. I like to have Hyacinths, pink ones around the house this time of year because the fragrance transports me back to Lake Rd. and my daily visits with my Nana for tea. This time of year reminds me of Nana the most. I remember one spring when my children where younger, we didn't have the money for anything but food. I would take a few Hyacinth plants put them in the grocery cart and do my shopping. Every few minutes I would just bend down and smell them. I then put them back on the shelf, bought our groceries and left with sweet memories of my Nana.

5/365 Sacred circle belly

photo by Kelly Pacheco © 2012

4/365 Crystal belly

Blissful weekend with beautiful Goddesses. My heart is filled with love and my belly filled with yummy food.

3/365 Corned beef hangover belly

Had such a nice evening eating St. Nana's day dinner with the family. I think I have a corned beef hangover. I am sure the Guinness had nothing to do with it.

Chillin' on the couch.

2/365 Beer Belly

I don't honor St. Patrick in the way my Irish Catholic ancestors or my family does. I honor and remember Nana on this day. My Nana, Loretta Bridget. Her mother Mary came from County Mayo in Ireland and I had the wonderful opportunity when I was 19 to visit Ireland with her, my mother and my brother Jim. I still wear the Erin sweater we bought together.

I always love having all the smells in the house that remind me of her. I make the traditional corned beef and cabbage and I make her Irish soda bread. After years of trying, I now make my own dairy-free Irish soda bread that tastes as close as I can get to Nana's. We drink Guinness stout and have Seamus Kennedy playing in the background. This year we are celebrating a few days early.

So, here's to Nana!

How about 365 days of my Belly Blog?

My belly is back! My challenge is to take a picture of my belly every day for the next year. Why? Because I liked how it made me feel when I was blogging about my belly. Even though I was brave enough to follow through the 30 days, I still have some hang-ups about my belly and I still suffer from ulcerative colitis.

1/365
So here is my belly after a visit to the Gastroenterologist, "A physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the gastrointestial tract, including the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, pancreas, liver, gallbadder and biliary system."

 I go in on April 2nd for a colonoscopy. "A colonoscopy is a procedure used to see inside the colon and rectum. It can detect inflamed tissue, ulcers, and abnormal growths. The procedure is used to look for early signs of colorectal cancer and can help doctors diagnose unexplained changes in bowel habits, abdominal pain, bleeding from the anus, and weight loss." Of course this description left a few minor details out. Basically, you spend a day and night drinking nothing but clear liquids, taking serious doses of laxatives, and shitting all night until you are shitting clear liquid. Being at home with a lot of magazines or a good book necessary. The next day, you have air pumped into your intestines so they can stick a camera on a tube up your butt and through your entire large colon. Since I have had a colonoscopy so many times, I have had this procedure fully awake, and completely knocked out. I even watched the procedure as it was happening on television once.

Most people don't have this procedure until they are 50 when the doctors start checking for colorectal cancer. I have had them since I was 19 when I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. "Ulcerative colitis is a chronic, or long-lasting, disease that causes inflammation and sores, called ulcers, in the inner lining of the large intestine, which includes the colon and the rectum."

I consider myself very fortunate because I have been able to keep the symptoms at bay for most of my adult life through diet, exercise and a stress-free lifestyle. Unfortunately, with the hormonal changes of menopause, I have been having symptoms on and off for the last 2 years. Whenever I am in remission, I think I have been "cured" and when symptoms occur, I get really depressed and frustrated. I am staying positive and feeling better and better everyday.

I always welcome other people's belly photos and stories that I will post on the other blog, 30/30 Belly Blog Continued.

Belly Love!


http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/colitis/