November 2011 – Page 2

Magnets And Gas

So there I was…..doing pretty good. I posted every day for a while and then…BAM! Life kinda took over!

But, It’s all okay NOW!

Last Sunday we had some people over for lunch and one person brought their super cool magnetic necklace, block, toy thingy. This thing is so cool.

It was getting passed around and looked at and played with and somehow 5 of the little tiny magnetic balls got lost. I managed to find 1 of them which left 4……I’m pretty good at Math, aren’t I?

I wasn’t too worried because I had swept every square inch of my floor and I didn’t figure that Judah had been around when it was getting passed around and so there was no way that he had gotten into or near any of these tiny – BUT STRONG – magnets.

Everyone left and I said that I’d keep a look out for the other 4 magnetic balls and carried on my way.

Monday was just a normal day and Tuesday looked like it was shaping up to be more of the same…..until the afternoon. I went to change Judah’s diaper and when I did……something looked oddly shiny and most definitely out of place. Yup, It was one of those magnetic balls.

I was a bit shocked and super upset because if there was one…what’s to say there wasn’t more than one and how would I know that two magnets hadn’t stuck together inside of his intestines and were going to cause some major problems….if you know me at all, I went straight to the “worse case scenario”. It was pretty sad. I couldn’t fathom a million hour ER visit and so we called our family Dr to see if they could possibly fit us in. They couldn’t so then we called the walk in clinic and seeing as he was happy and had no fever and didn’t seem to be in any discomfort, they said to bring him in first thing in the morning and they’d check him out and send us for an X-ray. Of course they gave us the whole “fever, blood, blah, blah, blah speech – do not pass go, do not collect $200, go directly to the ER” spiel.

Long story short, on Wednesday morning, we hit the clinic at 8am….hit the X-ray facility at 9:am and were back at home at 10:30am waiting to either hear or not to hear…in this case, no news was good news.

As soon as I got home, Siah met me in the garage complaining about a sick tummy. This was weird because he was fine when I left. Over the next hour, he got progressively worse to the point where he was sitting on the floor crying in pain. When asked where it hurt, he kept pointing at the lower right side of his abdomen…..heck, between cancer, ADHD, ODD, No Gluten, No Dairy, No Soy and now possibly a Magnetic Gut…..heck, lets just throw some appendicitis in there as well.

Jon took him up to the clinic and fortunately the wait time was only about half an hour. After about 15 minutes, Siah burped about 4 times, and then “miraculously” his tummy ache went away.

And just to be safe, Jon did stay to see the Dr. The appointment went a little something like this…

Dr: Nice to see you guys again. This little guy didn’t swallow any magnets, did he?

Jon: No, and he burped about 15 minutes ago and then everything stopped hurting…..so sorry for wasting your time. My son has gas.

Dr: Well, it’s always good to get it checked out anyway.

but you all know he was thinking…..”stupid parents, bringing their kids in because of a little gas.”

And then basically, my week just kind of blew up after that.

In all seriousness, I feel a bit traumatized about the whole hospital thing. When we found the magnet in Judah’s diaper, all I could think of was which hospital should we go to? And what about Jon’s new job and how would I handle caring for the kids by myself and would it be better to go to Children’s or to be closer to home….and what might they have to do to Judah if there were magnets stuck inside of him…..and how would we deal with the whole Gluten Free thing and well, it was not fun….

The whole hospital thing with Geli has not played nice with my emotions and I hate being confronted with how “unstable” I feel over the possibility of a hospital visit. Not Cool, cancer. NOT COOL!

The rest of the week didn’t have any medical craziness in it, but we did pull apart Jeremy’s room, the girls closet, the garage, the boys room, the TV room, ALL (as in every single toy that we own) the toys, and our storage closet. It was quite the undertaking and yet…..we did it!

This is the boy’s room that is right beside ours, down stairs in the basement. We currently have all three of the boys sleeping in this room. Fun times, there! (oh, the wall border and color….original to the house. not my choice, just haven’t changed it yet, but I did want to mention that I do NOT like the decor…carry on, please)

We made two dump runs and put away 15 separate bins of toys. No, they are not all HUGE boxes of toys, but all the toys we own are separated out into their own groupings…..Hot Wheels, Mr Potato Head, Playmobile, Little People, Infant Toys, Wooden Blocks, Tinker Toys….you get my drift.

We’ve put the majority of them away and I think that will cut down on the mess in the rooms. That’s the idea any way. We’ll see how well it plays out over the next couple of months.

Here is Jeremy’s upstairs room…

(I have NO Idea why it’s so stinking small. I thought I used the same camera on my phone, but obviously not…sorry about the mini view…just squint and then it should be all good! and again with the house’s previous occupants decor….lovely, ain’t it?)

The carpet is a bit thrashed but it’s the original carpeting from 15+ years ago and it just needs to get replaced, so other than a quick vacuum….I’m not even trying to clean that sucker.

Probably an even bigger miracle than just cleaning things out…was that we also managed to finish off each day of cleaning with a totally clean house.

Do you ever start to clean something and then find that the job is too big and you end up with a mess at the end of things that you pulled out, but have no current home and so you end up with a big a mess just in a different location in your house. Yah, it was my goal to not have that happen. YAY US!

Part of my push to get this done was because Jon starts his new job tomorrow morning and it was my hope that if we cleared things out and got rid of a bunch of junk that it would make it easier to keep things clean. Again, I’m really hoping that’s the case. Only time will tell, right?!?

What are your tricks for keeping a clean house? Do you have any tips to share?

So Many Thoughts, Not Enough Time to Think

I have so many things that I’m trying to think through and I just wish that I could just “sort” a few of them out so that I could “file them and put them away” if you know what I mean.

There are things that we are working through and trying and wondering about and it’s all complicated and messy and well….there are a whole bunch of “adult decisions” that we need to make right now.

Well okay, we don’t have to make any decisions at this exact moment and some things we cannot make decisions about right now, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t think things through so that we can at least make well thought out decisions if and/or when the time does come right.

One of the things that it taking up WAY TOO MUCH mental space inside of me is the whole “store” deal.

I love to create! I love creating things and I have for as long as I can remember. I feel like it’s something that I’m supposed to do and yet I don’t know “what” it is that I’m supposed to do with that creativity. I could just create for pure enjoyment purposes, but I keep feeling like I am capable of doing more with my creativity and yet……I don’t know what.

I’m beaten and battered by insecurity and fear when it comes to putting myself out there to see if anyone would be interested in purchasing the things that I create because, for whatever twisted reason, I equate lack of purchases with personal rejection.

See, these things that I create….I put a little bit of myself into each one, so when I try to sell things (and I’m not even talking just about right now, this is right now and in the recent past and in the far distant past) if they are not wildly received and purchased in a mad flurry of excitement and energy – then I feel like “I’m” not good enough….

Messed up, eh?

I know it is. I don’t want to live like that and so I keep trying. Often I try badly, with only a half attempt so that no one knows or guesses how much I care. Often I throw it off like a passing interest so that I don’t seem that invested in it, all in an attempt to fool myself into not caring and then not getting hurt.

I can tell myself that I love to create. I can tell myself that regardless of what happens – I will continue to create and give things away because I FEED and THRIVE ON CREATIVITY.

Even saying that, I plagued by thoughts. Comparisons, insecurities, criticism….so many thoughts and yet…

I AM CREATIVE!

I think I’m saying that in an effort to personally grab a hold of that concept and embrace it as truth.

“I” am creative!

I “AM” creative!

I am “CREATIVE”!

“I AM CREATIVE!!!!”

All I know is that I love to create….

I bought a small watercolor journal in the summer and told myself that I was going to paint. Just…..PAINT! If it was crap – well then it was my crap! I painted my feelings and paired them with words and inspirations that mirror those feelings. I can see the difference between my first painting in that book and the most recent ones. I’m a bit more comfortable. I’m a bit more confident. And that’s only in the last 4 months….

I’m going to continue to create.

Intentionally! I can only get better. It doesn’t matter what it is – I need to create, even if it is only for me.

And I’ve decided that I’m going to give the whole store a go. I’ve been waffling so badly on it and every day the mental anguish has been worse than the day before….the thoughts and fears and insecurities swirl round and round and round until I’m dizzy and sick because of it all. And because I do not want to live that way, nor model that for my children, I’m just going to say it out loud here (more for myself than for any of you)…

I’m going give the whole “store” a real go..I’m gonna try. I’m going to CREATE things and stock a store and attempt to sell things and I will ~~attempt to~~ NOT find my worth in the things that I create. I’m so much more than that….

Currently my store is on Etsy, but we are working on a better one….Whether anyone buys or not – I’m going to work as hard as I can at creating beautiful things to stock the store with. Things that I love! At the very least, I will have amazing gifts to give away whenever I want to….I don’t even have to wait for a special occasion. I will not judge my worth by whether or not people buy. This is a tough time in the economy – we understand that and regardless…..I’m going to create.

I hope you understand that I’m not saying this in an attempt to manipulate you. I needed to put this out there for myself. I need to face these thoughts, these Worry Dragons and tell them to “Be Still” or better yet to “Be Gone!”. I need to remind myself that I am loved and not rejected. I need to remind myself that people are out there ready to accept me and not waiting and searching for an opportunity to reject me. People are not looking for something to knock me down with but they are there to encourage and support me and life me up.

I choose to accept those as truths in my life. I am worth being accepted. I am worth being loved.

This past year has played a big number on me and while I accept and appreciate all your support and love….my life has been so insular and I’ve not had a lot of personal, face-to-face, human contact; and so many of the fears and worry dragons that I had faced, beaten back or even beaten down have slowly crept back up and are trying to get back into my life and I don’t want to let them in.

And so, I make no bones about it…..I have a store. Currently it’s over here (click to go through to Etsy)…..it will be here for now and I’ll continue to add more things to it, until the new store (yes, we are working on a different store option and it’s going to be amazing when it’s done) is finished being set up.

That being said, the name of my store is “Simple Choices“…..I’d love it if you would check it out. I’ll be adding more and more items to the store in teh coming days, so keep checking back.

I am passionate about living simply. I’m passionate about having healthy, natural alternatives to the chemicals that we so often use without even realizing; whether it be on our babies or on our bodies or in our homes. I’m passionate about simple toys that won’t harm our children (with chemicals in the plastic) and that will stimulate creativity and imagination. I’m passionate about learning about healthy and natural living and sharing that knowledge with others who want to learn about it. I’m so excited to share how small simple choices can make such a HUGE difference.

My life has been radically changed (for the better) by a whole bunch of small, simple choices. It didn’t happen overnight and I have so many more choices that I could make to be healthier, but like the name of the store, “Simple Choices”… Life is all about the simple choices. You might be surprised at how those simple choices add up…. That doesn’t mean that it’s always the easiest choice, but there are a lot of times in life where the harder, more difficult things are often appreciated more because of the effort that we must put in to them.

Simple Choices can make a huge difference in your life…I know they have in mine. I know that as I continue to make simple choices, I’ll continue to see the benefits in my life and in the lives of those around me….

“There may be a thousand little choices in a day. All of them count.”
Dr. Shad Helmstetter

I’d love it if you would take a look at my new Website….it’s still under construction, so you might want your hard hat and your steel toed boots, but I promise that we’ll be up and running smoothly in no time.

Come on over and join in on the fun…..

simplechoices.ca

ps….you can also check out the Simple Choices blog. It was supposed to be a little readier than it is, BUT…we’ve had some fun this morning. Check back tomorrow for all the CRAZY Drama from this morning…..

I am Jeremy

Jeremy came home from school the other day with the poem and it’s too cute to not share. It also gives a good glimpse into his brain and how it works and what things are important to him along with a few random seeming not related things thrown in there just because….

I love this little man!

I am Jeremy, smart and funny
I wonder what movies you watch
I hear the birds chirping
I see the birds
I want a PS3
I am Jeremy, smart and funny

I pretend I’m at home
I feel the wind
I touch the computer
I worry about Josiah getting in my room
I cry when I get hurt
I am Jeremy, smart and funny

I understand games
I say I love you mom
I dream of games
I try to have strait A’s
I hope you will me give me a PS3
I am Jeremy, smart and funny!

A Month at a Glance in Pictures.

I dumped all the pictures from my iPhone the other day and thought that rather than taking up a bunch of posts, I could just put all of these photos into one post and BAM! Get it all done.

I do still have one more post about our trip home from our vacation and I want to get it on here for memory sake, but it can wait one day….

October 9 – Mommy’s Little Helper

Judah helps me to load the dishwasher…such a helpful little guy

October 11 – Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie & Chiro

I made a Gluten Free Pie Crust and it turned out fabulous. I was pretty excited.

Geli had Chiro cause we are still dealing with the after effects of a year of intensive chemo.

October 12 – Independence

Judah helps himself to some cereal. Not cool, Son!

Still October 12 – Physio for Geli ..getting stronger and healthier!

October 15 – Kathryn comes for a few days

Jon’s cousins Kathryn came over from Uganda, Africa and stayed with us for a weekend. It was AMAZING to see her and to spend some time with her. The time went by WAY TOO FAST!

October 18th – Cranky Baby gets worn so Mommy can actually get some stuff done!

Being worn in a “wrap” transforms Cranky Baby into Happy Baby!

Still October 18

Reference Photo so we can see “where” Geli is as as far as strength and mobility.

October 21st – YOUTH!

Jeremy’s First Night at Youth – They had Nerf Gun Battle…it was pretty epic…they played in the whole church. How fun is that?

…he was pretty excited about it and hasn’t stopped talking about it every since…almost every single day! Seriously!

October 22nd – Homemade Pasta

I made Gluten Free Pasta from scratch…and it actually tasted pretty good.

October 29 – CHEESE!

Pictures for Jack from Aunty and Judah

And we carved pumpkins – although I am going to do a post on this because it’s tradition – and then we baked the seeds…that’s the best part. This is what 5 pumpkins worth of seeds looks like.

October 31st – Siah’s Happy Pumpkin – I love him!

October 31st – The Force is Strong with This One!

October 31st – Butterfly

I didn’t dress up, but I did find a butterfly…and scared the crap out of my nephew…more on that story soon.

November 1st – Gluten Free Crackers

I made these almond/cheese crackers and they taste like Cheese Nibs….I’ll definitely be making these again and cutting them into tiny one inch squares for a delicious snack.

November 2nd – FIRE!!!

I used the self cleaning option on my oven and started a fire….and learned that I need to clean my oven more often…once every 2 years is just NOT ENOUGH! But it sure looks purty now!

November 3rd – We’ve come a long way!

If you had told me ten years ago that I’d be eating fresh onion soup (like 3 whole onions chopped up), gluten free crackers and goat cheese – I’d had thought you were INSANE! And now this is just normal…a lot can change in ten years…

November 3rd – Cranky Babies are not so easy or fun to take care of.

He’s been “not feeling well” for far too long!

November 4th – Firsts!

Siah gets his first fillings at the dentist and ROCKS it like a champ.

And that concludes a month of iPhone Photos…..Which one is your favorite?

ps….I’d love it if you’d check out my Etsy shop

Day 7 – Castaway Cay

We woke up on Friday morning and rushed outside to our balcony because we knew that we should be close to Castaway Cay.

We were close. Once we docked, there was still some time before we were allowed to get off the ship. I snapped a few more pictures as we got a little bit closer…it looked SO INCREDIBLE and we were so excited. We went and had breakast and then got our stuff together and got ready to hit the beach. WHEEEEE!!!!

We docked over on the far right in the picture and went to the second beach over on the left in the picture. There is a little tram that takes you to the different locations on the island.

We found some chairs and umbrellas and dumped all our stuff off and the kids headed out to play in the sand and the water.

The weather was INCREDIBLE and I was a bit worried about us getting fried to a crisp. Angelica demonstrates perfect sunscreen application and technique in this next photo..

The kids were so happy and excited to actually be here. We’d been talking and dreaming about Castaway Cay for a long time and the day had finally arrived.

And they did amazing at wearing their shirts when I started to get worried about too much sun….

I really do have amazing kids. It was highlighted to me on this trip, just how great these kids of mine are. See, I’ve spent so much of this past year inside of my house and I’ve not been able to see the kids interacting with others. It’s been a very isolated year. I see them bickering with each other and not listening to me and fussing or whining or disobeying and because we are together SO MUCH, I’m sure that they get as sick of each other and me as I do of them….I’m not saying that I don’t love my kids, because I love them fiercely and desperately, but sometimes we all need to be able to have “breathing” time and that time has been sadly lacking from our family over this past year and a bit…..

I’ve seen their faults highlighted by our small insular world and to see how polite they were on the ship and to see how well they handled themselves in interesting and challenging situations…..to see them help others and give to others and be caring and compassionate and gentle and loving and respectful….it was so nice to see all of their positive attributes highlighted like that. It was even more special to have the table beside ours comment to us about our children and how they recognized how much work we must put into them to have them be such well behaved and respectful children. And they sat beside us for the entire week so it wasn’t just one good day….hee hee!

Judah got a bit cranky and so I put him to sleep….and then Jon transferred him to a beach chair to sleep for a while. If I try to put him down, 9 times out of 10 he will wake up. If Jon takes him and then puts him down, he will stay sleeping……I have no idea why this is? Any ideas? – it drives me nuts!

Jeremy was once again is HEAVEN collecting shells and he even found a whole bunch of live crab thingy’s in their shells…they were just teeny, tiny, but J was SO excited. He and a few of the kids that we played with at the other beaches spent a HUGE portion of time building a sand castle for these little sea creatures.

It was the most amazing day and there was even a bit of cloud cover so we weren’t scorching hot. Doens’t that picture look UNBELIEVABLE!

The Baby woke up…..and wanted to play in the sand almost immediately..

We were right beside a Lifeguard station and he crawled over to the tower and right under the chair there was a huge coconut that he wanted to play with…

We started to get a bit warm and so we all went back down to the water to splash around a little…

The lagoon was so shallow and Siah was so excited to be able to swim “all on his own”. I swear that kid is part fish the way that he LOVES the water.

Speaking of fish…..can you see this fish? There were these “almost translucent” fish swimming around and the kids had a ton of fun trying to “catch” one. It was so funny to watch.

This was such an incredible adventure for our family and such a HUGE blessing for Angelica. This felt like the beginning of a new part in our lives and the end of a terrible time.

We are not finished this journey that we are on, but Geli has continued to get stronger and stronger and we are so confident that she will overcome EVERY negative aspect of these past 17 months.

When we did get back to the ship we had to hurry because we had been invited to a very “special” event that was happening for the Wish Kids and their families. There were 2 other Wish kids and Families other than ours that were on the ship.

We had a private meet and greet with Captain Mickey and Angelica was given a special Captain Mickey doll!

This was a day that we will remember for a long time. It was an incredible way to finish up an unbelievable trip.

We are so thankful to Children’s Wish for turning this trip from a dream into a reality for Angelica and our whole family.

If you are interested in seeing the rest of the photos from Castaway Cay, please click here!

There were some pretty cool things that happened on our trip home and so I do have ONE more post about our day of travel home, so check back for the trip round up.

Thanks for all your support and love and prayers for us, over this past year and while we were on the trip. You really do mean so much to us and we are so thankful!

Day 6 – Day At Sea

By Thursday we were ready for a slower day…..we only had two full days of our holiday left. This was a 7 day Eastern Caribbean Cruise that we were on.

I woke up before the girls & Judah did; and headed out to my balcony to sit in the quiet for a few moments.

We had been given two rooms on the ship that were side by side….for whatever reason, we had believed that we would have adjoining rooms and it was a bit of a surprise to find that we didn’t, but we adjusted fairly quickly.

It did mean that we had to split up and so Jon took the two boys into one room with him; and the girls & Judah and myself were in the other. It did require some juggling when putting the littlest boys to bed and….well, it wasn’t ideal but we did work it out. I think that if we’d been prepared for to have two separate rooms that it wouldn’t have been such a surprise, but we decided that it didn’t matter if we had to be in two different rooms, because we were just so blessed to be able to even be on this vacation and we were determined to enjoy every single minute of it and to not waste time over silly things like sleeping arrangements.

Judah woke up and I quickly got him so that he wouldn’t wake the girls and we hung out on the balcony for a while. It was AMAZING to have the balcony. I LOVED sitting out there early in the morning or relaxing with Jon out there after we put the two little boys to bed. It was such a treat to have.

(I only have iPhone photos from this day. So while the quality is not perfect; it’s good enough for memories.)

Finally Jon woke up and went and got me a coffee…..YUM! I stopped drinking coffee back in March, but I had coffee while I was on holiday’s and it was a nice treat….sucked when I had to quit again once I got home…but a nice treat nonetheless…

Once all the kids woke up, Jon took a few of them up to the buffet and picked up some breakfast for us all and we ate back in our room and out on the balcony. It was so nice to not be in a hurry rushing off to anywhere.

It was looking like it was going to be an AMAZING day on the ship and we had a few special treats planned.

Jon had booked a spa special for both Geli and I to have together. We got to choose 5 spa services and get pamperd for an hour and a half. We both chose to have a neck and shoulder massage, a scalp massage, a facial, a hand massage and a foot massage. We walked away from our time at the spa feeling very relaxed and very special.

We had signed up for a babysitting slot in the Flounder’s Nursery and were told on Wednesday night that a spot had opened up between 1-4pm on Thursday for Judah and so we took it. We grabbed a quick bite to eat for lunch and then placed ALL the kids into their respective “clubs” and Jon and I had some actual “down time” just for us.

It felt so amazing and yet really weird at the same time. I was quite worried about Judah because he had started screaming as soon as we left him in the nursery and he alternated between screaming and falling asleep in one of the workers arms, but he wouldn’t let them put him down or he’d wake up and start screaming again. Needless to say, he didn’t enjoy his time in the nursery, but Jon and I really did enjoy our time off.

The rest of the cruise we not really a vacation for Jon and I. Taking a trip with 5 kids is not a “holiday” but it is definitely a vacation from the daily grind. But we were just so thankful and grateful for the opportunity and what a wonderful and amazing opportunity it was. I’m not complaining, it’s just the reality with a big family….it’s like we work hard to make it an amazing memory for the kids. And it truly is a MOST AMAZING MEMORY!

I don’t remember too much about that evening, but I’m sure that we headed back to our rooms fairly early because we were going to spend the whole day at Castaway Cay the next day and we were really REALLY looking forward to it.

To see the whole set of photos from this day, click here…

A Whole New Level of Craziness

Things have felt a bit intense over here recently and I feel like I’m going non-stop from the moment I crawl my OH-SO-TIRED self out of bed in the morning, until the moment I flop into bed at night.

Now to be completely honest, I shut down for the evening around 8:30-9:00pm on a “normal” night and then Jon and I sit on the couch and watch a show or two and then I do the whole “flopping into bed” thing.

So I’m not on the go ALL DAY, but boy it sure feels like it. And it’s been worse over the past few weeks because my babies have been sick. Josiah brought home some lovely virus from the Cruise ship (YAH OVER A MONTH AGO) and he was sick for a week-ish and then I got a sore throat and cough and then Judah picked it up and then just as he was getting better…..both Judah and Siah managed to pick up another bug from somewhere.

And those two little boys have been CRANKY!

And Judah’s not sleeping (not at night or during the day) and he’s wheezing quite a bit and I’m using Eucalyptus Cream on his chest 4 times a day and using a Castor Oil pack on him twice a day and trying some homeopathic medicine twice a day away from the Eucalyptus….and between his clinging and whining…..when I sit down at the end of the day….I’m so DONE!

Unless I’m holding him…..this is typically what Judah has looked like for the past week or so….It’s about as awesome as it looks….blurry photo and all.

He seems to be a bit better today than he was yesterday and I’m hoping that tonight is better than last night….Hello 3:30am until 5:30am – it was nice seeing you!

Jon has spent the greater part of this week Job Hunting and it seems like his efforts have paid off. He should have the contract in his hands as of Monday, but he has been contracted to do a great job for the next three months. Hopefully, there will be more work at the end of the three months, regardless, I know that we will be okay. He should start on Monday November the 14th. Yah!

I’ve been working on making a bit of grocery money in my spare time (HA HA HA HA!) and I have a few things put up in an Etsy shop…with a few more things to come….I just need to take pictures of the products.

If you see something that you like, you are more than welcome to contact me personally and we can work out payment details….I know that some people don’t like to pay for things online and that’s totally cool. I understand!

If you’re are interested in checking it out, please click here. I’ll be adding new things over the next few days so be sure to check back.

I have planned to “MAKE” time tomorrow to sit down and pound out the rest of our vacation. I can’t believe it’s taken so long to get to it. Life has just been that crazy busy for us! It’s mostly good, but I’m a big fan of quiet, peaceful, SLOW times. The business gets to me after a while. I crave the down times and lately they have been elusive.