Category: Health

More with the WICKED FUN-NESS!

AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGH!

So, have I ever told you about how I thought that allergies were (rolls eyes) “ALL IN YOUR HEAD”!

I mean, there are just so freakin’ many of them out there now and it feels like every time you turn around another kid is showing up at a school with some weird freaky allergy, and making life all sorts of difficult for everyone else. I mean, SERIOUSLY, the nerve of that child….come on people….don’t be so stupid and inconvenient. I have a life, and I want to live it free from your allergies…..

Oh, I imagine that it might not be a picinic for you either, but come on…don’t make my life more difficult. I want to be able to enjoy life and have a peanut butter sandwich wherever I please.

What was that?

Oh….I guess you just want to be able to “just enjoy life”. I guess I can understand that.

See, when Siah was 6 weeks old he started getting eczema on his head. I had it checked out because it seemed different to me than normal cradle cap. It oozed and he would lay beside me in bed at night and scratch ALL! NIGHT! LONG!

What tiny infant scratches and scratches and scratches…especially at cradle cap. Hmph! Seriously!

So anyway, we dealt with ever spreading, oozing eczema, and vomiting and bloody mucus-y poop (that was my favorite). Once we identified that it was dairy and soy and eggs and all sorts of other various things, and I cut them all out………VOILA! Healthy Baby! It was AWESOME!

So, now I have spent the last year stressing about protecting my baby from other “stupid” people who don’t belive that allergies are “real”! Yah, that’s a lot of fun!

Payback, eh?

But, Saturday night/Sunday morning with the vomiting, and Sunday night with the bloody poo, and then today……OH TODAY!

Well, more realistically we are talking about tonight.

I gave Siah some chewed up cashews. I’ve given him cashews before with no problems – that I knew of. I gave him one mouthful. and then a second mouthful and then a third…which he spit on the floor. I chided him for being a cheeky monkey and cleaned it up.

About 5 minutes later I noticed that he had a reaction around his mouth. It was red and rashy and SUCKS! So, I got a rag and tried to wash it all off – all the while stressing about what it was doing to his insides – if this was the reaction on the outside, and praying that beause his system was already just recently compromised from the recent reaction, that we wouldn’t have an even bigger reaction.

I noticed that he was rubbing his eye, but didn’t think too much of it.

5 minutes later, there was noticibly WAY MORE eye rubbing and the eye was redder and puffier and nothing could disuade him from rubbing. It was obviously a reaction . I think that he must of had some of the cashew got on his hands and he rubbed it into his eye.

Here it is, and understand that the pictures does it absolutely no justice. It looked worse than it did here……and the mouth was WAY better than it was originally.

Eye & Lip

I sent Jon out to get some Benadryl. We gave him some and the eye has started to settle down some and he’s not scratching like he’s trying to eradicate it from his head – That was fun, let me tell you.

I’m stressed about more bloody poop and vomiting. I’m also freaking about what else is “out there” that he might react to. That part of life is fun.

So, Here I am stressing about Siah……Stressing about Allergies…..Stressing about not knowing……Stressing about what to expect….Stressing about what to do….

I HATE STRESSING!

And, in the middle of all the drama….he’s still just so darn cute and happy.

Still Happy

And…in other news…..I had sucessfully avoided that stores today until tonight…..when we added $8.40 on Bendaryl to our monthly spending bringing the total up to…..$102.35….stupid allergies!

Some News

Alright, so I’m feeling a bit better – Thanks to all who asked, commented or e-mailed. I haven’t had such a sore throat in a long time. But I think I’m on the mend. It was weird…no other symptoms except a wicked sore throat.

AND…..YES!!!! It was my birthday yesterday. I’m now officially 33 years old. I’m easy 10 years older than Xandra’s teacher this year….and THAT makes me feel like a geezer. Okay, maybe not 10, but he’s a guy and he looks younger than he actually is – which is a good thing because he looks really young…..really REALLY young. But he seems like a really nice guy so it’s all good – I guess, eh?

So, thanks for all the Facebook messages, and the e-mails and the phone calls and texts, and well – I felt totally loved and spolied.

Jon took me out for breafast in the morning (I love going out for breakfast – It’s my favorite!) and then two of my girlfriends took me out for all you can eat Sushi for lunch (that’s my next favorite) and then my brother was going to take me (and Jon) out for dinner, but at that point I was “yucking out in my pants” ……ha ha ha ha – that was something I said a very long time ago, and I can’t believe that it just popped into my head right then. Actually, I was feeling very full, but still excited about going out for dinner – Can you imagine a whole day without me having to prepare ONE SINGLE MEAL…yah, me either, so this was AWESOME.

BUT….and there’s always a but, eh? But, we remembered that it was “Meet the Teacher Night” at both the Middle and the Elementary School, and so we rescheduled for early next week…..was it Monday or Tuesday? I don’t remember? Hmmmmm Chris????? Help me out?

And, in the middle of all this, my house is an absolute disaster and looks and feels like a bomb exploded and a camel threw up. Fortunately, my natural deodorant is still working and so it doens’t stink and above all else…..THAT IS AWESOME. I cannot tell you how amazing it is to go to out, and to sweat, and to stay in those same clothes all day, and then to take them off at the end of the day and to do a pit sniff and other than the fact that you “know” you sweated in them – THERE IS NO STENCH! So much so that if you wanted to be gross and disgusting – which I don’t – you could totally get away wth wearing them again the next day…..which I wouldn’t, but I could….I totally could.

This is so unbelieveble to me. I am starting to grasp the fact that I am not a stinky hippie any longer. YAAAAAAHHHH!

Okay, so back to the bomb exploding, camel vomiting disaster of a house…….

A while back my favorite earrings broke.

It was hell!

My sister made these earrings for me back when she worked in a Rock and Gem Store in North Vancouver. They went with just about every piece of clothing that I owned and they were the perfect mix of not too dressy, but not too casual. They were perfect! PERFECT, I tell you!

Well, I wore them right out! One of them broke on me after YEARS of almost daily wear.

I was devestated, and so after an appropriate mourning period, I decided to move on and attempt to recreate a new pair that was as close to the originals as possible.

I headed to Michaels, and found some stuff and whipped up a new pair in no time at all.

While I was there, I got sucked into the black hole of the beading and jewelry section, and I will never again be able to climb my way out of there again. THE END!

Actually, I was overcome with ideas and possibilities, and well….in any spare time – like nap time or after bed time in the evenings – I started making some jewelry.

A friend of mine came over and saw some of the stuff and well….she picked up a few pieces, and then I had the opportunity to go and hang out for an evening with a bunch of ladies, and I sold a bunch more pieces…..and so….with a huge amount of panic little bit of stress…..I am now going to be selling some jewelery on-line.

I’ve not uploaded all the pieces into the store, and we still have bugs and glitches that we are working out, but if you’re interested – go and take a look and maybe…just maybe, there will be something that you like.

Keep checking back regularly as I still have pieces to add, and I’m making new pieces in my spare time…HA HA HA HA HA! Spare time, what is that?

Also, if you see something that you like, but you are wondering about different colors – let me know and we’ll try to work something out.

If you come across any glitches or *gasp* spelling mistakes (I would never make any of those) and you have the time….let me know so that I can make everything look as good as possible.

Hey, something in my life has to be neat and tidy and it sure ain’t my house, right now.

I’ll be adding some more product to the store today and then once again, we are off to Vancouver this weekend AND….AND…..I’m getting my hair done on Saturday! YAH! So I’ll post pictures, as soon as I can.

And hopefully, things will be getting back to normal and my regularly scheduled blatherings will resume and life will be grand, eh?

Am I nuts to think of hope for that?

Winning the Stinkin’ War!

Nope! This is not a post about “The War” or about any kinda politics….you should know me better than that. Not something that I’m terribly interested in blogging about.

A while ago, I stopped using deodorant.

In trying to make healthier choices, I wanted to not be clogging up my pores with Aluminum filled anti-perspirants.

I tried the Rock Crystal, and for a while it worked AMAZINGLY. No stench….I still sweat and had some sweet pit circles, but I can handle wet pits – I CANNOT handle any stench! There was no smell, but after a while, I started to react to the crystal, and so I stopped. I bought some other alternative deodorants, but they never really worked.

Fortunately, I am at home most of the time, and so on a lot of days, I’d just wear nothing, and if I noticed any smell, I’d just go and wash up, and VOILA! Problem solved. This didn’t help me if I were out and especially if I were out ALL DAY!

I was a nervous wreck, wondering if someone was thinking and wondering who forgot to bathe that day.

I’ve been thinking about making my own deodorant for a while, and just didn’t have the ingredients around for the recipes that I’d seen.

Last week, early in the week, I was googling homemade deodorants, and came across this site and her recipe for a deodorant and probably the most exciting thing was that I had the ingredients on hand….sort of.

I didn’t have arrowroot powder, but she also said that you could just cornstarch, and I did have that.

3 ingredients – baking powder, cornstarch, and coconut oil.

I really didn’t think that it would work all that well – seeing as I’ve tried quite a few different commercially prepared deodorants, and been disappointed. Both Jon and I have been searching for something that would work for both of us. I’ve actually used Lavendar Essential Oil and it smells nice, but it seems to either wear off quickly or just get washed off by the flood of sweat that I seem to produce. It’s awesome, I tell you….really not so much! But Jon’s not so interested in the Lavendar Essential Oil…I can’t imagine why?

Anyway, I combined the ingredients in a little container, and mixed it all around. My first thought was that it smelled good enough to eat. I was a little concerned about whether or not the “oil” would get my clothes greasy, and about how well it would soak into my skin, and well…..if it would really even work. I put the lid on the container and put it in my bathroom, ready for the next morning.

It had hardend overnight, and if we had an old deodorant container – it would have been almost perfect to have used that, but….we just scooped out a pea sized amount with our fingers and smeared away.

It’s a bit gritty, but it smooths on nicely, and soaks in really fast, and SMELLS SO YUMMY!

I have used it every day since then. Applying once in the morning, and when I do the evening pit sniff to see if I’m delicious enough to crawl into bed with Jon (unfortunately, he doens’t do this for me, and sometimes….he really needs to) I have not once smelled any BO at all! In fact, you can still smell a bit of the coconut oil.

Even the next morning, 24 hours later, all is still well in the stench department.

I am a bit in shock, that something so simple could work so well. I keep wondering if I’ll need to change it up in a bit because it will mysteriously stop working for me or if this is the long term solution for me.

Have you tried any alternative deodorant solutions? Have you found something that you are happy with? or do you just use regular deodorant? and Why?

This is the NON-BARFING edition

So, yesterday was a pretty good day. I guzzled water until my eyeballs were floating, and I felt pretty good aaaaaalllll the way up until I crawled into bed last night.

I even managed to make it into bed before 10:30pm. I could tell that my musles were a little bit sore, and so I did some stretching to try and work them out a little, but then my head hit the pillow and I was GONE.

I woke up at……are you ready for this…..4am – yup, Siah slept from 7:15pm until 4am, and at that point if he didn’t nurse, then there was no hope that he’d sleep for Jon after I left. So, I went and got him and brought him back to bed with me.

I just kinda dozed between 4 and 4:45am, and then I popped outta bed before my alarm clock went off and got ready to go.

I drank two HUGE glasses of water, and ate a banana to try and ward off the whole barfing thing…and ya know what….IT WORKED!

I made it through my second session – all the way through – and although I was tired and my body is not used to being asked to work a little bit harder – it went well.

I can feel that my muscles are feeling sore right now. I’m a little nervous about how I’ll feel tonight, and especially about how I’ll feel tomorrow.

I’m still planning on going tomorrow, even if I can’t do as well as I did today. I’m pretty excited about just getting some exercise, let alone 90 minutes two days in a row….

As I was driving home today musing about just jumping in feet first, I started thinking about exercise and what it was that I liked about the Bikram’s Yoga compared to other forms of exercise. I think that the dry breathing, panting so you can’t catch your breath, and feeling like your heart is going to explode out of your chest…..yah, that’s the feeling I dislike…and seeing as I’m terribly outta shape, if I try to do other forms or exercise that’s what I end up feeling like.

I like the idea that this class is for beginners and for those with experience and that you are always only competing with yourself.

Right now, I’m in the learning stages, and am flailing around trying to find position, and am not so fluid, and well….I’m definately just learning, but I talked with the instructor today after class, and she said that about 5-6 classes into it, I should have more of an idea as to what’s going on, and of the poses, and that about 10 classes into it, that I should start to find my rhythm and a nice sense of flow. I’m looking forward to that ’cause right now I’m feeling a little bit stiff and sore – but in a good kind of way.

In other news, We have been eating some unbelievably amazing food for the last little bit. I recently bought a couple of new books and from them, have made a Thick Potato, Cauliflower, and Dulse Soup….sorry no pictures, but it was AMAZING, and even Geli, my MOST picky eater, LOVED it and has asked for it every day since I made it.

Dulse is a dark red sea veggie that is full of highly absorbably iron, and in the soup it justs adds the right amount of flavor.

Last night we had Nori-Wrapped Wasabi Salmon which is salmon wrapped in a sheet of seaweed, and again. So, SO good! I didn’t make that for the kids, they just got plain marinated salmon, but Jon and I LOVED the seaweed wrapped salmon and will definately be making it again..

And – I have pictures for you –

Nut Burgers

on Tuesday night we had Nut Burgers, and again with the deliciousness. They would have been DIVINE on a bun, but we just ate them plain. The recipe I used calls for sunflower seeds and walnuts. I had walnuts, but I had no sunflower seeds, so I made two batches – one with pine nuts – in place of the sunflower seeds, and the other with pumpkin seeds. You grind up the nuts in a food precessor and then mix in a bunch of spices, add a finely ground carrot and them some brown rice with a tiny bit of tomatoe sauce to hold it all together. Make your patties, and then let them sit for an hour or so in the fridge. Heat up your skillet and use either butter or oil and brown the tops and bottoms, and serve.

Burger Close Up

These are seriously yummy, and with the edges all crunchy….mmmm…we saved a few overnight that we didn’t cook, and had them for lunch the next day, and they were just as good even after sitting in the fridge for a while.

Between the nuts and the brown rice, you end up with a complete protein, and so all you need to round out the meal is a salad or some veggies.

I’m still going through my books, and am sure to come up with more yummy food for us to try.

well, that about does it for today….Geli and I are going to make some chocolate coconut macaroons.

And then I BARFED…..Yes! I really did!

I’ve been wanting to get physical for a while now…..NO! Not that kind of physical, but I’ve been an absolute SLOB for FAR. TOO. LONG!

Tim – my brother – has been doing Bikram’s Yoga for a while now, and I told him that I wanted to join him, so I’ve signed up for the introductory week offer, and TODAY WAS MY FIRST DAY!

I was a little nervous. So nervous, in fact, that when I tried to go to sleep last night at 10:30pm…..well, I couldn’t sleep.

I keot thinking ALL. THESE. THOUGHTS. – like….. How hot will it be? and Will I fall over? and Will everyone be perfect and beautiful? and Will I even be able to stick it out for the 90 minutes class? and What if I sleep through my 5am alarm clock? (the class started at 6am, but I needed to be there – in Langley – at 5:45am to register) and What if the baby was awake ALL. NIGHT. LONG? and how would he handle me not being there in the morning?

And then………..I started to wonder if the downstairs people were going to have their 4X a week party complete with loud, bass-filled music, alcohol, cigarettes and sometimes even pot….It makes for a good time at 4:30 – 5am.

Now imagine all of that, competing with a nagging voice chanting,

“Go to sleep, go to sleep, Rah, Rah, Rah”
“Go to sleep, go to sleep, Ha Ha Ha”

It was AWESOME! and then…….then one of my girls started talking in their sleep and they called out for me, but when I got up to see what they wanted…they were both sound asleep and I was WIDE AWAKE, and it was 11:30pm, and it was even AWESOMER!

So anyway, I did get up at 5am and aside from one little freak out because I couldn’t find my water bottle and I was stressing about being late – I did make it out the door and on the road all in good time.

The class got started and I was feeling all cocky and sure of myself. You know, aside from the wobbly jello legs and arms, and I was desperately trying to hold my body from shaking so wildly that the sweat that was gushing in rivers….no oceans….off my body wouldn’t fling around the room and shower the rest of the people with my “toxicity” and…it was all going good…..until about an hour into it all…then we did this one pose and the blood all rushed to my head and when we relaxed after it, I felt all light headed and like I was going to pass out…so I just layed around for a bit (in the relaxing laying on the floor “healing” pose – yah I’m going with that) until I felt not so woozy. I did make it the 90 minutes in the freaking hot-ness and then after it all I went and grabbed my stuff from the change room and then I started to feel funny. Like I was going to barf…but because I am an expert barf-er (see all previous pregnancies), I figured that I could tough it out.

So, Tim and I went outside on the deck, and I figured that if I had some fresh air and just stayed VERY STILL that I’d be able to fight it off…..NOPE!

I had to make the mad dash into the bathroom, and of course…I’m trying to be all cool about it, and not slam into the bathroom door and run into anyone and then it looked like I was going to be using the garbage can, because I thought that both stalls were in use, and all this time, I’m barfing and ……swallowing…CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? All because I was trying to be SOOOOOOO cool.

Yah! I rock!

I guess I still need to work on the whole “pride” issue.

So, two retches and some water and stomach bile later….I’m ALL GOOD!

I go back outside, collect all my stuff and head on out to my van.

I’ll be back again tomorrow, only I think I should eat something as soon as I wake up….although I’m a little concerned about barfing anything other than water….I HATE BARFING.

But, I LOVE stretching, and although I know that I didn’t do the poses and stretches and exercises all correctly….it was still more work than I thought it was going to be – I can imagine that, done correctly and by someone who hasn’t done NOTHING for the past 10 years that it could be quite the work out.

So, I go again tomorrow for the 6am class…..that’s really early.

Oh, and just for accountability’s sake….I’m 180 lbs right now, and I want to get down to 170, at least….well see how that goes. I might be able to sweat that off by Friday at this rate.

ps….I just added a category for exercise….that seems SOOOO weird to me, but I’m hoping that this is the start of a good thing.

How About Some Potato Salad?

So today i whipped up some potato salad for dinner.

I had boiled some potatoes last night and hucked them in the fridge to cool. So, making up the salad was super easy.

This is not your typical potato salad. I didn’t use any egg….I know….horror, how can you possibly have a potato salad without egg in it…well, I did, and it still tastes delicious, sans egg.

Here is the picture that I took of the fabulous salad.

The ingredients for this salad are:

6-8 Red Potatoes
6 inches of a Daikon
1 Zuchinni
4-6 Green Onions
Dairy Free Mayo (approx 1/2 cup or so)
2 Tbsp or so of Dijon Mustard (heavy on the or so)
TONS of DILL (maybe 2 Tbsp or more)
2 Tbsp Relish

I woulda used plain pickles instead of relish, but I didn’t have any and so I used crappy not-health-food green sweet relish.

I didn’t have any celery on hand, and figured that the daikon would add the right amount of crunch as well as some tangy flavor. The zuchinni was for filler and I figured that it was healthy and once covered with mayo and dill would be unrecognizable. The Green Onions were a familiar flavor, and well…it wouldn’t be potato sald with out the potatoes.

I dumped everything into a bowl and once it was all stirred together, I used my potatoe masher to smoosh it together (I just mashed it a few times, just to moosh some of the potatoes) so it was a tad bit creamy.

Even Geli, liked it…Jeremy was my one hold out….he licked his finger that he touched to one potato, but oh well. For an eggless, celery less potato salad it was really delicious. Actually, it was just really delicious….I think that the only thing I might do differently next time is to actully use pickles, and to use a touch less mayo, but still…another big hit at our house.

So, next time you are wanting to make something…think outside the “normal box” and see what substitutes that you can use and still retain the idea of it all.

I did make a TON of crackers today, and they are also delicious. I should go and take a picture so i can share them with you as well.

Not that this is a food blog or anything.

Jon and I are headed into Vancouver tomorrow to spend the weekend at my In-Laws, and I’m looking forward to the change of pace that staying there brings…

I’m not at all packed or ready to go and so that chould make tomorrow morning a bit stressfull, but I’m jst gonna try to “flooooooow” with it. The kids are already packed and so that makes it a teeny tiny bit easier, because I just have to do Siah and myself, and all the food.

On that note, I think I’m gonna go and talk about our food for the weekend with Jon.

Talk to you soon.

Oh, do you have a favorite Potato Salad recipe that you could share? Or one that I could adapt to being dairy free….lemme know…or heck, even just any fun salad recipe….I’ve got a spicy peanut with rice noodle one that is AMAZING and the kids are asking for it so I will be making it sometimes soon…are you interested in the recipe for that one?

The Bugs are Overtaking Us……

Alright, so I’m way behind, and have too many things to get caught up on….if I can actually get them all typed out in a timely fashion, that should mean that I have enough Blog fodder to last the next little while…a backlog so to speak, which should hopefully keep things exciting around these parts…you know…as long as I’m actually able to get enough sleep to type out some coherent and hopefully funny sentances.

Siah waited until he was almost 11 months to cut his first tooth, and now hes going for a world record – number of teeth to come in all at once. No, he doesn’t have any more that are cut through right now, but he’s miserable and up at nights and you can see the outline and bumps from at least two more teeth that I’d expect he should have in the next minute or couple of weeks….just to narrow it down for ya’ll.

Well, the bugs are BRUTALLY bad right now. And we are being eaten ALIVE.

I’ve already been searching for some natural bug sprays, and I think that I’ll be making some up either today or tomorrow.

This is what I’ve come up with…….

This site here says this….

Natural Repellents

These natural products will effectively repel mosquitoes, but they require more frequent reapplication (at least every 2 hours) and higher concentrations than DEET. Because of the differences between types of mosquitoes, products that contain multiple repellents tend to be more effective than those containing a single ingredient. As you can see, natural repellents tend to be volatile plant oils.

• Citronella Oil
• Lemon Eucalyptus Oil
• Cinnamon Oil
• Castor Oil
• Rosemary Oil
• Lemongrass Oil
• Cedar Oil
• Peppermint Oil
• Clove Oil
• Geranium Oil
• Possibly Oils from Verbena, Pennyroyal, Lavender, Pine, Cajeput, Basil, Thyme, Allspice, Soybean, and Garlic

Here is a recipe that I found using some of the different Essential Oils, and I’ll probably be following this recipe to make up some bug repellant spray.

Making Your Own Natural Insect Repellent

Herbalist Debra Nuzzi-St. Claire suggests combining the following essential oils to make a natural insect repellent:

1/2 ounce citronella oil
1/4 ounce lavender oil
1/8 ounce pennyroyal oil
1/8 ounce tea tree oil
1/8 ounce jojoba oil

Do not use this blend undiluted on your skin. Follow these instructions for diluting:

To make an insect repellent oil that can be used on your body, add 16 ounces of jojoba or almond oil to the base oil mixture and blend thoroughly.

For an insect repellent spray, add 16 ounces of vodka to the base oil mixture, pour into a spray bottle, and shake before using.

I’ll let you know how it all works out. I know that you can get Essential Oils at a Health Food store, and even our local Pricesmart is carrying a decent selection of natural foods and health products and they have a selection of Essential Oils….in fact, they have one called “Buzz Off” which is a ready made mix of Oils that you can dilute and use to keep the bugs at bay.

Once you have the bites, however…that is a whole different story….especially if you live at our house.

I’m highly allergic to the bites, and so are the kids. Like, I will scratch for months – I’m not kidding – after I get a bite. And It’s so itchy that I will scratch until it bleeds, and even then it still itches. Gross, eh? But, not only is there the itching, but the swelling is unreal. One bite can swell up bigger than a loonie (our crazy Canadian dollar coin), and is so red and angry looking. It seems terribly unfair that they don’t see to like or even phase Jon AT ALL….little bugger!

We’ve tried a few different remedies, and one that actually seems to work and you probably have the ingredients on hand is vinegar and banana peel.

Spray a little household white vinegar on the bite, and then rub the inside of a banana peel on top. I have NO IDEA why it works, but Xani’s been rubbing herself down with these two things and it’s been working.

Another thing that has really worked for us is the Homeopathic Remedy “Apis Melifica”

You should be able to buy it at your local Health Food Store, and yes…it really does work!

Let me know if you have any other good, natural mosquito repellent ideas and natural ways to deal with the bites once they’ve happened.

On Being Unconventional……

I read this comment on this website the “Happy Foody” everytime I check over there and it always gets me thinking.

“I don’t understand why asking people to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet is considered drastic, while it is medically conservative to cut people open and put them on cholesterol lowering drugs for the rest of their lives.” – Dean Ornish, MD

and then while I was already thinking about that quote again for the umpteeth time, I floated over to “Owlhaven” and read this post on “What do we owe our children?” It stems from her recently sharing about her family of 9 and sharing some ideas on being frugal and being able to eat well for less.

She talks about how some have just recently critized her and have insinutated “…..that in keeping our food costs low, I might be somehow depriving my children or feeding them subpar food.” She goes on to say, “…I only have to look at a plate of food at an average dinner to know that our diet is varied, healthy, and delicious.”

I think that some of what is said and even not said between the first quote and the second situation summs up a bit of how I end up feeling in regards to our whole way of eating.

I’m not planning of becoming vegetarian, but I will admit that I’ve been looking into some well balanced vegetarian meal ideas. I’ve thought about doing a vegetarian meal 2 or 3 times a week. As long as it’s balanced, I’d be interested in giving it a try. Not to mention, that it would cut the grocery costs a little bit, and every little bit helps, right?

I’m not talking about a meal of just lettuce, but of taking into consideration protein, carbs, veggies, oil and finding a good and delicious balance.

See, we’ve already cut most processed things out of our diet. We mainly eat veggies and fruit with grains and then some lean meats. I don’t buy too much of anything that is boxed or packaged besides things like Almond or Soy milk, and some Brown Rice Pasta from time to time. I don’t buy cookies or snacks for the kids….I make granola bars or popcorn or once in a while I will bake something with honey or brown rice syrup or maple syrup as the sweetner instead of sugar.

Compared to “normal” North American diets….we eat so bizarre. But going back to that quote from the beginning and just recognizing that TO ME it’s bizarre to think that a diet filled with chemicals and additives and processed food and gallons of sugar and all the other crap that is out there is considered normal. That it’s normal to be on drugs to fix or maintain issues created (in a large part) by our diets….that it’s normal to eat chemically created food so that you can lose weight on a lowfat diet…that it’s normal to eat food that is just not normal ……I can recognize that some would say that we (in our family) eat strangely, but I think that most “normal” choices are strange.

I know that our choices are unconventional, but to me it makes so much sense.

I’m not trying to deprive my kids from the “wonders” of life….as in sugar cereal and sugar snacks and pop and everything else out there. I do try to come up with healthy alternatives….Frozen Fruit Juice or Fruit Smoothy Popsicles or Homemade Granola and Granola Bars or Popcorn flavored with spices or Homemade Crackers or Cookies made with ingredients in fairly close to their natural state. You can make Chips and Popcorn balls with honey and nuts…..the possibilities are endless, and the food is healthy for you. I have a HUGE fruit basket and a TON of veggies in the fridge and the kids are allowed to eat whenever they are actually hungry (as long as it’s not in the hour before a meal).

I would however love to deprive them of a life of obesity and diabetes and heart problems, and thyroid problems and fertility issues and any other of the various problems and issues that can be traced back to our diets.

My kids eat. They eat well and they eat a pretty balanced and varied diet.

Would they like to eat sugar cereal day in and day out or eat countless boxes of candy and pizza and McDonalds? They probably think they would, but considering that because we don’t eat like that, on the odd occasion when we do cheat, they end up feeling gross and they are starting putting two and two together that the gross feelings are actually tied into the crap food.

I’m trying to make the best choices for my family and I’m trying to teach my kids to make good healthy choices. It’s a process and one that keeps evolving as we go along and learn new things. I’m surprised at how far we’ve come over the past almost 2 years, and I expect that I’ll be even more surprised at where I’m at in another 2 years…..

So, Do you eat “healthy”? What is your standard of “healthy” eating? Why are you making the choices that you are making? What prompted you to evaluate your diet? Or have you not really thought about it?

I’d love to hear what your choices are and why you are making them, and what you think about all this.

Snotfest June 2008

Yah! Alright! PAR-TAY!

No seriously, it’s a freakin’ party around these parts. Jeremy came home 2 maybe 3 days ago coughing….one of those nasty barky kinda coughs. Like when you feel lie you have a film of sticky gooey flem coating the entire back of your throat and lungs and you can’t quite catch a proper breath because the flem keeps sticking and choking you up.

It was AWESOME!

So, I did my little “stay away from the baby, Jer! I’m serious! JEREMY! I’M SERIOUS…..GET AWAY FROM JOSIAH RIGHT NOW…NO NO NO! DON’T…DON’T….don’t cough all over his face. :mumblingundermybreath: of course you had to cough right into his face didn’t you” freak out to absolutely no avail.

And on Tuesday night when I put Siah to bed he was wheezing and crackling a little with each breath. I really hoped and prayed that it was just a little extra mucus floating around…everyone has a llittle extra mucus from time to time, don’t you? No such luck.

Siah was up just about every hour coughing and wheezing and crying and to say that it was a fun night….well, that would definately be a lie. A COMPLETE AND UTTER LIE!

Yesterday he was coughing a bit during the day, but it really wasn’t anything too bad, but by evening, I knew that we were in for another night of fun filled pleasure and delight.

He had a harder time than usual going down to bed, and it was all because he was SO PLUGGED UP. It’s so sad that you can’t suck and breathe at the same time. So, we popped on and off a million bazillion times, until I finally gave up and then Jon rocked him and he went straight to sleep.

He woke up at 2am, and had a wicked fever. I don’t like to give Tylenol unless it’s totally ncessary, because I figure that the fever is the bodys way of fighting off the infection but this was hot…like HOT HOT!

He was able to nurse back to sleep and when he woke up again at 4am the tylenol was doing it’s job – no fever! YAH!

He’s been the snot monster all day today, and i have more snot on me than has made it into a kleenex. The long strings that are sneezed all the way onto the floor where he is sitting playing with his toys….those are my favorite. in fact, I just tried to tak e apicture of a GIANT snot bubble that he sneezed and stuck between his nose and his shirt….it was equal parts awesome and gross all at the same time. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how badly you wanted to look at it) he was uncooperative when I got the camera out and then promptly smeared it all over my leg – and let my tell you THAT was awesome.

He’s got a bit of a fever right now, but seeing as he’s eating (food) and nursing (after I use the snot sucker – man he hates that thing) and is playing (albeit a bit crankily) I’d say we’re all good and just running though a virus.

I’m hoping that we’re all done with it soon though, cause it sucks….on so many levels.

Two Medium Pizza’s, one and a half pieces of Cheesecake and Five Pounds later…..

Apparently, that’s how much dairy is too much.

I feel BRUTAL today.

I’m supposed to be trying to add some dairy into my diet to see how it affects Josiah (and myself). We are both on some naturopathic “stuff” to help us to deal with the different affects that it has on us. And apparently I’ve figured out how much is too much.

‘Siah has a tiny bit of a rash on his cheeks, and while it could be the starting of exczema, it could also be from teething and his fingers and slobber in and out of his mouth ALL FREAKING DAY. But….he has been dealing with what seems to be acid reflux, and has actually been barfing a little bit. All of that would indicate to me that it would be okay for me to injest a little bit of dairy if I came across it at a restaurant or even going to someone’s house for a meal or even if I wanted to cheat a little, but apparently 4 days of cheating with a half a piece of cheesecake, and then splitting a medium pizza with Jon , and then splitting another medium pizza with Jon because the first was just that good, and then my veryown piece of cheesecake…..apparently that it where the line is drawn….somewhere in all the middle of that.

And for me….I feel bloated, and people in the next city can hear my stomach as it grumbles its complaints to me feeding it that horrible, terrible, no good dairy….and I just feel sluggish and have a headache and feel like I’m in a brain fog, and not to mention that I’ve gained 5 pounds. Nice, eh? It was so not worth it.

So, I think that what I’m going to do is to just go back to taking it easy on the dairy in our own house and with the way that we normally eat. I feel SO MUCH BETTER off of it, and apparently, so does ‘Siah.

In Jeremy related news….

He had another good day. He was thrilled to bring home 4 stickers, AGAIN, and even more thrilled to bring home a friend. Yup! He actually brought home a friend from school, and they played so nicely together for about two hours, until the kid’s father came to pick him up. That is the first time that J has brought a kid home from school, and again….it could all be coincidence or not.

Now, after my whole…..no negative side effects blah, blah blah from yesterday….

We found his lunch from yesterday (almost the entire thing) in the front pouch of his backpack….so that’s not good, especially seeing as I found almost his entire lunch in his backpack again today….so appaerently lunch is not going so well.

We’re going to go in and talk to the principal tomorrow and we’ll mention that, and see what he says about it all; and see if he can help us out with it.

Jeremy seems to be eating well at home, and if lunch is the only meal affected, then Oh Well! He’s eaten an apple and a muffin and some popcorn since he came home, and we’re just about to have dinner so we’ll see. I still think he’s eating enough during the day, as a whole, just not “in school”.

Oh well! I’m sure it’ll all work out. Right?