April 26, 2010 by jennifer
Before bed, I often find myself cruising the blogs of other moms. Some of the moms, I know. Some, I have never met before. I find great tips, ideas, recipes etc, etc on these sites that I am happy to use in my own home. My favorite blogs though are those that are real. Where a mom has somehow managed to find herself in a very humbling place with her home or children, whether it be comical or, well….humbling. I like those because they assure me that we are not all perfect. But I am sometimes left with a feeling of inadequacy after reading a blog. I think, “Wow, that mom is amazing. She does more than I do. Her house is cleaner, kids are probably healthier, happier….” I hate that I feel that way sometimes because my feeling is really that of a deep rooted insecurity in myself.
This weekend, I attended the Beth Moore Simulcast based upon her new book, So Long Insecurity. and at one point I was sitting there trying to think of my major insecurities. At first, I thought I didn’t really have any. I knew that couldn’t be true though. As I thought about it a bit more, two big ones really hit me. I don’t feel like I am as good of a mom as other moms I know and I want my kids to have lots of friends and to be active. I worry about both of these. Am I doing all of the great mom things? Is Breckin making good friends at school? Am I having enough playdates so my kids are properly socialized? Was his birthday party cool enough? Am I feeding them the right foods? Was that the right decision? This lecture made me realize that by questioning all of this too much, to the point of being insecure about it, I am not trusting God. God will give my children and my family the friends we should have. I have very little to do with that. God gave Jeremiah and I our kids because He knows we are the best choice for them. So, just because I am not constantly taking them on adventures or giving them a 100% organic diet does not mean I am failing as a mom. So, I mentioned before about how I love the posts that are just real. Well, here is a small and very incomplete list of my “real.”
– I expect my kids to play by themselves or together sometimes.
– I don’t revolve my life 100% around my children and their activities.
– I sometimes host playdates more for my own sanity than for the benefit my child may get.
– I don’t always control my anger well.
– I let my kids eat Chick-Fil-A more regularly than I would like. (Probably 3-4 times per month)
– I say things I regret.
– My heart breaks when I see my child being left out.
– Just like I play with the kids toys, I expect them to play with me. Example – They garden with me.
– I don’t talk to my kids about God everyday.
– I don’t use every teachable moment that comes my way.
– A certain angry tone of my voice has very much scared my daughter before. It broke my heart into a million pieces.
– I take breaks during the day. They are never very long, but I definitely need those 5 minutes here and there.
– My house is a mess much of the time. This bugs me a lot.
– I don’t do a daily devotional every day. I used to be diligent about this, but since Judah was born, I have failed to be consistent.
– Two outings (social or adventuresome) per week is my absolute limit. Anything beyond that is just too exhausting for me. Note: This does not include visits to the gym, grocery store and other errands.
– Sometimes I put my own feelings first.
– Both of my older kids have said curse words simply because they heard me say it….and I sort of thought it was adorable.
– I am not patient.
– We own a Wii and a DS. And I let my children play them!
– We watch TV.
– I have yet to find a perfect balance since having three children.
– I have broken promises to my kids and made promises I knew I couldn’t keep.
– I am not a perfect mom, wife, or woman.
– I am not even close to having it all together.
– If you asked my children if their mommy loves them, they would say, “YES!” and if you asked them how much they would say “Mommy loves me (insert biggest number they can think of)!” And really, isn’t that what is truly important anyway.
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April 19, 2010 by jennifer
Meal #1 – **grilled steak, potatoes, strawberry/spinach salad
Meal #2 – california chicken (chicken topped with tomato, a little bit of cheese and avocado), organic salad with homemade dressing, whole wheat roll
Meal #3 – chicken noodle soup with homemade egg noodles (we didn’t eat this last week, but opted one night for eating at Panera instead), whole wheat roll, organic salad
Meal #4 – Grilled veggie sandwich (peppers and zucchini) on homemade foccacia, fruit salad
Meal #5 – Chicken burgers (marinated chicken, provolone and avocado), fruit salad
** In order for Jeremiah to be willing to give up soda, I had to agree to make him steak once a week. So, steak will always be on the menu. But, Diet Mt Dew and Dt Coke won’t be. 
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April 18, 2010 by jennifer
So, week one is down. Of the foods we tried, here are the results.
WINNERS!
Peppers stuffed with brown rice, feta and a tomato saute – We have had this meal many times before and have always loved it. What I love most is that it fits nicely into our new nutritional guides.
Strawberry and spinach salad with homemade poppy seed dressing – This was a new one for our fam and we loved it. In fact, Jeremiah really loved it. Now I almost feel guilty if I make him any other type of salad.
Veggie subs – Again, have had them many times before and will be having many more in the future. Delicious!
Homemade whole wheat rolls – Light, fluffy, nutritious, made from scratch! Loved that I was able to freeze them after the first rise. I will be posting the recipe for these very soon.
LOSERS!
Veggie Burgers – I didn’t mind them so much. Didn’t hate them. Didn’t love them. But, I think Arwyn summed up everyone else’s feelings when she said, “Mommy, this hamburger tastes disgusting to me.”
Homemade hamburger buns – I used a recipe online and it had received rave reviews. But, mine turned out hard, dense, and dry. I will be trying a different recipe next time.
Sweet potato french fries – Breckin is the only one who ate his. I don’t mind the taste of them, but had a hard time looking past the texture. It was icky. Plus, I burnt some of them.
If you look at the original dinner menu, you will see that one night at dinner, our whole meal sort of sucked. I will be posting this weeks menu sometime tomorrow. Stay tuned……
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April 12, 2010 by jennifer
So I said I would post this weeks menu for all. I am doing this mostly for accountability. I figure, if I know people are going to read this and hold me to the “asthma nutrition plan”, then I will be more likely to follow through. Also know that I have a lot of flexibility with my time and I am making sacrifices elsewhere until I get the hang of this. For example, the laundry situation in my house right now is out of control. I am going to use what I have left of the “bad” foods, but once they are gone, I will not replenish them. I will put an * next to those items on this weeks menu.
Meal #1 -
Bell Peppers stuffed with brown rice, feta, and a tomato/Italian sng sautee
Large Organic Salad with Italian dressing
Homemade wheat dinner rolls
Meal #2 –
Parmesan crusted chicken
Spinach/Strawberry Salad with homemade poppy seed vinagrette dressing
Homemade wheat dinner rolls
Meal #3 –
Homemade Veggie Burgers with wheat hamburger buns
Sweet Potato Fries
Meal #4 –
Veggie subs (Provolone, shredded lettuce, tomato, avocado, mayo, cucumbers) on wheat bun
Fruit salad
Meal #5 –
* Lasagna – this is normally not a meal I should eat, but I have a frozen one in the freezer
Meal #6 –
Homemade Chicken noodle soup (homemade egg noodles, veggies, chicken in broth)
Homemade wheat dinner rolls
Also, I don’t make fresh dinner rolls every day. I make a ton of dough all at once and freeze it after the first rise in small balls. Then, I thaw them out and bake. Same goes for hamburger buns and pretty much any other dish I make that is freezable.
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April 10, 2010 by jennifer
Recently I have embarked on a new journey. It is a journey I am fully committed to and I cannot wait to see full results. Recently, I started reading a new book called Asthma-Free Naturally: Everything You Need to Know to Take Control of Your Asthma by Patrick McKeown. This book features the Buteyko Method. In short, this method teaches you how to breathe properly. Basically, asthmatics tend to chronically hyperventilate because we are always trying to overcompensate for our breathing, even when we aren’t having symptoms. Chronic hyperventilation is when one over-breathes and lowers the CO2 levels in his lungs below what is normal or what the body needs. Most people that over-breathe have random symptoms elsewhere in the body. Asthmatics however, have asthma attacks because their lungs try to close a little to balance the CO2 levels out. This is based upon a great deal of research, scientific evidence and facts. It isn’t one of those fake “all-natural” cures. It is real. Most of the world treats asthma this way, just not the US. Weird? Anyway, the author of the book was once a sufferer of severe asthma. Now he is asthma free and medicine free. Here are is the summary of the steps I am taking to be asthma free (or at least better off)
1. Breathe only through the nose. Even while exercising. Never, ever, ever breathe through your mouth.
– This one was not too hard to achieve…until I went for a jog. Wow! It was extremely difficult the first few times. I had a horribly runny nose and when I was done, it felt like my nose was on fire. Now, it is still a little challenging, but not a big deal.
2. Practice Reduced Breathing. This is a one hour per day (2 30min sessions) commitment. But, it works. I will be doing these exercises for the next few months then I can stop.
3. Keep track of your control pause.
4. Exercise regularly to keep your lungs in shape.
– Not a big deal for me. I love to exercise.
5. Eat a vegetarian/organic diet. Eat as “close to the earth” as possible.
– It is true that there are many foods that trigger attacks. Milk and ice cream for instance are huge offenders. I have always known that. Ice cream has never been good to my asthma. Red meat has inflammatory properties, so that should be limited. Caffeine dehydrates you, so that should be avoided. Dehydration triggers asthma. And apparently, chocolate is evil and terrible for asthma. Knowing what foods you are allergic to is obviously very important. What I have done with this information is taken my natural tendencies to eat healthy to the extreme. No more Diet Coke. No more brownies. No more processed foods of any sort if I can avoid it. And no more ice cream for sure. I warned Jeremiah about this and he is totally on board. It actually seemed like he was a little excited to be my guinea pig. I think I might have even convinced him to give up Diet Mountain Dew. Solidarity, you know. I plan to post my menu for each week on the site so others will know what we are eating. I also plan on posting how much we like/dislike certain things.
So how are things going so far…..
I have been doing the breathing exercises and nasal breathing for 2 weeks now and I haven’t had a single asthma symptom since. Even when it stormed (usually, my lungs let me know it is going to storm about 12-24 before it actually storms), I was symptom free. I started the diet changes last week and will continue to change the way our family eats.
What are my goals….
I am not crazy enough to think I will ever be medicine free. Maybe, but maybe not. What I would LOVE is if I could stop taking Advair 500/50 and go back to just taking Pulmicort. I would love to see a great reduction in my symptoms and flare-ups. And I would love to be able to stop taking my meds during the non-allergy months from October to February.
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April 6, 2010 by jennifer
Your Body Belongs to You by Cornelia Spelman
I got this book today at the library for the kids because I wanted to talk to them about this topic. I have to say I LOVE this book. It is short, simple and to the point. The note to parents at the front of the book struck me, so I have to share it. As a child I was definitely a “touch-me-not” as my parents would often say. I just did not like being hugged and kissed. In fact, I still don’t like it unless it is one of my kids or Jeremiah. It annoys me that people have always given me a hard time about it. Now that I am raising a girl who is pretty much my clone, I am noticing she is also not a fan of hugging and kissing sometimes. She loves to climb on me, love on me etc. sometimes. But there are other times when I ask for a kiss goodnight and she tells me no. I respect that. But I remember many instances when I was forced to give someone a hug/kiss when I REALLY didn’t want to. And I know there are times when Arwyn is pressured to hug or kiss someone when she really doesn’t feel like it. So, I especially loved this note to parents.
From the book –
“Children need an abundance of warm physical affection to thrive. However, when children indicate that they don’t want to be hugged or kissed, we need to respect their reactions. In this way, they learn that being touched is their own choice, not another’s; that their body belongs to them.
We often unwittingly teach the opposite lesson when we force children to give a goodnight kiss to a relative or friend, or when we permit others to pick up, tickle, or kiss our children against their wishes……..to protect our children against sexual abuse we must realize that abuse is only the extreme continuum of the unwanted touch. Children who are taught very early that their bodies belong to them and that they have the right to decline touch are being taught that they are not powerless.”
I just loved that. So true.
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March 28, 2010 by jennifer
There is a lot of love in this house.
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March 28, 2010 by jennifer
Yes I call him Judah-Bear. If you saw those fat rolls, had him snuggle up to you and slobber on your face, you would too. He is like a little teddy bear. A year ago today, I couldn’t even imagine who might be wiggling around inside of my belly. I didn’t even know if Judah was a boy or a girl. He was just “the baby.” The baby that caused some yucky morning sickness, a asthmatic episode I still haven’t completely recovered from emotionally, and a 38 hour labor that rocked my world. He kicked so violently while I was pregnant, I remember asking Jeremiah what he thought he would be like once he broke out and Jeremiah said, “Extremely thankful to be out!” But I knew that when I held him in my arms, it would all be so worth it. And he most definitely did not disappoint.
For all of the trials of that pregnancy, I have experienced so much joy in the baby that is Judah. I swear he was born with a smile on his face. And while I found myself simply surviving the first six months Breckin and Arwyn’s life, I have really been able to sit back and enjoy Judah. Part of it is maturity I am sure. Part of it is also that it is really difficult not to enjoy the most happy, laid-back baby ever born. He has always nursed like a champ, laughed hysterically when tickled, slept well (as long as he is sleeping next to me of course), and played well. And there is nothing better than waking up in the morning to the feeling of a little baby hand touching your face and a little baby smiling right at you. Each milestone for me is a bit bittersweet. He is my last baby. He is my sweet boy. And I would love to freeze time so he can stay this way forever.
My dream for Judah would be that he grows to feel included with Breckin and Arwyn. I hope he learns to hold his own as the baby of the three. I hope that sweet, laid-back personality of his continues as he gets older and that he grows to know the Lord. And I would be lying if I didn’t say that I hope he stays 6 months old forever.
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March 25, 2010 by jennifer
I haven’t posted pictures in a LONG time. Know that if you want to see lots and lots of pictures of spring, you can click here. Here are a few of my favorites from the last month or so.
Judah (or as I should have named him….Mr Pinch-A-Lot)
Our new nephew Owen
Judah LOVES Owen
Breckin throwing a football in the backyard. Look at that great form!
Judah’s Dedication
And the life verse we chose for him
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