My Recent Hospital Visit

Last month I spent a little time in the hospital. I was admitted after going to the E.R. for chest pains and a rapidly fluctuating blood pressure, along with dizziness, blackouts, and memory loss. After a zillion test came back normal and seeing several doctors, I was sent home and told to stop taking my vitamins until I was able to follow up with a primary care physician. I got home and felt worse and worse.
So, what was going on...
When I finally got in to see a primary care physician (I hadn't chosen one since moving in the fall), he thankfully knew exactly what was going on. In a nutshell, I was having a fibromyalgia flare up in the form of muscle spasms in the muscles that surround my heart.
The longer explanation:
I have fibromyalgia (this is not new, I've had it for a long time). People with fibromyalgia do not process nutrients properly and their bodies over react to things that their bodies sense as toxic. I take vitamins and avoid certain things to manage this. The muscle spasms started because I didn't have enough of somethings (vitamin and mineral type things) and a toxin was introduce to my system. The rest of the symptoms were either caused by the muscle spasms or what was causing the muscle spasms. I didn't realize this was a fibromyalgia flare up because I usually have an immense amount of pain when I have a flare up. Other than the chest pain, I wasn't having any pain at all. When I stopped taking my vitamins my symptoms got worse because I was becoming more and more depleted of the vitamins that were already low.
The treatment for all this was to go back on my vitamins. Yesterday, I had been home from the hospital for exactly one month and I'm happy to report it was the first day I felt like a fully functioning human again.

Getting There

I've lost 10 pounds!! So I still have about 10 to go before I am the weight I was when we moved back to our hometown just months ago, then what feels like a billion more before I hit my goal weight, but it's a start. A good start actually. The first 5 happened after leaving my brief hospital stay last month. I wasn't 'trying' very hard then, just kind of watching what I was eating more. This last week I have really been working at it. I Picked up the LoseIt app (this is not a paid advertisement) and I have to tell ya, it's really been a God send. I've watched my mom do a thousand diets that I know I could NEVER keep up with. I personally did L.A. Weight Lose many years ago and found it to be horrifically challenging and expensive to do everything the right way. I've tried counting carbs and a handful of fad diets in the past. This seems much easier than any of that. Although I'm just in my first week of using it, so it could be new diet euphoria going on at this point.

About lose it... Basically, you enter your height, weight, and sex and it tells you how many calories to eat to lose 1 or 2 pounds a week or remain at the same weight. You log what you eat and when you exercise and the app does the counting for you. 

A Family Resolution

I'm not generally someone that is into making New Year resolutions, however this year John and I decided to make one (a really big one actually) for the whole family. We are changing the way we eat and making it a definite priority to get active. So what exactly are we changing...

We have decided to only eat 'real food' for starters. If you're not familiar with the term, here is a great blog post on how to explain it to kids. I think it is also a great way to explain it to adults. Basically, eating real food is totally passing up food dyes, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils,  fast food, and unnatural preservatives. Also, eat minimum amounts of food with with white flour, sugar, and rice. We are adding anything deep fried and pork to the list of things to totally avoid. So what does that leave us... fruits, vegetables, whole grains (including nuts and beans), lean meats, and seafood. John and I are also using the app/web site lose it. We are also doing work out videos and planning to purchase an elliptical machine. We are looking at this one.

Why are we doing it...

For starters, we probably were eating a little healthier than many families out there. Well, until we moved back home (to our hometown in KY). There are several factors here that have contributed to our nutrition falling into a downward spiral these last few months, but here are the top excuses I can think of: we have been busier than ever before, eating out is a little cheaper here, our parents are here and take us out to eat regularly, our parents also frequently bring yummy junk food to the house, the girls have outgrown their gluten issues (making up for lost time on those gluten loaded goodies), and southern baptist don't seem to do anything without food. We went to a Vineyard church in Columbus, Church met 1/4 as often and food was a special event type of thing. Baptist meet much more often, for longer periods, and there is almost always food.

Adding to this is the fact that we are barely moving. I guess all of those steps between parking lots/garages and buildings that are kind of far away add up. In small towns, parking is right next to the door just about everywhere you go. There was also walking to get the mail, walking to take trash out, well you get the picture. We have a great yard, but the kids don't seem to know what to do with themselves off of a sidewalk (we are working on this one). So, we are making it a point to move, move, move!

Another big motivator has been a few recent issues with my heart. Heart issues are not new to me, they have just changed a bit here recently. Healthier lifestyle + lower weight = healthier heart for this momma. We are not exactly sure what is going on at this point, I had a brief hospital stay just before Christmas. I have a doctor's appointment is in about 14 hours, prayers for answers and a quick and easy treatment are welcome.

Water Science

This is a super simple science experiment with very few materials.

supplies needed

two paper towels or thin cloth napkins

3 similar glasses

water

2 colors of food dye

1. First fill with equal amounts of water into 2 of the glasses. 

2. Add different colors of dye to each of those glasses

3. Arrange the glasses (as above) with the 2 liquid filled glasses on the sides of the empty glass.

4. Fold up each paper towel or napkin to make kind of a string to join each liquid filled glass to the empty glass.

5. Watch what happens.

Up to the picture above this project went fairly quickly. Well, within a few minutes at least. This is where the girls and I kind of lost interest and wandered off. A few hours later (when I went back into the kitchen to make dinner), I noticed all the water levels were equal. 

Essential Oils: Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus essential oil is one oil that my family uses a good bit of... mostly because I use it sometimes in making a cleaning/hand sanitizing spray (click here for the recipe). I originally purchased this oil because someone told me it was really good at clearing up a cough. My heart does somersaults when I take cold medicine, so I was seeking an alternative before the next a cold hit me. A few drops of this oil on the bottom of the feet is like magic (usually, but not for every cold) when it comes to getting rid of a cough. Currently our family is getting over a cold. Because of the side effects of cough medicines, I really like using the eucalyptus oil for cough (if a medicine makes my heart do somersaults, I really don't want to give it to my kids). Also, if I hear one of my little angels coughing at 2 a.m. I can put it on their feet without even waking them up.

Check out my post on Essential Oils: Lavender (Here)

Ember's Favorite Toy

One of my favorite things to experience with my babies is watching them find a favorite toy. In my experience, it usually isn't something I would expect them to even notice. Ember has recently chosen his favorite, it's the little book he is grabbing above. We have had this particular item since Anara was a baby and Ember is the first baby to pay much attention to it. It makes a very crinkly sound when you touch it and it is fairly soft. 

Cameron's favorite toy as a baby was this blue dog, it is extremely soft and has a satin belly. He loved to give this dog kisses. He also had a bear of about the same size and color that he would happily take if the dog wasn't in front of him.

Anara is like her momma, finds it hard to chose a favorite with so many choices. Although, there were two she was really fond of. One was a cat that rattled, Ember sleeps with this toy now and loves it also. Anara's other favorite was a tiny, white lamb. Anara was most in love with taggie blankies though. She has only stopped sleeping with one a few months ago. 

Sania's favorite baby toy was actually not a toy at all. It is a Christmas tree ornament that somehow managed to make it's way into the basket of baby toys. It is a stuffed Tigger that we still hang on the tree every year. She would carry it around by it's string. As Nia got just a little older, she fell in complete and total love with Sherbet, a tye-dye Ty bennie buddy (like a beenie baby, but bigger) bear. She had to rub the ribbon on his neck to get to sleep and carried it around for about a year. When the ribbon wore out she switched to a cat by the same company... you can still find Kitty laying her bed everyday of the week.

Ember's Dedication

In our faith, parents dedicate their children to the Lord. During this time we promise to raise our child as a Christian and teach him about the Lord. The church prayed over Ember also promised to aid us in raising and teaching him during the dedication.

Here are a few photos from our day.

This was the photo we used today for our church bulletin. Not bad for a photo shoot we did with John's iphone! Em is always, always smiling, but this day it actually took over an hour to get a single giggle out of him. 

This one and the next were taken by our friend Katie. She takes really fabulous photos. You should really go over to this site and see some of them. She didn't even realize we would be up there today until we got on stage. Thankfully, she was quick and was able to snap a few shots.

This and the next were taken by Nia. I have to say, she has a good camera eye also.

This is the whole family, my parents are in the middle and John's mom is on the end. My dad went and got the boys outfits for them yesterday.

Here we were waiting to be seated for lunch, I just thought these were cute shots. 

Hand, Foot, & Mouth Disease

Cam appears to have come down with hand, foot, and mouth (also known as hoof) disease. I say appears, because he hasn't actually been diagnosed or even looked at by any medical professional. I've just seen it several times, and to me this is what it always has looked like. It's a virus, so aside from making him comfortable, there isn't much we can do.

In a nutshell:

-This generally affects those younger than 5. 

-Adults can catch it, but usually don't show signs.

-First few days= fever, sore throat, and cold like symptoms, if any symptoms at all. 

-Next blisters appear.

-Blisters on face, hands, feet, & buttochs.

-Contagious through bodily fluids. 

-last 1 to 2 weeks

He was miserable the first few days, but at this point he really seems to be feeling fine. The blisters do appear to bother him somewhat, but not as much as I would expect from their appearance. The do wake him at night though. We have tried several different things on them from epsom salt baths to coconut oil and every itch cream in between, but what seems to work the best at healing them up and making them feel better is diaper rash cream. His tush looked worse than any other place he had the blistery rash, but after a few applications of desitin, it is doing much better. 

My biggest obsession right now is keeping Ember and Cameron separated. Thankfully, the girls have been able to take care of Ember in their rooms while Cameron sticks to the rest of the house. However, Cameron and Ember are very best buds. Actually, Cameron more thinks of Ember as 'his baby' than anyone elses. Even when Cameron is very sick, if he hears his baby brother crying, Cameron jumps up and tries to fix whatever could be wrong. So, keeping them separated isn't an easy task. They constantly ask for each other, and if they catch a glimpse of one another they both start screaming. This illness last a long time and the first part of it, Cameron would only sleep laying on somebody and the only for an hour or so at a time. Do not want to go this again, so Ember will remain quarantine until I see no more blisters. 

Some of Nia's Artwork

These would be much better scanned in, but that isn't hooked back up yet and I have had a request to see some of her work. So, here it is...

This is a drawing Nia did of her friend Shelly.

This is one of Anara. 

Self portrait. At the beginning of each school year I have the kids do a self portrait. I really like that she added in her headphones and favorite necklace this year. The rest are things she had laying on her desk. 

Christian Way Farm

Over fall break for the local school system, our church took the elementary kids to Christian Way Farm. John and I took the opportunity to make it a day where we just focused on Anara. We try to give each kid as much one on one time as possible, but it has been a bit challenging with all the moving and newness going on in our lives recently. We all really enjoyed our trip out to the farm. It was nice to see how our kid that left behind city life just a few weeks ago felt so at home on a farm. It took us about 3 weeks after moving to Kentucky to convince her it was ok to play on the grass, so I wasn't sure exactly how she would react to sloshing through mud and farm animals. She had a blast and loved every bit of her time there.

They have an awesome way of telling the story of salvation with a pumpkin

Hulling feed corn the old fashion way

This is our friend Julian

Feeding goats some of that corn that was just hulled

Hay ride

Look at that perfect pumpkin Anara picked out!

Julian's older brother Shawn

This was a cool little ride

Anara with Amelia, who happens to be Shawn's and Julian's sister.

There is also a corn maze, playground made partially from hay bales, and a mini golf course at this farm. All of us had a really great time and we will be going back!

A Little Something For Cameron

Cameron did not have an easy time with all the changes that went from late spring through the summer. I had been trying to think of something to make him feel special and when we came across two bags of match bags cars at goodwill and this cute truck shelf, I knew I could come up with something that he would love. So, just after moving into our new house Cameron woke up one morning to this line of cars that began outside of his door.

I could swear I got pictures the next morning, but I really can't find them anywhere. The look on his face was priceless. There were a total of 84 car/trucks/plans. Those and the self came to a total of $9.50, but the look on his face and how it made him feel was priceless.