Recent pictures

Half of what Nate ate for breakfast that day (a little over a week ago. See how skinny he still was?):

Homemade Larabars. These are really good. Only two ingredients: dates and home-soaked/dehydrated walnuts:

Nate's first basketball game on Coach Scott's team:

GAPS progress

Despite dealing with the horrendous stomach flu the children all had, I was determined (stubborn?) to move forward with starting the GAPS diet. I started myself on it on the Sunday the kids were sick (that was January 29) and then introduced the foods to the children as each of them healed from the virus (or as they didn't heal, in Lucy's case).

Here's what I'm hoping, long term, this diet will do for us:

Me: reduce stress and fatigue, clear skin, bonus would be to lose 8-10 pounds

Nate: calm his "can't-keep-hands-to-himself" tendency, heal food sensitivities (eventually we'll be eating dairy on GAPS!), broaden his self-limited diet, improve his ability to interact with same-age peers

Lucy: help with sensory issues

Levi: broaden diet, heal any issues that were caused by the heavy doses of antibiotics he had when in the hospital as a baby

Here's how we're doing so far:

Me: this diet is easiest for me, since I'm the one who made the choice to do it. I've also found I'm an "all-or-nothing person" when it comes to eating: if I've chosen to eat very well, then I won't eat one bite of a banned food. On the other hand, if I'm being lax about my eating, I can eat an entire pan of brownies in one day. I've found many of the GAPS foods/recipes delicious, with some fails too (some of the soups). I also don't mind the taste of broth and drink it fine with each meal (a cornerstone of the diet). For the first few days, I had some definite cravings (coffee, sweets) and felt hungry all day, even though I was eating plenty. The cravings and excessive hunger subsided after about 6 days or a week, though. Honestly, I haven't been desperately craving coffee like I thought I would be. I've lost 7 pounds. I'm still as stressed as ever--actually, maybe more!--which is partially due to the huge increase in time spent in the kitchen these first couple weeks of the diet. That will get better as we move through the stages and add more foods that can be prepared in shorter times. My skin hasn't changed, but I'm still hopeful.

Nate: unbelievably, Nate is doing pretty well with GAPS! The first two to three days were the worst with him wanting his usual foods (ketchup, gf pancakes, peanut butter) and hating the broth. Then I made boiled (yes, boiled) hamburger patties into which I had kneaded minced carrot, onion, and salt. He loved these, and from then on has been chowing down like crazy: decent portions of broth with each meal, scrambled eggs (introduced on stage 3 of GAPS, which I moved us all to after 5 or 6 days since I was pretty sure no one was sensitive to them), lots of steak, ground beef, and modest portions of cooked vegetables. I'm still sneaking most of his vegetables into other foods. Did you know that you can blend a yellow squash with eggs and make delicious scrambled eggs? Nate has been salting everything quite a bit, but I'm not too worried about that since I bought a high-quality/nutrient-rich salt. As far as behavioral effects, I have noticed a calmer Nate this week; some of that could be from getting over being sick too, though. Another instance that sticks out is when Nate and Levi came to visit Lucy in the hospital: Lucy showed Nate several of the presents she had gotten for being in the hospital (a sparkly Barbie, a coloring book, and more). Normally, Nate would have gotten angry at her having gotten presents but him not; however, he said, "Cool Lucy!" I couldn't believe it. I know that's something tiny, but I noticed it.

Lucy: surprisingly, Lucy has been complaining. A lot. She was supposed to be the easy one with GAPS, since she is a great eater. I'm chalking up her complaining to a prolonged recovery from the stomach sickness. She has refused the broth each meal, even though the day before she got sick, she drank cups of it (hmm--maybe her body is associating the taste with the sickness). This morning she did love the breakfast sausage (ground beef mixed with minced garlic, ginger, parsley, cilantro, basil, and salt) and scrambled eggs, though.

Levi: Levi is kind of in between Lucy and Nate as far as success with the diet goes. He has been complaining about the broth and some of the foods, but he has also started eating foods he wouldn't eat before (cooked broccoli, scrambled eggs). He has been very fussy and whiny, but I think that's part sickness recovery and part diet.

All three children have been very lethargic. I attribute it--again--partly to sickness recovery but also partly to their bodies adjusting to this new way of burning energy (burning good fats instead of carbohydrates). It could also be "die-off" of the bad bacteria in their digestive systems. I'm hoping it resolves within the next week, but it could be longer.

Home

Lucy came home on Tuesday afternoon from the hospital. We are healthy and thankful!

Doing better!

Lucy is still at the hospital tonight, but she's doing so much better. She didn't want to eat anything all day today, but apparently what she needed was

In-n-Out. This was her second burger (protein style). :)

... or maybe not

I guess Lucy wasn't getting better. Here she is tonight in the ER getting IV fluids:

After a week of throwing up (which stopped I think on Wednesday night), not eating, and being really lethargic/exhausted (e.g., taking four or five naps a day, though she hasn't napped in over 6 months), she started throwing up again today. After four episodes of that, we (Jon) took her to the ER. The bloodwork came back showing dehydration (pretty severe, I think), but thankfully that's it. They admitted her overnight to keep getting IV fluids, and Jon is staying with her. Thankful for God's protection and for insurance, good hospitals close by, and a good husband/daddy.

Better

The kids are finally better today. Lucy still hasn't eaten anything but she's obviously better than yesterday, when I was still worried about her. Yay!

New car

This past weekend, I said goodbye to my beloved red Durango. Jon and I decided to get something with better gas mileage while the Durango would still fetch a good trade-in value (and also before some expensive needed repairs and maintenance this coming year).

Look at how little Nate was when we got the car (he was about 20 months):

Here are Lucy and me making our sad goodbye faces:

So now, we're the proud owners of a minivan. It's a 2011 Chrysler Town & Country. I'll post pictures as soon as the children are healthy and we actually go out to the car!

Sick :(

All three kids came down with a nasty stomach bug over the weekend. Levi is recovered from the worst of it, though he's still so tired. Last night:

This morning, he sat on the stairs waiting for me to finish my shower. This is what I came out to (he's just asleep--I promise):

Nate has been sick the longest, but I'm praying that today is the day he gets better and can keep liquids down. Lucy is still sick, but I am really hoping she'll perk up by the end of the day today.

Ballerina

I love this picture Lucy brought home from school on Tuesday.

Rite of passage

Nate got to go to his first Clippers game last night. Jon said Nate was scared when they arrived because the lights were off and it was loud for the player introductions, but by the end of the 1st quarter he was really enjoying himself.

How did this happen?

Levi tonight

As Jon was telling Levi the story of Adam and Eve tonight at bed time, Levi chimed in: "Adam and Eve ate the fruit! And God gave them a spankin'."

After bed time, Levi called from the bed, "Mama and Daddy, can Nate lie down with me?" (He asks that every once in a while.) We said yes. Then we heard Levi say to Nate, "They said yes! But don't wrestle!"

I love that boy.

GAPS

OK. We're going to do it. We're going to put the whole family on the GAPS diet. My plan had been to put just Nate and me on the diet (and probably "partial participation" for the other two children), but last night Jon said he would do it with us too. I am actually very excited... and nervous too. So for the past couple of weeks, I've been gathering ingredients and supplies that I don't already have, making and storing various dishes (sauerkraut, homemade chicken stock and meat stock), and researching sources for organic ingredients. I think it'll take me a couple more weeks before I'm ready to start, so I'm shooting for a February 1 start date.

Rewind for a minute: have I mentioned the GAPS diet on this blog yet? I might not have! Basically, I've been reading up on it a lot and am finding that gluten-free, casein-free, soy-free might just have been partially/indirectly dealing with Nate's "internal" issues and not fully addressing the real issue. The GAPS diet works in stages, with the introduction/first stage being quite restrictive; you add in more and more foods with each stage until you reach the "full GAPS" diet, which you maintain for a while (think 2 years). Eventually, you introduce dairy (also in stages), but the GAPS diet does remain gluten- and soy free. The staples of the diet are organic/unprocessed meats and broth, lots of fats, soup, cooked vegetables, eggs, naturally probiotic foods (like sauerkraut), and NO grains, starches, or sugar. After the couple of years on full GAPS, the gut should be healed and you can start coming off of the diet and eating other foods (while still eating healthy and making good choices). Basically, it is not a life sentence and has as its primary goal healing of the gut/digestive system so that all foods can again be tolerated.

Dancing

Basketball

Nate has been asking to play a sport for several months (mostly since he saw what it was like when Lucy did gymnastics). I finally found a class for him on our charter school "approved vendor list" (meaning they pay for it) that will work with our schedule. It's a once-a-week basketball class/clinic for ages 5-7. This afternoon was his first class. He was so excited--and he told me he was also nervous. But it went great and he loved it. I wondered if he would get frustrated about being near the bottom of the class skills-wise, but thankfully he didn't notice or mind.

Nervous on the way there:

In class:

And my favorite of the day: the "defensive stance" video:

Toothless

This is definitely a favorite stage of mine.

Virginia trip

We had a GREAT visit in Virginia for Christmas. We just got home last night.

The trip was full of good food, laughter, relaxing days, coffee, wrestling with Uncle Greg, scavenger hunts, a lost top tooth, time with family, and even a tiny bit of snow. It's always sad to leave but nice to come home. :)

Wii

We exchanged gifts with Jon's family last night, since we'll be out of town Christmas day. Grammy and Grampy surprised the kids (and us) with a Wii. Totally unexpected and SO fun. :)

Christmas crafting

Now that the MOPS boutique is done, I have been able to do a few crafty things for around the house. I wasn't feeling too inspired until I went to Casey's house. :)

I copied this one exactly (words and all) from one she did:

I wish I could take better pictures, but it's 16x20" in silver. I also copied the idea of this second canvas, using words from a favorite song. These words are from "Let There Be Love," which Jon and I danced to at our wedding:

(I love how this next picture shows the reflection in the top of the newly cleaned dresser. Thank you, monthly cleaning guy!)

Last, I made a couple of bunting/banner things. This one says "JOY" and is above the cute Christmas card holder we made at MOPS.

This one that ended up on the staircase was supposed to have letters on it (I settled on "Let us adore Him") but the idea of making that many fabric or felt letters (and then stitching them on) was too annoying. Maybe I'll make those in time for next Christmas.

Levi-isms

A couple of new things Levi has said lately:

- Last night, he told me about something they had seen on a cartoon with a certain cat and mouse. "Mama, it was on 'Tom and Cherry.'"
- On Sunday after church, we were all in the car and Nate (or Lucy?) said, "Hey, I can feel my bone!" so we started talking about bones. Jon asked, "Does anyone know what the bones in our bodies are for?" No one answered for a second, and then Levi piped up: "They are for dogs!"
- "Mama, the flag in this shirt bodders me. Can you cut it out?"

Pickle Me

I took this video the other day trying to capture the crazy amount of noise and chaos the kids were producing. Of course, once I got out the camera, it had calmed down. BUT then I did catch the cute way Levi says the name of the movie Despicable Me. :)

This year's tree

The kids were so excited to get our Christmas tree this year. We went the day after Thanksgiving, and they wanted to rush home to put all the ornaments on. They went so fast, though, that they had all of them up within 2 or 3 minutes--all in a 2-foot-square area on the tree of course. I make sure to relocate my very favorite ornaments to the top of the tree--away from curious and clumsy hands (although I don't know how that blue Dodgers ornament ended up near the top...).

Lucy wanted a tree topper, but we don't really have one. I found this easy tutorial, and she and I did it together. The kids and I also made several miniature wreaths with some supplies I'd ordered a while back (mostly yarn and glitter pom poms).

A stream-of-consciousness update on school

I know I've been neglecting the blog lately. Sorry!

I've been thinking a lot already about next school year (2012-2013), because that's when Lucy will be in kindergarten and I won't be able to put off the where-will-she-be (home too? school?--public, private, charter?) question anymore. One thing I've learned over the past couple of months is that having one child in school (she's doing preschool 2 days a week right now) and another homeschooling makes both situations more difficult in some ways. (This was not expected--I originally thought having Lucy in preschool would be mostly helpful).

One of the benefits of homeschooling is eliminating the morning crazy rush. No matter how much I prep the night before, no matter how early I get up, if we need to be out of the house before 8:00 a.m. there is always rushing, stress, shoe hunting, unbrushed teeth, and carseat fighting (never heard of carseat fighting? It means two things: 1. children who fight their carseats because they're "too tight" and 2. children who fight each other while getting into their carseats). So, with one child in school, you have to deal with the morning crazy rush AND then come home with the homeschooling child to do all the work you could have been doing for the previous hour. Then later, you may be in a "groove" but must interrupt it to go pick up the in-school child.

So I would like, for simplicity and my sanity, to have both children in the same schooling situation--either at home or in school. And, while homeschooling with Nate is going relatively well (his initial excitement has definitely worn off, and he'd rather not do most of it, but he is learning stuff... and I had already decided at the beginning of the year not to be too intense with academics since he is doing fine in that area), I'm a little scared of homeschooling Lucy. She loves drawing and letters and projects and crafts, so the actual schooling part might be easier with her; it's the personality clashes and strong will that have me worried. And, frankly, it's the idea of even more work for me that is also worrying.

But if I "quit" homeschooling after one year, I feel like that makes me look like a failure. I value consistency and perseverance. When I think of our kids' long-term schooling lives, the picture I hate most is "a year here, two years doing this, then another year here, followed by a stint at this other place." I've always looked down on others' actions I perceived to be inconsistent, willy nilly, weak, and undependable.  I know the Lord is teaching me grace through this process (and through mothering in general), as I go through these types of decisions and realize my past perceptions were ungracious!

So here are my current options:
Homeschool both kids - I've come to the realization that to be an effective, loving, not-so-stressed-out homeschooling mom, I would need to quit my one-day-per-week/freelance job. This has been nagging at me for several months, and I've been ignoring it for several reasons. I really like this job. I really like my one day a week in the office. And we have genuinely needed the income it has provided. However, I know that if I didn't have that I-have-to-get-this-2-hours-of-work-done stress hanging over my head every single day, I would be so much freer to be more invested in and "present" for homeschooling. This is difficult for me, because this job is a nice boost to my ego and I like it. However, when I look at the big picture and my list of priorities, the job is way down on the list. But day to day, it doesn't get treated that way.


Try to get them into charter school - There is a local public charter school (Oxford) that has been around for a couple of years and focuses on addressing the learning styles of each student. I've heard great things about this school and think Nate would do well there (and Lucy too). To me, this is a much better choice than our regular local public school. The problem is there is a rather large waiting list (I heard 1,400)! I think April or May is when enrollment occurs--and the lottery after that. I guess I could get Nate and Luce into the lottery and let that be the deciding factor! Ug--but I hate to wait that long.

So there you have it: my current thinking on school/homeschool.