Life in the Fast Lane

For the past few months or so, I have been feeling....off. It has been a gradual process, but once I got to the point of being constantly nauseous with frequent migraines it really started to upset me. My life involves taking care of my family, and it makes me very upset when I feel I can not do that the way that I want. But there I was, dragging myself out of bed even though I had gotten plenty of sleep, unable to think clearly, feeling like the room would never stop spinning, having horrendous stomach pains, and being much clumsier than usual. Something has definitely been going wrong with my internal systems.

So... I went to see a naturopathic doctor that my mom and younger sister have seen and really liked. it is not really clear if my body just needs some help in clearing out the gluten, or if I possibly have other food intolerances to contend with. So, what is the solution...

That is the start of it anyway. Yep...that lemon-lime water has been my breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack of champions for the past two days. I am shooting for a five-day fast, so that means I am now at halfway mark in the middle of day three. I drink a gallon of the water every day, so I am not really all that hungry. I do, however, miss food. We have a bowl of pears in the kitchen that I have stared longingly at. Making food for the rest of the family has also been a bit of a challenge, but actually not as bad as I had thought it would be (I did imagine that I would be a sobbing, hungry mess by this point).

The good news is....no stomach aches while I have been on the fast. For someone who has had very painful stomach aches daily for two months, that is awesome. That has been enough to convince me to follow through with the entire five days.

After my detox fast is finished, we will be embarking on a three-week allergy elimination diet, avoiding all gluten, dairy, eggs, tomatoes, potatoes, and corn. The foods (with the exception of gluten, which is staying out) will be slowly introduced after that to check how they are tolerated. The entire family will be participating in that one, just to check and make sure they do not have food intolerances. I must say, I am feeling quite excited.

First Day of School

Yesterday was our first day of homeschooling for this year. Gizmo is now in 6th grade (typing that out makes it even scarier), Spike is in 4th grade, and Princess is starting more structured preschooling this year. I was determined to try and make the new beginning as fun as possible, so I woke them to the smell of bacon, eggs, and hash browns cooking.

Something new that I have decided to implement this year is worksheets at the breakfast table. I have been calling them "brain starters." In the past, the kids get dressed and make their way down to the table, only to sit and tiredly watch me make breakfast. Although I was a little apprehensive about how they would react to the news that they would have a worksheet to do first thing in the morning, they all really liked the idea. The first day of school Gizmo and Spike had word searches customized with their spelling lists, which I made up on this website, and Princess had some tracing worksheets which I pulled from one of the workbooks I have for her. Today both of the big kids did a cryptogram involving facts about the planets, which they loved, and Princess did some simple mazes.

My idea is that the worksheets will be for reinforcing things already learned and encouraging reasoning skills. I am planning to include brain teasers and puzzles along with spelling activities, math worksheets, and fun stuff to go along with whatever they are studying in history or science.

Tomorrow, Gizmo and Spike will be working on composition worksheets which I printed from education.com. The website has hundreds of free worksheets available, which can be searched by grade level and subject. The grades span from preschool to high school. An account is required, which I usually hate, but I have found it to be worth it in this case.

We will see how things go, but I may have to start doing something similar at lunch.

Belated Pictures of Cake

Even though Princess's and Squirt's birthdays were a few weeks ago, I never got around to posting the pictures. We had a small weekend celebration for them both for them to eat their cake and ice cream and open presents from their grandparents. I ended up making a small cake for each of them and one larger cake for everyone else. I made them all with an ocean theme and topped Princess's cake with a mermaid and Squirt's cake with an octopus.

Squirt was a little hesitant at first...

But soon got the octopus's head off and started enjoying the cake. The funniest part was when he poked a hole in the cake with his finger, ripped off an octopus leg, and tried to shove it into the hole he made. I guess he wanted to redesign it. The aftermath...

Princess was quite a bit more dainty with her cake, although she did decapitate the mermaid at one point.They both really liked their presents, too. Squirt got new clothes and a talking Mater that is squishy like a stuffed toy, yet moves it's mouth when it talks. He has giggled at that quite a bit.

Of course, our little Princess had to try on all of the new Princess clothes she got. She is such a girly girl.

A Messy, Messy Squirt

Much like his big brother, Squirt loves pasta. While the resulting mess is no fun to clean up, it is quite amusing watching him enjoy his dinner.

Fun with Exotic Fruit

My husband, Brady, gets very excited over new foods, especially exotic fruits. We currently have goji berries growing in our backyard, and he had small paw paw plants growing until the chickens got a little too excited about digging for bugs near them. While these might not be unusual to some, they are both plants that are definitely not common around here, which makes them something of a novelty.

While on the drive home from picking up Gizmo from camp, we stopped for French fries to appease an angry Squirt. While in the Arby's drive through lane, Brady spotted a store labeled Asian Market. He got out of the car right then and told me to meet him over there when we got done. After he took a look at the store, it was decided that we should all go in.

One of the neat things we found was a jackfruit. Brady had read about them, but it is not something you would normally see at the grocery store, so we had not been able to actually taste it before. Naturally, we picked one out to bring home.

It was big...

Upon cutting it in half, there was white goop that starred seeping out. We underestimated just how sticky it would be. I am not talking about sugary kind of sticky either. It was not water soluble, and incredibly sticky. Getting it off our hands and countertops required lots of scrubbing with baking soda.

After cutting out of the core section and the rough skin, you can begin to pull the white rubbery string off the bulbs of fruit. Again, they are very sticky and will stick to your fingers.

The bulbs have large seeds in them that you will want to get out, and the you are left with a large amount of orange pieces of fruit. It tastes like a combination of cantaloupe and mango to me. Gizmo and Princess have really been enjoying it.

Squirt's 1st Birthday

One year ago, me and Brady were in the hospital, excited to meet our new baby boy. From the moment I laid eyes on him, I was completely smitten. The year has passed too quickly. Our curious little baby is now a curious, chubby, little boy who is always on the move. We all love him so very much.
Happy Birthday to my little Squirt!

Princess's 4th Birthday

Today is our little red-headed Princess's 4th birthday. She has brought such joy and fun to our lives, and I am so glad I am her mom, even if she can be a bit demanding at times.

Happy Birthday, Princess!