ADVENTURES IN HOMESCHOOLING

It took me about two weeks to get over not going to BASIS. I think I took the BASIS disappointment so hard because I believed it was his ticket to success. I had his ticket and all I had to do was get him on the train and he would become successful. It was like a stab in my heart to tear that ticket up. I wanted it so bad. I cursed and I cried but the reality was what it was and I had to move on.

I then looked at my options and I was scared. This precious time in his life is critical. He is like a brand new plant. I feel he needs to be protected a bit in this early stage. I couldn’t, just couldn’t put him through the public school system and believe he would turn out all right. They wanted to put him in a locked room with children who were lower functioning for up to four hours per day. I say, over my dead body.

I could either send him to school or I could keep him home. I talked to several Moms who homeschool and I felt inside that might ultimately be the best choice for Ian. I was scared out of my mind. Homeschool? I can’t even remember to get the chores I have done on time, what am I thinking trying to play school all day? How would everything get done? What if I can’t teach?

I have been doing it for a little over a week and I have had some ups and downs. For one, there will be no singing. Yep, won’t make that mistake again. It took me over an hour to get Ian back interested in school. Meltdown city. My heart broke as I asked him if it reminded him of his other school. He doesn’t like to answer those pointed questions. I’ll never know the extent of the emotional pain he suffered.

I have such an amazing support system and I am getting more and more into the swing of things as each day passes. I stay up later at night now trying to get all my home duties done, but it is worth it. I feel like a better mom, one that is more in touch with her children instead of just watching them play while I work. I think Ian really likes spending this special time with me.

What do I do with Patrick? He is enjoying sitting at the table and playing with his toys while Ian and I work. In the afternoons we do more when Patrick is sleeping. It’s working out pretty nice. On Monday I taught Ian how to tell time (only the hours right now). I felt so happy at that moment. He picked it up so fast that he started teaching me how to tell time. I love that little man. He wears my heart.

FACING A NEW CHALLENGE

When Ian was three-years-old he went to the public preschool down the road. It was so scary seeing his little body ride away in that big school bus. I waved everyday but received only a stare back. Almost like he wondered what was wrong with me. He had been attending school for about six months when he was diagnosed with autism. The next day was very hard for me. I struggled with the worry of what was to become of him. I wondered if I had the ability to help him in the ways he needed to be helped.

I stood there fighting back tears as I watched the bus roll away. I weakly put up my hand to wave goodbye when I saw it. He waved back. Tears flooded my face as I wildly waved in return. I waved until I couldn’t see the bus anymore. I put my hand down and I smiled. It was his way of telling me that all was going to be okay. He would get it, maybe not as fast as everyone else, but he would get it. From that moment on we waved every day like crazed maniacs. That made me so happy.

Two weeks ago we took him for an evaluation at Blossom Park, a Precision Teaching learning center in Goodyear, AZ. I spoke candidly with Nicky Carter and she advised me that Ian lacked some critical basic skills and he needed therapy in order to be able to succeed in a traditional classroom setting. We could try enrolling him but she suspected he would be disruptive and potentially be asked to leave. I couldn’t have this happen. So today we opted to not attend Kindergarten and instead get the therapy he needs to be successful. It was a bittersweet decision.

Tonight our lives went on as usual and this evening found us in his room trying to pick up toys. Ian has always had a problem in this area. Ian would try and try to put his toys away but he always become distracted and ended up playing with his toys instead. For over two years I have argued, screamed, begged, threatened, and bartered my way through the process of picking up toys each and every night. Typically the night ends with the parents picking up most of his toys.

Tonight I had to leave the room to tend to his younger brother Patrick and asked Ian to finish putting up his toys. It was getting late and both boys were tired. As I was putting on Patrick’s night shirt I heard the familiar sound of train tracks hitting the sides of the plastic bin. I stopped and I smiled. He did it for me again. Right when I needed that sign that we were on the right track and all would be well, he put away his toys all by himself. He will get it, maybe not as fast as everyone else, but he will get it.

BACK ON THE WORKOUT WAGON

I can’t believe it has been four years since Jason and I did our Body for Life Challenge. That was so amazing for us but sadly we stopped exercising later that year and only now am I beginning to get started on a regular workout regime. Jason has been back on the wagon for over 3 months and has been patiently waiting for me to get it in gear. I needed something to motivate me. Unfortunately nothing came and I had to dig way deep and start the gears going myself.

It did help that I have been reading The pH Miracle by Robert O. Young, PhD. It basically says that everything that is wrong with you is due to a pH imbalance in your system. I didn’t really think much of it so I happen to have some pH sticks laying around and I used them one morning. I was shocked. My pH was in the 5.3 range and that was incredibly acidic (optimal pH is 7.2).

It made sense that an acidic system breaks down faster and harbors disease and illness. This can be proven in a simple fish tank. Let the pH get out of whack and you will have some dead fish on your hands. Looking at the stick turned yellow caused me to think. Do I want to age fast or slow? I am voting for slow. This would take some work on my part since I love food!

Over the next week I am going to slowly prepare myself for the whole body cleanse. In the book it is suggested to take 12 weeks to slowly transition into the pH diet lifestyle. Thankfully I have already made my way through much of the 12-step transition period naturally over the past six months. I have replaced breakfast with a smoothie, I eat more raw food, dairy is nearly completely out of my diet (a little bit of cream in my coffee) but that will have to go with the diet anyway because coffee is super acidic.

Yeast is next and we haven’t eaten bread in a long time. I am guilty with the white flour and white rice but that is an easy fix as we only recently added those back into our diet. The last three are remove added sugar, fruits, and condiments from my diet. I have to say that these are already nearly done. I hardly cook with sugar and we substitute prunes and dates for sugar in a lot of my cooking. The fruits are mostly for my boys as are the condiments. The only thing I see as a challenge is the removal of meat because I love me some meat! I think I am ready to start the real thing!

Once I started really considering a drastic diet change I did become interested in working out too. Course, it is not a good idea to go crazy on a diet and tax your body with a strenuous workout program. I am taking it super easy. Tonight I only did one set of all my exercises and at most used 5 pound hand weights. I will get more in detail as the time progresses but I am excited about getting healthy! I can’t wait to see what I look like in three months!

Back to Writing

Hello old friend! I look back at the last post and I am reminded of the time that has passed and how much has changed. When I last posted I didn’t know but my life was about the drastically change. I entered a time of nonstop cooking and unbelievable stress.  To begin with the camel milk didn’t work and I wasn’t able to give Patrick any milk until he was about 14 or 15 months old. Even then it had to be goat’s milk and in small quantities. 

Around this time I began experimenting with stock. I was reading how good it was for the body – especially bone stock. I went out and found some bones for sale at the Farmer’s Market and boiled those with an onion, a few carrots, and some garlic. I strained it and put it in the Vitamix to puree. When I was done it was as white as milk. I added fresh goat milk yogurt and made his bottle with both. 

We ran out of yogurt after a few days and I switched back to Elecare. By the end of the day he started vomiting and having diarrhea. It was now the weekend and I had to wait until Monday to get into the doctor. It wasn’t until I was talking to the doctor at that appointment that I realized the correlation between started Elecare back up and the vomiting and Diarrhea. 

I immediately went home and stopped the Elecare and gave him only stock as that was all I had. Within two hours the continuous diarrhea and vomiting stopped. I was shocked. Filled with fear, I threw away the last container of Elecare and began my walk into the unknown. I had never felt as completely alone as I did at that moment. 

What would I feed him? Would I be able to get him enough nutrients? I called his gastroenterologist and he did some research while I was on the phone with him. He gave me some tips on the types of food to eat. I asked him how long Patrick could eat stock and he said indefinitely. I hung up feeling more grounded but still unsure. I began to pray. I prayed for guidance to make all the right decisions in order to give Patrick the care he needed.

I remember distinctly that day arriving at the supermarket. I stood in the middle of the produce section and said, “God, what should I buy?” Within a few moments I settled on kale, spinach, carrots, onions, and garlic. I started to feed him only one at a time for a couple of days. I started with carrots and I poor kid wore that orange shade for what seemed like months after that. 

A few days later I then added kale and so on until I finished adding all those ingredients in. I would cook them really good, for maybe 20 minutes and then I would puree it in the Vitamix and then strain it. I then would put into individual containers (1 cup canning jars) and have that for the whole next day. He ate one cup every hour or so. 

After a couple of weeks I was able to slowly add in gelatin from the beef bones and the marrow meat. He couldn’t eat it at first but after many weeks he had no problems. Everything was trial and error. I realized if I didn’t have enough fat in the broth, Patrick wouldn’t eat it. One time I saved an entire broth batch by adding in fat from the butcher shop. It took about 8 hours to melt into it but afterwards Patrick ate it.

It seemed all I did was cook and clean for months. I got really good at making broth but by 12 months I began to worry. He still wasn’t able to eat any solids. His height and weight was doing fantastic and he measured in the 20^th percentile for his age. This was phenomenal considering he was barely in the 1% when we started the broth regime. 

I attended a group at church and I asked the ladies to pray for Patrick before we said the rosary. I was nearly in tears when I begged them to pray that Patrick be able to eat solid food. That was a Friday. Now, I must add that during this time of cooking I wasn’t able to clean the rest of the house; things were pretty dirty. I am ashamed to admit my floors had lots of crumbs and various unknown objects all over the floor. 

Patrick was crawling around and starting that following Monday he began putting those things in his mouth. I was horrified. Not only was the floor dirty and he was crawling on in with his hands and knees, but now he was putting no-telling-how-old food in his mouth! Thankfully he would immediately begin retching and I would run all over looking for him thinking he was choking. 

By Thursday, I started to find objects in his mouth and he had stopped retching. Slowly after this I was able to feed him small amounts of food without him projectile vomiting. That was a year ago and we are 100%. I feel we were given a miracle. He is still small, back to the 1% in height but 20% in weight. He is smart, active, and very much like a two-year-old in temperament.

I read stories about children with feeding tubes and I realize how fortunate we were not to have to face that traumatic decision. Nothing prepares you for a really sick child. Afterwards you are definitely never the same.

Me and My Camel Milk

I ran across something very interesting today: Camel Milk. Yes, I am talking milk from a camel and drinking it. What stood out to me like a red blinking neon sign were the words, “Camel´s milk cures severe food allergies and rehabilitates the immune system in children.” HELLO! Put me in line for that stuff! Let you know what I find out on this one. But in the meantime, check out this website: http://www.camelmilkassociation.org/index.php/camel-milk-did-you-know

I am also looking into the GAPS Diet. Honestly, my brain hurts from reading and thinking too much. And when I say diet folks, I mean the whole family does it. This should be fun. I don’t know much about the diet but I know it has to do with taking out all grains and dairy (no biggie), taking probiotics, and eating fermented foods.

What I do know about this is it helps people like me and my family. Frankly, I am game for anything if it makes us feel better. I never want my kids to go through the pain and agony Jason and I experience every day. If that means I have to learn how to milk a camel and drink crazy concoctions, then so be it. Just kidding on milking the camel bit… ha!

I did however make some amazing sauce today. Now, I found this delicious sauce called Raspberry and Roasted Chipotle Grilling and Dipping Sauce. Yes, I am a lover of sweet and spicy AND it is made with SUGAR! Yeah, love it when I find sauces without the crappy HFCS….you know who you are!  Anyway, I grabbed some pork chops, shook some Monterey Steak Seasoning over both sides and covered it with about a ¼ jar of this stuff, covered it with foil, and popped it in the oven at 325 for an hour and a half.

An hour later I added potatoes to the oven. Once the timer went off, I removed the foil and added another ¼ jar and about a glass of leftover white wine. I let it cook another 30 minutes. It smelled heavenly, but way too hot for my little boy. I got the idea of an orange sauce to go over it. I looked around the Internet but most recipes wanted fresh oranges…well, I have orange juice…that counts right!?!

Long story short, I ended up making up my own. I melted 2 TBLS butter into my hot cast iron pan and added amaranth flour and stirred until it turned bubbly and brown. Then I added about 5 or 6 turns of freshly ground pepper and ¾ tsp sea salt and stirred. Then I added ½ cup orange juice and 1 cup hemp milk (you could use regular milk) and allowed it to simmer for a couple of minutes. I then steamed some broccoli and chopped up two of the spicy pork chops and added them to the sauce. WOW! It was FANTASTIC!

Served with the baked potatoes, super easy and super good. You should try it sometime!

FINDING MY WAY

Where am I? I seem to have deviated off course but I am back on track. To those who have been following along, I have decided to ditch coffee and resume implementing my new raw lifestyle. My health took a turn for the worse and I realized I need to eliminate aggravating factors from my diet, i.e. good stuff. Now don’t get all worried, but I know that things are getting worse inside and downing coffee and eating the typical American diet isn’t helping.

Over the past month I have noticed a significant change. I have begun to suffer from severe bouts of hypoglycemia within a couple hours of eating. It seems I can’t eat enough to feel right. I notice if the meal is high in fat or protein, in an hour it is as if I didn’t even eat. I shake, I run into walls, and I get depressed really easy. Then I noticed my hair isn’t growing very fast, my nails are flat with deep ridges, and they break easy.

I know my gastroenterologist will tell me to go on steroids, but to me that is my last option. I am investigating some unconventional methods and today I met with a Certified Traditional Naturopath. She says the nail problem is most likely because I am not processing fats or proteins, which is most likely contributing to my hypoglycemia.

We are running some tests but she says I am on the right track with my diet changes. So, we will see how it goes. Over the past couple of days I finally got into sprouting and I have learned many new things. Today I made sprouted lentil soup and it was fantastic. Normally I have to cook lentils for 20 minutes in the pressure cooker, but sprouted lentils take less than 10 minutes.

I love making soup, it is so easy, and once pureed my son will eat it most every time. My recipe goes as follows:

2 cups sprouted lentils

¾ tsp ground cumin

¾ tsp ground coriander

¾ tsp sea salt

About 5 turns of freshly ground pepper

1 orange bell pepper, chopped (tastes amazing by itself!)

½ onion, chopped

3 handfuls of baby kale

4 cups of veggie stock

Heat up a pot and put in about a Tbls of olive oil. Place all ingredients except the stock in the pot. Stir frequently for about 5 minutes and add stock. I didn’t bring to a boil. I allowed it to heat up and then pureed it. It was delicious. Not really raw, but I tried to keep the temp below the 118 degrees. I didn’t have a thermometer handy but I made sure it didn’t come close to a boil.

COLLECTING INFORMATION

I have this horrible habit of buying books. It seems I could spend hours and hundreds of dollars at my local bookstore. Sadly ours closed years ago and I now check the library before buying online. I happened to be in the nutrition section when I ran across this book “Detox your world: Quick and Lasting Results for a Beautiful Mind, Body, and Spirit” by Shazzie. Yes, no last name, just Shazzie.

Sadly, I have been noticing I am looking more my age lately so I thought to give this book a try. With children in tow, it is pretty hard to give a book the good once over before checking it out, so I went with my gut and brought it home. I am sure happy I did, I am really enjoying this book!

I personally think it is amazing how things turn up in your life at the precise moment you need them. It didn’t even occur to me to think this book had anything to do with eating raw. I put it out there that I wanted to start learning more about this lifestyle and…BAM… this book comes along.

Glenn Harrold, author of “Sleep Well Every Night and Lose Weight Now!” commented, “For anyone starting out on a raw food or detox journey, this book should be a first read.” I couldn’t agree more. Shazzie has brought a few interesting facts to my attention and I thought it good to share:

·         Being raw does not mean never eating cooked food again. She recommends starting slow and gradually incorporating the raw lifestyle into your everyday diet. Make subtle changes at first and work up to making it 75% of your intake. While 100% is ideal, it isn’t for everyone.

·         This diet causes you to naturally lose weight. As you replace 75% of your diet with natural, plant-based meals, your body is able to process this food faster and your weight begins to gravitate to a more healthy number.

·         Yo-yo detoxing is bad for your health. The gradual detox works best because you are more likely to remain living this lifestyle than by jumping back to your normal eating habits once you have lost the weight. Detoxing and retoxing shocks your body, and not in a good way. It can leave you in a worse state than when you started. Do it once and stick with it is the plan.

·         Eating raw gives you energy. Not going to lie, this attracts me more than anything else. I am exhausted. Raising a two-year-old and a baby really takes it out of me. I find we are eating out more and feeling less energetic than ever. Stuff just piles up around my house and I am constantly apologizing for clutter. More energy would give me more time and who couldn’t use more time??

So far this diet seems to speak to me on a molecular level. Every part of me craves it. Thankfully my husband Jason is sold on the idea as well. I am so excited about the possibilities!

FILLING UP WITH A NEW FUEL

Diet. Got to love that word…Diet. Love it so much, let’s say it again…DIET! Okay, I actually hate that word. Well, hate is a strong word, let’s just say I avoid the word. You see, I love to eat. A lot. I love the smell of food, the taste of food… basically, I love food! Diet means no more food. So, I don’t diet. But lately I have lots of problems with food. It hurts my tummy, it hurts my baby, in some way shape or another, it hurts my family.

So my love hate relationship with food ends below my hips. I am lucky in that, I tend to gain and lose weight proportionally. That is once my body has packed the weight onto my upper thighs…sigh. I have small hips, small waist, and large legs. It is like I have an hour glass figure with a speed bump at the end. I think they are referred to as saddlebags. I guess that is fitting since I grew up in the country.

Well, I want to take off those saddlebags. Now, I am not trying to be skinny, just toned and happy. While I know exercise plays an important part, diet has more to do with it than anything else. There is that diet word again. This time I mean it in a good way – fuel. I love that word…fuel. That word screams power and I LOVE power! Vrrmmm, hear my engines rumble…

This new lifestyle: raw eating. Now, I know what you are thinking…raw?? What is that?!? To be honest, I don’t exactly know for sure. I just know that I want a change and raw sounds interesting. I don’t have a solid plan, nor do I have a time frame. I just want to experiment and use this blog to document my progress.

Check back and see what happens.