I Was Running

Today I ran with the kids from North beach to Calafia and back which is 4.52 miles. This is the first long run I have done with the kids. I did it in 55.24 minutes, just about a 12 minute mile. Pushing the kids, I am very happy about that time. Just last Thursday I ran 4.45 miles in 48.54 minutes. My goal is to run the Long Beach Half Marathon in October, that is 13.1 miles. I figure if I train by running and pushing the kids at a 11-12 minute mile then when I run without the kids I should be able to run about 9-10 minute mile. I would be stoked to run the half marathon under 2 1/2 hours and that would be my best time.

Like a Hamster on a Wheel

I feel like a hamster and I am running and running and going nowhere. In this process of becoming debt free, I know we are paying things off but I still feel like we are in the same place. Does that make any sense? I guess I feel as though I can not see the end of the tunnel, I can't even see the light at the end tunnel. I see a a tiny weeny speck of light in a far, far distance. Now I know that is better than nothing but it is still a little frustrating. I guess I am so excited to move that I want to be there already. I know patience needs to be on the for front of my heart but still I am a bit discouraged. I think it is because I see a purpose in our lives but I feel as though it is unattainable.
I do not like feeling this way but I know it happens and I need to cling to God's promises and hope for the future while living His will today....easier said than done! But isn't that what we all need to do? I guess I just needed to write it out in order to see it and make sense of it. Thanks for letting me ramble. :)

AIM products

I have talked a little about these great products, but I thought I would explain why I have chosen to take their products and what they done for me and my family.

First off The AIM Companies is a Christian based company and it is not a pyramid deal. The best thing is that all you have to do is become a member and you get the wholesale prices. If you refer anyone you get a referral bonus which nice and helps pay for your product. The idea of taking vitamins and supplements has always been hard for me when I know you just pee it out. Then I found out that you actually only absorb 10% of the vitamins and pee out 90%. When you are paying so much for vitamins wouldn't you like to absorb and use more of it.

The Barley Life, Just Carrots and RediBeets are all 100% dried barley grass, carrots and beets. All you do is add water and you've got juice as if you just juiced it yourself. Now you can juice if you want and I do juice occasionally but I would have to grow my own barley grass and that would be pretty time consuming, instead I decided to buy it already done. I also take the Fiberblend. This helps me get extra fiber, natural fiber, not some kind artificial supplement that will effect how I get rid of waste naturally. I also take AIMega, which is a capsule filled with essential fatty acids. Since I am nursing I need all the extra help getting enough fatty acids for me and for bub. The last thing that I take is the AIM Peak Endurance.
I drink this instead of drinking sports drinks because it has only one gram of sugar whereas Gatorade has 28 grams and Powerade has 30 grams of sugar!

Now that you know what we take as a family, I will tell you how we take it. I blend the Fiberblend with orange juice and drink it first thing in the morning. At least a half hour later I take the Garden Trio. The Garden Trio (Barley Life Xtra, Just Carrots and Redibeets) I blend with two cups of water and about five cubes of ice. It is so good and refreshing. When I drink my smoothie I take anywhere from three to six AIMega capsules. I take more because I am nursing. The AIM Peak Endurance I use before I run or after instead of Gatorade. For the kids I usually put the Barley Life, Just Carrots and Fiberblend in the smoothies in the morning and they can't even tell it is in . The Fiberblend is supposed to be taken on an empty stomach and you should wait for thirty minutes until eating anything. However I figure that the kids won't take it by itself so I put it in their smoothies. I cut a slit in the AIMega capsules and squeeze two in the kids mouths at breakfast with their smoothies.

Since I have been taking all of these wonderful products I have noticed such a difference in everything. My hair and nails are growing like weeds. I have energy and I want to eat healthy. I notice that when I run out and miss a couple days I start eating bad and feel sluggish. For the kids I know both of them have been more regular since I started giving them the Fiberblend. The Fiberblend even helped Enzo when his BM's were super loose. The natural fiber helps by making it binding when you have loose BM's. I like that the kids are getting extra veggies in their diet.

They already eat so good, before each cooked meal they have at least the size of their hand amount of raw fruit or veggies. Enzo from day one loved veggies, he will eat raw mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, avocado and black olives. Kira has taken a little more time to like all of those veggies but she will eat all of those veggies too now. The fruit smoothies that they have each morning has pineapple, strawberries, raw cashews, berries and orange juice. So I know that they are getting in their five fruits and veggies at least and if not more each day plus the Barley Life and Just Carrots add to the mix. I am so thankful that my kids eat healthy. It just amazes me how people feed their kids and wonder why they are a discipline problem, but that is a whole other topic for another day!

Anyways that is what we do and I love the AIM products and throughly believe in them. If you want to become a member go to The AIM Companies and fill in all the info and use my member number 663452 to start. If you have questions leave a comment.

Seeing Results

Today for the first time in over two weeks Enzo had a normal BM!!! It was not full of mucous and stinky beyond belief, but a normal BM. Praise the Lord. We have been gluten free for four days since the Wahoo's incident.

That night Enzo had a 103 degree temperature and I gave him the AIM's Garden trio (barley grass, beet and carrot juice) and avocado and about ten rice noodles. He slept through the night with getting up only once to nurse. The next morning he was fine, however Saturday Kira had the 103.5 degree temperature and I did the same thing as I did with Enzo. I gave her smoothie consisting of pineapple, strawberries, raw cashews and orange juice with the barley grass and carrots in it too. I usually sneak it in her smoothie because she is still not totally hip to drinking it straight. Her temperature went down by midnight that night. In both cases I did not give them any Tylenol or fever reducer.

The more I read about fevers the more I do not want to give them anything. It is okay for the body to get hot, it is it's natural way of defending itself. Now do not get me wrong if they were throwing up continuously or having extreme diarrhea then I would take then to the doctor. But when I am constantly monitoring their temperatures and hydration, I would rather let their bodies heal themselves. Mary-Ann Shearers talks about how to deal with childhood sickness in her book Healthy Kids; The Natural Way. In this book she talks about pregnancy, birth control, immunizations, feeding a baby, toddler, elementary, junior high and high school kids. It is an encyclopedia of sorts for raising kids. I refer to it often.

So back to the fever issue, I was wondering maybe this was a bug of some kind and he does not have Celiac disease. I googled fevers and CD and from what I read it is very common for someone with CD to have a high fever after eating gluten when they are on a gluten free diet. Which totally explains Enzo and Kira's temperatures. Plus last night Kira had the biggest BM I have ever seen come out of a little girl. But it was a healthy BM, a healthy BM should be the diameter of your finger and should be a "S" shape. You should not strain or be in any pain while having your BM. I never knew that and most people I do not think do either. So being off gluten has totally helped Kira too.

I know I feel better, I am not craving foods as much. We went to breakfast with the WHOLE family (fourteen of us!) Sunday and everyone was ordering pancakes and sticky buns and all of these rich dishes and it just did not sound good to me. I honestly did not want to go out for breakfast at all. I really enjoy my morning smoothie for breakfast. So I ordered eggs and bacon with home fries. My eggs were cold, which for me is the worst, and the bacon was so greasy it made my stomach hurt. Needless to say I was not impressed with going out to eat, but that is an entire blog in itself for another day.

Gluten....Who Knew

*Disclaimer: I will be talking about bowl movements (BM), so please do not read when you are eating or just ate. :)



Well it started last Tuesday, Enzo had a very loose BM and I did not think too much of it. Loose BM's happen and then they go back to normal. A week later and things have not got worse but have not got better either. I mean these BM's are foul smelling and had mucous. Since he did not have a temperature, I really did not think he was sick. I started thinking about it and after talking to my friend Amy, I have confirmed it. Enzo may have Celiac Disease.

This is a disease where the consumption of gluten effects the small intestine which can effect everything in your body. My grandmother has Celiac disease and it is heredity. Amy's son has Celiac and she was telling me how they figured it out. The problem is there are so many different symptoms. I decided we would have to cut out ALL gluten from our diet. Oh so much fun! We do not eat all that much gluten anyways since Kira is gluten intolerant and I know gluten is not good for you. However I did not realize how many food items have gluten.

For the last two days we have been completely gluten free. I actually feel really good. Enzo's BM have totally changed to be almost normal. Even Kira is having good BMs.
We went to Wahoo's Fish Taco's for lunch and I thought a teriyaki chicken bowl would be fine, not even thinking that soy sauce has wheat in it. Enzo ate veggies, rice and beans. Then after we finished eating he projectile vomited all over himself. Poor little bub, I felt so horrible.
I think after the Wahoo's episode Enzo is most definitely gluten intolerant if not having celiac.

Since then we have kept up the no gluten diet. It is funny because in order to have him tested for Celiac he needs to stay on gluten. This makes no sense at this point for him. If he has been off gluten for a couple days and threw up after having gluten in a small amount of a sauce then who knows what a normal amount will do to him. I am going to pass on the formal test. I mean if taking out gluten is not going to hurt him but only make things better, then that is what I will do. Gluten is not good for anyone, it effects your hormonal system, endocrine system; hypothalamus, pituitary gland, thyroid, heart, skin, stomach, liver, pancreas, kidneys, adrenal glands, ovaries, placenta and uterus. From the research that I have done so far, 1 in 100 people have CD (Celiac Disease). That is more than the number of people in America with HIV. Only 3% of Americans have been diagnosed with CD, so 97% of Americans do not even know they have it. The symptoms are different with each person. Maybe take a minute and see if your aches and pain might be caused by gluten. Remember it is in EVERYTHING!!! Well I am definitely going to blog our experience and recipes that work and that do not work.

Here we go on another roller coaster...wheee!



P.S. Enzo just had a BM and it looked normal, yeah I think it is working :)

Sally the Sparrow

Monday night Kira and I went for a little walk and we found a sparrow laying on the sidewalk. I picked it up and brought it into our house. It had a broken wing or something.

I called the animal shelter and five phone calls later I got in touch with a gal in San Juan Capistrano that specializes in taking care of hurt sparrows and hummingbirds. She was not going to be able to take the bird until today late afternoon. She told me how to feed our new little friend.
I mashed up hard boiled egg yolk with a little water and fed her with her beak open. We put her into a shoe box in the laundry room. Kira was so very excited about the sparrow. She named her Sally. It was so sweet to see how concerned she was for the bird. She kept saying that Sally lost her mommy. She was reassuring Sally that we were taking care of her now and that everything would be alright. Enzo of course just wanted to poke the poor little bird, so we kept him far away.
Then to melt my heart more, when we did prayers at bedtime she prayed for Sally that she would sleep good and feel better. We took care of her until 4:30 and drove her over to the bird lady. She was very nice and gave Kira a children's book that she wrote. So needless to say Kira had an adventurous day.

The Imagination of a Child

Today, Kira and Enzo decided they were detectives.


They were searching for the missing jewels.

With magnifying glasses in hand and their detective hats on,

they found the stolen jewels in no time.

Organization is the Key

We have been at my parents house now for a month. In our bedroom, we still had about five boxes that had not been emptied and put away, up until today!!. I finally feel as though we are getting settled. With all of our appointments and commitments it has been hard trying to get everything organized. Thursday I had a mental breakdown and was feeling very overwhelmed and needed to regroup. I canceled Enzo's appointment and got our "house" in order. As of today our room is completely put away and organized except for on box and it is Eric's stuff that he needs to go through.

In our living room, we have three small boxes that need to be sorted through. I re-packed a box of toys because I realized we had too many toys out and it was overwhelming the kids and they were not playing with anything because there were too many choices. Now that half of the toys are gone they are actually playing in our living room. I feel so much better.

I also started a Home Management Notebook and a homemaking journal and a planner for the unplanned. I love journaling and I know I do better when I write down my thoughtsjournalunplanned planner

and get them out of my head. So far I have really enjoyed using the planner and the journal. The home management notebook is still in the works of being put together. I do like the idea of having everything in a hard copy accessible to both Eric and I. I know sometimes he asks where certain paperwork is and now it will all be in one spot or it will direct him to it.