Wheat Belly Review: Part 1

Why Pick On Wheat??

1)  The "history" of wheat farming.
2)  What's an Exorphin?
3) Wheat and Celiac Disease          
4) Wheat and your cholesterol!
5) The Glycemic Index trouble (Diabetes)

I found this book to be really well written and scientific.  I really have found that eliminating wheat from our diets at home isn't difficult.  Eliminating wheat at school, parties, church, restaurants is much harder, especially since no one has full blown Celiac disease (Lainey and I got tested and had normal lab results thankfully).  I plan to be wheat free pretty much as a way of life but I haven't decided what to do about the kids outside of our house.

I am going to try to explain what I learned about wheat. All the info in this post, and any future posts comes from the book Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis.  You should read it yourselves!  It's great!

1) The "history" of Wheat 

- Wheat has been part of a human diet for 10,000 years.  It started as einkorn, then emmer, then Triticum asetivum (bread flour).
- Very small changes to the genetic make-up of modern wheat occurred but for the most part wheat from the 1600's was the same in the 1700's, 1800's, and early 1900's.
- In the latter part of the 20th century  hybridization methods aimed towards increasing yields (increasing food supply) and decreasing cost drastically changed the structure of wheat.
- The "amber waves of grain" have now been replaced with a drawf wheat and semi-dwarf wheat that makes up 99% of the worlds wheat today.  These hybridization efforts started around 1945, but I think didn't really take full effect until the 1970's.  (Dr. Borlaug was a Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his contribution to the hybridization effort/solving world hunger.)
- While the intention of the scientists that created this new form of wheat was good (there are a lot of hungry people in this world!!), the results may be negatively impacting humans in other ways.
-No safety measures/tests were/are required before new products are made available for human consumption.

2) What's an Exorphin?

Definition according to www.drugs.com....

-Food-derived opioid peptide, found in wheat gluten

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I was shocked to learn that wheat gets digested it is broken down into polypeptides that are able to cross the blood-brain barrier.

-These polypeptides (called gluteomorphins) bind onto opiate receptors in your brain (same receptors that morphine and heroin bind too). 

-This creates a please sensation, stimulating your need for MORE! (Wheat acts as an appetite stimulant).

-The effects of wheat on your brain can be blocked by the same drugs you would give a patient who overdosed on heroin/morphine.

- A study done at University of South Carolina found that when subjects were given naloxone (drug blocking opiate effect of wheat on your brain) they ate 400 LESS calories (over the course of 2 meals) than the subjects given a placebo.  

Are there other foods that act as an exorphin? 

 The protein Casein which is in dairy is believed to also possibly be an exorphin.  Most interesting part about this to me is that Casein is added to many, many, many processed foods (many of them that also contain wheat of course!). 

Here's a list of processed foods that contain added casein....

It's in everything ranging from infant formula to salad dressing to french fries. For more info go HERE. 

We already avoid eating processed foods so for the most part our casein intake is limited about 2 servings of milk/yogurt/cheese a day which I think is necessary for calcium (we supplement calcium too).

Part Three to be continued....

Back in The Working World

Well, yesterday I went back to work for the first time in 5 years.  I am working in a GI clinic about 40 minutes from our house, as a PA which is what I had done pre-kids.  I'm just working one day a week, which I think will be a nice situation.  Hopefully, I will prove myself helpful at work since my time there will be quite limited.

The first day went well.   I'm still waiting for some paperwork to be processed so I was really mainly shadowing the physician I'll be working with.  He seems to be very kind, efficient, and smart.  I learned quite a bit from him in just one day.

I really did enjoy being back in the clinical world.  I have a LOT to review and learn but it did seem a little bit like riding a bike which was encouraging.

The kids had a good first day with the sitter.  We have two girls from our church that will be providing daycare.  The main sitter is 20, a college student.  Our back-up sitter is 16 and a home-schooled sophomore.  The kids love both of them.

Last night, I spent the whole night dreaming that Carson had fallen into a pool and drown while I was at work.  So while I don't feel too stressed about this change in our family life, there is certainly a little stress handing over my precious babies to someone else when I've devoted almost every moment to them during the past 5 years.  :)

I am very thankful for this unique very part time position that will allow me to keep my feet in the professional world well still devoting most of myself to my family and kids.  We have been blessed!

Carson - 19 Months - Amazing Development!

Speech...

Well, Carson is about 12 days post-tube procedure and can hear again!  I took him back to the ENT on Friday for a follow up appointment.  They repeated his hearing tests and this time it came back completely normal in all 4 areas they test for at this age.  I knew he was hearing better because he responds much quicker to our voices and woah boy is that kid talking!!  I am so amazed! In the past 10 days Carson has probably tripled his vocabulary.  In fact, he suddenly is making an attempt to say almost any word you ask him too and saying the following words spontaneously....

all done, uh oh, no, stop (op), milk (mil), moo, erik, lainey (wayway), up, down, off, baby (baba), blankie (baba), ow, hot, mama, dada, truck, there, woof woof, ball and ballon (baa), yum, backpack, knock knock, moon, me, bye, hi, button (butt), Papa

30 Words!!  Hallelujah! So amazing given the fact that 2 weeks ago he said at most 10!  Carson must be so happy to be able to hear! Poor little guy!!

In other areas...

Eating...

Carson must be going through a growth spurt because boy that kid can eat!  For at least 2 weeks he has been out eating Erik and Lainey, often combined.  Today, he ate less than normal so maybe the spurt is almost over?  His shoe size jumped from 6 to 7.5 during the past month or so. He has also outgrown his 12-18 month pants.

Carson eats a wide variety of foods, he is most picky about fruit - only likes apples, watermelon, and sometimes cantaloupe and banana.  He refuses to put any other fruits in his mouth. He is missing out! 

This photo is of Carson trying to see the movie while riding backwards in the van on our late evening drive home from Alexandria Friday! (I was at a stop light!)

I let the kids watch a movie if our ride is more than an hour (but only after 45 minutes into the drive).

Poor Carson!  He otherwise loves being rear facing still as he can see Erik and Lainey better.  Thankfully he doesn't seem to get carsick as being in a rear facing car seat is much safer for him. 

Drooling....

Carson has 16 teeth which is all you are supposed to have when you turn 2.  I am wondering if maybe he is getting his 2 year molars early though as he has been drooling like a St. Bernard for a week or two.  His shirts are completely soaked by mid-morning. 

Overall, it's been a fun, busy month.  Lots of festivals and outdoor activities (2 pumpkin farms, lots of hiking/walks and playing outside).  Carson continues to be a joy!  He is full of the dickens and has an excellent sense of humor.  He plays hard, eats well, sleeps great (for one of our kids!), laughs a lot and I suspect someday will protest loudly (already hits and bites at times!). 

 We just love our little guy!

Life as a "single parent" Part 2 - Day 4 of V's trip

7:00 Wake Up
7:20 Get the kids breakfast - oatmeal and frozen berries
7:45 Prep dinner - potatoes, onions, carrots, and meat for the crock pot
8:15 Clean up kitchen, realize I forget to run the dishwasher last night which means some breakfast dishes get left in the sink.  This is a pet peeve of mine!
8:30 Help kids get dressed
8:45 Head to the gym
9:00 Run on the treadmill
10:00 Shower/get ready for church while at gym
10:30 Head to church
12:00 Church is over, chat for 10-15 minutes
12:15 Head to grocery store, stuff kids with a snack on the way
12:30 Get most of the weeks groceries (spent $40 at farmer's market Thursday but missed my main farmer's market Saturday) -- $186 to the big shop, the hungry and tired trio did really well though!
1:15 Head home.  Feed kids more formal lunch/milk
1:30 Read and put Carson to bed
1:45 Read and put Lainey to bed
2:00 Sit on the couch and drink tea/eat lunch while Erik plays with blocks
2:15 Read a chapter of Farmer Boy to Erik and send him upstairs for quiet time
2:45 Get up and put away remaining groceries, unload dishwasher, clean up lunch mess, sweep floor, iron on AWANA badges, switch over a couple loads of laundry (no clothes got put away, but they are all washed at least)
(3:00 - Send Erik outside to play with J)
4:00 Carson gets up/Lainey gets up
4:30 Head to the school walking/on bikes with my trio and Erik's best bud J
4:43 Chain falls of J's bike.  Try to get it back on, see a road biker and flag him for help.  He gets it back in place, make our way to the school
5:15 Head back home, chain falls off again.  Really?!  Thankfully, J's dad had come to the playground with little brother about 10 minutes after us, so he fixed the chain the 2nd time it fell off.
5:35 Arrive home, feed kids, review AWANA verses
5:55 Head to AWANA
6:08 Arrive, 8 minutes late (seems to be my theme this weekend)
6:20 Carson and I run errands - eyebrow waxing, get Carson's feet measured (needs a whole size bigger and his shoes are only 3 weeks old!)
7:15 Arrive back at AWANA early, chat with my Dad for a while
7:35 AWANA is over, we head home
8:00 Give kids a glass of milk
8:05 Quick showers
8:10 Carson brush teeth, story, bed
8:16 Repeat with L
8:22 Repeat with E
8:30 Iron new AWANA badges on (they are small, didn't want to lose them)
8:35 Victor arrives home from his work "vacation" -- he calls it that himself
8:45 I am feeling grumpy and mean so instead of being too grumpy and mean I head upstairs for an hour of reading/blogging with a glass of wine while Victor picks up the play room

Current work trip, solo parenting adventure over.

Monday's are our quietest day of the week.  I love the weekends, more so when Victor is home and we can get outside and enjoy the awesome fall weather better, but Monday's are a nice quiet entrance to the week.  Our only activity is Erik going to pre-k, nothing else scheduled.

I'd have to say, while Victor's been gone a lot the past 2 1/2 months (4-5 weeks I think) living in a military community helps me keep that in perspective.  I love living as part of a military community.  The people are great - everyone is looking to make friends because lots of people are new to the area, people are willing to help out neighbors and friends as much as they would help out their family members, and people are really resilient  - long hours and traveling husbands hardly phase most of the military wives.   My neighbor's husband was just gone for 4 consecutive weeks, no complaints although she most certainly is happy to have him back (she works part time, is in grad school, and has 3 kids).  Another neighbor's husband has been gone since August and will be gone for the most part until next Halloween (2013).  (He's doing some long training missions now and deploys in January).  She doesn't complain either (2 kids, works part time although has full time day care available to her which she doesn't fully use but does use enough that she gets a break at least).  It's amazing and wonderful to see such resilient and strong people/families/women.

I don't think lots of work related traveling or super long hours is beneficial for our family or anyone's really but I feel kind of proud that I've figured out a way to take care of my trio and still meet most of their and my needs while Victor is out of town without feeling resentful towards Victor.  The days are long and super busy when you have to do it all yourself, but I am so thankful to have my trio and be healthy enough to care for them well (as well as I am able).

(P.S.  Not perfect, as I did mention that when V got home I suddenly moved into grumpy land - better now! I also can not imagine surviving a 6-12 month deployment on my own which many of my friends have done more than once. 6 days at a time is enough for me!)

Life as a single parent

Victor's been traveling a lot this fall.  Not super enjoyable but definitely easier on me than any other time in the past 5 years.  (Solo parenting with a newborn or while pregnant = bad time)  So, while I don't find the travel super enjoyable I am thankful it's happening during a time when I feel like a normal human.

I thought I would write out today's events before I go to bed as life with three, on your own, is busy and messy!!

**Everyday in our house is fairly busy. Saturday due to poor extra curricular activity scheduling (not completely within my control), is the busiest.**

6:45 Up for the day (late wake up call!)
7:00 Start getting breakfast ready, unload dishwasher, put away breakfast dishes/clean up kitchen
7:30 Prompt kids to go get dressed -help Erik find his soccer clothes, dress Carson
7:45 Fix Lainey's hair for dance
7:56 Discover that Lainey's dance barrettes are missing, call Victor and ask where they might be
7:59 Run upstairs and dig through V's duffle bag - find them
8:00 Start to get Lainey dressed and discover huge whole in her dance tights
8:01 Call V again, just to complain this time
8:05 Dig through L's closet and look for a back up pair of dance tights (the studio is quite strict!)
8:10 Have the kids brush their teeth, go to the bathroom, and get in the car
8:20 Leave for soccer

8:38 Arrive at soccer, 8 minutes late, hit every stop light possible
8:45 Find neighbor and ask her if she can watch out for E while I take L to dance (kids can't be without a chaperone at soccer)
8:50 Leave for dance
9:00 Drop L off at dance, rush back to soccer
9:10-9:33 Watch Erik's soccer game, pull him out 10 minutes early so I can pick up Lainey on time
9:45 Pick up Lainey
10:00 Get to my gym so I can get in some exercise for the day (besides driving)
11:00 Get kids back in the car, hand them all water/milk and a snack
11:15 Stop for gas
11:28 Arrive at swim class
11:38 Enter swimming class, 8 minutes late
12:15 Swimming ends, get everyone showered and dressed (all 4 of us were in the pool - me with Carson, other two in their own class)
12:30 Leave for home
12:50 Carry a sleeping C up to his bed
1:00 Feed E and L a snack
1:15 Read books to L
1:25 Read books to E
1:40 Thankfully, all 3 fall asleep (first time in 2+ weeks)
1:50 Walk around the block for 25 minutes (house is in view at all times) so I can get outside (it's 70 and sunny) and chat with my cousin
2:30 Decide to make apple crisp (wheat free) for the halloween party instead of  beer cheese soup so I don't have to take the trio to the grocery store
3:15 Carson wakes up.  Crisp is prepared but kitchen is a mess still
3:20 Read books to Carson and give him milk/snack
3:30 Lainey and Erik wake up
3:40 Let Erik use his leap pad - I had bribed him with this to keep him in his room for nap time
3:45 Clean up kitchen
4:15 Stick crisp in the oven
4:20 Head outside and clean/vacuum the van while keeping a close eye on L and C (E was using his computer)
4:30 Computer time over, requires some discussion
4:50 Take crisp out of the oven
4:55 Clean up living room and vacuum it (vacuum was out already)
5:10 Have the kids get changed into their costumes
5:30 Head over to neighbors for a party
8:00 Bring 3 tired kids home
8:05 Milk x 3
8:10 Stick kids in the shower
8:20 Carson pees on the toilet for the first time!  Initiated it himself.  So cute!
8:25 Get all 3 in their PJ's (Erik and Lainey are pretty self sufficient)
8:30 Go to put C to bed and realize blankie is missing
8:31 Head downstairs for blanket search
8:34 Teeth brushing/book/bed for C
8:45 Repeat for L
9:00 Repeat for E
9:15 Come downstairs, kitchen is still a big mess
9:20 Call V and talk for a couple of minutes
9:27 Sweep kitchen, wipe counters, and finish remaining dishes
9:45 Still grossed out by kitchen floor so decide to scrub it on my hands and knees
10:15 Kitchen much better
10:16 Blog about my crazy Saturday
10:32 Head to bed!

Soccer Finale

Erik's last fall soccer "game" was today.  He plays in the U5 group still and they only scrimmage.  He LOVES soccer though so I signed him up for the indoor winter league.  It's Saturday mornings which isn't the best (our Saturday morning schedule is very nuts) but he's very excited that he gets to keeping playing during the winter.

I really think he captured the idea of the game this fall.  His best game was probably today, he scored multiple goals and really led the play on his team. (This does not happen every week!)  I happened to film about a minute of the game and captured one of his goals.  Fun!

(He's on the blue team, wearing black shinguards, and shorts.)

Note:  I said, "Erik Chen" because Erik was scolding his teammate for taking the ball the wrong way down the field.  I do realize that Erik, nor any other player could hear me.

Wheat Belly

Lainey and I have both had intermittent mild but annoying belly aches for quite some time.  She complains about her stomach hurting 1-2x a week. It doesn't stop her from doing anything but it's a frequent complaint.   I've had intermittent belly aches since May 2009.  I saw a GI doctor and had a ultrasound, HIDA scan, and EGD done which revealed nothing but mild gastritis.  I asked about being tested for celiac disease but they didn't think it was necessary and didn't do duodenal biopsies.

Anyway, fast forward to August.  You may recall I cut all grains out of our families diets for 3-4 weeks.  I did this fairly randomly but was shocked at the improvement of Lainey's belly aches and loose stools.  They were gone.  My stomach was also completely pain free during that time. 

So, I talked to her pediatrician who agreed to do Celiac serology for Lainey.  I added wheat back into our diets about 6 weeks ago to ensure that the lab results would be accurate when they were drawn.  Well, guess what?  Lainey's back to complaining about a belly ache 1-2x a week.  I had pasta, a bun, and pumpkin bread yesterday (very unusual) and my stomach has been killing me ever since.   

Adding fuel to the fire is the book, "Wheat Belly" written by Dr. William Davis.  He is a preventative cardiologist from Milwaukee, WI.  In my mind this book is so well written.  He starts by talking about how different wheat is today from even 75 years ago and the impact that has on our health.  He supports his theory with both evidence based clinical trials in addition to his own clinical practice (thousands of his patients have seen a dramatic increase in health after eliminating wheat).  It's a fascinating book and I challenge anyone reading this to read the book and let me know what you think!  Especially those of you who are health care providers.  To the wheat farmer family reading this, sorry!

Both Lainey and I will be having celiac serology done later this week (hopefully, as I just have a call out to the doctor), but we are cutting out wheat now.  (Be prepared when you come to visit us!)

If our serology comes back negative I will probably not label Lainey as gluten free at school but haven't decided yet.  If her stomach aches/bowels return to normal again when wheat free it's going to be difficult to allow her to eat stuff at school that I am fairly confident bothers her belly.  We'll see.

Videos:

http://www.amazon.com/Wheat-Belly-Lose-Weight-Health/dp/1609611543

Let me know what you think?!

Weekend Fun! (Again)

I love fall!  There are so many fun festivals to attend and the weather is perfect.  This weekend we repeated the 3.5 mile hike (Friday evening) to check out the leaves again.  Saturday we went to a local festival on the bay celebrating the early days in Maryland.

Here are a few photos...

 Craft time

Erik made a jellyfish, Lainey made a crab

 Exploring a replica of a very old ship

 My sweet little girl!

 I even got to take Erik (bottom photos) and Lainey (top photos) 

out in a kayak for a little bit!

Race Day!

I ran my second race in 6 years this morning!  It was a fun run.  Cool and breezy with a pretty flat course.  I just started running 3 months ago after being challenged by my friend/neighbor/fitness instructor to complete 26.2 miles over the course of a month long fitness challenge.  I did that without a problem and have continued to run since then. I am faster now than I have ever been, despite minimal training and a 6 year break.  Exciting!

This morning's race was a 10-miler.  I've never done that length before (have done  5k, 10k, 13.1 miles and 26.2 miles but not 10 miles).  It was a nice length.  Not too painful.

I have been running with 2 friends once a week for 60-90 minutes but those are the only long runs I've done to prepare (4-5 of them).

My race time today was 1:20:40 which is approximately an 8 minute pace (for 10 miles!).  Admittedly bragging, I think that is a fairly amazing time.  Only 4th in my age group (was hoping for 3rd) but 2 of the people who beat me were my buddies.

I ran the whole race with my friend Lauren but ran out of steam at mile 9 and she finished 44 seconds ahead of me.  (I think her mile 10 splint was 7:30, I couldn't do that at that point in the race.)  My friend Tracy, caught us at the end and finished 30 seconds before me, my friend Laura was about 3 minutes behind me.  Between the 4 of us we have 12 kids, pretty impressive. We range in age from 31 to 37.

Here are some photos from the fun morning!

 Laura, Me, Lauren, and Tracy

My cheering squad.

Lainey and Erik made signs and Lainey had her

K-state gear and poms with her!  So cute!

Aren't they cute?!

I love these little guys!

Carson raced out onto the street to greet me when I went by (good thing no one else was around me).

I didn't stop to say hi, he was confused! 

 Carson is always so happy.

He really just melts me heart, sweet boy!

 The race beginning/ending was located at a park on the bay.

The entire run was along the bay which was beautiful! 

There are lots of beautiful places close to our house.

 Rocks and water, some of his favorite things!

Happy and animated, that's my little guy!

Thank you to Victor for getting the kids ready this morning and 

bringing them all out to cheer me on!  So fun!

Just a bit of daily chaos

Having three kids at home is quite busy.  Erik's at school 3 hours a day which he loves but it still feels like I have 3 at home almost 100% of the time.  They're overall pretty well-behaved and enjoyable.  Life is WAY easier now than it was a year ago.  That being said, they still get into plenty of trouble.  Yesterday was a good example of this.

After lunch, I took Carson upstairs to put him down for a nap.  I had asked Erik and Lainey to come up with me and they ignored that request.  I got a bit distracted by the mountain of laundry in my room.  When I got to Erik's room to put away his basket of clothes I noticed 3 towels spread across his floor.  Annoyed, as it's not completely uncommon for the kids to strew clothes across the house, I sighed as I went to pick them up.  Well, imagine my shock when I realized that Erik had intentionally put the towels on his floor to cover up piles of vomit.  Yep, puke.  Apparently, he had thrown up in the middle of the night and didn't tell anyone about it.  He never acted sick and I since I didn't know about it, he didn't miss any school.

So, I called E and L upstairs again.  This time Lainey came.  I read her a book and put her to bed.  She decided this was a non-napping day and tried to come out of her room.  I put a stop to this but she still never slept.

Then I went downstairs to retrieve Erik who was still ignoring me.  Well, he was hiding from me in a kitchen cabinet eating a big hunk of bread that I had clearly told him he couldn't have.  He had managed to traipse crumbs throughout the entire kitchen.  Great.

I ask him to clean up the kitchen mess (guess how successful that was) while I go back upstairs to tend to the vomit.  I get his room cleaned up, call him upstairs, read him a book.

I go back downstairs to tend to the huge kitchen mess.  Once the crumbs are vacuumed up I figured I would call a friend while I cleaned up the rest of the lunch mess.  (Carson is the messiest eater I have ever met, every meal results in a messy disaster.)  When I pick up my phone it says, "Locked for 60 minutes."  I'd never seen that before but figure the kids must have messed it up.  Oh well.  I can wait.

Start to clean up the big kitchen mess only to realize that Carson is already up from his nap (45 minutes instead of the normal 2 hours).  Since Lainey and Erik aren't sleeping I let them come back downstairs too.

I do manage to get the kitchen cleaned up and my phone unlocked.  When I go to call my friend I see in the call log that the last call that had been made was  9-1-1.  Really, kids!  Good thing the cops didn't show up I might have sent one or more of my trio for a ride in handcuffs.  Ha!

Thankfully, most days aren't quite as chaotic as that, but I thought this deserved mentioning.

Can you hear what I hear??

My sweet little boy had his tube procedure done today.  All went well.  They do use general anesthesia for the procedure.  He tolerated it fine but was MAD for about an hour afterwards.  Just screaming and yelling inconsolably.  The nurses wouldn't let me give him anything to drink while we were there but I gave him a big glass of milk as soon as we got in the car and he calmed down after that.

His right ear had a little fluid in it, but according to the ENT doctor the left ear had TONS!  It's been draining all day long.  Poor thing.  I'm glad it's over with.  Hopefully this will help us get through the winter without repeated infections and it might help him in the speech department.

 Pre-op

All ready to go! 

So sweet!

After the procedure we hung out at my friend Karen's until he was feeling better.

Then we headed to Old Town for lunch, returning some clothes, and a trip to see the ducks. 

Things went well and I am thankful for that!

Family Hike!

This morning we went on a really fun 3.5 mile hike.  Erik walked/ran the whole way without complaining.  We ended up quite a bit ahead of Victor who was pushing the stroller.  When we took a break from running Erik held my hand the entire time.  I'm sure Erik's only a couple years away from not wanting to buddy up and hold my hand.  I sure love spending time with my little guy now though!

 My sweet babies!

 Made it to the beach

I kind of love this action shot, captures a fairly typical moment

 Balance Beam

 Beautiful scenery, our leaves are still green!

 Hiking is so tiring!

 Weee!

3.5 miles tired this guy out!

He usually only naps if he is sick.

Weekend Fun

I think this is the first week since August 1st that our family has been all together and healthy with no major events or changes occurring.  A much needed respite for sure!

Today we went to a fall festival.  Originally we planned to go right at nap time but decided this morning that maybe we should come home after swimming, let the two littles nap, and then head back to the festival.

This worked well except that we were a bit behind our planned schedule and didn't end getting to the festival until 5:02.  One of the big feature of this festival is a boat ride out to an island were you can explore and climb into a lighthouse, etc.  Well, the last boat to the island left at 5:00.  So crummy!  The tour boat is seasonal and closed until next June with the exception of tomorrow.  The weather isn't supposed to be very nice but if it doesn't rain Victor will take Erik back to the festival for the boat ride and island exploration tomorrow.  He was pretty disappointed that we didn't get there in time but handled the disappointment really, really well.

We still had a fun time at the carnival, even managed to dance a few times as there was a band.  We also captured a fairly good family photo, finally so I can update our blog header with a current photo.  I have decided professional photographers earn every penny! :)

 Lainey and Carson rode a pony together

Erik wouldn't even get close to the ponies!

 Not so sure about this mom!

 Let me off!

(Just look at the camera first buddy!)

 Okay, you win!

 Lainey finished the ride alone.

Notice her shoes, they are always on the wrong feet.

This is intentional.

She says, "I like it that way!" when I ask her to switch them!

Not perfect (I hadn't dried my hair after taking a shower but I HAD at least taken a shower!) but better than the others.

First family photo with all five of us looking in at least 6 months.

My sweet Lainey

Oh how I love this sweet, photogenic little lady!

Notable Quote: Erik

Me:  Erik, do you know that it snowed already in Minnesota where Grandma Sandy, Grandpa Miin, and Irene live?

Erik:  Really?!

Me:  Would you like to live in a state that snowed already?

Erik:  Well, I like snow but I don't want to live somewhere that has snow in the summer.  I only like snow in the winter.

My thoughts exactly!  Enjoy the cold up there folks!

Joy

I've been mulling a post on joy around in my head for the past few days.  I almost pushed the post on Joy off another day because I spent the last hour listening to the presidential debate which doesn't bring me much joy. Haha!

 I'm happy to say that after a few weeks of feeling kind of sad, grumpy, mad, worried, etc. (as noted in previous posts) I am now feeling much more like myself.  This week it seems much easier to recognize the many wonderful blessings in my life.  Here are a few...

 Carson after eating chili for lunch!

He has his "cheese" face on for this photo.

This boy is just full of joy!

Erik proud of himself for building his pirate legos all on his own!

I was proud too.  He sat and followed the instructions in the book for at least an hour.

Sweet Lainey drew this family photo at school the other day.

She is in the pink.  Carson is in the middle, Victor is the top brown figure, and I am the 

bottle brown figure.  She ran out of time before drawing Erik.

Also, notice her name.  She got all the letters need just not quite in the right order (Laniye, instead of Lainey).  Pretty impressive for a 3.25 year old!

Lainey loves school and loves letters and drawing.

 Hard workouts!

This might make me crazy but I have found a new fitness instructor I really like.

His classes are challenging and fast paced but leave you feeling strong.

I love them and have been trying to go 3x a week.

Sweet siblings.  Lainey didn't take a nap today.

She still NEEDS them or ends up reduced to a sad heap of tears by 6 PM.

Today though she spent 45 minutes giggling and playing with Erik instead of sleeping.

By the time I caught them she was too wound up to sleep.

So at 6 PM she was a blubbering mess.

Erik felt bad that she was so sad and drew this heart for her.

Very sweet.  I love it when my kiddos play and play like they are best of friends.

(There are plenty of moments when they don't but I am focusing on joyful things today!)

Victor being home!

Victor is home from his long weeks of traveling, at least for now.

So I get to sit down more at night and sleep in occasionally.

Thankful for a helpful husband (he's currently doing the dishes as I am writing this blog entry).

Autumn!

No photos for this (I forgot) but earlier this week I took the kids

to an Amish farm that sells pumpkins, flowers, fall decorations, etc.

We had a great time.  The family was really nice and Lainey and Erik had a nice time

playing on their homemade swings.  Carson LOVED the kittens and puppy.  

We've been to plenty of other Amish farms buying produce but this was my favorite one so far.

Farmers Markets!

I have started buying all my pork and beef plus most of the weeks vegetables

at a local farm stand.  I love it!  You get to buy the meat and produce straight from the farmers and it's all grown/produced locally with fairly sound growing principles. (Better than the store bought version.)

The meat especially is SOOOO much better than store bought.

Long runs and long talks.

About a month ago I started running once a week with 2 friends.  

We are all going to do a 10 mile race in a couple of weeks.

This is the first time I have spent any time running since 2006 and it has been fun to add back into my fitness routine.  These social runs have been a really big blessing to me.

We are all mom of 3 kids and seem to have quite a few similar interests, concerns, beliefs.

This past weekend I mentioned how I really have been pretty ticked at God and worried about certain people and struggling to see God's goodness and grace.  Well, Tracy immediately and confidently reassured me that my concerns were really "invalid."  She was able to quiet certain worries that I had had so well that I truthfully can say that my understanding of God's grace for us has truly been expanded.  We do have a kind, wonderful, and forgiving God.  And that brings me so much Joy!

The verses that she provided me with to support this idea are as follows....

John 10:28

John 10:29

Luke 15

John 10:27-29

Romans 8:35-39

Phillipians 1:6

1 Peter 1:5

Romans 11:29

John 6:37

John 6:39

Ephesian 1:13-14

Romans 8: 28-37

I realize many people reading this probably think I'm super crazy posting so much about my faith as I think a lot of  my family and friends have different opinions than I do.  Go ahead and think of me as crazy.  I might be, but I do know that this conversation and these passages have brought me a lot of comfort, and I needed to share these thoughts.  Especially after the grumpy ones I shared before!

What brings joy to your life??

School Photo 2012/2013: Erik Pre-K

Haha!

This photo cracks me up.

Erik has decided that he doesn't like taking pictures and does just about everything he can to get out of them.  This is fairly annoying.  Apparently, he didn't make an exception for the school photographer.

Below is another attempt at a family photo.

Stellar cooperation from the trio.

If I look annoyed, it's because I was.

We'll keep trying!