Durham Family

It's time

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 13:12:11 GMT

I've been asked several times over the past few months why I hadn't posted. I never had a good answer. Something was looming over me and I wasn't quite sure what it was. I'm pretty sure I've finally figured it out. It was the election. Something about being in Denver right before the DNC made this election more real for me earlier. I guess I knew that I couldn't continue to blog without sharing my thoughts and opinions.... and I didn't want this blog to be tainted with dissent.

I vote based on fiscal issues. I don't believe that the government can do a better job at addressing social issues than private organizations and communities. I think when you add more people to "govern" or regulate it just opens up the opportunity for more people to "bought" and do what serves their self interest. And, those two things pretty much define me as a Republican. It not so much about being a conservative in my views and principles- I know Democrats that are more conservative than me.

My view, whether anyone agrees or not, is that people have all kinds of crappy things happen in their life. Some much, much worse than others. Those crappy things aren't what define you, it's how you deal with them that does. For some people it takes very little for them to be forever changed or impacted negatively. Others can be a prisoner of war for several years and they were simply "tested".

I believe that our emotions are pendulums. They swing. I think that the more they swing, the more likely they are to get stuck on one side. The gears get worn and they simply cannot make smooth transitions anymore. Eventually they rust in place, stuck to one side, with no chance of returning to the middle. Essentially they are one piece, but still broken. They are stuck so far to one side that they can't even see the place of balance and rest and forget that other people live there happily. They are victim to the pressure of gravity at all times. The longer that gravity pushes on them the harder they have to push back. If they aren't always pushing back, gravity will break them. As a result, life is about over-compensating for past hurt and they can very easily become an extremist.

I would never judge an extremist. Something happened to them and it's doubtful they were at fault. Perhaps the right people in their life could have brought them back to the center (or closer to it), but whoever was "there" may have been broken in one piece as well.

I would also never choose to put my future in the hands of an extremist wether they were a Republican or a Democrat- they could be broken nonetheless. When I consider the voting record and affiliations of the future president, I can't help but see an extremist. There's no doubt that his pendulum has done a lot of swinging and it landed on one side. I pray that it's not rusted in place. I pray that gravity can push him back to the center- or that he can at least see that most people live there happily... even if he doesn't.

Where's the BEEF?

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:45:56 GMT

Marshall just completed a day-long food challenge and he's passed the beef test. They're not even going to attempt to give him any milk products based on his test results but beef is all good.

Trace & I have run through what that means to this family:

- The boys will get a McDonald's Happy Meal for the first time ever!!!

- Beef Jerky

- Steak!

- Beef Fajitas

- Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

- Briskett

- The other side of the menu at Taste of Asia... and Bill Miller

- Sausage

- Arbys

- Subway Meatball sandwich.... and the Spicy Italian!

- the ability to eat off of other people's grills

We're going to celebrate with Happy Meals! Unfortunately we also have confirmation of his asthma which had always been a clinical diagnoses. They think the asthma is triggered by his reflux.

So, we've accomplished what we've come here for. The psychologist has blessed me as a mother and cancelled our next 3 appointments. I told her that if she wanted to talk about Braden then I could use a few more weeks but she didn't oblige. Good thing she didn't hear me chew out the 12 yr old nutritionist who doesn't have a clue.

Had better days...

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:11:32 GMT

Yesterday was suppose to be a big day... and it was... but not a "successful" day. Marshall was suppose to stay overnight in the hospital after having a probe inserted into his stomach.

Inserting the probe is not an enjoyable procedure. They insert a tube into the patients nose and have to find some narrow tunnel up there that they then feed the tube down through the esophagus and into the stomach. Marshall was a trooper during the first 6 attempts but then it just became too much. He started to panic and then completely freaked out. They had let a novice try at the first several attempts and she fried his nerves. I had to step in and end it just as they were starting to make progress. I have no problem subjecting my kids to well intentioned medical abuse but they crossed the line and he had done more than his share in cooperating. In the end, the child services lady thanked me for stopping it. I'm still a little haunted by his tears and screams.

Soon after he got to pick out a prize at the hospital which cheered him up and he was back to abusing the rest of us.

Today will be a better day. Tonight is Bingo at RMH and that's all the boys care to think about. If ever you are looking to do some community service... Bingo at RMH is a winner- just make sure you've got prizes!

Slashcut!

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:19:05 GMT

I'm doing a slashcut! There are so many blogs that I should have written by now about camping trips, new dogs, basketball games, Braden's elusive illness and the rehabilitation of our rental house but alas I have not. I hope to soon but this summer has been anything but leisurely. So here it goes... slashcut to July 22nd.

Right now we're in Denver, CO. I'm typing from the Ronald McDonald House. We're visiting National Jewish Hospital which specializes in food allergies and all the issues that go along with it.

We came up on Friday and Marshall's first round of testing was yesterday; two pulomonary breathing tests, blood tests and a skin test. Sorry to say that yesterday was the easy day. Today Marshall will have another battery of tests ending with a probe inserted in his nose that will be thread into his stomach. It should be the only night that he spends away from Club Med (i.e., Ronald McDonald House... aka RMH).

We'll be here for testing until the 29th although the boys have already said that they never want to leave. They love all of the outdoor activities that CO has to offer and are in heaven at RMH. I'll post pics and you'll understand why.

I'll try to update daily!

The Run Down...

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:03:06 GMT

As usual these days I've got some catching up to do... so lets go back a few weeks and visit Marshall's last day of school... the one that I missed... for the same reason this blog goes silent... because it's craziness around here.

Trace ran the show as his last event as Marshall's kindergarten room-parent. I've never seen a group of kids stand so still before. I bet they are about to burst!

And apparently they did burst shortly after and broke out into the tooty-ta-ta dance. Gotta love kindergarten!

From what I understand, the last day of school was just a big party. Marshall & friends, Luke & Ryan, picked out their hiding places for skipping class next year.

Marshall got an early start and skipped the last couple of hours on the last day of school... pathetic. I will forever use this as an example for when he doesn't finish something... "Marshall Pershing Durham the fourth! You can't finish anything! You couldn't even finish kindergarten! Get back on it!" Oh yes, that sounds like a good future bashing.

I had to make additional return on my investment for taking 21 pictures of kids in a teacher-less classroom. Have you ever been in one of those? It's scary. The kids give you their attention for 15 secs. If they smell any weakness at all, they take over.

I love popping off their little heads in Photoshop ;-)

Marshall calls the above "fancy letters". Apparently he's observed the girls expressing their creativity with embellished letters and thinks it's pretty cool. I had a unique opportunity to impress him with my portfolio of fancy letters and he thought I rocked. I couldn't resist the opportunity to show this bunch of kinder girls that this thrity-something old mom still had fancy letters in her! Soon enough they'll be ready for my full artillery of fonts...

I was also ready for school to wind down since that meant there was less to project manage in life. More importantly, I was ready to make our annual trip to the beach- but first, basketball. Just when we think we're getting off of externally imposed schedules, we sign up for a new one... who invented team sports anyway?!?!

Marshall did great. He scored the first basket of the first game and he exceeded all of my expectations... yada, yada, yada.

Now... finally... off to the beach...

Trace & I joined his parents, Tiffy & the boys at the beach a couple of hours later- we made a quick wedding stop along the way. Marshall immediately ran to his photo spot and was ready to have his annual picture taken.

In case these pics aren't burned into your brain by now...

Goodness I could eat him with a spoon. Especially that second picture of when he was 4. I find it just as interesting to look at the improvements in digital photography over the years- this years pic was with a digital SLR. Big difference!

Braden also decided to cooperate this year. He's a couple of relative years behind Marshall on the cooperation scale.

Isn't Braden's life vest lovely. He had to buy a new one while at the beach because he's worn out the others. I'd be happy to sell it to you for a good price because he's no longer using it. Yes, my baby is swimming without anything preserving his life. He's all out there now. Bittersweet... bittersweet.

The big plunge...

And he's off...

The kids swam and swam and swam. Makes them boys hungry... and a little goofy.

Makes the sea tutles hungry also.

In addition to playing professional basketball, Marshall wants to rescue sea turtles in the off-season.

The sea turtles are always high on our priority list when we're at the beach. Fishing was added this year- but the fishing... not so good.

I realize I have no actual beach pictures. I know someone has some somewhere, but these boys were way to brave in the waves this year to allow us to have even a camera between us and them.

I caught a greyhound bus overnight and came back home early. I had work to do and a trailer to buy. Yes, I said a trailer. Meet my newly remodeled kitchen!... I mean travel trailer.

We have big plans for her this summer- although we did run into some planning issues with how we're going to pull her around. Thank goodness that "new" grandpa is letting us abuse him by borrowing his truck. The good news for him is that he gets to drive a new Saturn Outlook during more weekends than he'd probably like. So please, for the sake of my father, give me your truck. I need it more than you do... I think... yep, I'm pretty sure that's the case.

And so... now I'm in the market for a truck. Say goodbye to new upstairs carpet!

What up home-y's!

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:31:18 GMT

What is up with this blog? As soon as I take my eye off of it it goes silent! Can't it do anything for itself??? I knew that once I started getting the "are you alive" e-mails that I had to intervene.

When it comes to balancing the three major things in life... family, work and myself, "myself" always gets the leftovers and the only scraps I can find lately are meat and potatoes. Did that make any sense? Probably not... just know that we've been busy and the DVR has been just as neglected as the blog.

This is what you should have been reading about:

- Braden completed his BlastBall season and actually kinda enjoyed it by the end. He wanted a trophy more than anything and JJ made that happen. He also completed his session of KinderMusik which he absolutely loved and looked forward to every week... I don't get the appeal but the kid loves it.

- Marshall's soccer season ended with a great party and awesome pictures. He got pretty good by the end of the season and typically scored every game.

- Both boys are obsessed with fishing. Our DVR is filled with fishing shows. We spent a day with our neighbor-friends on their camping trip and went fishing. The boys were in heaven and they now search the internet for travel trailers so we can go "all the time". Strange that a 4 & 6 year old use craigslist??

Marshall wants to fish in South Africa and Canada. He wants to catch Muskees?? Notice all the question marks that I use to describe life right now?

- Braden is off his meds. He was put on antibiotics for his strep infection and came off the bad stuff. Neurologist says that Braden's official diagnoses will be in retrospect because PANDAS isn't something they ever see (or at least realize). There is some lingering blinking and such but nothing that could ever be considered Tourettes. Yipee!

- Marshall has a new medical issue. His molars have been eaten away by reflux that we never knew he had. He's got a lot of dental work in his future. We're hoping that our July visit to National Jewish will help diagnose the nature of it since it takes months to see a pediatric gastro doctor.

- Marshall had his 6th birthday- yes 6! We celebrated with a "Basketball Swim" party. I'm so over the "growing up" thing and am ready for it to stop.

- Marshall also got "Knighted" at school which is a special program which recognizes children based on their character. Marshall's teacher wrote:

"Marshall is always thinking of others! He considers their feelings before acting or speaking. He always has a kind word and helping hand ready to share with others. He speaks up for others in need."

- Trace and I had our 10th wedding anniversary! Our plans were always to have a big celebration but when we started to realize what a busy wedding & baby season it was going to be this year we decided to go out to eat instead ;-) Maybe next year??

- Trace has spent the last month watching the Spurs and text messaging with his boyfriends... and a couple of other things like putting in a pond which was a birthday present to Marshall from Dingo and building a deck... and letting go of his big luxury cruise ship of a car and buying a smarter cross-over Saturn Outlook!

- Sharon has been busy planning parties and delivering the telecommunications network that none of you can live without. I also went one step greener and stopped using antipersprant so that everyone can see me sweat while doing it all. So when you see me drinking out of a stainless steel water bottle and sporting pit stains, don't be nervous... I don't smell... yet.

Are you my mother?

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 12:46:58 GMT

Well, here you have it. Trace's gene pool has dominated. I cry foul. I want to know if I'm really the mother!

I will admit that this was fun even if I would have prefered a slighty different outcome. Of course I had to dig back to find pics of Trace & I with the least amount of facial fat so that the "system" could get a better understanding of our "bone structure".... yah, that's it!

The most interesting part about it is the meter that measures resemblence. Marshall has moderate resemblence to both of us whereas Braden... not so much. I think Braden's genes were from past generations because I saw him come out and he's definitely ours.

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celeb - Collage - Morph

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

This was the most fun...

Hummus luvins...

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 15:34:48 GMT

Whoaaaa! Is that some fine lookin' spicy red pepper hummus I see there?

My oh my... it surely is. Boy, would I like to get a scoop of that!

Oh baby- look at that! Come to daddy...

A slice of heaven!

Are you lookin' at me?

Back off!

The hummus summons and I come a runnin'...

Excuse me ladies. I'll only be a minute...

Don't mind me. Just go about your business.

Oh yah... nothing comes between me and my hummus.

I'm nuts about the chick peas and they are crazy about me...

They can't resist my smile...

Hey Braden! Come take a look down heres...

Be right there Bro!

You are a fine lookin' ball of rice, babe...

The Little Environmentalist

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 13:01:35 GMT

Outside of a few campaigns during my adolescent and teenage years when I refused to let McDonalds serve my hamburger in a styrofoam container or my personal ban on tuna, I haven't been very environment focused. If the movie Happy Feet didn't change that for me, I'm not sure what could.

Granted, the boys are refining their ability to recognize foods with chemicals by sight (Braden schooled Trace on the menu of chemicals at Sonic), but I haven't explained "saving the environment" very well yet. But, there was a contest at school which we find pretty motivating so it was a good place to start. We enter everything.

I'll admit that Kindergartners need guidance planning their contest submissions. They aren't great with the concept of "concepts" quite yet. I have to resist my urge to take over and make it "fabulous". We do our best to probe and extract it from Marshall's head... typically the simplicity of what he says is perfect.

A couple of months ago there was an environmental awareness contest with the theme "What Can I Do". The entry form was two sided. One side had the directions and the other had the entry form. We extracted, we probed but Marshall's environmental consciousness had not yet been programmed. The only thing he knew anything about was recycling paper... and that's only because we use it as an excuse to convince them to draw on the paper that the printer spews out during its jibberish spasms. So, that's what he did with the application. He simply wrote "I can re-use paper" and drew all over it. It was a winner!.

According to Marshall the announcement was made over the loud speaker at school and he was told that he won. His teacher gave him the trophy and his classmates thought he was a rockstar. Unfortunately all I have to go by is what Marshall told me because I guess they are trying to save paper and no note came home.

If I ever get his entry back I'll scan in his masterpiece!

Easter

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:24:38 GMT

Easter was always a big deal growing up and my favorite part was going to the "country" to see my dad's side of the family. My grandparents live(d) on this land as long as I can remember. Easter brought a big BBQ with a lot of people, go carts, dune buggies, card games and an Easter egg hunt.

A lot has changed over the years and this specific Easter Saturday event now only happens every-other year. I was looking forward to this year. The boys were old enough to have fun on their own and really enjoy it.

These are "the kids" now. This use to be me and my cousins. Marshall and Braden have 3 second cousins in this bunch. Marshall was so excited to be able to claim them as cousins. They have no first cousins.

And then they were off to hunt eggs... although I'm not sure where Braden is going.

I always thought it was normal to hunt for eggs with cows moo-ing in the background.

And Easter just isn't Easter without a mouth full of dust and bugs in your eyes.

This Easter made me realize that I'm not injecting enough of country culture in their childhood. They were fascinated by the outhouse. How do I flush? How come there's no water in the toilet? Where do I wash my hands? They don't know life without indoor plumbling. They are missing out. I remembered to teach them about sausage but forgot out houses. I have ruined them!!

Eventually we said goodbye to the "country" and made our way back to the world of indoor plumbing. It's a good thing we did because this year the Easter bunny had it's act together! It delivered safe chocolate bunnies! My kids have seen chocolate bunnies and read about them in books but never have they been able to eat them. This year was different and the boys were thrilled. That's one thing I won't be able to recycle for next year- truly, some of the stuff is 4 years old because I just put it all up as soon as the boys loose interest. They haven't figured it out yet.

You might notice one teenie-weeny problem with the above picture. Yes, it's a new day but the boys' clothes are the same. In the past I always bought special pajamas and had them all fresh and ready for the morning. Not so much this year. Easter was early this year and a girl has to cut corners somewhere. We just threw them in bed and called it a day. We didn't even bother to empty the ice chest where leftovers remained for a week. Yes, we have completely cut all corners and just live in a big circle now.

Zoo, Keys & Beach

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:13:46 GMT

First, some pictures of a recent zoo trip...

NO- Wait! That was last year... here's this year:

Some new zoo things this year. A new exhibit that enabled you to watch a hippo poop. LOTS of fiber in his diet.

But seriously, isn't it a magnificent looking animal.

And, although the kids have a combined age of 20, they all found love for a stroller.

Braden has developed a very specific love for keys. He started talking one day about wanting to go key shopping. Surely he couldn't mean that he wanted to go shopping for keys, right? After upsetting him with my ignorance for weeks, I took him to a hardware store. He picked out keys. He truly wanted keys. I don't pretend to understand.

He's building up his collection. The guy at Lowes even let Braden pick out whatever "oops keys" he wanted for free. This is my kind of collection! Found a bunny key on eBay for his Easter Basket! Enabler?

Yesterday, on the way home from a birthday party, we decided to meet friends down at the beach. One hour later we had a hotel room and were on our way. We are nuts.

But who isn't nuts about this picture?

We were only there for 24 hours, but this pretty much sums it up.

And we enjoyed a new pet for the day...

We live on the edge, I tell ya!

B

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:04:47 GMT

Although you may have completely forgotten by now, I left you hanging on the results of Braden's MRI. Turns out that his brain overfloweth and is herniating into his spinal area- Chiari 1 Malformation. I know, that sounds awful and it can be... but not in Braden's case. As long as it doesn't progress, he'll be fine.

Ask me why I'm not more worried. Is it because my neurologist said so? Well, he did... but that's not why I'm confident that it's nothing to worry about. Somebody else told me that it wasn't anything to worry about "as is". A new doctor did. This makes doctor #6 in 6 months.

Although I'd been happier with our last neurologist, he still had the same faults as most doctors. He had a lot better bedside manner and much more open to looking at other causes... but I think it ended there. I think he is a great guy that talks a good game but in the end, he's just another doctor with hundreds of patients that grossly generalizes diagnosis without looking at the individual. I've learned that if a doctor says "I saw 10 more just like him yesterday", that may not be a good sign. At that point you really need to question their diagnostic abilities.

We've been to 2 pedi's, 2 neurologists, 1 immunologist. I would have loved to have complete trust and confidence with one of them- but alas, I did not. I never witnessed any of them use any critical thinking in association to Braden. They didn't look at the pages of notes I provided or do any real tests- everything was clinical. Looking back, I think it may have been that, for them, less information to analyze made their jobs easier. When I volunteered suggestions on things I'd like to rule out I'd get "the look". The look they give that says "I know what I'm doing, you don't". I even got into very heated arguments with doctors only to hit a wall. But I knew that there was something else going on- I wanted root cause! Within my pages of notes (or this blog for that matter) there were red flags that didn't make sense- and I always thought back to the book that motivated me in the first place which continually reassured you that "mom's know". The book that was suggested by another food allergy mom... where I found a lot more than food allergies- I found Braden. It was a divine twist of fate.

Another twist of fate came after being compelled to invite an old co-worker friend to lunch. I hadn't talked to her in years. I never make lunch dates. I did. It changed everything. We talked about Braden and my frustration with doctors. She mentioned her doctor and told me stories of the amazing work he'd done with her, her family & friends. He was an alternative doctor. I was open to it. I scheduled an appointment immediately- one that week for Trace (who had been in a lot of pain recently) in the morning and for Braden in the afternoon.

I'll have to write about the experience for both Trace & Braden. It was unreal. I'd never experienced a doctor that was so prepared. So engaged and just so plain smart. He showed me things about Braden that I had never realized. He helped me understand so much about him and who he is with medical evidence as to why. He also had suspicions of the very illness I had tried to shove down other doctors throats. He was the one doctor I had never mentioned it to. He suspected PANDAS- Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated w/ Strep.

The test, along with his previous diagnoses, was easy. The results were clear.

Braden has a huge festering strep infection (4.5 x's the normal high- not simply "elevated") that is very likely causing all kinds of neurological issues- in his case Tourettes. Keep in mind that this is not strep throat which is typically an illness of milk drinkers- and we are not (although he has had it before as a baby). He is not "sick" (like you or I think of being sick) at this time nor was he when the blood was taken. This is an infection that is deep in his body somewhere- and it is a bad one. He has probably had it for years. Maybe his leg infection was a big clue.

You'll also see that his Serum Ferritin is low. It is an indicator for "hemolytic anemia" and a bio marker for iron storage in his body. The bacteria in his body are using all of his iron and tie up its availability.

There was smoke and we found a big huge fire. Now we can focus on putting out the fire. I pray that his neurological issues will go away with it... and the meds shortly after. Strangely enough there does seem to be some evidence of genetic predisposition- wouldn't surprise me since I had to quit dance team as a high school senior due to a strep infection that had moved to my joints.

We are elated, amazed and fascinated. There's a direct tie between Tourettes and PANDAS. I can't wait to cut it!

Ball Season

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:32:09 GMT

There are only three seasons in our lives. Pajama season, swimming season and then that time in-between called "ball season". Last weekend officially kicked off ball season.

Marshall scored a goal at his first ever soccer game. He claims he scored 2 but I think that's some wishful thinking.

I love this picture "3"... because that's exactly what these guys are.

These 3 are religious lunch buddies at Marshall's safe table at school. Marshall's one lucky kid.

Braden started Blastball last weekend. Marshall was there to help.

We're still not sure how Braden feels about playing. This weekend should be an interesting second game.

There was one game that I didn't attend. The aforementioned 3 have 3 younger brothers that are the same age as well. Their 3 dads were crazy enough to take both sets of 3's to a hockey game. 3+3+3= not me!

Tips

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:36:25 GMT

In my adventure of better food I have come to understand some things that aren't common knowledge, but that I think everyone should know.

Roma tomatoes are currently not genetically modified- i.e., not filled with neurotoxins and DNA derived from fish scales
Blue corn is not genetically modified. Get the blue chips instead of the yellow!

Both of the above are easy and smart alternatives that allow you to make smarter choices without going fanatic like me. If you liked that, here's more...

You know those annoying PLU stickers on your produce... you can decode them.

4 digit numbers that means they are conventionally grown- i.e., pesticides were used but they weren't genetically modified.
5 digit numbers that start with a "9" are organic- yeah!
5 digit numbers that start with an "8" are genetically modified- boooooooo!

As as disclaimer, those of you that know me well know that I love science and that I love technological progress. I'm fascinated by the concept of genetically modified foods and probably would have loved to work in a lab that created them... but, the final product is bad and is melting our children's neurological systems and killing their immune systems. Moreover, I'm worried about what's going to happen when my kids reproduce. Their DNA has already been jacked with by what I've fed them and I fear the reproductive consequences (in 2001 they figured out how to engineer a corn that produces spermicide and makes males sterile). That's just a little reassurance in case you thought I'd lost my mind.

Did I mention that I haven't lost my mind? The fact that I love the below picture shouldn't make you worry about me. It's a picture of our organic spinach. And a Lady Bug. No extra charge.

I opened it up and found her crawling around. I know, many of you would be disgusted that a bug was in your spinach. I loved it because she was alive. Nothing in this spinach killed her. That made me feel good about feeding it to my family.

By the way... the kale is delisch! I saut�ed it in olive oil, scallions and garlic. Yummmy!

My last and final tip. This is for the females. The men already figure this out.

If you are using a pubic toilet and you hover instead of using the seat, please lift the seat before use. Men do this and it works well. I'm pretty sure that's why the toilet engineers created the ability to lift the seat... so that you don't pee on it. I simply don't want to wipe up other peoples urine. Please pass this message on to 10 of your female friends. If I don't get this message back in 10 days then your luck will go bad and your seat will always be wet. Thank you. The end.

I repeat... I have not lost my mind.

Weekend

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:54:03 GMT

It's always surreal when you meet up with old friends and watch your kids play together. If someone told you 10 years ago that your kids would play together some day, you would have had a hard time imagining it.

We were fortunate enough to be invited to spend the weekend with some college friends up at Lake Travis. We had to give the "are you sure you really want to live our lives with us for an entire weekend" opportunity to back out... but they seemed up to the challenge. I'm sure they counted their blessings that it was only for a weekend after the fact but we managed to have a low stress weekend.

Molly was an inspiration to me while I was pregnant with Marshall. Her boy Harrison was about 6 months old at the time and they were the perfect image of happiness and motherhood bliss- she had a heart of gold and a freezer full of breastmilk. They made it look so easy. I would have been better prepared with lower expectations if we'd spent time with colicky screaming babies instead. Now that nobody is colicky or screaming it was great to be able to get together.

Aren't they a cute bunch?

There is one member missing from this gang. Her name is Blue. She is a sweetheart and she is huge! I let her take over the role of parent and guardian whenever I could. I knew she'd do a better job of fetching kids out of the lake if needed.

Problem is that she works for food and wasn't going to let me forget it.

Riding in the boat was a highlight for the boys. It was the only thing that could make them forget that there was a Wii back at the house.

Here's Marshall trying to convince Trace that it was safer for them to stay below.

One look and I understood his point.

Who needs a better view than this?

It was hard to part with the boat. Braden became obsessed. It's all he talked about. I had to use the magic words... "Rice Crispie Treats"

Braden is totally hypnotized by the all-mighty rice crispie treat.

When not eating, Braden liked to sit and reflect by the pool...uh, I mean lake, I mean that parallel stretch of universe between lake and pool.

When not meditating he liked to perform the dance that bridged the universes together in harmony.

Don't look too closely... I have not edited the funk from his face.

Marshall, on the otherhand preferred to whine about not being able to swim in the February chilled pool.

He single-handedly broke the bridge between the universes... or is it universi... huh, I wonder where the term univeristy comes from?

Only the face of an angel could restore harmony... good thing we had one.

I told her parents (Chad and Molly) that I wanted to ball her up and put her in my womb. My ovaries were calling for her. They wanted to break through my abdomen and wrap themselves around her. She is on my short list for girls I want to steal.

By evening harmony had been restored and her work was done. The planets had aligned and were able to sleep all cuddled up together.

.... although I don't think Harrison had any interest in harmonizing with the cuddle-fest.

Big thanks to the Chad & Molly for a wonderful weekend!

Now what?

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:52:34 GMT

The produce arrived today...

I'm not sure what some of this stuff is or what I'm suppose to do with it- I've never cooked with kale before.

The first company I tried to buy the organies from didn't end up being able to deliver to us but I found somebody else who could- Greenling. They are more expensive than I planned but what the heck. I'm just happy that they're willing to come to San Antonio from Austin... and they have a neat company history so that makes me feel good about giving them my money. More importantly, I'm even happier about who I'm NOT giving money to.

What happened here?

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:13:54 GMT

Anyone have any ideas?

A few announcements to make...

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 12:11:21 GMT

This week was a huge week and there were several things that I need to say....

#1 Happy Birthday!

Trace turned 33 this week and I completely suck for failing to make it anything close to special... not even a mention on the blog.

#2 Yeah!

We won!... well, kinda.

#3 Happy Valentines Day!

Once again, I completely sucked for failing to make it anything close to special.

#4 We love you, Trace!

Trace Adkins ROCKS!

Never did I think that I'd fall in love with two people named Trace in one lifetime. Trace has been competing on behalf of food allergic children on this season's Celebrity Apprentice. We are so proud of him. He is a fabulous human being and our star!!!

Food

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 05:04:09 GMT

I had already found a great source for cleaner on Amazon and had bought several bulk food items from them in the past as well. Sure enough, they have a section dedicated to organic & natural foods� in bulk, at a discount, with free shipping, subscription discounts and tax free. That all sounds good� but how does it taste?

Well, my tastes aren't very discriminate. I'd eat cardboard as long as I had something to chew. Braden is the same way, he'll eat most anything. Marshall on the other hand has good reason to be very cautious of new foods and if he doesn't LOVE it, he won't eat it- simple as that. I wish I was more like him.

My first step was to take trips to Whole Foods & Sun Harvest to look for organic foods that were dairy free. Once again� THANK YOU VEGANS!!! The selection is pretty darn good. There's plenty of healthy "junk food" in the market- although we're going organic I don't see us going "whole" or "raw". This includes cookies, granola bars, cereal bars, cereals, chips and baking products. I bought whatever fit my requirements and didn't even look at price- I was just buying one box of each after all and I knew I could find them cheaper somewhere��.. somehow.

After I got all of the new goodies home, I performed a taste test with the kids absent all of the packaging which may otherwise alert them that it was "healthy".

You can see the results below. With the exception of one fruit item (Marshall must take after Kiki who doesn't like foods that "F with Fruit"), Marshall liked them all. Braden and neighbor friend Michael liked everything- surprise, surprise.

And, of course, you can easily buy all of the organic baking supplies and pasta that you can think of at almost any grocery store. Although we will buy products with corn, it must be organic- so everything with non-organic corn & corn syrup is out. That's where it gets expensive� we're talking maple syrup instead of pancake syrup and organic olive oil- whooo whee! The condiments are pricey. How will we adjust on this you ask� I won't give my kids a bowl of pancake syrup or a plate of ketchup with their food. I expect that simply by wasting less, we will come out even.

Here's my Amazon list so far: link

When it comes to frozen items like chicken nuggets, Ian's has a great product as well.

This leaves us with produce. I'm talking fruits & veggies. I can't get these from Amazon. They are as expensive as heck and by this point I'm trying to avoid the grocery store all together.

I called my friend Google, and this is where he told me to look:

www.doortodoororganics.com

I'll get weekly deliveries of a variety of fruits and veggies. I can easily make substitutions for things I don't want or modify my selections for any week.

I'm excited that I'll get a new DELIVERY every week with a treasure of organic fruits and veggies. I'm hoping that the novelty alone will help us eat more fresh produce and look for new ways to use it.

For $22, I'll get the following delivered next week. It will vary every week.

Item:	Quantity:
Red Bell Pepers	3.00 lb
Mixed Baby Greens	5.00 ea.
Jewel Yams	4.00 lb
English Pea	4.00 lb
Broccoli	5.00 ea.
Bi Color Corn	1.00 ea.
Mango	2.00 ea.
Cantalope	2.00 ea.
Black Mission Figs	20.00 ea.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE TECHNOLOGY!!!

I haven't figured out meats and breads yet. I might just have to buck up and pay retail. We're lucky that we have a freezer full of Venison which is organic as it gets. I'm finding that organic tortillas are better than the regular stuff although they have to be refrigerated or frozen. I'm thinking it might be worth the effort to actually make them from scratch and freeze them myself. And we can easily buy organic eggs at a local egg farm which creates a huge savings.

So that's where we are so far! I'll keep learning...

Coming clean...

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 12:03:45 GMT

My first step in making our change to organic was replace our cleaners- this didn't require any lifestyle changes... it was a good, easy step. This meant laundry detergent, dishwashing soap, dishwasher detergent, glass cleaner, all purpose cleaner, tub & tile cleaner, floor cleaner and toothpaste. My goal was to reduce the "chemical load" in our house.

Now, I use to snicker at a pregnant friend who bought a gas mask so that she wouldn't inhale fumes while cleaning. My thoughts were that drug addicted women had healthy babies every day- how bad could Ajax be. Then recently I came across of the "Dirty Dozen"-- the 12 most carcinogenic household products. We had several in our home. Some of the alternatives were as simple as changing brands, but I wanted it all gone. I wanted organic, non-toxic cleaners. My kids are the furthest things from germophobes and there's no telling where they got that cookie they're eating or where their tounge has been.

The best source I've found for buying cleaning supplies is Amazon. I'm sure you've seen the Seventh Generation products on the shelves at the grocery store and passed them right up due to the price. Well, Amazon carries these in bulk, at a reduced cost, with free shipping and a subscription discount... and oh yah, no tax. Now, I may have done this anyway to avoid unloading a heavy jug of detergent from the trunk while juggling other groceries but I did the math and I was pleasantly surprised.

According to Consumer Reports you're typically going to pay $.20 - $.27 per load for laundry detergent. Of course you can get much better savings at Costco by buying their brand but I really don't want to carry that one home. I'd much rather have UPS do it for me.... and I LOVE getting deliveries. After the subscription discount on Amazon I pay $.23 per load. Granted you're buying $45 at a time but for me that's probably a good thing- otherwise we'll go a week without any from time to time. Not only was this a good idea for our health and the environment, we won't ever run out and have to do the smell test from our dirty laundry again... unless we just get lazy... which is very likely. Regardless, it's not the cheapest but very competitive and works great. I like sniffing it knowing that my brain cells aren't turning to slush.

The subscription feature is key. You get at least a 15% discount and sometimes up to 20%. The subscriptions can be anywhere from 1 month to 6 months with no obligation and you can modify them at any time.

I did the same math on the dish soap and dishwashing detergent using Consumer Reports prices. The dish soap came to $.09 per ounce compared to $.14- $.24 (high end for the fancy foam stuff) and the detergent is $.08 per ounce compared to $.064- $.15 per ounce. I was weary of the dishwashing detergent since there seems to be such a big performance gap between brands but it's one of the best we've used. It does just great with our hard water.

I'd grown bored of the math by that point and ordered everything else as well. The one item I'm still stuck on is floor cleaner. Seventh Generation doesn't seem to have a product and I don't care for what I've bought so far- might just start using vinegar.

With all this said, you have to throw down a nice chunk of change for a case of the stuff but I know I feel all warm and fuzzy with cabinets full of it!