I smell like poop.

I didn't take a picture for this post, but you will thank me for that.  I spent 20 minutes trying to get Leo to go get me a diaper so that I could change him this evening.  He smelled so bad.  I knew he had a nasty poopy diaper.  He kept insisting that he didn't and when he went to play in the basement, the smell lingered.  I finally realized it was coming from a cute little guy crawling around and fussing at me like something was bothering him.  Well, it was bothering him. It was a big boy stink coming from little guy.  Anyway, still underestimating the size of what that little guy could put out, I plopped Max up on the couch to change his diaper.  Uh, oops.....Max gave me good reason to use a changing table tonight as his little boy diaper did not contain that big boy poop and my couch cushion was forced to catch what was pushed out.  Ugh - I should know better, right?  I mean, I have 5 kids.  Well, it doesn't matter if I should have known better, I had a stinky mess to clean up.  I think I did a pretty good job (but if you are ever visiting, don't flip the couch cushions).  Even though I washed Max, I washed my hands, and I washed the couch, I still smell it.....hours later.....it's on me somewhere and I can't find it.  Guess I get a shower and outfit change now and I'm pretty sure I saw a new look of pride on Max's face tonight.

Ouch!

I wish I would have taken some cute pictures of the last couple of days, but I didn't.  :-(  The weather has finally warmed up enough to get outdoors.  Earlier this month our family caught such a huge case of cabin fever that I swore if the temperature hit 40 or higher I would take my kids on a fitness walk and also to a "local" park for an hour or more everyday.  I put local in quotes, because I am willing to drive up to 30 miles away if we can schedule a play date with friends.  I haven't been ultra physical during these outings, just pushing the kids on swings and a merry-go-round.  I do hurt in my arms and back tonight though.  I guess pushing the kids is no P90x, but it is still doing something for me.  For the most part, these outings have also calmed my children that fight their ADHD and have given my daughter and me a lot of good outdoor moments to discuss as we think about our history reading which is about Native American tribes right now.  I think the exercise may have been needed to work off the Native American fry bread recipe we made today.  The recipe was in the book.  We had to try it, didn't we?

Product Review - Juicer

I'm really into juicing.  I tried a juice fast after watching Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead by Joe Cross on Amazon Prime.  Even though the first couple of days were really hard, I loved the energy that drinking a ton of fruit and vegetables gave me.  You can read about my first week in my blog post, "Week 1 Of The Juice Fast".  I didn't have a juicer when I did my fast and I didn't have money to buy a juicer.  Plus, I didn't want to spend money on a juicer when I wasn't sure I would like juicing.  The way I made my juice was to blend everything really well in my Vitamix blender with a cup or so of water and then to strain the results through a strainer for hours until it stopped dripping.  If I needed the juice right away, I would put the results into a new knee-hi tight and squeeze the juice out of it for about 15 minutes.  These methods served my purposes, but I lost a lot of good juice as they were not very effective and they were really time consuming.  They were a total pain.  I started yearning for a juicer, but still couldn't pay for one.  Luckily, a friend from church found out about my diet and happened to have a Huron Juicer she let me borrow.  I was really grateful, because I had been researching juicers and was overwhelmed.  I had no idea what brand of juicer to buy when I eventually got the money.  They are expensive and I didn't want to get a lousy one.  Well, I loved using her juicer!  Even though there may be better juicers out there (or maybe not, I don't know), I decided to buy the exact same juicer.  I am thrilled with it!  It does have to be hand washed, but if I do it right away, doesn't take up that much time.  It also does let some small pieces of spinach and pulp through so I do strain it before drinking it, but the straining process takes only a few minutes compared to the several hours I had to do when I was just using my blender.  I love my juicer!  I would definitely buy it again and I do recommend it.  It is well worth the money and does a great job.  

Week 1 Of The Juice Fast

I'm gaining weight again.  Sometimes I do this.  I eat hardcore for a couple of months and then pack on 20 pounds.  If you average it out, I only gain 7 pounds per year, but over the course of 23 years........well, you can do the math.  I put a whole bunch of healthy eating and nutrition videos in my Amazon Prime watch list in order to educate and motivate myself into being a healthier person and started watching.  Eventually I got to "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" and saw Joe Cross and others improve their health through juice fasting.  I was pretty skeptical.  I didn't even know it was possible to go 60 days without eating and only drinking juice, but I came back to the movie a few more times and decided that I would give it a try.  

The week before:  Weight - 285 lbs.  I started logging my foods into myfitnesspal and started looking at nutrient deficiencies in my diet.  I really upped my veggie intake and tried to eat more vegan meals.  I even made and tried to drink Joe's Mean Green juice, but I made it in the blender so it was a smoothie that took me all day to get through.

Day 1:  Weight - 288 lbs.  I got some juice recipes from the reboot website emailed to me and started to juice.  I don't have a juicer so I used my vitamin blender to make a smoothie and then I filtered the juice out by pouring it all into a new knee high tight and squeezed the juice into a bowl.  It took 15 minutes of squeezing for me to feel satisfied that I got all the useful juice out.  I made it through the day.  It wasn't a happy day.  I was hungry and had tons of cravings that left me feeling emotionally deprived. I decided not to try and do housework or anything else for the first 3 days of the fast.

Day 2:  Weight - 285 lbs.  Bad Day!  The worst.  But I made it.  I have really developed a hatred for juices that include kale or cucumber and squeezing juice out of socks.   I was an emotional reck with a lot of hunger and HUGE cravings.  I allowed myself to lay around and feel the bad feelings, but did not cheat.  I was bummed that after trying so hard not to eat for the previous day, I only lost 3 pounds and not 100, but oh well.

Ugh!  No more kale!

Day 3:  Weight - 281 lbs.  Today was much better than yesterday.  I still get hungry, but I don't really care any more.  I usually get pretty panicked about being hungry, but I can shrug it off pretty easily.  I'm still getting bad cravings, but just take a moment to imagine eating the food I am craving and then I can deal with it better.  I could not stand another sock ringing session so I am now using a strainer.  It's annoying as it takes the juice several hours to completely strain out.  I really want a juicer, but have to wait another month until I get my tax return to purchase one.  Pineapple and yellow bell pepper make a tasty combination.

Day 4:  Weight - 179 lbs.  I felt a bit more energized today and so proud that I made it at least 3 days.  I'm noticing that I'm thinking more clearly as well.  Pear Pie juice was my favorite today.

Day 5:  Weight - 177 lbs.  I had lots of energy today!  I shampooed the carpets and was really diligent in my parenting.  The kids might not have been so thrilled that I was able to better keep up with their mischief, but it made for a cleaner house.  I was sick of the limited recipes I had so I splurged and bought the 101 juice recipes app and am loving it.  

Day 6:  Weight - 175 lbs.  Hunger is no longer an issue for me.  I just don't care.  I drink a juice every 3 hours like clockwork now.  Cravings don't happen spontaneously anymore either but I still get them when preparing meals for my kids or see an ad somewhere.  It's annoying to see so many ads when I'm out and about.  The pizza on the side of the gas station was particularly painful to be around.  My energy levels are still high so my house is cleaner yet, and the kids are getting away with less and less. I made one of them come up from the basement to shut the sliverware drawer that she left open.  Pineapple and jalapeño are delicious together.  I can't taste beets, but they add nutrition and make the juices so pretty that they are quickly becoming a favorite of mine.  I used the grocery list feature on the recipe app today before going to the store.  It was a great tool!  A friend stopped by to talk to me about using essential oils and found out about my diet and is going to let me borrow her juicer for a month.  Woo-hoo!  Can't wait! 

Day 7:  Weight - 173.6 lbs.  My favorite juice that I made today was based off a smoothie I frequently drink and involved my favorite fruit, strawberries.  I put a ton of spinach in the blender with a cup of water and blended it.  Then I added 2 apples and a bin of strawberries.  This made a very delicious, but UGLY concoction.  It looked like diarrhea.  So, I added a beet and it made it soooo pretty.  I can't taste beets in juices so I didn't even notice it.  

Delicious with strawberries and beautiful with beets

    

Update on meals etc.

Just a quick update on our meals.  I am on a new diet and not eating with the rest of the family so I'm not as invested in dinner as I used to be.  Mostly I'm feeding the family stuff from the freezer that I've had prepared for a long time, but didn't want to eat.  Tonight they had homemade pizzas though to use up the pepperoni in my meat drawer and the mozzarella cheese from the freezer.  They loved them.  Sarah can't eat pizza.  It's one of the foods on her long list of foods that make her stomach hurt.  She is warming up some grilled chicken breasts that I keep for her in the fridge.  Last night I prepared spaghetti and meatballs which is something they usually love, but they didn't eat it.  As I reflected on the meal, I realized that Sarah ate chicken breasts at 3 or 4 pm and wasn't hungry.  Leo ate 2 hotdogs at 3 pm and wasn't hungry.  Abby said she wasn't hungry but came home from an activity at church where she had a brownie and proceeded to make 2 grilled cheese sandwiches and then eat a cupcake as well.  This was all after 9 pm.  Tripp said he wasn't hungry at supper time but then cried at 9 pm that he was starving.  I hate it when I make a meal only to be wasted as everyone else eats their own meals!  Suddenly I'm seeing an easy way to cut our grocery bill in 1/2.  I am going to be trying (again) to watch what and when the kids are eating.  No more meals on their own!  

This is Leo deciding to drink the dog's water with a straw.  I stopped him before he actually did it.  Gross!  We keep it on the table when Max is on the floor as he likes to take impromptu baths in it.

He's Doing His Job!

He's doing his job, and it's working!  Look at that happy girl!  Sarah has been fighting pretty severe depression and anxiety for a while now and that includes an inability on her part to sleep.  Boy, nothing makes anxiety and depression worse than never sleeping.  While we are working with several doctors including a sleep doctor, we decided to try using a dog to help her.  The reason we got Achilles was to see if having a dog and training it to do some emotional support or service dog services could help her.  The medications she can take are addictive and interact unpredictably and we would prefer to use as few as possible.  If Achilles can calm her enough to sleep without taking more meds, then we will be thrilled!  I am happy to report that Achilles is happy to be Sarah's buddy and sleep with her at night (and sometimes during the day too).  Sarah has been falling asleep before 10 pm and waking on her own around 7 am.  She is feeling much better and we are so excited.  I was hopeful, but did not expect such quick and perfect results.  I hope this continues!  This guy is such an answer to prayers for our family.  He has even started noticing if her mood starts to go south and immediately goes to her and nudges her with his nose.  That is something we were hoping to train him to do in the future so we are so giddy about him showing a natural instinct to do that on his own.

Sarah is feeling ill today.  We are weening her to a lower dose of antidepressants as she has been having some pretty severe sores showing up on her body and has periods of swift mood swings where she is inconsolably sad.  She is on the maximum dosage of her antidepressant now that her ADHD medication has been changed and working well, I think it is causing more harm than good to be on such a strong medication.  It is an addictive medication so decreasing dosage must be done slowly and there is some pain involved.  She is handling it well and if you know her, will definitely recognize that even though she is in pain, this is the happiest we have seen her face in 17 months.  

On another note, it is Sunday and I think it is an appropriate time for me to express how grateful I am for my family.  Heavenly Father knows me and knows that being bored is torture for me.  We have been blessed with such a fun family.  I love all of their personalities so much!  It isn't easy keeping up with them, but what excitement and joy they bring to my life everyday!  Even though it is a bit warmer out today than it has been, I still don't want to go out much and I'm blessed to be inside with these guys and their loving personalities.  I'm never short on excitement or kisses in this house.    

School and Rules

Tripp's favorite book to read this week.  He is reading it a second time through.  This time he is reading 20 pages a day to Leo.  Leo will sit still for books!

New house rules for electronics.  I scribbled it in marker.  Abby insisted on typing it.....before doing her math.  It's ok.  She got interested in Kahn Academy math this week and spent 67 minutes doing problems after she made the sign.