Yoga and Celiac Disease

Yoga and Celiac disease have been on my mind CONSTANTLY since last Thursday. I went to the GI doctor for yet another consult thinking it couldn't hurt since I'd already met my deductible. I was feeling so frustrated that my stomach still hurts, 10 years later, with no hope of relief. To my surprise, the GI lady pulls out my pathology report on my small intestine, which shows "lymphocytosis at the villous tips" meaning the strong possibility of gluten-sensitive enteropathy, which is celiac disease. Apparently they didn't tell me this after my endoscopy because I never came back in for my consult. So now I know. So I immediately went gluten-free and I feel oh so much better. It's crazy how much better I feel, actually. I have more energy, my stomach doesn't hurt, and I don't have to always know right where a bathroom is. It's going to change my life. I actually sleep through the night without a bathroom trip. I'm loving it. The only trouble now is figuring out what is and isn't gluten-free. I accidentally ate some gluten in a dinner I made that I spent an hour reading about to make sure was gluten free. Turns out "dextrin" in my turkey burger that I thought was 100 percent ground turkey has gluten in it. I paid big time. I was up all night long in total pain. It's more miserable now that I don't eat it. My reaction was terrible confirming to me that I definately will be eating gluten-free for the rest of my life. They took my blood for genetic markers, which will undoubtedly turn up positive since I have a cousin, my great grandma, and my dad's cousin with it. It also means that my kids need to be screened. Hans is convinced Katelyn and Mia have it, but not the others so we are starting Katelyn gluten-free tomorrow morning for a week and then giving her a little gluten to see if she reacts like I did. I'm sure she will and so excited for her to not be in pain all the time too. Hooray! I now get to add Whole Foods to my list of places to shop, which is annoying, but I don't trust myself to eat anything that isn't labeled as gluten-free after reacting. It was so miserable. Even eating at PF Changs last night off their gluten-free menu I had to ask the waiter at least 5 times if he was sure it was gluten-free. I have anxiety over eating because of how it could make me feel. I think labeled gluten-free stuff will lower the stress until I figure it out. So that is that. I'm a celiac. How exciting.

And now to Yoga. I'm in love. I decided at the last minute to sign up to do yoga teacher training at CorePower. It's extremely time-intensive, but so far I love it. It's challenging and out of my comfort zone so I think it's so good for me. I am doing a 200 hour certification course that will allow me to teach anywhere. It's a lot of hours over the next 8 weeks. 7 weeks to go. I feel more confident already and I love learning about yoga philosophy and history. It's great to do yoga 5-6 times a week and I feel like I am gaining a lot. I decided to give up running for the next 7 weeks because it was too much to do both the last week. I'm nervous for my mind to give it up. We'll see how long it lasts.

So it's been busy. My parents came to visit this weekend, which has been great as well. The weather is beautiful. We spent yesterday in Manitou and today doing conference, soccer, and yoga (5 hours for me this afternoon). The kids are doing so well. They are happy and we are enjoying them. It's strange and sad and wonderful to have them grow up. It's easier and busier. I'm focusing on simplifying. But it's easier to imagine simplifying then to actually do it. I started volunteering in the girls' classrooms weekly, which is a great use of time and energy. We are excited about Halloween and Mia's party this week and beautiful fall weather. My baby turns 2 this week. She is a whopping 21 pounds fully clothed with shoes on at the Drs office. She gets to do all sorts of testing for her delays so that should be interesting. I'll post on her more this next week!!

I need to blog more often so I don't forget all the cute stuff they do and the things we do. So there you have it.

What was I thinking?!

Two weeks ago on Friday we got a dog. He smells, he pees and poops in my house, he chews up important stuff like the DS charger, whines at night, and generally is...a dog, I guess. I would have thought I would have known. I did, really. I'm holding out hope that he isn't as dumb as he looks to be so far. He is a Bichon Shihtzu mix. He looks like a bichon with white fur and brown spots. We named him Friday. We went through several names with Friday being the one that the girls could agree on. He still doesn't know his name so it doesn't really matter and I still call him "it" or "the dumb dog." So that has been my last two weeks mixed with the starting of school and getting settled into a new routine.

Katelyn loves school and so does Justin. Kate already has her posse on the playground and adores her teacher and Justin has already earned two prizes for good behavior. And out of the selection he picked nail polish. Both times. His teacher says he always plays babies at school, but that they are generally taking rides in trucks and such. He is a balanced boy, I think.

School for Ashley has been much more stressful leading me to meet with the teacher, talk with other schools, and meet with the curriculum lady at TCA. Since then things seem to be getting better for Ashley. I was planning on taking her out and cottage schooling her, which I really really wanted to do, but after much prayer on her part and mine, we've decided staying where she is is the best course of action. I was disappointed because it sounded fun to have her home and able to do more extra-curricular stuff she would enjoy, but I also feel good and relieved to just do more of the same. I'm just hoping they treat this girl right and decide to challenge her. They say they will as long as I work closely with them on it. I'm so in...I was planning on homeschooling, after all!

Hans and I have been sick. For some reason we are and the kids aren't. I am trying to figure out a way to boost my immune system. Any ideas? Hans is spending time fixing up his motorcycle. It's fun to see him doing this. He is always happy doing it and I love that. We took the motorcycle on our date on Friday, which was great fun. He taught me to ride it and I love it. Now he is dreaming about getting me one so we can go together. Sounds fun, I think. The weather is turning colder, which stresses me out. Not sure how long I will last running outside and if I can hold out on joining the Y. I'm going to miss my mornings with Kim. If I can stay motivated to run outside I will keep going to the yoga studio. I think I'm in love with yoga. So it would make me sad to quit and go back to the Y. Now I am looking forward to my roommate from freshman year at college coming to visit me in a few weeks. We're going to hike Pikes Peak and do yoga. I seriously can't wait.

I think that's all for the week....or two.

Mia is so cute. She is almost 2. She says stuff like "that fycle (motorcycle) fast, right?" And throws giant temper tantrums about having bandaids all over her body. When I say no she says, "I go Kaykyn a bandaid (Katelyn will do it if you won't, mother dearest)." She is by far my most....spirited? Is that a nice way to say it? I love her energy. She misses her siblings when they are gone and always has to ask me where they are going when they leave. She's used to us all being together all the time. Life is changing.

Last Week

This past week has been a whirlwind. The girls started school on Monday, which is going to be fantastic. Justin started pre-school on Tuesday, which is also going to be fantastic. He's going with 3 of his friends and the class is only 6 kids. For 1 1/2 hours twice a week I now get time to myself. It's very strange. I feel a little like I'm rushing everyone out of bed in the morning and rushing Ashley to school. Then we do our errands or play and then rush Kate to school and then Mia to her nap. It's been nice to have some alone time with Justin. We build train tracks mainly. It's fun. Then after school we are doing homework and reading and soccer. It is all very busy, but I know once I get used to the routine and remembering all their schedules, I will be okay. It's such a change from our no routine summer. This week gymnastics starts for Katelyn as well. I have to have 30 minutes to myself on Sunday just to get all the events into my phone so they remind me what I'm doing and when. Or really what the kids are doing. I'm also coaching the YW in basketball every week and doing activity days. It's a lot for me to remember. So far so good. If I don't forget any children anywhere (which I did to poor Kate once last year) I will count it a successful week. I also joined a yoga studio, which I am loving. I've been going 3-4 times a week and doing yoga one other time at home. It's so good for me. It helps me de-stress and helps my tummy hurt less, and makes me feel strong and present. I'm enjoying it immensely. I got into my first "full expression" of hurdlers, which basically is yogi terms for I can actually do hurdler pose the right way. It is fun to have something all to myslef. I'm still running, just less often. I love it.

So overall it's been a great week of firsts. On to next week....

2nd Grader

Hooray for Ashley! She prayed that she would be in Kaylee's class, which we thought would never happen since I requested a different teacher and Kim didn't do the pick, but Ashley has incredible faith and is grateful for Heavenly Father hearing her prayer. She gets to be with Kaylee for the third year running. I'm so happy for her. They even get to sit next to each other. Their teacher Mrs. or Miss. Rosin is very young and excited, but also disciplined, so it is the perfect combo for Ashley. Ashley said, "Mom she's really nice, but kind of strict." Perfect. It's going to be great. Cousin Andrew is also at school with Ashley so it's fun for them to see each other occasionally. Andrew is in 3rd grade. Her favorite part about school so far is the fancy hair we've been trying out. The middle set of pictures is her favorite, but it takes a long time and it only turns out half of the time. I'm not very consistent. It's fun to spend the time with her in the morning. I'm missing her a lot. She's gone all day long. I don't like it. It does make the time we spend together that much more important, but I don't like turning her over to someone else. She's happy. Gosh I love Ashley. She is a girl with no guile. I admire her immensely. She teaches me daily. I feel incredibly fortunate and loved to have been trusted with this girl. She's amazing!!!

New Kindergartener

Hooray! Katelyn got The World's Best Kindergarten Teacher. Ever. And there's no disputing this. Ask Kim or Joyana. I think they'd agree. We did a dance when we found out Mrs. Meyers would be Katelyn's teacher. It is extra fantastic because my child who screams at the idea of change felt like she already knew her way around the kindergarten scene. Hooray! She gets to go to a brand new school with a fancy playground, which she loves. She gets to finally wear a uniform to school like Ashley. And she is loving learning. She already wants me to teach her all the phonograms. She is a go getter, this one. She spends all morning asking me how many hours until she gets to go. And she is upset to not be going on the weekends. She also decided on the first day I dropped her off that she would like to walk in alone. This made me slightly nervous, but we pulled up through the carpool lane and she hopped out and ran in. It was very strange driving home that first day. I felt a little empty inside. But I am so excited for her. She is so fun when she is this happy. It's contagious. I love this girl.

My Man

Just wanted to give a shout out to my wonderful husband. Not only does he work hard to provide for our family, but then he comes home and wrestles, does dishes, builds train tracks, plays games, reads princess books, helps me, and doesn't rest. Then he pretends like he doesn't care when I have accidentally finished off the ice cream. And promises that he's not too tired to go get some milk from the store. He's amazing. I realize how incredibly lucky I am to have a husband who puts the needs of the family ahead of his own self. He truly looks after us and puts us first. Because he wants to. I love and admire him.

To do list

Posts to come:

1. Trip to Utah to celebrate my Dad's 60th - swimming pool, lagoon, and party.
2. School orientation for Ashley.
3. School orientation for Katelyn.
4. First day of school.
5. Justin's pre-school.

Missing these girls

I'm missing these girls. They bring so much joy to our home that without them it seems downright strange and boring. I absolutely love when they get home. We are all adjusting to the change. Luckily I have these two crazy kids to keep me busy...

Summer Pictures

Hans' new ride. Pretty sweet, right? Not sure what he's going to dream about now...Kids waiting patiently for their turns on the bike. Mia and Katelyn are the adrenaline junkies.

Kate's new bob. She kept insisting she wanted her hair short to her chin. So I obliged. It's so cute on her. Ashley's is an inch shorter. She's trying to grow her hair longer then mine. Us making cookies....again.

Painting and making a bike parade tied together with jump ropes. We somehow managed to make it to the park like this.

Our nightly backyard fun with the Sauters. They single-handedly made my decision for me to try and persuade all our children to go to the Air Force Academy. It turned out wonderful people in them. Not only was Jenny a working mom in uniform, but she also sewed and baked bread and did projects. Never ceased to amaze me.

The old motorcycle has been replaced.



Justin taking Mia for rides. She loves this. Ashley on a ride behind Justin. I think we like doing anything that involves riding.

Making more cookies, playing with oobleck, and Justin crashed from all the summer fun.

End of Summer and goodbye to wonderful friends

Summer has flown by for me this year. It's been so great. I love being outside and just being lazy and doing whatever we want whenever we want. We've been to the zoo, pool, hiking, biking, running. We've gone to the park, collected bugs from the reflecting pool (and ridden on a canoe there too), jumped on the trampoline, painted rocks and pictures. We've made bread and sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies. We've had a great time. Mostly, we've spent a lot of time at the swimming pool. I love that we have a swimming pool. Hooray for summer! Thankfully we have a week left, but I'm getting sad thinking about it already, especially as I watch the neighborhood kids walk back and forth from their school, which started last week...poor kids.

The highlight of this summer has been spending so much time with our awesome neighbors, who moved last week. Sigh. I will miss them incredibly. They lived right behind us. Our kids thought they had two homes. We will miss making smores, lighting rockets, going to the park and pool together, eating dinner and many desserts, playing games after the kids are in bed, and just their overall excellent company. I am sad. I cried. But I'll be okay. We get to fly to London to visit them Thanksgiving of 2010. I've always wanted to go and now we have a place to stay!!!
Thanks Sauters. Love you guys....

Pictures to follow.