PJ

I wasn't always a superhero, I didn't actually realize that I would know as much about superheroes as I do now until I met my hubby. And to be quite honest, my kids probably know more about superheroes than I do, and that's totally ok. I love the balance we have in our household with me being the techie, math, computer, and database loving mommy, and my hubby being the superhero, music, history, and financial savvy daddy. We first and foremost love Jesus and know we would not be where we are today if it weren't for His Grace and Mercy. And, I am a former Mombie. I don't know how some moms get it all done. I work full time, and have 3 kids 5 and under, and man I was exhausted. Until I found out about this crazy thing called gut health, and this cool thing called our microbiome. Now, I've got energy to get it all done, and am feeling so much healthier. I've also got a nice little side business where I actually get paid to help people feel better. What a concept, right?

House update…

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House update… The ceilings are painted and the walls have our new colors now too! ❤️

Hoping to have the downstairs back to normal before bunco next Friday!

And with a fresh coat of paint… And Alexandria dripping milk on the carpet… ? I decided to try out a little something… I had this bottle of Thieves spray I had made at an essential oils party I attended years ago… It sat under the sink because I didn’t know what to use it for ?‍♀️ until… I attend an online essential oils party last week (I think) and learned (maybe again, I had a couple kids since the in person party, so I could have known and forgot) that you can use it to clean anything ? and we’ve had these little stains on the carpet for a while, they may have been here since we moved in, but we hadn’t called out a carpet cleaner yet. So… I cleaned up the new milk with a baby wipe (what else… we use those for everything) and then decided to try my ancient Thieves spray on the old stains.

And… It worked! ?

Rinzler helped me too… ?

So I proceeded to clean all the spots all the way down the stairs….

Then I got into the kitchen to prep dinner and saw the bottles that usually sit on top of the cupboards were pulled down for the painters to get up there. So… I pulled out my Norwex envirocloth to go to work on those ? and they were so easy to clean… With just water?.

I almost feel compelled to climb up on the counters to scrub the 15 years of dust that has collected up on top of the cupboards… But I’ve got an office calling my name to be put back together.

Magnesium…

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So… I waited a little too long to order our favorite supplements and… We ran out of our magnesium ?

I had been taking half my dosage to leave more for my hubby (I’ll share my magnesium, but if we are low on pink drink… He is going to have to wait for our next order to arrive ?). But… We completely ran out of our magnesium last night. ?‍♀️

So… I went with the old magnesium I used to use ?

My acupuncturist recommended this years ago to help my body relax and I was honestly not looking forward to trying it because my only experience with Magnesium up until that point was when they hooked me up to an IV of it while in the hospital waiting to see if my induction would work to get Victoria out 4 weeks early to stop my HELLP Syndrome symptoms. It did not feel good… But I started drinking this anyway to see if it would help. Then I stopped and let it sit in the cupboard…

Until…

Bobby was born and I had come home from the hospital and had not gone ? for 5 days and was miserable! ? And it was Christmas Eve and we were having company over. While sitting on the toilet for 3 hours, taking breaks to take a bath, and a shower to try to relax my body enough to let it “pass”, I even had to nurse on the toilet because it hurt too much to try to sit down, I read that the painkillers they sent me home with could cause constipation… Why didn’t they warn me?

I’ve had all c-sections but didn’t remember this with my first, but then again they had pumped me up with magnesium, maybe that’s why I didn’t have this issue before. So… I had my hubby make me a big cup of Natural Calm and got that ? out. It felt like it was the size of a football and I weighed myself after and had lost 5 pounds ?.

So I decided I would stop the painkillers and just take Tylenol for the rest of the c-section recovery…

Then I had my third… The ? was probably the thing I most was not looking forward to, it’s major surgery right, but I was worried about the poop ? This time I took my own magnesium with me, they are capsules, so you don’t have to mix it with water to get it down, and I am happy to report that I ? before leaving the hospital and took low dose painkillers and stopped them as soon as possible.

I’ve also learned, since then, so much more about magnesium and how much our bodies need it to function well…. Who knew?

Check out the below list, if you have any of these symptoms you may want to get in to your doctor to have them check your magnesium levels.

Potty training a boy…

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I thought potty training our oldest daughter was a challenge… She regressed a couple times ?‍♀️ but she was pretty much potty trained at 3.5 years old.

Our son, however is already 3.5 and he’s had a couple great days, but it seems like he’s just not interested in being potty trained. He tries, but… Then he has an accident. ? And lately I think he’s been sneaking a new pull up to act like he’s kept his pull up clean all day. ?

I walked in on him today climbing on the toilet to get a clean pull up out of the cupboard and he assured me he was OK and that I could go out and close the door behind me.

I wanted to see if he was planning to lie to me so we could have a lesson in lying. We bought him this crane several months ago and leave it out for him to see to remind him to go to the potty, but… It still sits there. ? So I was sure he was going to tell me he was still clean.

He came out of the bathroom and this was our convo.

Bobby: Mommy I went pee pee in the potty

Me: That’s great! Is your pull up clean?

Bobby: Yes it is

Me: Did you get a new one?

Bobby: Yes I did

Me: Were you going to try to hide it from me that you got a new one?

Bobby: No

Me: OK good, we don’t lie to mommy and daddy ok?

Bobby: ok

He had a clean diaper on at like 4 pm the other day after I was sure he had changed into a clean pull up, but….the painters had taken the trash out of the bathroom so he had nowhere to toss it (I totally went into the bathroom right after he came to tell me his pull up was still dry).

I know he can do it… He’s just taking a little longer than big sis. I’m hoping his little sis will catch on soon after him so we can stop buying diapers and pull ups, that will be some cost savings!

For now, I’m just happy knowing that my baby boy knows he can be honest with me, even if it’s not what I want I hear (he has pooped in his pull up lately too, but he told me the truth, he’s been going on the potty for almost 2 years now).

It’s funny how 3 kids from the same parents can each be so different. ❤️

Update… My hubby looked under the sink to look for more wipes… And discovered used pull ups ? Bobby said they weren’t his and he doesn’t know how they got there. But he thinks they just walked there because they don’t have ?. We had a talk about lying and he apologized. ❤️ Let’s see when we have to have this conversation again. (P.S. The reason they were under the sink was because he couldn’t find the trash can ???)

The big move…

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It all began on our way home from Thanksgiving. We were almost to our house in Camarillo when Victoria was asking why grandma and papa lived so far away. I told her it wasn’t them that lived far away, it was us that lived far away from the rest of the family. Ryan was trying to explain that we “can’t afford” to move from Camarillo, as in, that’s where his job had been established and where we had our house and our condo. But, we had no family in the area and being a math minded person I heard “can’t afford” as we literally can’t afford to live anywhere else. And in my mind, the cost is living in Camarillo is almost twice as much as living where my family all lived. So… It was an emotional night when we got home.

But, Ryan was finally at least somewhat open to the idea of moving closer to my family, because he knew how important family was to me, and saw me go through three pregnancies with family being hours away, and mom having to drive three hours for each unexpected early deliver. So… I started looking at real estate closer to Visalia, but not necessarily in town, until we finally decided we would just move into town with everyone else. He was thinking we would move before the school year started, and I was just excited that we may get to be closer to family, even if it was 6 or more months out.

Well, God had different plans. Ryan happened to start looking online for jobs in Visalia and found two that were the same position he had in Camarillo. He reached out to a friend that was working at the local branch of one the banks, and he got him in touch with the Visalia branch. It all happened so quickly from them seeing his resume, to a phone interview, to another phone interview, to an in person interview, to a job offer.

And also in that same amount of time, we decided to list our house, so we were packing like mad people to get it show ready, having open houses left and right, and looking at houses online in Visalia. We came out one weekend to look at several houses in person. The night we were driving here, God answered a prayer I had prayed earlier in the week. I had asked Him to please send us our house on Friday, and Friday evening a new listing came up! My awesome friend, who is also our real estate agent, got us a showing the next day and we saw the house that would become our home. It was the last house of the day, and it was two story, and we really wanted a single story, but when I saw the back yard, I was sold. Then I saw the loft upstairs and knew it would be a perfect playroom. So, we put it an offer, and were praying that our buyers would accept our counter offer to their counter offer. They did. It was definitely an adventure getting our house closed there and here simultaneously, but thanks to both of our amazing agents (and friends), and the big man upstairs, it all happened in the right amount of time. We literally got the keys on Friday and Ryan started his job on Monday… after 3 trips in a 26 foot Uhaul truck (plus a blown tire, a broken engine, and 2 vomits ? all in the same day but across 3 vehicles).

So we are here in our new home, Ryan is enjoying his new job, I’m still working for the same company that originally was the reason I moved down south for, and the kids are loving having a playground of their own.

And, of course, we love love love seeing family all the time! ❤️

A Christmas ? Miracle ? 

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Usually the drive from Camarillo to Visalia or the other way around is a three hour drive. Once we got pregnant and started having kids, the drive time got longer and longer.

Between bathroom breaks, nursing breaks, vomit breaks, food breaks, drink breaks, constipation breaks, uncontrollable crying breaks, holiday traffic breaks, and any other type of breaks, we easily add two to three extra hours onto our trips.

Today… We made it from Visalia to Camarillo in three hours! All three kids napped for at least half of the trip, and all three woke up happy.

Alexandria is asking for Nah nah (night night) so she will be nursing very soon.

Thank you, Jesus for clear traffic, no accidents, sleeping babies with happy tummies, and most of all, for my hubby who gets us from here to there safely.

Going out of 2017 with a bang!

Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Casserole

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You know I love my Instant Pot (IP) almost as much as I love my pink drink… Tonight I found the easiest way to make chicken enchiladas!

I had already made my chicken my IP yesterday, dumped out the juice, then shredded the chicken with my hand mixer (if you don’t know this hack, you need to). So, today, I was going to attempt to make an enchilada casserole the way my dad does, but… This is even easier!

I dumped in the can of enchilada sauce… Maybe I’ll attempt to make my own next time, baby steps… Then the shredded chicken, a can of corn, cheese then 15 mini corn tortillas torn into pieces. Stirred it up, then topped with more cheese and olives and put the timer on manual for 3 minutes and let it do slow release. Yummy!

Alarm clocks, a cold, and a nursing child… 

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My alarm on my Fitbit is set for 7:30 am. Rare is the day that it actually wakes me up because I’m usually awake well before that.

Today, it did wake me up! I do have a cold after all, and my 11 month old, yes, she’s 11 months today, where has the time gone??? She’s been taking a few more steps the last couple days too! Back to my 11 month old… She’s still waking up to nurse two to three times a night. She refuses a pacifier if I try to give it to her, but will gladly take it from our nanny during nap times… ? I refuse to let my kids cry it out, that may be your thing and glad it worked for you, but this mama can’t/won’t it. Don’t get me wrong, we actually tried it for a couple days with Victoria, we were tired, really I was exhausted, Ryan just gets tired since he is the son of the energizer bunny (his mom) after all. But in the end I couldn’t let her cry at such a young age. She fake cries now to try to get her way, I tell her she can cry, she just has to go to her room to do it.

We still let our kids sleep in our bed if they want to. Ryan does transport them to their room after they fall asleep, but if they come back again, they usually just stay until morning. Another topic that many parents refuse to even consider, but it works for our family. We have super affectionate kids, and they probably won’t want mommy and daddy to walk them to class every day when they get older, but we’ll take what we can get as long as we can get it.

And yes, Bobby is almost 3 and still loves his pacifier. We let him sleep with it, but during the day we do make him put it away even though he isn’t happy about it. Victoria gave hers up at 2.5, and didn’t start speaking clearly until after that because she would try to talk with it in her mouth. Bobby is a little hard to understand with his pacifier in his mouth, but that little boy has been speaking in full clear sentences since he was 1.5. I’ll keep asking if he’s done with his pacifier and one day his answer will be yes and we’ll pack one away in his keepsake box like we did for Victoria.

Anyway, even with a cold, a nursing baby, and kids in my bed, I have such great sleep that when my alarm goes off before I’m awake, it’s easy to wake up, turn it off without snoozing and start my day feeling refreshed and ready to go!

Fallen officers

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We are on the road today traveling South for the PurpleStride 5k and we came the back way to avoid the slowed traffic on 101.

We saw a fire truck on an overpass with its lights on, but I didn’t see any car that appeared to be in an accident, so was hoping it wasn’t anything bad. We kept going and we came up to another set of fire trucks on an overpass and it hit me.

I’d seen news articles and Facebook posts about fallen officers and their funeral processions and even seeing it and reading about it made me emotional. I think I may have seen them out once before, but I could be wrong, I do have 3 kids 4 and under so my memory isn’t as sharp as it used to be. I just imagine being in that family’s position and to be headed to their loved ones service and seeing all of these fellow officers, maybe some that didn’t even know them personally, but just being out there to show respect to a fellow officer.

Once I realized what it was, I told my hubby, but not before breaking down in tears. I don’t know who they are, I don’t know what happened, but my heart breaks for them. And my heart is so full of joy at the officers that are out there showing support.

I can’t say what I would do if I lost my spouse or one of my kids. I’d probably be a wreck. While I know that God is in control, and He has a plan, and His ways are always better than ours, and that I trust that He would get me through anything that comes my way… I’m still a wife and Mommy and I’d be so sad missing out on seeing any of them every single day. But, I also know that our goal is to go home, so I’d have to rejoice that they made it and don’t have to be part of this crazy world anymore.

To anyone that has lost someone close, my heart goes out to you. We lost my mother in love a little over 4 years ago. We will walk in her memory tomorrow and pray that through research they will find a cure for pancreatic cancer, and ever cancer really.

I’m not sure who is being laid to rest today, but I’m praying for that family. I hope you will too.

Short video of the procession

#themomlife

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I realized I only had about 5 hours of sleep on Tuesday night, because after I nursed (and by nursed, I didn’t mean she only nurses once a night, she’s still going strong waking me up 4 or 5 times a night), I decided to get up and take a shower. My hubby had an early morning meeting, so he’d be getting up soon to shower, so my only chance of having an uninterrupted shower would be to take it by 5 am.

I’m not one of those moms that takes a shower every day, more power to you if you do get that luxury, but if I get more than 3 showers in a week, then that’s pretty incredible. I do get to work from home, so it’s not like I’m out in public every day. And since my signature hair style is a #mombun anyway, it looks pretty much the same on a shower day or a non – shower day. I do still brush my teeth and put on deodorant every morning, I can always find time to sneak those in between going potty and taking my Plexus.

Haven’t heard of Plexus? Now that is something that I don’t go a day without! These health and wellness products have been life changing for me. I was so exhausted as a mom of two and have more energy, better sleep, more patience, better health, and less weight as a mom of three.

So I got 7 hours of sleep last night. My average is between 6 and 7 hours a night. And when I wake up now I just climb out of bed ready to start my day. No more yawning or pressing snooze to get that extra 10 minutes of sleep. Plus…. The alarm usually wakes up the kids anyway, so if I can be up and going before it goes off, the kids might sleep in a bit longer.

Today, Alexandria (our 10 month old) was ready to roll, literally, as I tried my best ninja roll out of bed skills. So, we were both up at 6, she played with a breastfeeding flange while I did my business in the bathroom and she was happily nursing in the den 5 minutes later after we changed her pee pee diaper and sat on the couch to catch up on Grey’s Anatomy. I won’t watch that when my older kids are up, so I only get to watch about 15 minutes at a time on Hulu when I get up before everyone and don’t immediately go into my office and start working. We watched a little Grey’s then she wanted to play, so I got her a breakfast bar and I could hear her grinding her teeth! She only has 3 teeth now and barely got her one top tooth this week, so this is new for her. She’s been testing out her chomping skills while nursing… Not so fun for me.

Then I smelled poop. So I had to do diaper change #2. We came back out to the den and used the hand held vac to clean up her baby bar crumbs, and as I went to hang it can up I was caught off guard by my stealth 2.5 year old wearing his football footie pajamas. He was holding the crotch part away from his crotch area. So… He had another diaper leak. I got him his vitamin, probiotic, and greens and went to get him a clean diaper and outfit for the day. Alexandria lost her mind having my leave the room for a minute. She’s a major mommies girl and does not like to be away from me.

So… We got 3 diaper changes, 15 minutes of Grey’s, one kid his vitamins, one kid her breast milk and baby bar, and mommy got to take her Vitalbiome. Now the rest of the troops are up and we are ready to start our day. And we are starting it by watching the Incredibles… What else would you expect from #thesuperherofamily?

Pancreatic Cancer

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Ryan’s mom, Sandra was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer just 7 weeks before our wedding. Ryan was her only child, so she was thrilled to see him get married.

She was chosen to participate in a clinical trial and she kept a positive attitude her entire journey. She never questioned God or lost her faith. She actually used her diagnosis to bring more people to Him.

She also got bilateral bells palsy while she was going through chemo. Since her job was working at the call center for Jenny Craig and since it was harder for her to speak with bilateral bells palsy, she had to take some time off. But she didn’t just sit at home watching TV. Don’t get me wrong, she loved her San Diego Chargers, and you could hear her cheering from a block away, but she kept herself busy, still baking for her friends, attending Bible study, going to church, and knitting scarves that she would sell to still add to her income.

Her scarves were called Sensational Scarves by Semper Fi Sandi. And she included her story as well as a Bible verse on the tag she attached to each scarf.

Sandi went home to be with Jesus the day Victoria turned 4 months old. She fought the good fight, she finished the race, she kept the faith. She survived 16 months with pancreatic cancer, which is a really long time with that type of diagnosis.

Sandi was a former Marine and was always a great hostess. She loved everyone and she could meet you anywhere and be an instant forever friend. She was always prepared for fun! And she absolutely loved the 4 months she got to be a grandma.

The kids always talk about Grandma Sandi even though Victoria was the only one who met her, and looked pretty much like her twin at the same age when they were both 3 months old.

Since she passed away in July 2014 we have walked in the annual PurpleStride 5k at De Anza Cove in San Diego to raise money for pancreatic cancer researcher.

We will be walking in our 5th PurpleStride 5k this weekend along with some of our family and friends. Walking across the starting line is always so emotional for me, granted I have been pregnant 2 of the 4 times we did it. We plan to continue to do this 5k as a family in memory of the Unbelievable Semper Fi Sandi.