Got Milk or Not Milk?

Ok, so just a little disclaimer first of all that I am the only member of my family (so far) with these liberal views on human consumption. My husband is in no part associated with this thinking and looks at me like I'm crazy every time I talk about this stuff.

I've been reading a little bit about this debate and it's quite interesting. We're the only animals on this earth who continue to consume milk after infancy. And we turn to another animal for the source. Is this natural? Then there's the nasty facts about growth hormones, possibility of spreading disease, and did you know that in every glass of milk your drinking pus? Disgusting, but do I want to give it up, AND do I want to just stop reading things that interest me so that I remain ignorant??

Half of my family drinks Soy Milk. The one child that doesn't has Asthma and behavioral problems. Would I be doing him a favor by eliminating dairy and anything else that contains casein from his diet? I'm not going vegan or anything (but I have researched it). I mean I love my meats in moderation, but do I really need milk? Can I train myself (and my son) to enjoy soy? Maybe I'll try it. Do a one week challenge and see how we feel. Nothing crazy like no ice cream or cheese, just milk. Maybe I'll create a new blog about it and have Payton post with me! That would be fun! K, just some thoughts today. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

P.S. Speaking of vegan..just for fun and to prove Lehi's teaching that all things must have an opposition I googled "vegetables bad for you" and of course got all sorts of articles on why we "shouldn't" eat vegetables. There's an argument for everything!

Celestia, Your embarrasing me!

http://celestialyman.blogspot.com/

Oh my gosh, who to thank. First of all my husband for his love and support...I mean puh-leeze! I'm so embarrassed! I'm in no way a super mom. I just feel like I should pay it forward for all those true Super Mom's who have gone out of their way to help me when in need. I've sooo had the days where I never want to cook again and I cry everytime someone spills milk! (Or juice, or pinesol, my box of baking soda, their stomach contents...) Thanks for your kind words and I'm glad I could help. Your really just so cool that I'm trying to find any way I can to socialize with you.

A day in the life of......

A homeschooling Mom once said to a non-homeschooling friend of mine "I don't know what mom's DO all day that send kids to school." At first, when I heard this it made me sit back and for a second think "What DO i do all day?? I'm such a loser!" I thought I was less than a mom because I send my kids to school. Then I realized, I DO A LOT! So here it is. A break down of what I did today (of course this was an extra busy day so don't think this is "the norm"). By the way, please just insert "Wipe a Butt" and "Clean up baby barf" every 30 minutes, on your own.

5:30am - Wake up and meditate for 10 minutes, get dressed for workout
6am - Work Out
6:40am - Scriptures, Nurse the baby
7am - Make Bed, Shower, Get kids making beds, getting dressed and picking up rooms before school
7:15am - Feed kids breakfast, Make lunches, Feed Baby Breakfast (try to run back and blowdry hair here)
7:45am - Get everyones teeth brushed, hair combed, out the door(without leaving shoes).
8am - Drop off kids, return home
8:05am - Pull out sourdough starter and give it a feeding to activate for rolls later (I mean you'd think I had enough things to feed)
8:15am - Clean up breakfast and "morning rush" mess
8:45am - Finish getting ready/Clean up bathroom/start laundry
9am - Breathe
9:15 am - Out the door for grocery shopping (After packing snack, water, diapers, burp cloths)

10:45am - Return home, put away perishables
11am - Nurse Baby
11:30am - Make lunch for self and toddler/Clean up
12pm - Put away more groceries/Start another load of laundry
12:15pm - Feed Baby Lunch
12:30pm - Finish putting away groceries
12:45pm - Read "Just one more...." book to toddler, snuggle baby, both go for nap
1:00pm - Blend frozen peaches and put in plastic baby food containers for freezing (Figured this one out after having to thaw out like 6 food ice cubes to make a full meal...I flash freeze the food in those plastic little Gerber stage 2 containers and once frozen, pop them into a freezer bag. Now I only need 2 for a meal! I'n so smart!!)
1:30pm - Start dough for rolls for dinner
2:00pm - Start Split Pea Soup (Yay! I had a ham bone!)
2:30pm - Pull babies from naps, pick up big kids
2:45pm - Make snack, talk about day
3:15pm - Homework, clean up from dinner making
4pm - Watch something I've DVR'd while I fold Laundry, listen to Katrina read for 20 minutes
5pm - Eat Dinner. Then the real madness begins
5:30pm - It's all a blur. Basically Cleaning bodies and household surfaces non-stop until 7pm.
7pm - Read/Prayer/Brush little teeth/books/bed
8pm - Crash on the couch, turn on the TV and eat a fudge pop
9pm - Brush Teeth/Wash Face, scriptures, bed

*Repeat Daily

I mean seriously. I know this day was a little extreme but I have a day like this at least ONCE a week. Some people like to homeschool their kids, Some mom's are crafty, (I certainly am not one of those), some do a lot of outdoors activities, some make babyfood, and some days (or weeks) we just try to keep our heads above water and stay afloat. The only reason I'm doing this post is because it wasn't one of those days for me. Otherwise it would have read as follows:

7:45am - Crawl out of bed, let kids dress themselves in shorts and t-shirts for the rainy day, give money for breakfast and lunch, take to school (w/out teeth or ha.ir brushed)
8:15am - Slump around the house in jammies and Count down the minutes till bedtime

My point is that we're all different but we're all great mom's trying to do the best we can. If your reading this maybe you could post on your blog what your day looked like today. You might be suprised and pleased to find that you accomplished more than you thought. I personally find it fascinating to know what occupies people's time so please let me know if you decide to do this :)

5 Years

I remember making clubs and forts with you and Scott when Amber wouldn't play with me anymore.

I remember catching you in the bathroom frequently raising your eyebrows and making kissy faces.

I remember your OBSESSION with your hair and how you'd always say "You wish you were this good looking."

I remember your crush on that Smith girl and how you and Scott would fight over who got to pass the sacrament to her family.

I remember your ability to make everyone laugh.

I remember you patiently standing next to the piano and singing over and over again for me because I couldn't hit the ranges of the songs I loved sung by male singers.

I remember you helping mom set up a picnic blanket dinner in our field for me and Jason on my 16th birthday. You rode this little bike out the 100 yards to deliver stuff to us making me laugh every time.

I remember you suddenly being a trouble maker

I remember you being withdrawn

I remember how confused I was when I found out you were sick.

I remember visiting you for the first time and not being able to hold back the tears.

I remember visiting you every Sunday that I could and wondering when you were going to "come out of it".

I remember playing card games and the disappointment when I didn't bring you Jack in the Box cuz it was Sunday.

I remember your obsession with eating.

I remember you shaving that beautiful hair and never taking care of it again.

I remember getting the phone call. Thanks to that morning and the morning of 9/11 my heart stops every time the phone rings in the early morning hours.

I remember walking into moms and seeing all our family and feeling closer to them than I have ever felt.

I remember the pain of having to all go visit Brandon as a family and tell him what had happened.

I remember singing at your funeral.

I remember laughing about the good times after your funeral.

I remember you, and I will never forget. Love ya Jon.

Television

I mean what else am I going to do with my husband gone? I know, I should read enlightening books, meditate, enrich my life...blah blah blah. All I want to do once these kids go to bed and the house is finally in order is veg out. Bless Dish Network for assisting a Mom with her desire to not have to "think" for a few hours. And bless DVR for not making her sit through a single irritating commercial.

I'm so exhausted and I really should get to bed but...hey what's that?
Oh look, another Oprah show about really "rich" people in debt up to their ears. I love those shows! Whats up with Dr. Phil? Does anyone else think he's heading to sort of "white trash" tv? Baseball (skip), Hunting channel (skip), Some war documentary (skip). There are some benefits to a husband being gone at night :)

Well, that's all for now. Fact: "The Office" is starting. Fact: I really need a life. Fact: If I see one more "Bee Movie" ad on NBC when attempting to skip through commercials at rapid speeds I'm gonna puke. Fact: This fact stuff is only funny to you if you watch the office.

My 2 year old

I'm grateful I get to hang out with such a cutie every day. I'm grateful that she's independent. She gets her own water out of the fridge now. This morning she had about 8 cups lined up on the kitchen floor with water in them. I'm grateful that she eats only the top of ANYTHING frosted and proceeds to completely annihilate the remaining portion into tiny microscopic pieces that even the vacuum can't seem to locate yet it is visible. Right now she is picking up a HUGE bucket of crayons and pens that she spilled on the floor saying "Did you REALLY do that??" Over and over again. These are just a few of our moments today. Just before writing this I was looking at her cute face deep in thought while she played pretend with her Barbie and she caught me. She said, "What?" I said, "Nothing." She said, "Then what are you looking at?" Well excuse me!

Thank you Tylenol Cold and Sinus

Feeling sick, like such a loser. What is it with illness that makes you feel like your never ever going to get better and that this is the new you for the rest of your life? I wish the baby had a switch on him. I’d just shut him down until I was feeling rested and well. Payton is suspended (again) and home and talking my ear off. He’s doing schoolwork and it’s such a struggle. I don’t know if I could home school this guy. He gets distracted so easily with something as simple as sharpening a pencil (the pencil sharpener ran out of batteries so he had to pull everything out of the cupboard to get to some new ones. And yes, there are 15 other sharpened pencils in the pencil cup, however he doesn't want those.) Or how about hanging an art picture on the fridge. He is currently doing that one. The magnet had to accidentally drop under the fridge…hmmm…better find something to fish it out with…lets dig through the junk drawer. Still no luck…even though there are 50 other magnets on this fridge, I’ll “borrow” a magnet from mom’s calendar that falls every time someone breathes on it. Whoops there goes the calendar and half the items hung on the fridge. Now he’s standing there with his arms full of pictures and magnets trying to hold the calendar onto the fridge and looking around for support. I mean all this to hang a picture!! I really need to try harder with him. I resolve to study how to behaviorally treat ADHD kids and see how he responds. I feel for his teachers who have to deal with getting him to accomplish things on a daily basis! I have noticed if I make him a “to do” list he does really well. (inserting foot in mouth as he is currently whining and throwing toys because I told him he had to do the items on his list in order, and could not pick which things he wanted to do first). Sigh……Someday I will have him figured out and by then he’ll probably have black fingernails, be piercing his tongue and calling me by my middle name “Lucille”.