Weight Loss

I've lost almost 20 pounds in the last 3 months. I'd like to lose another 35 by Christmas of this year.

I've been miserable looking at myself. My clothes didn't fit, but I refused to buy more. So much in fact that even now, 20 lbs lighter, I still haven't had to buy new clothes. They just finally fit like they are supposed to.

I have been eating low-carb, moderate protein, high fat (good fats). No exercise and I've been loosing about 1.5 pounds/week on average.  I do plan on including exercise, but you know what, I need to lose some weight first. I know that sounds crazy, but I just don't have it in me to start exercising yet. I assume it's a mental commitment just like choices of what to put in my mouth.  I know I'll get to the point of wanting exercise, but I'm not there yet.

Part of what keeps me making better choices is the physical health problems I have when I make bad food choices. I get migraines from too much sugar when I've been off it for awhile.  I also get TERRIBLE low-carb "flu" when I go through the induction process. It takes me about 4 days IN THE BED for my body to detox from carbs/sugar.

I've never stuck with a "diet" for 3 months before. I think the difference is that I now see this as a life change. I plan to have occasional treats, but I also plan to make better choices overall. I finally see that it's all about choices. I'm not depriving myself if I really don't want it.

I have been very conscious about asking myself, "Do you really WANT that or are you going to eat it just because it's there?"  Since I've started asking myself this (and am past my carb-detox), I have found that I really don't want it. So I don't eat it. I've taken the boys out for ice cream without getting any for myself and did not felt deprived because I just didn't want it. I have ALSO gone out for ice cream with the boys and have purchased a little for myself when I do want some. I've got to live, but I've got to be deliberate in my choices.

I totally see where losing weight is not a matter of willpower, but a matter of changing your mindset. I by no means have this conquered, but I think it's important for me to write this down to be able to come back to it when I stumble.

(This is my first journal entry "required" by NO CAKE TILL CHRISTMAS. :)
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Want to join me on my journey?

I keep track of my loss and food on MyFitnessPal as missbecky75 if you'd like to friend me there :)

I'm read several LCHF groups on facebook, but I think 90 Day LC Challenge is my favorite for newbies.

I also have some LC boards on Pinterest if you're interested.


Hugs,
Becky

Food Integrity

Source: usnews.msnbc.msn.com via Angela on Pinterest

Chicken Pox?

Sunday, Will had a headache.

Monday, Will had a headache and a fever with aches.

Tuesday, Will had a headache and a fever with aches and a few red, sporadic pimple-like spots that don't itch.

Wednesday, Will had a headache and a fever with aches and MORE red, sporadic pimple-like spots that don't itch.

Thursday, Will had a milder fever and red, sporadic pimple/blister like spots; one that itched and then scabbed over.

Friday, Will has red, sporadic pimple/blister like spots; still only the one scabbed over and still no itching (can we say "thankful?!").




I never did take him to the doctor, but I did speak with the nurse. We both felt that if this wasn't chicken pox, it was viral and there was no need to bring him in. I was instructed to treat and watch the fever while pushing fluids (of which I had already been doing prior to the call). I'm such a good mom. ;)

Will and the other boys did have the chicken pox vaccine and booster, so we'll just have to sit out the incubation period and see if the other boys will get these spots, too. If they do, I hope it will be a mild case like Will's. I remember the chicken pox and do not wish that on my boys!

Jeff has been out of town this week, so it's just been the boys and me. I've been trying to clear out more stuff and organize a little for the move back to our previous house. They've spent the time watching lots of movies and playing in the rice boxes. It's just been too hot to send the little ones outside. Will spent the week on the pull-out couch enjoying the attention. :)


SO glad the aches and fever are gone. I've missed my little guy's silliness! :)

Surgery Decision

Life has been extremely busy lately. It seems like I've barely had time to breathe. We've had our second Open House on our old house, Spring is the busy season for Jeff's work, PT appointments for Will, Cub Scouts, blah blah blah blah BLAH. Just everything.

Anyway, that's not what this post is about. My brain is going in a million directions lately.

After MUCH deliberation and prayer, we have decided to go ahead with the surgery on Will's Achilles tendons. We've been given a top-notch pediatric orthopedist at a top-notch Children's Hospital. Plus, after 6 weeks of physical therapy and high-top boots we've seen no improvement. As soon as those shoes come off - he's right back on his tip tip tip toes.

I was very reluctant to tell Will he was having the surgery. He's a "dweller" and a worrier. My first instinct was to tell him on our way to the Hospital, but Jeff said no. LOL! And I'm glad he did. :) Will has heard us talking about casts and wheelchairs, so he knew something was going on, but just not exactly what.

Last week I told him that since his legs won't let him walk flat-footed that the doctors are going to help him with that by lengthening his tendons (and showed him what that was). I told him that we'd spend the night in a children's hospital, too. His first question was, "Is it going to HURT?!!!" I told him, "Yes, it would hurt afterward." He wouldn't even let me try to explain myself before he started getting really upset with, "I DON'T WANT TO GO!!!"

I calmed him down and explain that it would hurt the way a bruise does. That a bruise takes several days to heal, but that this would take a few weeks to heal and eventually wouldn't hurt at all. I explained that he'd be in casts for a few weeks and asked, "Remember when Nathan had a cast? His was blue and orange. What color would you like?" This put a "fun" spin on the conversation and at first he said purple, but then he decided he wanted "black like Hiro." We talked a little bit about having the Cub Scouts write their names on his cast, but he really didn't know what to think about that. :) Then I told him that he'd get to ride around in a child-sized wheel chair for awhile and he thought that was pretty cool.

So for now, he's ok with it. He's told everyone at church that he'd be in a wheelchair soon and wanted them to know because they might not recognize him. :) He did a really good job explaining what's going to happen to the people that asked him about it, so I think he has the perfect amount of information without going into detail about the specifics of the surgery. I really thought he would get more into the questions about the incision, blood, and how the doctors were going to do the surgery.

The surgery this Thursday in Birmingham and if all goes well, he'll be released on Friday. Jeff and I will stay in his room with him. Our other two boys will be with my in-laws.

We're trying to get everything ready for two weeks of non-load-bearing casts. I'm doing lots of grocery shopping tomorrow (with extra "treats" thrown in) . Jeff will be building a ramp for the front stairs soon. We're rearranging furniture so the pull-out couch will be near the tv and I've got a 4-disc set of Inspector Gadget coming from Netflix. I've requested the Cub Scouts and Bible classes send Will get well cards so he gets something in the mail, too. :) As for school, I've scheduled 7 days off if we need them, but I think he'll be fine doing school as there won't be much else to do.

Jeff will be traveling back to Georgia for a week shortly after the surgery, but I think that will be good for me so I don't feel obligated to cook a big meal and have the house clean every day before he's home for work. My plan is just to let everything else go except for the necessities. Life will be slow as far as things to do, but busy as far as taking care of and giving attention to the kiddos - especially Will.

By the time he's out of casts, the nice weather will be here to stay (with little rain) and he'll be able to play through the summer and be ready for soccer in the fall. We're also planning to have the Cub Scouts come camp in our back field at the end of May. Lots of fun stuff to look forward to, but we just have to get through the next 5 - 6 weeks.

Please say a prayer for Will, his recovery, and the doctors, too - especially the anesthesiologist, as the biggest complications would come from that; Will has never been put to sleep before. (Side note: The surgery is actually out-patient, but since he's a child they'll keep him for 23 hours. There are no major blood vessels in the surgery area, so there won't be a lot of blood and even if the tendon was cut in half, they say it can be sewn back together. So there are generally few complications from the surgery itself and if there are any they are fixable.)

Thanks for the prayers and I'll try to update once we're back in town.

Now, I must go clean my house, do the mountain of laundry, make lunch, figure out what I need grocery wise for the next two weeks, plan our meals, break up an argument between the boys, make the beds, kiss a boo-boo, get some packages wrapped for the post office and find time for a shower while the boys bang on the door asking if they can dig holes in the yard or make their beds into slides. LOL! A mother's work is never done.

And if you made it to the end of this post, I give you two stars and a happy face sticker. :)

Surgery or Therapy?

{WARNING: LONG POST. I want to get all this info down so I don't forget what everyone has said. So many differing opinions, it's hard to keep it all straight! Plus as a bit of a disclaimer, I didn't reread this post... forgive grammatical, spelling, and incoherent thought errors. I'm tired and worn out. Thanks. :) }
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Will, now age 7 1/2, started walking on his toes when he was about 2 years old. I was told that he would outgrow it as it was just a habit. Then when he was 5, I brought it up to his (new) pediatrician and after watching Will walk, he referred us to a (somewhat) local orthopedist.

The orthopedist did his evaluation and watched Will walk, too. He said it was habit and that Will should outgrow it. He said no physical therapy was needed and to not even bother drawing attention to it. He did, however, throw in the statement that if he hadn't stopped walking on his toes by age 8, he would probably need surgery to lengthen the tendons so he could physically walk flat-footed.

So that's what we did. We left it alone and ended up just watching it continue.

Summer of 2009, Will began having terrible headaches and we went to a chiropractor. The chiropractor basically said his hips were out of alignment because of the toe walking which in turn landed him some pretty harsh headaches. The chiropractor was able to bring the count of headaches from 6/week down to 2 in 4 months time. Very nice!

During the time with the chiropractor, Will began walking flat-footed occasionally as well. I figure at some point his hips were hurting so badly that the toe walking helped with the pain and once the hip stopped hurting he was more able to land flat-footed. It's a theory anyway. I estimate that his toe walking/toe standing went from 95% of the time down to about 85% of the time. So while it was a decrease, he was still on his toes a lot.

Shortly after we began seeing the chiropractor, Will had his annual well visit with his pediatrician. I mentioned that the toe walking was still going on and he recommended another orthopedist. I'm not sure if the first one was pediatric or not, but this second one is. He comes from Birmingham once a month to see the patients in the area. He's the guru 'round these parts and I've been told he's one of the best nationally. We'll call him Dr. K.

So we saw Dr. K about 10 days ago. He evaluated Will and watched him walk, but Will wouldn't walk on his toes. He tried so so hard to walk flat-footed, and it was much like a duck walk. Even without the high tip toe demonstration, Dr. K said that no boots, casts, or stretches would be able to fix the problem. Our only option would be surgery to lengthen the tendons. Basically he said that if we don't do the surgery and leave him 'as is', there will most likely be degeneration of the fronts of his feet, with severe callousing, and his feet & leg bones will grow improperly. Oh, and the brain hard-wires itself between 6 - 8 years of age on how to walk. Great.

My understanding is that the surgery is a quite "easy" one, but it does require Will to be "put under," and any anesthesia is scary to me. The procedure would be a few small incisions and they would poke tiny holes in his Achilles tendon to weaken it and allow it to lengthen. Although it is technically an out-patient surgery, he would have a 23 hour stay at Children's Hospital in Birmingham because he's young. He would come home in non-loadbearing casts that he would have to wear for two weeks. They would equip us with a child's wheelchair as well. After that, he would be in load-bearing casts for another two weeks. After that, 7 - 10 days in special boots and then finally after that in his regular shoes.

If we do the surgery now, he could be in his regular shoes by summer.

At first I was in agreement with the surgery, although it scares me terribly. But being the engineering folks that we are, we begin to poke around and ask different people for differing opinions. And here's where it gets hairy. So if you've stuck with this post for this long, try to stay with me. :)

The pediatric physical therapist pegged Will as a sensory seeking, gifted child. She said that when you have a gifted child, their brains like to work... a lot. He stands on his toes to keep sensation going. She equated it to sitting in church during a boring sermon. When you start to fall asleep, you move around to keep your brain stimulated and awake. Same for him, it's just all the time. If you have spent any time with Will, you know that his brain is ALWAYS going. I tend to believe that this why he started walking on his toes. Although he is walking on his toes for the sensation and not because of a physical deformity, the therapist is in agreement with Dr. K about having the surgery. She also mention that sometimes toe walking does return in sensory seeking kids.

We have a personal friend that is also a PT (but not pediatric). He said that if it were his child he would exhaust all other options before committing to surgery. He seems to believe that since Will is still growing, that the tendon and muscles should also continue to grow and stretch. (I believe that's what he said anyway. :) )

So, if you're keeping count, that's two orthopedist that say surgery by age 8. 1 PT that says Yes and 1 PT that says No.

Then, bring in another friend that is an educational consultant that deals with gifted children and knows about sensory seeking kids, too. (She's nationally recognized for her work, I just happen to be lucky enough to know her as a friend in real life and get free consultations! ;] ) Anyway, while she agrees that Will may be at a point where he does truly need the surgery, she suggested that we work through the sensory issues first while doing physical therapy and give it until August. When I mention the hard-wiring of the brain by age 8 (which will be September for Will), she enlightens me that while that is true for most kids, gifted kids don't hard-wire those motor skills until closer to 11. Good to know. :)

Today we went to see our chiropractor who also "votes No" to the surgery. He agrees that the sensory issue needs to be taken care of or the toe walking could just come back. Plus he, personally, had a similar surgery at age 12 and has had problems with his Achilles tendons his whole life.

So that's two more votes for No surgery, bringing the professional votes total to 3 YES and 3 NO. Nice, huh?

I now go back and forth on what the "right" answer is. I don't know that there truly is a right answer.

Please pray for guidance and direction regarding this decision. I need to turn this over to God and realize that no matter what Jeff & I decide, He is in control of Will's life.

{And HERE is our decision}

Training Picky Eaters

I have a picky kid... as far as food goes, anyway.

We've talked about nutrition. Oh, have we talked about it! We've made a chart to keep up with what he eats on a normal day. We've argued and fussed. We've given in at times and then other times we've forced him to eat. He's gone without food, by his choice, more times than I can count.

What's a mom to do?

Let me give you the low down on his preferences.

• No condiments whatsoever. No ketchup, mustard, mayo, ranch dressing... nothing.
  
• No milk in his dry cereal. (Which is fine now that we don't do much dry cereal anymore.)
  
• No sauces except on spaghetti.
  
• The only cheese he'll eat is on pizza. No mac-n-cheese for this kid: plain elbows only.
  
• He won't touch smoothies. (Good place to hid leafy greens)
• Don't even think about recommending a salad.
• No seeds or nuts.
• No eggs.
• No yogurt.
  
• He LOVES Black Eyed Peas with a passion, but they must be Bush's from a can. ("Mom, did you make these at home or are they from a can?")
• No milk unless it's been made into chocolate milk.
  

On the good side, some of his pickiness has been good for him - he's not filled with HFCS from (our previous choices in) ketchup and the like. Gotta count your blessings, right?

And truthfully, a lot of his pickiness is our fault because he was raised on a processed foods diet and likes his food to be "the same" every time. Same texture, same taste, same shape... you get the picture. As our first child (and only one for a few years), he was able to voice his opinion about what we ate. Admittedly so, I catered to him.

Live. Learn. Move on and change.

I can't and won't cater to each child individually. Although they all like/dislike different things, we've come to a place where I cook and they eat or well, they don't... their choice. Witt is starting to show the same tendencies as Will did in regards to realizing he has an opinion and won't eat something just because he doesn't want to. Stubborn little booger(s). {grin}

Jeff came up with a great plan that really seems to work when we actually use it. We place small amounts of each food that has been prepared for the meal on their plates. This is the amount of food they are expected to eat until they can get more of their favorites. This really reduces food waste, too. There is no more bargaining or threatening. The "rules" are plain and simple.

It's always hard to know which direction to go with food "training".

On the one hand, I was taught to eat everything on my plate. If I took it, I was to eat it. That's still a battle for me even when I'm stuffed and shouldn't eat any more. I'm not saying that's a wrong standpoint to take; I just think that maybe the training needs to be modified to taking less and then to go back for a little more if you're still hungry.

Jeff (and his mother, too) always and I mean always leave at least a bite or two left on their plate. Drives me nuts! LOL! (see above paragraph) I don't think this was something she trained him to do, I think he just picked up the practice by watching her. If I were to implement that practice, I'd probably drop a few pounds... (food for thought!).

Then there is the idea of eating only when hungry. What if they aren't hungry at lunch time? Do I just wait until they are hungry to feed them? That's seems a little haphazard and plain crazy to me as the one who does the cooking, but it would definitely teach them to eat when hungry and not "just because".

I'm sure there are more theories on training kids to eat properly, but they all probably have their ups and downs with no clear cut solution. So...

What are the eating habits at your house? Any picky eaters? Please tell me I'm not the only one that struggles with this! :)

Resolutions: Glass and Stainless Steel

I've been working on this one since last year and we've really cut down on the plastics in our kitchen. We no longer store food in plastic containers. We use glass with BPA-free lids. Granted, we still do use plastic bags, but I'm happy for the baby step of the plastic containers being gone. :)

One of my Christmas wishes was to replace my plastic cooking utensils with stainless steel ones. Oh... Santa was very good to me!!! I received a spaghetti spoon, two spatulas, several different sized strainers, a pizza cutter, an apple corer, and a ladle. As an added bonus, I got a cafetiere and a small stove top coffee maker (mostly just for boiling water for my tea). How fun is that!?!

I also received a SS bakeware set (2 pizza pans, 1 cookie sheet, 1 pie pan, and 2 cake pans). I will be removing the aluminum bakeware that I've been using for years.

Although there isn't a solid case against aluminum cookware, here's a test I suggest you try: Take 1 aluminum pot and boil water in it for 5 minutes. Take 1 Stainless steel pot and boil water in it for 5 minutes. Take a spoon-full of each water (blow on it first, of course) and taste it. The SS water tastes like water. The aluminum water tastes like... aluminum. Yuck. Not an added flavor I want in my food.

My MIL gave me a set of large glass mixing bowls with BPA-free lids, too! I had a great Christmas! (I'll talk more about my "big" gift in another post.)

So with all this changes, I've got one more large section to tackle: kids plates, bowls, and cups. Blech. What a mess of plastic there. I don't even know what "number" the plastic is on most things. I'm assuming it's food safe, but I know several aren't microwave safe. (Although that doesn't matter because I don't have a microwave anymore.) I do worry about putting hot food on their plastic plates though. Does something harmful leech in? I really don't know.

Part of my aversion to plastic is obviously the health side of it. The other side is just that it is not aesthetically pleasing to me. I *want* to get rid of it.

Here's my plan for the year:

• change their plastic bowls to something like these ramekins

• change their plastic plates to stainless steel or stoneware (I LOVE this set, but think my kids are probably too old for it now.)

• GET RID OF THE SIPPY CUPS! All of my kids (yes, my 7 year old too!) drink from sippy cups. It's just time for the switch to "careful cups". (Nathan started calling cups without lids "careful cups" because we would always tell him to be careful while drinking from them. The name just stuck!) I hate the top, the valve, and the non-numbered plastic cups. Plus, the boys have warm chocolate milk every morning and I'm sure there was a disclaimer on the package regarding warm beverages not being used in sippy cups. :P

• Just for fun, I'd love to add these glass straws to my kitchen! Aren't they cute?!!! (You can see them in action over at Green and Crunchy!) We don't use a lot of straws, though, so this would totally be a fun luxury! :)

• Add a few more bakeware pieces. I'd like another cookie sheet, two jelly roll pans, and some muffin pans. Not that I'll get these all this year, but it's what's on my wish list.
  

With all this stainless steel stuff coming in, I jokingly said to Jeff, "You know... I'm gonna want a SS kitchen when we finally build a house. I'll need it to match all my fun kitchen gadgets."

His reply? Something along the lines of, "You found out my little secret! I was getting all this stuff to build my case for a matching SS kitchen!"

LOL! Great minds think alike. :)


As a side note, I read the other day that stainless steel might not be as safe as once thought. Enameled pans are supposed to best; however, at some point you just have to make a decision and make choices. Plus, living in the real world with financial restrictions I can't go changing my entire kitchen over whenever "they" say something is bad. We just have to do the best we can within the limitations we're under and with the knowledge we have. Period.

So, what do you cook/bake with?

Resolutions: HFCS and MSG

This month I'm planning on getting my resolutions in order. Like last year's resolutions, I have a variety of areas I want to work on. More baby steps. This year, though, I have a much broader direction that I can go in now that Witt has outgrown his milk allergy (Praise be to God!). I'm planning on doing several smaller posts for each of the areas I want to work on.

This post is about the High Fructose Corn Syrup and Monosodium Glutamate in my kitchen.

When HFCS is ingested, it travels straight to the liver which turns the sugary liquid into fat, and unlike other carbohydrates HFCS does not cause the pancreas to produce insulin; which acts as a hunger quenching signal to the brain. So we get stuck in a vicious cycle, eating food that gets immediately stored as fat and never feeling full.

MSG has now been implicated in a number of the neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis and Huntington's disease.

Update: I'll be avoiding agave nectar, too.

Are these the worst offenders in processed foods? I really have no idea, but these are the baby steps I'm taking. I've picked two items that I am going to try to eliminate from our home as best I can. This may mean buying a different brand or learning how to make the item from scratch myself. I'm truly hoping to do more cooking. :) Plus, in removing foods with HFCS and MSG several other bad-for-you ingredients will probably be eliminated as well.

So this morning, I went through my kitchen. Being after the holidays, my kitchen pantry is probably more full of convenient, pre-packaged foods than any time during the rest of the year. Here's the list of what I found:

HFCS

Ke.ebler Club Crackers: Original and Multigrain

Va.n Camp's Pork & Beans

Smuck.er's Concord Grape Jelly

Nab.isco Original Premium Saltines

Generic Animal Crackers

Nab.isco Honey Graham Crackers

Ri.tz Whole Wheat Crackers

Nab.isco Oreos

Pep.si

Hei.nz Worcestershire Sauce

Hers.hey's Chocolate Syrup

MSG

Old El Pas.o Enchilada Sauce

dale's Seasoning

Lip.ton Onion soup mix

Taco. Bell Taco Seasoning

Tennessee Pr.ide Sausage Patties

Not too bad actually. Looks like I need to learn how to make some crackers! LOL! However, I'm not starting with the crackers because that's not what we eat the most of. The two biggies on those lists are the Her.shey's syrup and the sausage patties. Those two are consumed on a regular basis.

I've got organic cocoa coming from my food buying club this week so I'll be testing out recipes (like these) on the chocolate syrup soon.

The sausage patties are gonna be a tough one. Will loves these. He's my picky eater. These are the only brand he likes. More thinking to do on this one and probably a lot of cooking, too! :)

How about you? Is your family choosing to reduce or exclude any foods, preservatives or additives? What's your action plan for 2010?

Oh, and btw... Got any recipes for sausage or chocolate syrup? :)

Dem Bones Dem Bones

(Fair warning: LONG post)

Will's Bones

Ever been to the chiropractor?

Will went two years ago. I took him to see if there was anything that could be done to help him stop walking on his tip-toes, which he has been doing since he was about 2 1/2 years old.

I've had two medical doctors give the opinion that Will should have surgery if he hasn't stopped tip-toeing by the age of 8. This surgery would include snipping the tendons in order to lengthen them so he would physically be able to walk flat-footed. Not something I'm really interested in doing.

So, we went to a chiropractor and he had a few things to say, but after two months of 2 -3 visits a week (!) I didn't see any improvement. Plus, the new year was coming with a new deductible to meet... so we quit going.

Starting mid-summer of this year, Will has been having severe headaches, possibly even migraines, lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of days. After talking with a friend in our homeschool group, I decided to bring him back to a chiropractor... but I chose a different one this time (Dr. R).

Will's first appointment was about four weeks ago. The initial reason for the appointment was the headaches, but I also brought up the tip-toes again. After a couple x-rays, the ultimate source of he headaches was said to be from his misaligned hips which he thinks is a congenital issue. (I was given further information, but not going to share the lengthy diagnosis here.) The doctor also felt as though Will was tiptoeing as a response to the hips to keep from hurting while he walked.

Will has had a total of four treatments this go-round. Dr. R hasn't popped Will's back even once (which I really like); he has solely used a sort of percussion instrument that taps.

Will hasn't had a single headache since then! Four weeks without a single headache is a FANTASTIC improvement for Will. I am so pleased!

Will has also started to walk flat-footed a *little* more. From time to time I notice that he's not on his toes, which is s wonderful improvement as well! It's just going to take time for him to recondition his brain into knowing that it doesn't hurt anymore to walk flat-footed now that his hips are figuring out how they should be properly aligned. It's going to take some work to stretch out those calf muscles of his, too. Whew! He's got some mighty tight muscles from tip-toe walking for 5 years!

So far, I am very pleased with the results Will is having!

My Bones

Shortly after Will's first appointment, I hurt my back somehow so I made an appointment for myself. After an x-ray, it was concluded that most of my problem was muscular. I got a few taps here and there with that percussion instrument (sorry I don't know what it's called) and then I had my first-ever acupuncture treatment. (Yes, he is a licensed acupuncturist, too.) I walked out of there a new woman!

The following week, I told Dr. R that the muscle in my shoulder has been bothering me on and off since Nathan was born (he had colic and I held him A LOT). More acupuncture and a dramatic improvement.

Today, I discussed my plantar fasciitis issues with him. Basically, it feels like someone is jabbing an ice pick in my foot between the heel and the arch. Nice, huh? I went to our family doctor about this earlier this year and received some inflammatory meds as well as some PT. The PT and meds really helped and has dramatically decreased my pain, but it was still there... nagging. Well, today I got a few needles stuck in different places than before plus a tug, pull, and tap here and there... and my foot feels as good as new! It's not tight. It doesn't nag. It doesn't ache. It doesn't hurt. At all! And my back and shoulder are still doing well!

I'm feelin' pretty good these days! LOL!

Nathan's bones

Nathan has had sinus issues since, well... forever. I remember telling Jeff when Nathan was 3 months old, "He's only been here for 12 weeks and for 8 of those weeks he's been on a decongestant." He's always had sinus trouble and I figured I might as well get Dr. R's opinion about Nathan's sinus situation as I've heard of chiropractors working on the sinus area.

Turns out his cranial bones are out of place! Dr. R was surprised that Nathan could even breathe or hear out of the left side of his head. After seeing Nathan's xray, Dr. R was very displeased that no one had caught the obviousness of the problem before. I saw the xray. I saw what he was talking about. And I teared up. My poor little guy.

Now I will admit, I have a bit of hard time with this. Backs and hips are one thing, but the bones around the brain are a different story... and scary one at that.

There were no tools used on Nathan. He laid down and I was right there with him. Dr. R applied some pressure on his head in the appropriate places with his hands then released and gave Nathan's body a few moments to adjust to the adjustment. Nathan was never in any pain and never winced or looked uncomfortable. During the moments of rest, we could actually watch as his facial features changed. It was really strange and cool and again, scary... all at the same time... to see his bones and muscles adjust to a more natural looking forehead and hairline.

Dr. R is also a homeopathic doctor and gave me a solution to take home for anti-fungal use against the current sinus infection. While on the topic of medication, I asked him about Nathan's eczema. It has been really bad this season. I have been rubbing him down with EV coconut oil this last week as I've heard it is a really good moisturizer. Dr. R pointed out the coconut oil has a particular acid in it that might actually irritate the eczema further and recommended shea butter and/or Desitin (zinc oxide) as a better topical remedy. Hey... I've got Desitin here at the house; I can do that! (And the shea butter will be a good excuse to place an order with Mountain Rose Herbs! :) )

Witt's Bones

Well, Witt really doesn't have any bone issues, thankfully. HOWEVER, I did ask if there were any tests regarding food allergies. I was just curious. Apparently there is a test that has something to do with electromagnetic fields. Huh. Who knew? Not me. I'm thinking that since we've met our deductible for the year, I might as well give it a go... even if it is just out of curiosity.



Speaking of curiosity... anybody else have good experience with a chiropractor? bad experiences? Have you been to a homeopath? Undergone acupuncture? I'd love to hear about it!