Homemade hemp milk

Jude and I just made our first batch of homemade hemp milk... and let me tell you... it is delicious! I am so excited about it. Jude likes it! Plain hemp milk is good, but I added some frozen mangos and it made it colder and sweeter and THAT is the good stuff. I want to try blueberry hemp milk soon, too. Hemp is one of the new foods we are introducing for it's many health benefits. We will have another EGD come September and if that's clear, we can keep the hemp. If not, we'll pretty much have to start from square one. Let's pray!!!

Having hemp milk will open up soo many doors for us. We can make creamy soups, milkshake/ice cream type concoctions, creamy sauces and dips. Maybe we can even make a type of cereal! We will certainly have more luck baking having a milk to use as opposed to just water. I will certainly try baking something soon with our banana flour and hemp milk! Please share if you have any ideas for us!

My miracle.

Miracles. 

They happened in the scriptures. They happened in the times of Jesus. They happened in pioneer days. But do they happen today? In plain old, modern, ordinary today? Sometimes miracles can be rationalized away to a coincidence or just good luck. But sometimes, they are so incredibly miraculous, life-changing, and unexplainable, there is no other word to describe the event but as a miracle. A true miracle, just like in the days of Christ.

I have witnessed a miracle. I have seen a completely miraculous healing first-hand..l with my own eyes. It can not be rationalized. It can not be explained by science. It can not be denied. 

This experience is not mine to share and it is too sacred to be shared here, but I must testify that it occurred. I testify that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and that the power of the priesthood is real. 

My life has been forever changed and blessed by my miracle. I will spend my LIFE trying to serve others and do good in my desperate, meager attempt to show my gratitude to my Heavenly Father for this miracle.

Food matters.

Food has kind of taken over my life lately. We are all about it. We are learning to eat more nourishing, healthy foods, whether we like them or not. And we like it. It is extremely satisfying to see Jude gulp up a wholy healthy drink with a smile on his face. Earlier today I made him a juice that consisted of (all organic):

Frozen peaches

Fresh-pressed apple juice

Hemp hearts

Parsley

Kale

Olive oil

Carrot

Sauerkraut

Ginger root

We don't have a juicer but we use our Blendtec and it works! It feels good to just drink up many of the healthy things you need for the day in one glass. 

Anyone else gotten into juicing/green smoothies?

I love a good trip to Whole Foods. I went to Wal-Mart the other day while on a road trip and could scarcely find anything to eat/anything I considered real food. My desire to eat chicken, beef, pork, eggs, or milk that is not organic is low. Have you seen Food, Inc? You should! You will understand why I say what I say! Jude's diagnosis has been an ongoing struggle, but it is definitely a blessing in disguise as I have learned so much out of necessity and an incredible desire to help my child. I am grateful that we are going through this with our first so we have been able to make these changes now. I will feed Abraham and our other children very similar to how I feed Jude (with obvious differences, I will feed them raw dairy and many other things Jude can't have... but no wheat or other junky milk products/processed foods). 

We introduced hemp into Jude's diet as the last food in this phase of his food reintroduction. He seems to be tolerating it well as far as we can tell. Let's hope and pray for a clear EGD come September. It's never too early to start praying so please join the forces and start praying for him!

Our visit to Las Vegas has been so nice. We spent a few days here then went to a family reunion in Durango, Colorado for a week. Have you ever been there? It is GORGEOUS beyond gorgeous. 

Jude has been enjoying storytime with Mimi, swimming with Papa, tummy tickles with Tubby, and play time with Abraham. Abraham has been enjoying grabbing everything in sight and putting it in his mouth. Abraham is the most content, pleasant little child on Earth. It's a little ridiculous to tell you the truth. He never complains. He just smiles and laughs and gives big hugs to whoever is holding him.

Summer vaca is treating us well. More to come.

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swimming and sausage

I have fallen so behind on my blog. My goal over this time hanging out in Las Vegas was to get all caught up on my blog. But I could not bring my computer out due to space constraints, so I can not blog because all my photos are on my computer! So I'm starting now and will catch up on the last few months another time.

We are spending a week with my parents at their house before we head to Colorado for our family reunion. It has been such a relaxing week! Mimi and Papa are thrilled beyond thrilled to have their two little boys here with them and have been loving reading them stories, swimming with them, and cuddling.

Dan is done with his job (for the most part, besides some exciting new developments to be shared at a later date) and enjoying 2-4 swims a day and cable. I am enjoying seeing my family so happy and seeing my parents love on my babes and being able to run any errand at any time due to the plethora of babysitters. Jude is in a constant state of elation related to Tubby and the pool. And Abraham is as content as any baby ever in existence with his new surroundings and constant affection.

Back to Jude and the pool, he learned how to swim in about five minutes. The life jacket we used to have for him was the infant kind with the behind-the-head flap and it didn't allow him to swim very easily. He now has a puddle jumper thing and boy can he do just that. He literally swims from one side of the pool to the other, goes down the slide into the pool, and jumps in the pool OFF THE ROCKS!! He goes way down under too and when he pops back up he has a big smile on his face. He loves the little scrub brush that my parents used to scrub the tile and he will carry that around with him on his across the pool swim. When he first started swimming on his own, he would have a nervous laugh but before long was saying, "Let me go, Daddy!" He thinks his Daddy is probably the coolest Dad on the planet because he starts on the other side of the lawn, runs across, jumps on the boogie board, and surfs the entire distance of the pool. And Mommy's pretty cool too (jumping off the high rocks). Jude will be shivering and his teeth will be chattering but he has no intention or desire to get out. He is just like his daddy!

Abraham is just the love of all of our lives. He is honestly the most content baby I have ever known. I will literally forget he is over there (in the living room, or wherever) sometimes because he will just lay there quietly playing and examining his surroundings. But whenever someone does decide to come over and give him a little attention, he is absolutely elated and full of smiles and giggles and hugs and kisses to share. When Jude was Abraham's age, he always wanted to be turned away from whoever was holding him so he could see everything that was going on. But Abraham is more than content to nuzzle in and put both arms around your neck. Endearing... to say the least. He also loves to swim! We will dip him down in that, sometimes pretty chilly, water and he barely even seems to notice. He takes everything with ease and rarely looses his calm, cool, and collected attitude.

Uncle Garry was here for the first couple days we were down and it was so wonderful to spend time with him. He is such a loving guy and was so cute with the kids. We have missed swimming with him and hearing all his great stories. :)

Besides the fact that I'm having carb withdrawals, life couldn't be better. We are truly blessed!

Ginger for my ginger.

Well, there's been a change of plans in Jude's journey with Eosinophilic Esophagitis. As an update to this post, we are doing things differently that originally planned. There is soo much to say... and I could never write it all, but here goes!

We had the allergy testing done but are NOT introducing beans, potatoes, and rice as previously planned. I felt like the goal of his GI doctor and the way we have been looking at all this is to get him on a more "normal" diet. "Ohh, if he could just have wheat..." I would say. (Or corn, or dairy, etc...) "It would be so much easier." Hence, a push towards beans, rice, and potatoes... trying to get him a more "normal" diet with heartier foods. After much study, thought, and prayers, we are taking a TOTALLY different approach to his food reintroduction.

I felt like there were two paths to take. There is the traditional path, where you add foods one at a time and then get an EGD and just HOPE they tolerate it and have no eosinophilic reaction to it. If it works, great. If it doesn't... bummer. Cross that food off the list. I felt like I wasnt giving Jude a whole lot of room to succeed or putting allies in his corner. Going from a diet of ZERO grains for over six months to throwing in the very starchy beans, potatoes, and rice seemed to be like it would be hard on a sensitive little stomach that has a rough track record and has never done well with grains. That would have been a lot to handle and I think there would have been a great chance for failure/some sort of reaction/an upset GI system. Doesn't that seem a little silly to introduce such tough foods so fast? He is growing and thriving right now, so what is the rush?

The other path is a more natural, holistic approach that uses diet as our ally, the GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) diet. Though not backed by scientific research (I've been very skeptical), the basis of it is and there is no risk involved. Instead of giving him "normal" foods, I'm going to be giving him bone broths and fermented vegetables. These foods are powerful foods that will help his "gut" to heal so that he can eventually tolerate more foods than he otherwise would. Instead of just keeping him from being sick, my goal is to HEAL this child.

I have decided to take things very slow and safe. I have been researching immune-healing foods high in probiotics (good bacteria). What are the healthiest, most healing, constructive foods we know of? How can I incorporate those into Jude's diet? The first food i have chosen is ginger root. 

The other foods I have chosen are garlic, cilantro, basil, and hemp seeds.

We haven't introduced the hemp yet, but it's next on our list and we're really excited about it! We are going to make homemade milk from it. This will be the only milk he can have so it will open up a ton of doors for cooking and baking.

We added basil because it was an ingredient in chicken sausage that I really wanted to give him. Garlic and cilantro were mostly for flavor (though they definitely have their benefits). I have been learning how to ferment and incorporating those foods into his diet, he eats sauerkraut occassionally, but I sneak a little sauerkraut juice into a smoothie every day. We currently have cultured salsa in the fridge and fermenting ginger carrots and sauerkraut in the pantry.

I am so beyond excited about everything we are learning and eating and changing. We are making HUGE changes as a family and it is incredibly empowering. As much as we can (but 100% for Jude) we are going all organic and non-GMO and trying to follow the Weston A. Price Foundation guidelines (grass-fed, pastured beef, pastured, cage-free chicken and eggs, butter from grass-fed cows, raw milk, raw dairy [ideal but difficult to find/make]). We have a long way to go but we are enjoying the journey and taking baby steps every day. (Baby steps onto the elevator... I'm ON the elevator..., AHHH!!!) We are making a couple juices/smoothies every day full of carrots, spinach, kale, ginger, carrots, blueberries, hemp seeds, etc... and loving it.

I have not fully started the GAPS diet as it takes MuCH preparation and know-how. I will be cooking for many hours and I still have a lot to learn before I am ready to commit to it. But for now, we are takin our own version of the diet and just incorporating the concepts from it into what we can do now.

We are learning to approach food in a completely new way. We eat certain foods because our bodies need those nutrients and they are incredibly healthy, regardless of whether we really "like" it or not. We do all we can to eat real, whole foods, raw fruits and vegetables, sprouted grains, and food how it naturally occurs in nature. 

Today at lunch Jude had a smoothie with (all fresh, raw, &organic) spinach, parsley, carrots, mango chunks (these were frozen), apple juice (organic, fresh-pressed, but pasteurized), and ginger. He loved it and I loved watching him drink all those nourishing foods!

When we make a raw carrot ginger juice (strong flavor!) and we are all drinking it, Jude enjoys it and drinks up! He says (with eyes squinted), "This is so. Yummy." I die every time. Nothing makes me happier than seeing him chow down on sauerkraut and drink a juice packed FULL of nourishing foods.

There is so, so much to say but I will stop there and try to write more frequently! I can say that I have been extremely guided through this whole process and things have been coming together in an incredible way. Pray for us and especially for Jude that his next EGD (September) will be clear!

You're okay?? Are you sure?

1:00 PM has meant one thing for the last four months... nap time. Jude happy in his crib and Abraham happy in Mama's arms, in Mama's bed, on Mama's bosom. He has grown quite accustomed to this... and so has his mama. 

At first I thought about all the things I could get done if he could "ever" nap by himself and vent to Dan about how I spend hours in that bed and sometimes I get restless.

But let me tell you... those couple hours every day that I spent holding my little angel baby so close are priceless. Beyond priceless. They are the most heavenly moments of my day. He would nuzzle up by me and within a matter of seconds he was off to his sleepy slumber, content and relaxed.

I don't know if I tried to put him to sleep by himself for that nap more than once or twice. That was our time. But Dan and I said, "when he's four months, we'll sleep train him."

Well, four months {and a move} came and the last thing I wanted to do was "sleep train" this precious little creature who preferred to be attached to me. I really didn't mind. Although the moments I had throughout the day to do much of anything were few and far between, and I would often go to bed at 8:30 because he was ready and I didn't have the energy to rock him for hours, and Dan and I have hardly had more than twenty minutes alone together in the last four months... besides that, I didn't mind. I really loved it. He is my constant companion.

We got somewhat settled into our new place and decided the time had come. It kind of happened by accident. I started running a couple nights a week with a friend and while I was gone Dan was in charge. And Mama wasn't there to go to sleep with... so the sleep training began. He cried/whined/self-soothed for 20, 25, even 45 minutes. I would leave the house and run an errand because I could not take it. Last night he self-soothed himself (sang to himself, most precious sounds I've ever heard) for an hour, and finally went to sleep. He is learning at an incredibly fast rate. I used to walk on egg shells to try to get him to sleep in his bed and since we've started he sleep training less than ONE WEEK ago, he is content to be payed down in his bed and doesn't jar awake at the slightest sniffle. (We're not to the point of putting him in awake, yet.) 

So today, 1:00 came and I happily hopped in bed with him for our nap. But he wouldn't fall asleep and after a while I knew he needed to go in his bed. He couldn't sleep by me in broad daylight with everything going on. So I swaddled him, rocked him for a few minutes, and laid him down.

And that was it. He was fine. He nuzzled into the bed happily.

Really, you're okay? You don't need me right now? And now here I am. Laying in our bed, alone. Missing him. Boy, I'm glad I savored and enjoyed those four months of naps with my little baby Abraham. I will never regret all the dinners I didn't make and the messy house because I spent the most priceless hours with my dear little child that I could never get back.

A new lease... on life!

I know the title is cheesy, but sometimes you just have to embrace it. We are all moved into our new place and thoroughly loving it. The grass really is greener over here! We are grateful to have all the space we need and more (a garage and an attic!), a little backyard for Jude with lots of windows so I can watch him while he plays, a washer and dryer located so conveniently a few steps from the bedrooms, and a spacious kitchen that is just asking to be cooked in.

We absolutely LOVE it here! Not to mention, we literally live on the same street as four of our good friends. It's a little slice of heaven!

Around the same time we moved, we completely overhauled the way we eat. It is liberating and invigorating. Up until this point, I was the poster child of "picky-eater." To me, a salad was lettuce and ranch and I rarely ate them at all. I "didn't like" tomatoes, avocados, peppers, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, and the list went on. Through many factors but especially a book referral from a friend ("Super Nutrition for Babies"), and in doing my own research while studying things about Jude's situation and allergies in general, I have changed. It is definitely not something that can happen overnight and I feel like for me, it's taken years of slowly shaping me to where I am now ready to change how I eat and how I look at food. And let me tell you... it feels good. It feels good to enjoy a salad and a sweet potato for dinner and not be craving my next dose of Bluebell. I have no intention or desire to stop eating ice cream or chocolate, I just need to be in control of it as opposed to it controlling me! I used to feel intimated by making a good, healthy dinner or salad but it is now not just doable but empowering! 

Dan has been training to dunk with a friend and is so active and healthy and it is definitely rubbing off on me, too! I went running with a friend last night and we are going to make it a habit! 

Real food is incredible. It has the potential to enable our bodies to do so much more. We are really doing a disservice to ourselves when we eat poorly.

There has been a lot going on over here, some good and some bad, and I can't share it all, but I can share this!

My sweet mama and papa bears came out to visit and we had a lovely time with them. The highlight, for me, was an afternoon at the La Cantera Resort pool with my dear little family. That place takes the cake. I went down the slide and felt like a kid again. We were just swimming and jumping and splashing and life in that moment was absolutely perfect. They say money can't buy happiness, but access to the La Cantera pool sure wouldn't hurt. Did I mention there was a fire pit right by the pool with ALL YOU CAN EAT SMORES?! You heard right. It was a dream come true for this little lady. Whew. They know how to party.

Abraham enjoyed his first swim. He really seemed to enjoy it. And Jude was just a little fish. He is so comfortable in the water and loved going down the slide and even went through the waterfall! He loved the beach-like entry and would just run in and out. All while Mimi and Papa chaperoned on the lounge chairs. Seriously, this day was heaven!

So... Cheers. To healthy eating, to summer, to loving life, and to s'mores!