Is Shakeology worth it?

My Cleanse

Goodmorning Everyone! Today is Day ONE of my Shakeology cleanse. I don't believe that I am going to be working out for these three days due to how few calories I am going to be taking in. Running after the kids is enough work for the meantime.
I was watching a video last night on YouTube and It realy got me thinking for a lot of my friends who are on the fence about Shakeology, who aren't sure they want to spend the money on it. So check out my post that says "Is Shakeology Worth It?" And let me know what you think!

day 7

Today is day 7 of ky Shakeology challenge. Yesterday I went to City Park with my boys, sister in law, niece, mother in law, and grandmother in law. I was so happy with how much more energy I had. I was able to do a few little springs with Leslie. Ha-ha I won! I love how much more ejergy I have. It makes it so much easier to keep up with Christopher.
One thing that is getting to me Is the pain from my marriage. Something only God and time will heal.

Day ONE

Hey Everyone!
It's been quite a while since I posted a new blog, and thought NOW was the perfect time to start again. Recently I have gone through some major life changes, some I'm not ready to reveal yet, but in due time it will all come out.
One thing that has recently changed is the birth of my 2nd son, ZACHARY! He is 8 weeks old now! I am working on loosing my pregnancy body. I am 41 pounds lighter than the day I delivered him, and I feel great about that. Now to decrease some pant sizes and start looking amazing for the summer.
I'm still working for Mary Kay, and I still love their skin care line up. Between Mary Kay making my face look beautiful, and BeachBody's Shakeology helping me loose the stubborn weight, I am hoping by the end of the summer that I have a new outlook on life.
So today was DAY ONE of my Shakeology challenge! The challenge is doing a workout, and drinking a shake (shakeology) daily! Today I made the mocha madness one, and it was delicious! Gave me a good boost, made it through a 30 minute workout, and ate a ridiculously healthy lunch of almost all veggies!! It was good. For dinner I'm having some rice crispy baked chicken salad. YUMMY!!!
I'd love to share my recipes with you! Let me know what you'd like!

Love,
Wendy

2nd Trimester

We made it back to Minnesota safe and sound. After being here for 7 weeks we realize how much we love and miss the central coast of California. My only complaint about it, was that because we never really had a winter, it never felt like Christmas came. However the weather was wonderful, and the town felt like home. I made some amazing friends. David and I both depressed now that we are back in Minnesota. Most of our friends aren't here, and we each only have 2 or maybe 3 people that we still communicate with. However our lives are so drastically different from theirs now that coming up with a time to hang out, or even someplace to go together is proving extremely challenging. It's resulted in David going to and from classes, working out and running and playing soccer and then home. . . nothing else. Christopher and I play with toys in the apartment all day, take a nap together, eat our meals and occasionally every few days make the venture down from our 4th floor to the play ground.
Truth be told, we don't want to be here :(
On Sunday I start my 2nd trimester, and the scary part of possible miscarriage with this child should be in the clear. My belly is slowly and steadily getting a little bit larger, and occasionally you can tell that I'm pregnant, sometimes I'm just bloated or fat looking though. Hahaha Joys!
Christopher has been sick for the last 10 days or so which is becoming frustrating and we are still waiting for a solid poop from him. He's back to going through diapers like crazy. One LARGE box of diapers, is lasting a week, pushing the diaper budget up to $80-$90 a month. . . that's WAY more than it has ever been. He's just going through them like crazy. Thinking about it, I don't think it would be easier if he was potty trained because it would be every 15 minutes he would have to go to the bathroom which would make trying to get things done in the day difficult. Oh let's be honest, I haven't done anything in the house recently. I still need to put up the shelf in the computer room, and the kitchen is back to being a mess because I don't feel like washing dishes. New investment, paper plates. . .

Closing of California

This might be my last time living here in California, and looking back its been a very memorable year. There have been some dramatic changes, and more yet to come.
We found out 2 days ago that I am pregnant, and we are now expecting our 2nd child. I am going to wait an additional week before I go to the doctors so that I can have the same midwife I had while I was in Minnesota. She was such a sweet lady and made me feel so good about myself.
We aren't sure how far along I am, I never got my period back after my miscarriage 6 months ago. I wasn't expecting the pregnancy test to say POSITIVE. I've been very stressed lately so I was just going to say that I didn't have a period because of stress. However I took the test because for the last 2-3 weeks I have been very emotional. The smallest things have made me break down in tears, and for an unexplained reason I FELT like I was pregnant. There aren't any symptoms that I could really describe to you, it was just a feeling.
Yesterday (the day after I found out I was pregnant) I started to feel REALLY pregnant. I've been very nauseous, and I've had a little bit of heart burn. I also (this might sound weird) can feel my uterus growing. It's like a slight but constant lower stomach ache, and it is NOT helping with the morning sickness.
Tomorrow after I pick up my car from the mechanic (the car has been there for over a month now!!!) I will go to the grocery store and buy some crackers. I ate some of the flip side crackers from Town House, pretzel on one side, cracker on the other and they were not only delicious but very mild and settled my stomach down. No more saltines for me!! Yay!!
I'm excited and scared about the new addition. Excited because I've been having this "baby itch" for a long time, and its only intensified. Scared because I'm not sure if I can handle it. I know I'll HAVE to handle it though. There are some days that I am so frustrated and angry at my little man. He pulls my hair, and hits me, and so far NOTHING has worked to make him stop. I have pulled his hair back, I have put him in time out, I have swatted his hand, I have gotten up and walked away, I have told him that it hurts mommy (which he thinks is hilarious) and the mean time my frustration builds up and I end up yelling at him. I hate that about myself. I feel horrible when I sweatted his hand or pulled his hair and he cried because I think to myself what sort of mother hurts her child for a lesson? Surely there has to be another way. Talking about it doesn't help because he doesn't understand yet, but I did try. Time out doesn't work because he just does it, again and again and again which makes it clear to me that he is NOT testing his boundaries, he simply does not understand that this behavior is painful and unacceptable.
Okay I'm tired, hormonal, angry, jealous, and lonely all at the same time, so this blog might not be coming out the right way. Oh well. . .
David has been gone for over a week, I miss him terribly. I don't like being along and feel like I have been left alone enough for one life time. I'm angry that I have to keep taking the dog out when we made the deal that I would change the diapers and take care of Christopher if he took the dog out. Which ladies is NOT always a fair trade off. (Especially when he went from breast milk to solid foods. YUCK!) I know that taking the dog out is minor, but its very annoying and frustrating to me. I hate getting pulled and yanked in every direction, I'm fed up with her shedding, its all over my clothes and my clean bed, and I HATE sleeping in a bed of dog hair! At the moment I just want to get rid of her. It's difficult to hold Christopher while I take her out. Grrr! I'm jealous because I feel like for the education that David and I have obtained we should be living a better life. I'm jealous of my friends around me that are buying houses that have bachelors degrees, while David finishes up his 4 year masters degree and we are so poor its not even funny. I'm tired of going to the laundry mat, I'm tired of living in an apartment, and I'm tired of sacrificing my life to play the role of the Pastor's Wife when I do not see any rewards for it.
Going to bed before I say something I regret and the hormones get the best of me.

Not much time left

Well there are 3 weeks left until we move back to Minnesota.
Our car has been at the mechanics for over 2 weeks, and it will be another week before we get it back. The engine on it died. More specifically the piston fell into the cylinder and when it fired it was hitting the top of the engine which destroyed it. Also the rods were very noisy, which is a very bad sign. $3,325.00 just for the long block of the engine, and then 18.5 hours min of labor at $95 an hour, plus some extra parts gives us a grand total of almost $6,000!!! We are beyond broke now. We had enough to move back to Minnesota, and that was breaking even. Now we are dug down into a hole. Great. . .
David is leaving this Sunday for El Camino Pines and won't be back until late night on the 17th, and then on the 18th he leaves for Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona, he returns late on the 26th, and on the 27th he goes down to Riverside (approx 5 hours 1 way) to pick up my father. The 28th we get the Rental Truck the 29th we pack it up the 30th we take off for Minnesota, and hopefully arrive August 3rd.
Phew! I'm looking forward to this month being over and settling in our new apartment.

Christopher continues to grow and amaze me everyday. He is doing some really cute things. If I say READY he will say SET. . . GO!!! and then I'll toss him in the air or spin him around. Tonight David did the Ready-Set-Go with him and when he would say Go, Christopher would take off running across the living room and back. It was quite entertaining to watch. It was also awesome that he burned off a ton of energy.
Off to bed now, very late.
Love,
Wendy

4 more weeks?

There are 4 more weeks until we leave California and move back to Minnesota. I've started collecting boxes for the big move. Praying that everything goes smoothly, so far we are on the wrong foot.
With the car broken, we are literally playing "beat the clock" to get it done in time. This blow couldn't have happened at a worse time. A $6,000 repair!!! OUCH! Well there goes ALL of the money and more that we had for moving. I'm taking out a loan that is going to take me forever to pay back to my father, and I'm scared that I won't be able to afford the monthly payments.
I'm praying that David gets into the Army right after seminary, however I have my doubts. There is a 3 year mandatory serving time as a Pastor in the ELCA before you can work outside the ELCA as a Chaplain in any of the Armed Forces, or prisons, or anywhere else for that matter. That is currently being challenged, and I PRAY that it passes. We will find out August 10th at Church Wide Assembly in Minneapolis what the status of it is. That will be cutting it really short because David is done with his 4 1/2 year seminary schooling in December.
I'm hoping that when we move back to Minnesota I can find a job working for the seminary, so that I don't have to drive the car, and can walk to work. They have a daycare, which we need to find out if we would be making anything after Christopher spending the day there.
I'm extremely nervous to put Christopher in day care. With his medical problems, I honestly just think it's going to be a disaster and that something very serious might happen to him. Just a simple cold that he's had twice has sent us to the ER (we've been about 20 times in the past year now) one time he was admitted for a few days, and the other time they wanted to admit him but we were able to get a nebulizer at home so that he didn't need to. Breathing treatments every hour. That was exhausting, especially when he is kicking and screaming trying to get away from you.
Time for nap time for goober, and I'll catch up on some reading (not that I have a time line and far behind.)
Love,
Wendy

Missing family

To all of the family that we miss, we made this for you!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Easter

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Christopher's Baptism Scrapbook Video

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Last Post of The Year

Well I hope everyone had a great 2008 because it is now coming to an end. I am amazed that as I am getting older the time seems to pass faster. This year has been very exciting and just at the last moment when we thought that we were settling our affairs of 08 we find out one more little secret. We are expecting our 2nd child!
Thats right everyone I am pregnant again. David and I had been trying and praying and after 4 months we found out God has again blessed us with a child. I have not gone to the doctor yet but that will be one of the first things that I do in the new year is make a obgyn appointment. However according to BabyCenter online I am 3 weeks along and due September 14th. I am very excited and a little scared. However God has always provided us with a way to make it through. May 2009 bring new life to our family and hopefully a lot of happiness.

Last Post of The Year

Well I hope everyone had a great 2008 because it is now coming to an end. I am amazed that as I am getting older the time seems to pass faster. This year has been very exciting and just at the last moment when we thought that we were settling our affairs of 08 we find out one more little secret. We are expecting our 2nd child!
Thats right everyone I am pregnant again. David and I had been trying and praying and after 4 months we found out God has again blessed us with a child. I have not gone to the doctor yet but that will be one of the first things that I do in the new year is make a obgyn appointment. However according to BabyCenter online I am 3 weeks along and due September 14th. I am very excited and a little scared. However God has always provided us with a way to make it through. May 2009 bring new life to our family and hopefully a lot of happiness.

Sippy Cup Diary Narrative by Aiden

Aiden: I had a lot of fun today. My Nana and Papa had come to visit me over the weekend. I was really sad when they left, I cried A LOT! Wendy tried asking me a lot of questions, I could tell she was trying to distract me because Nana and Papa were driving away. No question worked, but then when she asked me if I wanted to get my hair done I said YES!! She put two bows in my hair and to show her how much I loved her playing with my hair, I kept taking them out so she could put them back in. Eventually she didn't put them back in again.
We got to eat food too! She let us dip some chips into guacomole. She even would let me dip the same chip in over and over again. We at the whole bowl!! Then a little later we got hungry again and she gave us some popcorn. It was hot, so we told her "Hot Hot!!" we didn't want her to get hurt. Then we showed her how to cool it off. We blew on the popcorn and it went all over the table!!
I was a big helper today, I kept bringing Christopher his bottle when he would drop it.
I found the best place in the world today to swing! The bar in front of the sink. First I opened the doors under the sink, then I grabbed on and swung away! Wendy thought that I was silly.
We watched a few episodes of Sesame Street and then we got to watch the movie Balto! It was about a dog in the snow.

Home from the hospital

Well Christopher and I are finally home from the hospital. I am VERY happy to be home too! The last two days have been a living nightmare for me. Trying to keep Christopher entertained for two days in a crib and sitting on a bed was very difficult. He wasn't allowed to walk around because he had IV's in his arm and foot, and then a heart monitor on his chest. There were a lot of wires and they got very tangled up and it was very frustrating.
When I would put him down in the hospital crib he would cry and flip around and get all tangled up in the cords and wires, and get his IV wrapped around him, pinched off so it wasn't flowing so the alarm was going off, and then he would rip off the heart monitor because he didn't want it on and that would set off alarms. So for two days I literally held him, constantly. Except for diaper changes, which I laid him in the bed for. I slept with him because I could get him to sleep longer if he was in my arms and I could prevent him from flipping around. I have a terrible headache and unfortunately have caught a cold or something similar from being in the hospital with him, but I am very happy to be home. Working on getting Christopher back on a regular sleep schedule again. It's frustrating because the night before he was admitted was the first night that he slept through the night, and I got a decent sleep. I guess it was God just preparing me for the next 2 sleepless nights. (I shouldn't say sleepless, I got 2 hours each night, but not continuous.)
So I bet you are all wondering what went on with my little goober butt.

Christopher caught a common cold from the twins that I watch a few days a week. While he was fighting it off his body had a reaction to the all of the white blood cells being released and his throat started to close up and he basically had a very serious asthma attack. He started having difficulty breathing around 7pm. I just figured that it was like the last time he got sick, and gave him a treatment with his inhaler. Well 3 treatments later, its now almost midnight and he's breathing even worse. I was pretty sure that he was in distress, and he was SCREAMING in pain. It was hard to stomach.
I talked with Davey and told him that I thought he needed to go to the ER and be seen. He thought that it was just like the other time he got sick and to give him another treatment on his inhaler and go to sleep, that he would be fine. He said also that if it would make me happy then to go ahead and go then, but he didn't think it was necessary.
Well I decided to take Christopher in thinking that it was best to be on the safe side, instead of being sorry.
I signed into the ER at 12:10am I told the nurse that he was having difficulty breathing, she glanced at him, wrote a number on his paperwork indicating the seriousness (which she ranked very low) and sent me to billing so that they could get my insurance information. I sat there talking with this STUPID lady who was an IDIOT for about 10 minutes then was told to go wait in the chairs and someone would call me back when they were ready for me.
There were two other people waiting in the chairs, so it shouldn't be long I thought. A few minutes later they called back another patient, and then a few minutes after that a male nurse came out to give a blanket to the other patient in the waiting area because she didn't have much on for clothes, and it was cold. As he was walking away he stopped turned around and came back to me. He listened for a second, his eyes widened and he told me that I needed to come with him immediately.
They brought me and Christopher into a room where they took his pulseox (Oxygen level) and after doing that several times rushed me into a trauma room. They did it a few times because they couldn't believe that it was so low. It was 81 and it should be 100, anything below 80 is very serious, and for such a little guy it should be nothing below 98 . . .
They didn't tell me what was going on, just had me hold him down while they started IV's and breathing treatments, put him on oxygen, hooked up a billion monitors and asked me a ton of questions. When I looked up at the clock again it was almost 1:30am. The room finally settled down, they had him on IV antibiotics and I STILL had no idea what was going on. I asked the Respiratory Therapist what he thought was going on and he told me that they were going to transfer me to another hospital with a pediatric unit and admit him. Well they pumped him full of drugs for another 2 hours trying to get him into stable condition. (I honestly didn't know until afterward that he was in that serious of condition, I found out when they told me "Well he's stable now, so we can now transport.")
They transported him by ambulance to Sierra Vista hospital in San Luis Obispo.
I found out the following morning that they were planning on keeping him there for at least another night, possibly more depending on how he reacted when they started decreasing his breathing medication. He wasn't on a ventilator but they were planning on putting him on one because he wasn't responding well to the medication, and they said that they had to use an obsene amount for his size to get him breathing again at a reasonable rate, however it wasn't good enough.
I spent another night there and we were able to go home today. Because he is unable to be on IV breathing medicine right now (anti-inflamatory medicine for his lungs and airways) I am weening him off of that medicine with an oral medicine.
The doctors used the words "life-threating" when they were describing Christopher's condition to me about how he had come in. He would have died or had serious brain damage done to him if I had not brought him in when I did. That is a really scary thought.
He will be on steroids for life to prevent this from ever happening again. 200,000 children a year are hospitalized for this condition. I had no idea. . . It has to do with him having a peanut allergy and also having excema. They are all related and apparently caused by the same thing. His body reacts as if he has eaten a peanut (or something he is allergic to) when he gets sick. This was just a common cold!!! So it makes it very serious now when he gets sick.
Hopefully the steriod they said, will be good enough to treat him for life so that if he starts having difficulty breathing his inhaler will be able to just take care of what is going on. However if it doesn't and he shows signs of having difficulty breathing again, even after he has had his inhaler its back to the hospital immediately they said.
I have a HUGE gallon size freezer bag of medicine that just for his asthma that I am to carry on me at all times if he has an attack again.
My poor little guy.
Thank you to all who prayed with Davey and me that he would get better. He is much better now. He is still sick, and weak, and unfortunately a side effect of this medicine is irritability so he is not a happy baby.
He is finally eating again, which is a relief and drinking lots of milk, and applejuice.

I had been praying to God before any of this happened that I would be able to grow closer to him. I didn't like the position that I was in with him. I'm kind of annoyed though that it took my son's life on the line to bring me closer to him.

Sippy Cup Diaries- Gold Fish War!!!

I was thinking about creating a seperate blog just for the adventures that the sippy cup children have, but decided against that since they are such a big part of my life, so should be with my regular blog.
Just for reference, the cast of the Sippy Cup diaries are 3 one year olds. Ashley, and Aiden (born Dec 06) and Christopher (born Oct 07)

So today they wanted a snack, which is nothing unusal. They did great and had eaten all of their eggs, so for snack I gave them a bowl of goldfish, to SHARE. (that's a keyword here)
Well at first they were doing great, grabbing fish from the bowl when they wanted some more, but then Christopher took over and started shaking the bowl like crazy, fish went flying everywhere! Ashley didn't like this and kept saying "No no no baby! no baby no!" It was adorable. Christopher had fun flinging the fish everywhere. Aiden took the opportunity since Ashley was no longer able to pay attention to what he was doing to steal her sippy cup. Hahahaha

I'm trying to get the twins to say my name. Everytime my husband comes over they yell "Hi Day!!" (for Hi Dave) but they won't say my name. They are able to identify by pointing where the baby is, mama, tyler, dave etc. But when you say my name they just look at me completely confused. So to try and sum down my name I was trying to get them to call me When-nee However when you ask them who I am they say "Mama" When you ask them where mama is, sometimes they point out the window (for her being byebye) and sometimes they point at me. . . hahaha
As cute as it is that someone is calling me mama, I don't think that I would want Christopher calling someone else mama so I'm trying to get them to say something else.

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we went to the pumpkin patch! It was a lot of fun, and we have decided we are going to go again just because we weren't able to do everything we wanted. We went through a hay maze, (which is not for people who dread small tight spaces) we fed the animals, we picked out pumpkins, and we took lots of pictures! I'll work on uploading some.
We are going to go again Monday afternoon. We want to be able to do the hay ride. I know that Christopher will really enjoy that.

Right now I am working on getting Christopher to sleep through the night. He is done breast feeding now. Which is nice because I was really starting to get sore. I'm looking forward to having my body back to myself for a while. Last night was the first night that I didn't let him drink during the night. It was NOT a restful night. I'm hoping that within the next 2 weeks he starts to sleep through the night. I go in when he is upset give him a kiss on the head if I can reach him (I don't pick him up) lay him back down, pat his back and leave. It's just to let him know that I am there, but that he needs to go back to sleep on his own. Unfortunately I can not continue to rock him back to sleep, nurse him back to sleep, or let him sleep with me.
We are going to push this one step forward. No more taking naps with mama. Which is really sad because I LOVE napping with him! But otherwise no one is ever going to be able to watch him if I don't do something about this now. It was fine when he was just an infant, but now that he is progressing into becoming a toddler, I'm going to need my own freedom, and so is he.

I'm not having a good day today. I feel that I really need a friend to talk to, but the ones that I do have, this is something that I'm not very comfortable talking to. I feel like the ones that I have would judge me, or would give me bad advice, or it would change my relationship with that friend. I don't want to tell someone what is going on right now to hear "Oh, I'm sorry." I don't know what I want them to say though. . . I want a friend who's exactly like me, so that I know I can believe in their advice, because its what I would do. However I don't know what to do right now, so I guess it is best to confide in someone else.
This is the most that I feel like talking about the subject. Maybe if you don't know all of the details you can have a more open opinion on what I should do. (I said maybe. . . ?)
There is a thought that is going around in my head, and I can't get it out. (No it's not that I'm going to hurt myself or someone else) This thought is scaring me. If it happens I'll be incredibly hurt, and my family will be torn apart. I've cried over the thought, and I just can't seem to shake it out of my head. It's haunting my dreams. It's what I imagine, every word that is spoken to me reminds me of it. I don't know who I can talk to about it. I'm frustrated and unfocused. I can't think of anything else right now. Just the thought of it has ruined a few of the last days for me. If it continues on, because it is getting worse, I am scared what will happen.

Sippy Cup Diaries

Christopher has turned 1 year old. I'm so proud of my little boy. He is growing up! He walks around, and babbles words. The other day he said "puppy". He can also say "yeah, no, mama, and dada" It's awesome watching his vocabulary slowly expand.
I have been working again, doing daycare for my neighbor and good friend Amanda. I watch her twins while she is at work. It's a lot of fun! (most days) hahaha I have a lot of fun playing with them. Asking them where things are and helping them learn new words! I was thinking about it, and I am watching 3 one year olds. Wow! They will turn 2 in December. I'm excited for that.
I'm also excited for Thanksgiving. We have decided to spend it together (Amanda's family, and my family). It should be a nice get together, with lots of fun stories being passed around, and kids playing in the background.
Last night I put up Halloween lights on my porch and down the railing, I like the way that it looks. :) I'm more excited though to decorate for Christmas. I'm not sure if we are going to be able to get a Christmas tree though, we don't really have the room in our apartment, we need to find a place to set our big chair, and ottoman, and then it can go there.
Well the twins are doing good, and so is Christopher, I'm glad that the 3 of them have each other. Even though they don't always get along, I know its helpful to Christophers development.