Boys will be Boys....

When J was a baby, she was such a girl from the beginning.  As soon as she could move she went straight for the shoes, particularly high heels. My sister always wears the most fabulous shoes and everytime she came over, J went straight after those shoes the minute she took them off the door and would be fascinated with them until she left. The first time she got a hold of her daddy's wallet, she went straight for the American Express!  Just recently,(like as of the last 2 days) my 5 month old has started to barrel roll around the room, exploring and enjoying getting into things.  Well, the thing he keeps going straight for is the electronics.  Such a boy!  Today he was doing his thing and I was helping J with her artwork and all the sudden B rolled his way over and started pushing all the buttons on the CD player and receiver and messin things up.  I just can't believe he's already getting into things! Where does the time go!!!!  So anyways, I was just chuckling to myself about how the differences between boys and girls starts so early, without influence...J was after any pair of high heels she could get her hands on as soon as she was mobile, and now my little guy is after the electronics!!!  How typical!  Well, now my husband doesn't have to hang out in the electronics department alone anymore while Jordan and I dilly dally in the shoes/clothes department!

The funny thing to me is that in college, I remember taking child development classes and a human sexuality class that tried saying that gender differences exist because of the stereo types we push onto our children.  I mean, I guess there are stereo types that may be pushed to the extreme on some kids...and we should let our kids have the freedom to express their interests...but just sayin'....so far, in my experience, it seems girls are more naturally drawn to "girl things" and boys to typical "boy things".  Not that J isn't interested in "boy things" too...she loves to rough house, the color blue and likes to sport a pair of race car underwear but overall...she's naturally feminine and girly.

Nutrition Update - Yeast

In my recent post about Nutrition, the nutritionist mentioned the "Yeast Connection" and "Candida Virus".  I finally got around to looking that up there is an actual book about the "Yeast Connection" and a handbook for women so I am waiting on that at my local library.  I'll be sure to review my findings after I go through it.  But for now, here is some more info on Yeast that I located on Dr. Bain's website.

Under certain conditions, Candida albicans can increase and upset the balance of your bacteria. This usually results in an infection known as Polysystemic Chronic Candidiasis (PCC) and can occur in men, women and children.

Physical symptoms can include:
• Digestive: cravings for sugar or breads, chronic bloating, cramps.
• Emotional: depression, irritability, inability to concentrate, frequent mood swings.
• Muscles/Joints: aching joints and muscles, feeling weak or tired.
• Weight: binge eating, excessive weight gain, water retention.
• Urogenital: frequent infections, itching, discharge.
• Other: premenstrual syndrome, headaches, rashes, delayed food allergies.

What causes Candida?
There are several factors which can allow Candida albicans to overgrow in the lower intestinal tract. Frequent courses of steroidal drugs and antibiotics can depress the intestinal bacterial population which permits the overgrowth of yeast. The hormonal changes which occur when oral contraceptives are used or which can accompany pregnancies, have been implicated in increasing susceptibility to PCC in women.

Diets high in nutrients on which yeast thrive (i.e. sugars and other refined simple carbohydrates) encourage yeast overgrowth. Factors which depress immune function allow the opportunistic yeast Candida albicans to grow and multiply, causing PCC.

What is the next step?
If you believe you may have PCC and/or food allergies, speak with your physician and discuss the need for a thorough evaluation of your symptoms and to arrange confirmatory blood testing such as the Candida albicans Assay for Candida albicans and the Immuno 1 Bloodprint^TM for Delayed Food Allergies.

Read Full Article Here!

FAB Friday - Born to Dance

Today I wanted to feature one of the most amazing women I have ever known in my life!  My 2 years older than me sis,

Trista Kite-Federspiel.

She is the epitome of passion, creativity and courage.  She was born to dance and has never let anything stop her, not ANYTHING!  It truly is rare to find a person who is so determined and passionate.  When she was 9 she was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes, and quickly became the star patient of every doctor because she didn't let her diabetes become an excuse not to live her life.  She continued to work hard in competitive gymnastics and dance until she was able to attend a professional dance school.  When our family had to move to a new city 8 hours away, her drive and desire to dance at that high level wouldn't let up and so at age 15, she moved back to our hometown on her own to complete her professional dance training at the Edmonton School of Ballet where she knew the choreographer Stacy Tookey from SYTYCD "she's from Edmonton too, her mom own's Shelly's Dance Studio and Stacy took some classes at Edmonton School of Ballet when I was there, she's a little bit older then me though."

When she was 18 she became a licensed massage therapist and then moved away again on her own to be able to pursue dance and support herself working in a dance shop and at a spa. 

A year or 2 later while she was attending college on a dance scholarship (where she danced with Thayne Jasperson, one of the contestants from SYTYCD) she became extremely ill, so ill that she had to leave school and when she come home, was diagnosed with Graves Disease.  During that time, she couldn't dance but her creativity and well of inspiration would not be contained, she picked up a guitar, taught herself to play and wrote a bunch of amazing songs which she performed at our city folk festival. That was also the time that she met her super awesome, and also talented artist husband, Kirill.  He is a level designer for a popular computer game, a talented photographer and the most adoring supportive husband.  Those two are going to have some super talented kids! 

Around that same time, she found out she had Celiac Disease,  which was such a blessing to figure out because once she got completely off gluten, her Graves Disease went into remission and she was able to avoid the invasive treatments that had been proposed.  Since that time, her health, dance and fitness career has really taken off.
She is an in demand dance instructor and choreographer who guest teaches all over the place, including dance intensive workshops, her most recent guest teaching job being in Boston.  She has spent the past 2 summers in New York attaining honors in the ABT Ballet curriculum and has won many awards for her choreography with competition teams and many of her students go on to receive full dance scholarships to college after training with her.  Trista likes to keep busy with her passions, so whenever she isn't dancing, teaching, choreographing, designing costumes, editing music (oh and modeling), she teaches yoga, pilates and is a certified Turbo Kick and Piyo instructor.  She recently became a Beachbody Coach and she's a member of JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation).
AND not only does she do so many amazing things, she is also the best listener and big sister anyone could ask for.  All my life she always took me under her wing, been my best friend and supporter.  She has held my hand through so many things.  Whenever people talk about soul mates, I always thought of my sister and I.  When she moved away at age 15, it was like half of me was missing!  Thank God for technology now that makes it SO much easier and affordable to stay connected and close since we can't always live near the people we love.

Trista has always been an inspiration to me and I've only scratched the surface on her awesomeness :)  Through all her trials, she never complains or whines, she just does what she needs to do so she can live her life to the fullest.  I remember feeling so bad everyday when my parents had to give her injections but she never felt sorry for herself.  Most of us did something when we were younger like dancing, gymnastics, piano, soccer...whatever...but we get older and give it up.  Trista will never lose touch with her dancing roots.  Dancing will always be a major part of her life and I love and admire that passion that is always there. Nothing has stopped her and nothing will stop her.  She is the most beautiful person inside and out.  And the hilarity that ensues when we get to stay up late together is priceless.

Visit her Beachbody Coach website Here and her personal site Here and her Work It Facebook Page Here.

A Trista and Candace original hillbilly song we wrote when we her like 7 and 9....

I don't care if you got those fancy clothes

I don't care if you got a limo or a mansion..

cuz I just wanna love a for a who i wanna love a love love love love love love love

ya I just wanna love a for a who i wanna love a love love love love love love love

I want a guy whose got those ugly clothes

I want a guy who even picks his nose

cuz I just wanna love a for a who i wanna love a love love love love love love love

ya I just wanna love a for a who i wanna love a love love love love love love love

ya I don't remember the rest...........but we made up lots of dorky songs back in the day.

And now I leave you with this awesome video of a very small person who must also be born to dance!

Zucchini Brownies

I was having a craving for brownies this week and my daughter is always asking to bake stuff so I called my mom and asked her for her Zucchini Brownie Recipe since we have been trying to eat healthier.
These Zucchini brownies are awesome, no one would ever know there was a veggie in there!  They are very light and more cake-like...so really, I guess it should be called Chocolate Zucchini Cake in my opinion. 

Here is the recipe my mom gave me

Zucchini Brownies

2 cups zucchini (peel and shred)

2 cups flour

1 1/4 cup sugar (I used all brown)

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 cup oil

2 tsp vanilla

Mix zucchini, oil and vanilla together.  Add in dry ingredients and mix...do not beat.  Add 1 cup nuts if desired.  spread in 9x13 inch greased pan.  Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Batter will be very thick.

I like to garnish the top with a handful of dark chocolate chips before baking.

ENJOY!

Nutrition

I am so blessed to have found an amazing pediatrician for my family.  She runs an integrative, holistic pediatric practice, utilizing alternative and traditional approaches to medical care.  She is dedicated to making kids healthier, not just treating symptoms.  Dr Bain has personally seen how toxins can disrupt a vulnerable immune system through her own journey back to health after nine neck and back surgeries and breast cancer. Dr Bain recently wrote “How the Chiropractor Saved My Life, My Journey to Wellness and Beyond to tell her amazing story.  


Last weekend she put on a speaking engagement called Journey to Wellness and Beyond, How to Get from Here to There.  It was awesome!


Now, unfortunately, after a rough night and hectic morning, I was like an hour and a half late so I missed Dr Bain's presentation as well as the Chiropractor, Dr. Matt Chalmers.  I bought a copy of Dr. Bain's book so I'm sure I'll get most of her info that she went over in there.  But what I did hear was still great.  This was really eye-opening, and motivating for me, as I've always been health oriented, and not necessarily 'unhealthy", but I haven't been totally on top of real good nutrition.  That's always been a hard piece of the puzzle for me because I grew up a severe picky eater, to the point it was probably considered an eating disorder with a lot of food phobias.  No reason why, I've just always really struggled with eating.  SLOWLY, just over the past few years I've been graduating from the super picky kid diet to being able to try new things without feeling major anxiety.  I know, I'm a weirdo and I never wanted people to know about it.  (At least to any parents who are worried about their picky eaters and kids with bad appetites out there....they will survive and still grow. My mom was ALWAYS worried about how I was able to grow...but I guess you can grow and function on a diet of potatoes, milk and cheerios!)

The speaker I did arrive in time to hear was Laura Kopec, certified nutritionist, public speaker, teacher, and writer and is a professional member of the American Association of Nutritional Consultants, the American Holistic Health Association, the Coalition for Natural Health. She is a Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner with the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. 

I did have the baby with me and had to step out a few times but here are some of the interesting points from her presentation that I wanted to share.  Some stuff you may already know, some may surprise you.  And as with anything...take what you like...leave what you don't.

*A GOOD MOM east right.  It's the most important thing we can do as a parents.

*The nutrition before and during the 1st trimester of pregnancy is so important-that's what forms organs the child will have for life.

*Reverse Osmosis is the best (I already drink this kind) reverse osmosis is the only process that actually strips the pharmaceuticals out of the water.  (you didn't know there are tons of pharmaceuticals in the water?  Hospitals routinely dump tons of drugs down the toilets, people dump them down the toilet and many depression medications, like those used to treat bipolar, go through the body and into the water system and our water treatment centers aren't using good enough processes to strip the pharmaceuticals out.)

*Refined carbs are bad for us - animals that were put on a bread and water diet all died.

*Eat COMPLEX carbs...those are good for us.

*DRINK ENOUGH WATER! most people don't drink enough water and are unknowingly suffering from dehydration.  You need to drink at least half your weight in fluid ounces of water every 24 hours.

*Soda in pregnancy is horrible (oops! craved root beer during my first pregnancy) Why? I didn't catch all the reasons...some she said were HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) = impaired collagen growth, and there is a link between moms who drink excessive amounts of soda and missing fingers and toes in babies.  Carbonation = calcium loss.

* Poor nutrition during pregnancy can actually affect your GRANDCHILD'S risk of diabetes.

 *Breast Milk is perfect food for a baby, and nutrition is still so important you are still sharing your body.  You should give up Dairy and Sugar when nursing (I've already given up dairy because it was affecting the baby, sugar...that's gonna be a toughie!)

*Eating right and sleeping right = good kids

*Toxic food releases adrenalin=hyperactivity in children

*Most kids are deficient in one or more of the following: calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, Vit.A, Vit.C, Lack B12 and lack Folic Acid.

* Over the years, Toxic food causes adrenal fatigue=depression, chronic fatigue in teens and adults....so we have hyperactive kids and depressed and tired teens and adults...hmmmm....

*If you compromise your kids nutrition, you compromise their health and you compromise their future.

*SOLUTION?  Just eat REAL FOOD.  Real food is food that goes bad, food that rots, gets old, grows mold, attracts bugs.

*Connection between toxic food and mood + temperament

CHALLENGE-eat real food for 30 days...no chemical food, no HFCS, no Disodium, etc.  in the beginning it will be really difficult, but it will force you to look at all your labels and eat whole foods.  In 30 days you will feel like a new person.  You don't realize the effect these chemicals have had on your body until you get them out.

take home message?
Real moms eat real food and feed their kids real food.

Some of Laura Kopecs tips from the Q&A afterward

Make a menu, shop once a week and consume things in the order they go bad.  Eat spinach beginning of week, potatoes and carrots end of week


Avoid eating out, if she has to eat out, she takes activated charcoal to help not feel like crap after (it acts like a sponge and helps absorb the toxins and remove them from your body, and she said it's more of a lifestyle thing, not something you just do occasionally)


Cow's milk-the protein is so complicated that it is very hard for us to process, it's not made for people...it's designed to grow a little baby calf into a very large animal.  It actually leaches calcium and magnesium from you, so kind of ofsets the benefit of drinking it to get calcium. and it's linked to ADHD.


She recommended a company called Rain Fresh as the leading company to get the best water, they have taken every aspect into consideration...and was talking about when you bend water and stuff....she lost me there...but they are supposed to have the best water and make it affordable and deliver to your home.


Rethink sources of protein...you don't have to eat meat every day to get enough protein.  1 cup of peas has 16 grams of protein.  Her family eats meat 2-3 times a week and the rest is vegetarian sources of protein.
She said only eat free range chickens and recommended buffalo meat for red meat...it's a lot cleaner than beef, especially corn fed cows that were not meant to digest corn and it produces ammonia and then they are given more chemicals to help with the amonia. (I just watched Food Inc. and learned about the problem with feeding cows corn, their bodies are not designed to digest it and in the process, E. coli develops, a good documentary to watch, but make your husband watch it with you!  If your like us, it's probably your turn to pic the movie anyway! lol)

She recommended a 4 day rotation diet-at most eat the same thing twice a week of anything-if you eat the same things everyday, it can inundate your body and cause food intolerance.  (uh...too bad, I'm still eating my granola bars every day!)


She said to download the sticker chart on her website to help kids eat right.


Supplements- put your supplements in 2 oz. of vinegar (which simulates stomach acid) and if it doesn't start to dissolve in 20-30 minutes, most likely it's passing through you without breaking down and you are literally flushing money down the toilet.  


She mentioned the "Yeast Connection" and "candida virus" which sounded important but then she was out of time so I'll have to look that up.


THE NEXT SPEAKER was Mary Anne Morris, of Healthy Cooking, in McKinney, she teaches others how to prepare and cook their foods so they retain more than double the nutrients and prevent leaching of toxic metals into their food. The result of her methods also reduce the time spent in the kitchen by at least half, as well as reducing grocery expenses by about 30%! Her emphasis is “It’s not only WHAT you eat, but HOW you prepare and cook it.” These are the same methods exclusively used by The Cancer Project cooking schools


 *One major point she made was to throw out your non-stick cookware.  It is toxic and has been baned in other countries because is carcinogenic.  She recently bought a gerbal for one of her kids and even the pet store person instructed them not to keep the cage near the kitchen when cooking because the fumes from non-stick cookware can kill the animal.  

*This next generation is going to see many children dying before their parents.
*Cancer can be in the body for 4 years before it actually shows up
*Through conventional cooking, you are only getting20% of the nutrients.  When you cook your veggies in water you lose a lot of nutrients, when you steam them, it's too hot and kills a lot of the good stuff in it, when you microwave, you are killing 95% or more of the nutrients and when you reheat in the microwave, you get 0% nutrients.  Never cook above 200 F if you want to preserve the nutrients.  


I made an appointment for a free dinner with Mary a few weeks from now, so she will come to my home and demonstrate the proper way of cooking your food, the method that is utilized by the Cancer cooking schools. I'll let you know how it goes! 

Teaching Preschooler Phonics at Home

When I was pregnant with my daughter who is now 3.5, my boss from the art school I worked at gave me a book about how to teach your baby to read.  It was all about making flashcards and doing this rigorous schedule, that was so easy of course, where you show them a set of flash cards for a few seconds several times a day, and then you have to alternate cards out and add new ones in so you have to keep track of dates on the back...anyways, it seemed like a great idea at the time.  I read the book, bought a bunch of poster board and a big red sharpie and spent hours making flashcards in the fashion outlined in the book.  Well, we started using them a bit sometime between ages 1-2 and I don't know nothing really happened...we weren't able to keep up with the schedule. 

Now my daughter is 3.5 and I was looking into preschools, but at the same time, I didn't want to pay for a "daycare" and commit to that schedual, especially because I love having her with me and doing activities together.  I came across one really great school that teaches preschoolers math and phonics and they only go for 2 hours a day 2-3 days a week, the owner who homeschooled her children and is now a teacher has a special method of teaching at ideal times, in shorter periods of time to engage a child's short attention span.  However, although I'd love to send her there, it was out of my price range.  So I was looking for some resources to help me and I happened to request a book from the library not really knowing what it was, but it is AWESOME.  I'm currently reading Mommy, Teach Me to Read! A Complete Easy to Use Home Reading Program by Barbara Curtis.  A mother of 12, whom she taught all how to read and maintains the blog Mommy Life.  This blog doesn't teach just reading by memorizing flash cards, it's the time tested phonics based approach.

I am loving this book and it really is easy to follow and incorporate into your routine with your kids...rather than a rigorous schedule that gets all messed up if you have things come up that interfere with it, with all kinds of cards to keep track of and make.  We've been playing the sound game all the time. J caught on right away and it's been so fun to do this while going on a walk, in the car or at the dinner table...you can do it anywhere.  Around the time I started reading the book, I also got my daughter the Letter Factory DVD by Leap Frog.  This video teaches phonics as Tad goes to the Letter Factory and see where the Letters are made, and goes from room to room, visiting each letter and learning what sound they make, followed by a song the brings it all together.  My daughter loved this video immediately and wanted to watch it every morning and learned her letters and their sounds within 1-2 weeks.  She still makes mistakes sometimes, because sometimes you say b and she thinks you say v...but she's got that hang of it.  So by the time I got a chance to read Mommy, Teach Me to Read! she was already familiar with phonetical sounds so we were able to start playing the sound game right away. 

The Sound Game is where you say "let's think of words that have the sound 'c'" (not saying the letter c, but making the sound).  You provide a few examples "c...c....clock. c...c...cake....counter...." and then let the child try.  J first said "BANANA!" and I did as the book instructed, not correcting her...but just saying "hmm....I don't here 'c' in BANANA.  I hear 'c' in counter....hmmm....what else....c.....c..." and then she jumped in "COOKIE!"  "Wonderful!  You're right, there's a 'c' in cookie." 
The sound you are looking for doesn't have to be the first sound of the word.  "stick" would also be correct....just emphasis the 'c' sound or whatever sound it is you are practicing.  Once they understand the sounds, then learning to read words will be much easier.
We've been enjoying this game and the baby actually gets really excited listening to us, he must like the emphasis we are putting on specific sounds, it's so cute he just starts giggling when we do it.

So there you have it, you don't need an expensive preschool or an expensive program.  Hopefully this week I'll have time to make the sandpaper letter cards for the next phase in the program.  I'm just so excited I found this book!  However, the only thing is the Letter Factory teaches only uppercase letters and Babara Curtis only wants them to start out with lower case letters.  So I guess you can decide if you think that would confuse your child learning uppercase letters first and then incorporating lower case.  So far it's okay, but I'm going to be introducing her to all lower case letters in the next step.



(we also borrowed Leap Frog Learn to Read and it has been great too.  Entertaining and educational.  J is fascinated with punctuation now and at story time she just wants to point out exclamation points, question marks and comas.  She also likes to "read" books just like Tad...she pulls my books off the shelf, moves her finger along the page like she's reading it and says "Once Upon a Time, there were three little pigs who left home to see the world..." she doesn't remember what's next so she just repeats that sentence.)

"Mommy You Pitty Now!"

Aww...my 3 year old just gave me my first makeover.  I taught her how to pinch the little hair clips and put them in my hair, she was having so much fun making me "pitty", what isn't pictured here...she made Daddy "pretty" too!  He's such a good sport!

She also discovered the joy of decorating. She decorated the table and now wants to do it every day....we search our place for random decorations she can use for her table scape.  I just freaking love this little girl so much! (and her sweet awesome baby brother as well! I feel so blessed!)