The 30 day "No Dairy" trial

Joel has a history of occasional wheezing and a while ago (from age 1 to 2) others noticed that he would wheeze when drinking cow's milk.  I cut that out immediately and put him on soy milk flavored with vanilla and I added canola oil.  We did that for about a year and then I reintroduced cow's milk around age 2.  Hm... if you read my Vitamin C megadose trial blog you will see that his major problems began right around then.. at 24 months to 30 months.

I also suffer from frequent sinus infections, and those are much worse and more frequent when I am pregnant, which has been a lot lately! I am proceeding with megadosing Vitamin C during pregnancy, which I mentioned previously.  After some dosage adjustments (higher) it seems to be helping tremendously. However, I am still pretty congested from time to time.

Joel had an ear infection over Thanksgiving (only his first, maybe second, since adding daily vitamin C), but this one seemed pretty bad as he had a fever off and on for 1.5 days.  I did not treat with antibiotics but eventually took him into the dr. after 7 days to make sure it was totally gone. At this point he was completely symptom free, but I just wanted to be sure.  Our Dr. said his ears looked great but that he was wheezing.  He suggested a maintenence med to control and prevent his wheezing, but, due to my hesitations, we agreed on a 1 month non-dairy trial instead.  My dr. agreed that Joel might have some type of allergy or intolerance to dairy and thought it would be a good idea as long as we re-evaluate in January.

I decided to take part in the trial myself to see if it would help with my congestion.  I also decided that whatever milk Joel was going to drink, the rest of the family would also drink.  Yes, more expensive, but also healthier and more convenient for mom.  There's no way I'm going to make 3-4 different meals with 2-3 different types of milk on the table.. ha ha, funny.

After lots of research and taste-testing with the boys, we settled on a 1/2 almond milk 1/2 goat milk combo for their drinks and mostly goat cheese for Joel 3 and myself.  (I caved slightly and allow Judah and my husband to have real cheese) The almond milk was added in order to give the goat milk a little better flavor.  I couldn't switch entirely to almond or rice milk or coconut milk due to their low protein content.  Joel has never really liked meat and I felt like I couldn't assure that the protein deficit would be covered by his diet.  We tried some vegan cheeses but the taste and texture just didn't seem worth it when the goat cheese has worked so well for us.

I have not had to be too strict with the trial.  I would allow yogurt, sour cream and even cream cheese as long as it was the only 'questionable' thing of the day that Joel had.  That way if he had a problem out of nowhere (congestion/wheezing/etc.) I would know what it was from.  However, after adding many of these common dairy foods back in, I did not notice any problems.  We are literally just avoiding cow's milk and cow's cheese now.  All other dairy foods, even if they have whey or casein high on the ingredient list, have been fine.

Since the trial began Dec 5th, I have been listening to Joel's chest 3-4 times a day with a stethoscope (yes,  long time ago I was an active and working RN!) and keeping track of his food intake.  I did think I might have heard slight wheezing twice.  Both times he did not have a runny nose or cough or any other symptoms...looking perfectly healthy. Both times the wheezing was so slight (and we were on the go) that I did nothing and found that 2 hours later when I listened again, it was gone. He was sick the first 1-2 weeks of the trial but since then has been healthy.

It is hard to know how much the lack of dairy is helping.  Before the trial I would only listen to Joel when he had a fever or when he had considerable congestion or cough.  Those were the only times when he wheezed from age 1-2 1/2.  At age 2 1/2 we introduced vitamin C and other supplements.  Since then I have continued to listen when he has a fever or congestion or cough and have heard nothing at all.

Personally, I have felt much less congested since starting my 'no dairy' trial.  However, when I do cheat from time to time I notice considerable congestion either that night or the next morning. I also notice way more 'fullness' during digestion...if you know what I mean ;)

So...the jury is still out. We are still making advances with nutrition in other areas but they are coming very slow due to this new focus.  Fresh fruits have been an easy transition and after that came cooking with only whole wheat flour or whole wheat pasta.  We have also significantly decreased our red meat portions and try to only eat only organic ground beef.  Raw veggies are still a bit difficult with the kids, but we are working on it with tomatoes, avacados (yes, when it comes to kids I consider those to be veggies), cauliflower, and carrots.  Once Judah finally has all of his molars, we will have another baby ..so I assume it will always be a challenge.  Soon I will attempt some sort of 'blended salad' approach for them since Judah is getting much better with a spoon.  With guacamole at the base, other veggies can be blended in, and the hope is that they eat it like yogurt! ha. I will keep you posted.

We are about to begin another 30 day trial involving nutrition which I will blog about soon.  I'll give you a hint: this one involves my husband. ;)

It's a...

Yes, the Penton family will welcome into the world another little BOY!  Yes, I must be crazy.  We are so happy for this little blessing and we are praying for the boys to be spiritual leaders and great friends.

My due date is April 9th and, based on my history, this one will probably arrive after that.  His kicks and movements seem to get larger and larger each day.  He weighed 11oz at my 19.5 week ultrasound which was the 50th percentile.

It has been really fun to talk with Joel about his 'new baby brother.'  He seems to remember sooo much from when Judah was born.  We like to ask him "Joel how many brothers do you have?" and he says "Two!" "one" - pointing to Judah and "two!" - pointing to my belly. So cute.

Is it too late to blog about Halloween?

ok, I admit. If I saw this title to someone else's blog post I would say, um, "YES!" But, I will write about it anyway, taking the chance that only a few might listen.

Halloween this year for the Pentons consisted of 3 opportunities for dress up.  Joel was a cowboy and Judah was a frog.  The Hilliard Library "Costume Ball," our church's "Harvest Celebration" and of course Trick-or-Treat.  Daddy was not able to make 2 out of 3 of the events, but attended the Library Costume Ball for the first time.  Here's a video of Joel 3's much improved throwing skills at the Library.

Judah and Joel did not do well at all at NW Bible's Harvest Celebration and I my friend Amy and I pushed hard to stay there a full hour.  Here's a video of Joel refusing to stand up in the bounce house at NW Bible.



Trick-or-treat went much better than expected, Joel had a blast and wasn't scared to go up to people this year. However, he would not go up to a house.  He only went up to people if they were waiting in the driveway (which is actually quite common in my neighborhood). Judah was not allowed out of the stroller due to Mommy's laziness in not wanting to lean over/squat down to pick him up after he fell on his face/ran into the street/etc.

The craziness that followed Halloween
We left early November for Van Wert and stayed there for a week while Joel and Ryan had assemblies and Concerts in the area.  Then home for 2 days, then Cincinnati for 3 days. Then home for 5 days, then (Thanksgiving week) back to Van Wert for 3 days, then to Cincy for 4 days, now we are finally all home! Joel has 1 more 3 day trip and then things finally settle down.  I am feeling so incredibly overwhelmed and exhausted!  The good news is that I got to spend more time with Joel than I expected for November.

Thanksgiving was also a high point.. there is good news to report from the Groskopf house!  The evening was discussed thoroughly by all parents involved in order to achieve some sort of peaceful evening (or as much as can be expected with 5 kids, 4 of them under 5). A plan was made, and the night went extremely well and I know all of the adults were encouraged by it.  Here's a video of Groskopf Thanksgiving.



Life at home
Judah is speaking ever so slightly.  Right now his favorite words are "Is that?" accompanied by a pointing finger, and "Ju-dah!" yes, he likes to say his own name... for no reason.  He also can now consistently sign for "More" and "All done" however, "All done" is usually accompanied by numerous loud shouts of "ahhhhh - daaaa!!!!" He quickly races to any open door and can easily open it if it is not all the way closed.  He also goes up the stairs constantly while laughing his little dolphin-sounding laugh.  Yes, he is a handful.

Joel is having a hard time knowing how to play with Judah without being "too rough."  It has been a challenge. It doesn't help that Judah laughs whenever he is tackled by Joel. Oh speaking of that, Joel's most favorite game right now is to run around the house in circles saying "I'm a football player, tackle me!" Joel tries to tell him that is not a good strategy but it isn't sinking in.

The boys are taking to their new nutrition plan very well.  Joel's now likes edamame and 'white trees.' (Cauliflower) and of course any fruit I put on his plate.  Judah will eat almost anything, like a dog.  With all of the travel and being around other sick kids I am not surprised that they are both sick.  Also, it was difficult to eat raw veggies and fruits and limit sweets while we were traveling. With time and consistency, I do hope for a healthier family as evidenced by less illnesses or at the very least shortened and less severe illnesses. More on this later.

Joel is arriving home tonight from his last trip for the calendar year.  Thank the Lord!  I don't know why but for some reason, this Fall seemed much harder than 'normal.'  Perhaps it is the pregnancy, or insanely crazy 1 year old & 2 year old.

Food Matters - I am at a Crossroads

I am at a crossroads.  It all started with Joel III's lemon obsession and then our Vitamin C trial.  It then evolved into Vit C, Omega 3, and Vit D for the whole family.  Recently, I began to research Vitamin C and pregnancy when I stumbled upon a study done by Dr. Klenner in the 1940's with pregnant women and 'high' dose Vitamin C. The results are so amazing that I wondered, "where are all of the current studies on Vitamin C?" Oh... There are some. They just use about 1/10th the dose that Klenner used. And then they say, "The results were unremarkable with no correlations found" Well, duh. The patients were given 500-1,000 mg of Vitamin C per day, compared with Klenner's 5,000-10,000 mg! I was so stumped by this (was Klenner crazy? did he not document his findings well enough? Why were his results literally ignored by most of the population?) Then... along came my answers.  In the documentary, "Food Matters"

This documentary makes quite a few points including -

1. A diet of primarily fruits and vegetables is optimal for human health. (preferably all raw)
2. The Standard American Diet is so extremely deficient of fruits and vegetables (and the massive amounts of vitamins and minerals associated with)
3. Because of this shortcoming, most, if not all, Americans would benefit greatly from extra vitamin supplementation (unless they are willing to switch to an all-raw diet) even beyond the Recommended Daily allowances (RDA)'s.
4. Studies are not being done on 'high dose' vitamins for therapeutic purposes because of the huge, rival, money-making industry: Medicine. (drugs)
5. Astonishing results have been seen using the treatment of an vitamins/all raw diet for numerous diseases.
6. It is illegal in the United States for a Doctor to prescribe vitamins/nutritional therapy for diseases.

These are in my own words, so please don't quote me on these. Just watch it for yourself if you are curious. Actually, the vitamin section is very short, however, it was most interesting to me.  I was sooo excited when my boy, Klenner, was actually mentioned in this documentary! I felt like he had fallen off the face of the earth, or something.

Ok, let me first say, I am not one for conspiracy theories.  At least I try not to be.  And I know for sure that I am definitely not one to be convinced by those wacko-animal-and-environmental-loving-vegans.  Sorry, but if you are a vegetarian and your primary reason is animal cruelty, that just doesn't convince me.  However, this documentary took on an entirely different approach.  The approach was extremely effective for me, as one who does not care an extreme amount about the environment or animals, but does care about the health of my family!

I thought about how Joel III and Judah weren't sick at all the first year of their life (with the exception of stuffy nose) Then, literally days after I weaned them from breastfeeding they were sick.  This happened with both of them! I attribute a lot of that to the antibodies in breast milk. However, there is something to be said for the superior nutritional content of breast milk compared to. .. well... pancakes, chicken nuggets, and hot dogs.

Then, of course, Joel and I reflected on the small miracle that took place in our son, Joel III, after he was given large amounts of Vitamin C.

I felt like many of my questions had been answered.

Extra vitamins and minerals = better immunity, i.e. good health.
Best way to get those = take vitamins and eat more raw fruits and vegetables (and less processed foods).

Ok, vitamins... check.  But raw fruits and vegetables? Hm... I haven't really signed up for this.. I mean.. raw? Vegan? Seriously? Those words, I don't even know what they mean.. and my 16 oz sirloin-eating, candy-loving husband? Ha. Even funnier to him.

So.. I don't know where we stand.  I think we are taking the "If you want something done right you need to do it yourself" old cliche to the extreme. (have I mentioned we are considering homeschooling?) To be this responsible for my kid's spiritual life, mental life and physical life is super scary.  But then again... aren't we all responsible for all of those things anyway? Like, even if we put our kids in church youth group, Christian school and feed them the Standard American Diet, aren't we still 100% responsible for their upbringing? Sure, its nice to be able to say "his youth pastor never taught him that Bible verse, so.. it makes sense that he wouldn't obey God" but deep down we know it's really our own responsibility.

It is up to us how to raise them, isn't it? We shouldn't pretend like we don't have a choice.  We do.  So, then...the question is... is it worth it? That's up to you, I guess.

When it comes to nutrition, I never thought it was.  Now, I am starting to second guess that thought.

Judah's first steps and first birthday, Joel's first rides, & Mommy and Daddy's 2nd Get a way!

I must begin this post with a rather exciting announcement... There will be 2 more Penton Grankids in April 2012, and no, we are not having twins! Check it out in this video:


Judah officially took his first steps on Sept 4th with the help of Rachel Spath in Van Wert, however, he was in no rush to start walking.  When Joel took his first steps we were able to easily motivate him by asking him to "walk to Mommy!" or "walk to Daddy!"  But that didn't motivate Judah.  He would take a few steps ONLY if we held an exciting toy in front of him.  Eventually we just gave up on pushing it, because it was obvious that he would walk when he wanted to.

We were able to take a family trip to Kings Island soon after that.

Judah loved Kings Island too!

We were anxious to see how Joel 3 would like the rides.  He is pretty scared of a lot of things: dogs, vacuum cleaners, loud trucks, etc. So we weren't sure how he would react.  Joel was 37" so he was just above the line for most of the kid rides.  Mommy and Daddy were kind of silly to take him on an adult ride first.. but it ended up being ok.  Here's a video of "The Monster" afterwards.



The next ride was some sort of "Tree Drop" and Joel just LOVED it. He got his own seat and looked as small as a bug next to his Daddy.  At one point we weren't sure if Joel 3 was going to be big enough, and we weren't sure if Joel 2 was small enough! Watch the video to see:



The last one I just have to mention is the bumper cars, Joel did such a fantastic job driving and even though he dangled his foot outside of the car (eek!) and almost got out too early (oh man!) and also got stuck.. he never got frustrated or cried at all. AND .. he didn't get injured! Mommy was a little nervous to leave him in a car all by himself but he did a super job.

The Groskopf Grankids minus Judah and Justin here, all had a blast at "Dino Alive" with Gamma and Papa

Judah had 3 small Birthday parties.  The first one was at Chick-fil-a with my Uncle Mike and Aunt Lindsey.  They both thoroughly enjoyed their cupcakes and toys!

The next party was at the Holliday's house with a super yummy homemade cake (Emily made it... did you think it was me? ha.)



Judah had fun running away from his presents, here's a video of that:


And finally... here's a glimpse of the 3rd party in Cincinnati.  He probably got the most toys and the most sugar at this one.. since Mommy and Daddy were gone!


Judah quickly weaned after his first birthday which allowed Joel and I to get away together on an FCA retreat to Kalahari resort in Sandusky, OH.

Judah enjoying his new found drink - milk!

Alone with no kids! What do we do with ourselves?

We quickly decided that Joel and Judah would be jealous of us if they knew all the fun we were having.

Oh my! Joel would just LOVE this Rhino! We gotta take a pic!

But seriously, it was such a great time for us to be together and focus on Christ. We had some good conversations and we had a decent amount of time to step back from our lives and 'take inventory' per say.  I found in my own life that I had most of my priorities straight and dedicated a good amount of time to each except for the areas of Bible reading and reading to our children.  Both of which I think are extremely important but I clearly was not spending enough time each day doing either of them.  I love time like this to check myself and get back on track.  We were so grateful for this opportunity!

Joel III has an Announcement .....

"Mommy has a baby in her bellwee!"

yep. That's right. The Pentons will be welcoming #3 into the world in April.  Is this baby ready for two crazy brothers?

I am 10 weeks and we had our first ultrasound about a week ago.  The baby's due date is April 9th.  This pregnancy has felt the same as the others with the exception of a large belly at week 5 (what the heck?), and extreme hunger.  No sickness. Just tired, hungry and thirsty all the time.

Nursing Judah has been a challenge, my milk supply went down immediately and I had to work hard (eat more, drink more, pump every 4 days or so) to keep it up so that he would still be interested.  It has been 6 weeks of that, and I think he is done with being forced to keep nursing.  I am allowing him to wean himself now (he has been trying to wean himself ever since he was born! jk;) kind of) and I'm sure we will be done pretty soon.  I am kind of sad, but I know he is ready.  He has never loved nursing like Joel did and it will be nice to have a tiny bit of freedom for a few months before this newest little one arrives!

Praise God for this newest blessing and bundle of joy!  We are seriously just in awe of how good He is to us. Thank You LORD.

The Summer is Over?

I cannot believe the summer is over. Joel had his first school assembly presentation just a few days ago. It seems way too early for that. Our summer was so great. Joel was away anywhere from 1-3 days a week which is much better than normal.  Here are some updates by topic.

Judah
Judah popped 2 more teeth mid-July and is making new noises every day.  He got his only illness since birth just recently.. it was Roseola.  I actually took him into the dr. bc I thought it was weird that he had such a high fever with no other symptoms.  A few days later a big rash appeared.  Joel had the same thing around 16 months.. weird.

Judah just learned how to clap and does it constantly.  He loves our positive feedback :)  He also follows simple commands, which is exciting.

Judah is struggling to continue nursing 3x a day but we are both pushing through and at times I think we might even make it past the 1 year mark! If we do, I would like to continue to maybe 14 months or so... we will see.  I cannot believe how fast this one grew up!! To think he is almost 1 year old make me kinda sad:)


Joel
Joel III has been just a sweet pea lately.  I am not sure what it is.. I know part of it has to do with finally being healthy for an extended period of time.  We are going on 3 weeks now without any sicknesses, and it makes Mommy very relieved.

I will continue telling you of my vitamin obsession with another story... Joel's dr. recommended fish oil to further strengthen his immune system.  After a 2-3 weeks of fish oil gummies I noticed that Joel could finally sit through a full 35 minute video!  He also is able to sit quietly and play on his IXL and flip through books and play by himself... again...SITTING! crazy. What a huge difference this has made in our day to day life! So I did some research and found out that high amounts of fish oil (specifically DHA, and when I say 'high' I mean, compared to what we as a family are currently eating in our diet of DHA.. um.. almost 0) are actually prescribed for toddlers and kids with ADHD! Apparently after a few weeks of taking supplements.. kids focus much better and sit still for longer periods of time. Wow. Now, of course I know that as a toddler matures he is able to focus more and sit longer.. but I'm telling you.. the difference is STARK.  What's funny is that I would have never thought that Joel had problems in this area.. I mean, he really didn't but the improvement has been very very noticeable.

This is funny given the topic, I swear he is a very calm boy! :)

Joel speaks in full sentences frequently now.. there are only a few words that he says that are unintelligible. One is 'girl,' he says 'grul' which is so cute.  He also freaks out when we cannot find something that he wants, or if he notices an object that appears to be moving on its own.  For example, a towel blowing in the wind, or our van's automatic door.

He is a sweet boy and we enjoy teaching him about Jesus and how the world works.  He is quite curious these days with two of his favorite questions being, "hey! what you doo-ing?" and "What is happening?"  We are loving this time that he is eager to learn.

SEVEN LIES ALMOST EVERY TEEN BELIEVES
This never-ending project is complete!! Seriously.  You didn't think it would happen, did you? Yeah, I had my doubts as well.  But, here we stand.. with a finished product. Check it out here on amazon. We will be giving these books out for FREE to each student who comes to our concerts throughout the year.  We figure this will be even more incentive to come to the event, and also function as a tool to further drill the gospel into their heads... or in more Biblical terms 'water the seed of the gospel' that was planted at the concert.

How cool.  We are pumped.  This is true ministry going on.

Van, Vacation, and book...

Car for Van swap
We finally made the switch from regular car to Minivan.  It has been needed.  My Uncle Bob hooked us up with their family's old Toyota Sienna for a great price.. we had been looking around for a while and I was pretty sold on either a Honda Odyssey or a Toyota Sienna.  We also considered the Kia Sedona and Chrysler Town and Country.  Ultimately, we could not pass up this great opportunity from my Uncle.  We spent some time cleaning up the inside and got new tires and that was about it.  We cannot believe how nice it is.

Here's a video of two cranky boys and the 'Swagger Wagon' aka Toyota Sienna.


I was a little sad to see my lil Corolla go.. I got this car the same week I got engaged back in June of 2004!  I got a good price for it and here's my good-bye pic with the buyer.

Joel's III
The vitamins have been treating us well as Joel seems much healthier nowadays. We are teaching him to memorize scripture and have started with Colossians 1:14 - 19

He does a pretty good job quoting it in this video.



Judah update
Judah is much more emotional these days. He cries hard when Joel steals his toys, he likes to be held and cries hard and loud when we put him down or leave the room.  He has always been so laid back so this is a shock to Mommy and Daddy.  However, in some ways it is good.  He has never been a great nurser and now that he is more emotional he likes the comfort of nursing and seems to like it more than before.  Which is really really great because otherwise he would be completely finished. He is eating like crazy and consistently eats 2-3 times as much as Joel for each meal! (This along with Joel being home more has made the grocery bill escalate considerably!)  He is also getting quite large.  Most babies slim down during this time as they are moving around so much, but strangely enough since Judah enjoys table food so much (more than nursing) he is getting much fatter now than he was in his younger months.  He has two little bottom teeth, and he smiles and drools almost constantly.  He consistently gives high fives now and turns pages of a book.  very exciting.

Here's a cute pic of the boys at Steak n Shake all you can eat pancake breakfast that daddy took them to while mommy was at kickboxing.

The Book is almost done!
We are in the final stages of the book and super pumped about it.  The plan is to give this book away for free to all teens that come to Joel and Ryan's evening concert.  This is so exciting to us as we were always a little uneasy about just a 1 time gospel presentation and then leaving.  This book will give students something to take away from the concert that is tangible and helps them to know and remember the gospel.

Vacation in Michigan
Yeah, I know it sounds crazy that we went to Michigan for a vacation.  But it was actually quite nice.  Lake Michigan was warm and very clear, the beach was gorgeous, and best of all.. the air was nice and cool in the mornings and evenings.  I think that a long, hot summer being pregnant with Judah just last year (and in the 3rd trimester)  has made me appreciate cool, dry air much more than I used to.
Joel had a blast with his cousins. Here's a video of him eating breakfast with Ethan Crummey (3) and Noah Spath (4)




Joel and I had a great time as well.  I enjoyed a few days with naps, a couple good workouts, and some time to read.  Joel worked a little bit and read a little bit.  We both ate quite a lot!

7 out of 8 of the Penton cousins..do you know who is missing?

Joel's Birthday
On June 26th we celebrated Joel Jr.'s birthday.  We got the impression that Joel III thought it was his birthday.  I wonder why...

Yeah. I caved in and got a tractor cake.  I knew Joel would be happy (both of them).  We enjoyed a messy meal and lots of cake.  Judah enjoyed it the most I think.

A May of Many Firsts!

Judah ripped off his sunglasses precisely 2 seconds after this was taken.

it was a May of Many Firsts..

-Judah got his first tooth

-Joel got his first set of stitches (see below)

-Judah said his first word (see below) 

-The Hollidays had their first baby (see below)

-Joel III was in his first wedding (see below) 

-We managed to finally get out our first draft of Joel's newest book, "7 Lies Almost Every Teen Believes" (see below)

Around the time that Judah was learning to crawl and therefore getting himself into more trouble, Joel was having some troubles of his own.  First, he was having a terrible time getting over a bad ear infection.  Second, he got pinkeye in both eyes. and then Finally, He split his forehead open in the back of his grandad's truck. He did very well with the 3 stitches (with the help of some oral versed;) and so far it has healed up well.  We did have a close call 3 days later where a large hard and heavy swing hit Joel so hard that it forced him to the ground.  Oh yeah, and did I mention that it was literally 1 inch away from his stitches? Thank the Lord we didn't have to deal with those opening back up.  At that moment we began to wonder if 'natural selection' was  trying to eliminate our clumsy toddler.

taken after stitches were put in.. very relaxed boy!

scar has healed nicely.. less than 2 weeks later

Judah said his first word "da da" at the beginning of the month.  Since then he has picked up two more.. "na na" for me (Ma Ma). and "ahh da." for all done.  I know it sounds like I'm making this up but when you are around him all the time (like me) its easy to distinguish purposeful words from babbles.  I also think we are just more in tune this time around and not as dumb surprised to how fast they learn things!

This kind of messy results in...

This kind of cleaning!

Ryan and Emily had their sweet baby girl, Whitney on May 10th.  Emily's labor went extremely well and Whitney is just a beautiful baby!  Whitney has very LONG fingers and arms and big feet.  She is a great sleeper and eater and the Hollidays are pleased with how well things are going.  Whitney came over the other evening and Judah was obsessed with her.  He kept staring at her and trying to grab her and stuff.  Whitney also had a reaction about the new surroundings.. each time Joel III yelled or cried or did something loud Whitney would stop whatever she was doing, open her eyes and look around with a strange look on her face like.. 'Wow. I haven't heard noise like that before!' It was cute.

Is this perfection or what? Baby Whitney rests and looks pretty.

on May 14th my brother Mike and his fiancée Lindsey got married! I was honored to be a bridesmaid and Joel III was also a part of wedding!  He was very excited about 'playing dress up' to get into his cute silver vest, hat and black pants to be a ring-bearer.  BUT, walking down the aisle was a disaster different story!  He was a little hesitant and upset at the rehearsal... however after lots of practice and some jelly bellies Joel performed very well at the actual ceremony! 

you can see the video of Joel III with his cousins, Indy and Justin as ring bearers below

The wedding was actually a ton of fun for us.  Joel and I were able to stay out two nights in a row without kids!  Michael and Lindsey had some nice touches including a chocolate fountain, planted herbs as favors, handmade programs and invitations and fresh hydrangeas everywhere! My dad put together some videos and they were a hit! (as always) All in all it was a great time and we are especially thankful it was in Columbus!

It takes a lot of effort to get a family pic these days.. this was the best we got!

 We finally got out Draft #1 of Joel's 2nd book "7 Lies Almost Every Teen Believes."  The book will take the non-Christian teen all the way from Relativity/Pluralism to obeying your church elders. (yeah, crazy I know!) As with many of our projects together (Main Event '06, Main Event '08 and Stand Your Ground) it was so awesome to spend so much time together and work on such a huge task.  It is much more fun around this time though, I must admit, when the project finally comes together.  Right now we have a large (around 25 people) 'editing team' that will serve to mostly comment and give overall feedback on our arguments, stories, scripture illustrations, etc. We are really excited to see what they have to say! 

Joel's mega C trial Day #3

amount of 'vitamin C candies': 16 plus 1 emergen-c packet
dosage: 9,000 mg
results: we didn't get any C into Joel until around 11am. Also, Joel hit his max of 17 'candies' by 4pm yesterday so he had gone a while without any C. So, Joel had a runny nose this morning BUT it was mostly clear. There was 1 wipe that was green.  Still, a massive improvement compared to Amoxicillin or Z-pack or any other antibiotic that he has been on.  The amount we gave yesterday seemed like a good number since Joel has not had any diarrhea since.  His nose seemed to run consistently throughout the evening.  But the drainage was clear and not copious by any means.  He has had a wet cough for months and that has not gotten much better (if any).

conclusion: high dose vitamin C seems to help clear up Joel's sinus infection.  It has not eradicated all of his issues (wet cough remains, clear drainage from nose persists) but has definitely helped.  Most of the anecdotal stories I am reading seem to indicate dropping to a 2,000 - 4,000 mg 'maintenance' dosage after the 'mega C trial.'  (this shouldn't be too hard with the 1,000 mg emergen-C packets and chewables) I will start that tomorrow even though his symptoms aren't fully gone.

I am going to keep the cabinets stocked with Vitamin C chewables and emergen-C drink mix (which, he LOVED, by the way, oh and only 6 mg sugar in each).  I am very pleased with the results. So much that I have started taking lots of C myself in the hopes that my every-other-month sinus infections will cease or become once-a-year sinus infections.  We will see!

update: I have kept Joel on 4,000 mg of C for 2 days since the trial, honestly bc he just keeps asking for it and it seems to really be working.  His mucus is not totally cleared up but each day is noticeably better.  Also, he has become MUCH more talkative this week since we started the C.. more singing, more sentences, more conversational.  This could totally be coincidental bc I know toddler's brains develop at such rapid rates.. however, it does make me think that some sort of congestion was affecting his ears and that has cleared up as well with the C.

update 10-30-11: Joel has not seen the Dr. once for a 'sick visit' since this introduction of Vitamin C.  (6+ visits from January - May 2011) He has been sick and also had symptoms of an ear infection.  However, these illnesses actually go away in a reasonable period of time and typically do not turn into something worse, like an ear infection and/or wheezing.  We keep Joel on 500 mg - 1,000 mg of Vitamin C per day when healthy. When sick that usually increases to around 4,000 - 6,000 mg.  I also give Joel niacin in his yogurt when sick and restrict his milk and allow him to eat as much fruit as he wants.

Joel's mega C trial Day #2

Posts I have read about this say to 'titrate to tolerance.'  The indicator: diarrhea.  Joel III experienced some bad diarrhea this morning and for his nap (his usual poop times). So we decreased the dosage.

amount of 'vitamin C candies' : 17
dosage: 8,500 mg
results: Joel woke up without any snot and very pleasant.  Pretty soon though, the green snot showed up again and man it was plentiful! I was disappointed.  But quickly I noticed this snot was different: it was MUCH THINNER. Which explained why it seemed to be more plentiful and more frequent.  I continued to wipe and wipe until nap time.  Joel woke up from his nap and played (did not cry).  This is very rare.  I am pleased.  I go in to get him up and notice something else weird: no snot.  I am very pleased.  The evening continues on with minimal nose-wiping.  I literally wiped his nose only 1 time and it was clear!  Joel said he did the same thing in the evening. Now we are talking!

Joel is wearing an orange tank top to honor his "Mega C  Trial"

Tomorrow I am excited to try a new drink called Emergen-C that supposedly does not contain as much sugar as regular vitamin 5 chewables.

Joel's mega C trial Day #1

After 6 round of antibiotics, 5 months of green snot (this is not an exaggeration), wheezing, and 2 very persistent ear infections Mommy decided it was time to try something new for Joel.  I just wasn't sure what it would be... a few days ago.. at the grocery store.. I got my answer.  Vitamin C.

Why Vitamin C you say? Well.. I'll tell ya..

Joel III and I were shopping at ALDI and I picked up some lemons for Joel to squeeze into his water (I'm such a great wife, I know).  Joel III immediately said "see those lemons! see those lemons!" not an uncommon thing.  I handed the mesh bag of 4 lemons to him.  A few minutes later I noticed something strange.. silence from a toddler! Wow. Why was he so quiet? oh...  only because he was sucking and chewing on a lemon rind (through the mesh bag) so hard that he was drooling all over the cart! It was as if he was thinking to himself  "Oh if only I could actually eat one of these..!"

Thats when I started to think to myself....  Perhaps he is deficient in Vitamin C!! Duh! you think?... every thing that has C in it he woofs down immediately: strawberries, citrus fruits, berries.  We never give him juice.  We give him a vitamin gummy bear in the morning.. he loves it and never forgets about it.. sometimes he sucks on it so that it lasts even longer!

So I decided to go with a Mega Vitamin C trial for Joel.. a few days of high dose vitamin C and then a maintenance dose or taper.. depending on the results.

I realize this might seem crazy to you.  However, the toxicity level of vitamin C is remarkably low.  The benefits could be amazing.  I have read some crazy good testimonies. And (here) Also, we know that having a child on 6 courses of antibiotics in 5 months isn't good... Yeah, I'm gonna give it a go.


amount of 'vitamin C candies' - appx. 20
dosage appx. 10,000 mg.
results: by the end of the day Joel was very happy bc he was high on sugar.  I noticed that the total amount of thick green snot he was having decreased a little bit.  But not enough to get me excited.

What I knew vs. What I didn't know

oh my. This school year has been a tough one.  However, in a lot of ways, I knew what to expect this time, but of course I had some surprises as well.

Things I knew
Judah would be easy the first 5 months, then start to get busier.
Joel's travelling schedule would involve many nights away from home.
To survive I would need to step it up - do a better job of taking care of my relationship with Christ, my body, my home, and my husband. (kids? somehow they do a good job of never being fully neglected, the other 4.. not so much)


Things I didn't know
Joel III would potty train so easily. (yeay!)
Going from 1 to 2 was much easier than going from 0 to 1.
Joel III's attachment to his parents would continue at varying levels.. sigh;)
Judah's personality would be a pure joy.
I completely lack organizational skills.
I have an inability to comprehend and focus on what I'm reading in the Bible.
Having 2 kids cry at the same time is extremely emotionally exhausting.
Going on a date with my husband would become a luxury but also a necessity.

Yeah. So I think Joel would say that he was surprised at how exhausting traveling can be.  He was also surprised at how well the assemblies and concerts went this year in states so far away.  This is encouraging, but still another reminder of the struggle of balancing his family life and work/ministry life.  I know every family has to deal with that... but there is something different about it when you have someone else to blame (i.e. boss/company you work for).  Joel works for himself, so it is up to him to be a good steward of our ministry's resources, but he also needs to be a good husband and father at the same time.  A lot of times I wish I was a guy (ok, think leader of the home, more respect from culture, etc.) but this is not one of those times.  I am happy I do not have the burden he has.

While we are on the topic.. Hawaii was awesome for us.  It made us realize that we haven't had a date since Judah had been born! (6 months) So, we made a commitment to have 2 dates a month and honestly, even the first month was a huge struggle to get that in.  We really only had 1.5 dates in April.  The second date involved a dinner with just the two of us (woo hoo!) and then a ministry commitment. However, anytime I'm out and about without the kids feels like a date so I was happy!

After being a Christian for almost 10 years (June, 2001) I finally gave in and decided to have my "quiet time" in the morning.  I have been against this for various reason but mostly bc I treasure my sleep.  I finally got to the point where my daily readings (yes, I was actually still managing to cram them in on a daily basis.. trust me, they weren't a quality time in the Word by any means) were so pathetic that I surrendered to the Christian  cliche of having a "quiet time" in the morning. I figured I'm already getting up earlier than I want to, getting less sleep than I would like and drinking more coffee than I should.. I might as well get up just a tad bit earlier to get some quality time with the Lord.  To my stubborn dismay it actually has been awesome for me.  Yes, my mind wanders to the extent that I have no idea what I just read. Yes, I sleep in occasionally still.  Yes, I've been super tempted to use that time to do other things ("Wow, Judah is awake, I could sneak in a feeding right now and it might actually be a good one because he wouldn't be distracted by Joel") But, for the most part things are going well.

Joel III and Judah 

People are saying Judah is looking more and more like Joel did when he was a baby.  Here's a great comparison of the two at the same age - almost 7 months. Check out the expression on their faces!  Even I can say they look alike here!



Judah has loved his new found mobility (in April he was not crawling yet but able to get anywhere he wanted somehow) and the freedom to play with big brother Joel.  He laughs constantly when Joel plays with him.  He is extremely flexible.  He sucks his toes all the time.  He falls forward into a straddle split and he pulls his leg up to his side while on his belly to push himself up to a sitting position.. while passing through a side split. Here's a video of one maneuver he has mastered, skip to 1:15 to see the gymnastics.



Judah has done well with finger foods.  He loves cheerios, bananas, and most of all, graham crackers.  I remember being annoyed with how messy this stage was with Joel but I did not appreciate how quiet it kept him for so long! Now, of course, I do.  Sometimes Judah sits in his highchair for 45 mins at dinner trying all sorts of different finger foods.  He is extremely content.  He wakes up around 7:30 and will roll around and suck his toes for an hour until I am ready to nurse him. 

Judah doing almost complete straddle split!

Precious Judah - 6 month pic

he's just so cute, my friend Crystal Jo did an awesome job!

Joel III spent most of April sick.  He had a horrible R ear infection that took 3 weeks to go away and 3 different antibiotics. You can see in this picture the ear infection was so bad that it caused his eye to have discharge and swell. gross.

Joel III's ear infection was so bad that it caused a conjunctivitis in his eye!

He has also had a lot of sinus infections.  He hasn't had much wheezing since he was a baby but when he has fevers the wheezing returns.  He had 2 days of fevers with this ear infection.  His Dr. thinks he has some seasonal allergies causing the frequent sinus infections.  We are now on singulair (read: expensive asthma/allergy med, chewable daily pill) and we will see if that helps.  Honestly, for $140/mo I think I might be able to deal with wiping his snot 20 times a day! But, if it will prevent other problems then it will be worth it. Joel is slowly learning how to poop in the potty now with very special rewards. here's one of our most favorite videos of him cheerfully drinking chocolate milk!


At the very end of March, Joel III built a snowman with his Daddy. He has been obsessed with snowmen all Winter and we never built one with him and thought that we missed our chance! here's a video of the final product!





Easter was a fun time.  Joel and Judah both slept well at Gamma and Papa Groskopf's house,  Joel and I were together briefly and had a chance to eat some amazing strawberry pie, and Joel enjoyed sneaking bites of Easter candy from Papa! Here's a video of Joel's basket from Gamma and Papa.


We are excited for May.  My brother Mike is getting married, The Hollidays are having their baby girl, and Joel will be home much more!

My confession...

I officially 'resigned' from my job as an RN at Nationwide Children's Hospital.  Sigh;)  A couple of months ago when I spoke to my manager about the job I said to her, "you'd have to be crazy to not do this job. it's just perfect!"  Well. Foot in mouth.. I guess I'm crazy.

So here come my rationalizations.. er.. list of reasons..  Joel and I are in a weird place right now in life.  It seems as though all of a sudden time is more valuable than money.  This is a hard concept for me to get used to but honestly, its true.  In this situation, 1 16 hour day a month would give us a substantial cushion in our checking account.  but it would also pull away me from the kids, from getting any work done around the house or for the ministry, and it would also take away the opportunity for Joel to get any work done that day at all as well.  (Joel is unable to get anything done at all when having both kids for a full day. I can usually get 1-3 things done.)  I am already falling behind drastically on my ministry responsibilities.  I just realized the other day that I only have 4 free hours a day to accomplish what I need to accomplish.  I have started to keep track of those 4 hours in order to be a better steward of my time.

Here's how I spent my 4 hours yesterday -

1pm - 3pm nap during kids naps (we stayed up until midnight the night before doing taxes and I felt like if I did not nap I would be snapping at Joel for silly things by dinner time)

8pm - 10pm 10 min shower, 20 mins cleaning up house to an acceptable standard (being able to walk from 1 room to another) 1 hour eating dinner while reading chapter 3 of Joel's book and commenting, 20 mins phone conversation with Joel, 30 mins plugging in support data for ministry, 15 mins surfing web about starting solids and skin related issues in babies (Judah having rashes like Joel did at this age)

yeah it doesn't add up, I went to bed late.

Yeah, so I know everyone is busy.  We are just finding ourselves at the height of a lack of free time and that is forcing us to look at our priorities and cut what is not a priority.  Working at the hospital just isn't right now for us.  Also, then there are the added variables of the stress involved the day before and day of for me .. it's not as enjoyable when I seriously don't know what I'm doing because I work so infrequently.

Another manager of mine spoke to me about the decision and the family.  She agreed with me that at the rate things are changing at the hospital it is very hard to keep up with only doing 2 shifts a month, she admitted that sometimes she doesn't even feel totally comfortable working only once a week.  She also let me know that if things ease up a bit I can be rehired at NCH within the next 3 years without having to go through full days of hospital orientation and paperwork.  That conversation was comforting.

Would I like the extra money? Of course. Would I love the cultural admiration and value (from others) that is placed on being a pediatric nurse? Big time.

This is a great reminder for me.  I need to find my significance in Christ.  My fulfillment is in Him.  Teaching my sons according to His word glorifies Him.  Serving and submitting to my husband glorifies Him.

Making more money really only glorifies myself.

Plus, I know my husband is a man of the Word. He will provide for the family (1 tim 5:8) and I trust that the Lord will provide.

Joel's ponderings...

Joel has no ponderings.  He is good at almost everything, but he is not a writer. at all.  (ok, I know you are thinking, "didn't he write a book?" yeah..  but it was a long process.. and he had some help... ) Sometimes when he gets me a card for my birthday or our anniversary and it has 1 or 2 sentences written in it I get really excited.  So, I decided to finally give in and name 'our' blog "Penton's Ponderings" instead of "Pentons' Ponderings." Because, Joel is never gonna ponder. so sad.

Hawaii Trip - no kids

Mid-March, Joel and I dropped the kids off and headed to Hawaii! He had a speaking engagement there and we figured having me come along and taking an extra day there to celebrate our 6-year anniversary would be good. Judah stayed with the Groskopf Grandparents and Joel was with the Penton Grandparents. We felt like dumping both of them on just one family would be too much.

The 10 hour flight from Atlanta to Honolulu was pretty rough. The distance between the seats was about 2 inches less than normal and I didn’t really notice but Joel suffered a bit with his knees wedged pretty much the entire time. We were slightly (well, ok..moderately to severely) disappointed that there wasn’t internet on the 10 hour flight but other than that we are super pumped to have this huge amount of time to read the Bible, talk, watch movies and just be together. It was fun. Oh yeah, and then at the end of it we get to be in Hawaii for 2 days! Woo hoo.

When we got to Honolulu it was 3pm but 9pm our time. We were pretty exhausted but it was easy to wake up with the awesome jeep wrangler with the top down and glorious weather!

We checked in, then went to Waikiki beach for a quick swim and then headed to Cheesecake Factory for Dinner. 

The next day we woke up at 3am to catch a 5am flight to Maui. We were slightly disappointed with the ‘island hopper’ flight, as we both thought something would be easier about them. .. like less security, ability to check in later, free checked bags.. something! But it turns out they are just like any other flight, just shorter. We got to Kahului, Maui and rented a mustang convertible then headed East to take the Road to Hana. We stopped at scenic views, and for a short hike during the sunrise.

We somehow passed by the Black Sand beach and figured that out by the time we reached Hana. Oops. However, We stopped at a beach with black
sand that wasn’t the official ‘Black Sand Beach” but we thought the
official one was probably exactly the same.

In Hana we stopped by the Hotel Hana-Maui to eat breakfast that was
surprisingly good but very expensive. My cup of coffee was $4.25! The
Breakfast helped wake us up. The next stop was Hasegawa's General Store
to pick up some snacks and drinks for the rest of the day. Then we
headed to Hamoa Beach. Hamoa beach was pretty gorgeous, the waves were big, the sand continued throughout the water without any rocks. The
beach sand was so pretty with browns and blacks and tans like some type
of granite counter top in an HGTV episode. Joel played in the waves the
entire time, I joined him for a bit and then laid down and fell asleep. Ahh:)


Then we headed to Kipahulu Falls and Haleakala National and went on a 2.5
mile hike. It was soooo beautiful and a great workout and a lot of
fun. Of course, near the top of the hike, we realized we were running
out of time. So we turned around and quickly rushed back down and headed to the West side. We wanted to eat there and catch our flight back in time.

We decided to continue on the road we were on instead of backtracking on
the Hana Highway. Suddenly we were on a dirt road ..then it was a dirt
road that was on a cliff.. not an uncommon thing in Maui, except this
time when I looked up I noticed that the mountain just beside our car
did not have a fence against it to keep the rocks from falling. In a
convertible with the top down this was a little scary.. Oh wow, what the
heck did we get ourselves into? The road continued on like this for
about 10 miles and it was so bumpy that we could only go 15 miles per
hour. It took us 45 minutes. We were considering turning around which
we really didn’t want to do but we continued to press forward.(these were the only 2 options for us.. Hawaii in general doesn’t have many roads, but especially Maui) but just when we had almost given up hope we came upon a paved road with even some white edge lines! Praise God. However, we were still very far from civilization and we were almost out of gas. We pushed ahead (I would have been asleep by now if it weren’t for all the excitement of almost getting pummeled by rocks and possibly running out of gas and ruining our rental car) ..and Finally we encountered a very small town with .. A GAS STATION! Praise God again. We continued the much easier drive to Lahina and caught the sunset while we were eating dinner.

We fell asleep in the airport and on the flight back to Honolulu. We slept in the next day until 9am.

The next day we ate breakfast at Lulu’s and spent 1.5 hours at the Halona Blowhole lookout (scenes from the movies From Here to Eternity and Pirates of the Caribbean were recorded here)where we encountered some crazy locals and watched them dive between rocks and stuff. It was nuts.

Then we had a late lunch at Dave’s and Joel had to leave for his speaking engagement. I spent the rest of the night relaxing at the hotel. Yeah, I know I should have gone shopping or something, but I was just so tired! Joel came back we had another ‘date night’ and then woke up the next morning, had breakfast again at Lulu’s and hung out at Waikiki beach for an hour. Then to the airport. So Sad.


We both agreed just 1 more day would have been perfect. We made numerous comments about what to do ‘next time.’ I really hope there is a next time!

March - thank goodness it's here!

Wow am I relieved to finally be in the month of march. Ok yeah, I realize it's almost over now. Thankfully, things slowed down just a little bit for the ministry and Joel has been home a little more. Judging season is over for me. And..we got to take a trip to Hawaii in the middle of the month!

March didn’t start off that great though..we began with a flooded basement, broken pipe in the front yard and broken garage door. All of that happened when Joel was away and I think I did an ok Job of taking care of it. But..it was horrible to have to go through it again when we JUST dealt with a flooded basement 2 years ago. A combo of problems caused the failure this time as the first pump went out, the alarm did not go off and the battery back up pump was installed wrong so it did not work either. In fact, Joel III and I both discovered the problem almost simultaneously as we both heard the pump make a weird noise and he looked at me and said “You ear dat?”

I sadly had to start Judah on solid food at the beginning of this month. He was totally ready, and my pediatrician actually suggested I start him even earlier due to his reflux. I waited until after the Florida trip. When we got home and things settled down a bit I noticed him grabbing my food and also crying when I would take a drink of something (but not when I would lower it .. he liked to look at it and try to grab it I guess?) We started with Oatmeal and then moved onto bananas, avocado , then carrots. He, of course, loves it. Here’s a video of his very first day of solids. Notice how Joel does not like Judah getting all the attention.

Joel loves to watch his brother eat and just recently the two have become quite entertained with each other. I say to Joel, "Joel make Judah laugh." And he does this fake laugh right in his face. Judah laughs and squeals in delight and tries to grab his face. Then it gets dangerous as Joel believes its time to wrestle or something. But, its fun and cute and gives me hope for them entertaining each other in the future. Along those lines, ironically it feels like Joel is getting less busy and Judah is getting busier. Of course, Knowing Judah’s age and remembering, I knew this was coming with Judah. At around 6 months its all over, and just gets worse and worse (the amount of work/supervision/feeding/diapers/laundry/discipline) However, we are quite pleased with Joel lately and how he is ever so slightly acquiring the ability to play well by himself and keep himself out of danger. I, of course say this only 4 weeks after he sliced his head open on the back of one of our metals stools that fell over..don’t worry, we got rid of them! Anyway, back to my point… it seems like he can actually stay in one room and behave a bit better at this age. Aside from a couple meltdowns per day, maybe a few spankings( for direct disobedience) per week, him being extra clingy when he gets up from his nap and killer disgusting poops in the morning.. he’s really not too bad.