I've decided that I cannot handle much... 30 day trial update

Joel always looks like he is either hurting or trying to hurt Judah in some way

 I've decided that I cannot handle much these days... our recent 30 day trial for Joel was to avoid red meat and aspartame (coke zero).  I would have preferred that Joel avoided dairy, or that we both avoided meat all together.  But Joel thought both of these would be too difficult. (he specifically mentioned not being able to pass up Chipotle cheese) So, we picked red meat.  I don't have much against red meat other than the fact that it is of course animal-based, but I dont think steak is any worse than chicken, at least from my minor research at this point.  However, I do think that ground beef is horrible for us, and it would be great if we could avoid it as much as possible.  I cannot wrap my head around eating an animal product that is from 1000+ cows and then washed with chemicals.  I mean, this cannot be good for us, right?  So, I thought this would be a step in the right direction for avoiding ground beef in the future.  However, I didn't think through the process of preparing dinners for a family with 2 people avoiding dairy, and 1 avoiding red meat.  After numerous dairy-free chicken recipes, I resorted to vegan recipes.  The kids and I liked them pretty well but Joel struggled.  In addition, it was a TON of effort on my part to look up the recipes each week, buy new ingredients, and then allow at least 1 hour before dinner to prepare the meal.  Needless to say, after about 2 weeks of this, I got lazy and we ended up going out to eat more often than normal (still adhering to our dietary guidelines), which, in a lot of ways, defeats the purpose of the trail in general! oh man.

Oh and along those lines, the purpose of the 30 day trial (p.s. I love this guy' blog) is to cut something out of your diet that is so drastic that it would be a huge lifestyle change.  Stick with it for 30 days, by that point you should experience some health benefits from the dietary change (more energy, weight loss, less congestion, better sleep, etc. these are just examples).  By the end of the trial you have enough experience with the new lifestyle and the benefits that come with it to make an educated decision on whether or not to continue.  Of course, since it didn't really work out for Joel this way, he is pretty excited to start eating red meat again.  However, I do have some results to report. In 2008, Joel had a full lipid panel done and his triglycerides were 255!  This month he had a lipid panel done and his triglycerides were 145! (normal is below 150) Wow! However, in the past 3 years he has lost 25 lbs, started working out more and eating healthier. So, I have no delusions that his lipid levels were lowered from not eating red meat, but, maybe that helped a little...who knows.

In other nutrition news.. we have discovered the "guacamole salad"..adding chopped spinach, broccoli and whatever other chopped up veggie to our guac in order to sneak in raw veggies.  They absolutely LOVE it!  Joel eats it with a spoon and Judah eats it with his fingers (sometimes a spoon). As long as some garlic salt is added, they will both eat it up like crazy.  Between that and juicing (their favorite is apples + carrots) I think I've finally found a solution for getting raw veggies into my 1 year old and 3 year old!

this might not look amazing, but it tastes awesome!

Dairy update - Joel III and I are still 'dairy free' with exceptions, however, Joel has been sick for 2+ weeks this month, and the sickness turned into wheezing in his chest.  I haven't heard real wheezing from him in so long , so I was pretty sad about it.  I also have noticed my nasal congestion return since decreasing my vitamin C intake.  However, I am not ready to return to dairy for us just yet.  At the very least, we would stay off cow's milk, I 'm pretty convinced that cow's milk is not good for anyone. (especially kids who have ear infections, sinus infections or asthma)

http://www.ecomall.com/greenshopping/mmilk.htm

http://www.naturalnews.com/000930.html

http://www.waoy.org/9.html

http://saveourbones.com/osteoporosis-milk-myth/

http://anamikas.hubpages.com/hub/Cowsmilk

Joel III update - January was tough on Joel... he wheezed longer than he has in a long time.  We had to use albuterol quite a few days in a row and I felt as though it didn't really improve his wheezing that much.  It is so hard to tell with him because he wont cough or have any other symptoms, so it is literally up to me to listen to him frequently with a stethoscope to see if he is wheezing or not.  We absolutely HATE the effect that the albuterol has on him.  In addition to making him jittery and hyperactive, Joel has a tough time sleeping while he is on it.  Which makes his behavior and symptoms worse.Joel says right after I give it to Joel III he 'can see craziness in his eyeballs immediately.' I have such mixed feelings on this issue. I am super thankful that Joel doesn't 'suffer' at all from his 'asthma' but then again, that makes me think that maybe the dr.'s I have listened to are blowing this whole thing way out of proportion.  However, from my experience as an RN I know that wheezing is not good and can quickly turn even worse, so it's not something you want to mess around with.  But it's tough when your 'wheezing' child is running around the house, not coughing, breathing just fine, sleeping just fine, and has a runny nose and thats it!  (i.e. if I didn't have a stethoscope I wouldn't know anything was wrong at all...until it was 'too late' perhaps this why we've only had 1 actual asthma attack) The only time he really suffers is when we give him the albuterol because he gets extra spankings for his terrible behavior!  AAAGH!

Fortunately, from previous experience I know that everything seems like a 'bigger deal' when I am pregnant.  So, I am trying to keep a good perspective.  If you think of it, would you pray for us? Pray for a good solution for Joel that hopefully doesn't involve medications with systemic side effects.  Pray for me to be able to 'handle' the pressures of being responsible for my family's health, and education.  (Joel pretty much takes care of everything else, thank the Lord!)  I know these issues aren't a big deal in the scheme of things, but every prayer helps!

Christmas recap!

Christmas was a great time in the Penton, Groskopf and Penton homes this year.  We especially had fun taking the kids to different sites this year as we knew Joel would enjoy doing more this year.  We took a trip downtown to see the life-size nativity scene and then a huge train display at the Columbus public library. Then we took a trip to Easton Town Center to see the Easton Express, huge tree, and lights.  We also took a carriage ride and went out to eat while we were there.  Joel III just loved the carriage ride!

looking at the lights at Easton 

Joel loved his time at Easton

In Cincinnati we attended "Awaited" by Crossroads, it truly blows me away each time we see it. This was our third and I am impressed more and more each time.  It is the story of Jesus from the perspective of the Angels. Joel III did very well sitting still throughout the whole show.

"Awaited" by Crossroads in Cincy is always a highlight for us

We also took a trip to the Cincinnati Museum center in Cincy and it was a blast.

At our home, Christmas morning was special, here's a video that captured a lot of it.  Judah is especially precious in this one.

A big splurge for us! In space and dollars.

It was a lot of fun teaching Joel this year about Jesus. He picked out every single 'manger scene' he saw and was excited about it.  Since Christmas he has been setting up toy people in a little circle standing up with a little person sitting down in the middle and he will say "Mommy look look! it's a manger scene!" Judah picked up less meaningful practices over Christmas.. he picks up anything he can get a hold of and will point it at you and say loudly 'Ba Ba!!' as in 'bang bang.'


Groskopf Christmas

Groskopf cousins all dressed up - Joel, Indy, Justin, Judah, and Sydney

Penton Christmas

Noah, Ethan, Kate, Bobby and Rachel chillin at the Penton home