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.