Overwhemled

Well who would have thought, me spending countless hours reading about food and recipes, learning about a handful of grocery stores (which I normally hate) and spending hours upon hours grocery shopping (which I hate even more).  Who would have thought I would actually be "cooking" on a daily basis and baking almost as often? I have been known to speak of my displeasure of cooking in general. Just don't like it, never have.  I have been known to say, "I would rather clean toilets, than go grocery shopping."

Whether it be my punishment for not cooking all these years or just  a mean way of  showing me that I too can enjoy cooking, the time has come and it is now inevitable, I MUST LEARN TO COOK AND LIKE IT! Why you ask? Here's why.

 Wylie has been struggling for almost 5 years now with stomach, gastrointestinal issues that have progressively gotten worse over the years. He has gone through more tests in his short life than Jacques and I have both gone through together in ours. The last rounds of tests were done 6 months ago. He had a colonoscopy and endoscopy done along with more rounds of blood work. The doctor was almost certain that he would test positive for Celiacs Disease. Luckily, the test came back negative. Good news=no disease. Bad news=no explanation for his pain, lack of growth, skin sores etc. The doctor did notice several irritated spots on his intestines however. That combined with a variety of other symptoms made him think that Wylie may have a high intolerance for gluten.  After a second opinion of his tests we were advised to go on a 90 day gluten free diet.  I was instantly relieved to have a possible answer to his problems and for a chance for him to have pain free days. It wasn't until about the second minute that I realized that this would be a huge challenge for me, I must learn to cook.

Overwhelmed would be a great word to describe how I felt. It took me 4 days before I even moved forward with the planning because each time I would get reading, it would get more in-depth and more complicated. I needed time to process (aka whine) for a while.Thank you to all my friends who listened and were there for me to vent too.  After that, I got right down to business. Reading, reading and reading more to learn about what gluten was exactly and what foods it was in. To sum it up, I felt like I learned it was nearly in everything. Again, overwhelmed.

<-------- a list of things that contain gluten (OVERWHELMED)






Took it literally two days at a time that first week. Wrote down what we would eat at each meal and made grocery list. Oh, I almost forgot. Forget just running to Target quick to grab your grocery items. Oh no, now you need to run to Trader Joes, Target, Fresh and Natural Foods and County Market and even then you will not have found everything if you are just a beginner at this. I literally left Fresh and Natural in near tears the first time. It was last stop of the day, I had been to the above listed stores to get our items for the week.  I spent 1 1/2 hours at Fresh and Natural  the first time I was there and left with 3 bags (not even all the way full) and spent $149.  See picture below of what $149 got me. Again... overwhelmed.

Moving forward because we have no choice. We made some foods that were definitely NOT good, some foods that were okay, still not good but not terrible and a few things that were decent (good but not great).  It was a glum week and I had to try my hardest to keep my spirits up for Wylie.  He was being a trooper and trying everything, although not holding in his true thoughts for some of the foods. Week two went a little better. I have found baking is not too bad, now that I have the main 16 ingredients needed to replace flour (partially joking). I learned what xanthan gum is and where to find it in the store. Week two went a little better than week one. We had 2 or 3 meals that were good and only 1 or 2 that were bad. I baked cupcakes for Wylie to take to a birthday party and those were great! As was the pumpkin bread I made for the kids. I made a meal so complex (to me) that it took 45 minutes to prepare and another 45 to cook. Thank goodness it had wine in the ingredient list because I sure needed some to get through that meal.  No Kidding there.  

So anyway, we are making progress, slowly but surely. I am hoping this next week, week 3, will be better yet. Oh gosh, that reminds me, I better make my weeks menu and grocery list. It is my new Sunday night activity while watching football.  Wish us luck and most importantly hope that this will help Wylie feel better, which is ALL that matters. I will do anything for that kid! 

~It's My Life

Another road trip

We took another road trip this time to visit my grandma.  It is a trip that the kids look forward to from the second we leave the time before, "when are we coming to see Great Grandma again?" We get up early, drive 5 1/2 hours, visit with great grandma (3-4 hours) and drive 5 1/2 hours home. Each trip we seem to stay longer and longer at great grandmas as it gets harder and harder to leave. This time we didn't even leave  until 8pm, which got us home close to 2am.

Our trips in the past we have stopped at Treasure City, a store with "treasures" for all ages. The kids get $5 each and it takes them a good 30 minutes to decide what to pick.  This trip, I decided to change it up. I convinced them that it would be worth it to stop at Animal Land, in Bemidji, instead of Treasure City. Animal Land is advertised as a place to  being able to walk with the deer, feed the bears & kangaroo's etc. They quickly agreed that this would be a good trade off, if they could get a souvenir at Animal Land... Fair enough I thought.

The kids enjoyed feeding the bears, kangaroo, porcupines, raccoons, etc. but  I walked around so sad for these animals. It was a place that I was not proud to be at  and was certainly not happy to support. I had to explain to the kids that we would not be buying a souvenir from this place but would stop at the gift shop in Great Grandma's town and they could pick something out.  They were fine with that after I told them that, "mom doesn't like the way these animal have to live day to day and I don't want to support it." 

Almost to Great Grandma's and Kasey asked, "Mom are we finally going to get to go see where Great Grandpa is?" This is something they have been asking to do the last many trips up north.  My grandpa died in 1994 but the kids have recently (last year or so) wanted to go see his "stone." While we were there we talked about Great Grandpa and a little about death but mostly made it a happy experience and emphasized that great grandpa is so happy we stopped by.  Tori has always talked about great grandpa and has been emotional about how much she loves and misses him. Something I have not been able to understand since she has never met him and I don't talk about him often enough for her to have this bond. I have 2 pictures (one in my room and one is in Jacques' race room) of great grandpa yet she tells me "that does not look like "my" great grandpa." I think to myself, ya but it is and move on.  So we get to my grandma's and we decided to show her some pictures of great grandpa. When we ask her, "does this look like great grandpa? " She says, "no." She says no to the fist several pictures (all of which are him in his elder years).  Then we show her a picture of great grandpa when he was much younger and we ask, "does this look like great grandpa?" With a big smile on her face she says, "yes!" Tears filled my eyes.  

We leave the cemetery and finally head to see Great Grandma. We bring the rest of the bouquet to her. She is all smiles when Wylie, Kasey and Tori barge though the door and in unison say, "hi great grandma" in their loudest, yet calm voices ,(they know they get away with it here as she is so hard of hearing).  We visit with Great Grandma, show her the photo books and scrap books of recent trips, birthdays etc and have dinner together. She always treats us to dinner at Dairy Queen. I go pick it up and we have a picnic on her living room floor on a towel. It's perfect.  Time keeps ticking and it gets later and later yet we are not getting ready to leave. I don't know if the kids think about it (probably not) but I do and each time we go I can just only hope that  it isn't the last trip we take to visit Great Grandma. I think this is why I am not so much in a hurry to get back in the car and head home as I used to be.  

There is an endless amount of love for Great Grandma and it melts my heart each and every time we go visit and I  see my kids' face when they talk to her, hug her and say good bye.  I am so happy that my kids know this kind of everlasting love and have gotten to experience it with my grandma.  

~It's My Life~ 

Family Reunion

We ended July with another road trip. This time we headed to Indian River, Michigan, which is near Mackinac City.  Three years have come and gone and it was time for the Sieburg family reunion. I had to do this road trip alone with the kids since we had just gotten back from Hilton Head, SC.  Jacques could not take more time off of work.  We packed in the car and started east.  The kids did great, as always, in the car. Professional road trippers.

This was our first year at Indian River. Previous years we were in Brimley, Michigan in the upper peninsula. It was a nice change. I personally liked being closer to the shores of Lake Michigan.  The kids and I spent many of the days at the beach. You can never go wrong with the beach, sand toys and snacks! 

Our other time was spent at the lodge catching up with family and watching the olympics til midnight each night! One day we went putt putt golfing and did bumper boats with my 2 cousins and her son.   Tori was not a fan of either activity, Kasey LOVED the bumper boats and Wylie loved the putt putt and boats! My cousin, Philip, challenged me to a game of  putt putt and we tied.... 3 years.... REMATCH!  

One of the most memorable things for me was Tori's confusion with my Uncle Will. If only I had a video to capture the moment.  My dad was out golfing and my Uncle Will was sitting outside when Tori ran up to him, crawled up his lap and started hugging him and kissing his cheek.  I instantly knew that she thought it was my dad, her grandpa. She backed off a bit, took a real good look at Uncle Will and said, "Grandpa, where is your mustache?" Takes another look around at him then says, "You have a different watch." Then looks at his hair and says, "your hair looks different today."  I said, "Tori this is Grandpa's brother, my Uncle Will." She says, "no it's my Grandpa!" The confusion went on for a little while until my dad came home from golfing. I had my Dad and my Uncle Will sit next to each other outside and sent Tori out to see Grandpa. When she saw them both sitting side by side, she instantly knew which was her grandpa and ran and hugged him and then said, "he (pointing at Uncle Will) looks like you." At bedtime that night Tori said, "this was a confusing day!" The similarity between the two made it easy for Tori to be extra comfortable with Uncle Will, even calling him Grandpa Will! Such sweet memories......... PRICELESS actually!

 I enjoyed all my conversations and time with my Mom, Dad,  aunts, uncles and cousins. It is a week I look forward too!  Time came though to say good bye.  We gave out all of hugs and "see ya in 3 years," and got in the car.  Tori was in tears already,  I look back at Wylie and he just breaks down crying and as I pull out of the lodge, Kasey falls apart. So I pulled off to the side of the road down the street and we just all cried together. We talked about how special this time was and how lucky we are too have such a wonderful family that loves us all so much and that we love so much and that IT IS OKAY TO BE SAD.  Once we gathered ourselves, we headed home. . . . . and again they were great road trippers for the 11 hour drive!!

Until 2015.



                                         ~ It's My Life~

Road Trip

The day finally came to pack in the car and leave for our trip to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The kids could not contain themselves as they packed for the 9 day trip. After all, the packing and anticipation is half the fun, right?  June 28th, the day before we leave the car is packed full and ready to go. Time to go to bed and set the alarms for 4:30am with hopes to be driving out of the driveway at 5am and getting to Hilton Head at Noon Saturday.

June 29th, alarm goes off and we are up. No problem waking the kids up, I think they were sleeping with one eye open all night. They woke up full of smiles, grabbed their pillows, ran down the stairs, shoveled in their breakfast, went to the bathroom and were in the car buckled ready to go at 4:56am. I finished grabbing last minute things, phone chargers, my pillow, my book (like I would have time to read and relax), my laptop etc. I am in the car and ready at 4:59am. So we are all in the car ready to go, except Jacques. One would think that it wouldn't take long just to get yourself in the car, keep in mind I packed everything the night/day before. All he had to do was remember himself and get in the car.        ( hehe sorry Jacques) Well, last minute he decided that he wanted to bring the fishing equipment. So we all sit in the car while he get's the fishing poles. Of course they need to be tied down on the top of the car, but where are those extra tie downs?? That wasn't so bad but then he forgot where he put the tackle box, so we wait again. . . no it didn't take "that" long but when the kids have been waiting for 98 days and in the car ready to go...the minutes seem like hours..... But finally at 5:11am we are ALL ready and pull out of the driveway..... and in the end it did not affect of ETA, we arrived at noon, right as scheduled.

We are lucky that we got our kids accustomed to road trips early on in life. They are all star road trippers. We made it over 5 hours for our first leg of the trip with out stopping. Made a quick stop for gas, potty break and back in the car. Next leg of the trip we made 3 1/2 hours, fueled up, pulled out their lunches, which I packed the day before, and we are off again.  Point being, we are an efficient road tripping family- We made the 22 hour drive in 27 hours. That includes a 3 1/2 hour sleep break for myself and Jacques. Even though we are awesome road trippers and actually enjoy it we were still so excited to pull into our condo and see the ocean!!

We spent the majority of our trip at the pool and walking the beach looking for treasures, aka starfish, sand dollars, shells, crabs etc. We went crabbing a few times, got a lot on the lines but never was able to net any. Never did do any fishing, after all that last minute packing of the fishing stuff. Oh well.  The kids loved the pool and made leaps and bounds with their swimming skills.  We walked around Caligny Plaza, the shopping/dining/entertainment area on HHI. It was almost too hot to do anything but be in the water so some of our "other activities" were put aside. We enjoyed going out to dinner a few times (5 actually) since we rarely do that at home. Saw a band, magician and went alligator searching. Finding only one alligator in the water about 20 yards from us. Still pretty cool.  The highlight of the trip for Jacques and myself was the dolphin cruise. We took a smaller boat with just 4 other people out for 2 hours in search of dolphins. We saw many dolphins, got a great tour and got a good speed ride at the end. Lucky we had a good captain. He let all the kids take a turn driving the boat. Best quote of the trip came from Tori on the cruise, "I don't' see what the big deal is about these dolphins." The entire boat and the captain all got a good laugh out of it. The kids' highlight was probably meeting new friends (who are now pen pals) and the pool time. The 7 nights, 8 days went by so so fast.

The ride home went as smoothly as the ride there. We actually managed to make better time. Kids were so excited to see the pets and Grandma (who was pet/house/garden sitting).  We unpacked the car, checked the garden and updated Grandma on the trip!

The kids are ready to see where we pick to go next year- We are hoping to take the kids to the Florida Keys but we'll see.... another trip to Hilton Head Island isn't out the running either. Time to plan. And we all know, planning and anticipation can be one of the best parts of the trip!


                                    ~It's My Life~

Where does the time go?

I officially now have a PreK'er, 2nd grader and 3rd grader. Where does the time go? I can not believe how fast the year went by. It is always bittersweet when the school year comes to an end. We were so lucky to have another great school year with great teachers. I am excited for all of our summer activities and trips we have planned but also sad to end my year home with my baby. I feel so thankful that we decided not to send her to preK last fall. This is a year I could never get back and to have one whole school year together was something to cherish... priceless actually.  I embrace my kids getting bigger and growing more independent but I am not going to lie, it makes my heart sad somedays when I realize how fast the years go by. I am trying to enjoy it all and take it all in. (feel free to remind me of this in a week or two when I am partially ready for school to start again, haha)

On to summer though. Kids are excited for summer break. Wylie is in baseball two nights a week and is also starting on a tournament team too this week. Kasey is in soccer and tennis, she likes tennis a lot better. Tori's gymnastics is over and although she wanted to continue through the summer I have convinced her that "taking a break" is good too. We will also be doing swimming lessons.  They have been counting down since Christmas for summer break because this is the summer we are taking a road trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina for a week. We also have my family reunion which comes around every 3 years. Can't believe it is time for another one- where does the time go? We are spending a few weekends at friends cabins as well. So many fun things to look forward too.

It is not all fun and games though-- I have ordered some new books for the kids and we are starting our "summer reading program." Kasey is excited about the reward program, as I call it, Wylie, well he is more worried if it is going to interfere with his playing. I have hopefully convinced him that he will have plenty of time to play this summer.  So together we (kids and myself) decided on the best time to do our reading each day-after lunch. My goal, to persuade Wylie that reading can be fun and to not forget what they have worked so hard to learn.  Life is good when you have a plan and the kids are on board!

Good bye to another school year & hello summer break!

             


                                                              ~It's My Life~

things keeping me up

I lost a lot of sleep in April. No it was not the kids being sick or Jacques snoring after too many beers. We made a big addition to our house, we built a garden. It started off as "trying a small garden box" and grew from there. Jacques and I worked for two straight weekends together to put what we envisioned into a reality. We have talked about doing a garden for three or four years but I always get nervous about actually doing it because I can't even keep flowers alive so why on earth would I attempt to GROW vegetables? So we built a 4*8 raised garden box for our square foot garden of vegetables. Well, then I thought, how can I grow berries, I need a berry box . . . then I learned you can't grow certain vegetables next to other vegetables because they "aren't companions" -- didn't know vegetables had companions. So we built a 2*12 box for popping corn, sunflowers (cause they are pretty) and potatoes. The project kept growing and growing but all in all  we are happy with the result. Now if I can grow some food that would be fantastic. So you are probably wondering where the loss of sleep came in? Well, for one I was so sore a few nights from digging, wheelbarrowing etc that I didn't sleep well but secondly, once I finally planted the seeds it rained like crazy for days/ nights....so I lay awake worrying if my seeds got flooded out. So as I sit in bed on my phone looking at the radar hoping my kids stay asleep so I can finish googling, "too much rain day of planted seeds" & "can seeds get washed away?"                                             

We also had quite the scare a few weeks ago. Wylie was practicing baseball in our driveway and accidentally hit Finley in the head with his aluminum bat.  Wylie may only be 8 but he swings HARD.  Finley instantly was in a lot pain. I again realize I do not respond to emergency situations with calm and ease. *note to self not to go into a profession that needs emergency responses* Anyway, Finley came inside ran up the stairs crying in pain and laid down on her couch. I had a hard time waking her up but finally got her to respond to me. So I thought, this is good she is responding to me and I gave her a handful of food and she ate it. However, as the night went on (she was hit at 7pm) she got much worse. She fells asleep in the living room and at about 10pm when she woke up she could not walk, she couldn't tell who was talking to her or which way to go, her legs wouldn't hold her up, her balance was off and she was screaming in pain. So I called the ER vet and off we go.  They took her out of my car on a stretcher and there I sat in the waiting room for some news on my puppy. Yes, it was actually like a real waiting room. A room with other persons worried about their beloved furry friend. It was a long 2 1/2 hours before they came and gave me a real update. She had a severe brain injury and her brain was swelling. She needed to be up on an iv med and stay there for 12 hours for observation. If she responded to the medicine there was hope for a full recovery. Thankfully, when they called the next morning she did exactly that. She responded to the meds and was improving.  I stayed up all night worried sick about my baby but also worried about Wylie and how he would never forgive himself if something had happened to Finley. Finely came home the next day and was on two different meds. One for pain and the other to keep swelling down. Just one small catch. I had to wake her several times through out the night to check her vision etc. I didn't complain once (well maybe once) because I was so thankful she was okay. I love that dog.  

I may complain sometimes about how much work, money and effort go into these furry friends we love so much but when it came down to it I cried like a baby and was sick with worry over the possibility of losing her. SO thankful she is okay.  They ARE part of our family. *We also learned a good lesson about playing bats on the driveway*

Here is my baby the day she came home. 

So here's to keeping a dog and some fresh produce alive . . . 

~It's My Life

 

True love

This past weekend was Easter weekend and yet our highlight was our one day road trip to visit my Grandma, my kids' great grandma. This particular time we drove 2 1/2 hours to Treasure City, a large store that sells a bunch of crap but the kids always find their greatest "treasures" there, haha. Then we drove 2 more hours to Itasca State Park so the kids could see the start of the Mississippi River. Wylie even walked across the river. Then got back in the car for the last hour to Fosston, Minnesota. We visited and had dinner with Grandma/Great Grandma for 4 hours, packed back in the car and drove 6 hours home. I might also mention, this is one of their favorite things to do, going to see Great Grandma. They absolutely LOVE it, all of it. Got home at 1am and I had already decided we were hanging low for Easter. Just a day together, the 5 of us.

Monday comes and Kasey gets home from school and said, " Ms. Baumann was asking us what our favorite part of Easter was and I told her I forgot it was  Easter but I got to see my great Grandma who is 100." I spent one moment feeling bad that we didn't make a bigger deal of  Easter (we did the egg hunt/basket etc) but then once that moment passed it melted my heart. There is this undeniable love and bond between the kids and Great Grandma. I can't describe it, I wish I could.   As the saying goes, a picture says a thousand words.





    FROM OUR HELLOS.....

TO OUR GOOD BYES . ..

These are times I will cherish forever and in the eyes of Wylie, Kasey and Tori the time spent with their great Grandma is priceless. This is true love for their great grandma. I love that they LOVE so much.

ps. A quote I will never forget.

Wylie when he was 4 he said, "Mom I don't even see Great Grandma very much but I love her so much."




~ It's my life