The new blog!

So I've decided that I'd like to keep this blog for personal family stuff. Like my sister-in-law Colie says I want this to be a journal. I still really wanted to blog about our progress and our struggles with changing our eating habits so I started a new blog for this. www.findhappinessinhealth.blogspot.com I hope you all enjoy the new blog and I plan on blogging here more also:)

Sharing Green Smoothies!

So we went to Costco yesterday to buy all we needed to make green smoothies on our own and it was so easy!! The smoothie had spinach, collard greens, apple, orange, banana, agave, and mixed berries. Now when you look at that list it looks like oh you had more fruit that greens, not the case. There is 1/3 water, 1/3 greens, and 1/3 fruit. We love them and so do the kids in fact the kids kept asking for more. So since we loved it so much we packed up our stuff and brought it over to Sarah's (my sister) to show her how to make them. And here's a shocker her kids love them too. I'm so amazed by how much all kids seem to love these. Then we told them they will make them happy and strong and all they could talk about was how big there muscles were going to be(she has 4 boys). I'll tell Sarah's story later, she needs these smoothies and lifestyle change as much if not more than we do.

Baby boston 2 mnths (Sarah's youngest)

Tyson 5, Dominic 8, and Jaxon 3

No Caffeine. 1 day down the rest of our lives to go!

So yesterday was our first real day without caffeine or pop of any kind. And oh man were Nate and I feeling it. We both had terrible headaches and in general weren't very nice to eachother or the kids:( About half way through the day Nate turns to me and says we aren't being very kind to eachother are we. Sidenote: I love this man he could have so easily just been mad and thought I'm sick, so just deal! But when he said that I realized this isn't going to be the only hard thing we have to give up and I'm sure it's not going to be the only day we are going to feel horrible as we dejunk our bodies. We have to stick together and be loving to one another or this isn't going to be the uplifting experience we wanted for any of us. What an awesome man I have! As the day went on Nate got so sick to his stomach he was doubled over in pain. It was such a reality check to Nate and I of how much we were dependent on caffeine, and how we never want something controlling our lives like this.
So today is day number 2 and so far so good. Things I've noticed already I slept better last night that usual despite the fact that Zac is pretty sick. When he would wake up to nurse I could fall right back to sleep, when usually it would take awhile for me to fall back asleep. I'm craving it less today than yesterday, I'll post later to see if this stays true. And over all I have a new excitement for life that I think has to do with all that the future now holds since Robyn took our family on. Thanks again Robyn!!

Our starting point

So I didn't post this earlier because I hadn't decided how open I was going to be about my weight. Obviously no woman wants to talk about there weight especially when this is the heaviest I've ever been in my life. And when I say the heaviest that includes what I weighed when I delivered each one of my kids, YUCK!!!(an even grosser thought I weighed 158 when Zac was 2 months old I'm 14 lbs heavier now) I've always prided myself on losing my baby weight within 6 months of having my kids. I lost my weight with a program that I thought was making me "healthier" and teaching me good eating habits I'm sure some of what they are teaching is healthy. But until I met Robyn I had no clue what I was doing to my body and how bad I was feeding and treating it. I finally decided that if i was going to ask people to evalute there lives and change there eating habits based on my experience, I had to be honest and couldn't hide things that were embarrasing. So now the moment of truth...

Samantha's weight- 172
Nate's weight- 203.2

We took measurements too so we will have total inches lost every week.

I also decided to weigh my kids. None of them "need" to lose weight but I wondered if they would since we are taking so much junk out of there diet.

PresLeigh- 77 (she is in the 97% for height and weight)
Gavin- 48.2 (he is in the 75% for height and 50% for weight)
Olivia- 35.8 (She was in the 35% for height and 25% for weight but her percentiles are from last may so I'm not sure how accurate they are)

I hope you all enjoy being a part of our journey, as we find happiness in healthiness!!

SCARY!!!

(Zac playing with light saber is something that has to be seen in person since he makes the sound effects at 15 months old)

So after filming today Zac got his hands on part of a Lara bar which is mainly fruit and nuts. Zac is allergic to all nuts so he started throwing up. At first I wasn't sure what was going on but then he broke out in hives and started grabbing his throat. Nate gave him his epi-pen and I took him to the ER. He's ok but it was really scary!!! He had a pretty adverse reactive to the epi-pen since it's mean't for use up to 12 years old, it was a pretty huge dose. They gave him zofran(anti-nausea), steriods, and benedry to try to help with all that he had going on, but he kept throwing it all up:( Then his cheeks turned beet red and he couldn't hold his head up. By the time we left he was ok just acting tired. I hate that his life has to be this way I hope as we continue to work on healing his body naturally his allergies will begin to clear up.

Starting our GSG Makeover!!!

So naturally we can't shoot in a kitchen that has the same paint as when the house was built 15 years ago. So in true Samantha style we have to paint and the only day to do it is the day before we shoot. I picked the most perfect color or so I thought. After Nate got done painting it all I looked at it and started crying it looked like an easter egg exploded in my kitchen. Luckily this morning the light had changed and it looked so much better. I still have somethings I would like to do to it but I wasn't embarrassed to shoot in the house anymore.

Before-

After-

Before-

After-

So now onto the important things... The actual filming!!! Kels the producer for Blendtec and Kyle who I understand to be his assisant came at 10:45 to set up the kitchen. Can I just say that they are two hilarious guys and they are welcome in my home anytime whether they are filming or not. A little while later Robyn came bringing in some awesome swag for us. After setting up a few more things it was time to get the party started!! Blendtec gave us a blender with a 3 quart container so we can make all the green smoothies for the family at once, Lara Bars gave us some of there awesome snack bars, and Robyn gave us a ton of her books, cd's, dvd's, and some things to get us started on our new journey of whole foods. Also The Good Earth Store is giving us $50 a week to there store for the 8 weeks we do the show (I wouldn't be me if I didn't cry a little when they gave us this) It was such an amazing gift to us because we live on a $400 a month grocery budget that includes all our household items as well. I just could believe how much easier this was going to be and what a burden they just lifted off my shoulders!

Robyn is a blast I just love her. She is so funny, full of energy, and so real which makes it easy to just be ourselves. I made my first green smoothie today, with her help. And we are, dare I say it, soda pop free in our home. On any given day Nate and I can drink a 2-liter a piece so this was something that was crucial for us to give up. We had decided that we should stop drinking it from a budget stand point a few weeks ago so when Robyn told us we needed to give it up we were ready for the challenge. Like I told her today when you have felt so horrible for as long as we have your willing to do ANYTHING that will make you feel even a little better. This my friends is going to make us feel a lot better!!!

Gavin and Olivia got home from preschool right as we were finishing up so they got to try there green smoothies. Gavin drank his whole pint while Robyn and I talked, and Olivia drank a good half cup. It was amazing to see Olivia drink it at all since she is so anti anything that doesn't taste like candy and I think it helped watching Gavin be so into it. Later in the day when PresLeigh got home from school she drank her pint of green smoothie and was asking for more. This is such an exciting step for us and such an important one too. We can't wait to go to the seminar on Friday to keep learning!

Our Lives

Here's the break down youngest to oldest:
Zac 15 mnths- has eosinophilic esophagitis(swelling and redness in his esophagis) which makes him not eat solid foods. Also they had us put him on steriods and acid reflux medicine. The steriods were horrible and the side effects weren't worth the little progress he was making. He is 15 months and is still almost soley nursing. He has allergies to dairy, eggs, nuts and intolerances to soy and gluten. So he and I have to avoid these things, which doesn't leave us with many options. He also never sleeps longer than an hour at a time without having to be nursed back to sleep. Since he is in constent pain he uses nursing as a soothing method. So since he was born I haven't slept longer than two hours at a time when my sweet husband lets me take a nap. We somehow got a strand of MRSA(an antibiotic resistant staph infection, commonly pick up from hospitals) in our home and Zac now has it. There are anitbiotics that are really strong that they will use to treat the outbreak but once you have it you will always have it. So add that to the list of medicines they want him to take:(
Olivia almost 4- Was born with Gastroschisis(when your abdomin wall doesn't fuse in the uterus) meaning her intestines were on the outside of her body when she was born. At 9 days they did a surgery to put them back in her body and sew the opening closed. She was released from the NICU and just over a month old. She cried the first year of her life because she was in so much pain trying to figure out how to get her body to digest food. She now suffers from extreme constipation and is stuggling with potty training. The doctors want us to treat this with chemical stool softeners and a few other medications. She also has outbreaks of MRSA on a regular basis in her diaper area because the bacteria sits on her skin. If she was wearing cotton underwear it would decrease her outbreaks.
Gavin 5- suffers from a lot of anxiety and depression. He currently is seeing a play therapist but long term the doctors have talked about putting him on meds. Not that I am apposed to medicine if he needs it. It's just that I would like to explore all other options first, including diet! Gavin also has had a few outbreaks of MRSA and it is extremely painful and takes awhile for the antibiotics to heal the sores.
PresLeigh 7- Is who we call our "healthy" child. Although she is abnormally tall for her age and her genetics. Which caused enough concern by our doctors to have a bone age done. The results show that she is 1 1/2 years older in her "bone age" than her actual age. She has also started going through puberty ie. under arm hair she's only 7!! We try to keep her as physically active as possible to keep her period at bay, a scary thought for mommy and daddy!! The doctors attribute all of this to the hormones in the food we eat.

Samantha 25- So I'm the mom of these crazy fun little ones, meaning I'm taking care and trying to help treat all there different problems on top of my own. I suffer from migraines which are either hormonal or stress/lack of sleep related. For the last 14 months I've had strep throat at least 5 times, sinus infections, bronchitis, and virus after virus. I've never had an issue with my weight until this last pregnancy mostly due to the fact that I can never sleep, workout, or worry about what I'm eating. I have one leg that is an 1 1/2 inches longer than the other which puts a lot of stress on my joints and is causing water behind my knee. And in general I'm just EXHAUSTED!!

Nate 31- My oh so sweet husband works all the time and his work days are 12 hour true shift work. He works some days/ some nights and just got done working 17 days straight. He is struggling with his weight which makes him depressed. And all the stress at home and at work gives him anxiety.

This is why we made our video and turned it into the Green Smoothie Girl. We needed and need so much help and didn't know just where to turn when doctors were out of answers. We're so thankful to Robyn, Blendtec, Lara Bars, and The Good Earth Store for helping us make becoming healthy a reality!!