my neti

well i have been suffering yet again with an insane sinus infection due to my over indulgence of dairy. i have this allergy of when i eat dairy products, you name it - cheese, ice cream, yogurt, milk, etc.. i get a sinus and upper respiratory infection. now you would think i could just stay away from it and lesson learned, right? do you have a food allergy? no? have you ever tried to cut dairy out of your diet? it's pretty tricky. plus i got this great dip recipe from my friend alaina. it's cream cheese, vadalia onions, black beans, mozzarella cheese, and raspberry salsa. oh my goodness. it's amazing. and i got all crazy the other night, and ate a whole bunch after i already had pizza (cheese people)for dinner. so now i am ill. my fault. where's the discipline? lame very lame alana.

anyway when i cause these great illnesses in my body i use my trusty neti pot. what is a neti pot? it's a little ceramic pot thingy that you fill with a saline solution and insert into one nostril and tip your head and it drains from your other nostril. mmm.. sounds lovely doesn't it? it works. don't knock it till you try it. here's a little bit of what it says on the box:

"the practice of nasal irrigation, known as neti, has been used by practitioners of yoga in india for hundreds, if not thousands of years" (thousands of years!)

"many people practice neti on a daily basis to keep their sinuses clean and improve their ability to breathe freely. most find it a soothing and pleasant practice once they try it." (see)

"this gentle and effective technique of nasal irrigation is widely recommended by health practitioners worldwide as a wonderful way to improve your overall feeling of well-being and maintain radiant, vibrant health." (amazing)

we are a consumer driven society are we not? we all know the "box" dosen't lie! aren't you sold already when you know that most people like it? i sure am. who doesn't want vibrant health? this is valuable information you must know. i have no shame, i use a neti pot. yes and it sometimes burns when you put too much salt in it. and yes until you get the right head tilt you might feel like you are drowning. but it's worth it when you get that stream going full of mucus and all. ~deep inhale~ aahhh...

so it might look a little crazy. and your two year son might start screaming and crying hysterically when he sees you doing it saying "no mommy, no , stop doing dat mommy , nooo! stop mommy, i don't yike dat mommy!!" but i tell you what, today my head dosen't feel like it's going to explode. it's all good times with my neti.

googly eyes gardner

addictions

addiction : the condition of being addicted to a habit

addict : to give oneself up to some strong habit; an ardent supporter, devotee

i have a problem. and unfortunately my four year old son painfully opened my eyes with his own "intervention". the conversation took place several days ago in the kitchen. isaiah came around the corner, and witnessed my indulgence and felt the need to say something (although he always feels the need to say something about everything).

isaiah : "mom, may i have a cookie?"

alana: "no"

isaiah: "why, mom"

alana: "because there are none left"

isaiah: "mom did you eat the last one?"

alana: "yes"

isaiah: "MOM!! you always eat the last cookie! you always eat all the cookies!! bryn's mom doesn't eat all the cookies! why can't you be more like bryn's mom!!?

alana: hangs head in shame

"hello my name is alana, and i am addicted to cookies."

the first step is admitting it right? i don't know what's gotten into me. i love all cookies and i want to eat them. um.. not just girl scout cookies as i have talked about before. i'm talking all cookies. preferably homemade, that i freeze to preserve the freshness; chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, ohh, and those peanut butter one's with the hershey kiss in the center, yum-my, store bought is fine, name brand or generic , it doesn't matter.

it needs to stop.

i need to be stopped.

look away... i am ashamed.

i am a monster...... a cookie monster.

so what am i going to do about it you say? i don't know. i guess it's not all the time. only sometimes. i can just eat one, and be done. little children exaggerate downfalls all the time. i'm in control.

quote of the week

"mommy, i want a byack (black) spidoorman (spiderman) tatoo on my back."

- lincoln 2 years old

swimmer?

so i am taking a swimming class. really it is an aqua aerobics class with very old women. but i am going to be doing some laps before and after to start training for my tri-altholon. i started last week and did pretty good. worked up a decent sweat. nice. but now this week i will be kicking some major splash (that's swim lingo - not really).

i got myself some new goggles and a swim cap. i swam for 10 years, about 10 years ago. ha. so it was not unusual to wear a swim cap and goggles. but for some reason, i do not remember looking so crazy, and my head was for sure not so FAT and big. but i'm not in a fashion show, so i might just look really cool to the nice geriatrics in my class.

unknown facts of alana

#4
i have two baby teeth (molars to be exact) left . there are no adult teeth above them to push them out. and slowly the roots are becoming exposed, which is making them sensitive. which means i should get them ripped out soon.

somoa's mmm....

so the other day i was at my friends sons basketball game and there was a little girl walking around selling girl scout cookies. and i thought to myself, oh my goodness it is girl scout cookie season!! yess!!! i love cookies!!! yeah! get me some of those!! so i asked the sweet child if she had any somoa's left. " no all i have are these" (don't even ask me what they were because they were crap, that's all i know, pure crap) so i politely declined.

now what i want to know is where's all the other little girl scouts? no one's knocking on my door! i know that the world is a dangerous place, and that door to door sales is not necessarily encouraged for young children, but i'm a nice person, i have $3.50, possibly more if need be. no one's trying to make money in my neighborhood. or at my grocery store. i want some stinking somao's. they are so delicious! they are just so tasty, i cant stand how good they are. have you ever had one? are you kidding me!

mmm... also known as caramel delights, they are shortbread ring cookies with a layer of chewy stringy sweet caramel, topped with lightly toasted delicate coconut, and finally striped with the perfect amount of yummy milk chocolate on the top while coating the savory bottom as well. mmm...

i just think they're great. it's probably best i didn't get a chance to order any because they are rather small and there is 7 grams a fat in 2 cookies! and i do not have the will power to fight off the all consuming desire to eat an entire box in one day. so it's just better this way. i mean i really just starting working out again, and this baby weight is killer third time around. i don't need to add somoa weight to it. right? right.

maybe jon ordered some from a nice dad at work.

watch out ace of cakes

so sunday was isaiah's big boy four year old birthday. i just can not believe it, but it is inevitable he is going to grow up. ~sniff~ he really is a neat little kid. i love all the thoughts that run through his head that he is always eager to share. i think he's pretty smart and funny. i am biased. i am just trying to find the good moments in every day and cherish them, because i know it is just going to go by faster every year.

anyway i asked him what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday. and he wanted a luke skywalker cake. (he is fascinated with star wars, even though he has only seen about twenty minutes of empire strikes back, that him and his friends "accidentially" put in the wrong movie, lowered the volume and crouched silently in front of the tv) now i told him i wasn't sure if i could make a luke skywalker cake, what else would he like. he then suggested an aniken skywalker cake. at this point i decided to take over the cake decision making into my own hands and offered to make him a lightsaber cake. and that seemed to satisfy him.

i had a lot of fun making it and i just really think that i should just start a small profitable buisness on the side of making jedi cakes. if i do say so myself! ha!

unknown facts of alana

#2
i played doubles tennis my senior year of high school, and placed 5th in regionals.


#3
i did not enjoy mayonaise untill approximately 2 years ago

unknown facts of alana

so i feel like the winter may be getting to me, and the long days in the house are becoming repetitive and redundant. i have not left my home in 5 days. which i guess isn't really that long compared to like, invalids, 800lb people or someone of that nature. i am beginning to think, that people may not remember exactly who i am. so out of pure boredom i've decided to introduce to this amazing blogging community "unknown facts of alana".

now as i mentioned previously i have not been leaving the house lately, therefore am lacking in much needed adult interaction. (i do talk on the phone a bit, it's just not the same, and for some magical reason talking on the phone attracts four previously contented children right on top of me, crying, screaming, fighting, and repeating the name mom, mom, mom, mom...!) so some of the facts you will be learning frankly may bore you, and you will find youself not interested one bit. you may even feel slightly led on to something greater than what is being offered. and it is misleading in the simple fact that i am carrying on about it. but it is what it is. and that's it.


#1
i only wash my hair every other day
(to reduce damage , naturally)



to be continued...

brutal

so the last two weeks were absolutely brutal. two kids in the hospital. lincoln was in the hospital for 6 days with pneumonia, during that time rylan was at home sick with bronchialitus and refusing to take a bottle. i was completely torn between my two babies. i didn't want to leave lincoln, but i had to be home with rylan. jon pulled night time duty with lincoln. i would come home to my hungry sick baby, wake up at 5am and get to jon so he could go to work. we finally came home on a friday and was back in the hospital with rylan on sunday in the middle of the night when we woke up screaming and struggling to breathe. very scary. he had pneumonia and RSV, but recovered quickly and i was able to bring him home that wednesday. it was almost easier to be just at the hospital with rylan, knowing lincoln was better and having fun with the flood kids. still, what a mess.
but we made it. we were more than exhausted. but the kids are all better. and all is well. when we didn't think we could do another day, we did. the Lord was our strength and we persevered. i do not know how we would of ever made it without family and friends. especially my parents who stayed at my house and my dad for taking time off of work. i am so blessed. thank you to everyone who watched my kids, especially those who came at 6am so jon could go to work; thank you for all the meals, all of the groceries, phone calls, hospital visits, and prayers!! we felt very loved and taken care of. and thank you thank you, to my dear friend beth who washed my laundry, cleaned my house, loved on my children, and is now suffering with herself and her family being ill (probably something they caught at our house, sorry bout that).
and you know the whole time i was on that fifth floor of the hospital and would walk past the PICU, and knew there was terminally ill children on that floor, i just kept thanking the Lord for my healthy babies, and i knew we would be home soon, and we don't have to juggle life everyday with sick children in the hospital. our time was temporary. i'm just beyond thankful and grateful.
two days after we were home isaiah said to me "mom, if i get really sick,will you take me to the hospital too?" i said, "of course i will."

2008 is great

i would just like to say that i am so glad that 2007 is over. what a horrible year. (well i guess rylan was born and that turned out all right, i really like him) it was just a year of mass stress and frustrations. health issues with all of us. house stuff (which you will always have when you own a home!) and mainly with jon's job situation, and just not knowing what the future holds - at all. and we still don't know.

BUT, i tell ya what, GOD IS FAITHFUL! we did not go without. we always had food to eat. we always had enough money in the bank to pay our bills. our children have clothes to wear and beds to sleep in, a roof over their sweet little heads. we have two cars that run well. God has been telling me all this time that i need to trust in him and he is in control, not me, not jon, not ford, not the economy, not the politicians, he is in control, and all i have to do is trust in him.

last christmas was rough. jon had been laid off, and unemployment takes awhile to kick in. we had found out the week before jon lost his job we were expecting an unexpected baby. we had a very small X amount of dollars to last us the entire month of december. we could not pay our bills, buy christmas gifts, or even get a christmas tree (jon's mom blessed us with one). but you know what, even then God was faithful to us. our families and church family blessed us in so many ways. and we made it.

i know i don't usually get this personal, but i just feel like i need to give the Lord some much deserved props for looking out for us. even though this year was "rough" for us, it is nothing, absolutely nothing anywhere imaginably close to things that people throughout the entire world suffer through every day. we are just so blessed in so many ways. and i don't have to be scared of the future, because i know, that i know, that God really is in control.

and there were many good things in 2007, and they probably far out weigh the bad. we were even able to put money aside to have a great christmas this year. i cannot begin to count the blessings upon blessings that we have had. it was a year of great growth and perseverance. it's probably our first all at once, doesn't stop coming, hit ya hard, massive dosage of "real" adulthood life. and we will have many more years like it. i'm just glad the year is over and we are starting a new one. i guess when i think about it, i am excited to see more prayers answered.


"But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me." Psalm 13:5,6