Wordless Wednesday

Nap Tips for Adults!

I am going to probably bore people with my Terry Wahls praises. I hope I am able to attend one of her conferences one day. 

People with MS have a lot of trouble sleeping. I really noticed this after I had George. I just couldn't nap in the day. I have always been able to nap on a Sunday, laying on the couch watching football, but otherwise forget it. Dr. Wahls talks about this in her book The Wahls Protocol. I was like FINALLY I understand why I am struggling so much. 

I try to take a nap every day. I know that isn't a reality for most people. People with MS really should be napping to let those cells recover and to help with fatigue. You don't need a 2-3 hour nap. A 20-30 nap does wonders on your body. 

Here are some tips I have for taking naps. 

1. Get a sleep mask. When I had George the hospital gave us a cheap face mask that Art kept. He took it on our last vacation. Well I stole it and I slept so good with it. When I came home I bought a good one. Art refers it to my eye bra. This is the one I bought from Amazon for $12. 

2. Follow a similar routine you do before bed at night. I will have a cup of tea after lunch, set an alarm for 45 minutes, put in my mouth guard, put on my eye mask and turn on my bore friend. The minute George lays down for his nap I lay down. That way I can get a good 20-30 minutes in. I also like to get things done around the house when he is napping. This helps me be able to nap and get stuff done. 

3. I struggle with being able to shut my mind off. The best thing I found was a Podcast called Sleep with Me or known as my Bore Friend. I couldn't even tell you what the guy talks about, but what I can tell you is I am asleep before the 15 minute podcast turns off. I set the alarm on the podcast for 15 minutes, so it turns itself off. 

4. There are times I don't set my alarm. My body knows to just sleep for about 30 minutes during the day. I will wake up automatically now. In order to sleep good at night I can't sleep more than about 30 minutes. I also found that I don't sleep as well at night if I don't get a nap. 

5. Try reading before you go to sleep. Reading always puts me to sleep no matter how good the book is. 

6. Background noise! This is a huge thing for me. I am such a light sleeper these days. I put the bathroom fan and a regular fan on beside my bed. The sound of the fan helps drown out everything else. These fans also help George and I both sleep. I have had to get mean and put the dog in the garage during nap time. Sammy barks every.single.day when we are napping. I got sick and tired of George getting woke up after 30 minutes. Now it is just part of the routine. Sammy doesn't even pout. He just runs to the garage. He barks his head off while we are napping. Thankfully we can't hear him with the fans. I do know he barks because when I leave the bedroom I hear him barking at the mailman or delivery trucks. 

I wish I could be like Art and fall asleep in 2 minutes after he lays down. What are some ways that help you fall asleep at night?

Wordless Wednesday

MS & Wahls Protocol!

I have debated for awhile if I wanted to write about my diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. It took me a good four months before I could even accept that I had it. This past October I had a really bad MS attack that led to an actual diagnosis. It was so bad I had trouble walking. I was dragging my left side. I had to take two rounds of strong antibiotics to get the numbness to go away. My entire left side was numb for about a month. It was horrible! 

Then came the doctor appointments where I was told I needed to start on MS medication in order to try to avoid attacks. Ugh I had been dreading this conversation. I did some research on my own and determined I better do it, so I am not in a wheelchair by forty. I was not in a good place health wise. I also started doing some research on vitamins. I added some new vitamins to my daily routine immediately. 

I started taking a weekly MS medication. It made me feel HORRIBLE for about 3-4 days. By the time I started to feel better it was time to take it over again. I changed medications to a daily injection. When the doctor told me I would need to switch to a daily one I cried. It was more the thought of it all. Once I started it just became part of my day. Now George even thinks this is normal. He sees me load my injection pen with my shot. He knows what needs to be done and preps it for me at times before I load the shot needle. Thankfully I haven't experienced anymore horrible reactions from the medication.

It has been about six years ago since I started my weight loss journey. While I did the HCG diet I was really opened up to how much sugar is in foods. It just made me look at food differently. Then I got cancer and my opinion of processed foods took another turn. When George started eating I was a maniac reading every label, making most of his food and refusing to let people feed him anything with sugar. And now our entire diet as a family has changed. 

I have said for years the reason there is so much disease, cancer, health issues is because of our food. FINALLY I found a doctor that actually believes the same thing. Terry Wahls has changed my world. My goal is to get my body/cells healed over the next year and to get off the MS medication for good! If you have any health issue I would really encourage you to read The Wahls Protocol. 

Let me just say it is HARD! It is hard not eating a donut on National Donut Day or grabbing food when you are hungry out and about. I will say though the way you will feel following this protocol outweighs the sugary treats. It was about a month ago we started eating Paleo. I jumped in head first not even knowing what in the world I was doing. The first week I just did the best I could. I made changes for myself and the guys slowly. Now we are full blown Paleo. I do cook George some pasta, rice or carbs, but for the most part he eats like us. I buy him some organic crackers for snacks. I don't freak out if he eats something non-organic with a friend. 

I have lost weight without being hungry. Art has lost weight not following things 100%. I would say Art follows it about 85%. Art use to eat fast food, sandwiches, and a lot of processed foods every day. When we were going to go to Texas on vacation he asked me to make him salads for lunch instead. I didn't stop doing that when we came back. I can't remember the last time I bought a loaf of bread. 

I am not scared of what the future holds for me. I don't worry about will I need a wheelchair or cane at 40. Instead I look forward to the day I can run a 5K again. Watch the Tedtalk on YouTube with Terry Wahls. She has changed my world and given me hope for the future. 

Wordless Wednesday

Shame!

The dictionary defines Shame in the verb tense as:

1. to cause to feel shame; make ashamed:
2. to publicly humiliate or shame for being or doing something specified(usually used in combination): 
3. to drive, force, etc., through shame:
4. to cover with ignominy or reproach; disgrace.

I have been struggling with why we shame people so often. Mommy shaming, Christian shaming, child discipline shaming, and the list goes on. I didn't realize all the shaming until I became a mom. Then it was holy crap this mommy shaming is OUT OF CONTROL!!!! It opened my eyes to all the shaming going on all around us. 

Mommies are shaming other moms with the fact they give their kid formula, bottles past 1, screen time, non-organic foods, blah blah blah. Hey ladies why don't you knock if off! Who cares if my kid isn't walking at 13 months. He is perfectly normal. Guess what he is 22 months jumping off the couch, talking away plus using sign language. I think he is going to be just fine. That is nice your kid walked at 9 months old. I am happy I didn't have to chase him around 4 months earlier. lol

It really opened my eyes to the shaming that goes on in our churches. People are shamed because they don't attend every service in a week, give specific amounts of money, they don't dress a certain way or they haven't volunteers their every moment. The church thing really gets me. If I don't attend every service do you think God loves me less than you?  The fact you  work for the church makes you better than me? 

When I was dating Art someone at church came up to me and said I heard you are dating someone you shouldn't be. I was like huh! Why is that? She said I heard he is divorced. You shouldn't be dating a divorced man. REALLY!!! Way to make me feel comfortable and want to come back to church. 

I bet our churches would be busting at the seams if we loved each other a little more, stop trying to act like we haven't sinned and decided to be a little more humble. 

No!

Recently I have been struggling with why we teaching kids it's wrong to say no. I keep reading and hearing how adults struggle to tell people no. I can't help but think that is because we have been raised from infants on that we shouldn't say the word no. 

I think we have to teach our kids a balance with the word no. If we tell them to come to us they shouldn't say no. If they tell us no then go get them and bring them to you. If you ask your child do you want to take a picture and they say no then we need to respect that. As an adult I don't always want my picture taken. I mentioned to someone recently how George didn't want to take a picture one morning. The person I told this to was horrified that I allowed my child to tell me no. They told me I need to give them a spanking and not ever allow them to say no. REALLY? Why this upset me so much I am not sure. The person who said this it is very normal to hear this insanity from them. 

That encounter really made me think about the word no. I think you can raise a child to tell people no in a respectful way. I think it's important to raise kids to be able to tell people no. They don't like how people are making them feel, they don't want to go some place, or they don't want to eat something because it tastes horrible etc. We are not letting our kids have an opinion and voice which is causing problems as adults. 

It is also important to me that my child can tell someone no in case some nut job was trying to abuse my kid. If I continue to tell him he isn't allowed to tell an adult no he is going to think he can't tell a nut job no. That is not true at all! 

I don't know how to raise a kid at all. But I am trying to do some things different with my child than some of the insanity I have been taught over the years. It has taken me years of watching and learning from people mistakes of how I don't want to do things. Go ahead judge away. I feel children need to be raised to be confident adults who have opinions they can voice.