Adding Instead of Subtracting- A Different Way of Life

I feel like so often in our culture we focus on what we're doing wrong and what we need to stop doing. We hear constantly "Get rid of those shoes from middle school!" "Stop eating Oreos!" "Watch less Wizards of Waverly Place!" It's always: stop this or get rid of that. I admit, I do see the merit in advice when it's given to help free you from bad habits but once you get rid of everything, then what? Let's take my life for example. If I were to simply stop watching Netflix, eating Twizzlers for lunch, and get rid of all my old ugly clothes, then I'd spent my day hungry, bored, and wearing the exact same thing as I did yesterday (and the day before that). 

So lately I've been taking a new approach to my life. Instead of getting rid of things, I've chosen to fill my life with good things. For example, I made a goal to eat 5 fruits/vegetables and drink 2 glasses of milk every day. As long as I get those in, then it doesn't mater how many Oreos I eat. Usually I'm eating Oreos because I don't know what else to eat. But when I know I'm trying to eat more fruits and vegetables, I buy more at the store and I go to those first when I'm hungry because I know I have them and I know I want to eat them. 

I also have a chore chart with just a few things each day that need to get done in the house. I can watch TV as much as I want, but the chores need to get done at some point. Sometimes I get them done first thing in the morning but sometimes I don't get to them until after Eliza is in bed. But always, every day I get at least something done.

 My mom has been helping me get a wardrobe I feel comfortable going out in public in (my body just isn't the same shape anymore, despite being back to my pre-pregnancy weight). So now I can get rid of old clothes that don't fit right or are just plain awful because I have good things in my closet. 

I've found that when I fill my life with good things, the bad habits naturally start to fade. I love that my focus is on what I chose to do to make my life better, instead of focusing on what I'm doing wrong. I'm not buying new clothes to fill the empty drawer after I get rid of old clothes, I'm trading the bad for the good. For me, it's much easier to let go of it all because I'm not giving it up or forcing myself to quit. I'm simply exchanging good for better. I still enjoy my Oreos and Twizzlers, but they aren't my staples for snacks and lunches. 

How I did it, and how you can too:

• Don't ever think about what you're doing wrong in your life or what you need to stop. It's frustrating, disheartening, and rarely works. Just ask anyone who has ever gone on a diet. 
• Remember the focus is NOT about what you need to stop doing
• It's about what you need to START doing
• Pick no more than 5 or 6 things you want to do every day. Just start with 1 and do it every day for a week to see how reasonable it is. (I once decided that every Tuesday I was going to vacuum my whole house and wash laundry. That never happened once. So now I vacuum the downstairs one day, the upstairs another, wash one day, fold the next, etc.)
• If it's just not possible, reevaluate and adjust the goal so it fits in your life (some may think it's a little pathetic how small my daily chores are but over a 2 week period everything gets done. That's much better than before when I tried to do too much then gave up and nothing got done ever. But that's just me. Remember, this is for YOU. Do what works for YOU)
• One by one add another item you want to start doing. Again, if you have more than 5, see if you're being too hard on yourself. 
• Once one of those goals becomes natural/a part of your routine, you can take it off the list (keep doing it of course) and add another goal. 

These are my goals. Every day I need to:

• Read my scriptures
• Exercise 
• Clean something in the house 
• I have a a chart that breaks up my chores into daily tasks. SO reasonable.
• Read a book to Little El
• Clean up the kitchen/clutter before bed
• Eat at least 5 fruits/veggies + 2 glasses of milk

See? Not a big deal and totally manageable for me right now. And I started with little things. After the baby, my goals were to read scriptures and shower every day. Showering is now a habit so I took it off the list and added in exercise. It's about small, gradual steps towards a better life. 8 months after the baby, my house is cleaner, my family happier, and I still get to enjoy my Alex Russo time with a few Oreos.

I love this quote: Always concentrate on how far you've come, rather than how far you have left to go

Popcorn Recipes

I know where popcorn gets it's bad rep. Definitely microwaves and movie theaters have made people think that popcorn is bad for you. Quite contrary actually! It's all the butter and other stuff that makes those popcorns less nutritious. Some facts about popcorn: 

1 c popped popcorn has:
20 calories
0 calories from fat
0 fat, cholesterol, or sodium
5g of carbs, 0g from sugar, 1g from fiber, the rest from starch (complex energy...a good thing!)
and a little bit of protein

 5 c popped has
110 calories
10 calories from fat
0 cholesterol and sodium
26g of carbs, <1g 7g="" fiber="" font="" from="" of="" sugar="">
 4g of protein

The reason why the nutrition facts aren't simply multiplied by 5 is that there isn't EXACTLY 1g of fiber or 0 calories from fat. There's a little more but because of labeling laws they can say "0" when there's actually only about 2 calories per cup. 

In any case, the more popcorn you eat, the more fiber you get and lets be honest, popcorn is more fun than celery! *These recipes are 9th grader approved!!* (I got these from the teacher I did my student teacher under, Megan Cranmer)

Power Munch Popcorn

4 c. popped popcorn

½ c. tiny pretzels

1 c. unsweetened cereal

½ c. croutons

¼ c. dry roasted peanuts

1 Tbsp. melted butter

1 tsp. worchestersire

¼ tsp. garlic powder

¼ tsp. chili powder

¼ tsp. onion powder

Preheat oven to 300*F. 

Mix popcorn, cereal, croutons, peanuts; toss well.

In a small bowl mix butter, worcestershire sauce, and powdered flavorings.

Pour over popcorn mix.  Toss and spread evenly on a cookie sheet.

Bake 15 min, stirring once halfway through.

Peanut Butter Popcorn

 

2 qt (8 c) popped popcorn

½ c. sugar

½ c. light corn syrup

½ c. peanut butter

½ tsp. vanilla extract

•In a large bowl, put in popcorn.

•Put peanut butter and vanilla in a separate bowl.

•Put sugar and corn syrup in a saucepan.

•Bring sugar and corn syrup to rolling boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.

•Remove from heat.

•Stir in peanut butter and vanilla extract.

•Pour over popcorn and stir quickly to coat.

Popcorn Haystacks

1 qt. (4 c.) popped popcorn

1 c. peanuts

1 c. Chow Mein noodles

1 c. mini marshmallows

1 c. chocolate chips

Toss popcorn, peanuts, and noodles together in large bowl; Set aside.

Place chocolate chips in microwavable bowl.

Microwave for 3 minutes (stirring after every min!).

Pour over popcorn mixture. Toss until well mixed.

Place spoonful of the tossed mixture onto wax paper. Cool until firm.

Snickerdoodle Chex® Mix  

¼ c. sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 c. Chex® cereal

2 c. Chocolate Chex® cereal

4 c. popped popcorn

¼ c. margarine

1.In small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon; set aside.

2.In large microwavable bowl, mix cereals and popcorn. 

3.In 1-cup microwavable measuring cup, microwave butter uncovered on High about 40 sec. or until melted. 

4.Pour over cereal mixture, stirring until evenly coated. 

5.Microwave uncovered on High 2 min., stirring after 1 min. 

6.Sprinkle half of the sugar mixture evenly over cereal mixture; stir. 

7.Sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture; stir. 

8.Microwave 1 min. longer. 

9.Spread on waxed paper or paper towels to cool.  

 

Pregnant? Or Want to Be? *Pre-Pregnancy Nutrition

I was just talking to a pregnant friend of mine. She hasn't told anyone else she's pregnant, she just needed some advice and since I'd been through it all and I live nowhere near anyone she knows (so I can't spill the beans) I was a good candidate. 

It can be scary and intimidating to be pregnant and you might not want to tell anyone yet but have no idea what you're supposed to do. And since those "Baby Your Baby" commercials don't play anymore, a lot of people don't know when to go to a doctor. Or what to expect at the doctor. Or even how to find a doctor. 

So I thought I'd go through basic "need to know" pregnancy tips. This post will cover pre-pregnancy nutrition. 

Pre-Pregnancy:

Nutrition
(I am not a doctor or a registered dietitian. Everything I have written here are general guidelines and may not apply to everyone. If you have special circumstances please talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian. You can find an RD here: http://www.eatright.org/programs/rdfinder/)

So you want to get pregnant. Congratulations! It's a scary decision, but so fun at the same time! First things first, if you want to get pregnant, you need to be healthy. Both of you. The absolute best way to get nutrition is through food. Yes you can and should take a multivitamin but please PLEASE eat a healthy diet. Here are some really easy guidelines of how to eat well:

60% of your calories should be carbohydrates. Yes, 60%, as in MORE THAN HALF. Carbs aren't bad, I'm not sure where they get their bad rap but carbs=energy and if you want a baby you need a LOT of it! Also, your brain runs off of glucose and guess what the easiest source of glucose is? You guessed it, carbohydrates. So a little more than half of everything you eat in a week should be carbs. Carbs are bread, pasta, cereal, and fruits even count because of their sugar content. Also candy is a carb. Eat up! 

My one stipulation to eating carbohydrates is you need to make half of the grains you eat whole. Oatmeal cookie anyone? If you do your own cooking, add half wheat to anything you would normally use white flour in. You can buy already ground wheat in the grocery store but keep it in the freezer because the oils will go rancid very quickly. If you grind your own, which is much more cost effective, freeze that too. (Wheat is cheap and you can get decent hand mills for a really good price. You can't really put a price on health, can you?) I've made German pancakes with half white and half wheat- tasted the same. I even thicken my soups and sauces with hand milled whole wheat instead of white. Buy whole wheat pasta, bread, and brown rice, if you like it. Don't buy anything you won't eat. But if you've never given it a chance, try it a few times. It takes children up to 12 times trying something before they like it. But if you've tried it and you just don't like it, fine. Don't eat it. I don't like brown rice. I eat lots and lots of white rice. But I eat whole wheat bread to make up for it. 

Some grains to enjoy: Amaranth, Barley, Bulgur wheat (cracked wheat), Corn, Durum wheat, Flaxseed, Fonio, Kamut, Millet, Oats, Popcorn, Rice, Rye, Semolina wheat, Sorghum, Spelt, Teff, Triticale, Wheat, Wild rice, Quinoa 

Please note that popcorn is a grain. That stuff is seriously SO good for you. I'll put up some delicious popcorn recipes. If you like popcorn, I recommend buying an air popper. I lived off this stuff while I was pregnant and teaching. Refer to this site for info on some of the unfamiliar grains: http://wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/whole-grains-a-to-z

Nutrition is all about balance over time. It's ok if one meal or even one day is full of white flour, just be sure to balance it out throughout the week. 

Next up, fruits and vegetables. Half your plate should be filled with these! If the only way you can stand broccoli is covered in cheese sauce, PERFECT! Cover it in cheese sauce! Nutrition doesn't cancel out. You still get the benefits of broccoli. And eating broccoli with cheese sauce is better for you than not eating it all. My favorite way to eat most vegetables is steamed or blanched (put in boiling water until almost cooked) then sauteed in canola oil and Real Salt or Vegetable salt (regular salt is fine too, I just prefer the flavor of the others). Obviously fresh fruits and vegetables are best. But frozen, canned, and dried are still wonderful!! Really, there is so much flavor in a well prepared fruit/vegetable, it's sad that so many people don't like a lot of them. If you want tips on how to prepare certain foods, comment and I'll put up a post for you!!

Next up, dairy!! Milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream. No really, ice cream. In high school I compared the nutrition facts of a Sweet and Salty Peanut Butter granola bar to those of an ice cream sandwich. They were almost exactly identical. Did I eat another granola bar after that? You better believe I didn't! Ice cream is great. Make a milk shake: frozen strawberries, some ice cream, and some milk.... a wonderful, delicious, and nutritious snack! Dairy is SO important!!! Girls, your baby steals your calcium before your bones even get a look at it. It's not uncommon for women's teeth to fall out during pregnancy if they are deficient in calcium. Because of a variety of other factors, women are more prone to osteoporosis (break down of bone). I won't get into that right now, but trust me, you need calcium! But dairy is so much more than calcium. You get a lot of protein and good fats from it. There is nothing wrong with drinking 2% by the way. 

A good rule of thumb is to drink a glass of milk at each meal and drink water throughout the day. If you can't stand the flavor of milk go ahead and add chocolate or strawberry syrup. 

Meats and beans! More protein! More fiber! More iron! I don't have a soap box for this group, but eat them! Beans can be substituted in baked goods for the oil. Seriously, I make a mean black bean cupcake! When choosing meats, choose a lean cut and try to vary your meats: ground beef, chicken, pork, etc. Don't forget your fish too! Some fantastic oils are in those!

Multivitamins:
Alright.... here we go. Men, you need to be healthy to create healthy sperm. You really should get your nutrients from a healthy diet, but if you are finding that hard, a simple multivitamin will be fine. Unless you are seriously deficient in a particular substance and your doctor has tested and told you this, stay away from single nutrient vitamins. This can lead to toxicities. There IS such thing as too much of a good thing. Talk to your doctor if you have questions or concerns. 

Women: there are a billion multivitamins. What's the difference between a prenatal and regular multi? It depends on the brand, but I'm seeing a trend in prenatals to be lacking in a lot of nutrients, probably to avoid toxicities for you and the baby. To be honest it doesn't really matter what you choose. There are 2 things you want to look for: Folate (or folic acid) and Vitamin A (from beta carotene). You want to make sure you are getting enough folate. And if the scene from Baby Mama where she has to swallow a folate pill the size of a cookie scares you, just realize that most people don't take a separate folate pill. It's in most multis and at the point in her pregnancy in the movie it wouldn't have been effective. You need folate before you even know you are pregnant. Luckily for us, most cereals are fortified with it. If you don't have enough folate your baby is far more likely to have spina bifida. That is a birth defect where the backbone and spinal canal do not close before birth. Scary. But don't be scared, just eat your grains and take your vitamin with it. Next, it doesn't matter what type of multivitamin you take but make sure the vitamin A comes from beta carotene.  This is an inactive form of the vitamin. If your body needs it, it activates it and uses it. If it doesn't need it, it gets rid of it. If the vitamin is coming from retinol, it's already activated and you can have vitamin A toxicity. It can cause serious birth defects. Any vitamin A you get from food will only be used if needed.  

Something you may notice about a prenatal is that it's high in iron but low in calcium. That's because calcium actually blocks the absorption of iron. It's best to take the multi with a meal or snack that is low in calcium. However, if you have a bowl of cereal every morning and can't remember to take your vitamin another part of the day, take it with your cereal, you will be fine.

A word about iron: you need it. Lots of it, and so does your baby. Here is a list of iron rich foods. Obviously red meat is a good source but I know that can be hard to stomach during pregnancy. 

• Beef
• Lamb
• Ham
• Turkey
• Chicken
• Veal
• Pork
• Eggs (any style)
• Spinach
• Sweet potatoes
• Peas
• Broccoli
• String beans
• Beet greens
• Collards
• Kale
• Chard

So basically, meats and dark leafy green vegetables. A spinach salad with chopped chicken topped with berries and your favorite dressing... delicious!

What nutrition questions do you have? When you're pregnant your nutritional needs do change but I will cover that in another post. 

Stain Removal- Baby Blowouts

This is for breastfed babies, mine isn't formula fed so I don't know if this technique works for that as well. The green shirt is a fresh stain, the pink and blue shirt is a few days old.

You need 2 things: Fels-Naptha and Oxy Clean. Fels-Naptha is $0.99 at Walmart.

The fresh stain:

 First: rinse it out as best as you can. The sooner the better, as you can see:

 Rub Fels-Naptha on both sides of the article of clothing. The soap is yellow as well so keep track of where you've rubbed:

 I rubbed only the right side and you can already see a difference:

 Finish rubbing it on the entire stain.

Next, press wet fingertips into the oxyclean

 Rub it into the stain. There are blue grains and they will break open and spread blue over. That is fine, it will wash out.

 Again, do this on both sides of the clothing. (This pic has the oxyclean rubbed only on the left side)

This is a stain that's been dried for a few days. I applied the same method as above to this: 

After treating it, I set it on my washer to dry (so I don't forget to throw it in with the rest of the clothes) and then I put it in the laundry when I do it next. Fresh stains can be washed immediately. I haven't ever treated an old stain and then washed it immediately so I don't know if that would work.

After being washed and dried normally:

Both are spotless!!

I've never had to bleach or throw away a onesie. I hope this works as well for you as it does for me!!

Thanksgiving Month Challenge

Two things have inspired me today. It's the first day of November so many people have been posting what they are thankful for on their Facebook statuses. The next thing that inspired me was this picture:

The sign says "We have power. Please feel free to charge your phone."

I think it is wonderful to count your blessings and I'd like to challenge everyone to take it one step further and spend this month being a blessing to others.

I don't think any of us wake up and think, "I'm going to ignore someone in need today." But too often we do.

We are advised to make up our minds before a situation actually occurs. For example, some decide before they are put in a sticky situation to refuse alcohol and when that time comes they are prepared to say no because they already know they don't want that. This technique can apply to more than just refusing things. Someone once pointed out to me that we should decide before hand to DO something.

How many times have you been walking down the street and see someone who might need a hand and you argue with yourself if you will stop and then you pass and end up not doing anything because you haven't made up your mind? If you decide now to always stop, then you only have to make that decision once.

I made that decision a few weeks ago: when I saw someone I could help I would do it without rationalizing myself out of it. This came in handy just yesterday driving home from work there was an accident and there were 2 kids and 2 adults fully dressed in awesome Halloween costumes. I pulled over as their car was being towed and asked if they needed a ride. They did.



How do you change the world? By Acts of Random Kindness.

Please spend this month making an extra effort to go out of your way to make someone's day. Be grateful, give others a reason to be grateful too! Feel free to leave comments about what you've done or how someone has helped you!

Eliza's birth story

My labor story starts at 38 weeks. Sunday, July 8th, I was in the hospital thinking I would have my baby. Saturday night when we were driving home from the Payne's I felt a slight gush of fluid. I thought it might be my water but I decided I would watch it for a bit. When I woke up on Sunday morning I'd felt a few slight leaks throughout the night and my underwear was damp. So I called the doctor and they said the only way to know is to get it tested. He said that the more I walked around the more it would leak if it was amniotic fluid. I have never been so sure of anything in my life. I knew my water had broken and I was going to have a baby that day. I was TERRIFIED! I couldn’t stop thinking about all the things I hadn’t done yet and I really doubted my ability to be a mom. I tried to sleep but I was way too freaked out and anxious.  I showered and got ready and we went to Sam's baby blessing and listened to Daniel speak. I was having contractions often and they were harder and felt more pushing than tightening. We went to the hospital and they checked me. I had progressed to a 1 and was effacing and softening (I'd had zero progression on the previous Monday). But it wasn't amniotic fluid. Not even close. By that time I had come to accept the fact that my baby was coming and I was really excited to have her. When they told me it wasn’t amniotic fluid I was absolutely devastated. But because I was progressing they told me to walk around for an hour to get things going. It didn't do enough to keep me but they were pretty sure I'd be in again that night or the next morning. When they saw my address was a Logan address they advised me not to go back. So for three weeks I waited and waited and felt contractions all the time but nothing ever progressed. Each doctor appointment was disappointing as I found out I had no progression and that even worse, my cervix was posterior so he couldn’t even sweep my membranes. Tuesday night after Wicked and Wednesday morning I was having decent contractions so I was surprised and disappointed that there still less than no progress.  At my 40 week appointment he finally set up an induction date. I had to start Sunday night though because of my weird cervix.

Sunday arrived and I hadn’t had the baby. But I did get to see the new Batman and Wicked! So Sunday night (1 week over due) I went in about 9:30 and they got me started on Cytotec. It’s different than Pitocin because its main purpose is to ripen the cervix, not cause contractions. But contractions are necessary for progression, they just aren’t as intense as the contractions you get from Pitocin, if that makes sense. But it sure is painful still! By 2 AM I was ready for pain meds. They gave me a drug that does nothing for the pain but makes you not care. It worked for me, I felt great and regretted not asking for it sooner. I got that at 2:30 but by 3:30 it had worn off (which apparently was faster than usual). They gave me another dose and said next time it worse off they would give me my epidural.  The second dose didn’t work and I was in pain again quickly. I kept waiting for them to come in and give me a second dose of Cytotec but they never did because I was having contractions so often. I told myself at 4:15 I would ask for the epidural. Luckily for me, the nurse came in right before I was about to call and by 4:30 the anesthesiologist was in giving me my epidural. I was having contractions constantly and because they were induced and not natural there was absolutely no break or relief in pain.  The pain lessens for a few seconds and then it goes right of the charts. It’s really not fun.  Because I was in so much pain the epidural was hard. I was shaking, crying, and my teeth were chattering uncontrollably. The nurses were so great and nice to me! But once it started working relief was amazing!

The epidural slowed the contractions so the nurse decided to try the Pitocin at 6:10. By 6:45 she was in again because the baby’s heart rate dropped and didn't go back up immediately. She rolled me to my other side and the baby’s heart rate went back up to normal but she took me off the Petocin since I was progressing just fine. She mentioned that if the baby’s heart rate hadn’t gone up she would have put an internal monitor on the baby and that would mean breaking my water.  At 7:30 the doctor came in to break my water.  Because the baby’s heart rate had dropped before, he wanted to put the monitor directly on her so he broke my water and put a monitor on her head.

The monitor that had been tracking her heart rate before magnifies the heartbeat’s sound so it’s like listening to it through a stethoscope (what you hear at every doc appointment). This new monitor beeped and was kind of annoying so I just tuned it out. Her heart rate was about 150. Go to http://www.metronomeonline.com/ and listen to how fast 152-160 is and imagine that a high pitched beeping and you’ll understand why I quickly ignored it. The doctor was happy with my progression to a 4, especially since the last time he’d seen me, about a week before, there was less than no progress. He told me that he was hopeful we’d have her here by dinner time. He left the room to check on another patient and the nurse still needed to ask him something so she told me she was going to step outside so she could catch him before he went down to his clinic. I was laying there relaxed, half asleep, and very drugged when everything changed.

All of a sudden four nurses came running in and started throwing me around the bed and put me on oxygen. I asked what was going on and they said the baby’s heart rate was dropping. Before, shifting my position got her heart rate up again but it wasn’t working this time. I started listening to the beeping and was terrified at how slow it was. Her heart rate had dropped to 80 and the beeping was getting slower.  In order to try to understand my panic go back to that metronome and listen to the difference in speed imagining that it is the sound of your child's heartbeat. The doctor was in the room again and he had his hand inside me jiggling her head which actually helped (definitely glad I was completely numb!) for a bit. I don’t remember exactly what happened, mostly because I wasn’t even sure what was going on then. All I remember is a lot of nurses running around and talking to each other. I could feel the panic in the room, the nurses were panicking and I could tell they were scared for me which only scared me more. The oxygen mask took up a lot of my face and I didn’t have my contacts in or glasses on so everything was really blurry. I remember looking over the mask at Dave who was sitting on the chair by the window. As I listened to the slow heart rate and tried to figure out what was happening I started crying and getting really, really scared.  They don’t tell you a lot- they just try to fix the problem. I remember him saying he’d need the vacuum but I was only at a 4. I’m assuming they would just get her out as soon as possible if they could keep her stable but not too long after he asked for that I heard him say, “We have to get her out immediately.” I wish I was a better writer so I could really portray all my emotions going on in that moment. It's really difficult to get across the pure panic, fear, and hysteria I was feeling. My baby... I want my baby... was all I could think about. What if they couldn't get her out in time? Then they gave me a clipboard and said “We’re giving you a C-Section. Sign that it’s OK.” I asked if it was absolutely necessary because it sounded like her heart rate was going up. But that was with a lot of constant work from the doctor jiggling her head and the nurses rolling me around. It wasn’t staying up so I signed it. The anesthesiologist was there to give me a large dose of epidural and morphine then they wheeled me away. By that point I was hysterical. I couldn’t stop shaking or crying. I have never been so terrified in my life. I wasn’t sure what was happening or what was going to happen to my precious baby.

In the operating room they took a wipe and rubbed it up my belly and asked me to tell them when I could feel it was cold. I was numb enough so they started surgery and 7 minutes later Eliza was here! She was born at 7:55 and was totally fine.

I guess the contractions stressed her out too much and she also had a bowel movement and might have swallowed some meconium. If I had started labor on my own I would have had no idea that the contractions were stressing her out and I might have lost her. The nurse could have broken my water before the doctor got there but she didn’t and I’m so glad that even at the end of a 12 hour night shift she was alert enough and able enough to get Eliza’s heart rate back up and take me off the petocin. I’m also grateful that when my doctor broke my water and everything went downhill, the shifts had just changed so everyone was fresh and alert.  Everyone who was needed to perform a C-section was there too so there was no delay.

There were a lot of little miracles to get my sweet daughter here and I am grateful every day for each of them. Sometimes I think about how if just one thing had gone differently that I might not have her and I am overwhelmed with gratitude. I realized how lucky and blessed I am to be able to have her and I hope I never take it for granted!

(I like to imagine she's praying, thanking our Heavenly Father for her safe arrival into this world)

A girl should always look good

In my Teen Living class we are talking about gender. I had my students answer these questions: A girl should always… a girl should never… a boy should always…a boy should never…

The boys were more vocal about their expectations of girls, but eventually the girls pulled through for me. Both genders had a say in the expectations. Here are my results:

A girl should always

·         Look good (at first they said wear makeup but when girls protested that some look good without it, the boys compromised and said they should look good and if that means wearing makeup- wear it!)

·         Be clean (shower etc)

·         Be happy

A girl should never:

·         Be openly overly emotional

·         Wear boy’s clothes (this was my cooperating teacher’s input and everyone agreed with her)

·         Wear a lot of make up

A boy should always

·         Be funny

·         Look fit (they don’t need to be athletic, but they need to look buff)

·         Be respectful

·         Use his manners

·         Be tall

·         Be kinda messy (it’s too weird if they are too clean)

Boys can be gross. 

They didn’t give me any “nevers”

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did!