Getting Ready to Go Back to Work... Again

It’s that time of year again. For parents, everyone is celebrating, you get to send them to ME again 5 days/week! For teachers, well, there’s often a bit of resistance. Last year looked very different for me. I had just completed 14 months of maternity leave and discovered there wasn’t a position for me to return to. I was told by Human Resources, that because of my experience and Masters Degree in Administration and Leadership, I could be considered qualified for Learning Assistance jobs IF I returned to school, yet again, to complete a credited course in Level B Psychology Testing. Psychology isn’t what I would consider my strong subject, given it alone accounts for my only 2 C-’s ever in my academic career. I tried to be optimistic, told myself I was a “mature learner” now and signed up for the 4 credit, 4th year course through Athabasca University. To make things really interesting, HR added the addendum that I had to complete this 22 week course in... oh say 6 weeks... to keep my contract.

4th year Psychology course in 6 weeks. Oh and did I mention I actually had not one, not two, but FOUR different teaching positions at the time? I went from the bliss of maternity leave to 4 different jobs and a student, on a condensed schedule, in my weakest subject. I worked hard. So hard. Way harder than I worked in my Undergraduate Degree, Teacher Training or Masters Degree. When all was said and done, HR granted me 2 extra weeks to finish my final project and I got it down with just the 1 extra. I finished the course with an A-, not too shabby for a C- Psyc. student operating on a condensed schedule and through Distance Education. The real laugh came when my professor suggested I “re-do the first quiz to improve my mark to an A or A+ to reflect my true ability.” To that suggestion I just laughed and assured her that as a working parent, with 4 different teaching assignments, and the course counting for nothing more than a completion mark, I was MORE than happy with my A-!!!

This year is very different. I won a job in our second round of job postings and then won a different job in our third round, back at the beginning of summer. Not just any job either, my dream job. I am going to be my school district’s Elementary Behaviour/Social Skills Teacher and I couldn’t be more excited... and terrified. Despite years of classroom and work experience working with what I like to refer to as some “tough cookies,” I can’t help but feel unprepared for this job, but then I think, is anyone ever prepared for a job as complex as this? It’s like the journey to parenting, no matter how much you read, and discuss and prepare, you always end up in an entirely spontaneous situation that requires you to think on your feet at all times.

Let’s Jump Back Into Things With an Old Favourite: POO

Today was a rough day for Mr. R and when it’s a rough day for baby or toddler, it’s a guaranteed rough day for the parent too. I’m presently sitting here with my second glass of wine. R started the day with a healthy appetite after not eating much the past two days. He ate a full serving of oatmeal and guzzled his smoothie full of Swish Chard, berries, homemade yogurt (we have so much to catch up on) and almond milk. Then, it was time for the morning crunch: but something was different. R was getting quite distressed. It didn’t take long before he was pacing around the living room, grunting, sweating, crying and not wanting to be touched. R was constipated.

It was different than many other kids experience. I knew he’s just had a bowel movement (BM) the day before, so when I took him to the clinic, I knew we were going to be essentially brushed off. I quickly explained to the Dr. that I wasn’t there for any tests, exams or a prescription, but that I hadn’t heard my son scream in such pain like that since his days of colic as an infant. He gave me three pieces of advice written on a piece of paper:

1) Prune juice... I think we all know about this one.
2) A glycerine suppository.
3) A warm bath with baking soda to help relax his sphincter (took everything not to giggle when he used the word) and also, if any tears had occurred during the process, the baking soda would help ease the discomfort.

As we walked to the clinic, waited for the doctor and then walked across the large parking lot to the grocery store, I had R wrapped up in our brand new Pavo Penumbra Lunar woven wrap. Well, whether it be the opening of his hips, or the warmth and relaxation of being on mom’s body, none of the doctor’s remedies were needed. With a series of very large public grunts, at some point between the doctor’s waiting room, the grocery store and the car, R managed to achieve relief. I still gave him the prune juice mixed with some organic grape/apple juice and we made it home just in time for him to lay down for a nice 2.5 hour nap. So there, WE”RE BACK with a poop, or a bang!!

Business will resume THIS WEEK!!

Sorry for abandoning the post for the past 2 months to work on setting up shop and finishing the school year, but get ready for an onslaught of writing this summer starting this week!!

Day 18 - I drank a cider

Well, I’m on day 18 of the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol and I kinda had a little cheat day. Here is my confession, it’s been 18 days since my last offence. Today, I let my husband season the ribs with whatever he liked (he chose barbecue sauce and mustard) and I drank a natural, no sugar added blackberry cider... and I liked it... a lot. Up until today, things have been going really well. I started exercising again last week and in 10 days had gone for 2 jogs, 3 long walks and done 3 yoga sessions as well as lift a bunch of furniture for a garage sale and house clean. That’s activity in 9 of the past 10 days. Today’s lack of activity I blame on the cider, a day full of appointments and my selected yoga session freezing and refusing to load (surely karma doesn’t want me doing yoga today). I must also acknowledge that as I write this, my compulsive nature is getting the best of me thinking that I am breaking my potential 10 day streak of daily movement... hmmm... might try that yoga video again.

My Journey on The Paleo Autoimmune Protocol

Without getting into too much detail about my health right now, I will share that I am waiting to see and Internist. If you’re scratching your head and wondering what that is, don’t worry, I had to look it up too. I see an Internist as an off-camera Canadian Dr. House, but here’s what Wikipedia says. I have been sick for over 4 weeks now, since before we went to Hawaii. It started as a cold, then developed into an ear and sinus infection, then bronchitis, then a throat infection and now is just a bad virus again. I have had 2 rounds of antibiotics, 1 round of oral steroids and a steroid inhaler and yet, I am achy, fatigued and still not well. It is exhausting. I blame it on turning 30. That MUST be it, my blood work however, says otherwise.

So what is the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol you ask? I’ll let my fellow blogger and expert through this process show you, The Paleo Mom. Basically, it is like regular Paleo, so no grains, dairy, legumes and starches, but ALSO, no nuts, seeds, cocoa, coffee, nightshades, eggs and alcohol. Yah. So what WILL I eat? All fruits and vegetables that are not nightshades, are okay, along with all sources of lean protein, coconut and honey, tea and herbs. This sounds insane you say? This is NOTHING! When R was only 12 weeks old, he had what 2 doctors and 1 midwives described as classic colic... BAD. I ended up resorting to the Dr Sears Total Elimination Diet for Breastfeeding Mothers. I started out with only SEVEN food items: turkey, pears, millet, rice, squash, potatoes and sweet potatoes/yams. I figure if I can do that to figure out which foods triggered my son’s health issues, I can take the time to eliminate all common allergens and inflammatory foods from my diet to figure out what sets off my health issues.

I plan to blog as I go, and hopefully share a bit more information about my specific condition as I get answers. I’m told by my employer that writing about personal issues on the world wide web can be a reckless endeavour, but to them I say this: if somebody else hadn’t done this already, I would have nothing to help me as I navigate our painfully slow medical system. I believe whole heartily about sharing information on both mental and physical health to help share and report out to others what helped ease my discomfort so that they, in turn, may find answers of their own.

Why I Eat Paleo

A lot of people are calling the Paleo or Primal Diets the new fad diets of the week. I’ve noticed that a lot of people get it confused with being gluten free. It seems that even family and friends don’t quite understand why I started eating this way, and why my husband is even jumping on board with some of these dietary changes.

I need to start this post by saying that I do not have Celiac’s Disease, nor did I ever claim to. I am medically confirmed as lactose intolerant and sensitive to yeast. I first started looking to a wheat-free/dairy free diet after seeing a naturopath  in 2006, followed by a medical Allergy Specialist in 2007. At the time, I was having repeat Urinary Tract Infections that could spread to my kidneys almost overnight. I noticed that once I reduced my sugar intake and avoided wheat and yeast, the problems seemed to go away. I also drastically reduced my dairy at this time and noticed that I was getting fewer stomach aches throughout the day. It wasn’t until I was pregnant with R that I was able to tolerate wheat and dairy again (and boy, 50 pounds and 9 months later, had I ever indulged).

After R, I began to slowly start trying to lose the remaining 30 extra pounds I took home from the hosipital. I noticed shortly after his first birthday that whenever I was eating dairy free, wheat free and processed food free, I felt better. I have been doing Wild Rose Cleanses for years, every 6 months or so, whenever I’m not pregnant or breastfeeding. On the cleanse, unlimited vegetables and low glycemic fruits are encouraged as well as nuts, seeds, fish and lean protein. I nearly always lose weight, I am not bloated and after the initial purge, I always have more energy.

This fall, it dawned on me, maybe I should endeavour to eat like this all the time? I know this is how my diabetic father eats, low glycemic foods, and how my mother with MS is told to eat, so why wait until I have to eat like this, and why not eat this way to STAY healthy and hopefully prevent or at least drastically delay any hereditary health issues. So, the short and long of it is, we try to eat raw, whole foods that are local and/or organic because we believe that it is best for our health, our community and our family.

Mid-summer, before cleanse or Paleo

Remembrance Day, following a Wild Rose Cleanse and discovering Paleo

Apparently Dying 5.2 Meters of Wool is Very Different Than One Pair of Pants

Before pictures of the Natibaby 40% Wool 60% Cotten Grey Ispir.

1 large stainless steel pot, gloves, Dharma Acid Dye in Sapphire, citric acid, candy thermometer, wooden spoons.

Never ask a husband to take action shots...

The dying process took 30 minutes to get to temperature and then 30 mins at temperature... stirring constantly.

Followed by about 2 hours of washing and rinsing until the water ran clear.

Finished product wet.

Finished product dry and in natural light.

There are a lot of professional dyers out there in the woven wrap world and as my husband said when I was 3 hours in on the product, they EARN their money and are worth every penny. That being said, a lot of them don’t like to work with wool because it can felt so easily. Felted wool may be good in the world of cloth diapering, but for woven wraps, a felted wrap means that the wool fibres are brittle and not safe to carry the weight of a baby. I spoke with professionals in the wool business about how to properly dye the wool without felting it. The key is to pre-dissolve your dye in tepid water and the place the wool in the water and allow it to warm slowly up to the desired heat and then allow it to cool naturally. The wrap dried to be a beautiful, rich colour, soft and not brittle at all. I felt confident that it was not felted and completely happy to sell this wrap to a sweet mama as her first woven wrap. All in all, it was a challenging process, but a fun one nonetheless!!